The West Family

Cayden and Avery’s photo shoot

2012-01-16T16:43:00.001-06:00

Since we are getting to take a lot of photo shoots now for other families, we had to schedule an appointment with ourselves to get Cayden’s 6 yr pictures and Avery’s 4 year pictures taken. Can I just say how wonderful it is to not have to go to a studio anymore!!!! Woo hoo!!

Here are some of our favorites…

This first one may not seem too great to anyone else, but this is an everyday occurrence at our house, so we were excited to catch a picture of it…Cayden making some crazy face and Avery humoring him by cracking up.

This is a shot that we have tried to get with other kids and it has never turned out the way I wanted it to. I love that my kids understand their crazy momma and what she is trying to get them to do!

I sure love these kids… Thank you, God for letting me be their momma.

Thanksgiving at the Ranch

2011-12-13T19:56:00.001-06:00

We had a great Thanksgiving spending time with my (Erin) family at the ranch down near Stephenville. We also took the opportunity to take a current family portrait with our newest family member, Justin!

We only got dressed up and put all our makeup on one time when we were there, just to take the family pictures. The trees were changing colors and looked so beautiful. I think they made a beautiful backdrop. I only wish that we would have waited to order our Christmas cards until after these pictures because I would have loved them to have been on our card!

Then the boys decided to have some fun:

Here are some other pictures from our time there:

For the record…most of the fish were caught with the pink Barbie pole:

We loved our time there, mainly because we are truly getting away from everything…our cell phones didn’t even work all the time down there. I think we all need that slower pace every once in a while and we were VERY thankful that we got it that week.

Avery’s Birthday!

2011-11-11T18:43:00.001-06:00

Our sweet baby girl, turned 4 last week. I know everyone says the same thing, but I really can’t believe how the time has flown by. It seems like few months ago, we were exhausted parents from being up all night with a colicky baby with acid reflux. Poor Avery was not a happy camper for the first 3 months of her life. If she was awake, she was crying. There were times I just sat and cried with her. But thankfully after the first 3 months and many different types of medicines, our happy, precious Avery emerged!

Just a stroll down memory lane… (OH, how it makes me sad when I realize how many good pictures we missed because we didn’t have our good camera yet…I have to try and look at the pictures of my babies with unbiased eyes… and not covet the camera that we didn’t yet have in our possession….anyway, sorry for the blurriness)

Avery was very specific this year that she didn’t want to have a party with all her friends. She just wanted her family there with her for her Tangled party and then she wanted to go with her friend, Abby to a place called Sweet and Sassy. It is a place where little girls can get mini-pedicures, manicures, facials and get their hair fixed for fun.

Also, to save money, Damon and I have been making and decorating cakes for the kids. After every birthday, I say how crazy we are and how I would rather just pay someone and not mess with it, but then the next birthday comes around and we want to take on the challenge again! Yes, we are crazy.

Here are some pics of our cake making journey:

Pictures for her party:

Her new coat and hat from Gammy and Papa:

Then, on her actual birthday, November 2nd, I took her to “Sweet and Sassy” with her friend, Abby:

I love the look on Abby’s face here because the girl was doing a sugar scrub on her legs and Abby crinkled up her nose like the girl was killing her and said, “That is too scratchy!”

Getting their chocolate masks….and they girls really did smell like chocolate ice cream all day long!

This next part made Kristy (Abby’s mom) and I laugh uncontrollably! It was just so cute and funny to see our girls trying to be still enough to keep the “cucumbers” on their eyes!

Getting her hair done…this part was a little frustrating. I don’t think she knew what to do with curly hair. She literally didn’t use a comb or brush or anything. I re-did it when we got home because it really just looked like she had rolled out of bed and had personally stuck bobby pins in her hair. Oh well, the girls didn’t know the difference.

It was a super fun birthday, and I can’t believe my baby girl is 4. I love you, “Avie”.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…

2011-09-05T22:29:00.001-05:00

Recently, our family made a weekend trip to a funeral in the Dallas area, and spent the night on the way down at "The Ranch." If you've known Erin's family for any number of years, you've probably heard them make mention of their Ranch near Stephenville. Long story short, it's the house and land that Erin's Bubba (that's Grandpa to the uninitiated) owned, and when Erin was growing up their family would go down there a couple of times a year, usually for a week at a time. Crossing the cattle guard off of the highway, it doesn't take long to realize that you've entered into a different world, a throwback to (without trying to sound too cliche) a simpler time.

The family has always enjoyed time there because of that simplicity. As kids, that meant fishing, exploring, and collecting all sorts of things - rocks, bones, leaves, whatever. As they got older, they came to discover that there may or may not be an age requirement to drive the old Bronco out on the dirty trails. And those naps that you fight off so violently when you're little? The ranch is a fantastic place to let them catch up to you now.

I realize after trying to give you the Cliff's Notes version of what the ranch is and what it means that we would do well the next time we go to take a few pictures of the house and its immediate surroundings. You'd quickly get a sense of what I'm talking about just from seeing the place. While I don't have anything along those lines, we did take some during the few hours of daylight we had to work with. Here are our adventures!

Little Man was pretty stoked to get to use binoculars to aid in his exploring:

We made our way to the "back tank," where traditionally plenty of fishing and turtle hunting has taken place. The drought has certainly made its presence known, but the dry ground does lend a different perspective than we're used to...

The ranch is always a fantastic place to find all sorts of animal remains... which is perfect for a six-year-old boy!

And this is Papa no doubt making up some story about how the poor animal fought valiantly and died a hero, and here lie his bones to this very day...

A couple of shots that caught my eye:

And finally, when you're cruising the ranch looking for chicks, this is probably the way you should do it...

Thanks for taking the time to read; you can comment on individual pictures at www.DamonWestPhoto.com on the "Just For Fun" page. And for those who are concerned, the Bronco wasn't actually running when that last one was taken. :)

Damon

First Day of School

2011-08-31T09:14:00.001-05:00

Cayden started 1st grade last week and Avery started Pre-school for 3’s yesterday. Avery is going to our church, Calvary Baptist Church and Cayden is now going to Southcrest Christian School. We are so blessed to have such a great school that he can go to and we have been so impressed with every aspect of it so far. It reminds me a lot of where I (Erin) went to school growing up at Plainview Christian Academy. The classes are small and the teachers and staff are so great. Academically, they are really stretching the kids and doing some amazing things that I’m super excited about, but the thing I love the most is that he is learning scripture every day, learning more about the Bible and learning songs that we like to call “Jesus music” at our house. What a blessing that we are so thankful for!

Here is Cayden on his first day:

His precious teacher, Mrs. Henry

His class waiting at their cone in the assembly room to do pledges and prayer together:

2 hands covering your heart is better than 1, right?

Walking into his classroom:

Everyone sitting at their desks for the first time:

All ready to start the day!

I was a little nervous about his first day because when we got there is was evident that all the other boys in his class knew each other from last year and as a mom, I was worried he would be left out of everything. When I picked him up that afternoon he was all smiles and said it was a really great day! He still loves it and is excited to go every day. What a blessing and relief for this Momma!

Miss Avery started to her 3 yr. old Preschool yesterday and she will go 2 days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Unlike Cayden, she has been VERY hesitant and has NOT wanted to go to school. There are 2 cool things though….her teacher, Mrs. Ricks, is the mom of one of Cayden’s friends, so she kinda already knew her. The other cool thing is that her close friend from last year, Abby (the friend who she was hugging when she fell and busted her head open) is also in her new class! We are hoping for no more destructive hugs this year, though…only the good hugs please.

