Fun in the Sun

This afternoon was so beautiful. I was super excited when I saw our neighbors little boy playing with the water hose. I couldn't wait for Riley and Sam to get up from naps so we could play outside.
So, Maryanne and I were discussing camera's and how it isn't the camera but the person taking the picture... So she took a few pictures with my new camera to try out this theory. This one was one of my favorite.

Such concentration

I love how this one captured the water.

And a cheesy grin...

They loved filling up that bucket and then dumping it out.

"What do you mean we're going inside soon?"Sam's adorable, little, dirty feet

I don't know why, but I loved this one

Sam decided to get in on some of the action. However, after he got sprayed he turned right back around.

They were all waving goodbye to Josh.

I love this time of the year. I am so excited because in just a few short weeks I will have even more time to have some "fun in the sun" with the kids. Today was so nice. The sun was out but it wasn't super hot/humid. I am really looking forward to some more fun in the sun this weekend. We are taking the kids somewhere special!

On another note... my AMAZING sister Hannah started a new blog! I am so impressed with her heart and her writing. I hope you get a blessing from it like I do. (I guess that means.... Leah, it's your turn to start a blog tehee)

Sisters!

Grr! -I have been very behind in my blogging lately. (as you can tell) but I couldn't wait to document my wonderful weekend with my sisters. I finally set down to do so tonight and somehow I erased all the pictures on my camera!!! I had all the pictures from our fun sister weekend and from my grandmothers visit this past weekend and TONS of cute misc pics. Grr! However, on the bright side: since I don't have pictures, I am technically caught up :) haha
So, back to my wonderful sisters.... I stole this picture from my last post because I had to have a picture. (oh another bummer is that I was planning on using all my fun sister photo's to bring our sister blog back to life. But I guess there will be another day for that...)
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! Hannah and Leah, thank you SO much for coming and spending some time with me. I needed some sister lovin! We all had a great time on Friday night at our schools variety show called Hootenany. The best part of the night was when our dear friend Corey proposed to his (then) girlfriend. (now fiance :) I even got to be a part of the surprise! (By "be a part" I mean that I helped hold the "Patty will you marry me" sign) It was SO great and my sisters got to spend it with me. Saturday was tons of fun as well. That night we headed out for a girls night. Nothin like eating at Olive Garden with my favorite girls!
The evening was full of family swashbuckling fun. That right. We pulled out the kids swords and quoted the princess bride. We had waffles, we swapped stories, and we all piled into the same bed. IT WAS GREAT!
Hannah and Leah, I love you so much and I miss you more than ever! I can't wait for us to be together again in just a few short weeks.

Sushi and a Birthday

My birthday was a few weekends ago. As I mentioned before, we celebrated back home with my family and some of our dearest friends. When we got back home though we were excited to have some "mommy and daddy time" celebrating just the two of us.

My birthday wish was to try some sushi. Well, because I am a weenie and didn't have a clue as to what I was doing, I don't think I had "real" sushi. (and by real I mean nothing raw) My intentions were to try some of the "real" stuff but I had no idea where to start. However, I had some crunch rolls and Ryne had Texas rolls. They were GREAT! It was fun to try something a little different.
Here I am with my sushi!

And Ryne with his :)

Us

Afterwards we headed to Olive Garden for dessert. I just LOVE their Italian donuts. They come out warm and go great with some hot coffee.

Afterwards we stoped by Chik-fil-a so Ryne could pick something up. It just so happened to be family night and Happy the clown was there. We just had a grand ol time visiting while I waited on Ryne. (I know that is shocking) Happy gave me a flower balloon. He even gave me one for both Riley and Sam. (Which they LOVED. Riley is all about the balloons now) As it turns out, every Tuesday night they have family night at the Longview Chik-fil-a's. (meaning a free kids meal with adult purchase and free balloons :)

Here we are at my dear friend Angie's house after our night out. She is so sweet. She watched our kiddo's so we could go out.

I love having birthdays. I have been told that down the road I won't enjoy them as much but I sure hate to think so. I love living and I love how each new year brings its own joys, pains, and challenges. I most certainly have had some challenges these past few years. I wouldn't change them though. I look forward to getting older and living life to the fullest each and every day. I know that life will always have its challenges regardless of my age. However, this particular birthday seemed somewhat powerful. What I mean is I feel very accomplished. That is how I responded when asked about how I felt on my birthday. Accomplished.

Since graduating High School I have gotten married, had two beautiful children, worked a part time job, gone to school full time and completed 3 years of study. I have been a full time wife and mom, been a supporting sister and daughter, and a faithful church member. I have been a resident assistant to 36 apartments and their families and planned multiple events as well as a couple of baby showers. I have met people all over the world all from my small little campus. I have had the opportunity to love on and minister to multiple people, as well as them loving and ministering to me. I am not exactly where I thought I would be at 21 years old, but in some ways I am. I always wanted to do the things that I have listed above. and I have.

That is why this birthday was so special. Because it feels like a milestone. I have had so many amazing opportunities in such a short amount of time. I feel so blessed. Thank you so much to everyone who is a part of my life and for all of the sweet birthday wishes. I look forward to my next year of life and to all of the adventure that it brings as well.

Easter Trip

Leah, Hannah, and I shopping goofing around in the mall.

Riley and Sam playing in the Blue Bonnets.

Sam wanted to play with the new game too!

