Kylee's Friend Moves Away

Do you remember when you were a kid and you had a friend move away for the first time? I think I was just about Kylee's age when I really understood what it means when a friend really moves far away. Sure she gets moving to a new neighborhood to a new house but not the type of move that is so far away you probably will not ever see this person again. I remember crying so hard when this happened for the first time with my elementary school friend. Well, Kylee is about to experience this on Friday when her friend from school moves away. She and this sweet friend are in the same class and were instant friends. She had a going away party a couple weeks ago with some of their friends from school which is where all the cute pictures are from. We have her address and I am sure they can keep in touch. Hey, they have the Internet now, way different from when I was a kid. I just spent some time reminiscing about elementary school and friends I haven't seen in years. Can't believe I have a child experiencing it too!

Tea Party

This past Sunday afternoon we went to our annual Mother/Daughter Tea Party at church. This was Katie's first time to go and Kylee's last time to go, a little bittersweet. The girls were so excited. I think they get excited about anything girly and fun! The girls wore black and pink tutu's with a pink shirt with a big K on them and jewels on the K. I tried to coordinate! At the tea party we took pictures, visited the candy bar, made princess wands, ate cupcakes and candy, listened to scripture and prayer, and then a fun talk about manners. They got to see lots of friends at the party which they love. It was cute and fun!!

I love how Kylee's hand is softly touching my chin, too sweet.

And now for the silly picture. Every picture taking experience lately has to have this.

Daddy/Kid Campout

Wow! I (Charley) am taking a turn at the sacred keyboard to share our fun campout. It's kind of like when your parents turn over the keys to you for the first time. You aren't sure what the drive will be like, but you know you have been given the opportunity to do something special, at least for me. Here it goes:

For the last three years, our small group of friends has taken our kids camping at a nearby lake. This year, we had 16 Dads and 25ish kids. We basically took over the place. The Dads all laughed at the people who had campsites nearby that thought they were going to have a quiet, relaxing weekend at the lake!! The great thing about this trip is it is a time for us to get away and bond with our kids and friends. It is an incredible experience, especially for me to spend quality time with the girls as they watch me show off my Survivorman skills!! Okay, the latter part of that sentence may be a BIG stretch. Thank God for good friends who can cook on a hot fire, set up a tent, and put a worm on a hook. My wife sometimes questions my manhood!! Anyway, I love this time as we get to get away from our normal rush of life and really enjoy time away seeing and doing things we don't get to do very often. I love watching the girls interact with their friends and enjoy spending time with them. These are memories I will cherish and not forget for the rest of my life.

I have included a few pictures from the trip but wanted to post a few things the girls and I enjoyed most. We'll call them our Top 5 List:

Kylee and Katie

5. All the sugar they can eat and drink in a 24 hour period

4. Fishing - if you call throwing a baited hook into the water for 10 minutes fishing

3. Sugar

2. Spending time with their friends laughing, singing, and playing

1. SUGAR!!!

My Top 5:

5. SUGAR!!

4. Mr. Brandon's cooking (lovingly nicknamed Betty Crocker by me) - it's not really roughing it when Mr. Brandon is around. Really, are shrimp tacos (last year), fresh battered chicken fried steak and homemade donuts really roughing it???

3. Giving Mommy a break from the amazing job she does raising the girls on a daily basis

2. Getting to lay in the tent at night and talk to the girls and hear them tell me how much they love their Daddy and the fun they had that day, priceless.

1. Waking up with both girls cuddled up close to me trying to stay warm (both ended up in my sleeping bag by 6AM). I wil never take that for granted regardless of how little sleep I get.

This picture is of Katie getting ready to put bait on the hook b/c her Daddy couldn't stand to hold the worm. Okay, she didn't put the worm on the hook, but she was much more comfortable holding the worm than I was - I know, sad.

The picture below is Katie and her friend Caden walking back from fishing. Caden walked up to Katie, grabbed her hand and said, "Hey, I've seen you at church." After I stopped laughing, I pulled his Daddy aside and said that Caden could get away with that pickup line today but 8-10 years from now, we're going to have to talk!! I took about 10 pictures of this b/c it was a very amusing sight.

The last picture is of the girls watching the sunrise together before everyone else got up. We have a tradition of being the first out of bed (not by Daddy's choice) and heading straight to the car to warm up, b/c we are all about roughing it. I love this picture.

I love you girls and can't wait until next year. Love, Daddy

Easter Weekend

Well, I don't think we could have packed one more thing into our Easter Weekend. We had a ball and stayed busy the whole time!


1. The weekend got us started with our first soccer game. Charley is the asst. coach for Kylee's team and she loves that. She did great for our first game and even scored a goal. The team we played was really good but they all had fun and we are ready for the next game. Katie wanted to run on the field to Charley the whole game so we learned to prepare her that daddy is coaching. She is ready to play next year!

2. Saturday night after church we had our small group over for dinner and an egg hunt. There were 41 friends in our home and we loved every minute of it. The weather decided to turn bad right about time for the egg hunt so we moved it upstairs. The kids still loved it and had a blast. I think my kids ate enough sugar this whole weekend to last a lifetime. I loved getting to spend time with our friends that evening.

3. Easter morning- We woke up Easter morning to a horrible smell in our home. I had put eggs on the stove to boil the night before so they would be cool Sunday morning. Well, I forgot I had put them on the stove, Yep!!, thanking the Lord our house didn't burn down. The eggs and stove where all there burned up and on. The eggs had popped all night(we heard it but it was raining and we thought it was little hail). nope, the eggs exploding. Blessing we opened all windows, threw out pot, and bought more eggs. I did include the picture of the eggs below as a reminder for me to always set the timer.

The girls loved their Easter basket goodies and had a Easter egg hunt around the house. Then Charley and I did the resurrection egg story of Jesus. It was a fun morning. We finally did dye eggs and the girls loved it. Katie is 3 now and this is the first year she has really gotten into all the holiday fun with Kylee. Charley and I love watching them make all these memories together.

4. For lunch we went to my mom and dads and met up with my sisters family. We all had a blast. My girls and niece Ella all matched so I took tons of pics of them together. We had a yummy lunch, indoor egg hunt (thanks to rain and wet grass), and flew finger kites. Great times with cousins.