All that to say that Avery was “sortof” excited to see Mrs. Ricks and Abby…

Walking into school:

Avery and Mrs. Ricks:

Her excitement was slowly fading, unfortunately, and Avery was NOT letting me leave…even if that impaired her playdoh making skills:

But after a few minutes she warmed up and started playing with Abby:

Mrs. Ricks (Shawdi, to me) texted me that afternoon saying what a great day Avery had, what a great helper she was and how much she loved having Avery in her class. Shawndi texted, “I’ve fallen in love with her already”….. Thank you Jesus for a teacher who is so flexible and loving!!!

So those were our first days of school!

On a side note, as you can see we are gearing up for some Texans football…if anyone wants to join us in cheering for them, we will forgive you for your past sins of mocking them and we will welcome you to the great world of Houston Texans football.

At The Lake

2011-07-28T23:57:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago we were invited to go out to Buffalo Springs Lake by our friends the Stewards. I vaguely remember going out there once or twice as a kid...I think we spent as much time trying to get the boat going out in the middle of the lake as we did skiing or motoring around. Erin's family went to the lake a LOT when she was younger (evidence of that to follow...), but neither of us had had a "day at the lake" since we'd been married, and probably not even since before high school.

Our kids are no stranger to the swimming pool, and we've been to the beach several times in their young life, but this would be a new experience. They were both a little skittish at first. Having to constantly wear the life jackets lends a sense of impending doom to the preschool mind. There were some other factors as well that you'll see in the images to follow. Here was our day!

Geared up and on the water:

I don't know if you can tell, but the little one doesn't quite have enough nose to hold up those glasses.

Our crew rode in the tube (and I use that term loosely...it was more of a raft pulled at ridiculously high speeds designed to eject you across the surface of the lake...more on that to come...) on the way out to open water. Notice the little faces of concern. :)

By the time we got out into the middle of the lake they were feeling better about things.

The girls went for a ride next.

Once they unloaded Avery back into the boat, Bryan gave it a little more get-up-and-go from the Captain's chair. As a gauge, you can always tell the speed and direction of the tube in future pictures by Kayleigh's ponytail...

From there Kayleigh and Kade went for a ride...and there was no mercy to be found from Dad...

And ultimately Kade was destined for failure...

Clearly Kayleigh is concerned for his well-being. It's good to know they've got each other.

Stop! Drink break!

After that I got to ride with Kade. Apparently there's no need for weight balance on these tubes? Also, many thanks to the Stewards for the lovely pastel life jacket I was able to borrow from them. No lie, I had a pair of roller blades circa 1991 that would have matched perfectly.

The faces tell the story...

The following pictures took place after I may or may not have challenged Bryan to try and throw us out of the tube:

Yup, those legs are mine. But we stuck the landing. I would say that we won by managing to stay in the raft, but there's a chance that Kade may never breathe normally with his left lung again after I landed on him rather forcefully after a particularly nasty jump. But don't worry, I was ok.

Kade seems fine too I think. We'll laugh about this later, I just know it.

Bryan and Kayleigh were next, with Stacey driving. Normally the boat is safer than the tube in terms of feeling like you're not going to end up in the water, but, again, Stacey was driving now...

After that round it was lunch and swimming!

Earlier in the day, Avery's concern was 1) there are fish in the water, 2) you can't see the fish, 3) you also can't see your toes, 4) it stands to reason that the fish you can't see will be eating your toes that you also can't see. Eventually we were able to talk (or throw, I forget exactly how it happened) her into the water, and all was well!

Also, I have no idea who that woman is with Avery. Normally I would say it was Stacey, but I told her that I wouldn't take any pictures of her, and certainly wouldn't post any online. Wait, I think Erin took that one...

This was about Avery's speed...as in none...

After lunch we had a few more rounds on the tube. One of these boys is clearly more concerned for their future safety than the other.

Erin got to talking to Bryan and Stacey about how her family had skied a lot when she was younger, and they said they don't often ski, but did have some on board. From there, it was on! What follows was Erin's first try, by the way...

The day was just a ton of fun, and I think we were all pretty exhausted when it was over. Thanks a ton to the Steward family for letting us tag along, we had a blast! This blog and these pictures can also be seen over at www.DamonWestPhoto.com if you're interested. Thanks for reading!

Pool Party

2011-07-18T00:19:00.004-05:00

For Independence Day this year, our family hit the road (wait...that's what we do every year!). The night of July 3rd we went out to my (Damon's) folks' house.

Cayden and Avery were pretty excited about getting their hands on the toys that stay at Nana & Papaw's house:

Entertainment for the evening was provided by The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly...powered by D'Lynn, and acting in conjunction with a song on a cassette tape. It's a doll that's almost as old as I am (she grayed earlier than I did, but I'm getting there) that was used in classrooms originally and now hangs out in the back closet at Nana and Papaw's. After hearing the sad tale of her eating all sorts of odd things (a fly, a frog, a spider, a horse, etc.) that ultimately ends in her death, we decided there was a reason kids didn't sing this song anymore. We now live in an enlightened age where everything for kids has to be politically correct and possess some degree of educational content (or at least involve a few Spanish words) in order to receive mass acceptance. Other than not eating bugs and farm animals - valuable lessons, certainly, but not nearly important as "please shut the door" in Spanish - The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly unfortunately falls short in this area. Oh well, here's a picture...

For July 4th, we headed to Gammy & Papa's (Erin's parents) and spent the afternoon playing in the pool. You may have heard, we had a world-class diving competition in the back yard. If you missed it, well, you definitely missed out. But there was a good representation of onlookers and spectators from all walks of life ready to witness the festivities.

A local Hawaiian princess:

White Tiger, equally at home on the picnic table as he is snuggling in bed with Avery. He's never had a bath. We just try not to think about where all he's been. Once we have to change his name to "Brown Tiger" or "Dingy Tiger" or even "What's This Stain on Avery's Tiger?" he's going to experience the inside of a washing machine.

This guy:

An excited little boy:

And the snail found a friend! I wish this had happened on its own, but it was completely set up. I like the duck's eyes looking up at him, they make me smile...

And with our audience gathered, we could begin the diving competition...

The Little One didn't have quite the variety of her brother, so just take the following and multiply it by about 50 and you'll have an idea of what Avery did...

This makes me laugh...she's down there...somewhere...

Papa got in on the action...a little blurry because he moves with cat-like quickness, but worth sharing nonetheless:

And not everyone was a willing participant. Don't worry, the wedding's still on...

And this guy wasn't much of a diver, but could swim like nobody's business:

Brief modeling intermission..."Hey ladies, when I'm not in the pool, I like to sit beside it..."

And the Little One ended up with my hat at one point, and clearly felt guilty for the theft:

When diving got boring, the children turned on me:

You can see all of the plastic balls floating in the background...they made fantastic weapons:

They could also serve as a muscle suit/flotation device if need be:

And they're not just for kids anymore! (featuring Justin, Andi's fiance)

Andi is clearly in awe...

And finally, here are a few pictures of the crew just hanging out:

Normally a July 4th blog would end with fireworks...this one ends with a drought and burn ban. Oh well, a good time was had by all nonetheless! All these pictures can be found in the Just For Fun Gallery of DamonWestPhoto.com, if you care to go comment on any of them. Thanks for reading!

Damon

May and June in pictures

2011-06-28T10:32:00.001-05:00

I wish that I was witty and creative in writing blogs like Damon, and my cousins April and Summer, but alas, I am neither witty, funny or creative….at all. I’m learning to accept it and since I love my cousin April SO much and she keeps asking me to be better about blogging, I will at least give you some pictures to look at.

Damon has been super busy with his new photography business that we started a couple of months ago, so anytime he is at the computer, he is editing pictures. SO, the blogging job is falling to me this time….sorry. What I really want to do is post an entire blog of Damon’s photo shoots because I’m so proud of him, but I’ll do family first and then maybe next blog I can post some of my favorites of his pics.

