We just got back from our family reunion in Missouri. We spent time in St. Louis (Marian and Travis' house)-where all the dads and Grandma and Grandpa Newmeyer took care of the kids (going to the zoo, going to Brooke's game, and a lot of playing with cousins) while the moms went on the Katy Trail. Then everyone met up in Jefferson City, Mo. to travel then down to Kearney (Cindi and Vince's house) and Liberty (Kelli and Todd's house). We had a great time playing ball, watching the guys chop down the big tree out front, eating yummy food, and just spending time together (as you can see in the picture Bryn and Grandma were enjoying a minute together at aunt Cindi's house). Thanks so much to all the sisters for making our trip so enjoyable! We love y'all!!!

For Father's Day, I surprised Scott with a few hours of fun on Lake Windsor- near our house in Bella Vista. I asked some of our friends who live on the lake if we could use their kayaks. I found a babysitter, packed a lunch and we were off! We spent the afternoon kayaking all over the lake. We really loved the time alone and away. It would be a dream if we could ever live on a lake like this! But for now we'll settle for having friends that get to live there! Riley has had great fun with this family too. A few weeks ago he got to go to a birthday party at their house and went swimming in the pool and out on the boat tubing. He had the biggest grin on his face--just like Scott when we went on our date!

Scott, Carrie & kids at Tanyard Creek Trail- Bella Vista, Ar. July 2008

This is one of our favorite places to go in Bella Vista. It's the Tanyard Creek Trail. We brought Marian and Travis' family in the Spring and the day we took this picture we were there with Dennis and Johanna and family. We are so blessed! All of us love being outside--especially where there's water.

Our Little Humble Abode

Just in case you haven't seen a picture of where we live - this is Arkansas. This picture was taken in early spring, so now there are a ton of green bushes under the windows and all of my terra cotta pots out front. Oh, yeah and bikes, toys and popscicle wrappers everywhere. But every night we toss it all in the garage and hope raccoons don't want to spend the night. We had four raccoons in our garage one morning when we forgot to put everything away. Sometimes we forget we live in the wild forest-where are plenty of squirrels, ticks, salamanders, frogs and all kinds of bugs! Riley and I used brooms to knock the raccoons down from above the garage door where they had climbed to hide. All the while the girls stood on our freezer screaming. Yes, I too was screaming!

We're trying to figure out how this all works!!!

Scott and I are very much computer illiterate. Bare with us we have spent the last 2 1/2 years stuck in dial up. I've never spent so much time on the computer. WE LOVE DSL!!! I just changed some of the colors and fonts, next up are the pictures. Scott is much better at the letters-we all know that !!! Who doesn't love a corny Scott letter. So I'll leave much of the writing to him-maybe. I haven't figured out how to invite people to view our blog yet-so if you're reading this you're very lucky!