So in March, I took a grand total of 3 photos.
April, I didn’t do much better. 53.
But I stepped it up in May with 283! The good news for everyone who feels obligated to read these posts is that this one will be pretty short for a three-month round up. The bad news is that we’re hitting the road for a two-week family trip in June so I’ll make up for this one with an embarrassingly long one in early July. :)
This incredible team is reason No. 1 there are hardly any photos in March. We are too busy putting on the Greatest Hardware Show on Earth to mess around. #bestworkfamilyever
After the show, Wes and I took off to Deer Valley for a long weekend. We celebrated 16 years of marriage with lots of spills on the bunny slope (for me) and checking out every art and gift shop in Park City (for Wes…just kidding, that was for me, too.)
Henry finished up what might be his last baseball season. He’s excited to try basketball in the fall.
And Ella was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.
About the same time, Ella earned a spot on her middle school soccer team. They finished the season undefeated as Zone and District champs. #gowolves
The night before Easter Sunday, we lost power for several hours and ended up dying Easter eggs by candlelight. This might become a new tradition.
Easter morning, the power was back on and we headed to the Farm.
Ella hosted her Bible study group and led the night’s discussion with one of her friends.
She also kicked some butt on the soccer field with her rec team.
Henry let me tag along on his 1st grade field trip to Fort Worth’s Museum of Science and Nature.
And we took the kids to a Rangers game before the triple-digit heat sets in.
With fingers crossed, Rocket asked for and got permission from his transplant doctor to take a short flight from DFW to Fort Wayne to see our family up north.
Here’s Nana, looking tickled that I wanted to take her photo in some pretty light.
We made a stop to visit Grammer and Gramper, aka Bob and Bea.
I wish our kids had the chance to know them. The anchor pants, the Ruby Red nail polish in the door of the fridge, endless cantaloupe, and a half-stick of gum whenever we wanted some. They let us build haunted houses in their basement and carve animals out of bars of soap on their front stoop. Ella got to hear a lot of stories about our summer trips to Indiana when Matt, Molly and I were kids. Lucky girl.
George Washington Slept Here. ;)
It was so wonderful to see Granny, aka Ella Lue, for the weekend. Her sharp wit is still turned up to 11, she doesn’t suffer fools, and she isn’t afraid to share her opinions (which are always spot-on). She also kicked my and Aunt Jan’s tails at Euchre, closing out the second game with a 5-trick loner.
It was really good to see these two together again.
Mmm, breaded pork tenderloin sammiches.
Nana might be second-guessing making a quick stop to her favorite yarn store in Ft. Wayne. (I know I am, ha!)
Ella fell in love with a heavy-weight 100% Alpaca yarn and, before we knew it, I was buying 16 skeins and Nana was signed up to knit a full-sized blanket. I told Ella she’s going to have to share it with me.
One thing I miss dearly in Texas, dogwood trees.
Ella made fast friends with Libby.
Memorial Day weekend, we headed to Possum Kingdom. We’ve been going there for, what, eight years now? I have never seen the wildflowers in bloom like they were after all of the heavy rains we’ve had this spring.
Ella brought a friend for the weekend and we let the kids try out our new tube.
They did not follow the rules.
And then Kate graduated from high school. And we all cried a little.
She heads to TCU’s Nursing School in the fall. Maybe she can get us an invite to a real kegger?? It’s been too long. (Just kidding, Matt!)
Last weekend in May! We headed to Atlanta/Athens to see our much-missed Georgia family and to celebrate Poppa and Gigi’s 50th wedding anniversary.
We are in awe of this milestone. 50 years of being lovingly committed, building a life together and sharing that love with their own children and grandchildren. We are blessed to have such strong role models and hope to celebrate our own 50th anniversary one day.
(2053 is just around the corner, Wes, when you think about it! xoxo)
The luncheon was a big surprise for Gigi.
Jen-Jen was extremely well supervised for the weekend. I kept joking that her feet never hit the ground the whole time her cousins were around.
The bride and groom were good sports and reenacted their wedding photo for us!
After lunch, we took the kids on a short walk around North Campus and downtown. Here they are, standing right where Wes asked me to be Abby’s real mom 17 years ago.
Summer is officially here, the kids are out of school and we’re going to do our best to squeeze in lots of family time while we can. Prayers welcome that the kids don’t come to blows before school starts up again! ;)