Harry Potter Marathon

As much as I love the Harry Potter books and movies, my family really has never been very interested in them, which is just really hard for me to understand. But I have their friends to thank for somehow getting them interested in having a Harry Potter Movie Marathon. They spent three nights rotating houses for sleepovers to complete all 8 movies. And guess what?! They are all totally into Harry Potter now. Sarah and John David have already decided that they both want to have a Harry Potter birthday party next year, which I am really excited about because I think it will be a super fun theme.



And what's a Harry Potter movie marathon without some butterbear and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?!

And since one of the girls told John David that he looks like Harry Potter when he wears his glasses, he likes to wear them a little more now. Haha! What a funny little guy!

on the road again

Friday we drove to Alabama to meet my mama and sister to give her girls back. I tried to get her to let me keep them til next summer, but she didn't like that idea too much. So we met in Birmingham again, since it is halfway for both of us. On Saturday, we decided to go have a little fun before making the long drive back on Sunday. We decided to go to the McWane Science Center. I had read some good reviews online about how awesome it was, and it did not disappoint. It was four floors of super fun hands on science exhibits. Here are some of our favorites. They had this cool booth that you stand in and it simulates a catagory 1 hurricane. It you look close you can see the wind speed at the top of the booth. The kids loved it.



So me and my mama and sister tried it out. But my sister got claustraphobic and needed to get out.



But she tried it again all by herself and made it that time.



The bed of nails was pretty interesting.



Shadow wall.



This game was so much fun you couldn't tell who liked it more....the kids or the adults.



We built an arch....cuz we're awesome like that.



My sister and I tried to see who was better at basketball......but it turns out we both stink. Neither one of us could make a basket for nothing! I'm pretty sure it was rigged. ;)



John David tried so hard to show us how strong he is, but he just couldn't seem to pull this thing down. So we all ended up on his side pulling,  and Aaron pulling all by himself on the other side and we all still couldn't pull it down. I was pretty impressed by my husband's strength until he told us the secret. We were pulling from a low point and he was pulling from the high point, so we never really stood a chance. He got a good laugh at us all for not noticing the difference.



The wacky house.



The bubble area was one of the kids favorite parts of the museum.



Electronic harp.



They had all kinds of gross creepy crawlies.....like hissing cock roaches, a tarantula, a scorpion, and other icky things.



And we happened to come to that floor at just the right time when they brought out several small critters for the kids to see and pet. They had a komodo dragon, a snake, a gecko, and a chinchilla. Sarah was on the front row petting everything.



John David loved the dinosaur area where you can dig for fossils.



They had lots of cool dinosaur exhibits.

The bottom floor was the ocean floor. They had some really pretty fish, but our favorite were the jellyfish, which appeared to be glowing.

They also had an area where you can pet a stingray or a hammerhead shark. The kids were so interested in watching, but not petting.



Ethan and John David almost got swallowed by a giant fish.



I sure love it when he gets to travel with us.



A huge two thumbs up to the McWane Science Center. We all loved it!



After we left the science center, we decided to check out Bass Pro Shop. While we were there, we ran into the Duck Dynasty crew. We love these guys! Wish they had been there for real.



Bass Pro had all kinds of fun summer activities going on for the kids. They shot bows, practiced casting, did some crafts, and even sat through a few summer camp classes and earned some "badges". It was pretty cool.



We also did a little boat shopping. Haha! Not really. But they were having a sale, so we did check a few out.

And of course we hit up the fudge shop. We sure had a fun day with our family, and are so grateful we got to spend some extra time with them this summer!

fun times with the cousins

We have absolutely loved having Kyleigh and Marleigh here with us and have tried to squeeze in as much fun as possible. We took them to the wildlife drive to try to see some gators.



Adam, Rachel, and Maggie were in town, so we all went together.



We only saw a couple of small gators, but we enjoyed the beautiful drive.



We fell in love with these two baby turtles sitting on a log sunning. I tried to get out of the car to get a closer picture, but as soon as I did, they jumped into the water......just like my husband predicted they would.



This mama bird had laid her eggs right on the side of the gravel drive. So someone spray painted a red circle around it so people would notice and be careful not to run over them.



These two cuties were having fun checking things out through the sunroof. Love these smiles!



The girls had fun playing minecraft on the rainy days.



And John David too.



We also spend a couple of days soaking up the sun at the waterpark.



We sure love these sweet girls!



And hope they can come back to see us again next summer!

Father's Day

Since we were at camp all week, we didn't really have time to do a lot for Father's Day. We kinda threw this candy gram together at the last second. Thank goodness for pinterest.



He thought it was pretty cool, and enjoyed eating and sharing all the treats with the kids.

I am so grateful for my amazing husband and the wonderful father he is to our kids. We are so blessed to have him.

Girl's Camp

One of the reasons we brought Kyleigh back with us was so she could go to girls' camp with Katie. It was so fun having her there with us.



Camp was at Toledo Bend State Park in North Louisiana. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and got unpacked and settled into our cabin. Our stake separates the girls by year, and I just happened to be assigned to be a over the first years, which meant I got to stay with these cuties all week.



Here are the Lake Charles and Jennings girls practicing for their skit.



The theme for our camp was Johnny Lingo.



The girls got all dressed up in their island attire for dinner that night. And after dinner, each ward did their skit.



Wednesday the girls did "The Amazing Race". It was a really cool way of getting them to do their certification and other fun things and having fun at the same time. Here at the first years shooting.



Canoeing.



A giant sling shot.



Lunch.



Swimming.



Craft time.



Archery. They also did a hike and a few other fun activities. It was really hot that day though, and most of it was spent outside.



Thursday was another awesome day. The girls rotated through several classes taught by different leaders based around a BYU 10 day challenge called "Recapturing Beauty". It was a really great message for all women to hear about how beautiful we really are because we are all unique and amazing daughters of God. After the classes, the girls had free time, and decided to go swimming again. After swimming, everyone got all prettied up and ready for an amazing and delicious dinner made by our great kitchen staff.



My beautiful first year. The YCLs helped the first years do their hair and make-up.



Love these two beauties!



Here are most of our Lake Charles beauties.



Silly faces.



First years. They were such a sweet group of girls.



And pretty silly too!

And here's the whole group of girls that went to camp after the testimony meeting that night.



After the testimony meeting, the awesome YCLs for the first years came to get them for devotional.



The girls just loved their YCLs. And they were pretty great.



These are the pillowcases I made for Katie and Kyleigh.



It was a wonderful first year of girls camp for them both, and it was so fun to be there with them.