Forty Years, Family Photos, Fun & Fellowship

This past Saturday was a day of celebration.. and a day we will likely always remember.


Mom and Dad Himes have been married *40 Years* this summer. Forty!  How incredible - and inspirational - is that?


So this weekend, we marked the occasion with family photos. We all met for a big afternoon photo shoot.. and I must say that working with 7 little ones cannot have been easy... But the 2 wonderful photographers from Lifescapes Studio were so very patient and professional. And really, although my kids had a few meltdowns (guess I'll hold off on calling the child modeling agencies..), I really do think it went as well as it could have. And much better than I honestly expected. Overall, I'm just really excited to see how they all turned out!

But after that  it was dinner time, and the celebrating continued.... with Steaks on the Grill and Ice Cream Cones :)


And then it was time to just have fun. The kids played ball and drove their little car around the yard. The guys all played a couple games of cornhole. And then we all just sat around and enjoyed the amazingly fun talent that is the Himes family, as the 3 brothers all provided a little live music for our lawn party.

It really was a lovely day.. with memories and photographs I know we will all cherish for so many years to come.    

 Post-Dinner Cornhole Games

 Everyone just hanging out, enjoying the beautiful evening

   Grandma, Isaac, and Holden playing some baseball

 

 This kid....

 Bridger, Graham, Hannah

 "Hair Salon" time! :)

 These 2 were playing so well together!

"You scream, I scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!!"...

Grandpa's lap makes a great seat :)

 ♥

 Cousin High Five!

And this... the ol' ride the Tonka truck down the hill game...

 

 Mm hm..

  You can see how this ends up right?

 

 Every time.

 

Aunt Shanti's the best.

 And the talented brothers three!

(If you'd like to see/hear them in action, I took a couple short little video clips. It was just so much fun!)

A String, A Squeeze, and A Box   &   Toe Tappin' Fun

Enjoying the Show!!! .........

 


 

 My handsome husband

                               Dancin'

And Graham even got to play with Daddy!

 Feeling pretty special right about now, playing with the big guys

*fingers crossed* this musical family legacy continues...

Celebratin' our Hero

Happy Belated Father's Day!!

So, *high fives* all around... Because this year, I think we did a pretty good job of makin' it really special  for a couple of the most important Dads in our life!

Surprised Jared with his gift on Friday night... had a cookout and fire with my family on Saturday... and then Sunday it was off to the Cleveland Indian's game, followed by a little cookout party with the Himes side! 

All in all, a pretty great weekend, I do believe. :) 

So here's how it all went down....

Friday... enjoying an afternoon picnic/snack of strawberries and animal cookies... waiting for Daddy to come home from work so we can put this surprise into motion....

 

(this one's just because Holden cracks me up here.)

And then... Daddy was home!! 

 

 And he changed clothes and was just about to go lift, when Mommy acted like she didn't have time to walk the nagging boys out to get the mail, so asked him if he could just grab it quick....sneaky, sneaky Mommy....

And there was a strange letter inside. No return address.. no stamp... weird, scribbly writing...

Daddy was intrigued..

  

 Oh... a FATHER'S DAY card! What? Why now? .... (and what's it say? The playhouse door is open?) 

He's putting it together now..

 Off to the playhouse to check out his surprise...

What?! Daddy got a new GRILL!! :)

 

And that night, he put it together.

(Happy Father's Day!.... here's a project. Haha!)

 But the next day, we were ready for our first cookout!

Meat. Fire. Power. Rock.

And then a campfire and some marshmallows and sparklers!

 

And after a quick beating of the dog...

 

... just kidding. Jared was excited about the ballgame the next day and was pretending to swing a bat... it just so happened the dog was in there just perfect.

 We were given a rare and amazing little treat.

 

 Awesome, right?♥

And then the next morning, bright and early, it was game time.

(Graham is still a little bit asleep.. and likely a smidge grouchy bc he didn't get to go.)

Everybody say.... "Baseball!!!"

 

 The fans :)

Lookin' like big boys and doin' good in the sunshine :)

(to be fair, they did have hats and sunglasses... but you can only just force them to do so much...)

And then after the game, everyone was allowed down on the field for Father's Day!! 

Checkin' it out

And all the kids even got to run the bases!!!! How fun is that?!

 Run, Bridger, Run!! hahaha... bringin' up the rear.

And then it was back to Uncle Tyler's house for dinner!

 Checking out their little frog pond

 ♥      ♥     ♥

 And... Grouch Face. (How dare I ask for him to look at me and smile.)

 The fire and the fam

 Just hanging out... tryin' to be like his hero...♥

 Bridger and cousin Hannah.. checking out who knows what, lol

 

 And then she noticed me snappin' pictures.. and wanted in one ......

 And then so did Naomi :)

 Daddy's awesome.

.

To the man who can fix anything, lift anything, do anything.

Their Best Friend.

Their Hero.

Their Daddy.

Happy Father's Day♥