Happy Birthday my man!

Joey turned 34 last week. I have a hard time coming up with great gifts, so I wanted to do something special this year. I had it all planned out to steal him away from work for a whole day with just us doing things he enjoys (golfing, being outside, maybe a movie). I even had the poem and scavenger hunt laid out. Well, my plans were foiled when the golf course was closed for a tournament that day....bummer. Then I got caught up reading The Hunger Games the night before and you all know how I get when I'm reading... So needless to say, the day came around and I was caught unprepared. I finally got everything together, grabbed some balloons and snagged him away from work. When I told him my plans, he suggested we go grab the kids. So we did and headed south to Red Cliffs only to find it CLOSED until August 1st...bummer #2! But it turned out great anyway. We drove up around Leeds down towards old Babylon trail and played in the river for a few hours.

The kids had a ball with their dad!
We even took the dogs. You see that big yellow lab...yeah, that's our four month old PUPPY! She's officially outgrown Koko....
I love this picture...our Mare-Bears is growing up. As a side note, in case I don't get to blogging about this anywhere else...she is now rolling over, both ways. She started rolling about 5 months old. I think she will crawl sooner than my other kids. She's still as sweet as can be and just is EASY to love! I'm her favorite person, but she's usually really sweet with anyone that wants to hold her. She loves being toted around in her carrier and is starting to enjoy toys.

Finally....snapped this photo simply because I feel incredibly lucky to live in a place like THIS:

We had to head back for Kelley's T-Ball game, but then left all the kids with a sitter and had a great time together at The Garden House for dinner. I'm a lucky gal to have such a great guy. Happy Birthday Joe!