my heart beats true for the red, white and blue

We had a fun weekend getting to visit Mimi, decorate Kent's house (which I failed to take any pics of), and see friends get married. Here's Kinley helping Mimi do some serious shopping at Garden Ridge which had no air conditioning. Note: it was 101 degrees outside on Sat.

at the wedding
When we got back on Sunday afternoon we got a quick nap and then headed down to the square in our town. Our church put on a great "Celebrate America" program! I love America and celebrating it each 4th of July. I love all of the patriotic music!! I was totally in the moment. We were late so didn't have great seats, but it was still great.
There was a military fly over, which gives me chills every time. Twila Paris sang and there was a Vietnam vet who spoke. I am so, so thankful to all the men and women who serve our country. God Bless the USA!

Daddy and K


K and John Michael. They used to be in the same nursery class, but JM turned 1 and started walking so he moved up. K not so much cooperating for the picture

our family

this girl is like her momma and loves to watch people!

K is finally able to reach her little toes to the floor in the walker, however, she can only go backward. I love it when she turns the music on in the video and gets the biggest smile on her face!

Playin' with Presley

We've had a fun and busy past couple of days. Catherine and Presley came to visit! Us girls had a big time. We swam and shopped and played and ate! Isn't that was girls do best!

Little fishes!

The shopping Queens!

Presley gave Kinley a pink ball cap so they could be twinkies!

Future college roommates?

I just knew I was going to be posting a video of Kinley crawling tonight, but it didn't happen. She is so close. Friends keep telling me to hold it off as long as possible, to enjoy her staying on a blanket in the floor because soon she will be all over the house in a second, but it just so fun to cheer her on!

F-U-N

A lot of fun is what we've had this weekend. Kinley was a little cranky on Saturday so we decided to go for a drive. I LOVE these drives where you leave home without a plan. We drove out to Beaver Lake and then kept driving...until we reached War Eagle Mill!

Behind us is the mill that still processes flour every day. It was really cool!

We didn't get to eat in the restaurant (which I've heard is fabulous), but we did take home some fresh cornmeal and some bean soup mix. Yum!
Here's Zach and K in front of the river that turns the wheel that runs the mill! Ha! That should be a song!

They had the best rocking chair on the front porch of the mill that K and I really enjoyed.

After that we had dinner and swimming with friends....not at the same time of course! I just noticed the duck decoy in the pool. Ha! You know your from AR if your pool toys double for hunting supplies!

Happy Father's Day to Zach!

It is so fun watching be the amazing Daddy you are to K. Thank you for all you do for us!

Last week Kinley and I started "Mommy and Me" swim class. She LOVES it! I remembered my camera today but not until we were already finished swimming and in the locker room. Swimming makes this girl (and Mommy) tired. She was asleep before we drove out of the parking lot!

Happy Monday!

Rhyme & Story Time

Kinley and I tried something new today. We went to kids Rhyme and Story Time at one of our local libraries. It was so much fun! Kinley really liked watching the other kids. The library gave her a book since this was her first time. We plan to go again soon!

Here's our friends Angela and Avery who suggested the story time adventure. Glad they did!

Kinley's new favorite past time is her jump-a-roo. We didn't register for one when all the baby showers were happening. I just didn't think it was necessary to have an exersaucer AND a jump-a-ro00, but I was wrong. I found one at a nearby kids resale store.

I'm thinking she likes it, you watch and see. And PLEASE ignore my southern draw :( If I were more tech-savy I would mute the audio.

Do they make an adult version of the jump-a-roo?!! I could really use one!

Beautiful Weekend

I really enjoyed getting to catch up with my high school friends this past weekend and seeing Mandi and Chris join their lives together in marriage. I did a really terrible job taking pictures (got home with 6) and am waiting on the professional (Lauren) to send the good ones. So, until then, here's a start.

The bride and groom were having their special moment together before pictures and I had to sneak a pic. How precious?!!

7 Months!

Guess who is 7 months old?

I have some cute pictures to share from our first real photo shoot I will share later....along with the beach pics. Our laptop has all the pictures on it. The battery finally died on the way home so I am waiting on the replacement to be shipped. I promise I will share...there are some good ones! Have a great weekend! We're on the road again...

Ode to the breast pump

I am trying to swallow this and hope this will be the end. After 3 weeks of putting it off, I have finally put away the breastpump. I am thankful that I was able to breastfeed for a little over 6 months but I really wasn't ready for my milk to dry up, to say the least

This has been a subject we've steared clear of for several weeks now and today I decided it is time for me to get it off my chest (no pun intended).

Goodbye dear friend, breastpump. Thanks for all the hours we spent together and your hard work. I hope to see you again in a few years when the next little Freeze arrives.

I am very happy to say Kinley hasn't missed a beat and gets so excited when we start shaking up her bottle! ok, I think I feel better.

On a lighter note, wedding season is in full swing. Here are some pics of us at Jeff and Kelli's wedding this past Sat. Sad I didn't get of the bride and groom.

This weekend we are off to Mandi and Chris' wedding in Arkadelphia! Can't wait!

Should've Been a Trucker...

...okay, not really but we have logged a lot of miles. In 16 days we've driven almost 2500 miles. Needless to say we are SO glad to be home, but we had a great time away. I am working on weeding through our beach pictures and promise a slideshow of pictures sometime this week.

Kinley and I were the only two who came back from the beach and you couldn't tell we had ever been in the sun. We just burn, so we stayed under the umbrella!

After Florida, Zach had to travel so K and I went to stay with Mimi and Mony for a few days. We really enjoyed our time there. A Saturday afternoon drive led us to the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. We didn't come back with any jewels, but found a few photo opts while we were there.




Note: If you've never experienced the Diamond Mine, here's a small glimpse in the background of this picture. I am sure there is some science into digging, but in the eye of the inexperienced digger it just looks like a big field. I do however recommed at least one dig! Kudos to our state parks! This one was nice.



Another first for Kinley while in Southern AR was a fishing trip. Here's K with her PawPaw. One fish was caught, but we're not telling who caught it.

On Tuesday we got a huge praise! Mammy had been sick and was headed for surgery, but she was healed! So we decided we would like to ride in the car a little more and headed for Texas. In all seriousness, life is too short, so we went to visit Mammy and Pop. Kinley loved the pool on her first dip!

Whew, I am worn out just writing about our adventures! So we picked up Daddy from the airport on Sunday night and finally made it home! What a fun time we had, but Dorothy said it best.."there's no place like home!"

Yesterday K had her 6 month vaccinations...can't believe she'll be 7 months next week. She is sitting up without support, babbling like crazy, and growing so quickly. She weighed 17lbs 9oz!

Ok, back to laundry and unpacking!