California Family Visits

Mid June of Summer Break 2012, my sister Jill and her two daughters Kayla and Kaili stayed with us for about a week. They live in San Diego. We all had such a great time with one another. It was especially wonderful seeing the four cousins enjoying one another.

 

 Kaili & Kacie catching fire flies.

 

 

 

 

 Shooting hoops.

 

 

 

 

 Getting ready for the water park.

 

 

 

 

 Lazy River and Water Slides = FUN!!

 

Some of my most favorite childhood memories are with my cousins. It makes me smile to know Jacob and Kacie will probably say the same thing one day!



Tanganyika Wildlife Park

Yes. It was at least 105 degrees outside, but it was worth the sweat. Tanganyika is a hands on zoo. We pretty much got to touch or feed almost every animal we saw.

 

 

Kids petting the Giraffe.

 Feeding the birds. If you look behind Jake you can see my niece Kayla. She was NOT going into the bird cage.

 

 

 

 Petting the Kangaroos.

 

 

 

 

 Waiting to feed the Rhino.

 

 

 

 

 Kacie feeding the Rhino.

 

 

 

 

 Jake feeding the turtles.

 

 

 

 

 This baby zebra was born just the day before we were there. CUTE!!!

 

 

 

 

 Camel Ride.

 

 

 

 Jake and Kaili riding the horses. Kaili LOVES horses!!

 

Going to the zoo and seeing beautiful creation always causes me to worship our AMAZING GOD!

 



Worlds of Fun!

 

Kansas City here we come! Living only 2 and a half ours away from KC, we decided to take a quick trip. Kayla and Kaili were excited to see some of the places their mom and aunt went to when they were kids.

 Getting to the Park.

 

 

 

 

 Log ride is always a favorite!

 

 

 

 

 Yes...I think I had as much fun as the kids!

 

 

 

 

 Kacie on her first roller coaster, The Prowler...she was pretty nervous!

 

 

 

 

 Love the faces!!

 

 

 

 

 Getting soaked on a water ride.

 

 

 

 

 Jake playing hoops.

 

 

 

 

The Flying Dragons was a favorite!

 

 

We had close to a perfect day. Hanging with family, the weather was not too hot and riding rides!!

Kansas City Shopping!

We got up the next morning and went to the Kansas City Plaza. We did some shopping, took pictures by the fountains and of course ate at the Cheesecake Factory.

 Kacie in her element! She says that shopping is her "best sport". That's my girl!

 

 

 

 

 Nothing like shopping with cousins!

 

 

 

 

 Family photo time by the fountains.

I am very, very blessed to have Jill as a sister. She not only accepts me for who I am but celebrates the person that God has created me to be. Thank you sister for visiting this summer...we made some great memories!!

A Wonderful Script

Our first year at Tanglewood Elementary simply put was a blessing! If the Lord let us hand-pick the decisions on how the year would go, we couldn't have picked as well as the year went. These two teachers were a perfect match for both of the kids. Mrs. Haag and Mrs. Addis are a great representation of the "good" in public education.

Field Day 2012

 Kacie said she could have done this all day...



Kacie got on the ground for this game.

Kacie & Daytona...sweet friends!



Jake's 4th grade class had a camp out the night before field day. They showed back up to school just in time for some more fun games.

Celebrating Grandma Jan!

In the month of May we always get to celebrate Jan (Ben's mom). Not only is she a wonderful mom, but she is a beautiful person. We love celebrating her in May...Happy Mother's Day & Happy Birthday too!

Sweet Girls!

We felt incredibly blessed to get to know Chasity & Maya!!

Easter 2012

Enjoying Easter with cousins!!

We Miss our Matsu!

We said our last sentiments to Matsu. She was a good pooch for 10 years.

We buried Matsu's ashes and collar. Here is Cali checking everything out. I thought that this picture was sweet...our new pooch looking over Matsu.

Thanks for blessing us so much Matsu!

Derby High 5

In May of each year the elementary schools have a contest to see which school can get the most kids to train and run in the 5K. Our school didn't win but we had a pretty good showing.

Stretching and chatting ;)

Jake and Aaron at the start of the race

Jake crossing the finish line...WAY TO GO JAKE!!

Jake took 3rd in his age division..his goal was to medal. 

1st Grade FUN!!

In the Spring the 1st grade got to go to the park and play. Here Kacie is with friends playing a game.

This is Kacie with her friend Merina.

Kacie LOVES the monkey bars. By the end of the school year she had to stop playing on the monkey bars because she had a big blister on each hand...ouch!

"Summer is Coming" This is a musical the 1st grade put on. They did a wonderful job!!

Kacie had a speaking part in the musical. Her practice paid off, she did great!

Kacie loves to sing. And I love to watch her have so much fun performing!

Brylee and Tymber came to watch Kacie's program...what great friends!