Biker dude

JAX TURNED 1!!!!

One year ago this precious little boy entered the world and it took .2 seconds to fall madly in love with him. He steals the show when he is a room and we just love him to pieces.

The Tegner's once again outdid themselves and had an amazing party for him, complete with my step dad's motorcycle sitting out front.

Uncle Lance and Reese

Little Reese with her Aunt Kayla 

So let's talk about the gift. Heather found a steal of a deal on this handmade motorcycle rocker. She snatched it up even though she wasn't sure who to give it to. As soon as we saw it we knew it would be perfect for Jax.

Behold the glory of the bike rocker

About a week or two later we get Jax's invitation in the mail and guess what? It was a motorcycle themed party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Brian and I were stoked, we couldn't believe our luck. We brought the perfect gift to match the party :)

 Jax was in such a great mood, he never cried which is very rare for a one year old on their birthday. :)

Cool Grandpa Armstrong

Jax's grandma's are kind of wrapped around his finger ;)

How sweet is my sister? She had these for me and a gift from the whole family.

Cake time!

Jax's view of everyone ready for him to devour his cake...which he wasn't really in to :)

 It was a scorching day but Jenny thought of everything...

Kiddie Pool

Ice cream sandwiches!

Getting attitude from both my daughter and my Dad ;)

Bria has no problem soaking up some sunshine

Porter at the pinata

 And you know it's a good party when you end up looking like this halfway through:

 Aunt Jessa (Kyle's sister) and Auntie Drink Drink (Kyle's Aunt) decided if Jax wasn't going to eat his cake he could get messy with whip cream...

The party was more than successful. Fun was had by all!

Catfish 4

Bria started swim lessons yesterday, she is in catfish 4 and I think it's going to be a good fit. They worked on swimming on their backs, front stroke, and diving under water to get eggs. Bria had a blast and didn't want to leave. Fortunately we have it everyday for the next two weeks.

My Bria fish

 Last week we also attended the little track meet they have during July at the local stadium. Both girls ran hurdles and it was stinkin' adorable.

Family time!

Yay for participation ribbons!

Yay for piggy tails! :)

7 years of marriage...10 years of dating...12 years in each others lives

Brian and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday. Since Heather was out of town for work we planned to do a family picnic at the park, but he surprised me and had asked the Buells to watch the girls so we could go out. I love surprises!!
We went mattress shopping and got a new one, wahoo!! It's being delivered tonight and we cannot wait. Our mattress is one we bought back in college because it was cheap at Costco. It's horrible. I love Costco but I will not be buying a mattress from them again. Brian wakes up with lower back pain every morning and we know it's the mattress because aside from the obvious sagging of the mattress, when we were in Iowa his back felt fine. So we knew it was time for a splurge!
What better way to spend our anniversary than laying on a bunch of beds together? ;)
After that we went to PF Changs and then a little shopping at The Gap. Does he know me or what?

Still more

I'm wrapping up posting about our Iowa trip, at least I'm trying to. It was a long trip and I took a lot of pictures so it's hard not to have a million pictures and posts of it.

One of the days we went to Kent Park which Brian went to as a child and had fond memories. It was a little chilly the day we went but fortunately the water wasn't too cold. 

Does this girl have sass or what?!

After swimming it's mandatory to get ice cream, thanks for the special treat Grammy!

Finally July 4th came and we put on our patriotic gear and headed to downtown Williamsburg for the parade. Lots of fire trucks and Jon Deere tractors throwing out candy...the kids were in heaven.

It didn't take long for Reese to catch on so she raced for that candy as fast as her legs could carry that belly!

Cousin picture time!

We saw fireworks from Great Aunt Reba's house and the girls loved them. Not only were they pretty, but we didn't have to worry about the noise since we weren't too close. Our girls are super sensitive to loud noises. 

Have I mentioned I love wine?

This was the giant wine bottle outside the vineyard at the house we stayed at. I can't tell you how perfect it was for the Holcomb's to stay at a vineyard, we are winos!

The last night we were there I attempted a grand photo shoot with the kids. I wanted pictures of all of them to create gifts for Grammy and Grandpa's and Aunts. It was really smart of me to wait until the last night because that way I only got one shot and if something went wrong, too bad.
Well...

Bria was EXHAUSTED! She was homesick, tired, and just wanted to go to bed. 

But I'm mean and wanted pictures. So we kept trying.

And then I finally gave up and mentally smacked myself for being so stupid to wait until the last night to do this.

I know better, but I just kept thinking we had plenty of time and we were kind of busy actually. And I was tired, and, um, what other excuses can I come up with? Oh well, the pictures are pretty hilarious and they will be a wonderful memory all on their own.

I'm so glad we went on this trip. We are forever in Heather's debt for creating this unique opportunity for us all to be together in the place where they grew up. It was so neat to see this part of the country and the town Brian was raised. Seeing where he spent his childhood and experiencing a little taste of it. Brian and I are so grateful to Heather for all her hard work in making it happen, she is truly a rock star. Not to mention she spent her 40th birthday grocery shopping in Iowa so when we arrived the kitchen would be fully stocked. Talk about selfless! You are awesome Heather, we love you!