Better Late Than Never...Kyrie's Birthday Party

Well, I'm not exactly sure how I didn't get this posted or why it took so long for me to figure out that I didn't post it, but here it is: Kyrie's Birthday Party from March 30th. We decided to have the party at the gym where the kids take gymnastics. We had an American Girl theme. The party was great! The kids had a lot of fun! 

Memorial Day Reunion 2013

We were blessed to have our Dodson family gather once again in Virginia for Memorial Day. It was wonderful to have my brothers' families there for our annual trip. The cousins had a great time together with our newest addition: Olivia! She was definitely the star of the show! We spent lots of time talking and joking... and eating! It was a great weekend!

We spent an afternoon with my grandparents. They looked great, and we had a wonderful time catching up. As always, the time passed too quickly and soon we were saying our goodbyes. We will look forward to seeing them again at the end of the summer. 

54th Annual Hunt Country Stable Tour

We enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous day at the 54th Annual Hunt Country Stable Tour in Upperville, Virginia. An endless, blue sky and a crisp, cool wind kept us company throughout the afternoon as we drove the country roads on a tour of horse country.

Love Degen's face in this photo!

LOVE!!!

We were able to tour the stables & grounds to about a half dozen homes (less than half the properties open for the tour). We found the cutest, little pair of burros on one property. 

I tried to capture the expanse of the sky and the verdant green of the rolling hills all around us. I don't think that I got a photo that ever quite did it justice. Such a beautiful day, such a beautiful place. You just kind of looked around and sighed, "this truly is God's country."

The kids enjoyed being able to run around, but mostly they enjoyed all the opportunities to touch & feed the animals. There were burros and cats and goats and lots & lots of beautiful horses, including this Arabian. 

I think that this property was one of my favorites. The owner had this sweet, little vegetable garden that Darren spent quite some time exploring. They also had the friendliest horses we met on the tour. 

Silly Degen!

The kids just enjoyed being kids: running and climbing all over the place. This property was the last stop on the tour, though we all wished that we had the time to see more.