Back in May we had a fun day in Amarillo and Doug and Terri’s house where we got to meet baby Wyatt for the first time and see his Mommy and Daddy, Leslie and David. We had fun with some other cousins and aunts and uncles as well.

Avery and her best friend at school, Abby were hugging one day in their classroom and their feet got tangled….and down they went, with Avery hitting her head on a metal chair rail on the window. It made a pretty bad gash, that this momma still thinks needed stitches. Our doctor friend from church that immediately worked her in when we called, said that since it was in her hair, he didn’t want to put her through the trauma of stitches. Here is Avery all wrapped up in her pink “civil war soldier bandage”.

Moving on to Cayden….We are really into Star Wars right now, folks…. Damon has been telling him for over a year now that when he turned 6 they could watch them together….(I may have watched a few with them too….they are just a little addicting) Anywho… here are some Jedi moves.

I asked Damon why, with all the technology out there, they hadn’t made light sabers with the sounds and lights like the real ones. When he told me they have but said how expensive they are….well, ummm….I was surprised at how tempted I was. Maybe for my next birthday…

We had a late Easter/Mother’s Day/4 May birthdays party at GG’s house….

We got to have some fun lovin’ time with Miss Kendall on one of our Plainview visits… playing with very age appropriate toys.

My big boy… this is our official “6 year old picture”…..it’s so nice not having to go into a studio anymore! (You spoiled us, April)

And lastly, swimming lessons were a HUGE flop….the lessons were 30 minutes long and they have them toys to play in the shallow end for at least 15 minutes of the lesson…. so we got a refund. But here are some pics from what we call “play time” not swimming lessons. It was super cute when they asked them to hold hands and get in a circle, Avery and the boy in the hat held hands and just walked around the pool together, while the instructors chased the other kids around trying to get them to hold hands…. Is it just me, but I thought you didn’t have to hold hands with anyone when you swim….Hmm… Maybe I could teach swimming lessons.

The Graduate

2011-06-04T21:42:00.001-05:00

Recently Cayden graduated. We’re still weighing college options, but in the meantime, it’ll be on to first grade!

Each kid had their own poster as the backdrop for the program.

A diploma and a hug from Mrs. Tiffiany, Cayden’s “prisubl”

And those, my friends, are your future leaders of America.

This red-head had been sitting next to me crying during the whole program, so I asked if she’d like a picture with me and Cayden. Just trying to help out where I can.

Avery’s allergies were wearing her out that day, but it was cool to see her still pretty excited and proud for Cayden, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what exactly was happening. :)

Ladies, ladies, we’re right here! Zachari, Cayden, and Caden

Here’s a few from the official cap and gown photo day.

Straight Hair!

2011-05-21T01:23:00.002-05:00

Last September, Erin took the straightener to Avery’s hair. It was kind of one of those “what would happen” type moments. You know how when you were a kid (or maybe more like last week…you know who you are) you just had to stick your tongue to that frozen pole, or touch the electric fence, or see just how close you could get your face to the dog’s mouth and still get it back. You were told you couldn’t do it…there was an element of danger…you just had to see for yourself what the results would be. You knew you could die, but it was worth the risk. Such was the case with attacking Avery’s hair; it felt like defying some sort of natural law, but we just had to know what waited on the other side.

So anyway, these are the pictures from last Fall:

To my knowledge, Erin hasn’t outright offered to tackle the beast again, but Avery will on occasion ask for it. Typically she does this when we’re already late and do well just to get the children clothed, let alone having time for hair-do’s. But, she asked for it the other night, and the stars aligned, and Erin was feeling just a little crazy. It’s funny, her hair has grown quite a bit, and we had no idea. I decided it made her about three years older. We took her to a party at church, and had several folks tell us they initially wondered what child we had brought with us, as her signature curls were not bouncing as she trotted along…

Cayden’s Birthday

2011-05-16T21:14:00.003-05:00

Our oldest (and one of my two favorite children) turned 6 last week, and we had a party. I know, I know, this story is just filled with unexpected twists and turns. Since he attended a party last year at a local gymnastics facility/padded room for children, he’s wanted to have his party there as well. Here are some shots from the day, beginning with our little warrior-Batman-kid…

They had a giant swing (what he was most looking forward to, and what Avery enjoyed the most during her time there), and his face cycled from sheer terror to pure joy and back again countless times during the few minutes he was on there.

I had my doubts about Avery’s commitment to the swing, and figured she’d get all strapped in and then weasel out, but she stayed with it. The only problem was the “one ride per child” policy, which didn’t prevent her from asking about every 90 seconds for the rest of the day, “Can I swing again?”

In the true spirit of the traditional birthday party, we didn’t just allow other kids to join in the fun, we even invited them!

Strapping in for lift-off…

Sticking the landing…

Working through the obstacle course jumper…

Trampoline-ing…but not nearly as well as Anthony Watt, who was hurtling toward me waaaay too fast to be caught on camera…

And enjoying the various climbing, jumping, and falling apparatuses…

Here’s the full lineup of offenders…pretty good percentage of smiles/eye contact for such a big and focus-challenged group (someone may have once described our church staff using the same terms, but I wasn’t really paying attention)

Then it was on to cake and presents!

This cake, like Avery’s last fall, was a home-made project for Erin and me. Batman got a little more girthy than I would have liked, but that tends to happen to men under our roof. Although muscles look much better drawn on him than they do on me, so at least there’s that…

This was more or less a life-sized dragon. We’re considering giving it Avery’s room since it won’t fit anywhere else. But it breathes fire, so that’s cool.

Erin and Misty…

After the “kid party,” we headed back home for the “family party,” as apparently grandparents, aunts, and uncles are less than impressed with bouncy houses and giant swings. In fairness, they don’t let adults on the cool stuff there anyway, as Nathan recounted for me through tears in the waiting area after he learned that the hard way. So anyway, here’s a little of what happened back at the Casa de la West!

Since opening them, he’s taken these Star Wars shoes off when he sleeps. That’s about it. And come to think of it, I can’t confirm that for sure either…

Uncle Brian enlightening young Cayden (complete with bat-cape)…

Avery, Lorrie, and Rapunzel…

Dustin and D’Lynn with the little monsters…

And a Happy Birthday sign-off from the little ham…

Cruise

2011-05-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

Our family was blessed at the end of April to get to go on a cruise. We had been trying to decide what kind of vacation we wanted to take this year, and when Erin got a last-minute deal on an off-season all-inclusive boat trip, we decided that would be the better route than the traditional "road-trip/hotel/meals/tourist attractions" trip that is, well, tradition for our family. (We still got a couple of 12-hour road-trips going to and from Galveston, mind you, so we didn't completely miss out on that delight.) Here are some of my favorites from the trip.

This was the main "lobby" on the boat...the kids were thoroughly impressed that the neon (pink near the top of this picture) constantly changed colors.

These were a couple of cute girls Cayden and I met on the first day.

Needless to say, I hit it off pretty well with the red-headed one.

There were live bands at about three different places every night, and we discovered the perfect spot for our little crew was outside of an actual venue (where you could actually hear yourself think) and there was room to dance!

Speaking of dancing, there were several dance classes offered over the course of the week. At this particular class, we all got sick...with DISCO FEVER!

Avery, on the other hand, didn't bother with what everyone else was doing, she just let the music take control...

We made it to the class offered each of the first three days (hip hop, disco, and Michael Jackson's "Thriller"...Erin would be more than happy to show you the steps at your request). People had the option to take part in the class (it was actually on the stage of the theater) or sit out and watch. Erin had a lady ask her on day three if we were going to be doing the class that day, as she "just loved watching our little family up there." I'm assuming it's the mixture of Erin and Cayden actually having rhythm and a sense of how to dance, Avery doing some variation of stomping in circles and pumping her arms regardless of the music, and my awkward 6'3" rhythm-less frame trying to find the beat while battling with a rocking boat. There's something for everyone to love (or perhaps laugh at) in there.

