Friday July 26

Happy anniversary to the love of my life!  The last 5 years have flown by so fast.  I truly appreciate everything you do and who you are.  As I tell both boys, you are my life.  I look forward to enjoying the future with you.

Randy

My beautiful wife and me

Saturday July 6

Today I got to hang out with a couple of my best friends, Brandi and Ashley!  We spent the morning at the farmers market, and Memphis loved being there.  He let us know each time we came close to a dog (since in his stroller he was eye level with most of them and he had the best view for spotting them)!

After a nap we went and picked up Ashley and headed over to Brandi's mom's house to swim!  We grilled, talked and swam!  It was an awesome night to be with my friends and of course be with my little man, Memphis!

July 4th

We spent our 4th of July in town.  We went to the Urbandale Parade and Memphis and Noah enjoyed themselves.  Craig sat with us and we were looking for Peggy in the parade...we missed her as she was on the other side of the float!

Memphis waiting for the parade to start!

Memphis and I taking a selfie!

Craig and Randy

After the parade, we headed to Peggy and Craig's house to swim and have hot dogs!  We also got to ride in the mustang as Randy has been working very hard on getting it fixed up!  Thanks to all who helped him with fixing his car.

2 Cool Dudes in the back of the Mustang!

Randy and I (with Noah photo bombing the pic...silly kid!!!)

Then we headed home to rest and go to the Urbandale Carnival, followed by fireworks that night!

Memphis and I coming down the big slide at the carnival!  He loved it!

Randy and Noah getting ready to ride some spinny ride!  I avoid those rides!

They are at the top!  Orange shirt is Randy, Noah is the little guy next to him!  They both loved it!

Fireworks that night.  Justin joined us for the fireworks.  Thanks for Peggy and Craig for getting the truck there for a great parking spot.  Both boys enjoyed fireworks.  Memphis was not scared at all!

More Vacation

Thought I would finally round out our vacation pictures.  These are from where we stayed and right next to the house we stayed is where my Aunt and Uncle live.  It was so awesome to be so close to them and walk over there for dinner and drinks!
There are some other random pictures of vacation.  We have finally recovered and I am ready to go back to Florida! 

Our place to live for about 5 days!

The back of my Aunt and Uncle's house.  I loved their view and patio area!

The view we had everyday!

Jaycee and Memphis taking a minute to smile for me!

Brittany taking a picture with her absent husband.  (he is overseas)

All of us kids!

June 28

Today Randy and I decided that we better skip the beach as my back was fried.  Tyler and Tori went anyway and headed to Captiva (which I really wanted to go, but didn't want my back to hurt any more than it already did!)
So we went with Breann to the flea market.  Now that is an interesting place.  But at the same time kinda interesting!  We also went to a fresh fish market.  We bough sea bass and tuna steaks!  YUM!!!!  It was just a relaxing day.
That night we headed over to my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Brian's house for dinner (they treated us the best, cooked dinner for us, got us a nice house they rented for us, we couldn't have asked for a better vacation).  My Uncle grilled all the fish for us and we have decided that we really like sea bass, even Noah loved it.  He keeps asking when we can have it again!  I think I will need to find a place that can ship us sea bass.
While waiting for dinner I thought we better try to get some pictures of all of us together.  It was not an easy task as none of us were all looking at once.  But here are some of the better pictures!

This was our attempt at a family picture!

Memphis, Me and Auntie Susie

Mike just chilling...also not feeling the best.

Me and my Favorite Uncle!

Me and my Favorite Auntie!

Mike, Bre and Landon

Tyler, Tori, Jaycee and Riggins

Memphis and Landon finally playing together!  It only took 3 nights!  These two are 2 months apart!

So dude, do you think we can get away with it?

Gosh, I think so!!!

Do two kids get any cuter than this?!

June 27 Part 2

After the Shell Factory we decided to head to the Sanibel Beach!  It was so nice there.  Less people and the water was even more clear.  Plus the kids had a chance to find lots of shells.  They had fun digging for them and we had fun sitting back and relaxing!

My boys a playing in the water on Sanibel Island

Brotherly Love!

Jaycee wanted to join the action!

Memphis digging in the sand!  He could have spent the entire day in this one spot!

June 27 Part 1

This is our normal morning routine.  We had a great view and it was so nice to sit out by the water.  But we had to be careful as we did spot an alligator!

This morning we decided that we would go to the Shell Factory.  You guessed it!  They have shells.  But they also have a nature park which is where we spent most of our time. 

Memphis checking out the birds!

We stopped to look at the dinosaurs!  Tried to get everyone to look but that didn't go well!

Do you think these two looked thrilled?  I think we were all ready for a cold drink by the time we were done with the nature park.  But the kids enjoyed it and that was all that mattered!

June 25-26

Day 1
The flight from Des Moines to Tampa (then we drove to Ft. Myers).  Memphis did not like the taking off and landing.  He cried the entire time during take off and landing.  I tried to get him to eat or drink but that didn't work.  We also gave him Dramamine and  that didn't work at all.  But Tori shared her screwdriver drink with me and that seemed to calm my nerves!

Day 2
We finally arrived in Fort Myers on Tuesday.  Our first full day we decided that be better head to Ft. Myers Beach!  Boy did we have fun!  The kids loved the beach and of course so did Randy and I!

Noah's first experience seeing the Gulf of Mexico! 

Memphis was a little unsure at first but by the time we left he was loving it!

Riggins loved the Gulf immediately just like Noah and Jaycee!

Me, Brittney, and Tori.  Not for sure why I decided to take a picture with these two skinny minnies but I did!