Monkeying Around

Just monkeying around!

Dancing

 We went to my cousin's little girl's 3rd birthday and her party was a The Little Gym.  This place was so much fun!  The kids could run and jump and play, yet it was structrured by time and doing different activities.  All the kids loved it!

 Laila and her cousin Audra

All the kids sitting in a row. Laila and Audra were not paying attention haha!

Having so much fun! 

Laila hugging on her Uncle "Jibby" Benjamin 

Deflating the "jumpy"

She couldn't sit still on the dot like all the other good kids lol

Thinking about it

They were both pooped after the party, haha!

Circus!

In August we went up to Arlington to visit D.J.'s brother and sister and his mom took us all to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus to celebrate all of their birthdays!

 Daddy, Laila and a big elephant

 It was very entertaining and Laila loved it, the whole time!

 Making a new friend

 My angel

Love Grandma and Grandpa Briggs!

The loves of my life

Suzanne and Richard are married!

My sister Suzanne married her best friend, high school sweet heart, love of her life for over 10 years! 

She was an amazingly beautiful bride.  I am beyond happy for her and Richard.  I've known Richard since they were in junior high school so he has been like a brother for a very long time.  I love them both so much!

 After rehearsal the flower girls playing together

 My best friend since I was 2 years old. I love you Suzie Q

We love our daddy!

 The night before the wedding doing girly things (facial mask) we could be mistaken

for the Blue Man Group!

 Laila loves her Uncle "Jibby" (his name is Benjamin and Jibby came out so it stuck)

 The wedding was at 2:00 pm, the middle of what would have been nap time. She was crashing fast and was getting very cranky right before show time.  Luckily she made it down the isle, with the other flower girl also named Laila, with a smile on her face.  Uncle Jibby helped by entertaining her during the ceremony and she crashed on the way to the reception, stayed asleep to be carried inside and the great-aunts took turns holding her while she slept. Such a loved little girl!!

 Grammy and Laila

 My 2 sisters and their HUSBANDS!! We are all married now. Our parents can take a

breather LOL! Two weddings in one year, holy cow!

 Aunt Sammy and Laila girl

 She was blowing bubbles with her great-aunt Charlotte.  She LOVES bubbles!



Astros Game!

We got to go to an Astro's game with my cousin and her hubby, VIP style!  If you are going to go to a game, this is the way to go.  I wish I would have taken pictures of the food! Oh the food!!

And the Ice Cream Bar! Yes, they had a bar just for ice cream! So awesome!

We had so much fun. They are one of my favorite to hang out with :) Love you Rhea Rhea!

My artistic side

I finally got to go to one of those "painting with a twist" type classes.  My cousin and a few girlfriends and I went to one in Old Town Spring.  It was so much fun I can't wait to do it again! I really suprised myself...kinda makes me want to paint more often :)

My master piece

The girls with our paintings

My world

 

July 4th

I took off work the week of July 4th so I had off the weekend before, and the weekend after.  I really treasured this week to spend with my baby girl. 

We hung out at the pool

And Laila figured out how to swim with her floaties... Now she just wants to go and go and go and isn't afraid at all!!

I wrote this blog while out of town.... I'm late posting, but here it is anyway.
I'm in Washington D.C. this week and have one more week here.  This is my 1st out of town assignment that I have had to stay over the weekend.  I cried for a whole day before I had to leave. 

But just to tell you alittle about God's grace, he knows what I can and can not handle.  This is something I didn't think I could handle alone.  D.J. and Laila aren't able to come out and see me over the weekend, not for a lack of trying! We just couldn't get it worked out with flight arrangements, work etc... But the first week I was here, my friend and co-worker Scott was here and he showed me the D.C. ropes. How to ride the metro, where to go run, eat and just a great dinner partner for a night or two during the week.  It was so nice to not be alone all week long.  Also my cousin Kristin lives here so she is taking me out tonight (Friday) and on a tour of the area on Saturday.  I am so excited to see her and spend some time together.  I am also so thankful for not having to sit in my hotel room all alone all weekend!

I got to Skype with Laila and D.J. the other night, that really took the edge off. I just wanted to jump throught the camera and kiss and hug, but it was better than not seeing their faces at all.  This is such a great training class I am attending this week, and I am grateful for the study time (Test is in September!!!) but definitly miss home.

Johnson Family Reunion

Johnson Family Reunion

The weekend before the Fourth of July, we took off to South Padre Island for the annual Johnson Family Reunion.  Oh did we have so much fun! We spent 3 days with all my extended family, playing games, hanging out at the beach and just talking and laughing so much.  We are so blessed to have such a loving, amazing family who are all in love with Christ.  It's alway been a normal for me to know my second and third cousins, aunts and uncles etc. We grew up together.  I never even realized it wasn't that way with everyone's family until I was older.  I have been blessed to have big families on both sides (mom and dad)  I love it and I love that my husband (who has now been around my family the last 10 years) is just one of us.  If I had to guess there were probably about 50 of us.

My child LOVES the beach, the water, the sand, all of it!  So we played and played.

Laila with her 2nd cousin (my cousin's baby) Marley.  They are only 2 months apart!

S. Padre is a beautiful beach. I miss it already!

The first night we were there we all got to go on a private charter and dinner on a boat out across the bay.  Once the sun went down we got to watch some fireworks! Laila just sat amazed!

Laila loves her Uncle Benjamin. They sat and looked at the water for a long time. and then when she got tired that night, she just laid her head on his shoulder and relaxed. So sweet!

Adorable newlyweds! 

My sisters and I

Me, Laila, D.J. and my sisters with their soon-to-be husband/husband, wow!  Dad's head is hiding.

Playing with Papa! She sure loves this guy 

My pretty blue eyed girl 

Watching Fireworks

Laila also used some floaties for the first time....took her awhile to figure them out, but now, she's a fish! We ate some very yummy watermelon at my dad's.  As you can see, Laila loved it.