The next one is from the artificial turf of the miniature golf course. The punk kids had it coming to them.

The girls in the pool.

The back of the boat had three different water slides...this is Cayden preparing to venture down the BIG one. It didn't actually empty out into the ocean, it only looks that way here. Although that would've made the slides a lot less crowded...

The paint on his forehead was from a kids' activity he and Avery had done just before. There was a "Camp Carnival" (basically a daycare on the boat) schedule for the kids, where if there was an activity they wanted to take part in they could be dropped off to do it, and picked up at the end. The activity immediately before this was one the kids didn't want to miss; it was all about Fun Ship Freddie, the Carnival mascot. They read a book, colored, made hats, got their faces painted, and Freddie himself actually dropped by. Here's the whole getup, complete with a "Cayden face" for the benefit of his sister, laughing at him across the table...

Here are a few of the family from various days and locales:

The back of the boat...the tower at the left is the top of the yellow slide, where Cayden was pictured earlier. The blue ones on the right were more Avery's speed. :) Cayden REALLY wanted Momma to take this picture, and I don't think either of us expected it to turn out very special, but it's actually one of my favorites.

Incidentally, for the pictures of just Erin and me, Cayden is the photographer. He has a much easier time with the little point-and-shoot than with the big camera, but does a good job getting the shot regardless. By far the best 6-year-old photographer I know!

One day we took part in a family scavenger hunt (it was families scavenging for items, not people scavenging for families. That would be awkward.). Out of all the families that took part (ok, there were two of them), ours won, and as you can see, to the victor go the spoils!

The bucket was all the stuff we tracked down (no snide remarks, it's a ginger ale can) and the face paint was for bonus points. Clearly this was a big deal, as he got a medal AND a trophy.

Here's a couple of Avery, one in the wind by the slides and one on her bunk...

The one day we got off the boat was at Cozumel, Mexico, and we got to go out to a little privately-owned island for the afternoon. We weren't the only people there, although that's kind of what these look like. There were quite a few other people, and some honest-to-goodness buzzards hanging around the lunch buffet area. They didn't make the pictures.

Avery got her hair done in Cozumel, the results are as follows. (No, it didn't hurt, and yes, she patiently sat still for the 15-20 minutes that it took. She was super-excited to get it done, so she was willing to wind down her motor for a while.) She didn't get the sassy pose in Cozumel, she brought that from home.

And these are the goobers working hard on their morning cereal, a daily ritual. They and their mother were unimpressed with my smoked salmon, which is admittedly an acquired taste, but bagels and strawberry jam were a universal favorite.

Finally, on our way home, we were welcomed back with a West Texas sunset. Thanks to my lovely wife for being willing (and not even begrudgingly!) to let us stop after already having spent soooo many hours in the car, even though it would add another ten minutes to the seemingly-eternal road trip.

We had a ton of fun over the course of the week, and I'm convinced it's the fastest a week has ever passed. It seemed we got on the boat, blinked a few times, and it was time to get back off. But it was a great opportunity to pull back from the stress of life for a time, rest and be renewed, and let our kids (and each other) know how much we love them. Until next time!

These pictures and blog are also on Damon’s photography website, which is www.damonwestphoto.com

Super Bowl

2011-02-17T10:19:00.005-06:00

Why cheer for the actual teams that are playing in the Super Bowl?? We wore our Texans gear instead!

Since we didn't really care who won the Super Bowl, I rooted for the Packers. Way back I knew my cousin Matt liked them, so I cheered for them. Who knows if he still does??

But since we didn't have Packers stuff, here we are supporting our Texans at our church Super Bowl Party:

Upward Basketball

2011-02-17T09:49:00.002-06:00

Cayden is playing Upward Basketball this year and Damon is getting to coach his team. We have loved being a part of this awesome program and watching Cayden learn how to play has been so much fun.

(August-October) I am a horrible blogger!

2010-11-02T15:58:00.001-05:00

I am so far behind on blogging…goodness gracious!

So, I’m going to try and catch up with some pictures! :)

My sweet cousin April (with the help of Brandon) took our family pictures at the end of August and I couldn’t be more pleased with them. Damon will tell you that the night I saw them for the first time I just sat and cried and cried….I know, it’s not too out of the ordinary for me. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH APRIL!!!!!! Here are just a few of our very favorites:

We got to babysit my cousin, Summer’s baby girl, Kendall for a few hours and Cayden and Avery were VERY protective of her. :)

I love this one…It’s like Kendall is saying, “Ok, lady that’s enough!” :)

Cayden played Upward Soccer this fall and had a really great time.

Cayden with his biggest cheerleader:

Cayden is trying to smile through his first soccer injury:

Cayden started Kindergarten at our church and Avery goes to PDO on Mondays and Wednesdays. This was the first day of school:

Avery with her teacher, Miss Casey

Avery wanted me to try straightening her hair, and after about 30 minutes, here she is!:

We got to go back to South Padre Island for a few days with my (Erin) family:

Getting kisses from Lily at the park:

Our Spiderman and Strawberry Shortcake at our Fall Festival:

Whew…ok, I think I am caught up now! :)

Mary Kay Seminar

2010-08-10T22:29:00.001-05:00

Last month I was able to go again to my Mary Kay Seminar in Dallas. Here are a few pictures:

The theme for our unit at our area awards was Bigham’s Biker Babes, so that is why we are in black leather and tattoos!!! :) My director’s name is Christy Bigham, so that is where the name came from.

Christy and I:

Andi let me borrow her dress from her Senior Recital for our formal awards night:

We always have such a fun time with friends and we always get great training while we are there too and get to hear all about the new products that are coming out that no one knows about yet…Psst…One of the new things is a perfume called “Thinking of You” that smells REALLY good and comes with a heart charm that you can take off and use on a bracelet or necklace. So cute! :)

New pictures

2010-06-04T14:56:00.001-05:00

Avery has become pretty attached to her hats that my cousin, April made her. Damon was able to snap this picture of our cutie the other day:

Cayden kickin’ it in the pink floaties since Daddy left his at home. :)

First time without training wheels:

10th Anniversary Trip

2010-05-26T10:54:00.001-05:00

We were so blessed in April to get to go to our “dream vacation” place….HAWAII!!!! It was the most unbelievable trip and one that we will never forget. We went to Maui first and then to Oahu. Our resort in Maui was unbelievable! It is right by the beach and the gardens/landscaping was gorgeous. As far as the islands themselves, we like Oahu the best because you can’t beat the gorgeous mountains of East Oahu and the amazing beaches at Kailua. Those 2 things were the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It felt like we were in a postcard. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Maui resort:

Our first morning there, we got up at 2:30am (which to us only felt like 7:30am) and drove the 2 hr. drive up Mt. Haleakala for the sunrise. I can’t tell you what an amazing experience it was. My favorite part was honestly before the sun started coming up because being that high we could see more stars than we have ever seen before. It was like there was more stars then black sky…Unbelievable. Unfortunately none of our pictures turned out of the stars, but here are some of the sunrise. It seemed weird to be so bundled up in Hawaii, but it was crazy cold up there!

Our time on Maui:

Our time on Oahu:

Our friends, Carole and Viki

LOST sites:

Damon and I tried out our very amateurish photography skills, but we were really proud of a few of them: (Damon took most of these)

Cayden’s 5th Birthday Party!

2010-05-26T09:49:00.001-05:00

Cayden had a Super Mario Bros. party this year and since was his first party to invite friends, we decided to have it in our church gym so they would have lots of room to play. We rented a big jumping house and slide that turned out to be a huge hit!

