Chasing Summer

My MIL had a great idea one Sunday and invited the whole fam dam over to her pool (resort) for swimming and BBQ. As much as I am anticipating fall, I have to say, spending a day in late September lounging, swimming and enjoying the outside is not too shabby. The kids of course had a BLAST. The food was amazing, as always and Sunday Funday with the Family is always my favorite! Thanks, Mama for some end of summer memories - you are the BEST!

And they are d

Inaugural Pool Party at the Wilson Home

So, Mark's parents built this AMAZING pool and had an AMAZING party to celebrate! The weather was perfect, the pool was too chilly for the Mama's but the kids had a fantastic time swimming (and so did my husband)!

Here is Mark with his brother, Dustin.

Just one part of the Wilson family (Mark's step-father, Dana is one of six wonderful children)!

Here is Dana's sister, Auntie Elizabeth, with her husband, Greg, and daughter, Sloane.

Me and my boys - Karsten and Jaden!

Mark's mother, Karen, and our former family trainer, Matt.

Mark's dad, Mark III, and his girlfriend, Christa.

Me and my baby girl!

Mark's sister's husband, Jeremiah.

Karsten and Jaden, so ready to swim! They were so patient, waiting to go into the pool!

Mark's grandma, Grammie . . . this is the outfit she came out in! She is fantastic! Love her to pieces!

Look at my little man! What a dare devil!

And this is where he gets it from . . .

Looking forward to many more family fun days at the Wilson's! Yeah!

Swimming Friday's

The troops go swimming again! We took little Ava to Hannah and Molly's on Friday for swimming! Of course we all had a fabuloso time! Snacks and drinks out by the pool, little ones splashing around, catching up with my best buddy - life doesn't get much better than this!

Ella's all show, right after she put all this stuff on, she took it off and played outside the pool. (See below)

Hannah showed Karsten how to do a cannonball - here it is in ACTION!


Look how gorgeous Molly is! She looked like a blonde Pebbles.

This is what Ella did the entire time we swam; she then recruited Ava to play with her.

Candace had a great idea to bring the jungle gym to the side of the pool and have the kids slide into the pool. Hannah and Karsten LOVED it!


I love their friendship! It melts my heart!

And the start of summer continues at the Jones home!

The other pool we mooch off of is my sister-in-law's. Swimming at the Jones' home is fabulous! Their kids and our kids are bff's and here are some pics of our fun afternoon! Thank goodness for family!





As I was setting up this picture, Gracie was singing "Row, Row Row Your Boat", and when I snapped the photo, she got to "and life is but a dream". Looking at these faces, the joy and happiness, life really does feel like a dream.

Summer Is Here!

So we have a newer house, and it's cute, and we really like it . . . but what's BEST about my house is my neighbors! I don't know how we got so lucky, but we did. We have two families right next door to us that are amazing! They each have one kid who is Karsten's age (all three kids will be going to kindergarten together next year) and one of the families has a younger baby too. Both fams are fun, laid-back, caring . . .everything you would want in a neighbor, and friend. My immediate next door neighbors, the Giglio's also have a pool, as if they weren't the best already! Sunday, was the first pool party of the season, and we rocked it out! My sister and her husband came over (which was so generous of the Giglio's to have them) with little Ava and all the kids had a great time. The pool was still FREEZING, but they played on the beach step and we drank and ate and drank and ate. There is nothing better than a Sunday Funday Pool Party! Especially when it's right next door! Here are some pics from the partay and thank you to my awesome neighbors!





Karsten and Taylor (future bf/gf)




These are my girls . . . Summer and Jen




My sister, Megan, and Ava




Taylor and Tony

Father's Day at the Phoencian