Quincee Taylor: July 2015

Sunday, July 12, 2015

July Fun!!

From the looks of things, I'd say July is going to be a good month. On July 2nd we drove to the city after work to attend the Turnpike Troubadours/ Jason Boland outdoor concert at the zoo with my brother and sister-in-law. We got there and heard about 3 songs from Jason Boland and it began pouring rain and never stopped. Unfortunately the concert got cancelled and we stood out in the rain for hours and got soaked....BUMMER!

Just before the rain came.

The next day Aaron left for Canada for a week long fishing trip with my brother, dad, and some other friends. He got home last night and told me about how much fun they had. It sounds like they had a blast and the pictures were so pretty. I'm so glad they invited him to go on the trip and that he got to have a nice vacation with the boys. I sure did miss him while he was gone though.

My most favorite men!

The boys decided it would be fun to shave mustaches for the trip. They all looked like Chester the Molester....sick!

So pretty!

Trevor and my dad both caught some nice Pike.

While the boys were away, the girls played. Since I hate staying by myself, my aunt came and stayed with me for a week to keep me company. We saw Magic Mike, watched fireworks, took a trip to T-Quah for a photo shoot and to play with my cousins, did crafts, colored hair, and just relaxed. It was very nice!!

Sweet June enjoying her popsicle.

Isabel was a little fish.

Bunny cheering on Isabel

Papa Pete looking like Earnest Scared Stupid.

haha...he was making Isabel laugh.

Samson loved jumping in the pool...we eventually had to kick him out and this is what he would do. He was so sad because he wanted in on the fun.

Wet dog!!

Fishing for sharks.

We watched the Bachelorette on Monday night and on Tuesday my best friend, Alli rode the train down to see us. We had a slumber party, did some shopping, crafting and got to catch up and talk all things baby :) Her little baby bump is the cutest thing ever. I failed at getting a picture with the bump, but you better believe I was creeping her out by rubbing the belly. I'm getting so anxious to find out the gender....I've already started shopping!!

My aunt needed a baby shower gift for a friend so we made a little sign for her.

It was my first time making anything like this so I was really nervous about how it would turn out, but it ended up being pretty easy and I think I might have to make a few more for some friends.

Aaron and I slept in this morning and made the best brunch! Then, we gave Samson a nice bath outside, watched Taken 3, and now we are just relaxing and waiting until it cools off so we can take Samson on a walk around the lake. It has been the perfect day and I'm so glad he's back!

Look what we found on our back patio. We have had about three sets of babies this summer and we love watching them grow and learn to fly. They do make quite the mess on the patio, but we'll keep them around because they're Martins and they eat all the mosquitos.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!!

Friday, July 3, 2015

4th Annual Family Reunion- 2015

Time to recap the 4th Annual Family Reunion. This year the reunion was spent in Tahlequah, OK at the Fin & Feather resort. Here's way more details than you probably care to know but I hope you enjoy:

We were missing a few family members this year, but you were there with us in spirit. We wish you could have come!

Of course, it's not a real family reunion unless you have matching shirts. My mom always puts me in charge of designing the shirts and I'm starting to run out of ideas, but this year we got a little goofy with it and thought it would be fun to rock some tank tops.

My t-shirt models. Suns out guns out.

And the front of the shirts.

Now aren't those the cutest models with some super big guns?

The first day we were there, we had plans to take two boats out on the lake and let the kids tube and ski, but mother nature had other plans. It came a downpour and we ended up having to pack it up and ride out the storm for about an hour before bringing the boats in...BUMMER!

After the lake, we rented a pavilion and had a cookout while the kids swam and played in a water puddle and then the family challenge began!

Cuties!

They started slip-n-sliding with a raft into the puddle. We called their slides weak so they challenged my brother to show them how it's done. With a little chanting of his name, he obliged.

Our family does not take any challenge lightly so he had to get some stretching in. Come to find out, his slide was also weak sauce.