We had a family party first for lunch before all the craziness began with the kiddos.

Then all his friends got there:

I really can’t believe that my baby is 5…the time goes so fast. :(

I love you so much, sweet Cayden…

New Pictures

2010-05-12T12:27:00.001-05:00

Cayden’s Pre-K End of School Program

Playing with Lily (who Cayden says is a DOG now, not a PUPPY)

A good kiss on the ear

The night before Cayden’s birthday, we filled his room with balloons while he slept:

Cayden’s class had a field trip on his birthday to Kenny’s Korral where he got to feed camels, buffalo, llamas, alpacas, horses, a baby camel, sheep, etc..

Cayden’s teacher and class singing “Happy Birthday” to him:

Pictures to come later of his Super Mario party!

Catching up…

2010-03-01T14:59:00.001-06:00

I know, it’s been a long time since I have blogged. Life has been slightly crazy around the West home and still is, but I wanted to sneak in an update while the kids are napping. We have all been passing around sickness after sickness which has been horrible. This past weekend we thought I had the flu because I don’t think I’ve ever been that achy in my life. But, turns out, I have strep instead, so I’m finishing up the Tamiflu and beginning an antibiotic. Fun huh?

On to more fun stuff, we are still loving our precious puppy, Lily. She is growing so fast and doesn’t quite understand her own strength yet and tends to knock Avery down almost every day, but the kids adore her. Every time that someone mentions Lily she say, “Liddy…bite!” or “Liddy! NO BITING!” Lily is obviously at that puppy stage where everything is a chew toy, so we have gotten a few scratches from her baby teeth.

We have also gotten a LOT of snow this past month, so here are some pics we got:

Damon gets to play basketball with some guys up at our church every Tuesday night, so a couple of weeks ago I went up to get some pictures:

Avery decided the other day that she wanted to wear “all” her bows, not just one, so we had to take a picture:

Here are some pics at my (Erin’s) parents house in Plainview:

Damon’s aunt, Kelly passed away last week and we went to Las Cruces for the funeral. Here are some pictures of the kids with Damon’s mom, Donna and also Damon’s Grandma, Laverne and cousin, Kimberly.

Lily

2010-01-27T10:26:00.001-06:00

Well, after hearing Cayden beg us for over a year to get a puppy, we have given in….Meet Lily. She is a boxer/blue heeler mix that we got from a friend of ours that had a litter of puppies in December. She is now 8 weeks old.

Cayden and Lily taking a nap:

Family Christmases all over West Texas

2010-01-11T10:37:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve at Granny’s:

Nana and Papaw’s house:

Gammy and Papa’s house:

CHRISTMAS!!!

2010-01-11T10:11:00.001-06:00

We let the kids open 1 gift on our “Christmas Eve” which was actually on Dec.22nd. Cayden got Darwin from G-Force:

Avery got Doug, from UP:

Christmas morning at our house:

We had a special visitor knock on our door that day…one of our former youth from FBC Wolfforth, Kolby Stewart, who got to come home for Christmas before heading back to serving our country. We are so proud of him and so excited that we got to see him.

More Christmas Adventures…

2010-01-11T09:59:00.001-06:00

Avery and Daddy:

We started a tradition last year of having a birthday party for Jesus and this year was really special because Erin’s dad, Eddi found a really neat kit that he ordered through the bookstore that had a great resource book with Scriptures and stories to help remind kids that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday and help them better understand why Jesus came as a baby and ultimately why he died on the cross for us. It was a really neat kit that had a online party with other kids all over the world who were celebrating Jesus’ birthday too! The kids loved it and I loved knowing there are such great resources out there for our kiddos. We also had a “picnic” in the living room (which is one of their favorite things to do) and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

We also went out looking at Christmas lights and found one really neat house that had their lights synchronized to music:

Turner Christmas in Canyon

2010-01-01T22:11:00.002-06:00

We had a fun day in Canyon with my Dad’s side of the family on Dec. 19th. Here are some pictures of the day:

Staff Christmas Party

2010-01-01T22:08:00.002-06:00

We had so much fun at Damon’s staff Christmas party in our pastor’s home. Here are the guys all posing together…(and yes Cory and Drew have on t-shirts that look like Christmas sweaters) That, along with the second picture will give you a glimpse of how close they all are.

Cory (Associate Pastor of Missions and Students), Damon, Nathan (Associate Pastor of Music), Drew (Youth Intern), and Richard, our pastor.

Kenna (Nathan’s wife), Donna (Richard’s wife) and me. (Kelly, Cory’s wife, was sick)

Being silly:

All of our kids love each other and have so much fun together. Here is Avery with her 2 buddies, Kaitlyn and Lauren:

NEW CAMERA!!

2010-01-01T09:11:00.002-06:00

We played around with our friend Blaine’s camera the weekend of the Christmas cantata and ummm, well we fell in love with it, so Damon returned the camera he had bought for his Christmas present and got the exact one that Blaine has. We love it and here are just a few of the very first pics we took with it for fun:

Granny’s 80th Birthday and Christmas Cantata

2009-12-31T13:22:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures of Granny’s birthday and our church’s Christmas Cantata. Both events made for a busy weekend on Dec.12-13!

Performance in Petersburg Saturday night:

This is during rehearsal and that is why I am still wearing my jeans… :)

Then here is the choir singing the next day, Sunday, at our church in Lubbock:

Just some random dancing in our Christmas jammies!

A Night in Bethlehem

2009-12-30T09:07:00.001-06:00

A local church in Lubbock had a really special night were you could come celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, which of course is Jesus coming down to earth as a tiny baby for each one of us. All this past month Cayden has made sure to remind us of that fact….”Momma, do you know what the best part about Christmas is?? It’s Jesus coming to save us!!!”

I really enjoyed this night we got to spend as a family. We have been trying to lessen the importance of Santa and celebrate Jesus’ birthday instead and this night really helped us to do that.

Avery’s favorite part was visiting Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus (which was a real baby…don’t get me started on how cold it was out there and how I was concerned the whole time about that tiny baby out in the cold!!) Seeing them was all Avery wanted to do, so we made several trips back to the stable to see “Eesus”.

Cayden got to ride a camel:

Making a clay pot:

They were supposed to be writing the Greek alphabet, but Cayden stuck with the alphabet he knows….Avery, well, she mainly enjoyed just dipping the stick in the ink. They did get to pick what color wax and stamp they wanted to seal it with which they enjoyed.

Making a nativity scene:

Making flour from grain:

Making leather bracelets:

The lady put on a special glove so that Avery could use the hammer:

Making a “fishing net”:

Fun times with friends

2009-12-29T22:52:00.001-06:00

Our friends, Michael and Rebecca invited us to come to their house one night to eat and hang out. There was a special visitor, Santa that dropped by. It was our sweet friend from church, Jim and we could tell that Cayden knew it was him because he was so at ease and comfortable with him. Avery, on the other hand, was not so thrilled, but she didn’t cry! :) We went on the Polar Express the next night with the Tranthams (Anthony, Nancy, Rylee and Ryker) and we wore our jammies and ate “breakfast” at Cracker Barrel before we got on the train. Nancy and I even wore pjs, but Anthony and Damon wouldn’t do it with us…those party-poopers!

Cayden and Ryker playing checkers:

Trip to Dallas

2009-12-29T22:31:00.001-06:00

Damon and I were blessed to get a fun quick trip to Dallas the first weekend in December with our good friends, Anthony and Nancy Trantham. We went shopping at the Grapevine Mills Mall and the Galleria and went to see “The Blind Side”(If you haven’t seen it, you really need to… it is wonderful). We ate lots of great food and had tons of fun! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Eating at my favorite restaurant, The Grand Lux:

A beautiful tree at the Galleria Mall:

We went to the Gaylord Texan to see “ICE”: They gave you these enormous coats to wear because it was 9 degrees!

