Out and About

The month of July was not spent in Texas, at least not for Lix and Jenna and Bo. The month started in Texas, with a visit from the Bleyls, one of the Winns favorite families from Richmond. They have a few boys playing in a national volleyball tournament the week of July 4th, and they were kind enough to spend their free time chasing little kids around. Jarom took a day off from work to go play golf while Lix and Courtney took the kids swimming. The Winns drove downtown to watch a volleyball game and enjoy a nice lunch at Chuy's afterwards. And the group also took a tour of Cowboy's Stadium together. Then Lix took the kids out to Utah for 17 days. They spent a week stationed at the mission home, taking day trips to the water park and the dinosaur museum and the mall and other fun places, and then spent their nights with Grandma and Grandpa. Lix got to see her old roommates and friends and their kids and had a generally swell time. Week two shifted base camp to Aspen Grove where the PJ side of the family was having a get together. Jenna and Bo had counselors and all sorts of fun activities to do during the day while Lix hiked and rappelled and played walleyball and shuffleboard and badminton. The nights weren't great because Bo was getting a handful of teeth and cried a lot and everyone was in the same room. But other than that everyone had a great time. Now Jenna will spontaneously shout "I said a boom chicka-boom" and then await your response. She does a bunch of other cheers as well. It's like we just got her back from girls camp.
 

Jarom was sad and lonely without his family, so they came back and unpacked, and then repacked and hopped in the car to drive to Gatlinburg, Tennessee via Memphis. Another reunion, this time for the Nancy side of the family. They stayed in a cabin in Pigeon Forge over looking the Smokey Mountains. Jarom got to play some golf with cousins and uncles and stuff, Lix got to do some shopping at the outlets, everyone got to spend a great day at Ober Gatlinburg, and they did some hiking through the state park. There were lots of card games and visiting at night, and lots of their favorite people were there to play with. It was especially nice to see Kip and Carolyn, and they are hoping to see them more often in the future. Everyone had a great time, except for the fact that it took 15 hours to drive each way. The kids actually did really well considering. The fact that there was a puppy dog waiting at the mid point certainly didn't hurt, and there was a lot of singing along to the music. But now everyone is back in Dallas and trying to get reacclimated to a normal life of the gym, and work, and the pool, and Kenna, and very high temperatures. Enjoy the photos.