We also do a Christmas gift exchange since we don't always get to see each other for Christmas. The kids draw names and the adults play dirty Santa.

Last year we started the tradition of doing a family challenge. We divided the families into three teams (all families were dispersed between the three teams). We kept the teams the same to see who would win it this year. Here are a few of the games we played:

The Cheeto Puff Game

The kids picked an adult teammate. Then, you put shaving cream on a shower cap. The kids get down on a knee or lay down and the adult has 60 seconds to throw as many Cheeto Puffs as they can. The kid with the most Cheeto Puffs stuck to their cap wins.

This was quite comical and amusing to watch.

The Marble Shake Game

For this game, you need an empty Kleenex box, marbles and a belt. Cut a small hole in the Kleenex box, add the marbles, and tie it around your waist. The goal of the game is to get all the marbles out of the box the fastest.

Clearly my cousin Kaleigh had the right idea...a backbend.

The best part about this game was that my cousin Stephanie was really ready to win and beat the 2 second time limit so she shook and shook and asked her teammates if all the marbles were out and then we looked down on the blanket and realized no one ever put the marbles in it......we didn't do it on purpose, we all just assumed she had marbles in her box. It was hilarious!!! She got to redeem herself and ended up winning it.

Panty Hose Relay Race

For this game you will need panty hose, two tennis balls, and plastic cups. Set the cups up in a line a few feet apart. Place a tennis ball in each leg of the panty hose and put on your head. The goal is to run and knock down the cups using the tennis balls and your head, do not use your hands. FYI, it is harder than it looks.

Mom/Dad Call Game

For this game you will need to pick a parent and a child as a team. All the parents will need to be blindfolded and grouped up in the center. Create a big circle around them with the children. Make sure the kids are all mixed up. The kids will begin saying "mom" or "dad" until the parent is able to find their child. The first team to match up their pair wins. It was so funny because my cousin Justin just knew he had found his daughter, so he ran up to "her" picked "her" up and got really excited because he knew he won. Little did he know, when he took off his blindfold, he was actually holding my other cousin's son....bahahaha.

We used the sleeves that we cut off of our t-shirts as our headbands so we could identify our team members.....I think my uncle's headband was a little small...didn't bother him one bit.

Saturday we woke up early and played our annual golf game. This year was the first time that all three golf teams tied. I didn't take my camera golfing this time so I don't have any of the team pictures to share. After golfing we headed to the river to float. The water was high and flowing fast so it was a super quick float and we weren't able to get in the water much.

Saturday night we went to dinner and continued our challenge. We had a water balloon toss game and then a talent show for the kids. Check out all these intense focused faces.

We had a lot of wonderful talent show acts and they definitely kept this audience entertained.

Coop showed us his baseball skills by hitting water balloons into the crowd.

Who knew Zach was so flexible and talented?

The girls made up a really cute cheer.

It went something like, "suns out guns out, let me see your ammo. What happens at the lake, stays at the lake."

Kennedy sang the sweetest song she learned at vacation bible school. She had cute little motions to go with it. It made my mom cry....she is such a softie.

Kaleigh is quite the gymnast and did her floor routine complete with cartwheels, back bends, and the splits.

Kinley did her dance recital routine. It was really cute and long and I was very impressed with her memory and dance skills.

Then they all showed us the Whip and Nae Nae.

Team Rex won the challenge this year. I was glad to see that Team Gary didn't win it again, but that means my team has lost both years....NEXT YEAR is ours.

The winning team gets to take home the trophy for the year and we add a plaque to it each year saying which team one.

Gary's Family

Bruce's Family, minus a few

Rex's (my) Family with Me-ma

And the Me-Ma we have to thank for giving us this wonderful, crazy family. I think she enjoys watching all our wild festivities unfold.

I had a blast at the family reunion and I always look forward to the next one. I'm so glad we started this tradition....it really is so special and fun! Can't wait until next year :)

A trip down memory lane