Happy LATE Thanksgiving!

2009-12-28T16:59:00.001-06:00

Ok, I know…we have been horrible this past month with blogging, but as I’m about to show you with pictures, we were a little busy! :) We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! These are some of the things we have been busy with the past few months. I will start today going back to November…(I know, I’m horrible and I will try to be better)

We decided to decorate for Christmas early this year because I (Erin) had several Mary Kay Holiday shows in our home, so we decorated on Nov. 14th. I have to say that we all have really enjoyed getting to have the decorations up longer….all that work putting it up seems worth it when you can enjoy it longer!

My friend, Nancy invited Cayden, Avery and I to go with her and her kids, Rylee and Ryker to a fun Christmas breakfast for kids at the Civic Center:

Cayden’s Children’s choir sang in church: We had a great Thanksgiving with family:

Cindy and Avery:

Dustin and Cayden:

Cayden, Nana and Avery:

Avery and Cousin Camryn:

Cayden and Loren:

They saw the big kids doing it so they had to do it!:

Cooking with Andi:

Cayden, Audrey and Loren Happy LATE Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Brother and Sister Love…

2009-11-20T10:13:00.001-06:00

Ok, to be completely honest with all of you, Cayden and Avery are usually trying to take each other’s toys and picking on each other, but there are those rare moments that make me want to cry… This picture has become one of my favorite of them. (Avery wanted Cayden to rock her)

This was Avery getting comfort from her brother after she got a spanking. Cayden is so tender-hearted that he always wants to love on her after she gets a spanking even if what she did to get the spanking was hit him!: But at the end of the day, they LOVE playing together at bath time! They really get a kick out of Avery’s new bath baby doll that she got from Summer and Isaiah that fills up with water and then “tee-tees” it all out.

Cheesy grin and good hugs!

Avery turns 2!

2009-11-10T23:42:00.001-06:00

These are some pictures from Avery’s birthday last week. We began the day with presents from Mommy, Daddy, and Cayden, and ended the day with her party.

KITTY!!!

Mommy picked out an outfit for her birthday that would make her look just like the Hello Kitty that would be the theme of her party.

Birthday Breakfast of Champions a.k.a. Pop Tarts

Erin blew up a ton of balloons the night before so that Avery would wake up and get to play in them. The kids loved them!

These pictures were before and during her party that evening.

Cayden had a few gifts of his own, and camped out next to them in anticipation…

She couldn’t wait to get the doll out of the packaging to start giving it a bottle.

She got a TON of dress-up clothes, and loved every bit of it.

No, she didn’t get an outfit that looked just like Cayden in a Transformer mask, it’s really him.

Cayden drew a card that he taped to one of Avery’s gift. It’s a picture of “me and her with a hook so you can hang it on the wall.”

And it earned him a hug from the birthday girl.

Nana put together a scrapbook of the past year for both of the kiddos, and they loved looking at them.

These are all of the partygoers…

Thanks to all of our family who made her birthday so special…she loved it, and so did we!

Snow White and Optimus Prime

2009-10-31T23:11:00.001-05:00

We had our church’s Fall Festival a couple of weeks ago and here are a few pictures from that day:

Then, today we had our Sunday School fellowship and let our kiddos put their costumes on and decorate cookies together:

Tonight, we put our costumes on again to let Nana take pictures and go trick-or-treating to our neighbors house and to another party at the church:

Random Moments

2009-10-21T15:24:00.001-05:00

Cayden and Avery reading their magazines:

At bedtime, Avery always asks us to “ock” (rock) in the rocking chair, but the past few weeks when we try to rock her she says, “ME!” or “MINE!” meaning she wants to rock herself! So, we had to show you a picture of Avery rocking herself:

Cayden and Avery each filled a shoe box for a little boy and girl their age who won’t get anything else for Christmas. If you aren’t familiar with this is it through Samaritan’s Purse and it’s called Operation Christmas Child. I worried that Avery wouldn’t part with the Hello Kitty coloring book, but she loved the idea of giving it to another little girl…she is a sweetie.

Last, but not least, Avery had some great “bed-head” going on the other day!

Dinner on the back porch

2009-10-08T09:30:00.001-05:00

Not an exciting post today, but we haven’t taken many pictures the past couple of weeks. Monday night the weather was perfect…not to hot and not too cold, so we ate dinner on the back porch and while the kids played on the swing set and slide, Damon and I got to swing on my newly reupholstered (Thanks to Mom and Granny) outdoor glider. Damon also lit up the chiminea so it smelled like Ruidoso or Glorieta in our back yard. We are LOVING the cooler weather!

College Retreat

2009-10-01T17:25:00.001-05:00

Our family had the opportunity to go to Ruidoso last weekend for our church’s college retreat. Yes, I know we aren’t in college anymore (thank goodness!…just being around college kids talking about professors, classes and the dorm made me tired!) Actually the entire staff and their families went on the retreat because they led in the Bible studies and worship. We had a great time with our friends and Cayden and Avery loved every minute of it too!

Damon got to play tennis with Nathan:

And Cayden and Avery got to play too!:

Cory, our Youth/Missions Pastor bought Cayden a fishing pole and Cayden loved getting to fish with his friends:

Cory and Cayden acting goofy:

Kelly and I (Kelly is Cory’s wife) Anna, Nathan (our Worship Pastor) and Kenna’s daughter, Avery and I on our townhouse back porch:

We had a great time and the weather was a lot colder than back home, but it felt nice. It was weird going from humid and hot at the beach to cold in the mountains. We loved both extremes!

Family Vacation

2009-09-23T22:16:00.001-05:00

We got home Monday night from our family vacation. We had the most amazing trip and we wanted to share some (ok, a lot of) pictures with you.

We started our trip by driving to San Marcos to spend the night with Erin’s aunt and uncle, Ron and Viki.

We made pit stop in Fredericksburg to let the kids play at the park playground.

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a picture of these “Oreo” cows we saw on the way:

Once we got to San Marcos we met Viki and Ron at Centerpoint Station that had great burgers and it had a really cute shop inside too. Cayden really loved playing games with Ron and reading books with Viki. Here is a picture of Cayden with Ron, but I didn’t get one of Viki! (Sorry, Viki)

Line ‘em up and knock ‘em down boys! The next morning, we went to the Outlet mall in San Marcos and found some great bargains at the Old Navy, Disney Store and Stride Rite. I may need to make this a yearly trip so I can get Christmas presents! I FINALLY found a cute Texans shirt too. We had to be closer to Houston to find one, I guess! (If you don’t know, our family is a Texans family!) Here is a pic of the kids in the Disney store. Here’s Avery making friends with the Old Navy dog. I think she’s not entirely sure it’s not somehow a real dog sitting very, very still.

And here’s Cayden riding a coin operated 4-wheeler while making the face that any boy would make while riding an imaginary 4-wheeler.

After shopping, we drove the rest of the way to South Padre Island. We were so blessed to have my uncle/2nd cousin, Ken and his wife Brenda let us stay at their beach house there. We had the most amazing time on the beach and resting at their house. Here are some pictures of our time there:

Sunrise and the ocean off of our back balcony.

Our first day on the beach:

Avery and the ocean eyed each other suspiciously for most of the trip, but she was a big fan of the sand.

I love Avery’s face in this one. We ate lunch at a great restaurant that Ken and Brenda recommended called Amberjacks. Then we went to a really neat kite shop that was on the same street as the beach house and Cayden got a new kite…(the only one he has that isn’t from Dollar Tree) Maybe this one will last longer! :)We also did a little souvenir shopping. Here is one of the entrances to one of the shops: The next morning at the beach, it was, um, not very crowded…

Here’s the kids ready with their goggles on! Did those goggles ever get wet? Of course not…both of them hate getting their faces wet!

