Our Fourth - 2011 Edition

We had a lovely holiday weekend, and hope you did also. We really enjoyed spending time together as a family and spending time with our wonderful friends! Fireworks were definitely a must, just wasn't sure how to go about it seeing the fourth was on a Monday, meaning we had to be up early the next day. One of Gabe's fraternity brother's and his wife, Nathan and Shannon, were in town from Houston so we met them and another couple (also fellow Red Raiders), the Morgan's, for lunch at Ozona's in Dallas and had a great time! That afternoon we ended up meeting the Hinkle's at Kaboom Town in Addison. This way we could for sure see some fireworks. By the time we arrived, it was late afternoon and it was p.a.c.k.e.d! Luckily we were meeting people there and they had saved us an awesome seat! Perfect to see the air show and a wonderful view of the fireworks! Brody loved the entertainment (and all the "air-pwanes") and especially dancing to all the music. Cash was about to fall asleep, but I took him out of the stroller to see the show. He was a perfect angel, sitting there relaxing while the fireworks show took place. What a perfect evening!

I'm the worst mom and I am not good about taking their picture together very often, something I can definitely improve on. Well, here is the attempt from the 4th of July at Kaboom Town.

We did what we could to stay cool in this Texas heat! We chewed on our monkey lovie,

we ate grapes,

drank lots of water and other beverages,

and stripped down to our diaper....well some of us did anyway!

Two of my fav people ending a great night at Kaboom Town. Too bad the traffic was AWE-FULL! We sat in traffic for 1.5 hours and Brody didn't fall asleep until midnight!!

On Monday, The Fourth, "the gang" got together to have some food, fun, and fireworks! We brought dessert to Brooke and Steve's, while they grilled out awesome pizza's, and the Colberg's brought a delicious salad! Seriously the pizza's were so good, I had to get the recipe! I opted for dessert and made an American Flag out of red velvet cupcakes. I forgot to take a pic., but they were cute with strawberries and blueberries. I cannot believe how hard I had to search for red velvet cake mix. There was only one brand and it was on the very bottom shelf. Crazy. I thought it was more popular than that. Who knew?

Here is Brody helping mommy mix the cupcake batter.

This baking is really exhausting!

At the Long's home. Cash l.o.v.e.s the big kids!

Teagan and Gavin love to play with Cash

Outside after dinner. Was very warm but not boiling outside, like it is now in August.

the BEST of FRIENDS!

Cutie patooties!

We all enjoyed hanging out with great friends!

I love all three of these sweet kids and their little hineys too!

Cash was supposed to be sleeping, but he wanted to know what all was going on and wanted to monitor how much fun we were having! ;)

We love being silly!

Playing with Gavin's dog, Maya

After an awesome afternoon and evening, we all caravanned over to the McKinney fireworks. We parked on the side of the road like we have in years past. The fireworks were decent, and it wasn't too hard waking up the next day! :)

Fort Worth Zoo

Some of our dear friends, The Longs, invited us to skip church one Sunday and take the kids to the zoo. We obliged since I had been wanting to go to the Dallas Zoo. I grew up going to and love the Fort Worth Zoo so we gladly accepted the offer that was put on our table. We did opt out of going to Joe T's after but think it was the right decision for naps and our wallet even though the margaritas and enchiladas were screaming my name! Hope you enjoy some of the pictures we took of Brody and Cash's first trip to a zoo! It was a great age for Brody to go since he can recognize the animals and get excited about seeing them. Cash, well, he was just along for the hot stroller ride!

Our first air conditioned stop of the afternoon. The fish, turtles, and alligator tank. We all enjoyed watching these guys!

Gavin looking at the alligator, fish and turtles.

Such a poser and I love him for it!

Hungry boys!

Just being sweet and cute, as always!

Brody and the flamingos

The best pic we could get of the penguins. Whoever did that penguin movie (Happy Feet?) really nailed the look of the penguins!

Cash was so good the whole time, until he realized he was WAY hungry towards the end of our time at the zoo! We did not realize what time it was and all of a sudden Cash was ticked! Gabe quickly shoveled in the baby food while I took Brody to the gorilla/monkey area. Baby Cash you are the best! Thanks for being such a great baby!

We got lots of pics like this! Precious little boys!

Hide and Seek! Can you spot that lazy lion?

Beautiful Zebras

One of the black bears. Snoozing....just the way I like him! :)

A sleepy white tiger. This seemed to be the trend on this steamy June afternoon!

Brody watching the Rhinos

And there he is! Our rhino friend taking a bath!

The elephants are always great!

We definitely do not do these enough! My sweet family! Love these people with every ounce of my being!

The giraffes and their crazy tongues ;P

Gavin being sweet to Cash, and Cash is just eating up all that attention!! ;) He L.O.V.E.S. older kids!

This is probably one of my favorite parts and I'm glad we went here last. The air conditioning was simply amazing! I kid, I kid. These creatures are extremely fascinating to me and I could watch them for hours.

Some gorillas chomping down on some delicious greens.

Blog friends, please meet my friend, Gary the Gorilla. He was literally at the glass, I mean plastic window. It was so neat to see him so up close. I wanted to get Brody's picture with this friend of mine, but he wasn't having it. We can thank Daddy for that later.

The two cutest, most adorable, fun little two year old boys! I hope they stay this innocent forever!

Love this zoo, except for the fact that Gabe thought it would be really funny to tell Brody that "....it's gonna get you!" for every animal. This made Brody quite afraid to get close to the animals and ruining an awesome photo op. The Fort Worth Zoo is ahighly recommended place to go. The next zoo on my list is the Dallas zoo. I've lived in the DFW area all my life and I have never been to the Dallas Zoo...can you believe it? Then, next year we will try to go to the San Diego Zoo when we are there for a dear friends wedding next fall!

Thanks Brooke, Stephen, and Gavin for inviting us to go along with you! We had a blast!

Pool Time FUN!

Memorial Day Weekend we spent a lot of it outside and in the water. We had to buy a new blow up pool for the summer, so we decided to break it in...or the boys did while I snapped photos. We "celebrated" my birthday with a little bit of family.

Loving the pool time. Brody did, Cash wasn't so sure about it, but he did like it.

Brody was devouring this cupcake!

My dad and stepmom with Baby Cash

A little bit of brotherly love (only because it's Mom's birthday)

Please ignore all the scratches on Brody's face and knee. I swear we don't hurt our children!!!! ;)

Nana with her grandsons

Delicious cupcakes made by my MIL - aren't they gorgeous?

On Memorial Day, we met some of our friends out at their neighborhood pool and cooked out hamburgers. What a fun day!

Look at me! Swimming all by myself!

MY BOYS! :)

Gavin's "cheese" face

They loved this. We would cover up the sprayer and once we moved our foot the water came spraying out. They did this over and over and over and over....

Mr. Gavin

Sweet twins, Carson and Avery