Birthday Splash

 It's time to party in honor of Naomi's, Johnathan's, and Kevin's July birthdays!  This year we made a splash with pools, the slip-n-slide, water balloons, squirt guns, the water table, and lots and lots of nachos.

What a fun time we had with some sweet friends!  Boaz Birthday month is officially done!

Birthday Girl

This is the face of Naomi at 7.  Enthusiastic, creative, imaginative, busy, precious... and sprouting new teeth at an alarming rate!

Happy 7th birthday, Naomi Grace!

Happy Birthday, Johnathan!

Let Boaz Birthday month begin!

 Johnathan is now 5!  He had a fun day... breakfast was pancakes by Daddy, his stocking and gifts including his new "armor of God" Bible.

 For Johnny's birthday, we thought we might try out the only place to miniature golf in town - a glow-in-the-dark course.  But when we got there, Johnathan decided that all that darkness wasn't up his alley, so he chose bowling instead.  Having never bowled with the kids before, we had a fun adventure putting on the shoes, experimenting with different colored balls, and seeing just how slowly a ball can roll and still reach the pins!

Dinner that evening was Johnathan's current favorite, hot dogs, and a lemon-flavored Cars racetrack cake.  Happy 5th Birthday, Johnathan!

Fourth of July

 Cousin Kayla was back from her trip, and the cousins packed a vacations-worth of play time into the afternoon.

 Water gun fight - Go, Grandma, go!

 Looking patriotic with Auntie Karla

Happy 4th of July!

Fishing at Farrish

A favorite Boaz family day trip... fishing at Farrish Recreation Area in Woodland Park.

 Fishing

 Relaxing

 Paddleboating

 Fresh air

 Crawdad catching

 Eating crawdads (Just kidding!)

 And lots of fun!

Catching Up in Casper

Summer Vacation Leg #4:  North to Casper, Wyoming

Two years ago we left Casper to move to Texas, so we were very excited to see our Cornerstone church family during a whirlwind weekend visit.

 I was so busy catching up with everyone I really didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked - I was especially bummed that I forgot to take any pictures of the beautiful new additions to the church building that were almost finished. 

But we had a wonderful time visiting a Life Group, playing (for the kids and I) and flyfishing (for Kevin, of course), having a BBQ at the Kroekers, Sunday morning at Cornerstone, and enjoying fellowship with the staff at the Olsen's home. 

Rachel and Ezra pose for a picture with buddies Rachel and Ezra!

The boys taking a break from sword fighting on Saturday night

 We were so thankful for the hospitality everyone showed us on our visit, including the Kuhnels who gave us their home for the weekend!  

Golfing, Boaz-Kids Style

Whenever we go to Colorado, Kevin always goes golfing with the Boaz men.  But this trip, the Boaz kids got in on the golfing action... miniature, that is! 

 Naomi was only too happy to wade in to retrieve balls for us.  And Johnathan made sure we got holes-in-one on most holes by grabbing the balls and putting them directly in for us.

 There was a lots of posing with statues, pirates, and gorillas, too.

And Ezra patiently watched the goings-on and plotted how he would add to the craziness in a year or less.

Fore!