My (Erin) favorite picture of Avery of the whole week:

The beautiful flowers at the beach house:We had dinner that night at a restaurant called Scampi’s and Cayden’s “thumbs up” is because the waiter put a cherry on top of his cup’s lid. Cayden talked all week about wanting to go back to the place where they gave out cherries! After dinner we went and explored the north end of the island and played again on the beach. I realized at this point that my (Erin’s)favorite time on the beach was going to be early in the morning and late at night because it was cooler and we didn’t have to mess with sunscreen!:

Cayden wanted to climb the ‘sand mountains.’ We got up early the next morning to go back out to the beach. Seeing the sunrise was really cool; the reddish-purple sun in the distance looks like something out of Star Wars:I (Damon) thought this was funny. We set up the umbrella since it was much simpler than the ‘tent’ we’d been setting up, but there was one catch. Early in the morning, in order to sit in its shade…

…you couldn’t sit anywhere near it!

We ate lunch at The Shrimp Haus and got a HUGE dessert:

We had shrimp again for dinner at Dirty Al’s. We ate here twice during the week because the fried shrimp was the best we had ever had! YUMMY!! We even got to meet Dirty Al… (Yes, the sign does say bar, restaurant and BAIT…you get a good whiff of bait as you walk in through the first door before going into the restaurant!. That didn’t keep us from stuffing our faces with that yummy shrimp though!)

We went out to the beach one more time the morning we left. They were having some type of marathon run so the beach was filled with runners.

This is Avery “swimming.” She enjoyed going out a ways into the water (where the big bad waves didn’t capsize her) and then start saying “My! My!” which translates into “I’d like to attempt swimming on my own now!” She’d close her eyes and kick her feet and giggle and laugh right up until the instant that she got a face full of salt water. Then she’d spit and sputter and do it again!

This is a sign we definitely don’t see is West Texas:

This must be one of those pelicans they warned us about…they seem friendly enough, but something about that vacant stare…

Who knew? Okay, besides Cory and Nathan…

We drove back to San Marcos that afternoon and the next day we went to Sea World. It was very hot, but we had a really great time! (Except for one little mishap…a bird bit Cayden’s ear while we were in the aviary feeding them!)

Watching the Shamu show:

After the dolphin show…It was Avery’s favorite:

This lady talked during the penguin presentation. From the way the birds are watching her, you can just tell either they really love and respect her and feel the utmost appreciation for all that she and her crew do to provide for her well-being, or they’re patiently waiting for her to slip and fall so they can pounce on her and eat her. Cute and cuddly, boys…cute and cuddly…

Cayden took our picture:

Playing in the “Waterworks” area for kids: Feeding the dolphins:

Looking at the fish/sharks/frogs/jellyfish/etc…(I don’t remember which one in this specific picture!)

We spent one more night at Ron and Viki’s house and then headed home on Monday morning. We had a such a great time! It was our first official family vacation with the four of us!

First day of School, Balloons and Labor Day

2009-09-08T10:30:00.001-05:00

Cayden started Pre-K and Avery started PDO last week at our church. Cayden goes Tuesdays and Thursdays all day and then Fridays until noon. Avery only goes Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are so blessed to have a PDO, Pre-K and Kindergarten available in our Weekday Ministries at our church. Cayden was never anything but thrilled to go to school, but Avery was a little hesitant…(actually she screamed and cried), but Damon dropped her off this morning and said she went right to her teacher without a fuss! THANK YOU LORD!! We are having to adjust to Cayden not taking naps at school which has been interesting, but we aren’t having any arguments about bedtime! He practically falls asleep at the dinner table!

Avery and Cayden on their first day of school last week. Avery had no idea at this point what she was about to do! Poor thing with that cute smile…

Damon’s mom and Granny (Nana and GG) went with Damon and the kids to Furrs last week and had a fun time getting balloons by a woman raising money so she could minister in churches. I was WAY impressed with how good they are! I’ve seen balloon animals but nothing like this!!

Avery with her crown and scepter (if you can’t tell, the top of the scepter is 2 separate balloon, one inside the other)

Cayden with his fish and fishing pole

Cayden and Avery spent the weekend with my (Erin) parents this past weekend and then we drove up yesterday to spend Labor Day with them and pick up the kids. Cayden and I couldn’t resist taking a picture with “Bob and Larry”! We decided Bob must have gone on a diet!

Damon and I couldn’t resist buying this cute frog cake for the kiddos at United. We almost always leave the store with some type of “impulse buy” but it is usually some candy for Damon, a new cereal we haven’t tried yet, or something that we just couldn’t resist because we went into the store hungry, but this time we settled on this too cute cake!

Notice they both have forks in their hands, but resort to their tongues anyway! I guess Daddy has rubbed off on them!

Dress up, Gammy and Papa time & Camping in the backyard

2009-08-26T22:17:00.001-05:00

Damon gave Avery a “dress up set” with a tiara, clip on earrings and shoes that are so slick she looks like she is ice skating when she is on the tile! But, she LOVES them and we had a meltdown the other day when we misplaced an earring. I’m thinking we need to go buy another set!

Cayden and Papa…I think Cayden had a mouth full of food:

Great pic of Gammy and Avery:

Monday night Damon decided to put the tent up in the backyard so he and Cayden could sleep in it. After playing and hanging out in it for a few hours I realized I couldn’t pass up the chance to sleep out there with them. Avery slept with us too…I know you are all thinking I’m crazy, but she was so happy in there, I couldn’t deprive her of the experience too!

Note to self: Use the air mattress next time! My back is reminding me that I’m older than I was last time I slept on a hard floor!

Pics of Avery

2009-08-18T15:13:00.001-05:00

Here are a few recent cute pictures of Avery:

Her first pigtails

Giving Daddy some sugar

Reading a magazine while going potty

Wearing Momma’s hat

This picture is blurry, but it made me think of this picture below of me when I was little. We are smiling so big you can’t see our eyes!

Fun Saturday with family

2009-08-18T13:30:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we drove to Canyon to Matt and Jill’s house to spend some time with family…specifically Brandon, April, Eden and Salem since they live so far away and we rarely get to see them. We had a great time visiting and eating and keeping all of our kids from hurting each other! Here are some pictures from our time together.

Judah and Cayden

Audrey, Judah and Cayden on the trampoline

April and Salem

Avery and Eden

Avery and Eden smooching…TOO CUTE!!

Mom and Judah hanging out

Eden and Cayden playing

Avery and Andi cooking

Mom, Avery and Salem…Avery was laughing and making Salem smile

Eden, Audrey, Cayden, Avery and Judah eating supper

Damon and Brandon

Summer and Salem, April and Andi

All the “kids” on the trampoline

Brandon, April, Me and Damon

What a great day! April and I have become close over the past few years and not being able to live close to her and her sweet family isn’t very much fun. So, it was a HUGE blessing to get to spend some time with them. April and I keep saying that maybe one of these days (it may be when we are 80, but that’s ok) we will live down the street from each other and get to see each other all the time… I sure hope so.

The Big 3-0

2009-08-14T10:36:00.001-05:00

Well, as of August 1st, I am no longer in my 20’s… I have realized in the past few weeks how spoiled I am to have the friends and family that I do…. they have made my birthday lots of fun.

Damon and I took a short trip to Dallas to relax and for my “birthday dinner” Damon took me to my favorite restaurant, The Grand Lux Cafe. If you haven’t been before, I hear that it is a sister restaurant to The Cheesecake Factory. The food is amazing and I literally have never tried something that wasn’t incredibly delicious.

