Happy 6th Birthday Dallas!

We had a great Harry Potter Magic themed party to celebrate Dallas Jr.'s 6th birthday. Wendell Wandell the magician entertained the audience with comedy, juggling, magic acts, and the grand finale of levitating the birthday boy! He discovered his main birthday present from us on Thursday while he was looking for his golf clubs in the car. He came in the house crying and saying he thought he saw his "big" present from us. I asked him what he saw and he said "an Xbox." At that point we had been busted so I told him it was actually a Wii and not to worry about it, it was just an accident. Once he got over what he considered "ruining his birthday present" he started asking if we could set it up. It was up and running that night and all the kids enjoyed playing it at the party. He got several games as presents and has really had fun with it.
Thanks to all of our families for coming and all of the help. The hot dog cooker Justin brought was awesome and a big hit for everyone.

10 Year Anniversary!

We made it!!!! Some days it feels like 10 years and some days it seems like yesterday. Some days have been a challenge and some days have been the best of my life. Some days have been sad and some have been a roller coaster but more days than not have been filled with laughter and love. And every day I can say I was next to my best friend. And every day I loved you! Here's to 10 more baby.
Love you!



Thanks to Dallas Jr. for taking the pictures!

Wild Dunes

We had a fun beach trip to Wild Dunes this summer! We had a great house on a lagoon by the driving range. There were two alligators that live in the lagoon and we enjoyed watching them sun bathe and swim from our balcony. The lagoon would fill up with golf balls from the range at the end of each day and the guys would scoop out the balls with a net from the house and hit them back over the water. Dallas Jr. made huge progress with his swimming in the pool. He has been hesitant to put his head in but he went for it this time and there was no looking back. He was swimming underwater by the end of the week! We kept calling him a fish but he said shark was better! Sterling enjoyed the pool too but really liked playing in lagoons left when the tide went out on the beach. The guys went on a chartered fishing trip one day and caught a several fish and a shark! Dallas Jr. crabbed, fished, and found starfish from the beach as well but really enjoyed the boat trip. Noah and her cousin Susan who joined us from Texas took a day trip into Charleston. We also celebrated Whit's birthday! We enjoyed lots of good home cooked meals thanks to my hubby and several meals out that were nice as well. It was a good week and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone!
Now we are planning a big birthday party and getting ready for the start of kindergarten. More pictures to come soon from these exciting events!

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

We just got back from our 2nd trip to Ft. Lauderdale since May. Dallas had a conference for work and we all joined him. My Mom came along for that one as well and spent time with me and the kids while Dallas attended meetings. Our second trip was vacation. We left Sterling with BeBe and PawPaw and spent a week with Dallas Jr. before he starts kindergarten in the fall. We do have another beach trip at the end of July and she will be coming with us for that one!

On our first trip we spent most of our time at the pool and we also made a day trip to the Butterfly Pavillion. They were everywhere and Dallas Jr.'s only goal was for one to land on him. They were not landing on anyone but finally one landed on his shoulder and he just lit up as you can see by his face. I told him it must have liked his yellow shirt. There were also lots of pretty birds to see. Sterling had fun pointing to them and running all around. The picture of the rails with the gap behind it is to show where she escaped. They had you go in 1 door and then close it before going through another door to make sure the birds and butterflies did not escape. Then you had to follow a path that winds arounds with rails on either side until you get to the same type of exit doors. Sterling decided to escape and darted through that gap! She was running down the path laughing disappering out of our sight while I tried had to sqeeze through that gap to go running after her. If I was any bigger I would not have made it and would have had to go out the 2 exit doors and back in the other 2 to chase her down! She is a total handful and thought the whole thing was really funny!

On our last trip we had lots of fun at the pool, the ocean, and watching Gamecock baseball! We also took a day trip to the Everglades and rode on an airboat. Of course we saw alligators and lots of pretty birds. I took the picture of the tall grass with the clouds behind it because I thought it looked cool that there were dragonflies on the tip of each blade. After the ride they do an alligator show. Then we held a baby gator. We could have sat on the big one for $20but that just seemed wrong for so many reasons. Dallas Jr. and his Dad ate gator bites on the way home while I was still trying to recover from being attacked by a black bird. He wanted the gator bites and swooped right through my hair and shoulder trying to grab one. I hate those birds and I was so freaked out! Then a peacock with feathers fanned out came up for some. I guess I just don't like birds because I put little Dallas in between me and the peacock! Some Mother I am? I was practically running to the HOT car to get out of there. We also went fishing from a pier one day. We didn't catch any fish but Dallas Jr. caught a ROCK! Not sure how he hooked it but it was really funny. We also saw a huge stingray which was really cool. We got to hang out with our friend Stacy too. She is a nurse in Ft. Lauderdale and her husband is a chef on a yacht for the former CEO of AT&T. He is out for several months working so we missed him this trip.

We hope it will be a memorable trip for Dallas Jr. I think Sterling will remember too. It took her a couple of days to forgive us for not taking her once we got back. She was back to normal today though. She pulled lots of shoes out of her closet and tried them all on. I had no idea her interest in shoes would start so early...I love it!