Jolly July

We've made it to July. Continued summer fun! 3 in-state family trips, cheer camp, Take Your Kid to Work with Brent, and Trent started his FIRST JOB!!!

July 4 was a subdued affair as we were all reeling from the floods in Texas and the loss of so many lives not too far from us. It rained really hard at our house but nothing like what other parts of the state got.

We didn't get to do the golf cart parade but still decorated the cart!

Our neighbors adopted 2 new kitties - the girls were so excited to go meet them!

Our newest cheerleader had her first cheer camp. She is loving it!

Take Your Kid to Work Day at LJA!

Trent also started his first job in July. He applied at a LOT of places around our little town and got hired by his #1 choice, H-E-B {which is a Texas-based grocery store chain that ALL Texans LOVE}. He's saving up to pay for some of the expenses we'll have once he gets his car {if he ever finishes his driving hours!}.

We went to see Brent's cousin, Philip, for a quick weekend trip. I didn't take any pictures except the below - we had Brent and Drew recreate a picture from a trip we took 7 years ago. These kids are growing up TOO fast!

Brent's parents and I took the kids to an exotic zoo in Johnson City. We toured LBJ State Park and properties and then spent 2 nights on the zoo property. Was great to get away for a few days - the kids had fun swimming, the zoo, being spoiled by grandparents!

Our last trip of July was our annual Swope family vacation. We added my cousin, Hagan, and her family {3 boys!} this year, so we had 8 adults and 10 kids. We rented a cabin that held everybody, had a pool/hot tub, and was a short distance to Lake LBJ. {We've stayed at this resort before with Brent's family and then for a wedding on my side of the family.} We haven't hung out as much with Hagan's family, but the kids had a great time together and all want to get together again! The kids ages were 16, 16, 16, 14, 12, 12, 12, 9, 8, 1!

We never got a picture of everyone together, but we managed to get some assorted groups, ha.

All 10 of the kids! My grandparents would be so tickled to see this picture!

So much fun and family time!

Blame It On Mexico!

June was a busy month but oh so fun! As I was looking through pictures we packed in so much fun stuff. This will be a fun walk down memory lane. {grin}

On June 1, I went with a group of friends to see Katherine Center speak. I love all her books and think she is just precious. She lives in Texas and always comes to our little indy bookstore. 

Chatting with her after her talk, she is so sweet!

Then Brent and I took a quick 3-night trip to Mexico with his cousin Philip's family and some of their friends. We had a great time - spent lots of time in the resort pools, had some really great meals, and took a great trip out on a catamaran. 

Early flights = a quick nap in the hotel! Ha!

Nothing like family that are also great friends!

June included lots of Gus love OF COURSE. He also got really sick at the end of the month {some failed diet changes} and gave us a big scare. But nothing like a day at the vet getting IV fluids and meds and costing us $850 to make him all better. {grin}

I'm going to do a separate post for my parents' anniversary party which happened in the middle of June. We had such a blast and 50 years of marriage deserves its own shoutout!

The weekend after the party, we traveled to Houston for the annual LJA Stockholders dinner - this is always a highlight of the year because we always go with great friends! This year we didn't stay a second night but went swimming on Friday night at Derek and Dez's house {after a stop for bathing suits at Buc-ee's ha}. Some friends from high school were in town with their newest baby, so we wanted some snuggles with Mark Falcon!

My AmpedUp instructor friend, Lina, turned 50 in June, and we went to a fun place called Game On to play tv game shows with a group of friends! [Spoiler alert - we did this for my birthday too!] We had such a blast! Lina's husband made us a spring roll DIY bar, and we had a great time together. He got seriously injured a few days later in a freak accident, so I'm very glad we got to spend time with him too, and I'm so glad he is doing better now.

The whole crew

I love lazy mornings in the summer! Also love our new patio furniture.

Little Bit got her braces [Round 1] off at the end of June! She was so happy!

Sheesh, I am shocked at how much we did this month as I continue to type this all out! We also had our Girl Scout end-of-year reward trip. The girls voted to go to Kalahari. Paige is transferring into our troop, so she got to go too. She was SO thrilled - she was sobbing that she couldn't go and it worked out for her to go! Made my mama heart so full.

We rushed home from Kalahari to change clothes and turn around and go to the Dell Diamond - literally across the street from Kalahari - for Brent's summer event at the Round Rock Express baseball game.

Being silly with the fun glasses...and tired Drew! {grin}

And we closed out the month with Trent's birthday! He had a fun day of video games and lounging around enjoying a summer birthday. We went out to eat for burgers at a small, local restaurant with both sets of grandparents. [I got a picture of him but won't post it.] He also took 3 of his friends to Kalahari the next week. So wild that he was old enough for us to just drop him off and pick him up!

Since he doesn't like me posting pictures of him NOW...

let's look at baby Trent! GAAAAAH!