If it's been a while since you checked out my blog, that's probably because I haven't touched it in 4 months! Sorry! But I just did a major update covering everything from Jaron's birthday in May to the end of the summer and all the fun we've had. Please don't forget to check out all the pictures of Jaron's birthday a few posts down....I know it's a lot but I am sure it will be worth it to look through everything! Thanks for sticking with me!

Jaron visits Ava!

Last week Jaron and I took one last summer trip before Jaron's baby brother arrives...we drove down to Galveston with my aunt Laurie to visit Jaron's best friend, Ava, and her mom, Kyla! It was a sweet little reunion, as you can see.

They played in the sandbox and colored with chalk in Ava's back yard.

Then they needed to get cleaned off...

Ava with her "Jo Jo" (my aunt Laurie)

The next day the kids were ready to go to the beach.

Ava was very excited to show Jaron her new home just minutes from the Galveston beach!

Here are the kids with Kyla and I...she is 9 months pregnant and I am 8 months pregnant.

Jaron really liked the water!

I hesitated to post this one, but I figured that if I didn't do it now, I would share the photo at Jaron's rehearsal dinner years from now, so why not? He really liked playing Ava's piano "nekky."

My cousin Alan showed off his fishtank.

The last day we went to the Aquarium at Moody Gardens.

This photo is blurry but still kind of cool to see the fish Jaron is looking at!

Wow! I think Nemo is in there! Thank you Kyla, Alan and Ava for a WONDERFUL time. We love ya'll so much!

Summer in Snowmass

At the end of June we spent a week in Snowmass, CO with my Mom and Mammas and Poppop. It was a FANTASTIC trip. The weather was beautiful, and it was especially nice to get out of the Texas heat while I was 6 months pregnant! Jackopierce played a great show at a beautiful amphitheater in Vail while we were in CO, so Mammas, Poppop and I went to the show. We spent the rest of the vacation in Snowmass. Here is a picture of my boys playing in the pool at the Snowmass Club.

Here are Jaron and Mimi at the Snowmass Rodeo petting zoo. Jaron liked the animals the most. He did not like to see the bareback riders get thrown off the horses. He kept referring to them as "man falling down....no like it."

Here's Jordan at the petting zoo too!

See, Jaron looks a little distressed.

Lollipops saved the day many times as we drove from Snowmass to Aspen and back.

Here we all are at Woody Creek Tavern. My favorite!

Look how handsome Jordan is. He is such a cutie!

The driveway in Snowmass is rather steep, and Jaron really liked to run his toy cars down the driveway "really fast." Here are Jaron and Cary watching the cars...

Mammas and Poppop got this statue of a mommy deer and 2 baby dear to put in the courtyard of the house. Each night, Jaron enjoyed eating his dessert popsicle outside next to the deer, which he called "kangaroos."

On the 4th of July we went to this SUPER FUN parade in downtown Aspen. They had a carnival for the kids, burgers (and veggie burgers for my Mom!), face painting, games, candy and more.

Here's Jaron playing one of the games. It was hard for him to understand that he could only pick out 1 prize. :)

Jaron got a mini-beach ball, and Jordan painted a tie-dyed frisbee.

Mom and I enjoyed watching the boys!

So, the whole time we played games at the carnival, my Mom waited in line for the face painting. And it was SO worth it. Jaron got to pick what he wanted, and he picked an Elmo to be painted on his face. Jordan got his entire face painted like a US flag. Both boys were really patient and still while the girls painted their faces. Here is a picture of Mimi and Jaron with the Elmo on his face.

Here we all are again after the face painting.

After that, we watched the parade come by. Jaron watched all the cars and animals, while Jordan collected all the candy off the street.

Yeah!!!

Jaron really liked these "baby horseys."

Here's Jordan collecting more candy.

Here is our big boy with the 4th of July flag painted on his face. HAPPY 4th!!

Marfa

Here are a few photos of the trip Cary and I took this summer to Marfa, Texas. It is in far west Texas and has become an artist haven during the last few years. Marfa is a town pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and you would never know by looking at it on the outside, but the town has tons of amazing pieces of art and a couple of really great five-star restaurants. It is really peaceful there. We have wanted to visit for a while now, and so we finally got the chance to go this summer for Cary's (belated) birthday gift.

We stayed at this hotel called the Thunderbird.

This is the outside of the warehouse where artist Donald Judd's 100 aluminum boxes are held. This is one of the main attractions in Marfa. Each aluminum box has the exact same rectangular dimensions on the outside but has a different shape on the inside. Sort of hard to describe but interesting to see.

We had such a great time being together!

This is an example of some of the art we saw in Marfa. It is a bunch of cars that are crushed up and stuck together.

Here I am trying to "blend in" to the art.

Summertime!

Jordan went to his 1st overnight camp this summer at Pine Cove. He LOVED it and had the best time. Here are a couple of photos from when we picked him up.

This is Jordan and his counselor, "Tinkertoy."

Aunt Kimmy came to visit in June!! It was such a fun time. She gave him anything he wanted (almost), which included this BIG lollipop and a black VW bug toy car, which he now refers to as "Kimmy's car." He loved spending time with her and can't wait to see her again!

Here is a picture of Jaron at the doctor's office getting lollipops. They definitely helped him feel "all better."

Jaron's best friend Ava came over in June for our last "weekly" playdate, after a year of playing together every Tuesday. Ava and her parents moved to Galveston for my cousin Alan's residency in neurosurgery. (Stay tuned for a post about our fun visit to Galveston.) We have missed them so much already! Kyla and I cried at the last playdate, and of course the kids didn't have any clue that there was any reason to be sad. :) They played in the sandbox and went down Jaron's new slide. They really are best friends!!

My friend Jill sent the boys this adorable and huge panda bear, which is lovingly referred to as "REALLY BIG PANDA!" The boys love to tackle it, throw it around, AND snuggle with it. Thank you Jill!