Where DID Summer Go???

Wow....we had a fun and quick summer! We traveled a little bit, but not much (other than my weekly work travel), we did some major work on our house and put it on the market, and spent many hours (and many sunburns) at the pool! I'm so sad that the pool closed this weekend...I don't understand why they didn't stay open through Labor Day, but it didn't seem like anyone else up there this weekend understood either!

Caroline continued going to Miss Robin's Day School this summer, but during the summer they do a different theme each week and it is more like a summer camp than school. Last Monday, they officially started back to school, and soon Caroline will be moved to the pre-K. I can't believe how big and smart she is getting!

We are SOOOOOO ready for football season to begin! I have to work a few of the games (host donors in the suites, etc.), so it will be strange to be one of the ones dressed nice and acting refined during the football games for those particular Saturdays! I guess it also means that I am going to have to curtail the amount of "tailgating" I do before having to go up to the suites too! We got a seat for Caroline this year, so she'll be a cheerleader all season!! Where is everyone else tailgating? Now that the East Lot has reduced the parking lot by so much, everyone is spread out all over campus...Let me know where you are tailgating!!

Here are some pics over the past few weeks...

I was laying out reading and the lady laying out next to me was laughing and I looked at what she was laughing at, and it was Caroline lounging! She even had her head back on the float and her eyes closed. All she needs is a cocktail and she really fits in at the pool:)


We went to Wichita Falls (actually, Iowa Park) to visit my grandparents last week. Caroline had a blast at the park that is down from their house...she went three times in one day! They have taken out all of the old equipment and put in a brand new playground. It is very nice, but kind of sad that the equipment that my brother and I grew up playing on is no longer there (my brother is WAY mad about the fire truck being gone!!)

My PaPa wanted a picture of just Dale and I, and Caroline tried her hand at photography...not too bad!

Caroline and her Daddy and cousins...all of the kiddos love their Uncle Dale!! Funny side note...if you ask Caroline what her daddy's name is, she says "Uncle Dale"!

I just had to add this picture to prove that every once in a while I am domestic (well......as domestic as a boxed cake and canned icing is!).

Someone can SWIM!!!

Can you believe THIS little girl can swim??? With her arms and legs and everything off the ground. Like REALLY swim!!! WOW....she's getting so big! Since I was always a swimmer, this just made my day yesterday!! She has been working on it for the past few weekends. She would try to swim and then stand up and think about what she was doing and then try again. We kept asking if she wanted to play with toys, and she would just say "no...I'm practicing." Well, yesterday it finally clicked and she just wouldn't stop! She was so worn out by the end of the day.

Shanna is now a SMITH!

Shanna got married on August 8th!!!! It was such a great wedding...we had a blast! Caroline was looking forward to being a flower girl for weeks leading up to it! The morning of the wedding we got our hair done. She did so good sitting and getting her hair done...she acted so grown up! Congrats Shanna and Mike!!!!!


Me and the gorgeous bride:


The darling flower girl (one of many):

Caroline and Becca:

The Cox Family:

This has nothing to do with the wedding...but its a cute picture of Caroline and her little friend Emily when they had a "sleep over" at Aunt Cyndi's house.

Boston/NYC

A few weeks ago, I took the longest trip away from Caroline ever! I was gone for 12 days to the northeast, and even though I missed her like crazy, it was an AWESOME trip! I had to go to a conference in New Hampshire (at Dartmouth) for 5 days, so I had to fly into Boston. I stayed in Boston one night, then was in NH for 5 days, then in NYC for 5 days, then home. My trip home was CRAZY long!! Because of crazy travel schedules and REDICULOUS flight change fees (ugh....I hate all airlines but Southwest!), here was my schedule on the day I came home:

2:00 AM - Take cab from Aunt's apartment to Penn Station
3:00 AM - Take Amtrak from Penn Station to Boston
7:45 AM - Amtrack arrives in Boston, take cab to Boston Airport
9:10 AM - Flight leaves Boston
1:00 PM - Change planes at DFW and fly to Houston
2:30 PM - Arrive in Houston to LOST bags!!
2:45 PM - After dealing with baggage claim, RUN upstairs to re-check-in on a MUCH BETTER airline. Supposed to take the late flight, so try to stand by.
3:05 PM - Make it through the line to try to get on the earlier flight. They put me on a standby list and said "good luck getting to the gate by 3:30!"
3:25 PM - FINALLY get through security. Even though I have the "fly-by" pass, the TSA lady took more time than I have EVER seen anyone take looking at IDs!!! Seriously, I was behind only 3 people and it took like 15 minutes to get through the line!!
3:27 PM - Get to the gate in time to run on the plane!
4:30 PM - Land at Dallas Love but get to stay on the plane. The chancellor and vice chancellor get on the plane, as well as a few other co-workers to head to Lubbock. Again...I had been up since 2:00 AM traveling all day...I looked ROUGH!!!!!
6:10 PM - FINALLY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a crazy travel day, but an awesome trip so totally worth it!! Here are a few pictures from the trip. I did a really bad job at taking pictures...in fact, I got NONE at Dartmouth!!

Boston Commons Park:

Mass. State House:

Something important on the Freedom Trail (I have no clue what it is...):

Mom and I in Columbus Circle. We have been here many times (we get off the subway here to get to my aunt's apartment), but it has been updated since last time we were there!

