Well, it was a serious nailbiter in the championship games, but we ended up losing in the end. Ally did a great job -made some great hits and had a great attitude through it all. It was so intense to watch, but can I say, I am glad it is over? Nightly practices have taken their toll! 
We got to watch the Fort Worth herd coming into the stockyards, it was very cool, and a bit messy. You can see Ally across the street with the girls on her team.
The kids got to go in the Human Cowpin Maze in Fort Worth. It was harder than they expected. Not only did they have to find their way through, they had to locate 4 checkpoints.
We watched from above, but I often wondered if I would see them again. It came a hard rain twice while they were in there, but they couldn't get out to get to shelter. They were drenched!
It was very tricky!
Cowboys roaming the streets getting ready to herd in some doggies!
Truly the funniest thing about our trip was the fact that the dog (we have learned) WILL NOT PEE on a leash. We've been to grandmas and nana's and had no problems, but the dog clearly has some privacy issues. After a solid day of no "activity," and scared for what Nana would do to us if our dog peed in her camper, we took her to the Fort Worth Water Gardens. As soon as she heard the sound of all that rushing water, she quickly ran for the nearest grassy area and peed and peed and peed. It was very stressful all weekend to watch her - knowing she has to go - walking her for hours on end- with no luck. Strange dog. We are planning to take her on a week long hike in September, maybe we should bring along a special privacy tent or something?
The Midway Allstars are playing for the championship in the state tournament tomorrow! They have done a GREAT job so far! The last game was very intense! They played a very good team from south of San Antonio, and we think they will most likely meet them again Wednesday when they come up from the loser's bracket. We had a great time in Fort Worth. We stayed in Max & Nana's RV and brought the dog. We spent 2 nights, but the team earned an off day Tuesday. It has been a really neat experience for Ally. I'll have to take a picture of our car all painted up in support of the team.
They played well, AND they certainly looked good - and that is important, too.
I've never had an inside dog before - I'm not an inside dog kind of girl. Byron has ALWAYS wanted a big inside dog. At first she was just going to be in the kitchen on the tile, but that didn't work out. Then, it was just the living areas - not the bedrooms or hall. That has lasted almost 7 months. Now, she has total free run of the place! I cannot believe there is a DOG on my child's bed! The dog loves Ally's bed. What has happened to me? Where are my standards? And I took a picture of it - like it's cute or something!
Ally's softball team won the sectional tournament this weekend - which means next week we are headed to Fort Worth for the Little League State Softball tournament. It should be pretty tough competition - and a crazy week. It is hard to make plans when we really don't know when games will be -all dependent on win-loss records.
Daniel's bed is all done and ready! He is going to have a ball playing in it. He comes home from Grandma's tomorrow. 
She couldn't choose between the purple and blue.
Softball toes - in honor of Ally and her team -who play in the regional little league softball tournament this weekend. If they advance from here, they go to the state tournament.
Yes, she pretty much grinned and giggled like this through the whole thing! She wasn't a big fan of the massaging chair, though.
We had a very fun day! I asked her what she wanted to do to top this tomorrow, and she wants stay home, curl up on my bed and have me read a new big chapter book to her, Rowanhood - the story of Robin Hood's daughter. I think we can do that!
Sherry Shalom Jenkins came to visit us today with her parents, Wes and Jessica. We had a fun visit. She is a very beautiful baby! A thick head of hair and so smart and alert! 
I'd say she favors Wes, but she is WAY too pretty to take after him. It must be Jessica she gets her good looks from! They got to go to Antioch with us this morning. The kids were glad to see that Wes is still silly! They were a bit worried that he might have become a grown up or something!
Daniel's room ALWAYS looks like this! He has to build a fort every morning 1st thing and the bigger the better - it generally takes up the whole room - AND he can never get to his clothes in his dresser. SO, Dad built him a fort bed Saturday night. It is VERY cool! And maybe we can not have his room look like this anymore. He is so excited!
Here's the bed - almost finished just some staining, sanding, sealing. Daniel wants to put fabric around the bottom so that it will be more "fort-ish." I'll take a picture of it when it is all done. Once again, it is so great to be married to a genius, Byron put it together so quickly! He is really enjoying having some time to pursue some of these woodworking kind of projects - between softball practices, that is. 
blogpost: ayersfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com
Crock pot Lasagna Recipe
Do:
1. Brown your meat and add all the other sauce ingredients. Set it aside for a minute.
2. Mix all the cheese filling ingredients together.
3. Get out the big crock-pot and spray the insides with oil.
4. Put about ¼ of the sauce in the crock-pot.
5. Break 3 of the noodles into 3 or 4 pieces and lay them over the sauce.
6. Spread about a third of the cheese filling over the broken noodles.
7. Repeat from #4 thru #6 two more times.
8. Finish with the last of the sauce.
9. Pop the lid on the crock-pot and turn it on high. Check it after 2 or 3 hours. You’ll just have to use your judgment about the time and temp. since every crock-pot is different. I put mine on after lunch and leave it on high till supper time.
10. Serve it with a salad and you have the easiest Lasagna dinner in the world. And with only 1 lb of meat and 4 cups of Mozzarella this is a fairly frugal meal!
Looking up at the fireworks - holding a very hot and sleepy boy.
Daddy and Gracie watching the fireworks - Gracie's barely hanging on too.
Cousin Fun -Ally and Elana in the kayak
Sidney and Gracie posing.
We went to Max and Nana's and helped them situate things in Mamaw's house - which will now become their house. It will be hard not to call it Mamaw's house. Then, we went to Vivian's for the big 4th fireworks show. It was a lot of fun - the kids were completely wiped out and cranky on Sunday. They could barely keep from nodding off in church. 
Max and Nana were overloaded with tomatoes, so we decided late tonight to make some SALSA! We are canning it in pint size jars so we'll have it for a while. We added some peppers from our garden, and some storebought - all this plus a bunch of onions.
Chopped everything up and cooked it. Byron handles the spicing of things around here, he added salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder to taste. Lots of tasting.
We don't have any fancy canning equipment, we heat the jars and rings in the dishwasher (cool tip from Sandra) and we heat the lids in hot water, then when salsa is ready and dishwasher is on dry, we take them out, put lids & rings on and put them in the big pot of warm water - covered with water and lid on the pot for about 5 minutes. Then we make sure the next morning the lid is sealed. Last time we did it we didn't take all the pains to properly can- we just refrigerated the jars and they sealed from the heat of the process by themselves.
We made about 10 pints if you don't count that pint we ate in the sampling.
My favorite 4th picture: Katelyn, Elana, & Ally