Thursday, July 12, 2012

Cody, Wyoming: Day Three . . . The 4th of July!

Not only was it the 4th of July, but it was also Laurie's birthday!
~ Laurie ~

I hope she had a fun birthday!  We went to the parade... 
~ Laurie & Halli ~

~ Taylor, Zack, & Carter ~

~ Zack, Lauren, Katelyn, Carter, Uncle Sam, Taylor, & Grandpa ~

~ Dave & Gary ~

~ Grandpa ~

 ~ Zack & Carter ~

We rode horses . . . 
 ~ Taylor & Lauren ~

 ~ Halli ~

 ~ Hardy & Halli ~

 ~ Lauren ~

 ~ Taylor, Carter, & Lauren ~

 ~ Katelyn & Lauren ~

 ~ Taylor, Katelyn, & Lauren ~

 ~ Taylor & Hardy ~

 ~ Taylor & Laurie ~

We had a BBQ, watched fireworks, and ate ice cream cake!
Yum.

Thank you Hardy for bringing  your horses for us to ride and teaching us what to do . . . you're the best!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Cody, Wyoming: Day One

Our first day in Cody, Laurie & I took the little girls to the kiddie parade . . . 
~ Katelyn & Lauren ~

Then we all headed to Red Lake to do a little four wheeling . . .
 ~ Taylor ~
 ~ Carter ~
~ Carter ~

 ~ Zack ~


~ Dave & Carter ~ 

~Taylor & Grandpa McDougall ~

Carter & Zack could have done nothing but four-wheel & been thrilled.  I think it was the highlight of the trip for them!  

We also did a little shooting . . . 
 ~ Dave & Gary ~
 ~ Gary with Katelyn & Dave with Lauren ~
~ Carter ~

That evening was my 20 year class reunion adult only get together.  So, Dave & I went to that while the rest of the bunch did the "tourist" thing in downtown Cody, Wyoming.  I enjoyed catching up with my old high school friends (unfortunately I didn't take my camera).  One of the best parts about going home is getting to see old friends!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Cody, Wyoming: Our arrival!

Last week, we took our best friends, the one & only Groppe family . . .
 . . . to the wild wild west for a vacation like no other.  We arrived in my hometown of Cody, Wyoming after a long drive (24 hours to be exact) the evening of July 1st.  The kids were ready to burn off some energy, so we went on a little stroll around town . . .
 ~Taylor, Lauren, & Katelyn ~
 ~ Grandma McDougall, Lauren, & Taylor ~
 ~ Matheny & Groppe kiddos on the Buffalo Bill Statue ~

We had a great week!  I can't wait to show you all the fun stuff we did.  I want to give a big thank you to my awesome parents for hosting all of us and showing the Groppe's how it's done in Wyoming!  :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Taylor's Utah Trip

Last week, Taylor got to go to Utah to visit Leah & her family!  Last summer, Leah came to Texas to see us.       Remember?  We love Leah's family and are so thankful that they let Taylor come.  She had a fabulous week!
~ Taylor & Leah ~ 

Leah is the oldest of 7 so, she also got to re-connect with Anne & Kate (Leah's younger sisters) . . . 
 ~ Kate, Leah, Anne, & Taylor ~
 ~ Kate, Anne, Leah, & Taylor ~
 ~ Leah, Taylor, Anne, Kate, & Lilly ~

Thank you for having her!  She misses y'all already.  I am still sad that I didn't get to go too.  And, according to Taylor, Miss Lynne (Leah's mom) is WAY cooler than I am.  I'd have to agree, she's as cool as they come.  :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Keep Praying

Last night at dinner, Taylor said, "Every time you pray, your husband or wife gets hotter."  Carter thought about it for a minute and then said, "I hope my wife keeps praying!"  

