Out with the old...

... and in with the new.

We have officially graduated from sedan to minivan. This last camping trip convinced us that we needed more room. Also, whenever family came to visit we would have to take 2 cars to go anywhere. It will also be great for driving carpool to preschool in the fall. The straw that broke us was when Clay's car started to die. It has been a long and slow death, but a something near the muffler broke and we didn't want to pay the $300 to fix it. It isn't worth much more than that. His car is a 1994 Nissan Sentra...

The guy at the repair shop offered to buy it, so we sold it to him. That was easy! Now I get to drive the minivan. We had the Saturn detailed and Clay can now drive to work with his head held high. Hey maybe he will even offer to drive to lunch one day. :)

Daddy's little helper

We are patching up cracks and things in order to start painting. Rebekah has no fear of being on the ladder to "help" daddy with the work.

Swim meet

Here is Emma winning one of her heats during the swim meet, and with her heat ribbon.

She is doing such a good job, learning the strokes, how to start, and taking huge chunks off her time. But most of all, Emma loves being with her friends the best!

Happy Father's Day

Clay does such a good job of providing and taking care of us, that we made sure we took good care of Clay today. First we made him breakfast in bed with eggs, toast, bacon and orange juice. The girls made cards, sculptures out of dough, and a scavenger hunt. Here is Clay with all the things the girls gave him.

After church we went to our friends the Rosenlund's for dinner. We had spicy corn dip, tangy bacon wrapped water chestnuts, pizza, and salad, followed by mint brownies and Melinda's famous cookies. We all felt like stuffed turkeys on Thanksgiving after all that good food.

We love you!!

Bowling

There is a new bowling alley in town. We went to check it out for Family Home Evening.

The lanes are lit with black lights and crazy light patterns that keep changing on the floor. It looked cool, but was kind of distracting. I couldn't really see the red markers on the lanes to help me aim. There were also the GINORMOUS screens about the lanes -they were showing the Soccer World Cup. Some added bonuses was that the bumper lanes automatically go up for the girls and down for Clay and I. They also had one of those cool bowling trainer tracks for Rebekah to use.

Here is the seating for each lane. The coffee table is divided for each side to have their own dining area. They have a complete menu that is supposed to be "upscale dining". We had a little trouble with the "chef" not knowing the ingredients for anything. Rebekah is allergic to eggs, so we always have to ask. Basically, everything is prepackaged and the "chef" just combines them and heats them up. Not very classy to me. Oh, and after all that the food was just okay.

Here are the girls modeling for the photo. I have to say, the environment and the concept for the bowling alley is pretty cool. However, our opinion of the place plummeted when we received our bill. Even for bowling AND dinner, that was way too much money.

crazy sleeper

Rebekah is at it again. She is sleeping funny again. We walked in and found her completely jammed against the wall. Then two nights later we found her sleeping UNDER the rocking chair. I really don't know how that girl can sleep like that.

Then there is Emma who appears to be dead in her bed... probably from all that swimming.

swim team

Well, we caved in. We signed Emma up for swim team this year. All her friends are in it and it is really the best way she can get lessons at this point. It means we stay pretty busy. While school is still in we have 3 evening practices. Once school is out there are 5 practices and 2 meets each week. That's a lot of time in the water. But so far Emma is really enjoying it.

Uncle for US Congress

Great news! Clay's uncle, Patrick Murray won the VA Republican Primary! He is now running for office against Jim Moran. Veterans for Murray! Vote for Murray! www.murray4congress.com

How does your garden grow?

Clay and I have been spending a lot of time working in the garden. The girls have been helping with planting seeds and watering. Today we harvested our first salad. It tasted so good. You are welcome to stop by and share in our bounty. :)