Happy Birthday, Dad!

This year my dad turned 70 and the whole family got together to celebrate.  Adam and I "packed light" and only checked 3 suitcases, 2 car seats, and 4 carry-ons for the trip.  Since Kyle is a lap child, he and I sat together in one row and the girls sat with their dad in another.  Everyone did really good on the flights.  Kyle slept and the girls colored and played on the iPad.  One of us adults got to nap and I'll let you guess who.  There is always so much anticipation leading up to get to Gram and Poppy's house.  They leave their truck for us at the airport, so once we arrive and get our luggage, we load up the car and drive another hour and a half to get to their house.  

Poppy letting Kyle pet Slick, the horse.

Cousins!!  The girls were so excited to see their cousin, Lindsey.  These girls have so much fun together!

Cousins

Aubrie, Emilie, and Lindsey all sleep in cots and blow up mattresses in my mom and dad's room.  Aubrie got up early on my dad's birthday and went out to the living room where he was watching the news and gave him a kiss and a hug and told him Happy Birthday, Poppy.   She was the first to remember.  

Dad's big surprise were his sisters flying in to see him for his birthday.  They walked into the barn and surprised him and he couldn't believe they came.  They are so cute.  They both live in Kansas City, MO.

Kyle on the horse

Kyle with Aunt Brenda and Aunt June

Troy and Dalton came.  We really missed Dillon who was visiting his mom, but the girls had fun playing with Dalton.

Helping Poppy blow out candles.  He's not a fan of cake so he had 2 peach pies.

Mom surprised dad and got him an iPad for his birthday.  We stuck her picture on the screensaver so it was the first thing he saw when he turned it on.  He loves it.

My mom's mom, Gigi, made the trip as well.  The kids loved getting some attention from Gigi.  Kyle showed her how he can blow bubbles with his milk.

Story time after bath.

Dad's friend Jimmy came to visit with his wife Vicki.  Jimmy went to school with dad in Arizona so he knew dad and his sisters.  

While we were there, my sweet niece, Lindsey, turned 3!  Her mom threw an adorable princess tea party for the girls.  They had such a good time!

Kyle crashed the tea party

Kisses for the birthday girl!  She got pink cowgirl boots for her birthday from mom and dad.

Girls with their boots

Adam and I took Aubrie and Emilie on a long ride.  It was fun to visit with the girls and let them ride the horses.

The girls got to help Poppy feed the calves grain every day.  They also got to sit in the trough and hand feed some of the braver calves.

This is Lady, mom's dog.  She replaces me since I'm out of the house and all grown.  Mom treats her like a baby.  She listens to Gigi.  Gigi is like a dog whisper and can get them to behave.  

The girls got to help Poppy move the fork lift.  Emilie helped steer and Aubrie moved the levers.  

Kyle got his first big boy haircut!  It looks like we are restraining him but he actually sat really still and didn't mind at all.  It looks like someone else in this photo needed a haircut....

We had so much fun at mom and dad's house.  Mom spoiled us with such good cooking, big beds, and she even laid sod down so the girls would have some green grass to play on.  I got to rope with just Robbie and dad the first day I was there and it brought back a lot of memories from when we lived in Arizona and roped in the afternoons in the front arena.  It was good to see Troy and Dalton.  I got to watch Dalton calf rope and he's pretty good.  Under his dad's instruction, he'll be a pro in no time.  Lots of memories made on this trip, for sure and I'm so glad we were there to celebrate Dad.  He's such a super guy and doesn't look a day over 40, if you ask me.  Love you, dad!

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Lake fun

 It's another Fourth of July at the lake and I couldn't ask for better weather.  It was in the high 80s, low 90s.  Nothing like last year, the hottest summer in Indiana the melted your skin off and not to mention I was 8 months pregnant with man child.  But this year we got to eat a lot of meals outside by the lake and we sat out there to play games and visit. 

 

The crew at the lake:  Lana, Adam, Kellie, Adrian, Nick, Amanda, Granny, Gaga, the girls, Petey, and Kyle (in absentia)

We played

at the beach

The girls had a blast playing together.  Nothing like a choke hold hug.

One of our highlights was that I caught the girls a turtle.  It was a tiny turtle that was sunning on our boat lift with another turtle and when they saw me coming, the one jumped in, but our turtle freaked out and got rolled over on it's back and so I was able to get there just in time to put my net in the water and catch it when it rolled back over and into the water.  I told Aubrie to name it and she picked....GALA.  Gay-la.  

Gala was a hit.  We loved it so much.  One afternoon I caught Aubrie kissing its shell and pulling its legs and arms.  They put a lot of rocks and leaves in the large metal pot we kept Gala in.  

Kyle fit perfectly in the red rocker that was once Granny's red rocker.

After 2 whole days with our friend Gala, we had to send her back to the water to be with her family.  There were tons of tears and kissing on Gala.  

My water dog had so much fun.  He's so handsome.

Jumping in after a ball.

A neighbor a couple of cottages down came over and told us that a mama and papa swan with some babies were close to shore and so we grabbed the kids and some bread and walked over to see them.  Did you know swans are aggressive?  Did you know swans hiss?  Like...hiss.  Meanly.  It was scary.  This swan right here was in the water when we were throwing bread but then it stretched out and walked onto shore and came at me with a purpose.  I don't know if it wanted to eat the bread from my hand, or gouge out my eyes.  I hid the kids behind a patio table and left the swan alone and it finally went away.  But later it swam by our cottage and our neighbors were throwing bread and it started hissing at us again.  Mean, pretty swan.

