July 2018!

July! What sweet, sweet memories you hold! I am so thankful for the walk down memory lane, the overflowing vault of moments to be thankful for again.

Our first Sunday morning in our new church building: wow. I snapped this picture of us on the front row, and it was a powerful morning. Walking into our own promised land. Praise the Lord for bringing us in!

July 1, 2018 was our 12th wedding anniversary! A dozen years has gone by in a blink, & we have grown up together. Our family has become such a source of constant joy & chaos, it is fitting that we took our crew out to dinner with us to celebrate. David in his cowboy boots. I am dumbfounded in retrospect that I have been given this beautiful family to walk through life with. My handsome husband becomes more dear to me every year. Cheers to a dozen years! Praise the Lord for all he has done in our lives together my dear.

We started getting ready for Trail West by doing a little practice run with the cap gun, boots, bandana & cowboy hat. We were all getting so excited!! 

We took the boys down to St. Augustine for the 4th of July fireworks display, and we hit the jackpot. There was this great little seafood spot with free parking just about a block or two away from the old fort. We got in around 8pm & ate, which was perfect because they closed at 9 so we got to keep our space for the fireworks! I wish we could do that every year, but sadly they tore that restaurant down. This WAS the perfect way to get in&out easily. haha!

For our anniversary trip, we visited the Grayfield Inn on Cumberland Island! It was one of the most magical vacations we've ever taken. It was beautiful, private, comfortable, with lovely food, and lots to see. It felt like the best 2 nights away, and I wished for 3. What a gift & a dream come true!

We explored ruins, a restored mansion, beautiful grounds for the houses, deserted beaches, live oak forests, and took a tour up the island to visit the first African American church. We saw wild horses on the beach, looked at sea turtle nests with fresh tracks from their mommas, and paddled around the marsh of the island in a kayak. We rode beach cruisers and had picnic lunches. We had dinner in a formal setting and got to know a bunch of strangers for one night at a time. 

It really was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. I absolutely loved it. The pictures don't do it justice.

We had to take the boys out to the Jax Jumbo Shrimp baseball game to see Star Wars night! Check out those costumes!

David always ready to grow bigger&bigger. He is so excited about his new suitcase & cannot wait to use it for Trail West!

James & Hayden got to go to Word of Life camp with Jack! They had an absolute blast, and it has gotten easier and easier to let the boys go to camp. Not hearing from them for a week is such a strange thing- but it always seems worth it at the end to hear their stories.

David, you looked so unbelievably cute in your button up shirt and your flip flops. My heart wanted to explode.

The little guys hanging out with grandpa at the final ceremony! James even got on stage to help do the motions for one of the songs- that's him in the blurry picture, haha.

Mimi&Grandpa threw a family party to spend a little time with Matt's cousins' kids and ours. She even gave a few of the kids some arm art. A fun way to end a great week at camp.

Hanging out with the new West twins at our house!! So thankful for these precious boys. Joshua & Josiah we adore you!

My main man, celebrating his 39th birthday. You make it look so good babe. 

We just happened to be passing by the Treaty Oak in Jax that night of our date, and I had to see it. I've always heard about it from people, but for some reason I didn't realize where it was. I had passed it 100 times before and not known! This tree is absolutely stunning because it is just massive. There are so very few things in life like the feeling of standing beneath it.

Just a regular summer morning.

Hayden's last day being 6, so he gave me the thumbs down. haha, what a goober. 

Happy 7th birthday Hayden!!! James drew that cake on your birthday present. We love you so much!!

You had a Chuck E Cheese party, as per tradition, for your 7th birthday. But you wanted it to be a lego Jurassic World theme. Really? because you wanted the lego sets as your gift. It did make for an truly amazing cake by none other than Mimi!!

And no night is complete without Mimi&Grandpa bringing the boys DJ kitty heads from Tampa. Who even knows, but the boys had a blast doing the Keke challenge with these cat heads on. Hilarious!!

The boys wanted to take their Daddy to Top Golf for his birthday! This is always such a blast, and I love doing it too. Happy day Matt- you are the best!

The day finally arrived: WE LEFT FOR TRAIL WEST!! We had been excited about going for nearly a year, and this was our day to take the boys to the airport to fly to Colorado! It was Calvin & David's first flights, but by far the most flying any of them had done. They couldn't wait.

We got our tickets right with the Wests on this flight! It was so much fun to travel together.

Our double bunk room was tight but perfect and all we needed!

We couldn't wait to put on our boots and hats and go explore. These boys were really good sports for all my picture taking.

Family challenge!! We dressed as snoopy & Charlie Brown, and we had a blast.

James got to join Matt & I for the horseback ride. It was a really fun ride around the mountain!

The aspen grove that surrounded camp on one side was where the playground and fort were hidden, and that was where we spent most of our time. The boys played some frisbee golf but loved digging in the mine the most!

The adults got to visit Frontier Ranch which is a Young Life camp for high school kids. We were able to see one of their clubs and see the grounds. It was beautiful! Such a talented program team, music by Becky Kinder who was fantastic, and their speaker was a knock out. All around one of the best clubs I've ever seen anywhere. Blew Trail West's program & speaker & music out of the water!!

So many beautiful views during camp.

The BB gun range made sharp shooters out of a couple of our boys, and it made us wish we could build our own!

James & Hayden got to go on the rafting trip with Noah's Ark! I had always wanted to go on this trip because my dad took his high schoolers on to white water raft with this same company 20 years ago. I had always heard about it, seen my dad's picture of his boat on his desk, but I had never gotten the chance to go. Lucky me that I got to go for the first time with my two boys and Matt. The water was very calm, but none of us minded. It was a great day!

Trail West will be continued into August...

Thank you Lord for these lovely memories of what has come & gone in our lives. We are not the sum of our days, but we thank you for all these days have held. I am thankful to hold them again in my heart as I look back through, and I hope I can continue to to do so for years to come. Thank you for the exercise it gives my brain in gratitude. Help me continue to live out my thankfulness for all you have given instead of continuing to look ahead at what's to come. Thank you for  what I hope are lovely childhood memories for my sons, and the makings of beautiful memories for us as a family. Thank you that it is easy to look at the pictures and not remember the difficulty or tears, but that we can see all your light instead. You do give the best gifts. Amen.