Better late than never right???

I am FINALLY going to post the pictures from my birthday (July 10th) and from our river rafting trip (July 12th). Also, a few pics from my week "off" when we went to a family night at the bowling alley, camp and my back. (yes, you read that correctly--my back) :o)

First of all, on my birthday, my mom, aunt and the kids and I met a couple of my girlfriends at a waterpark nearby for some water fun. Here I am with Rachel (on the left) and Rene (on the right).

After our fill of the sun, I went back to my mom's house for dinner. She made me my FAVORITE "Hot Chicken Salad" and "Pear Cake". YUM! (sooooo not diet food though!) Here I am blowing out my candles. It was good enough to lick the plate--literally! One of me and my sweet girl! The kids (with grandma's help) had gotten me all kinds of fun gifts!

The next morning we left for our river rafting trip. There were 15 of us in all and it was so much fun! I have TONS of pictures, but I'm going to try to narrow it down to only a handful. Here is one of our whole group. I look kind of goofy becuase I was putting my camera on the 10-second timer on the back of my brothers pick-up truck and then RUNNING to get in the shot in time!

Here is one of Brooklyn before we left the house that morning. She looked so cute I had to get a picture!

I thought this was a fun picture of the rafts as they were being brought back up from the river for us to get on.

Here is one of both of the kids waiting in line to get on our raft. Aren't they so cute when they're not fighting!?!

Me and Matt on the bus trip down to the beginning of the river.

The water levels were really low, so it hardly ever got any more than waist-deep. In several places we had to either get out and pull the raft or else use the paddles to try to get un-stuck. Thankfully Matt and I pack some mean guns!

Lastly, here is one of the mountainside. Isn't it just glorious?

The next day, Sunday, we went to a Family Bowling night at our bowling alley. For $9.99 we got a lane for 2 hours, free shoe rental, a large pizza, drinks for 4 and a $5 game card to the arcade!! We had a LOT of fun! (and what a bargain!)

This past Friday, we sent Brooklyn off for her first ever week of summer camp. She was soooo excited, but it was a little sad to say goodbye and watch her drive off away from us! She ended up having a BLAST for the first 3 days and then we made the HUGE MISTAKE of going up to visit her. She cried and begged (called home 4 times!) for us to come get her and bring her home. We decided to make her tough it out, which in hindsight, probably wasn't the best choice after all. She's had a tummyache and been in bed since she got home on Tuesday. She hasn't eaten hardly a thing and she doesn't want me out of her sight. What have did I do to the poor girl?? I hope I didn't traumatize her for life!

Here is one of Brooklyn and one of her best friends, Fallon--about to get on the bus.

Saying "Bye" to Daddy. sniff-sniffLastly, I'm going to leave you with one of me I took today of myself. I explained WHY I took it on my other blog, but I just wanted to say to those of you considering P90X---that my back looks like this BECAUSE of doing that program. I can help you get in this kind of shape in 90 days---just click HERE to check out my website!