Happy Fourth from Dallas!

(6/28) The key to getting a good picture of all three kiddos?

"Okay boys, say stinky wieners! Now smelly butts!"

Love these kiddos of mine

Couldn't imagine life without 'em

Thank you, Seb, for these precious blessings!

(7/7) My angry ballerina baby

Apparently she didn't want her picture taken

Uh oh, here comes the purple-faced rage cry!

Really, Hannah? Is the tutu that bad?

Apparently so

Sheesh I love this little mad lady!

(7/3) Starting our trip to Dallas off right with a visit to a local water park! Oh yeah!

Even Hannah enjoyed the water for a bit

Beauy sported his red sunglasses all afternoon

The best bacon burger I've ever had in my life - no joke - Josh is the bomb chef!

Cousins goofing around

The Stoddard's new home was beautiful!

(7/4) Time to attack poor Uncle Josh!

Close range combat

Let's make sure he's really wet

This is too much fun

Okay, now let's try to squirt in the ear to the brain!

Now it's dad's turn to get wet

Cute little Noelle!

She was such a sweet, good natured little doll the entire trip!

Enjoying "cousin" Rocky

Nap time for Beau;  Mulan time for everyone else

Water balloon volleyball

Focus, Hudson! You got this!

Surviving the Texas heat

The big kids played a game of baseball

While the little kids sat stone-faced looking like tired pioneers ... boy, playing outside is so hard

Cute preggo pitcher

What's with all the sad faces??

Darling Esther with her handsome daddio

Enjoying his mac-n-cheese and chicken tenders at Texas Roadhouse

Watching some bull riding while waiting for our food to arrive

Cousin bath!

Probably won't be doing this much longer ... sad day!

Love these kiddos!

Hudson and Esther really hit it off this trip!

Saying goodbye to the San Antonio Dunlaps

So glad to have cousins the same age!

Enjoying Sethrina's soon-to-be-born baby's books

How'd we end up with so many blondies??

We spent the Fourth of July with Josh and Sethrina and Noah and Laura in the Stoddard's brand new house just outside of Dallas, Texas. They are seriously the best hosts ever and planned such a wonderful vacation for all of us. I must say - it was quite a feat - especially considering that they were hosting five kids under the age of five + 1 dog + 4 adults. And to top it off, Sethrina was very pregnant, due in less than three weeks!

We drove out Thursday evening intending to stop somewhere between here and Dallas for the night. I bought an entire grocery cart of junk food to keep everyone happy during the trip - it kind of backfired, though, and left me feeling like total crap. Ha ha! I got a canker sore from all the salt and even started developing a sore throat from snarfing down all the Cheez-Its and Peanut Butter M&Ms. Ugh! We listened to "Goose Girl" on CD, stretched our legs at Sonic in a cloud of June bugs, then everyone slept in their clothes at a cheap roadside motel! Glamorous!

It was so exciting to see Josh and Sethrina's new home! I loved all the beautiful brick houses in their neighborhood with the pretty grass lawns and the American flags lining everyone's walkways. It felt so welcoming! You could tell Josh and Sethrina had been working their little tails off getting everything ready - they had done so much to their home in so little time! The entire thing was painted a cloud-like white with a hint of blue and Josh had painted all of the ceilings white - what a task! I especially loved seeing the baby's nursery - it was decorated with such care. The little black puppy in the crib and the gray bunny sitting on the changing table. You could feel the love Josh and Sethrina already have for their baby! I also LOVED the living room! Everything looked so bright and clean and modern with fun pops of color everywhere - bright blue storage bins, a yellow table runner, an orange vase, yellow tree blossoms. So pretty! It was great seeing everyone, too! Noelle had gotten noticeably bigger and, of course, Sethrina was such a cute preggo lady!

When we arrived, we had french toast and bacon, then headed off to a nearby waterpark. Everyone had a blast in the lazy river and whirlpool. When we got home, Josh made the yummiest burgers I've ever had for dinner. After the kids went down, we played Things, ate some cobbler, and watched a movie.

The next day (the Fourth), we had breakfast at McDonald's and played some Top Golf. We had meatball subs at home for lunch and the kids played in the water in the backyard. We watched Mulan in an attempt to get Beau to nap (it worked!) and when he woke up we headed to a nearby park for water games! It was SO fun! I absolutely love water ballon fights! We did some water balloon volleyball, baseball, an all out war, and then some duck-duck-goose. Good times. We went straight to Texas Roadhouse from the park - all dripping wet. Hudson didn't even have a shirt on - so hickville of us! That evening, we had the kids lineup in the drive way and shoot off some poppers. After the kids went down, we ate leftover dessert and watched a couple episodes of The Office. It was a good day!

On Sunday, we said our goodbyes to Noah and Laura's family. Then, the Stoddards made us German Apple Pancakes for breakfast ... SO good! After church, Seb informed me that his boss was expecting him home on Monday! Ugh! Sethrina and Josh babysat (ALL THREE KIDS!!) while Seb and I loaded up on car trip food at WinCo and came home and packed. We had a scrumptious dinner of BBQ chicken, loaded mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob. After watching most of The Three Amigos, we headed out of town around 9pm. It was sad to leave! We're just really happy that Sethrina's having her baby soon so we have another excuse to come out and visit! We sure love you guys!