It's my birthday month!

Yep...I claim the entire month of July!  My b-day is officially only the 27th though...I hope Josh can appreciate the fact that I give him about 26 days of reminders that my b-day is approaching.  He's yet to forget it!  :)  

 For the past couple of weeks we've been playing around in the backyard after work with the kids.  Don't ask me why because it's been ridiculously hot, and the mosquitoes are eating us alive.   

Josh buried Anna in the sandbox.  She was so confused by the whole process, but she thought it was funny regardless.

And there's been a lot of sprinkler play!  :)

Wallace loves being outside when the sprinklers are on!

He does not so much like being in said sprinklers though....  "/

For my actual birthday I really wanted to take the kids to go see this dinosaur exhibit that's been in town since March!  I can't believe we just made it out there...And I also can't believe how awesome my camera is!  It was super dark in this exhibit!

These dinosaurs moved and roared!  It was a pretty awesome exhibit.  They kept saying the dinosaurs had feathers...it looked more like fur to me.  And all of them have new names now....  I'll never be able to help my kids with this subject in school.

There was a neat little "dig" site the kids could play in.  

But all Anna wanted to do was push every button in the place.   This one was admittedly pretty cool...it controlled the movements of one of the dinosaurs.  Took us forever to peel her away from it.

more buttons....

another button....there were like 50 others that I didn't get pictures of.  What's funny is she typically doesn't even wait around to see what the buttons do.

She loved this water movement exhibit.

Wallace figured the wheel out!

He's such a cutie!!  :)

How funny is this...Josh and Anna are making the same face!  They really are 2 peas in a pod.

So, this was a great birthday, and Anna has asked to go see the dinosaurs like a hundred times since we got home!  Good thing they'll be here til September...

Lampasas Spring Ho!

This weekend was the Lampasas Spring Ho BBQ Cook-off.  I learned two things this weekend.  One of them...I should have already known:

1. The Old Army BBQ Team was started in 2001 (it's on our t-shirts...  "/) 

2. The first cook-off they ever competed in was the Lampasas Spring Ho.   

Last year the Spring Ho was the inaugural run for the new BBQ trailer.  They managed to take 1st place with their appetizer, and the winning streak began!  

This year, all of their hard work has really started to pay off.  3rd place brisket, 2nd place ribs, final table in all other categories, and Reserve Grand Champion overall!  Amazing!  Heads are starting to swell.  ;)

It really seems like the team is starting to function as a well-oiled machine.  Everything kicks off with Sarah Faye's decorations!  

Showmanship is an important category (as we all learned in Hico!) 

There was a new addition of a giant Texas flag mat thing at this event, but it was way too big to get a decent photo of...

I showed up a little late and missed the turn-in for beans, but Carrie did a phenomenal job on them.  This is the turn-in box for the pull-pork sliders.  This event required us to submit "bites" rather than our typical sliders.  They still managed to make them look fancy!

The chicken looked amazing!

Ribs!  My favorite!  Yummo! 

The process to get to that final turn-in box was pretty methodical and took nearly 20 minutes from this point.

It included precise slicing...

...and careful sorting to get the 7 best ribs.

And then there's the brisket...

I could be wrong, but it seems like brisket is typically the last turn-in, and there a ton of pressure to get it right.  I've never seen anyone other than Kipper slice it either...don't know if he's just the brave one that picked up the first knife, or how that worked out, but I wouldn't want the job.  No less than 10 people and 1 novice photographer are standing there watching you cut every slice!

I believe they cooked 4 briskets to get to this turn-in box of 7 slices!  Oh!  I learned one other thing: 3. you have to turn in your items with the little piece of foil they give you when you check in...Guess it'd be pretty easy to mark your boxes if you put in fancy colored foil or something festive like that.  

Well, that was pretty much it for the turn-in boxes, but as usual, there was a lot going on behind the scenes.

There were a couple of new faces!  The Fire Brigade (Kyle and Ken) taking a much deserved rest.  They obviously did a fantastic job!

I'm pretty sure Rick and Kyle are getting ready to do some rib spritzing here.

I'm not sure how frequently the rib spritzing occurs, but you'll just hear people occasionally holler out... "spritz the ribs!"

I know I might have been driving people crazy, but I was so excited that the sky was sooo pretty, and I finally learned to meter off of it with the camera!  With the white tent up this time these were coming out so nice!  I just kept taking pictures of everyone up against it!

