Trip to the Aquarium...

Yesterday we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium for the day. It was Elyse's first time to go and she had a blast. Payton was excited to see the sharks again and show his little Sis all the crazy creatures.

Hanging out in the shark tank...


Bubbie explaining something to Sis...

In the shark tunnel...
{Elyse was afraid one of the sharks would bite her head off,
so she was covering herself}



Elle's favorite...

Checking out the shrimp...

Amazed by the GIANT eel...

Exploring the tide pool with Daddy...

Feeding the turtles...

Ahhh! Watch out for the gator!

It was fun to see Elyse so excited and amazed by all the fish. She learned a lot from her super smart brother and daddy. She is now an ocean expert!

Viva Las Vegas...

Today I am going with two of my favorite girls...

for an exciting weekend...

in Las Vegas!!!

See ya in a few days!

Soakin' Up The Sunshine...

Payton is soakin' up the sunshine right now!

Enjoying the heat.

The waves.

The sand and surf.

The ice cream.

The dolphins.

The private islands.

The water slides.

I hope he brings some of that sunshine home to his mama!

Bon Voyage...

Payton has got to be the luckiest 12 year old in the world! Today he is leaving to go on a cruise with his buddy, Austin.

They are off to...

Jamaica, man!

The Cayman Islands!

And Cozumel, Me-hico, baby!

Along the way they'll get to swim with dolphins, take a speedboat to a private island for the day, and spend time at a water park on the beach. Not to mention all there is to do on the ship! Plus, the food...that seems to be the #1 reason for his excitement.

Meanwhile...the rest of the fam will be here. At home. In the snow that is predicted for this weekend. {Am I sounding a little jealous, maybe????}

We love you Payton! Have an amazing trip!

Surprise Weekend...

This past weekend Haley and I surprised Jennifer with a secret trip for her birthday weekend. We didn't tell her where we were going or what our plans were. It was so much fun! Once we hit the road we started giving her clues about what we were going to do...

Little Rock was our destination (she figured that one out pretty quickly once we started driving), but she still didn't know what we were going to do once we got there. We arrived and decided to go out for a while so we started changing and look at what Haley packed for a 2 day trip...

18 shirts, 1 pair of leggings, a pair of socks, and a boot! Ridiculous! We laughed sooo hard at this. Seriously, who packs like this? Ha!

We had a great time hanging out and laughing. We met some really interesting people. Hey, did anyone ever find Rumspringer????

Saturday night we took Jennifer to her big surprise...
The George Strait/Reba Concert!

We had an awesome time! And again...met some very interesting people.

I am so lucky to have such amazing friends. We laughed soooo hard the whole entire weekend. It was so much fun!

PS Hey Jenn.... What's a speech impairement?

Livin' The Life...

Payton has got to be the luckiest guy I know! He was invited by a friend to go on this...

Cruisin'. Swimmin'. Slidin'. Parasailin'. Livin' it up!

{These guys are the bomb!}

If You Need Me...

If you need me over the next few days, I'll be here...

But I sure will miss these faces...

Aloha, Part 2...

Here is the second set of pictures from our trip to Hawaii. One of the highlights of the trip was going on a zip line tour through the rain forest. I included a video from the tour at the end of this post as well.
Christy, Payton and Ryan after the zip line tour. We had a blast, but we were soaking wet and muddy from all the rain. It was fun riding in the hummer through the rain forest.

Me and Ryan in the rain forest. We saw 4 different waterfalls on the tour.

Ryan and Payton.

Christy and Payton.

All suited up for the zip-line tour through the rain forest. Payton's helmet said Pee-Wee. Ha!
Payton and Ryan inside the lava tube. It was REALLY dark in there, so the flash was pretty bright. :)

Payton, Elly, and me in the big section of the lava tube. Only the boys continued on to the pitch black section from the picture above.

Elyse, me, and Payton at Mount Kilauea...the volcano is in the background.

Steam from the volcano.

Cousin Katie and Elyse practicing their ballet moves.

Aren't they cute? Elyse wanted to be just like Katie...monkey see, monkey do.

Christy and Ryan at Akaka Falls.

Elyse, Christy and Payton at Akaka Falls.

Katie, Alex, Elyse and Payton.

Payton going across the last and BIGGEST zip-line. Woo hoo!! This one was a little bit scary because it was 1,000 feet across, it was pouring rain, and they told us that small people had gotten stuck part way across before. You can hear the guide telling Payton to "run, run, run" because he wanted him to build up enough speed to make it all the way across. Luckily we all made it! You could see a waterfall to the right and the ocean to the left as you went across the valley. So beautiful!

This trip was such a great experience for us. We were able to experience so many amazing sights. We are one lucky family!! Aloha!

Aloha, Part 1...

We've got so many pictures of our trip so far. Here are just a few...

Elyse relaxing on the hammock. All this playing is hard work! (not to mention the time change)

Watching the dolphins. (Elyse is saying, "Where'd it go?")

Eating at the Kona Brewery.

Head first down the water slide.

He's too cool! We had lots of fun using our new underwater camera.

See how much fun Elly was having going down the slides. Ha!

Going down backwards. Now Payton really did have fun on the slides!

Elyse and Mommy enjoying the water.

WEEEEEE!

Me and my sweet babies.

How long can he hold his breath?

Me and my Lysie Lou.

Ryan and Christy

Payton and Elyse...my loves.

Aloha! (Elyse loved the waterfall in the background...she was much more interested in that than the camera.)

They're just too cute for words!

Elyse and Ryan at Uncle John's wedding.

Christy and Elyse at the wedding. (Payton was trying to avoid the camera because he'd had enough pictures!!)

Elyse and Cousin Katie at the Ladie's Luncheon. Aren't they cute?

Nanna and Nonnie at the Ladie's Luncheon. We love you guys!
Elyse and Aunt Liz

Here's the aloha bear that Elyse "made."

Looks like she was just observing as others made her bear for her. What a princess! Ha!

Elyse and Ana (we named the bear after the beach where we got married). :)

More pics to come later! Aloha!