THE MAGIC OF MINNIE MOUSE . . .

Last Thursday when I told Rilyn it was time to get her suit on for swim lessons, of course I got her typical response of "no" and absolutely no cooperation ... that was until I pulled out her Minnie Mouse swim suit that my mom had gotten her a while back (i just recently cleaned out her closet and found it) that fits her now. As soon as she set eye's on it, she was immediately so excited to put it on and believe it or not I couldn't hardly get her out the door and in the truck quick enough to go to swim!! Once we arrived she walked right up to the edge of the pool and began telling Mrs. Brooke all about minnie mouse on her swim suit!! Brooke immediately caught on and played it up to the fullest, asking Rilyn if Minnie was going to help her swim today and the whole nine ... hahaaaa ... Rilyn responded with a very enthusiastic "uh huh" and was in the pool ready to start her lesson with a smile, yes I said with a smile you did read that right!! And now for the kicker ... she didn't just start her lesson with a smile ... she didn't shed one whine, tear, scream, nothing for the entire lesson ... so we finished with a smile too!! If only I would have known 4 weeks ago that Minnie Mouse was the magic we needed for a tear free swim lesson ... my oh my!!! I'm pretty positive that I'm not going to get any other swim suit on this little lady for the remainder of the summer!!

Here is the proof ... 1st smile in 4 weeks!! I dont know who was more shocked & excited, me or Brooke!!

POSITIVE THOUGHTS & PRAYERS . . .

For those of you who don't know, our little Rhett Man has been complaining about getting headache's for a few months now. So last week I decided to call his Doctor to find out if this was normal (which I was pretty positive it wasn't, as I didn't think a 4yr. old should even know what a headache is) and she of course said no and lets get him in so I can check it out. The next afternoon we went to see Dr. Gutman, who did an exam on him, checked his eye's .. which he has 20/20 vision and could see the chart better than me with my glasses on (hahaa), and she said that she thought it was probably a migraine thing which some kids can develop around his age, but just to be safe and take every precaution she wanted us to get a CT scan to make sure everything was good. So we scheduled an appt and on Monday afternoon Clay & I took him to get a CT scan. He did such an awesome job holding still and was very brave!! They told us to give it 48 to 72 hours and they would send the results to his Doctor who would then contact us.


For all his bravery, we stopped on the way home and let him pick out something special from the store, which he chose Cars 2 Legos (I know big surprise)!!!

So on Tuesday morning when my phone rang at 10am (not even 24hrs after his appt) and I saw that it was the Dr. office's # I knew it wasn't good ... the Doctor informed me that the radiologist had called the night before after hours and the results of the scan are showing some sort of dark, dense spot (she said it almost looks like bone, but until they get a better picture of it they cant really tell) that we need to look further into and they want to schedule him to get an MRI ... at this point I pretty much went numb and although I heard the rest of what she said, I dont think I completely heard it if you know what I mean. So now we are just waiting to hear from the office that is going to do the MRI to schedule an appt for further testing. At this point we are just saying lots and lots of prayers and trying our best to stay positive and strong. Thank you so much to all of our friends and family for all the support and extra prayers ... we need all the positive thoughts and prayers we can get.

DUST STORM . . .

We missed the 1st dust storm that hit a couple weeks ago, that is until the next morning when we saw the layer of dirt that covered EVERYTHING, hahaaa, but for the 2nd one that hit on Monday evening we saw the whole thing and I even got to capture a couple pretty cool pictures of it!! We were at my mom & norm's house and my mom & I were actually walking with the kiddos to go see the baby cows by her house when we saw this heading towards us and moving pretty quick!! Needless to say we turned around and headed back for the house, in fact Trey immediately took off running, and we decided to save seeing the cows for another day!!!




I was standing in their driveway for this one!!
Crazy, wild stuff .... pretty cool to see!!

ISR WEEK 4

By the end of week 4 (which is actually more like week 3 and a half for Rilyn because of a few missed days) she is totally passing her float test and we are now working on turning over and swimming from her float. Here are a couple of video's of her in action and as you can tell she is not loving her swim lessons anymore now than she did when we started, as she still cries and yells "noooo" & "I want out" hahaaaa!!!

Float Test!!


Flipping over and swimming from her float!!

A DAY AT THE LAKE . . .

It has taken me a whole entire week to make this post, as I have been fighting & fighting to get the last 2 video's added ... and just when I was ready to surrender, I finally got it!! WooHooooo!! So here it is, all 3 videos and all!!

Anyways, last weekend we finally got the old raft out on the water and spent a day at Bartlett Lake!! Grandma even got to join us and we had an awesome day. Both the boys tubed for the very 1st time and we even got Trey up on the knee board. Although in order to make this happen, I had to get in the water and help him .. hahaaa .. so the 1st attempt I tried to stay on the board with him thinking we could both fit, ummm not so much and to avoid me losing my bottoms, which were pretty much at my knees already, we let go of the rope!! On our 2nd attempt I told Trey that he was going to have to go by himself, so I got him all set up on the board and strapped in and held him steady while the boat started pulling him .... we were successful and he was up and riding!! The only problem with this is I got left out in the water with all the fish, probably my least favorite thing as I usually jump in the water to cool off and get right back out immediately!! So I spent the entire time kicking, splashing and doing everything possible to keep the fish away until the boat came back around to pick me up ... creepy!! hahaaa!!! It was all worth it and we are so excited that the boys are now tubing & knee boarding, pretty soon they'll be out there on wake boards tearing it up!!

