Branson had his first tackle football game this morning. His team has been working really hard to get ready for today. First thing is definitely first . . . warming up!
Followed by a bit of huddling up
Then some lining up. You can see Branson pretty well here, especially if you enlarge it. He is giving the guy across from him a nasty look!
Summers are full of trips, activities, and general fun. I have not been able to blog like I want to, but as it comes to an end I am hoping to have a few minutes here and there to catch up. Well, at least keep up. Last weekend we made a trip to Ute Lake in New Mexico. When we arrived, it was cloudy, windy, and rainy. We are fortunate to be able to watch it from our warm, dry trailer. I took this picture from just that spot!
There is always a good game of cards to be played while waiting for better weather.
Once we made our way back home, there was school to prepare for. We had quite a time getting all of our school schedules and supply lists in order. As I was writing the kids names on their things, I fell in love with Macy's crayons. She has the fat, stubby crayons. I haven't really looked at a crayon in a long, long time. They are wonderful with such amazing colors. I just had to take a picture.
On Thursday, we had back to school night. Macy will be attending Western Plateau's pre-k class. She is beyond excited! She is looking forward to being a "big" kid.
Branson is heading into 4th grade at Ridgecrest. He no longer shares the same excitement that Macy has, but he is excited and nervous in his new older kid kind of way.
Then there is always the beginning of football season! We are really devoted college football fans around here. However, Dallas is also popular. We were watching their first pre-season game in their brand new stadium, and Macy and Lane disappeared upstairs. The next time they emerged, Macy was dressed as a princess. No surprise there, but Lane was wearing Branson's old Halloween costume, a Dallas Cowboy football player. He found Branson's football and was ready to play! I think he is fitting in just fine.
This year we joined some of Daniel's family at Beaver Lake in Arkansas. There was camping and boating. We had a good time and really enjoyed getting to see everyone. Here is a picture of most of the family member's attending this year's get together. Some had already left by the time we got around to doing this, but all things considered, the picture turned out pretty good.
Our campsite
Branson and me
Daniel and his mom
Macy fell in love with her "new" cousin. She is still talking about her a week later. She is ready to move to Nebraska, just so she can see Myla more often.
Branson loves being drug behind the boat. I swear he never gets tired!
A great crash picture, courtesy of Dan
Dan kneeboarding out in the calm waters.
Here I am, posing for the camera.
When we pulled up the anchor, we found our catch of the day.
Branson and his antics
Notice that Macy has a firm grip on the tube, always!!
The view from the top of our campground.
All the roads in Arkansas and Missouri look like this. It is really hard for those of us used to wide open spaces to get used to views like this.
You can't go to Arkansas without seeing an outhouse!
Here is my little family at the fish hatchery in Branson, Missouri.
My poor Branson had a rough bout with motion sickness. It took him awhile to recover from traveling the tree-lined, curvy, mountainous roads.
We saw a car decorated with all sorts of crazy things. Branson even found an "old-school" Transformer!
We saw a gorgeous butterfly in the gardens at the fish hatchery.
Our campground hostess, Ms. Nell was an avid animal lover. She had all sorts of wild animals flocking to her and her campground. She had hummingbirds, cardinals, and all sort of other birds.
She even had a tame rooster. I didn't know such things existed. She held it and the kids were able to pet him.
My handsome husband out beside the lake.
Still for 5 seconds, whew!
Branson took this shot of Daniel and me
When we saw Thunderbird Lake on the Oklahoma map, I really didn't know what to expect. I was really pleasantly surprised.
I really should have put all the pictures of my family's attempt to hold hands after this. All of the pulling, yanking, jerking, leaning, and so on made for quite a set of pictures! This was the first picture I took, they went downhill from here.
The fun part is the tackling! It makes the mommas cringe a bit though.
He had a great time and had lots of fun. We are looking forward to the rest of the season. I colorized just him in this one, so he would be easier to find!
I just put up a blog post about Lane's birthday. So make sure to check it out. Also, if you haven't seen or heard about Daniel's 3 car wreck on Thursday look at my Facebook page. I didn't really see the point in posting the same stuff everywhere. 
Followed by a bit of huddling up
Then some lining up. You can see Branson pretty well here, especially if you enlarge it. He is giving the guy across from him a nasty look!
The fun part is the tackling! It makes the mommas cringe a bit though.
He had a great time and had lots of fun. We are looking forward to the rest of the season. I colorized just him in this one, so he would be easier to find!
I just put up a blog post about Lane's birthday. So make sure to check it out. Also, if you haven't seen or heard about Daniel's 3 car wreck on Thursday look at my Facebook page. I didn't really see the point in posting the same stuff everywhere. 
