White Water!!

Shane has been wanting to take the girls to White Water in Atlanta for a long time- so on our way up to Habersham for the Black Family Reunion (that post will be next!) we took a day to spend at the water park. 

The girls were BEYOND excited. Oh, and seeing how it was the end of July...there were only about 1.2 billion people there :)

I only got a few pics and mainly in the kiddie areas b/c we spent most of the day going down the big daddy slides- the girls are FEARLESS. It was SO much fun!!!!

Love it!

Of course she is coming down backwards.... :)

annnnnd here she comes again....

I'm actually IN a picture WITH them!! It's a miracle!!! I actually do exist!

One last hoo-raaaa with daddy!

Totally worth paying an obscene amount of money for admission (and don't even get me started on the cost of a cardboard tasting piece of pizza), standing in LOOOONG lines with the 1/2 billion other people, and having to take cover under a twig during an afternoon thunderstorm.....SO WORTH IT! So thankful to get to make memories like this with the girlies :)

Kaylea's 9th Birthday Party!

On July 9th my neice, Kaylea, turned 9! CRAZY. I remember being in the delivery room with my sister the day she was born....seems like yesterday...the years are just zooming by! :(

We drove over to Blackwater River for her 9th birthday party. The girls looooooove Kaylea :)

Hello Kitty cupcakes....too cute!

Singing 'Happy Birthday'.....

Making her wish :)

Cousin Landon was pumped about the blue icing....and his blue teeth!

Silly!

Kaylea and her best friend, Trinity- who happens to be her cousin as well :)

All the icing successfully licked......now on to the actual cupcake....

Gift time!

Grandma Burch telling my brother Douglas how.it.is.  She is something else! Love that woman!

INTENSE...

Kaylea with her mom and dad....

Uncle D, Aunt Juliet, and Landon :)

These next two pictures CAPTURE who my children are.....

Gabs....

Joc....

Everyone ganged up on Shane..... :)

Landon splashin' Uncle Shane.....too funny

Dad of The Year. That's who this man is. Especially during the summer....because  he.gets.in.the.water.  AND because the.momma.doesn't.

OK....so I FINALLY have a pic to prove it....This is what Daddy has done my whole life....you see it....cuts a watermelon and then eats the heart (aka the VERY BEST PART) out and leaves the rest. DRIVES.ME.CRAZY. Buuuut.....do not think that I don't eat the surrounding part...b/c you KNOW I DO. GEEEEEZ- I LOVE WATERMELON.

And this, my friends, is how to eat it....

Duck pond construction crew....

Going for a ride on the pontoon....I have taken this same exact picture the past 5 years. I need to look them up and post them together to see how they have grown each year. LOVE IT.

PawPaw....the one-handed pontoon pilot....

Dad of the year finally gettin' to CHILL-AX.

Me, Gabs and MawMaw were all freezing....yea, yea, I know....it was July and we were just being drama....

Nothin' beats a river bath....

Gotta get the sand out of the crack :)

This pic is HILARIOUS. 

Fantastic day celebrating Kaylea's 9th birthday!!

Summer Visits!!

During the month of July we LOVED being able to see and catch up with some of wonderful friends that we don't get to see very often.....

1. The Summerville's!

It seems like a zillion years ago since we were "Oviedo...Party of 8" (we lived with the Summerville's from 2008-2010 when Shane and Demetrius were in Seminary in Orlando). At that point we had the girls and they had Jayden and Journey (the cuties on the right). Sweet Hope came along a few months after we moved back to Mobile. The Summerville's stayed in Orlando and have since helped plant an inner-city church & ministry there. It was SOOOOO awesome to see them and catch up. The kiddos loved playing together.....wish we lived closer together....they would be besties :)

The two blondies :))))

2. Edwin & Cassia were students at USA years ago when we were with C.O. We became really close friends during their time at South and have continued to stay in touch over the years. They currently live in Tampa and a few months back had their first precious baby- handsome little Eli. Love these guys  SO much!

3. We met Summar on her first beach project way back in the day. She and I immediately hit it off and have been close friends ever since. She and her hubs, Stewart, work for C.O. in Texas. They were driving through Mobile a few weeks back and were able to stay the night with us (sweet Audrey was with her grandparents, so sadly, we didn't get to see her this time :(....buuuuuut, it was AWESOME to see Summar and Stewart. I love how you have those friends that no matter how long it's been since you've seen each other- you just catch up where you left off like no time has passed....

4. The Ak's!! Chris (former student at South) and April (from Habersham) and their clan of boys came to visit Chris' family and we got to hang out while they were here! SO fantastic to these this crew....and the laughs are ALWAYS abundant :)

5. The Hawarah's!! Justin (aka Juice or Juicey or Big Juice) is one of Shane's favorite guys in the world. He and his wife, Leah, were students here at South years ago and very involved with the ministry. Such great memories with these guys!! Justin, Leah and their adorable 3 kiddos stopped in town and we were able to go out to dinner with them -along with a few other great friends here in town). They currently live in Texas and work with C.O. and are currently in the process of adopting. So awesome!  It's always SO great to see them....and also always makes us SO sad we don't live close to each other. 

6. The Smith's!!! On our way to GA for the Black family reunion- we stopped in Montgomery and met up Blake & Megan and their beautiful fam. Our friendships go waaaaaaaay back to when we were all in college at Troy in the early-mid 90's (what?!?!?!).  SUCH GREAT FRIENDS!!! And look at ALL those girls! Our other bestie from college (Luann) has 5-year-old blonde triplet girls!! Now that would be an awesome pic to get....hopefully that will happen soon!

Krispie Kreme Kuties :)

 I was going through my pics on my phone the other day and found this preciousness. This was last December. They look SO young here! They definitely enjoyed their snowman sugar high that day :)