Lydia's baptism

 Over the 4th of July weekend my parents and Mike's parents flew into town for Lydia's baptism, which was on the 5th.  What an awesome week of partying it was!  We all went downtown to check it out.  We sure were a bunch of tourists out of place in that city.  I love how both of our families are much more comfortable in a rural setting than an urban one.  But it was fun for an afternoon. 

 We celebrated Josie's 2nd birthday while everyone was here.  Josie likes bugs so rather than do a traditional cake, we made 'dirt' and put plastic bugs on top.  In addition to our parents, our dear friends the Allen's treked over from Austin for Lydia's special day.  Isaac and Colton doing what Isaac and Colton do. 

 Lydia and Elsie being cute. 

 We went to Galveston. 

 My dad didn't even get his toes wet.  He kept a vigilant watch on us though. 

 Kind of cool with the pier in the background.  All the seaweed wasn't as cool. 

 We took everyone to the pool. 

 Josie got new princess shoes. 

 Josie eating her birthday cake with Joy. 
Below is a photo of Josie with my dad trying to light fireworks.  On the 4th we did homemade rootbeer ( a Reed tradition) hamburgers and a backyard firework display.  It was simple and pure goodness. 

 The next day Lydia got baptized.  It truly was a special day.  That girl is so darn sweet and though I worry about her at times, I felt on that occasion that I need to stop worrying and everything will be alright.  Lydia has all many qualities that make a person Christlike and that is what really matters. 

 Lydia wore my old baptism dress.  Grandma Reed got her the awesome bright pink scripture case with a new set of scriptures that she has been referencing frequently. 

 The family at the baptism. 

The best friends at the baptism. 

July in Texas

 So Texas hasn't been as miserably hot as I expected.  Don't get me wrong.  It's hot.  But we find ways to keep cool.  For instance, we go to the air conditioned mall and get Lydia's ears pierced.  She was so excited and brave. 

 We go to the pool- almost every day. 

 And tonight we went to Chick-fil-a's family night.  The theme was Christmas in July, so they had this foam pit that was supposed to be snow.  As you can see Lydia and Colton really got into it. 

Josie was much more reserved.  This was as deep as she ever got.  I was quite surprised that she wasn't a wild woman in those bubbles. 

Drive to Ohio

In June, Mike's entire family made it home- including us.  Even though we just got to Texas, we drove through the night so we could go to Kimmy's (Mike's youngest sister) graduation party.  Then our nephew Landon was baptized. And all in the same weekend our niece was blessed.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend.  Mike had to get back to work after that, but I stayed for a few weeks to hang out with everyone while we could. 

 The whole Hansen family.  One crazy bunch. 

 I didn't have a photo of Kimmy at her party, so this is what we did during the party.  Some very competitive games of corn hole   

 Mama, Papa and their kids.  From left to Right, Kimmy, Maria, Dedee, Jenny, Mama, Papa, Mat, Mike and Chris.

 Crazy cousins.  Landon, Colton, Jackson and Lydia. 

 Lydia turned 8!  Ella, Josie, Lydia and Maddie.  Ella and Maddie were in North Carolina and we didn't think they were coming, but they surprised everyone by coming up for the weekend! 

 We went to Cosi, a cool science museum in Columbus.  Uncle Kyle photo bombing. 

 The boys helped papa reload some bullets. 

 This picture makes me laugh.  The kids had so much fun and totally wore themselves out.  Except for Colton I guess. 

 We went to Amish country and got delicious food.  Cheese, cinnamon rolls, donuts, popcorn. . . mmm, mmm, mmm.  We stopped at the truck patch where they have a petting zoo and Big Ben- the biggest horse in the county.  My girls sure thought he was big. 

 After Big Ben, the kids were ready for a ride on Grandma's little pony. 

 And I went for a ride on a little motorbike.  It was pretty fun. 

 At Cosi they had one of those wind simulators.  I think we had 5 kids in there.  Maybe 6. 

 There is this awesome waterfall about 10 minutes from Mama and Papa's house, but not a lot of people know about it.  It was super fun to go and play in it.  It's not too deep and the water doesn't run to fast so the kids really enjoy it. 

 The kids piling on Uncle Mat. 

 Colton really enjoyed chasing grandma's chickens.  Gathering eggs was a favorite activity too. 

 We were able to take the kids fishing and it was awesome!  I've never had better fishing conditions.  We caught a fish almost every single cast so the kids were never bored.  Everything was small and we put it back, but with our very last worm, Lydia caught a trout that we ate with dinner.  Let's just say that the kids enjoyed catching fish much more than they liked eating it. 

 While all of this family bonding was going on, Mama was preparing for the church Trek activity.  Mama was in charge of about 100 youth 14-18 who dressed up in clothes from the 1800's and pulled handcarts 8 miles- reenacting the pioneers.  Here is Mama, Papa, and Kimmy on the first day. 

 Not only did Lydia turn 8, but a week later, Josie turned 2!!!  We were at Chris and Nicole's house on her birthday helping them pack to move into their new house.  We did stop long enough to eat some delicious ice cream cake.  Josie sang right along with her happy birthday song.  And since we were packing, we couldn't find any matches- they had been packed already, so Josie just pretended to blow out the candles. 

 Right before we left, we went to the Columbus zoo.  They had a new Africa exhibit, but my favorite was watching a polar bear swim and play with a ball. 

The Hansen's live on a hill that is great for slip and sliding. 

 

Mike flew back to help me with the drive back to Texas.  On our way we stopped at Mammoth cave. 

The kids enjoyed a hike.

The entrance of the cave.  I'm afraid I don't have any good photos from inside, but here are some stock photos. It was really cool.  It is the longest cave on earth.  They have discovered over 300 miles of it and are still finding more. 


Mama's sister's came for Kimmy's party and of course they set to work getting food ready. Dedee is helping set up Kimmy's display table with photos, awards, and a video.

 Landon's family at his baptism. 

 Baby Evelyn's blessing.