Lane Family Reunion

This past weekend we had a family reunion with my Dad's side of the family.  My family hails from all sorts of areas of the country, one of those areas being Louisiana.  My grandmother grew up there and we still have quite a bit of family that lives there, so this year we congregated at Toledo Bend Lake, which is on the border of Louisiana and Texas.  Apparently I was more focused on having fun and talking to people than taking pictures, so I really don't have a lot of good shots from the weekend!  Most of the pictures I took were of the kiddos... 

Cousins are so fun!  Abbey and E are laughing at something Stu is doing, of course!

I love this picture, except E is disappearing!  A is almost 7, Abbey at 2 and E is 4-1/2.  It's too bad S (9 month old) was sleeping!

Abbey with one of her G.G.'s (Great Grammy):

We wanted to get a picture with Abs and her cousins.  Of course we didn't really get a great one... Abbey's cousins A and S (A is holding S) seem to be cooperating the most for the picture.  Abbey is really not one to pose for pictures.

May

I have posted most of my pictures from May, but here are a few that didn't make it into a blog...


Abbey loves this shirt.  She got it from an event that we did with our church.

We were working on facial expressions... this is "Sad."

I get to blog about my brother, Ty a lot because he lives here.  My oldest brother and his family live in TX, so we don't see them quite as often.  Kyle came up and Abbey was excited to see him.  He came with birthday present in tow!

Kyle actually came up for the U2 concert.  My niece is in school and her school schedule interfered with the concert a bit, making my sister-in-law unable to come up for the concert.  She very generously said that I could go in her place.  I jumped at the chance!!

Kyle totally rocks.  He got awesome floor "seats" (which are coincidentally the cheapest... score!), so we were up super close to the action.  

Kyle, Ty and I waiting for the start: 

I should of course thank my awesome husband, as well.  He encouraged me to enjoy a fun concert evening hanging out with my brothers and stayed home to hang out with Abbey.  Thanks, Stu!

Abbey had her 2-year check up and had to get her latest (2) immunizations.  Poor Paula (the doll) had to get 5 shots.  She got 5 M&M's, though.

We can officially wear pigtails!  She doesn't look too thrilled, does she?  I haven't been able to successfully convince her of this since then.

Some of Stu's family in town for his birthday...

Blowing bubbles.

Peas and ice pop, anyone?  Her choice for dessert...

Cabin

My parents have a cabin in the mountains that is about 2 hours from our house.  This weekend Stu, Abbey and I made the trip up there to have a nice relaxing weekend.  This was Abbey's first trip there, and our first trip back in 3 years... we have really missed it!

There is a stable with horses right behind the cabin so we went to go see them.  Unfortunately I was moving when I took this picture, so it's a bit blurry.  She was a bit uncertain about the horses...

We went on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.  The trail where we started is at an elevation of 9450 feet (~2880 meters for my metric friends).  As you can see, there is still quite a bit of snow, but it was so warm outside!   

The top of this sign would normally come about to the top of my head!

We had a nice picnic by the river when we were finished hiking.

Abbey loved her newfound independence while we were up there.  We would be sitting on the deck and she would get up and say, "Be right back" and in she would go to get a toy.  

An American institution... S'mores!

Abbey loved it so much that she cried when we got home.  She wanted to go back to the "new house."  Stu and I are glad that she is of a like mind when it comes to the mountains and the cabin!

Happy Birthday, Stu!

Another birthday post!  This past weekend my truly fantastic husband celebrated his 40th birthday.  What a joy!  To honor the occassion, I decided to host a little surprise party for him... nothing fancy, just some tasty cook-out food!  The true surprise came on Thursday when he got home from a trip to California and his parents (from North Dakota) were sitting on our couch!  His sister and her husband (also from North Dakota) came down to celebrate the weekend, but unfortunately his brother/ brother's family weren't able to make it down.  Pesky school schedules!  His family and I have been planning their trip down for the weekend for at least 2 months, and it was so hard keeping it a secret! 

We had a nice day on Saturday for our gathering.  Abbey loved having another birthday so close... she was a willing helper with opening presents!

First course over... I think they are all wondering when the cake will be served.

Yummy cupcakes for the kiddos...

German chocoloate cake... (one of) Stu's favorites.

Happy birthday, Stu!

Happy Birthday, Little A!

She's not so little anymore!  We celebrated Abbey's 2nd birthday this week.   We celebrated by having some presents and cake... nothing too big and exciting.  A fun day of playing with toys, and to make it even better Uncle Ty came over (which she has consistently been talking about since... "See Uncle Ty.  Uncle Ty sits here..."). 

The first of the gifts arrive...

An easel to work on our coloring..

And the kitchen... Thanks to my friend J who helped us get it to our house. 

Birthday "Cappuccino" (frothed milk with cinnamon)

This was my first ever attempt at a decorated cake.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  Abbey loves fish (or "Bubbles" as she calls them), so she really enjoyed the cake.

This has "Uncle Ty" written all over it...