I'll just go ahead and get all of the pretty sky pictures out of the way now...  :)

Just a handful more...

So, I'm not really sure why this is called the Spring -Ho....because it's the middle of summer and pretty much hot as balls!

Only a guy could get away with this....I was so jealous!

He looks so refreshed!

Our group got asked to be on the radio!  So, Josh and Carrie were volunteered for it!  

Haha!  One of them laughed so hard their beer felt it!  :)

It kind of cracks me up when our colossal trailer ends up next to one of these.  :)

The radio interview took place right next to the judging tent.

There were about 5 or 6 tables, but I'm pretty sure these guys were the final decision makers.  They looked pretty serious anyway.  

James approves of the new drawer packs!

Check out this awesome detail!

Ken and Kyle took over the stereo for a while and I have to say, the LA music infusion was awesome!  Oh, and trailer improvements happening everywhere, notice the beer taps have been moved out of the walkway!  Fancy!

James and Tiffany.

A quick lesson in the fat separator.  

Break time!

I didn't know Kipper had so many cousins!  These guys braved the Spring-Ho heat with their kids...Impressive!

I think I'd only met Kyle once before.  He's so funny!  Just one of those people that makes you laugh even when they aren't trying.

Just about the whole group...and one walking advertisement to always read online reviews before booking a vacation rental...  "/

Yay!  Another friend who's not afraid of my camera!  Thanks Carrie!  :)

Alaska!!!

So, Josh, the kids, and I recently all loaded up and flew to Alaska for a 2-week vacation!   Josh's family organized it, and we've all been talking about it for what seems like a year and a half now!  The whole family went!  It was awesome!  I decided to finally try to start shooting in manual mode and also shot RAW files for the first time.  It was a challenge, and I missed a few shots because the camera settings weren't quite right, but I think it was good for me, and I think the results are pretty nice!  :)

We decided to head up to Alaska a week ahead of the rest of the family to visit some good friends who moved up to Anchorage last year.  I've been wanting to see their house, and also see what made this place so special that all of my friends seem to be ready to just drop everything and move there.

Probably the one thing I didn't love about Alaska was the 9 or so hours of travel time it took to get there. "/  It probably wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a 1-year-old to try to keep content in my lap on a plane.  

The kids really loved the airports...just not so much riding in the planes... 

So, apparently nearly every flight to and from Alaska arrives or takes off around midnight.  When we got there we thought for sure that the airport would be totally deserted, and instead it was hopping and jam-packed.  Crazy Alaskans!   

One of the first places we visited in Alaska was the zoo!  It's literally like 5 minutes from Brittney and Duncan's house!  Brittney had to work that Monday after we arrived, but Duncan went along with us. 

Poor Duncan took the week off to spend with us, but due to some issues at work, he spent a good deal of his time on the phone trying to put out fires...  

Anna was totally bummed we wouldn't let her go off and join this random class of kids...

Brittney was a little concerned that the kids and I were getting bored sitting around the house after the guys left for their fishing trip, so she found an awesome little park for us all to go play at one evening.

And, of course, she couldn't help but get in on the fun herself!  :)  

We couldn't have asked for better timing...all of the dandelions in Alaska were fruiting!  Anna's favorite flower!  I'm pretty sure she picked thousands of them!

The next day we drove to Seward to meet up with the guys and go to the Sea Life Center.  

Anna never did stick her hand in there.  "/

Seward was beautiful!  As was most of what we saw of Alaska.

Brittney wasn't afraid to touch my camera, and so I got some pics with me actually in them!  :)

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest little boy ever!

So, Alaska is apparently full of super healthy people who like to hike while they can.  So...when in Rome!  :)  We ended up buying all this hiking gear...Josh and I need to find some places to use it all in Texas!  Oh yeah...this picture was taken close to 8:30pm!  It never really got dark while we were there. 

By far, one of the coolest things we did in Alaska was a boat tour to see glaciers!  And Anna slept through nearly half of it...

Anna's always a little slow to wake up.... 

I bought an ergobaby carrier when Wallace was really little because he never wanted to be put down, and I have probably only seen 3 others out and about in Texas.  Oddly enough I saw 5 in just one day in Alaska!  Josh always made me feel like it was kind of an overkill carrier...I was finally vindicated!  In fact, we ended up buying a second one since Anna didn't feel like walking much while we were in Alaska.

So after she snapped about a hundred pics of me and my family, Brittney managed to get Duncan out on the deck for pictures! 

