Six Flags Over Texas!!

After our fun-filled 4th of July we decided to go to Six Flags Over Texas on July 5! We have never been to Six Flags and were very excited to go on all the rides! We were able to share the fun day with the same awesome people we went boating with the day before (in case I haven't mentioned, we have the best friends)!

We are living in Shreveport, LA and it is roughly a 3 1/2 hour drive into Texas to the Six Flags park. So we drove the 3 1/2 hours there, stayed in the park about 10 hours, then drove the 3 1/2 hours back home. LOL What a long, busy, fun day it was! The kids were wide awake and excited on the drive in to Texas, on the drive home it took roughly 30 minutes for all 4 of them to fall sound asleep. It was beyond HOT while we were at the park, roughly 102 that day (plus the humidity)! I couldn't believe what troopers the kids were! It was so hot, shade was limited in some areas, we did a TON of walking and they did AWESOME!

Shaylie and McKinley were complete ANIMALS when it came to the rides! Both of them went on any ride they could that they were tall enough for! Who knew they were such adrenaline/thrill junkies................I did! We got a glimpse of this at Lagoon when we took them, but their thrill loving has definitely grown since that time. :D Talk about AWESOME! Ever since we took the girls to Lagoon, McKinley has talked about how much she wants to go on the rides "Blast-Off and Re-Entry" (they shoot you straight up/down in the air very quickly). She wasn't quite tall enough for them at Lagoon, so we were hopeful she would be tall enough to go on the Superman ride at Six Flags. Unfortunately she was still to short for the ride (poor kid was not happy about this fact). She was able to go on some other rides with Melinda and Strider while Owen, Andrew, Marc, Shaylie and I went on the Superman ride.

The Superman ride at Six Flags blows the Lagoon "wanna be" rides out of the water! Superman shoots you up into the air 32 1/2 stories!!! Then shoots you back down to the ground. Shaylie desperately wanted to go on this ride since she LOVES the ones at Lagoon, however once we got over to the ride and she could actually see how far it shot you up she was having second thoughts (there were a few tears too). Marc and I knew she wanted to go on the ride so bad, and that she would be mad at herself for not going if she chickened out. Marc and I didn't let her back out of it. We sat on either side of her on the ride and held her hands. There was a LOT of screaming once the ride took off, a few tears (tough chicks cry too), but in the end she was THRILLED she had done it! That ride was NO match for the Brewers! Hopefully next time McKinley will be tall enough to join us!

I didn't take many pictures while we were in the park, we were too busy having fun! Here are some of the pictures I took, enjoy!

Our cute little family after a LONG, fun-filled day in the park!

Thomas!

Mr. Link after going on a couple rides, which he LOVED!

Waiting in line for the Texas Giant, can you tell it was HOT?!

Link on the "mini" Superman ride! He had a blast!

Shaylie, Strider and McKinley........McKinley had to settle for the "mini" version.

Strider and McKinley

Shaylie taking Link on his first ride at the park!

Shaylie after conquering the Superman ride! She really is a SuperGirl!

32 1/2 stories is no match for us! AWESOME ride!

Owen and Strider

Marc, McKinley and I on the top of the Oil Derrick (Shaylie was in the restroom). This takes you higher than the Superman ride! Crazy high, but what an awesome view of Dallas!

Link and Thomas on the train.

Marc and the girls setting off on adventure in the park!

4th of July!!!

Cross Lake

Our 4th of July celebrations this year were very different! Instead of being at home in Utah and going to BBQ's, doing fireworks, swimming, water fights, etc. we were in Louisiana. We were fortunate enough to have GREAT friends with us to celebrate the holiday! Not only were we with some new friends Andrew (Marc's co-worker), Adela and Thomas (their adorable 1 year old), but we were able to have Owen, Melinda, Strider and Linkin Leatham come out and stay

with us for a week!

For the 4th of July we rented a barge from a local marina, Barron's, and went out on Cross Lake! It was beautiful and we had so much fun riding on the tubes, swimming in the lake, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and making some WONDERFUL memories!

Below are some pictures from our wonderful day!

Andrew, Adela, Tomas, Melinda and Link (sleeping under the towel).

Shaylie and McKinley swimming in the lake!

Thomas...........he is such a cutie! I love his big, brown eyes!

Melinda

Thomas and Link driving the boat!

Marc and the girls swimming!

Adela (after Andrew pushed her into the lake)

Shaylie and McKinley

This lake is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!

Owen took Link on a ride on the tube and he LOVED it!

