Landon's 13th Birthday

Landon's 13th birthday has made it official. All of my kids are teenagers. He celebrated a few days before he turned 13 with some of his friends (a couple of them were out of town which seems to be a downfall of having a summer birthday). They started the party off with some Mario Kart and then went to a place called Legion of Foam for Nerf gun battles. After the battles, they hung out at our pool and ate junk food. The party ended with a few more rounds of Mario Kart. It was pretty much what one would expect of a party for a 13 year old boy, and Landon was happy.

On his actual birthday, Landon chose to play video games pretty much the entire day (the one day of the year he doesn't have a time limit). That afternoon, Kaylee and I baked him a cake based off of the game he had been playing all day (Splatoon), and that evening we had dinner at home and presents. Pretty low key but a good day nonetheless. 

It's hard to believe Landon is a teenager. Really hard actually. It seems like he was a baby just yesterday. He brings so much laughter and goofiness into our home and is just an all around good kid. We love you so much Landon! Happy birthday! 

Summertime

Plans for this summer were kind of wonky for several reasons. Ainsley was pretty much working full time, Chris used most of his vacation to go to scout camp, and my parents are serving a full time mission at the Oakland, California Visitor's Center. On top of that, we were thinking about and planning for Ainsley's departure to college.

We originally decided to skip California this year because we didn't want to interrupt my parents' already busy schedule. But, as the summer began my mom and I started talking and ended up deciding we should come out for a visit, just for a shorter time than usual. We booked three flights (Landon, Kaylee, and I) and planned a ten day stay. Then Grandma and Grandpa Yarbrough decided they would like to see more of any grandkid who wanted to come early so we switched Landon's flight by a few days. Chris and Ainsley had to stay and keep working. Ainsley did get to take a week long trip with her two best friends though.

Before Kaylee and I arrived, Landon went on several adventures. He visited cats (multiple times), went bird watching, tried sushi for the first time and liked it, ate ice cream at Fenton's, and went to a farmer's market. He sent us lots of pictures documenting his adventures.

When Kaylee and I headed out, we had a short layover in Denver. It was the scariest flight we have ever been on. The weather was really bad in Denver, and it took our pilot three scary attempts to finally land. There was rain and lightning everywhere. Once we landed we almost decided we were just going to live in Denver and never get on an airplane again. We did get on the airplane though, and landed in the weirdest part of the San Jose airport we have ever seen. It was a new part of the airport, but it looked like it was straight out of the 70's and not in a good way. Very drab and lengthy. Once we found my parents and our luggage we headed back to their house and enjoyed our time with them and the Yarbroughs.

One thing Kaylee got to do was hang out with some of the missionaries at the visitor's center. She even got to teach a little bit. She looked like she could have been one of them.

Back in Texas, Ainsley got to spend a day with her friends at Schlitterbahn. Kaylee, Landon, and I spent a day with our friends at a place called Wonderworld. It had a variety of random attractions and a cave we got to tour. Landon and I spent a ton of time at Rock N' River, and we finally purchased a couple of our very own stand up paddleboards. They are so much fun!

Today is the last day of summer break. Landon and Kaylee are heading back to school tomorrow with some very mixed feelings, and I will be taking Ainsley to Utah in a week to begin her adventures at BYU. I keep telling myself that in a few weeks we will all be adjusted and this will be our new normal. Those first few weeks are so hard though!

Scout Camp

Another summer of scout camp has come and gone. At the beginning of June, Chris and Landon headed off for a fun week of scouting adventures at Lost Pines Scout Resort. The weather was pretty nice this time around which made for an even better week. Landon completed several merit badges and a stand up paddle boarding patch. He is right on track to reaching his goal of becoming an Eagle Scout.