 ...just in time for the boat to take off again!  Haha!  

Since Josh needed a race for June/July anyway, we went ahead and signed him and Brittney up for a mud run in Alaska!  

I'm kind of bummed I didn't do it too...it looked like a lot of fun!

The kids, Duncan, and I made a great cheering section though!  :)

The day before Josh's family arrived, we found time for one more hike.  JoeJoe had already gotten there with Bodie (they drove the Alaska HIghway), so we left the kids with him and Josh, Brittney and I set out to conquer Flat Top!

Brittney had really talked this hike up and made it sounds pretty awesome...she was right.  We had a blast!

And since there were a ton of people hiking it, there wasn't much of a chance of encountering a bear...always a bonus in my book!

We spent the second half of the trip with Josh's family!

And as usual, Anna was super excited to get to spend time with all of her cousins!!

JoeJoe and Bodie drove all the way from Texas so they could bring all of the bikes up for us!

We did a nice ride around Lake Eklutna, and stopped for a little while so the kids could try to fill the lake up with rocks.   :)

Kids love rocks!

Bodie tried teaching Sadie how to skip one.

Josh's cousin Erica came along too!  Although, I'm sure she probably wishes she'd gotten a different RV assignment since my kids didn't sleep so great the whole time we were there...  "/

The kids loved the RV's!  We did a lot of coloring!

And playing on the Ipad.

Wallace tried to learn to drive, but only managed to succeed in honking the RV horn with his chest and driving everyone crazy!  :)

A bunch of the kids decided to play in this tree the last day we were at this camp site, and it was overcast, which made for some really great pictures!

Still can't believe I managed to get pictures of Cy smiling!  :)

Sadie even got in on the climbing action.  

Anna had such a good time playing with Dillon!

We spent one last night with Brittney and Duncan before our flight out, which was great because it gave the kids more time to play in Maddy's kennel.  :)

Good thing Maddy liked them!  :)  I was so impressed with her.  At one point I caught Wallace with a super tight grip on her face, and she was just sitting there looking at me like "get this kid off me!!!"  I rewarded her with some Poptart!

We loved out Alaska visit, but I can honestly say it felt good to get home.  :)

Just a few other random pics... 

Josh and Wallace, waiting on the glacier tour boat.

Anna helping me make tortillas our last night in Alaska.  What a bittersweet evening....so glad to be headed home, but so bummed to be saying goodbye to Brittney and Duncan...  :(

Anna at the zoo.

The amazing creamy banana pie that Josh and I had at a restaurant in Hope...that Wallace would actually eat!  So, we bought the recipe and Brittney and I made it! 

I'm pretty sure Dillon hates my camera.  He usually scowls at me when he notices I'm trying to take a picture of him.  "/

Hayden at Lake Eklutna.

Anna met this big guy at the mud run.  She loved him!

Hiking with Brittney!

Thanks so much for the trip Big Momma and JoeJoe!  It was awesome!!!

Wallace's First Tooth!

Wallace finally got his first tooth...and we're already trying to rot it out.  ;) 

Haha!  She wasn't supposed to stand up!

Anna Turned 3!

Anna's birthday fell on Father's Day this year!  I vaguely remember how Father's Day passed while she was in the NICU, and it just didn't occur to me that likely every time her birthday falls on a Sunday it will also be Father's Day!

The weekend started with some fun times hiding in the closet!  Anna loves to slam the crap out of her closet doors.  I guess she's practicing for her teenage years.  "/

She also likes to hold her brother hostage in the closet...  (Yes...I pretty much scalped my son....I apparently have a lot to learn about clippers... "/ )

Anna spotted the cake mix on the counter and decided there was no way we were waiting until Sunday to make cupcakes!

She actually decorated all of them!  I like her style!

The taste test was a success!

She got this awesome new kitchen (which took 2 hours to put together!!!)  It was a late night, but this was the first time she's gotten to wake up to a big new toy, and it was totally worth it!

Haha!  "Curse you tiny refrigerator!" 

She's a multitasker!  :)

Wind is in town helping out while Granny recovers from pneumonia.  Anna's loving the new company!

Anna's pretty much a rock star at blowing out candles these days!  :)

Just a few other random shots....

"This is the coolest toy ever!"

"But I'd rather just chew on this tag..."  :)

Wind took this one!  Super cute!

Loving all the attention!

Super flying baby! 

mmmm....cupcake....