I am not sure what he was trying to do. :)

Hannah and my Dad won!

We make a good team!

Josh and Ryne looking "cool"

Saturday night Ryne, Hannah, Leah, and I headed up to White Horse Station to listen to some live music and get some coffee. (They even played Happy Birthday for me :) These young men are very talented. It was so nice.

Ryne and I at WHS.

Hannah, Leah, and I in our Easter Dresses. (We didn't even mean to coordinate. We are just cool like that)

Sam Man. Precious

My dad and Judd. It was there last Sunday before moving for his new job.

Mom, Beverly, and Dara.

Fun hunting Easter Eggs!

My mom got us some confetti eggs. We each had three eggs, one to break on each other person. Well, after Ryne hit us and we discovered that they hurt, we decided to all just gang up on him. (notice we all were standing like 2 yards away so we could hit him. haha)

We decided the kids were easy targets too.

Ryne decided to try and shoot his eggs. Haha

After we left my moms, we headed over to see Grandma and Grandpa. (Beba) They had Easter gifts waiting for them there too!

Bubbles and a kite!Even mom got a new shirt

A dress for Riley

Sam was pretty excited about all the goodies

One thing is for sure, after my bubble post, the kids have plenty of bubbles :)

They sure are loved...

I just loved this picture.

Wow, Easter already seems like it was so long ago. It worked out perfectly because we were able to celebrate mine and my dad's birthdays as well as Easter! Dara and her mom were even able to celebrate with us. I always enjoy seeing my sisters SO much. We had such a good time visiting too. For our birthday dinner we had some of the BEST hamburgers. (Thanks mom)

We loved being with you all and miss you so much. Can't wait to see you again!

Quick Visit

As I said in the previous post, we all got super sick towards the end of our spring break. For some reason Ryne just had a hard time shaking it off. So the following weekend his parents came down for a quick treat. (short for treatment ha) Riley even helped out! I just loved these so thought I would share!

Spring Break

I know it is a tad bit ridiculous to be blogging about spring break about a month after it happened, but what can I say. I am a busy full time college student/mother of two. So, even though it is super late (and I am playing catch-up on LOTS of blogging) Here it is...

We had an early flight on Tuesday morning so we headed to Dallas the night before. It worked out GREAT because we got to meet up with some of our good friends. (We really missed you Rhea) These guys are the best. I am so glad we got to spend some time with you all!

The kids were SO excited because we got to ride this train that was in the mall. I had never seen a mall train. It was so cute. Riley would stick her hand out and wave at everyone we passed while Sam stuck his head out like a dog in a pick up truck, just laughing and smiling from ear to ear. Ever since then Riley talks about riding the train all the time. I guess we will have to take her sometime this summer to see some trains :)

That night we stayed at a hotel. It was great because we basically had two rooms. We put both the kids on the pull out bed and just crossed our fingers. Ha. We surrounded the entired bed with chairs and pillows and anything else we could find. The kids stayed up for a while playing. I just new Sam would fall out. However, the next morning this is what I found:

I thought it was so precious

Here we are eating grapes and bannana bread muffins. All ready to go!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

We took the kids to the Arizona Museum For Youth with Grandma Scott.

Riley loved the painting. Maybe we have a future artist?

Sam loved everything he could get his hands on and fiddle with.

Almost...

It was so funny because Riley and Sam both kept putting everything into the microwave in this play kitchen. Grandma Scott asked "is that how your mommy cooks at home?" and Riley responded with a proud "Yes, all the time" Haha. That is not true but it sure did make me laugh.

When Riley walked into this triangular mirror she got a little flustered. She said "hey! Whats goin on here?" :)

We even played around too

The lemons, oranges, and grapefruit smell SO good in Phoenix. Riley and Sam loved to play with the lemons.

We asked to eat out some place we couldn't eat in Texas. (or more specifically Longview) so they took us to George's. It was really good. We tried a Gyro for the first time. Haha

I don't know what they are talking about but I sure do love this picture.

Ryne and I were able to sneak away for a little bit and we went to Old Town. The sun was in our eyes. Everything is so beautiful there.

This was my chalk drawing while we were waiting on Grandma, Grandpa, Hannah, Cait, and Nate to get there.

Yes! That is in fact what it looks like! Riley was trying to dribble the ball and with her left hand!

Oh yes, the family olympics

Ryne and Nate

Ryne and Nate after pulling out the "solar panals" as Ryne said.

Oh yeah

My "little" man

Saturday of spring break was my SIL Caitlin's birthday. Since we were leaving on Sat we went out to celebrate Friday night. We headed over the Alice Coopers resteraunt. We had a great time!

Beautiful Birthday girl!

Whew. That was a lot of pictures. We have been able to go to Phoenix for 3 spring breaks in a year now. We really look forward to the trip. This year was really exciting for us because the kids are getting a little older and in some ways easier to travel with. At the end of our trip though, we all got sick. I mean just the crud! The kids just layed in everyone's arms for a couple of days. The worst part about being sick though was that we didn't get any group family shots. We had some great shots from last year and I was looking forward to douplicating it but I guess we will jsut shoot for next year. Thanks for letting us come and see you Grandma and Grandpa Scott. We love you SO much.

-Oh and I defended my Family Olympic title well. I came in 2nd in both the "third game" and in pool and tied for overall champ with Hannah. I'd say a good year!