The Oldroyd Family

I didn't do a great job taking pictures during this part of our trip!  We were too busy having fun celebrating Pioneer Day (24th of July), swimming in Uncle Rex's pool & playing with cousins. I did snap some pictures at the Bee's game!  And they won! We of course had to hit up Cafe Rio... maybe more than once! On our way down to the cabin we made some stops.  First one was lunch at In-N-Out. We stopped at the cemetery to see Grandpa Great's headstone & see my brothers.  It was neat to show Nathan who his name came from & talk about Uncle Nathan a little bit.  Very special!  I am grateful for my eternal family! Last stop before we headed down south was to Grandma Great Gines' house.  We love her so much!

We did it again... we loaded up all 5 of us in the mini van & headed on our summer car trip!  The kids did great.  We did stop a couple of times to play along the way but it was a good trip! Our first stop was to see the Walkers in Colorado Spring.  We loved the beautiful mountain air & fun time with our friends!  The highlight of the trip was going to Santa's Workshop.  Its a Winter Wonderland (Christmas music & Santa included) all year around! 

Tiffany, Avery, Aric & Addy came to visit us in June.  It was a week of pure craziness & so much fun! Good thing I have an 8 seater van.  We fit 3 car seats & 3 boosters! What do you do in the hot Texas summer with 6 kids 6 & under? Swim of course!  We went to the pool at least once a day.  We tried the beach once but... that was kind of a bust.  So we headed to the pool! Alexa & Avery were the cutest little BFF's.  We convinced them to go get their ears pierced which was... interesting!  There was some freaking out.  But it all ended well & they were happy they did it.  They next day anyway! It was such a fun trip!  Tiffany is my closest friend & I'm grateful we can get our kids together & spend time with each other too!

Max is in the Preschool 1 class & did great on his first day! His class is big & has lots of boys but the teachers did a great job. Max was reluctant at first to so anything but soon followed the crowd & joined in on the bubble blowing, putting his face in the water & jumping to his teachers. Way to go Max! Nathan & Alexa are in the preschool 2/3 class. They are lucky because its just them & one other girl! I am still in awe at how much they were able to learn in just one lesson. Such a huge difference from last year when they would barely get off the steps. I am so proud of them! They were swimming & floating & diving for rings. They rocked their lesson & I couldn't be more proud of both of them!   I can't wait to see how much all 3 kids learn over the next few weeks of lessons!

We've been talking about it for at least a year & we finally did it - we got the boys bunk beds!  I had been on the look out for just the right ones (all online of course).  And we found these; good reviews, right price, exactly what I wanted!  Its a twin-over-twin with a trundle underneath.  And stairs instead of a ladder.  There are 5 drawers on the side of the stairs & the bottom bunk has a little book rack, which is super cute!  They boys are thrilled & Alexa is a little miffed she doesn't get to be in with them. They're getting so grown up!

We waited a little too late in the year to go camping but we decided to venture out anyway... We headed to Stephen F Austin State Park which is only about 45 minutes away.  Its a really nice camp area with lots of grass, trees & even electricity! Boys love sticks & my boys loved being able to whack things with them & not be told to put them down! We went on treasure hunts with the Geo Caching app.  It was lots of fun! (Minues the chiggers & poison ivy - ouch!) It was pretty warm but we managed... Hank had a great time being outside! And what's camping without S'mores?? A really hilarious thing happened around dinner time... a family of 5 drove up to the campsite across from us & set up shop.  Complete with a bounce house, rope lights, and EZ Up & lounge chairs!  Oh and a super nice RV!  Made our little site look puny!   The night was a little rough - Alexa, Hank & I were in a tiny little...

This year we were able to attend our ward's annual Memorial Day Breakfast.  There was a bike parade & leading the parade was Bishop Gillespie in his golf cart.  A big hit with the kids!