Hydration...............I know you're shocked we had diet dew on the boat!

Owen and Linkin

Marc and Link (Owen and Melinda in the background)

Shaylie, Strider and McKinley hanging out at the front of the boat!

My hot hubby rockin' the life jacket! We promised the kids we would ALL wear the life jackets. Safety first!

Andrew and Thomas

Marc and Shaylie

Owen and Strider

Marc and McKinley

Owen fell off the tube............

Marc and Owen testing the tube out!

Owen and Strider

Marc and the girls!

Gorgeous lake! We had so much fun boating and exploring the lake.

We're still alive.......

I know it's been a LONG time since I last posted on here but life got in the way. We are all doing wonderful and enjoying life to the fullest!

I'll start with the girls........WOW are they growing like weeds (even little McKinley is growing fast)! Shaylie is 10 1/2 and just finished up 4th grade (I'm feeling OLD to say the least)! She is still as beautiful and sassy as ever! McKinley is 8 and just finished up 2nd grade (my baby is not such a baby anymore)! McKinley, what can I say, she is still the cute little thing she's always been! I love these two girls more than I can ever express and I still feel completely blessed to be their momma. I am still working for Nebo School District in the Title 1 program. I love it and am excited to give it a go again this coming school year. Marc has started a new job and is now working for Reliable Controls and LOVING it. He started working for them in April and we knew there was going to be travel involved, but we had no idea what all that would entail. On the very first day after being at work for about 2 hours Marc texted me saying that he would be flying out to Dallas, TX that same evening!! I was totally blown away that they were going to just throw him in and make it a "sink or swim" sort of thing. Needless to say he has flourished (not a big surprise) and is LOVING his job. Marc has already been made the Lead Engineer over a LARGE project stretching across most of Louisiana (and neighboring states). The girls and I are benefiting greatly from Marc's new job......................WE ARE NOW LIVING IN LOUISIANA!! With Marc being put in charge of this project he has to be out here in Louisiana A LOT! This was going to mean being out for 2-3 weeks at a time and home for only about 1 week.......BLAH! After talking about it and trying to figure out how to still have "family time" this summer that didn't include a wiped out dad from traveling so much and working a ton of hours, Marc decided to see about moving us out here with him. Long story short, Marc's work has put us up in a fully furnished 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment here in Shreveport, LA. This way we still get to see daddy EVERY day and have the weekends together all summer long while enjoying a new part of the country. None of us has ever been out this way so we were pretty excited to start this adventure!

After a VERY LONG 2 days (roughly 24 hours of driving) in the car we made it to Shreveport, LA. Ever since we got here it's been a whirl wind of exploring! We have gone swimming countless times (I have had to check the girls for gills a few times.), found some beautiful parks, explored the country, seen some beautiful buildings (and some not so beautiful buildings), hit the malls, etc....... We have been here a little over a month and so far we LOVE it! We've got about a month left and I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us.

July 1 - 8 we were fortunate enough to have the Leatham family come visit us for summer vacation! We had a fun-filled week with them! We did a LOT of driving (it's about 3 1/2 hours to Dallas, TX where we picked them up and dropped them off at DFW airport), went to the outdoor mall and watched Transformers 3, went swimming at our pool, rented a boat and went out on Cross Lake and did some tubing and swimming in the lake, went to Six Flags Over Texas, etc.....

It's looking like later this month we'll be moving a little further south to Baton Rouge with Marc before we head home for school to start. We're excited to explore down south too! Baton Rouge and New Orleans here we come!

Now, here's what you've been looking forward too...................PICTURES!! Enjoy! (Clearly in NO particular order - I'm too tired.)

Shaylie and McKinley with some friends they made at the hotel, Payton and Emily.

You gotta stay cool somehow........

BEAUTIFUL, Catholic church!

A little frog we found on the railing by our apartment.

The girls after getting their hair cut. Aren't they ADORABLE!

Just a little lizard I almost put my hand on while going down the stairs.

Marc and the girls at the outdoor mall in Bossier City.

My two cute girls! Notice the Riverboat in the background. There are some old riverboats docked on the Red River in Bossier City, they have been turned into casinos.

Marc and the girls swimming in the hotel pool.

Showing off their new swimsuits!

This sign was a godsend, we were so sick of being in the car!

Marc and the girls in front of the fountain at the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier, after taking advantage of the "All You Can Eat" crab (and other seafood) on the buffet! Man were my girls in heaven!

I'll try to post about our AWESOME 4th of July boating on Cross Lake, and our trip to Six Flags Over Texas soon!