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!