Happy Birthday America!

Our 4th of July started with a bike parade with Big Pappy, GT and the boys, continued with a BBQ with jumpy castles and cornhole, and ended with fireworks at home with Grandmom. A great day!

Hope was loving doing our own fireworks. EJ was a little nervous at first, but then got into it. Beck LOVED the city firework show. Daddy was a little worn out by the end of the day!

Colorado Springs

I had posted about Brandon's "Rookie of the Year" award, but never included pics of the rest of our trip.  Here they are:

Hope and "the other Hope" in the pool!

EJ and her hippo

Cutie!

The hotel robes are the greatest!

THe Cheyenne Mountain Zoo brough animals into the lobby one day - here's a turtle!

Hope and Hope relaxing

Daddy and Beck relaxing

Awards Night

Paddle Boating!

Beck slept for the paddleboat ride

Fun trip! :)

My Girls!

These days when I talk about "my girls", I'm usually referring to Hope and EJ.  Back in college and in my "pre-kid" days, it was these two:

Me, Amee, and Brandi

I got to see my girls again in June when Amee came out from Kansas and Brandi came from Korea.  It has been SO LONG since the 3 of us have been together, but it was like no time had passed at all.  The visit was way too short, and since Brandi should be moving back to the states next year, we are (once again) planning yearly trips to get together.  Miss you girls!

The Carni

Ever since reading a Dora book about a Carnival, EJ had been requesting to go to one.  Luckily, in June, a carnival came to an outdoor mall near us.  We met some friends there and everyone had a great time!

 EJ and Paige

 Beck liked watching the big kids on the rides!

 Daddy and Hope off to find a "big ride"!

 Roller Coaster!

 Trying to win a fish!

 Spinny elephants!

 Sisters!

The mall play area was almost as much fun as the carnival.

Peek-A-Boo!

MOVING!

That is my excuse for not blogging in well over a month.  I will be back soon.  I am not promising to update on everything I've missed, but I will pick up at some point with pictures of our new home!  And I will catch up on others' blogs.  There's just not enough time in the day!!

Rookie of the Year!

A couple of weeks ago we were in Colorado Springs for the Summer Regional meeting for Brandon's work.  Edward Jones is such a family oriented company and they do a great job of including all of us and making us feel, not only important, but critical to the financial advisor's success.  We had a wonderful weekend at a wonderful resort.  We had plans to go to some of the tourist attractions around the Springs, but the hotel amenities were so great that we hung out there the whole time - swimming, eating, paddleboating and relaxing!

One of the highlights of the trip was the awards dinner on our last night there.  We had a delicious dinner (the kids got their own pizza party in another part of the hotel), yummy drinks, and great company.  At last year's awards dinner, Brandon made it a goal to earn the Rookie of the Year award, which he wasn't eligible for until this year.  He came home with lots of awards, but was most excited about the boxing gloves:

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!!!

We're so proud of you!!

Crawling Along

This video was taken about 3 weeks ago when Little Man started crawling.  He's only gotten faster and is now cruising around furniture and trying to climb stairs.  You would think that by the 3rd kid I would have learned to baby proof before they become mobile!  He's SO BIG!