In the Driver's Seat

2nd Annual Lake LBJ Trip

On June 4th we traveled to Lake LBJ to spend the weekend with some of our sweetest friends. The Bynums (who now live in Missouri) invited us to stay at a lake house that is owned by Katie's family. The Johnstons and MacDonalds also met us there. We had an amazing weekend full of catching up, laughing, splashing, boat rides, fishing, eating way too much, and staying up way too late. It doesn't get much better than that!

~Group Shot~

~2009 Group Shot~

(Our four families have added four new babies since this time last year! Notice my bulging belly...)

Our Family

Brayden sharing his "Pooey" with Bryson.

Josh and Bryson- best buddies :)
Bryson did NOT enjoy the boat rides. Wearing the life-jacket was a miserable experience (for all who were around!). Poor baby!
Our newest additions: Annabel and Bransen
Josh driving the boat with some help from Parker and Brayden.
Katie, Bransen, Kristin, and Annabel

Playing the day away at Sandy Beach...

A cow jaw bone Jered found at the bottom of the lake. Disgusting!

Enjoying the baby pool...

Kristin with her girls...

Bryson and Mom watching the ducks...

The Mommas and Forever Friends- Kristin, Katie, Courtney, and Holly

The Kids

Brayden (2), Bransen (2 months), Bryson (11 months), Madison (2), Annabel (3 weeks), and Parker (3)
**We missed Ainsley(8 months) and are looking forward to meeting her soon!**

The Moms made a pact that none of us would have a new baby by this time next year. We think it's the Dads' turns to take care of the kids while we get massages and pedicures next year! We'll see if that really works out...

What a wonderful weekend! We can't wait to do it again next year!

Crisis Averted

I remember reading a blog post not too long ago about the importance of always backing your pictures up, and keeping them in at least three places. That blogger (thanks Erin!) got me very motivated. Motivated me enough to go out and buy cds, a cd holder, and we were "in the process" of buying an external hard drive. So, I started organizing pictures and loading them onto my computer. As I organized, I burned cds and even gave most of them to my mom to store in their (waterproof and fireproof) safe. I had all of my picture organized through January. The rest were on my camera card. My camera card that suddenly decided to delete EVERYTHING last Friday on our way to the lake. I don't understand. Usually I have to press a button THREE times to delete ONE picture. But- there I was in the car- happy and so excited to see all of our sweet friends- and poof!- they were gone. I was completely sick. All of Bryson's pictures were gone. Pictures of him learning to crawl and learning to walk. Pictures of EVERYTHING that ever mattered in my life! (Okay- so that might be a little dramatic- but that is literally how I felt at that moment.) Fortunately I have an amazing mom who called the Ritz camera store here in College Station. A guy that was working that day just happens to have a computer program that can usually recover pictures off of erased memory cards. I rushed over there on Sunday- he was working! He was able to recover my 800+ pictures. He said this happens to people all of the time. Did you hear me???? ALL OF THE TIME. My pictures are really important to me, and I know they are to most people. I have already backed them up- and will faithfully continue. I hope this keeps someone else from facing the same fate that I (almost :) did...

Memorial Day Celebration!

We rang in the summer with a Memorial Day celebration at the Kenley's. This was Bryson's first time to play in the water other than in our baby pool- and he LOVED it! I think we're going to have a water baby...

Reagan

Sweet Friends- Lili, Sam, and Maddie

SPLASH!!!

Hangin' Out

Jenny and Annabel

We're already loving the summertime! Can't wait to soak up every minute of it...

Five Year Anniversary Trip

To celebrate our five year anniversary Jason and I decided that we wanted to get away. Jason's boss owns a home on the beach in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, and offered us the keys. Unfortunately, I wasn't comfortable with leaving Bryson and heading to Mexico. So, we opted for Galveston instead. :)

My Mom (Grandma) came to our house and kept Bryson. Of course they had a blast and Bryson did great for her.

We ate out- a lot! Played on the beach, lounged by the pool, read, fished, and slept all the way through the night!

The view from our balcony:

Soaking it all in...

Jason doing one of the things he does best...

This was one of two sharks a man caught standing about twenty feet from me (while I was lying on the beach reading!). So scary!

We had an amazing time enjoying eachother's company. We talked about the past five years, and about what we want to accomplish in the next five years. We have been so blessed by our first five years of marriage, and are looking forward to seeing what the future holds!

And so it began...

On May 21st Jason and I celebrated five wonderful years of marriage. These are a few of my favorite pictures from that beautiful day.

Jason had one of his groomsmen bring a note to me in the bride's room. It said "I have been waiting for this day my entire life. I love you." Courtney's Family
Jason's Family
Our Bridal Party

~Wedded Bliss~

Jason is an amazing husband and our relationship blesses me every single day. I love him in ways I never could have imagined, and know that I am one lucky girl to get to call him my husband.

Things just keep getting better and better as our love grows deeper for one another.

I love you Jason, with all of my heart.

~Courtney

Family Time

On Sunday Jason's sister and her family made a trip to College Station to see us! We met them at Texas Roadhouse for lunch, and then they came over and spent the whole afternoon with us. Jason and Bruce took the boys up to the A&M campus, but other than that we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. It was so much fun! We laughed and laughed, and then laughed some more. We had to run out of the room a few times due to toxic gases, and Jason played wrestling games all afternoon. We had a blast and can't wait to see them all again in less than two weeks at the beach!

Here are a few (or maybe more than a few :) pictures I took...

Handsome Cousins

William and Bryson
Sheldon and Bryson

Phillip and Bryson

Kisses

Uncle Bruce

Learning to play catch...

William and Sheldon showing us their tricks. They are SO strong!

Phillip and Jason Relaxing

Playing with Aunt Julie's phone...

Loving that Aunt Julie!

Bryson noticed Sheldon's eyelashes- and wanted to pull them!

Uncle Bruce and Aunt Julie

Thanks for making the trip to see us! We love you guys!