San Antonio

Craig left for San Antonio for a work conference on Wednesday.  Thursday he called me and said I'd better bring the kids since they had their own little water park there at the hotel.  So Friday morning we packed up the mini van and high tailed it to the JW Marriott for a mini vacation courtesy of Integrity Title.

The place was incredible.  Could easily give The Disney Grand Hotel a run for their money.

The kids loved that we had our own little balcony.

But that was nothing compared to their pool.

They had four water slides that could rival our local Splashtown.  With life guards catching you at the end and litterally walking your tube over to the stairs for an easy exit.  Each time asking how your trip was and if there was anything they could do to make your stay nicer.

 And, honestly, other than handing me a Smirnoff Ice to enjoy on my way down the slide...

I couldn't think of a thing!

The kids loved the stairwell.  

Being use to Holdiay Inn Express' they'd never seen one this fancy.

After swimming most of the day (all while Daddy was hard at work in his fancy meetings and his fancy dinners) we walked around the property and took some pictures!

(I found this cool 'movie grain' mode on my camera and tried it out)

Then we were invited to join the S'mores campfire on the East lawn and, like, we would really pass that up.

So we headed over and were  handed a stick already loaded with marshmallows.  All the kids had to do was roast them, then they took them back and the staff stacked the s'mores and handed them back with a napkin and a glass a water. 

Yep, it was pretty cool!

After we got back to the room, Chloe just had to use their robe.

We can't wait till Craig's next conference!

America's next top model

Beauty beyond words

I prefer the term 'big boned' thank you very much!

Craig sent me this funny old ad's thing and this had me giggling for hours.

Recently, I've found I can buy certain clothes in the 'plus' girls section.   A lot of the time they are identical to items in the adult section, but at a much lower price.   Other than an occasional ICarly emblem, I can get some pretty cute stuff.  The funniest part is that most of my shorts now come with an adjustable waist!   

Which comes in quite handy actually!   

If you don't have children under the age of 10, you probably don't know what I'm talking about! So just go back to enjoying the title "Free for Chubbies"

The beginning of summer!

Well we finally made it to Splashtown to kick off summer!

And we've been in the pool quite a bit

Between the two, I'm hoping we might just survive this summer heat, but just barely.

Oh, and I made a couple cakes

I made two cakes in the past few weeks, but they were both this exact design and colors.   I'm posting this one because I really like the new bow that I tried.   I'll be making this bow much more now that I know what I'm doing.

AND NOW, I am happy to report, THIS BLOG IS OFFICIALLY UPDATED.

 I will expect comments from all!

My Husband

So in the past month, my husband has been to Orange County, Vegas, San Francisco, back to Orange county to DRIVE back to Texas with my Dad and to Dallas TWICE.  I know I've said it before, but the man truly is the energizer bunny. 

I know, in my inexcusable neglect of the blog, I failed to do a birthday post for him.  But truth be told, there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank my stars that I get to share my life with him.   And while, at times, he drives me so crazy I want to scream, I wouldn't trade  him for the world . . or even chocolate.

He's in the other room right now, playing with his birthday gift, an iPhone.

Yep, he's gone over to the dark side.   I'm sure he'll be calling everyone soon to SKYPE  or whatever you kids are calling it.

Our model daughter

Last month, a photographer asked Chloe to do a session for her new blog, spotlighting Tween photography.

Tomorrow we go see all the proofs and get to pick two free 8x10s.   

I doubt if we'll be able to afford to buy anything else (her packages are around $800 dollars!)

but I can't wait to see the beautiful shots.

 

Don't think I'm not trying to figure out a way to take her logo off these shots so I can print some out!!

Family time!

Last weekend, Dad, Gary, Craig and the kids and I, all took a road trip up to Dallas to help celebrate the graduation of my 2nd cousin.

Sarah is an amazing young lady. 

She's so talented, so beautiful and so sweet.   She's going to have a very bright future.

Much to the delight of . . .well....everyone, Sarah will be heading to Iowa State in the fall.

Her mom, no doubt, is smiling down from heaven.

We also got to visit with some other very special family members.

The whole clan!

(including Toby!)

.

Here is Grandma with her great and great-great grandchildren.

She's one impressive lady!!

My first grader, my star!

So Logan had his Kindergarten program the other day.

(He's in the back in the blue hat!)

I doubt if any mother has ever gotten through one of these  things without crying.

I was no exception!

Then they had 'fun day'.  Complete with Snow cones and hair painting.

 Then one final awards show in their classroom.

Logan's award was the Expert in Trivia award. 

For always knowing the correct term or definition for any dinosaur, bug or reptile.

We were so lucky to get such an amazing teacher.

She has set the bar very high for Logan's future educators! 
Of course, my boy is a genius, so she had a lot to work with!

And this past weekend,  we hosted Logan's soccer party.

I am happy to report, a good time was had by all!

San Francisco!

The Graduate!

So the whole reason for the trip was to get to see Trent graduate.   Unfortunately, his major did not have a separate ceremony, so he just took us on a tour of the campus.

But he did put on his cap and gown.

I don't think we could be prouder of this boy!!

Later that night we all went out to a favorite restaurant of his.  

Then a favorite bar of his . .  . 

Yeah, Craig was feeling no pain by the end of night.