Summer fun pictures

We had such a fun summer. There was a lot of house building and working at the new house going on, but even in between that we managed to have a lot of fun.

These are just some hodge podge pictures of some of the rest of our summer fun that didn't go in other posts.



Josh and Val and fam are here!

 We have been anticipating the arrival of Josh and Val and their five kids for months now. They are all home in Kansas for furlough until next summer. And we are SO excited to have them close again.

It was so great to see all their kids again and love on them.

The cousins all picked up as if they had never left. I love it.

We will look forward to many more weekends with them this year! Yay!

Kids go to Kansas

 All three kids spent a week in Kansas at Joe's parents' house towards the end of July. Yes, Joe and I had a whole week at home to ourselves. It was wonderful.

And the kids had a blast in Kansas.

Norah spent a lot of time at Naomi's house with her cousins there and even got to have a sleepover.

 

Jake took Joey and Silas to a Royals game. How fun!

 

Sno cones with Nana after church.

 

A cousin dinner.

Kylah even sewed her own apron with Nana's help!

We enjoyed our week, but we did enjoy having our kids back home. :)

Papa and Gramma visit and 4th of July

My mom and dad were here for a long weekend, and we had a wonderful time. We always love when they can stay a few extra days when they're here since we don't get to see them very often!

Also we got to celebrate the 4th of July at home and with them which was awesome!

We spent one day walking around downtown which is so fun. We got crepes, visited stores, got 10 cent cokes, and hit the splash park.

 

My mom and I took the kids to the Amazeum one afternoon.

 While we were at the Amazeum my dad and Joe stayed home and made homemade Italian meatballs, a secret Manes family recipe. They were delicious.

My dad spent a lot of time "cuddling" with the kids. :)

 

On the 4th of July we spent a little time out at our new construction writing verses on our walls before they were drywalled. It was so fun to get to do that and to know that our house is built on the word of God!

 

Joey wrote his verses in the basement bedroom which will eventually be his permanent room.

 

Kylah was very intent and wrote a lot of verses on her walls.

 

I helped Norah write a few verses, but she also wanted to write on her own!

 

The three amigos before we started fire works.

 

Joe lighting the punk. Surprisingly no one got burnt!

 Joey loved lighting things by himself.

Norah didn't want to light anything by herself, but she did like the sparklers!

What a fun weekend.



Matchell goodbye

Some of our best friends, Brian and Christine Matchell are going to Africa as missionaries to work at a missionary boarding school.

We are so excited for them to follow God's call on their life, but we will miss them so so much here.

We had one final friend get together before they left.

We love this group of friends!

 

We couldn't let Christine move to Africa without ever having done a pyramid together!!

 

And then our daughters made their own.

 

We couldn't get the men to join us...

 

Such sweet girls. Kylah gave Mikaiah a keychain that matches one she has so that they can look at them even when they are apart.

 

And these little two we found on the back step dressed in super hero clothes! So cute!

We are going to miss those Matchell's. We are so thankful for internet and phones so we can easily keep in touch.



Joey's birthday

My BABY boy is 10!!

Double digits. How is that even possible??

He is a pretty cool 10 year old though... :)

We celebrated his birthday with a pool party.

The group picture. We are thankful for such good friends and family in our life!

 

The kids seemed to have a blast. I think we basically had the whole pool to ourselves!

 

Joey was so sweet and told me everyone was going to think his cake came from a bakery. :)

 

Joey received many fun gifts and like usual had the best expressions when opening each one.

I love Norah's hands on his shoulders here.

He got to pick a few friends to actually stay in the hotel that night.
He and Jakin and Connor had a great time and even got to go swimming some more.

 

On his actual birthday day he opened presents at home.

 

I love the sibling thank you hug. :)

We love you Joey Bear, and we are so proud of you! We hope year 10 is just awesome!

Happy birthday to Joe!!

Happy birthday to my awesome husband today. Joe is such a servant leader for our family, and we all love him so much!

Joe took the day off work, and I took the afternoon off, so we went golfing as a family for his birthday. It was hot, but fun!

 

I sure do love this (hot) guy. :)

 

We had the Adair's and Matchell's over for dinner to celebrate Joe. Steak on the Green Egg was on the menu of course. :)

And fruit pizza for dessert!

I love this picture of Joe and Norah.

Happy Birthday Babe! We love you!