New Life Ranch

Mia, the boys, and I took a day trip to visit my good friend, Marla at New Life Ranch.  Marla and I met a NLR as kids, and now her husband Luke is a director there. It's so hard to believe that it had been 4 whole years since our last visit! Both of our families have grown!

New Life Ranch is the center of many of my favorite childhood memories, and it's always a treat to go back and visit. The camp has changed considerably since I was a kid, but the sounds and smells are so much the same.

All of our kiddos in front of the chapel.

 It was a blast showing the boys and Mia around and getting to spend some time with Marla and her family. Marla and Luke now have another son, Max, whom they adopted from foster care. He is precious! 

The boys loved swimming in the creek, going down the slides and the "Wet Willie. 

Mark and Wyatt

After a full day of pool, lunch, and creek, we headed back to Marla's for dinner and more playtime at their house. 

Marla and me and all our kids: Mark (5), Wyatt (6), Peter (8), Sailor (0), Keaton (7), and Max (3)

I'm hoping we can make this visit an annual tradition!

Boise!

While we were in Oklahoma, Dad, Aaron, Sailor and I took a short trip to Boise to visit Justin and family! I had not seen Justin or Sheri since before we moved to Hawaii, which is crazy! I was so excited to finally meet my sweet niece, Ruby. 

We meet at last!

Papa and his girls

Dinner out with the whole clan.

Fun day at the pool.

meeting Uncle Justin

Breakfast at Goldy's in downtown Boise

It was so special to get to spend some time hiking with Aaron and Justin. So rare that we get to hang out, just the 3 of us! Thanks so much to Aunt Sheri for watching Sailor.

Made it to the top of Table Rock, overlooking Boise.

Poor Aaron ended up tripping on the path down from Table Rock and got a hairline fracture in his arm!

Fun with cousin Ruby!

 Justin has turned into quite the chef. He and Sheri now own a food truck called The Funky Taco. They are set up every weekend at the local farmers market and have quite a following. They have an awesome menu with unique flavors and all fresh ingredients. 

Here's their amazing Airstream that is setup like a restaurant kitchen on the inside - 5 sinks and all!

On our last evening, Justin made us the MACHO TACO and the THAI-CO - seriously the best tacos I've ever tasted! I'm so impressed with brother's skills!

A sweet trip we will never forget! Hoping it will not be another 5 years until we see them!

Our Oklahoma Summer

Our 3 weeks in Oklahoma this summer were full of so many adventures! 

It was very HOT almost the whole time we were there, so we spent a good bit of the time in the pool! My parents pool at their new house is not built yet, but we did get to swim one last time at the old house before the salvage auction. So many memories in this pool... sad!

We also spent a few days swimming at the Hillcrest Country Club, the pool of my childhood! 

 The boys love jumping off the diving board, just like I used to!

When we weren't there, we spent a good many days swimming at Mia's house! 

Of course, we had to hit up Kiddie Park a few times! 

Sailor was hilarious riding the cars for the first time! Just like a BOSS!

We celebrated Lindsey's birthday with a family dinner and her favorite pie! 

All the siblings - minus 2!

Cousin fun - Caleb doesn't like pictures so much...

Happy Birthday, Linds!

Playing in the sprinkler in the backyard!

We're man enough to wear Brumbra's heels...

Keaton finally found some suckers to play Apples to Apples with him!

My parents had a garage sale while we were there. Keaton came up with the idea to do a lemonade and cookie stand during the garage sale. 

He made $34!!

Getting Braum's ice cream with my dad one night while the boys were at Bible school with Garrett!

Lots of pitch-playing!

We also celebrated Adrian's 5th birthday! He got a new bike!

Cousins!

Hi SJ!!

Lots of love from Mia!

As you can see, we had a fantastic time just being with family and friends, relaxing, and  spending time in my parents new house, which is awesome!

Visit from the Dennisons!

In our first week in Oklahoma, the Dennisons drove up to Bartlesville to spend the weekend with us! I'm so thankful that our kids get along so well and seem to hit it off every time we get together!

Halle and Sailor needed no time to catch up either. Matching outfits the first day...did you guys plan this?

Trying to get these two to smile at the same time was a challenge. They pretty much kept looking at us like we were crazy people.

I love Halle's expression! "give me back that truck!"

On Saturday, we took Meg's family to see the Caney Zoological Park, which never disappoints! They even had baby white tigers for the kids to pet! The kids also got to hose down the bear, feed the monkeys animal crackers, pet a kangaroo, and eat a picnic lunch in a treehouse overlooking the animals.  

Oh, and of course hold an enormous python!

 I cannot say enough good things about this zoo! Such a unique experience every time we visit.

All the boys: William, Crew, Keaton, Hudson, Mark

And the girls!

Such a fun weekend! So thankful for my parents hosting all of us!