When we got home from Dallas, Damon and the kids surprised me with lots of little gifts that had fun significance to our family and each had a numbered page that described the fun gift. I realized at the end that the last number was 30 for me turning 30. Thank you, Damon for all the work you put into that for me…

On the 3rd, we had a fun birthday party for Isaiah, Summer, Me and Andi since we all had birthdays in the last few weeks. We thought since Damon was the only one without a birthday that he should cook for us! He did grill our steaks, but we helped him out with other things to go with them!

Avery loved the cake so much!!! She even has it in her ear!

Then, we got to celebrate my birthday with my parents, Andi and Granny in Plainview. They made all my favorite foods and I think I gained 5 pounds just that night…chicken fried steak, cream potatoes and one of my favorite pies, Peach with crumb topping!! I think I gained another 5 pounds just thinking about it again! :) We even got Granny to play tennis on the Wii.

Last Sunday, I even got to have another birthday get-together with Damon’s family. They took me out to eat at Red Lobster and then GG made my favorite cake, homemade strawberry!! YUM! I don’t have a picture of our time together, but we had a lot of fun.

Needless to say, I need to go on a diet! :)

See? I am SO spoiled! My birthday lasted a whole week! :) Thank you to everyone that made me feel so special on my “turning 30” birthday!

Surprise Birthday Girl’s Night Out

2009-08-06T10:11:00.001-05:00

My precious sister, Andi surprised me by getting several of my friends together for a Girls Night Out. She told me that she wanted to take Summer and I out for our birthdays (mine is Aug 1 and Summer’s is Aug. 3) and so we decided to eat at Carinos and go watch a movie at her house afterwards. Andi picked me up at my house and then to my surprise when we walked in the door at Carinos my friends were there and yelled, “Surprise!!” We had a great time visiting and laughing and of course, eating! If you have never tried the Mascarpone Bread Pudding, you have got to try it!! I have never been a bread pudding fan at all, but this is amazing!! I have been craving it ever since I ate it last week!

All of us:

Christy, Kelly and Jamie:Amber, Laura and Robin:

Summer, Andi and Jen:

Me, Janae and Kristin:

Thank you Andi and all my sweet friends for a fun night together! Love you!

Mary Kay Seminar

2009-08-04T12:16:00.001-05:00

I was able to go with several of my friends to our Mary Kay Seminar this year in Dallas. The girls that had been in years past told me how amazing it was, but I had no idea how incredible it would be. It was great training for all of us, but the best part was the fun “girl time” we had together. Here are a few pictures from my trip:

Kristin Ross, me and Julie Ackerman outside the Mary Kay Corporate Building:

Me, Christy Bigham (my director), Sharron Smith and Laura Yandell at our Go Give Awards Reception that we earned:

Our unit on Go Give Awards Night:

Future Braveheart Area Awards Night:

Christy and I at our All-Star Luncheon:Our incredible dessert at the luncheon!! (I know I’m a dork for taking pictures of food…go ahead and laugh, everyone else makes fun of me too!)

AWARDS NIGHT!!! This was absolutely amazing! More elaborate than a Broadway production!

Our unit all dressed up for Awards Night: My roomies-Kristin Ross, Julie Ackerman and Jamie Mills:

The trip was so fun and I really appreciate you, Mom and Dad, for keeping Cayden and Avery so that I could go!

Denver Trip

2009-07-27T17:37:00.002-05:00

We were blessed to get to go on a fun trip to Denver with my (Erin) parents and sister, Andi a few weeks ago. Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

Dragging our luggage to our hotel, The Curtis, which had a very modern and fun atmosphere. Every floor had a different theme and ours was “famous duos” like Bert and Ernie:

Eating breakfast at Starbucks before going to church:

Having dinner on Sunday with Mom’s college roomate, Tanya and her husband, Phil:

Monday morning at CBA (Christian Booksellers Association): Avery was given a toy right when we walked in the door which helped the day start off on a good note!Damon got to meet Joe Gibbs and get his new book: Cayden with Jacob and Grace:BOB AND LARRY!!!!

Candy and Crowns…what else does a girl need?!?

Damon got to meet James Brown and get his new book:

Stephen and Alex Kendrick (authors of the Love Dare and writers/producers of Fireproof, Facing the Giants, and Flywheel. Alex was also an actor in all of them.)Walking around downtown after dinner:

Swimming at the hotel:

Our day at Elitch Gardens:

After getting soaked on a raft ride:

Avery taking a little nap:

Avery got a little simpled out as she got tired!! It was pretty funny!

WHAT A FUN DAY!!!

Joyland

2009-07-27T16:42:00.001-05:00

In the 30 years I have lived in West Texas, I (Erin) have NEVER been to Joyland Amusement Park in Lubbock. We have found out recently that it is a favorite spot for lots of families that go to our church and we had a church-wide fellowship there a few weeks ago. Here are a few pictures from our fun night out.

Cayden riding the carousel with Nathan, our Associate Pastor of Music:

Avery was VERY scared of how loud the rollercoasters were:

Cayden and his buddy Riker:

The next 2 pictures are of Damon and Cory O’Guinn, our Associate Pastor of Missions and Students and our pastor, Richard Rush with Nathan, our Associate Pastor of Music all acting pretty chicken about the ride they were about to ride:

Cayden, Riker, Anna and Riley (Anna’s parents are our friends and the Associate Pastor of Music, Nathan and Kenna Kizer and Riley and Riker’s parents are our friends Anthony and Nancy Trantham)

Cayden and I riding our favorite ride, the airplane, which at most amusement parks is the big rocking pirate ship, but at Joyland it is an airplane!

Cayden, me, Nancy and Riker after getting soaked on the water slide:

It was a really fun night with friends and our sweet church family!

4th of July

2009-07-24T16:45:00.007-05:00

We are FINALLY all home together! I am going to try and post several blogs in the next few days of what we have been up to this past month, so bear with me!

I thought I would first go back to our fun day on the Fourth of July with the Turner clan in Plainview at my parents house.

Kathie getting the hamburgers ready:

Andi making a taco layer dip...Doug and Mike thought it was a dessert at first because they thought the taco meat was chocolate rice crispies!

Damon eating some of Doug's amazing salmon dip recipe! Yum!:

Cayden was so excited about the fireworks that Isaiah got him!:

Playing Guitar Hero:

Watching the fireworks that Damon and Isaiah were firing off:

We had TONS of fun! I love spending time with family!!

Computer Woes and Travels

2009-07-12T09:31:00.002-05:00

I have been wanting to post a blog about our fun 4th of July, but our computer decided to not cooperate with me the past few weeks so I haven't gotten it done. NOW, we are currently in Denver for my Dad and Damon's conference and when we get back, I leave for my Mary Kay Seminar in Dallas. SOOOOO, I won't be able to post pictures for a new blog for another couple of weeks, but I wanted to check in with everyone and let them know what we are doing.

In between Colorado Springs and Denver driving in yesterday the temperature outside was 60 degrees!! A wonderful relief from the 103 degrees we have been having in Lubbock! We ate at a wonderful restaurant last night that my cousin Summer had told us about, Maggiano's Littly Italy....yummy! We are now at our hotel, The Curtis, in downtown Denver and it's really neat. Every floor has a different theme and we are on the "Dynamic Duos/Famous Pairs" floor, so when we stepped off the elevator we see my favorite picture of all time...the sailor and nurse kissing on VJ-Day in New York City. Cayden of course loved the Burt and Ernie the most! :)

We are going to try a neat church this morning that Damon found online and then we are meeting up with my mom's college roomate, Tanya, for dinner with her family in the park tonight. We will be at the conference Monday-Wednesday and then a fun day on Thursday at Elitch Gardens. It has a water park that Cayden is most excited about.

Sorry I have no pictures to post quite yet, but just wanted you to know where we were this week and what we are doing. I will get pictures up when we get back!