The girls and I went around town tonight delivering invitations for Avery's 6th Birthday party! Since there are SO many of you out there that I would have loved to invite, here ya go! Just let me know when your flight arrives so we can come to the airport to get you... :)

Whatcha doin' with your George Bush money ya got in the mail???

"Say hello to my little friend"...

There is a story behind this one, and boy is it a good (and embarrassing) one!

I've been checking out Craigslist for Barbie Jeeps, and one came up this past week. It was a white older model, and it was $125. Way too much for me to spend, so I did some investigating.

I checked out some surrounding towns online classifieds, and when nothing really came up there, I thought....hmmm....why not check out the classifieds in my parents town!

So, I did, and WHOO HOO...There was a garage sale that starts tomorrow, that was selling a Barbie Jeep! The address was listed, but that wasn't good enough for me! After all, I was 5 1/2 hours away from that address.

Did you know you can find out someones phone number by typing their address into yahoo people search? Yup, I sure did...(this is where it gets embarrassing for me...I'm all about a bargain, I tell ya)

I emailed my mom the phone number and address, and she called and left a message for me. The lady called her tonight, and mom and dad went to look at it. Guess how much it was....just guess.....$30, yup $30! SCORE! Mom and Dad got it, and it will be arriving here for Avery's birthday!

Persistence (and some embarrassment) pays off! My husband called me and my mom the "garage sale mafia". ha ha ha!!!!!

We went out to eat last night, and I just had to take some pics of the girls before we left...enjoy...

strike a pose

Avery and our neighbor, Kelsey

kind of deer in headlights...we need to work on that...

LOVE LOVE LOVE this one! :)

These are from LAST summer....gol, I still had a baby...CRAZY!!!!!

Avery had another "great" day at swim lessons.
Here are a few re-caps of new things she did today with Brittney!

She learned to "lay" on her back and kick...
this has always made Avery very nervous, so I was proud that she tried it today...

She also went w-a-y far away from where lessons usually are, and into the deep end!!!

Do ya see her all the way over there?

She was so proud to be on the other side of the ropes!



We are done with private swimming lessons for this week. We'll do maybe one or two next week too. After seeing that Avery can learn to be comfortable in the water, we have decided to enroll her in the park and rec lessons that start up on July 14th. Brittney has helped SO much in getting Avery more comfortable with the water, and we are so grateful!

$3...yup, gotta love a bargain!

My little water bug was SO excited for lessons today! I gave her a pep talk, and tried to encourage her to try everything that Brittney asked her to do, and not say "I don't want to." Take a look at what she accomplished today!


It took a little while to warm up to the water today...
Look how deep she is!!! She's in up to her armpits! That's HUGE!

Not only is she in up to her arm pits, but she left the wall...OMGoodness!

She also went deeper today with Brittney. She practiced doing her "cheetah kicks" and her "ice cream scoops". Gol, when I was a kid, it was called the front crawl...

"Look at me mom!" I was SO proud of her today!

She put her chin in the water 6 times in a row, but wouldn't put her lips in at all. She needs to work on that, and also floating on her back...we'll see what tomorrow brings!!!

She gets to go again tomorrow, and Thursday, and then we'll see where we are after that!
Great Job Avery!!!

Today was "fun at the cabin" day for our church!
We had a great turn-out, loads of yummy food, and great fellowship!
It was a perfect day outside....high 70's, sunny, low wind....just perfect!

A family from our church owns a cabin about 30 minutes away, so they invited us all out!
Here is Avery checking it all out!

The newly married couple, Dustin and Ashley.
This is Dustin's "I'm a stud" pose, and Ashley's "I don't take pictures well" face!

We're no where near California, but we did try our hand at surfing!

Liv had no fear of the water. She went in up to her chest, where Avery went in up to her knees. Liv had a blast, and the only bad part was that the lake was a little too cold for her liking!

Love her to pieces....

Hubby and I were talking on the way home about how different a "day at the lake" is when you have kids. The college students from our church were relaxing, lounging around. Oh, how those days are gone for us parents. I was a nervous wreck the whole time about one of the girls falling in the water. Avery gets her anxiety about the water from me, for sure! :) I will enjoy outings like this much more when the girls are older and can swim well!

Hope you all had a FABULOUS weekend!

Daddy and his precious lil' girls on the day our family became complete
....(we think)....