Memorial Day Weekend

A little trampoline fun!

Today we had a fish fry picnic at the park for Memorial Day.  It was put on by our church and we also had a bake sale to help raise money for our Young Womens camp.  I made Chocolate pie, lemon bread, and Kayla made chocolate chip cookies.  We had a lot of fun and have some full belly's now!

Callie showing me all of her tricks:

My niece Olivia:

She didn't want me to take her picture, but I knew it would turn out good!

The girls were so happy uncle Cory came to play with them.

My neice Charlotte, looking like she's ready to conquer the world!

Me and Misti chatting it up:

Uncle Kenneth and Billy

Swimming Lessons

Callie has been in swimming lessons the last few days with her cousin Kennadi.  Because they didn't have any other kids show up in their time slot,  there was a chance they would get moved to a fuller class.  But lucky for us, the teacher let us leave them, so  it was just the two of them.  It has been just like getting private lessons, and the girls are loving the one on one attention.  They are both just so excited to go and that's all they can talk about all day.  It's been great for Callie, who used to be terrified of letting go of me in the water.  Now she is jumping in, diving to retrieve things, and floating on her back. She is swimming under water too, but she has trouble propelling herself forward, so she kind of swims in a stationary place, but she is doing great!

Treading water trying to hold herself up:

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the first night that she had class, she gave me a little scare. The swimming lesson was over and the instructor had gotten out of the water and was talking to Misti and I on the side.  Callie and Kennedi were trying to milk their last few seconds in the water and Callie lost her noodle and could barely touch.  I was trying to coach her to me, telling her she could do it, but she slipped and her head went under and she started choking.  After that she kept trying to come, but her head kept going under, she was panicked and she was still choking and taking in the water.  I decided the life guards weren't moving fast enough (or at all for that matter), and I went into the pool with all my clothes on to pull her out.  It's funny how fast a mother moves when she feels like her child is in danger.  Misti said I was so calm after it happened, and I told her that it was because I was trying not to cry, lol.    

Anyway, last night they were both so excited when Callie's Grandpa and Grandma showed up to watch them swim and then took them both out for Ice cream.  Debbie told them to show their teeth in this picture, because she knew we'd all love it when they got bigger.

Sitting like little ladies with Papa Billy.

Our camping trip and fishing derby

Well it has been a couple years since we have been able to go camping, so the girls were so excited when we announced a few weeks ago that we were going to go! I love to camp and I love to be outdoors, but typically I only go once or twice a year because I know how much is involved with packing everything and the clean up when you get home. This was my first time packing for all six of us. We decided to wing it and all sleep in the same tent. Not so sure we will try that move again, lol. Don't get me wrong, the girls were excellent. But it is hard to fall asleep next to so many moving bodies. And our little Brynlee is a wiggler, for sure! We brought the girls bikes with us, so that they could ride around a little bit.

I was hoping the bugs wouldn't be bad right next to a pond, lucky for us they were not bad at all.  In fact the weather cooled down enough too, that we were not hot when we were sleeping.  Brad hung a fan on the top of our tent too, so that helped keep us cool.

 Our silly girls hamming it up for the camera:

This was their favorite spot.  The funniest thing was, that Brynlee loves to throw rocks, but she also didn't like her hands being dirty.  That is also why she also loves hand sanitizer.  So she would pick up muddy rocks, throw them in the water and then wash her hands with hand sanitizer and repeat.  I think we only went through half a bottle :)

My little monkey:

The girls caught two catfish last night.  We were headed to a fishing derby that next morning, but they had to get a little practice.

Cooking smores, Grandma and Grandpa Shelton came and joined us for this part of our evening, but the pictures all turned out blurry because it was dark.

After about 3 hours of sleep, ha ha.... Brad made us a yummy breakfast of pancakes, sausage, eggs and hot cocoa!

And of course they had to get in some target shooting with the bb gun!

We met Uncle Kenneth, Misti and her girls at the fishing Derby in Hazen.  The girls ended up catching 7 fish between them!  They all won door prizes (beach towel, princess fishing pole and sunglasses, Dora toy, kids lawn chair, lunchbox cooler, bubble blowing machine and chalk/ webkinz.  We love the Hazen fishing derby, they spoiled us and even fed us lunch. It ended up being overcast this morning too, which made for much nicer fishing weather than last year.

Pictures from my new lens Brad got me for mothers day

End of School Year

Well it is coming to the end of the school year here.  Kayla has had a great 7th grade year.  She tried track, volleyball, drama and National Junior Honor Society this year.  We were worried if she would be able to keep up her grades with all she had going on ( and with the new phone she got this year).  But she managed to keep them up.  Last night we attended her awards ceremony.  She received awards for Honor Roll, Junior Honor Society and an academic award. We are so proud of her and all her hard work!

Kayla with her friends Lyndsey and Tucker

Accepting her awards:

Kayla and her friends Kayla McGee and Connor Linton:

I was also able to attend Callie's school this morning for a very special event.  Their school won  a contest to have  the "Fancy Nancy" book tour bus come to their school.  Each of the kids were asked to dress up like the character from the book "Fancy Nancy", and we called callie that name all morning long from the moment she woke up:

The Fancy Nancy tour bus with the books illustrator.  (Sorry they are blurry, cell phone pics).

Kennedi's Birthday Party

 Our cousin Kennedi had her 7th birthday party at River City Gymnastics in Little Rock.  We had never been there and were really impressed with their facility.  The girls loved being able to run around and do all the tricks they wanted.

Only the big kids could go on the ship and slide.  So Olivia and Brynlee found other ways to keep themselves entertained!

 Hailey patiently waiting for her turn on the trampoline:

Look at their cool tricks!

Callie was most proud of her work on the bars.  You can really see how strong she is when she was on them.  All her little muscles flexing, made her look like a Shelton for sure!

Then the girls formed a circle and sat by their gifts that they brought, while Kennedi and Raegan sat at the front and opened presents. Brynlee made sure to be extra helpful.

Thanks for inviting us, we had a blast!