Saturday, September 1, 2018

My First Baby Turns 13!

Matt turning 13 is exciting and sad all at the same time. I have to say he's a great kid. He works hard at everything he does, he's so stinkin' handsome and every now and then he says the funniest things. I love him SO much. But it also means his time at home with us is quickly going by and well...I'm realizing I'm getting old.

Matt's favorite baseball player has always been #27 for the Angels, Mike Trout. It just so happened that the Astros and the Angels were playing here in Houston on August 31st. So we took a few friends to have MOD pizza and then to watch some baseball! We sat in the outfield right near Trout and the boys cheered him on the whole game. He looked up and gave them the nod a few times. After the game we watched the fireworks which are always great.
The boys spent the night and who knows how long they stayed up because I only made it to 1:00am. But they had smiling faces in the morning so all was good! Happy Birthday Matt. We love you!

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Camp Cho-Yeh

I was super excited that Marlie went back to Camp Cho-Yeh this summer with her best friends Lauren Standley and Khloe King. The girls got assigned to the Magnolia cabin which is one of the new cabins on the property. The girls loved it because it was much closer to the cafeteria so they didn't have to walk so far!

They had a great week. Marlie raved about the food and she loved AO games, going to the lake, shooting guns (LOL) and of course bible studies with her small group. Marlie got the Faithfulness award again this year and I'm super proud of her. Ms. Jessica said she loved having her in her bible study group. Marlie loved her counselors, especially Ms. Jessica who she spent most of her time with. Thank you all for loving on our girls all week! They will be back!

Sunday, July 15, 2018

2018 HC2 World Series

Matt's baseball team decided to head to New Braunfels this year to compete in a World Series. We were excited as there are so many fun things to do and all our family in San Antonio is right down the street.

We decided to get there a couple of days early to go to Schlitterbahn which neither Matt or Marlie could pronounce. The first day we met all of the cousins there. We had so much fun until it started raining and in the middle of July we ended up freezing!
The next day we went back to Schlitterbahn with the Eaton's and the Wellmann's. We had fun riding all the tube rides and even waited an hour for the boys to ride the uphill water coaster.

Day 3 we got to visit our high school friend Clint Rutledge. He and his family opened up a D-Bat facility in New Braunfels and the boys got to hit. It was a great chance for them to warm up and so fun for us to spend time with Clint. The facility is amazing!
At everyone's recommendation we headed to Freiheit Country Store for some amazing burgers. This became our favorite lunch spot near the fields.

Then it was time for the skills competition and opening ceremonies. Our team cleaned up in the skills competition. Matt won the "Speed Demon" award for the fastest time around the bases. Niko won the home run derby and John, Caden, Kmac and Nick won the "around the horn" competition.
The boys started the tournament off well and went undefeated. Matt had grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins at every game!
 Thursday night we were treated to a wonderful dinner at The Gristmill! 
Friday the boys had an off day which turned out to be perfect! We decided to set up camp at the Float In on the Comal River. The kids (and parents) had a great time going down the tube chute and we only had about 4 instances of potential drowning and/or having to be saved by the lifeguards! The Hatters met us there as well and Doug and Shawn took 4 boys down the chute without tubes or life jackets! We did eventually float the river which seemed pretty calm and slightly boring to the boys who preferred risking their lives going down the chute without life jackets! The girls stood up, balancing in their tubes almost the whole way playing games like "hokie pokie". It was a great and tiring day!

We came home to rest and played games. We had so much fun playing Taboo and Charades. There are some good ones we'll remember for awhile. 
It was back to baseball and the boys continued to play great. The won all their games to make it to the championship game. These girls were entertained the entire week. While the boys were warming up, they were out catching grasshoppers! They are the best fans and likely two of the most athletic kids on the trip!!
The boys lost the championship game. There were lots of sad faces and some tears. They really wanted to win. But they went 7-1 during the week and we had a wonderful time. Blessed to have so many great families on our team. Congratulations boys on a great World Series! 


Thank you to all our family who came to sit in the hot sun every day to watch Matt do what Matt does! You made his days!

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Marlie's Golden Year

Marlie was super excited about her birthday this year because she said it was her "golden year". I had no idea what that meant but she explained that she was turning 11 on the 11th! I was hoping to do something small for her birthday until this revelation and then I figured well...why not go all out for her "golden year"!

One of Marlie's closest friends, Lauren Standley also has a summer birthday and so we joined forces. Each of the girls were able to pick 3 friends that the other girl also knew and we spent the night at La Torretta Resort in the Woodlands. 

The girls had a great time. They played at the water park, ate pizza, made s'mores, ate cake and of course played silly slumber party games. 
We actually slept in a little and the girls packed all their things and we went to breakfast at IHOP! It was a great birthday celebration. Marlie I'm glad you got to celebrate with Lauren and I'm thankful for all of your sweet friends! 
On Marlie's actual birthday of course she had dance so we snuck in a quick dinner with a few dance friends. And then Nene and Uncle Jay came over after to celebrate!