We all laughed.  That Carter, he's so funny!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Father's Day

The kids, completely on their own, wrote a candy bar poem for Dave for Father's Day.   When Taylor & Dave left to go to the range, Lauren used the time wisely and wrote out the poem . . . 
It was LONG . . . she worked hard!

It said, "Dear Dad,  Happy Father's Day!  You're one hot tamales of a guy and we just wanted to let you know that your 3 musketeers appreciate you.  You are so tall that not only do you reach the sky, you can touch the starburst too!  But it takes a smarties  of a dad to reach that high, even if you are as tall as a mountain.  Lucky for us, you are xtremely smart!   We love that you don't have to be the Mr. Goodbar and that we can always have an almond joy time with you.  You always know just what to say to make us snickers so hard we end up roloing on the floor laffy taffy.  We also love that you  lead us warheads into battle every Sunday against M&M to try to miss church.  If we were you, we would be going skittles if mom told us we had to go to church on Father's Day!  Instead, we would be shooting at the range.  Unfortunately, you are not the cool kit kat in the shooting department.  That title goes to the guy with the bazooka.  We would tell you to get one but we're afraid that your butterfinger will slip on the trigger and you'll end up one sour patch kids down.  Just kidding!  You have ice breaker shooting skills, always blowing your target into reese's pieces; even if you do look like a nerds while your shooting.  If you could have a dollar for every book you have read, then you would have 100 grand.  But that's not how the world works.  If you want a pay day you have to work for it; so not only do you have 100 grand, you have a million.  It drives us gobstoppers when you let on rips in our air heads.  The smell is so bad that it's going to make us go bald even faster than you.  That is why as soon as we turn 18, we're going to twizzlers out of here.  Lauren and Taylor think it's hilarious when you twix Carter so that he ends up screaming like a baby ruth and jumps so high that he reaches the milky way. Carter doesn't think it's funny.  But what we love most about you, is that through all the pop rocks in the road, you are always there to give us hugs.  You help scrape the gumballs off our shoes so we can become the best that we can be.  So have a tootsie roll of a Father's Day because your a popcorn  of  a dad.
Love your little jelly beans,
Taylor, Carter, & Lauren"

I was so impressed and Dave loved it!

We had Dave's favorite for dinner . . . 
cooked by my favorite . . . 
It was a good day!
 
 We hope y'all had a Happy Father's Day!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Ouch!

These two . . .
. . . have been just a tad bit under the weather.  Although they look really grumpy, they actually can't smile because their cheeks are too swollen.
 
*If looks could kill.  (Which might happen when she realizes that I posted these pictures on my blog!)

Can you tell?  Yep, last Friday, they both had their wisdom teeth removed.  Carter also had 2 baby teeth pulled.  He's a bit on the young side to remove wisdom teeth but his were blocking his 12 year old molars from coming in, so he had to get them out early.  Lucky boy.  :)  They have been doing pretty good. The first day was definitely the worst.  Carter was very concerned about the stitches he felt on the roof of his mouth, so we all decided to take a look . . .
* I love Taylor's expression in this picture!  Ha-Ha!

 It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.  Plus, they got to eat nothing but ice cream for 2 days . . .  
Yum.  Sign me up!  :)


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

5th Grade Graduation

We've been out of school for just over a week.  Lauren will be starting middle school next year!  I can't believe it.  May 31st, was her 5th grade graduation.  She was so excited.  It seems like just yesterday, she was starting kindergarten . . .
(Lauren's first day of kindergarten.)

It's hard to believe that my baby is no longer in elementary school.  Crazy.  Well, graduation day did not disappoint.  She received her "diploma" . . .

and enjoyed refreshments after the ceremony . . . 

. . . with her friends!
~ Lauren, Emily, & Amber ~

I had to get one last picture with her teacher . . . 
~ Ms. Matsuda & Lauren ~

. . . before they headed out to play.  They spent the rest of the school day playing outside in the water, eating free snow cones, and hangin' with their friends.  Lauren thought it was "the best school day she'd ever had!"