Walking to go check out the swan

I only went on two pontoon boat rides because Kyle wasn't much of a fan.  I did get to help Gaga unhook the radio from the ignition because it was draining the battery.  Gaga knows so much about mechanics that I can learn from him.  He drove trucks during WWII and was a farmer.  He knows A LOT.

Loving on Granny and playing Peggity

Granny and Gaga

Silly Girls

Kyle got to experience his first child chunking in the lake.  The water was pretty cold, but it didn't keep Aubrie from swimming around like a fish.

Aubrie

Emi

Kyle

Sunset at the lake

 Adam REALLY wanted to get Aubrie up for fireworks this year.  The sun doesn't set in Northern Indian until around 10 pm so the fireworks were at 10:20.  I was hesitant because I didn't know if she would settle back down and go to bed.  When he got her up she didn't want to get up and said, "Daddy, I want to go to bed."  But he held her and she watched all the neighboring cottages setting off personal fireworks and when the fireworks started, she perked up and really enjoyed them.  At the lake, they put the fireworks on barges and drive them out to the middle of the lake.  The fireworks are coordinated with music from a local radio station.  She was saying stuff like, "Oh, I love that one!"  "That one is old already." "That one looks like valentine's day!"  "That one is like a dandelion!"  She was fun to listen to and went back to bed like an angel.  But first she had to talk the fireworks over and cuddle with Gaga.

We had to bribe with gummy bears to get them to take pictures

Emilie has a gummy bear

Kyle driving the boat

Independence day is one of my favorite holidays.  I hope you all had a good fourth with your friends and family.  My family and I are thankful for all the service men and women who protect this country and their families that sacrifice for us. 

Love to all!

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Lipscomb Steve

Adam's college roommate, Steve, has made appearances on the blog before.  He's a big part of Adam's life.  I knew Steve before I met Adam.  Anyway, I've written about him working at Stetson University as an assistant men's basketball coach.  But I have some excellent news!  Steve and the coaching staff are moving back to Nashville!!!  We are so excited to have Steve and his wife Brittany back home.  But there is only one problem.  Steve is now the assistant basketball coach at Lipscomb University. 

Sigh.

Lipscomb.

Lipscomb University is Belmont's rival just right down the road dating back to both schools' NAIA days.  When the two teams meet, it is called the Battle of the Boulevard.  Belmont moved up to NCAA division I and the two teams didn't meet again until Lipscomb joined them in the ASUN conference and started the Battle of the Boulevard again in 2004, Adam and Steve's senior year. See THIS article to learn more about the rivalry. 

But to get down to the bottom of it, if you are Belmont...you hate Lipscomb. 

And now our beloved Steve is Lipscomb.  Lip-scum.  Lipscomb.

Sigh.

So what do you do if you are in our shoes?  We always go and cheer for Steve.  But this is different.  We will be cheering for Lipscomb.  That means that words like, "go Bisons" will come out of our mouth.  Or we will have to sit in their gym and act like we enjoy their time out crowd hype guy who is the most annoying person, ever.  And their sound system.  We are going to have to endure their sound system.  All for Steve.  Because we are HUGE Steve fans.  Huge. 

Steve and Brittany haven't sold their house yet in Florida so they are staying with us in Nashville.  We definitely have the room.  It actually worked out perfectly because Steve got the job and was in town right when Adam and I left for Costa Rica.  So he was actually a lifesaver for my mom because he came home every evening in time for supper to help with the kids, play with them, and help give baths and put them down at night.  And that is a large task, folks.  It takes a lot of patience because I have this one middle child who is known to wake up from a nap like a fire-breathing dragon and be a stubborn mule at the dinner table.  But luckily, this middle child LOVES her some Uncle Steve. 

She only likes the way Uncle Steve pushes her in the swing. 
She cries when he leaves for work.
She yells, "Wait!!!" and runs and kisses him on the lips when he leaves.
She asks when he's coming back from work.
She yells, "Uncle Steve!  YOU CAME BACK!!!" when he gets home from work.

And I love having Brittany around.  She's an excellent cook and she cooks REALLY healthy.  So healthy, it makes Adam nervous to look in the pantry and see things like almond flour and quinoa.  But I love it and I really enjoy her company.  Adam and Steve haven't seen much of each other because July is an important month for recruiting for Steve and Adam and I have done a lot of traveling.  But by August, we should all be around the house to enjoy each other.  I secretly hope they don't sell their house and we get to enjoy them for a long time.  We are so happy they are back...even if that means Steve is a coach at Lipscomb.

Steve has enjoyed bringing home Lipscomb t-shirts.  When Adam returned from Costa Rica, Steve had hung a Lipscomb shirt that draped over his dresser and Adam jerked it down.  He says, "Babe, I don't know if I can do it.  I mean, it's like kissing your sister.  It's just wrong!"  But we are so proud of Steve.  He really likes it at Lipscomb and we know he'll be successful.  Lipscomb is lucky to have our Steve. 

So, no more Stetson Steve.  Now it is Lipscomb Steve.  But remember, behind that yellow and purple shirt and tie is the kid who bled red and blue, wore number 14 and knee-high socks, and reeked havoc in that Lipscomb gym 9 years ago.

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