The Ritchie Crew: July

July has been SO much fun! We have laughed hard and had great times, but even as I sit here and type this Matt leaves the country. He is on the plane and headed toward his destination during his second deployment. My stomach gets sick, but thank goodness for good friends to take our minds off of the next year. This time around Matt and I are taking a couples vacation when he returns. He booked the vacation and is surprising me on the location! Excited might just be an understatement. All I know is that I need my passport!

Here is a recap into our month of July:

1) Hannah's gender reveal party egg toss winners...Karen and Sirron...you know you mean business when you take off your wedding rings and talk strategy talk.

2) I am teaching the book of Matthew this term in Sunday School and we talked about John the Baptist this past week. Why not order and eat bugs like John the Baptist? I ate a cricket! We had plenty of people that tried a cricket and some that wanted more!

3) Caroline had a great time preparing for the July 4th festival and parade at Lakeside. Faye and Waylon always get excited to start planning the weekend with the family.

4) Good picture with me, Caroline, and Aunt Karen at Lakeside.

5) Check out the football ham in the pool. As long as he has a ball he is good to go!

6) A new friendship I have this year is my friend Amy. Her husband Kevin is with Matt for the next year during their deployment. There is always something good in every circumstance, and this deployment has given me a new dear friend.

7) Aunt Karen and Caroline showing off their names on the blind canoe race list. Guess who got to be blindfolded?!?!

8) I will say it once. I will say it twice. Luckiest great-grandpa I know. He gets to see the great-grands almost everyday and gets to take them for rides almost every single day. They love their Papaw!

9) We stopped by Matt's office to see Matt's work family. Caroline adores Mr. Barry, Mr. Bobby, and Mr. Jim, and so do I! You want to talk about the best work family! They are always checking on Matt and checking on me to see how we are doing while Matt is gone. They have filled the role of being the best work family while Matt is gone.

10) Doctor's appointment check-up for little man-health little boy!

11) Greyson and Wyatt at Lakeside. Sweet boys!

12) Caroline adores Greyson! Aren't they just too cute in this pic?!?!

13) And speaking of adoring...I do not know if there is anyone else who is more deserving of the best cousin award other than this guy. Caroline adores Will! Will fills the role of being Caroline's role model. She looks up to him and loves him big time. They even share the same birthday which makes it real special.

14) I always tease Lana and Lakyn and tell them that I am getting old. When they are both home for the holidays or weekends I have them help me to become young again. Always fun to hang with the young crowd for just a bit. It is fun to listen to their young life stories...and then give advice whether they would like it or not:)

15) And look at the little camera ham! Y'all when I get the phone out he starts saying ccchheeessee.

16) And guess what! This girl completed her C25K workout this month! In the middle of Summer I finished a goal I had been waiting to accomplish for a good while. I run my first race on July 30 in Arkadelphia. Cheryl and I have been training together and are ready to run!

17) And Wyatt adores his Uncle Roger as well. I am lucky that I have an Uncle that I am so close to, and that would do anything for us.

18) Just chilling by the pool while Caroline is swimming. Isn't he cute!?!

19) Wyatt got to take a ride with Aunt Karen and Ms. Cheryl Sunday at church. Spoiled. Maybe.

20) We got to go see baby Jack last week. Some babies are more special than others. My childhood friend Nick had a baby boy and this is so special to me. I just wanted to squeal the whole time because my friend was a daddy and was beaming with joy. Congrats to Nick and Emily!

21) Everyone needs a little water hose fun during the summer heat.

22) Wyatt can now steer and keep up with Caroline on his riding toy. They have a blast giggling and dodging each other on the drive. Laughter!

23) Pool time for this little girl! It is what Summer is all about!

24) We took a weekend getaway with just us girls down to Shreveport. Top of our agenda was to see Beauty and the Beast, so Friday night we enjoyed dinner and then set off for the play. It was a great play for adults and children. I highly recommend you go see the play if you can. It will be featured in Little Rock soon.

25) We got to watch our friend's family member, Savannah, perform in the play. She did great and I think Caroline may have made a new friend.

26) If you plan on visiting Shreveport, put the Blind Tiger on your list of places to dine while in town. Yummo for the tummo!

27) And everyone need a carousel ride after shopping...but who picks the eagle? This kid.

28) Caroline and Peggy enjoying the trolley ride. We were glad to give our shopping feet a rest for a little bit and enjoy the air conditioner.

29) Isn't this the best picture?!?!? Caroline adores Peggy!

30) My morning run in Shreveport. I always enjoy running in new atmospheres.

31) Light up dalmatian dog in Shreveport.

32) Girls' picture before we hit the road for our road trip. Fun times were ahead!

33) Nothing like a couple of random boats in an intersection...so of course I have to stop to take a random picture.

34) One of the fun and bright murals in Shreveport.

35) And everyone needs to see an old ambulance at least once in their life.

36) Me with my sweet and sassy little Caroline out shopping.

37) Random pig on the interstate in Shreveport...one of those weird tourist sites. Got to go see the random stuff!

38) Once in a Millennium Moon, also known as the Mega Mural. It took a team of 2,600 community painters. The display is a paint by number drawing. Worth the stop to see this if you are in the area.