Dog Days of Summer

(6/17) Cute tiny woman enjoying the splash pad!

Hudson with his best buddy from Kindergarten!

Three boys having a blast!

Little sweethearts!

(6/25) Goofy Hannah eating dinner

These boys are best of friends!

Sporting their new summer buzz cuts!

Check out Hudson's awesome lighting bolt!

Love this silly boy

(7/2) Hosted some work friends for a July BBQ 

Got this awesome pinata at the local Mexican market

It was pretty indestructible ... broke two of my brook sticks!

This guy loves to party!

Every man for himself!

Hannah and Daddy got caught in the smoke bomb!

Hudson just loved the fireworks this year ... seems we have a pyromaniac on our hands!

(7/8) This little honey loves to join me in the shower ... even when she just gets dressed!

(7/10) Sweatiest sleeper award goes to Hannah!

And so does the longest sweepers award!

Forgive the food in my teeth, but I thought this was a cute one of Hannah girl

Love this girl's personality ... it's huge!

(7/12) Future artist!

Painting in a wild animals coloring book

I think she enjoyed splashing in the water more than the painting itself!

(7/12) Playing at McDonald's with cousin Elise

(7/13) We joined some friends for Cow Appreciation Day

Can't miss out on a free meal!

It was so fun seeing everyone dressed up! It was a madhouse!

My littlest calf

Always a ham!

Or shall I say a beef?

Love her teeth!

(7/13) The boys took evening swim lessons this year at Sierra Vista

It was nice that Daddy could come once in awhile and watch the boys

But the time was hard on Beau - one evening, I found him hanging on the edge of the pool fast asleep! How dangerous!

The grass was full of fire ants - I got bites all over!

Sweetest girl wanted to get in that water!

(7/14) Cute little piggy tails!

We sure love our little girl!

I could eat this one up!

(7/15) For date night, Seb took me to Dillards and let me try on suuuuper fancy dresses!

(7/15) The adorable stray dog, Charley, that stole our hearts!

I found this cutie in the road and snatched her up on my way home

The boys named her Charley, and she quickly became part of our family

She was the most well behaved dog I've ever met!

We'll miss you, Charley!

(7/20) Our very own sleeping beauty

There you have it! Most of our summer in a nutshell (besides our San Antonio and Seattle trips). We spent time visiting with residents at the Beehive House, Grandma treated the boys to a 3-day session at The Little Gym (and they are still talking about it!), we went to a few parties with work friends, I tried taking the kids to a few story times (but Hudson seems to have outgrown those!), we had a garage sale, and did some playdates with Jesse. 

In August, Hudson turned six. We celebrated with one of his friends from Kindergarten at a trampoline park and lunch at Red Robin. He's really into medieval Knights these days, so we got him a huge Playmobil castle! It was a hit!

Seb and I also spent some time with friends this summer - I did a few girls' nights including seeing Me Before You with my pal Pam, having a fancy dinner with Andrea, and going shopping and out for dessert and appetizers with Pam again! Seb went on a river trip one weekend with some good friends from work. 

One of the highlights of my summer was meeting the sweetest little dog, Charley. I had this kind of neat experience finding her. The few months before finding her, I kept having this thought that I was going to get a small dog. I even started looking up dogs and opening my mind to the idea of getting one because I couldn't shake the thought that a small dog was coming into my life. (I've never had a dog before, and I've always been a little on the fence about them!) Anyways, I was driving home one day when I turned the corner and almost hit a tiny little doggy wearing a pink collar. I immediately pulled over, hopped out of the car, and picked her up. Now, if you know me, this is NOT typical Jessica. I'm pretty skittish about animals, especially ones I don't know ... and especially dogs! But I felt like I needed to take her home with me ... so I did! Sebastian was really surprised when I walked in the door with a dog! 

The license number on her collar was out of date and didn't help in finding her owner. So we took her around to the neighbors - some had seen the dog wandering for a few days, but nobody knew who she belonged to. We kept her over the weekend determining to call around the local shelters. She was the most wonderful dog! She only barked if the doorbell rang. She followed me around wherever I went and sat and watched me. She LOVED being held and snuggled. She slept at the foot of Beau's bed. She barely shed. She was house trained, and the couple times we weren't home to let her out, she pooped right next to the toilet! Seb was hooked on the dog when the boys made Hannah cry and the doggy went right up to Hannah, snuggled her, and let Hannah pet her until she perked up again. 

Five days after we found her, we took Charley to the vet to see if she had a chip - she did! We were a little heartbroken, but it was so happy seeing Charley (whose real name was Miley) reunite with her owner! The sweet grandmother was SO grateful (the dog belonged to her heartbroken granddaughter who hadn't gotten out of bed in three days!) and we are sure that the reunion was an answer to prayer! I believe Heavenly Father prepared me to find Miley by giving me thoughts of a small dog in my mind, so we could help reunite her family. God loves all of us - even little lost doggies!