We also got in some fishing, of course, and Rilyn actually reeled in her very 1st fish, all by herself!! Very exciting, but once she had it all the way reeled in she started flinging her pole all around, not sure if she was freaked out by the fish or just being wild & crazy Rilyn, but she lost her fish before I could snap a picture .. darn it!!! So although we dont have a picture of her catching her 1st fish, we atleast have a story!!! The boys are just regular ol fisherman now and both reeled in more fish than I could even keep count of .. pretty sure Rhett was on his
6th last I was keeping track!!

4th OF JULY WEEKEND

This year for 4th of July we joined the Skaggs Family up in Munds Park for a long weekend of holiday festivities, riding, fishing, shooting and relaxing in the cooler weather. It was an awesome weekend and a great change of pace for us, especially since we havent had the ranger out since the weather got hot. We arrived there Sat. afternoon and knew immediately between the 80 degree weather and this amazing view from our balcony that it was going to be a great vacation!!


Mine & Rilyn's tootsies ... I decided to go festive with my toe nails for the holiday when I got my pedicure ... so I painted Charlotte & Rilyn's to match!!

Our 1st evening after we got all unpacked and situated, we went for a little ride around town and visited some friends and family of the Skagg's!!

Rhett & Rilyn cheesin it up!!!

We were just cruisin' along when I looked back and noticed Trey had his goggles on upside down and he had no idea ... the best part is when I looked back at him he was smilin, giving me the thumbs up .. hahahaaaa .. so I quickly snapped a picture and then filled him in on why I was taking his picture and of course we all cracked up!!!

DAY 2:

On the 2nd day there we went to the park for a little carnival type thing where the kids could play games and win prizes, but probably about an hour or so into it a storm rolled in and we had to high tale it back to the cabin to get out of the rain!! The kids had a blast while it lasted!!

Once the storm passed and the skies cleared again, we loaded up in the Ranger & Rhino and went fishing!! I would be telling fish stories if I said anyone caught anything, but everyone still had fun fish or no fish! I'm sure you can tell by the pictures that just the beauty of this place along with the beautiful weather makes for a great day no matter what you are doing!!

Once back at the cabin we made some dinner, played with sparklers, got in a little Wii time & put on a movie for the kids which pretty much put us all to sleep, adults included, and we called it a night!!!

Dinner time!!

DAY 3:

Our 3rd day was actually July 4th so we all got decked out in our red, white & blue gear, decorated the ranger & rhino and took them in the parade, which the kids thought was pretty cool, they loved throwing candy and necklaces to all the kids watching and Rilyn waved to everyone with both her hands above her head (soooo cute)!!!

All the kiddos, ready for the parade!! Rhett, Trey, Dylan, Charlotte, Logan & Rilyn

Our family with the Ranger all decorated!! Trey said "its a good thing we have a red ranger huh guys it makes it easier for decorating cause its already red"!!!

After the parade we went back to the cabin, removed any decorations that would fly off the g-rides, loaded the coolers and headed out for a ride to Mormon Lake & the Cinders. Rilyn of course crashed out pretty much as soon as we started our ride, something about the sound of the engine & the wind in her face just knocks her out every time!!!

In Mormon Lake we stopped at a restaurant and had lunch (probably one of the best burgers I've had in a long time)!!

After lunch we headed out to the Cinders to play around on the trails and do some shooting!! Here is the view from the very top! BEAUTIFUL!! The kids had so so so much fun on these trails with their hands up in the air (like they're on a roller coaster) and singing Happy Birthday To America!!! hahahaaa!!

Then came the day it was time to load up and head home and I'm pretty sure we were all dreading coming back to the heat but I tell you what for as much fun as we had and as busy as we stayed all weekend the time didn't seem to fly by too quick and we were able to enjoy every minute of the long weekend!!

Thanks again Skaggs family for the invite and for another awesome Skaintz adventure!! Hopefully we can do it all again next year!!!

AN EXTRA SPECIAL BIRTHDAY!!!

Last Friday my mom, me & Lay celebrated Lacey's birthday with a girls night out. Long over due time with my momma and sister and we had well ummm maybe a little bit too much fun .. hahaaa!! It always seems like our time together just goes waaayyy too fast and none of us ever want it to end!!! We started out with pedicures, then headed over to El Encanto for margaritas & appetizers and then ended up playing beer pong!! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING SISTER ... I LOVE YOU AROUND THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD A MILLION TIMES and I'm so glad I got to celebrate with you even though we went out of town for 4th of July weekend!!!