Computer Woes and Travels

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!

Garage Sale!

Last weekend we had a garage sale with a lot of our family. My (Erin) parents, my sister Andi, our cousins Summer and Isaiah and Damon’s sister, D’Lynn and her husband Dustin all came and brought their stuff to sell. Granny also came to help with the kiddos and we could never have done it without her. Avery had Granny all to herself, so she was a very happy girl. Having the whole family there, made for a fun weekend! (Even if we did almost pass out from the heat!)

We started our morning on Saturday with a little costume party. Cayden bought this Batman cape and mask at our neighbor’s garage sale the day before, so he and Avery had to try it out:

Getting everything organized before the carnage begins:

   Avery and Andi hanging out:

The gang hanging out around 2pm when every other sane person in Lubbock was inside somewhere out of the 100 degree weather:

Avery picked some dandelions for our hair. Avery’s face shows what we were all feeling about the heat. Lucky for her she got to spend most of the time inside with Granny:

Isaiah and I trying to look busy:

Then, we ended our day with another costume show:

For those of you that know my sister, Andi, this wig made Cayden look a lot like her when she was little. (not that Andi’s hair ever looked like the wig!! Sorry, Andi!)

Bubba

As most of you know our sweet Bubba went to be with Jesus last week. I knew that if I (Erin)was going to post a blog at all this week it would definitely be about him. The past week has been hard. I already miss him so much. The past few days thoughts of Bubba and what I miss have been popping into my head, so this morning in my quiet time I wrote some of them in my journal.
1. I miss his sweet smile and mischievious grin
2. I miss the sound of his laugh
3. I miss the sound of Cayden and Bubba playing
4. I miss him holding my hand
5. I miss getting to sit on the porch swing with him while we watched Granny play with the kids
6. I miss him drying dishes with me
7. I miss how he always wanted to help me with something..carrying in bags, moving the high chair, washing dishes...
8. I miss how he would always try and feed Avery his food
9. I miss how he would always say that he didn't need any vegetables because he wanted the rest of us to have enough! :)
10. I miss how he would never sit down until everyone else was seated
11. I miss watching him drive Cayden and Avery around on the lawnmower
12. I miss seeing him with my Mom
13. I miss him teasing me about giving all my students a zero on all their papers
14. I miss hearing him pray
15. I miss seeing him hold Avery
16. I miss hearing stories from the war and his childhood
17. I miss going to the Ranch with him and riding horses, riding in the bronco, and watching him work so hard to make the Ranch look good for us.
18. I miss his hugs and kisses
19. I miss him calling Andi, "Andi Pandi"
20. I miss watching him walk with Cayden and Avery, holding their hands
21. I miss seeing him stand in the garage and wave goodbye to me as I left their house

A few days ago Cayden said he missed Bubba, which just about broke my heart and then he asked what Bubba was doing up in Heaven and he asked if he was getting to blow bubbles...(That was something Cayden has always loved doing with Granny and Bubba) :)

Even though my heart aches because he isn't with us anymore, I am comforted knowing that he is with our Savior. He is walking without a limp and with no pain in his knees! His thoughts are clear and he can say whatever he wants to without getting frustrated! He can hear everything that everyone is saying! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Bubba's hand holding Avery:

This is my favorite of Bubba and Granny with the kids:

Granny and Bubba:

Andi, Bubba and I:

Bubba's Birthday:

Bubba teaching me to ride my favorite horse, Freckles:

Cayden with his Bubba:

Mom, Bubba and Dad at the Ranch:

Bubba and I:

Bubba, Ryan and I

My very favorite of Bubba and I together:

Thank you to all of you who came to the funeral, brought food, sent flowers or came to visit us. It means so much to us. We love you all and Bubba did too....

Tales of Potty and Play

Well, we have found what happens when you have a little girl AFTER having a little boy:

SOOO, we have bought Avery a Princess potty seat that she LOVES to sit on, so hopefully she will soon learn that ladies sit down, NOT stand!

The kids got to play with some friends the other day at the mall playground. Cayden and Noah are the same age and Avery and Taylor are the same age so they have a lot of fun together. (We didn't plan for Avery and Taylor to be wearing the same shirt!)

Cayden and Noah are "two peas in a pod" and from the back, you really can't tell them apart! Here they are blasting all the monsters.

(And if you are wondering why Cayden is dressed for winter and everyone else is properly dressed for summer...well, Cayden is a little attached to his longsleeved Spiderman shirt that we found on clearance at JCPenney for $2.50! Every morning he asks if he can wear it. Isn't it weird how kids get attached to things that they have never watched?!? It doesn't make sense to me how much he loves Spiderman when he hasn't seen one cartoon or the movie....weird.

Hanging out at Summer and Isaiah's

Summer (Erin's cousin) and Isaiah just moved to Lubbock a few weeks ago and we are LOVING having them here in West Texas! They invited us over for dinner and we found out what a great cook Summer is! It's sad, but I don't have any pictures of them for this post....just their dogs!!

Cayden found his new best friend....their dog Tug. He is huge, but seriously the most precious dog I have ever been around. Here is a picture of Cayden and Tug resting:

Avery found a rose that she wanted Daddy to smell:

"Daddy, this is how you smell it!"

Summer and Isaiah's other dog is named Murphy and we love him too...It's funny how he is so little but he bosses Tug around! :)

Cayden and Murphy:

Cayden and Tug:

Thank you Summer and Isaiah for a fun night at your house! WE LOVE YOU!!

Cayden is 4!

Well, I will warn you...there are a TON of pictures in this post. It was hard to narrow down which ones I wanted to post and I didn't want to leave anyone out. This first pic is one of Cayden's 4 yr. pictures that we had taken a couple of weeks ago. It almost makes me cry because he looks so much older and taller than his last year's pictures. We have started to going to Portrait Innovations the last 2 times and we really like them a lot better than "the other place" we were going... I'll just say it starts with a "S" and ends with "ears"!

The rest of the pics are from Cayden's birthday party with the family. We were so excited that so much of the family got to come.

Here is Avery with her Nana and Papaw:

D'Lynn, Cindy and GG:

D'Lynn, Cindy, Dustin and Brian:

Papa and Granny:


GG, Larry, Nana and Papaw:

Cayden, Patsy, Gammy, Avery and Ryan:

Lorrie and Andi:

Isaiah, me and Summer

Cayden with his Bolt cake:

A family picture:

D'Lynn and Dustin:

Cayden showing off his new undies:

His Boz puzzle from Andi:

Avery and I:

Cayden reading his new Bolt book with his Gammy:

It was a GREAT day with lots of fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!