New Office Groundbreaking!

Today was a special day for Scott, for our family, and for the staff at Alliance Implants and Periodontics as we broke ground on the new office location!  We invited the staff, our families and some close friends to join us in the blistering July sun to pray over this new location and break ground.  Afterwards, we had everyone over to the house for some coke and root beer floats to celebrate.  We were so thankful to everyone who came out to pray and celebrate with us, and we hope that God blesses the practice as it grows so that we can do even more to serve Him.

American Girl Store and Cafe

Another fun thing we did in July was to have a girls' afternoon at The American Girl Store and Cafe.  Poppi took Judson to the toy store and played with him at their house while Mimi and I took Avery and Kendall to have dessert at the cafe and to shop in the store.  Avery brought both of her dolls, Isabelle and Caroline, and Kendall brought her Isabelle doll.  The dolls got special seats at the table as usual and we did some of the "Table Topics" cards while we waited on our desserts.  After stuffing ourselves full of deliciousness, we did some browsing and shopping in the store, which is always fun.  The fact that this year might be our last time to go makes this time even sweeter and makes me really glad that we've taken the time each of these past few years to do it.

Sea Life Aquarium

For a fun summer outing me and the kids met my parents at Sea Life Aquarium inside Grapevine Mills Mall one day.  The kids had fun seeing all the animals, especially the walk thru tank and the tank full of manta rays.  They had a little scavenger hunt card the kids got to complete as we went along, and then of course they enjoyed Mimi and Poppi buying them a souvenir in the gift shop when we were all finished.

July 4th

We celebrated America in our traditional way again this year.  We met Scott's parents at our usual spot along 377 in Roanoke on the 3rd to watch the fireworks.  It was a great fireworks show and enjoyed spending the evening outside relaxing with family.

Lake Buchanan

The week after school got out we took a long weekend trip with my parents to Lake Buchanan near Austin.  The kids and I rode down with them while Scott stayed and finished up his work week and then he joined us Friday night.  On our way down, we stopped at McAlisters in Waco for lunch, which happened to be down the street from the Magnolia Silos.  So after lunch we made a little stop there to check it out.  

We arrived at our little cabin by the lake around mid-afternoon.  While unloading the food and luggage, my Dad hit his head on the Suburban tailgate and cut it pretty badly.  We decided that I should drive him to a nearby ER to have it stitched up while my Mom and the kids stayed back at the cabin.  It was not the best start to our trip, but we were thankful it wasn't any worse and that there was a hospital fairly close to get it taken care of quickly.  The following day we went into Austin to tour the State Capitol building.  It was the kids first time to visit there.  They enjoyed seeing the cannons and statues outside, as well as the pretty capitol building itself.  After lunch at Chilis, we headed back to the cabin to enjoy swimming and playing tetherball, ping pong, and other games they had in the rec center.  Scott drove in that evening so he could join us for the weekend.

On Saturday we rented a boat and enjoyed a day out at the lake.  We tubed and swam and had a picnic lunch.  We also toured Longhorn Caverns, which was really cool, both figuratively and literally, and had a yummy BBQ dinner.  Before driving home on Sunday we had a peaceful family worship time in Inks Lake State Park and then made a stop at Pedernales Falls for some hiking and exploring.  It was a fun trip and we really enjoyed spending some time in nature with family!