We have had a great summer so far. The highlight has been spending time with our family. In May Jen's sister Cassie graduated from Law School at Loyola in Los Angeles. Jen was able to spend an entire week with her. Jen's mom, dad and brother Zach drove to L.A. from Texas and the Kratz family drove from Utah. Jason's family also came for graduation, so we were able to expand our circle of friends. Jason has an amazing family that is as wonderful as he is. It was the trip of a lifetime and Jen will never forget the amazing time spent with her little sis.

In early June, Jen flew to Salt Lake and drove back to Texas with her big sister Stac and Stac's kids Emma, Grace, Kate and Max. It was a long but very fun trip and Jen loved having 24 entire hours to visit with Stac. The Kratzes (minus Gregster) spent 3 weeks in Texas and our kids loved having cousins around to play with. They spent almost every day in their Grandparent's pool, went to the beach and had several sleepovers. It was a very sad time when cousins drove back to Utah. We miss them every day, but look forward to seeing them again at our family reunion in August.

We spent the 4th of July in Mississippi at Maw Maw and Paw Paw Thomas' house. Cousin Lizzie was there also and we had so fun with all of them. We played on the slip and slide. DeDee used her girls' camp training and made a wonderful fire pit and fire and we roasted marshmallows, made smores and shot off fireworks. The trip was way too short, but we had a wonderful time.

Hannah is staying busy with orchestra practices, as she is getting ready for her trip to Chicago, Illinois in December for the Midwest Clinic with the Dulles Middle School syphony orchestra. She also has a new violin teacher that she loves. She is taking voice, theory and piano also this summer, so music is kind of dominating her life right now. She still finds time to talk to friends for hours on the phone and chat on the computer!

DeDee is a Dulles Middle School cheerleader and is looking forward to learning cheers and cheering at games in the fall. She loved having Emma around for almost a month and has spent time with friends from school also. She is taking piano and theory this summer also and rides her rip stick until she gets too hot. She is amazing on her rip stick!

Faith is becoming quite the gymnast. She loves doing tricks and practices all the time. She is working hard on her reading and is currently being read "The Underneath" and loves the book. She has become quite the swimmer also and is like a little fish in the water.

Jeb enjoyed having Max around so he could hang with another boy. They played cars, with balls and hung out in Jeb's room. Jeb loves riding his bike and spending time in the pool. He likes to run and do cannon balls in the water. He is looking forward to t-ball and football when it finally cools off!

Bella has become passionate about princesses. She loves them and Dora and says she also is a princess. She loves nursery and church and can't wait to go to pre-school in the fall. She is the comic of the family and none of us can stay mad at her long. She just flashes us a smile and our hearts melt.

Brad is staying busy at work and with his church calling. He is also playing on a softball team and loves it. He is looking forward to our trip to Utah so he can be somewhere where it is cooler.

That is about it for the Thomas Family for now...