Mom, Aunt Shannon and me before going to see Hair! We had a blast....and Shannon totally dressed for the show:)

I went and saw Rock of Ages by myself on Sunday night. I had such a good time...really cool show! Then I went and walked around Times Square when it was done. I have been to NYC many many times, but this time, being totally by myself on Sunday night and all day during the day Monday made it a different (and great) experience!

St. Patrick's Cathedrial, across from Rockefeller Center. Reminds me so much of the cathedrals in Europe! After walking around here, I walked down 5th avenue and shopped a bit (really just looked around stores...had no room in the suitcase to bring ANYTHING else back!) and ended up at FAO Schwartz. Yes...I'm 12!

Since the last day of my trip was my BD, my aunt took me out for some really yummy indian food for dinner. I had such a great time!!!

Cute Caroline Pictures

Here are some cute pics taken of Caroline over the past few months:


Caroline and her cousins...she loves being the oldest on this side!!!



We put stick on earrings on her...it kinda freaked her out. She didn't like me pushing on her ear to put them on. Maybe that means we can put of real earrings for a while!!!

4th of July Weekend

I'm in Dallas again this week...it's pretty darn hot here! This is going to be a REALLY busy travel month...I'm here till Friday, then Austin, San Antonio, Boston, Hanover NH, , Newark NJ, NYC and back to Boston before the end of the month!!!! (yeah, all those New England ones are all one big trip...I'll be gone for 12 days!!!!!) There are four new posts so enjoy:):)

We had a busy 4th of July weekend! On Friday the 3rd, we spent pretty much all day out at the pool. They had a bounce house and Caroline had a blast just playing with her daddy in the pool! That night we went to a friend of my dad's house for a GIANT block party (the one that was on the news for having tons of people, etc.). They totally do a better fireworks show than McKenzie park so we get to see awesome fireworks and bypass the craziness on the night of the 4th...works for me! Then on Saturday we went to the parade and then just went home for the rest of the day. My dad ended up cooking steaks that night and we just watched some fireworks on TV:) Then on Sunday we went to church, ran a TON of errands and then spent the late afternoon at the pool even though it was overcast and windy. It was still good bribery:)

Don't make fun...I sound stupid in this video!



At the Grimes' party...

CoCo took the girls to dance to the band.

Caroline turned into a little groupie! She woudn't leave the band (the Caprockers...they do classic rock and are pretty good!). The singer got cracked up that he had a 3 year old groupie and threw her his gituar pick (and she put it straight in her mouth...gross!).

Becca and Caroline in their matching shirts at the parade.

Cutie girls!

Jace, Cyndi, Zoe & Jett

This was right before church on Sunday. I thought she looked SO grown up in this outfit!

Vacation Bible School

Caroline went to VBS at my dad's church this year...and she had a blast! I'm so glad she was able to go, since you have to be 4 at our church. The first night they stuffed toy turtles for children whose belongings have been distroyed by natural disaster and our conversation about it went like this:

Caroline: I made a turtle.

Me: Really, who did you make it for?

Caroline: For families.

Me: Really, what families?

Caroline: For families who don't have any toys. I have nine toys so I don't have a turtle, but they have no toys so they get the turtle.

Me: Well, that is nice of you, and yes you do have a lot of toys.

Caroline: I have nine toys! (and then she proceeded to count to nine on her fingers the whole way home)

It suprised me, though, that she really got the concept of giving to others because she has enough! Wow...she gets more than I think!

Here she is dancing to the music...my little dancer!

She was showing me her dance after VBS. Oh, by the way...thank's King's for the pj's! This is the nightgown ya'll gave her for her bday, and i think it is the ONLY thing she's worn to bed since:) She is actually quite obsessed with the slippers too!!

Shanna's First Shower

Last Sunday was Shanna's first wedding shower. It was so great to see so many of our Bunko friends and people from church there! Shanna got some fun stuff! We are throwing them a couple's shower/pre wedding BBQ at our house on July 19th...should be fun!

The Cox/Bennett/Morales ladies (almost time to add Smith in there too!). I love how you can see the sonic cup in the pic...that is SOOOO our family!

Me and my big girl!

Weekend with Becca

A couple of weekends ago, Becca stayed Friday night and most of the day Saturday with us, and then Caroline went with them Saturday night. It had been a while since she spend an extended amount of time with Becca and she had SO much fun!! We went to Clay Cafe Friday night and Caroline made a "beautiful" plate (read: 15 layers of all different colors...hmmmm), Becca made a cute bunny with clothes on, and my mom and I made suprises that we can't talk about yet! Then on Saturday we went to The Falls ALL day!

She was concentrating SO hard on her plate!!

This was the first time I ever let Caroline in the "big pool" without me or Dale right with her. I figured with Becca in there and with me right on the side of the pool, it couldn't be too bad! It really boosted her confidence in the water.

Dallas

I'm in Dallas now....nothing exciting to report from here! Definately nothing exciting from Oklahoma last week....we were actually in Norman the whole time, so ugh! I'll be back Thursday....and I'm looking forward to a pool weekend this weekend! Now that the house is finished and on the market, I'm going to avoid being in it to keep it clean, so we'll be at the pool from open to close:)

BUY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know you want to!! :) Our house is FINALLY on the market, after about 6 weeks of working on it. Here are some pictures...I'm so ready to be able to sell it and start building something!!

The Living Room:


The Dining Room:


The Kitchen:

Master Bedroom:

Office:

Bathroom: