I got some pictures from our 4th of July/birthday celebration. Doesn't James look so enthused. We have got to work on his posing.

Granddad sat by the little pool while Mallory skinny dipped and she cracked him up. She scooted all around it but her favorite thing was to put her feet up on the side. She does this all the time, any time there is something to put her feet on she does it. She also tries to knock things over or feel things with her feet.

She got to her own 10inch birthday cake. She was a little slow to dig in but once she did she liked it. She was putting her face in it and taking bites out of it.

Look at little miss ham with Kinley and Aunt Jennifer.

I love this reaction. She had just opened her first Bible. She has been coveting James' Bible for 6 months so she was really excited. She gets it out all the time and starts telling Bible stories she knows as if she's reading them.

Aunt Jenn made a cool Cars cake for all the kids.

A pretty decent impromptu family picture!

And now for the good part! Josh and I went to a private island in the British Virgin Islands last week. It was PARADISE! We had trouble taking it all in and feeling like we were really there.

This is the beach we spent 5 of the 6 days at. It was pristine. The resort we stayed at is a 5 star resort and it is the only thing on the island so the beaches were not crowded and the atmosphere was very laid back. We didn't have to make any decisions or plans or pay for anything accept a couple glasses of wine and our snorkeling adventure. Edward Jones is amazing! It was really fun to feel the reward for the last 7 years.

There was a spot on the top of the back side of the island that they called sunset loop. They would drive you up there with wine and a tray of cheese and fruit and let you watch the sunset. It was so amazing we went twice. Well the first time we forgot our camera so we had to do it again. Of course the sunset was better the first night but it was still really beautiful the second night.

Below is the view from our room. If you looked right you could see the pool and lobby area which sat right next to the ocean and...

If you looked left you could see the Caribbean and Tortola the closest island.

This little fella was the resort mascot I guess because he hung out around the same spot all week. Pretty freaky to me of course.

Just and example of the beautiful landscaping. What surprised Josh and I the most about the natural landscape is how many HUGE cactus there were and how many different varieties of plants and trees made up the forest.

On Wednesday we chartered a catamaran with about 16 other Jones coupled and went to two islands. One for snorkeling and the other was Virgin Gorda which is famous for it's huge granite boulders that you can walk through. It was really fun and adventurous. I am not a huge fan of anything living other than humans so snorkeling is not my idea of fun and I've only done it once and that was when I was 10 years old. I was a little nervous when the threw is off the back of the boat in the middle of the Caribbean and said look at all the living things down there. Josh was a great sport though and let me swim so close to him that he couldn't use his arm to paddle. It ended up being really fun to me and I broke away from him the last few minutes. When we got to Virgin Gorda the captain stopped the boat a little less then 1/2 a mile from shore and said well this is as close as I can get you'll have to jump off the front and swim. I, always the ninny, was like I hate falling even if it is only 12 feet and I am not a strong swimmer so I don't know if I can make it without and flotation device. Of course Josh is off the front of the boat in no time so I joined him and it was probably my favorite experience of the whole trip. If felt so free and invigorating. I wasn't really ready to get out when we had to swim back to the boat.

The most challenging thing about the trip was the first flight home. We had to fly on a 10 seater Cessna. When it pulled on the tarmac and I could see it through the window my anxiety went through the roof. I just knew I was going to throw up all over everyone in the plane and have a panic attack and they would have to restrain me. Josh says he was nervous too but it didn't show. When we walked out to get on I saw them putting our luggage in the nose and wings of the plane. I was like "OH MY WORD WE ARE GOING DOWN" But the second I got in and sat down I was fine. It wasn't nearly as claustrophobic as I thought and the air flow was much better than I expected and the pilot was amazingly talented we hardly bumped at all. The second coolest part of the trip was flying so low over all the islands and seeing the beautiful water.

We had an amazing refreshing unifying time and we can't wait to earn the next one. We are thinking Rome!

We got back to OK on Thursday night and drove to Duncan to pick up the kids plus Kate. We are keeping her for two weeks while Jason and Emily go on a mission trip to Canada. They are in Northern Canada ministering on a reserve to the locals. So we drove home with all four Friday and it has been busy. The thing I miss most about vacation is the wonderful food that I didn't have to think about, cook, clean or pay for and it was healthy and delicious. Back to my diet of ham fruit and goldfish. YUM

This was at the park yesterday. I left Mallory on the blanket with our lunch food and when I came back this is what I found. She was going at the whole container of yogurt with both hands.

Tuesday we had a girl day while James was with Gigi. We painted our nails, dressed up and had a real tea party. They loved it and they looked so cute.

Kate admiring herself. So sweet!

Mallory is 1!

I am so sad that the first year is over. I know I have always rushed it when they are babies but I have finally realized how fun and easy they are as infants and I would give anything to relive the last year. Mallory has been such a joy and vehicle for victory in several areas of our life. I am so thankful for all three kids, their health and my getting to stay home with them.

I can't remember what I put in the last blog and instead of going to look I am just going to retell it. Mallory is completely mobile. She scoots around on her bottom and gets everywhere she needs too and quickly. She has figured out how to go from laying on her tummy to sitting so I have no hope of her crawling. When she wakes up now she is always sitting in her crib when I go in to get her. She says "Uh Uh". She eats mostly finger food now and is finished with bottles.

Last week I gave Mallory to Josh before bed and told him to give her a bottle and enjoy it because it would be his last bottle as a dad. So he did. She held the bottle the whole time, which she has never done. Then about five minutes after she finished it he was holding her and she threw up the most she's ever thrown up before. We're talking multiple heaves. It got EVERYWHERE including Kinley's hair, down Josh's pants and all over our new couch and newish rug. Josh has never really like giving bottles anyway and he said "well if that's my last bottle then GOOD RIDDANCE!"

For Mallory's day we made French Breakfast Puffs which are muffins rolled in butter cinnamon and sugar. She LOVED it. Then she opened Weebles - Weebles wobble but they won't fall down (that is the little song they sing on the commercial for them).

Last weekend for the 4th we went to OKC and celebrated James, Kinley, Mallory, Tristan and Cade's birthday's. We had a big Cars 2 party. Aunt Jenn made and amazing cake and cup cakes and they kids got great new toys. We saw fireworks in Bricktown and went to Cars 2 at the theatre. We had a wonderful weekend with both families and are so blessed by how they love on us and our kids. We have now pictures of the weekend because we forgot the camera but I am going to bum some off of Grandad soon and will post them when I get them.

The last two weeks we've been taking swimming lessons at ORU. We've gone every morning from 8:55-9:35. I have never gone somewhere every morning for two weeks with all three and let me tell you it doesn't make me excited for kindergarten to start. Anyway, lessons were great. Kinley cried some the first day and the last two days but they were both brave and obedient. The teachers are drill sergeants which I liked and my kids are used to because I am like that. They were really good at getting a lot done in a short time and making the kids do things even if they were scared.

Most of the two and three year olds did not want to jump off the diving board so they had us drop them off. Kinley did not even want to jump off the side the first few days but she warmed up to it and started doing "cannon balls" off the side. She called them that but they looked more like the flying squirrel.

James's group practiced a lot of diving and freestyle strokes. He definitely improved his swimming speed and endurance. His teacher really complimented his diving skills too. She said he dives like an 8 year old and had him dive off the diving board to show his class how it's done. He loved all the praise and encouragement.

The first time they went off the high dive he went up first and went off without any fear or hesitation but he said it hurt when the water slapped his face. The next time he was much more hesitant but still went for it and you can tell he was trying really hard to be a pencil because his teacher told him it wouldn't hurt if he did that. It was better but he still said he didn't really want to do it again. He said he likes the low dive much better.

This time next week Josh and I will be sitting on the beach in the Caribbean!

Happy 3rd Brithday Kinley!

Thursday night we tried to go to the Kiddie Park in Bartlesville. It is an amusement park with rides for toddlers. That is where Kinley wanted to have her birthday party without friends. The sad thing is there were storms in the area so the park was closed. We ended up at the McDonald's playland which seemed ok with her.

She got a kitty cat and bedazzled crate which she got to open right when she woke up. As dramatic as she is, she opened her present with little excitement and it took about 5 minutes for her to get all the ribbon and paper off.

She ordered pink cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles.

She sang happy birthday to herself while we were singing but I could tell by the look on her face that she knew she wasn't supposed to sing to herself but she couldn't help it. It was so cute!

I did ask her why she wanted an animal to come to her party and not her friends, and she said "because my animals make me happy and my friends make me sad". I said what do your friends do to make you sad. She said they hit me and call me such a meanie. I said I think that is what you do to them. She just said "oh".

I dropped her off at the Y last week and when I walked out the door she threw herself on the door and yelled "it's all your fault mommy!!!" at the top of her lungs and continued to yell that for about 5 minutes. I could hear her across the Y. I was humiliated. Not only was my daughter throwing a massive fit she was completely trying to guilt me!

This is Kinley's dream bike. We told her she can get it when she's potty trained and I'd say she is. She struggles with the occasional accident but takes herself most of the time so maybe it will be hers soon?? She wants a doll carrier on the back for her animals.

Mallory had her first popsicle and she loved it of course.

Mallory is finally mobile. She is scooting on her bottom but she can go from room to room and get into plenty of trouble. This week she also said "uh uh" three times when she dropped her cup or a toy! She has dropped her bottles but I am still giving her one after dinner because I can't bear to give the last bottle of my career.

She even sucked on the stick to get all the juice off.

We made cornstarch goop in the water table and my goop monsters went nuts.

We started swimming lessons this morning and James was the first one across the pool and back on his kick board, he jumped off the springboard and swam to the side all by himself, and he was very confident and talkative instead of shy and hesitant! It was really fun to see him like that.

Friday June 3 we left for Hilton Head Island with my parents, my sister and her boys, and my grandma. We drove leaving at 3:30 on Friday and we pulled into our beach house at 4:45 eastern time on Saturday. So yes, it was a whole 24 hours in the car! The 11 of us were divided into two cars and having the kids split up helped. All 5 kids were amazing the whole way. No one even repetedly asked are we there yet! We drove all night and yes we were very unsafe and let the kids out of their carseats for the night. We folded the seats down and made beds. I think that tactic saved our sanity. It was a little strange though because Steve had a trailer with his Harley on it and five car seats because they couldn't fit in the car with all the seats down. We stopped at a gas station at about 2am on the way there and a police officer pulled in beside us and just sat there for a long time. We started worrying that he was waiting for us to pull out so he could pull us over and ticket us for kids not in car seats. So, Steve being Steve, went over and shot the breeze with him strategically offering that he is a retired police officer. He drove off when Steve walked away.

One night we had professional pictures taken. They turned out pretty good considering all the little kids and sand. These are ones that Josh took the night after our professional pictures so we could have some digital images. The photographer had a reasonable sitting fee but of course you can't have any digital copies and it is pretty outrageous to get prints.

We spent most of our time either at the beach which was a short walk down a beautiful street and sandy path or at the pool/hot tub combo in our back yard. James started swimming across the pool completely on his own while we were there. He also loved boogie boarding. It took him a couple of days to catch a big wave but once he did he rode it all the way to the shore.

Kinley loved playing on the pool step, jumping into the pool with her baby boat on, and chasing the waves at the beach. They all loved playing in the sand.

The second day we were at the beach there were dolphins breeching within 100 yards of us. We saw jelly fish washed up on the shore most days which was really cool and disgusting. The last day we saw two huge horseshoe crabs. However, the water and beach were really clean and free of sea life which made for nice prissy girl swimming.

Funny Stories-Tristan said "Old people are no good" (referring to Gigi, Bop and Grandma) James responded with "I know they're old but they're still good".

Kinley and Grandma Dorothy shared a room and every night Kinley did something werid. One time when Grandma walked in she was sitting in the middle of her bed talking on the land line phone and looked just like a teenager. Another time grandma walked in and she was spinning her panties around her finger and flung them in the closet. Then after nap one day she went in and Kinley was stark naked.

Our most recent memory verse has been Ephesians 4:2 "Be patient, bearing with one another in love". I was riding my bike pulling Kinley and Cade and Cade kept saying "no" then Kinley would say "yes" and they would laugh and do it over and over. I guess Kinley decided she was done but Cade kept saying "no" in a loud mean voice and she said "beaw wif one anofer in wuv" then again a little louder then she screamed it at him. I had to teacher that while it is good to use scripture to remind us all to make good choices, it isn't ok to scream it at each other. I was cracking up...at least she retained the verse and used it in context.

One day we drove to Savannah. We tried to eat lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant but we didn't think to make reservations so we ended up at a hole in the wall local diner which turned out ok and actually was the restaurant in Forest Gump where Jenny worked. Then Mom, Grandma, Kelly and the babies went on a trolley tour of the city and Josh, Steve, James, Tristan, Kinley and I went to Old Fort James Jackson. The kids thought it was cool and we got to see them fire a cannon.

Kinley has been mostly potty trained so we did only panties on the trip. She did great in the car and perfect with her pee pee but pooped in her panties every day of the trip except the last one. So frustrating, but we're going to get there. We took a picture of her on the princess bike she wants so that we can hang it up and motivate her. She has to go 7 days without any accidents to get it.

We all took turns cooking meals and only ate out a couple of dinners and they were both crazy with all the kids. We talked often of how if we take another family vacation while the kids are little there will be a nanny on the trip which if funny because there were 6 adults on the trip.

Josh and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on the 5th. It was fun to be on vacation for that. My parents had a little toast for us. We feel so thankful for each other and are learning to love better and better each year. We praise God and give Him all the glory for our marriage because there is no way we could do it without His love, grace and strength. Speaking of marriage we are leading a small group for the next 9 weeks. We are studying Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge. It is a pretty intense book covering a lot difficult topics. We know that God has asked us to do this to strengthen our marriage and to provide an opprotunity for others to do the same. Please pray for us...we're nervous! There are 6 for sure couples none of which we know!

Three days after we got home from Hilton Head we left for Dallas for the Edward Jones summer family meeting. We got to stay at the Westin in Frisco. Jason and Emily kept Mallory for us which made things so much more fun. Hotel rooms are no fun with babies. James and Kinley and I had a great time swimming at the amazing pool while Josh was in meetings. We had fun getting to know other Edward Jones families too. Sunday we went to church with Jason and Emily then Emily made a great father's day lunch and we sent Josh and Jason to play Top Golf which is a kind of electronic driving range. We are so thankful for Josh and the amazing father that he is. He leads our family with strength and integrity and we love him!