Cousins Come to Play

It's not often that all these cousins get the chance to play together, so last month when the mid-western faction of our family came to visit, the kids packed as much outdoor play into one sunny afternoon as they possibly could! Complete with pirate sword fights and lots and lots of mud, thanks to the previous week of rain.
This is the gang after chowing down at Mom Mom and Pop Pop Barr's. My how times have changed! It used to be six adults at the table and now six kids have taken our spots! :)


My boys so enjoyed their cousins that it took a few days for the sad faces to disappear after they had gone. I'm sure by the time they have another play date, they will all be a few inches taller and be interested in different things. But for now the boys have great memories until then! :)

Just Hikin' Around

One of the things we love to do as a family is take a long drive and go exploring! The hubby usually has a place in mind and me and the boys just ride along and see where we end up. It's lots of fun! This past weekend we spent some time checking out a state park and campground area. Great scenery, beautiful weather, and so relaxing just to be outdoors!

July is Flyin' By

I always have good intentions about blogging daily, but then life gets in the way! So here's a glimpse of what we've been up to the last few weeks!

July 4th, we had a family picnic at the Moyer farm. These times are so precious because I'm not sure how many more years we will be able to share these times together! My mind is flooded with so many childhood memories whenever I'm at the farm. The memories are especially poignant when I'm there watching my own children enjoy the farm the way I did at their age! I'm so blessed to have my children know their great grandparents!



We had a church picnic July 5th and the kids wore themselves out for a second day in row! This over-sized ball kept the kids busy for quite a while!














Garrett playing kickball with the kids who live across the street from our church and came over with their mom for the picnic. They seemed to enjoy getting to know the church people better, so hopefully they will visit for a service sometime soon.














Carson playing a little catch with Daddy.














Jeff proving he can still keep up in a game of volleyball! (I believe the married men team soundly beat the teen guys team!)














Carson and Garrett ganging up on Caleb, one of our pastor's sons. :)
















Then we finally got the boys some sand for the sandbox! Don't ask me why there's never any sand left by the end of the summer, but, they are now using the sandbox for what it was intended once again!

Of course, helping Pop Pop mow his yard with the riding mower is high on their list of favorite things to do! :)

And Mom Mom had some new gadgets for blowing bubbles, which was tons of fun, too!

All in all, July has been lots of fun! Whew! I think I'm just about caught up for now. FOR NOW! Ha, I'm sure I'll be falling behind again quickly. It's just the story of my life! :)

A Brother Gets Married!

How could I forget the most important event of spring 2009! My brother married his sweetheart! They could not have special ordered a more beautiful day. Sunshine, a bright, blue sky, 75 degrees, a refreshing breeze, and the location, a gorgeous golf course!

The touching ceremony honored the couple, their families and godly heritage, and most importantly, God himself, the divine designer of marriage, holy union of one man and one woman! Two people who have genuinely honored God with their lives separately to this point, will now serve him with the rest of their lives together as one!

I'm so happy for you two, and so proud to call you brother, and now sister! May God continue to bless you as you embark on this new journey of honoring Him as husband and wife!

Camping in the Rain

For being relatively new to the whole camping thing, I'm pretty proud of myself and my little guys for having a really enjoyable time outside in the rain all weekend! Thankfully it was mostly a gentle, warm rain. We remained in sandals and rain jackets most of the time, and Jeff was able to keep our tent and eating area quite dry. :)


Now Jeff is an amazing cook at home, so of course we were treated to yummy camp food all weekend!And we spent some time roaming a lumberjack museum...


playing on the little beach area in the rain...

meeting some cute critters..

a chipmunk who parked under our table for every meal...

a baby snapper turtle...a little fawn who was stuck on one side of our jeep and its mother across the road on the other side...

and just really enjoying some down time away from it all!


I must say, if I didn't have such an experienced outdoorsman for a husband, the rainy weekend in the woods just might have ended sooner than planned. Thanks for making a wonderful memory for our family, sweetheart!