july rewind:: a birthday and some photos

 

july 7th was a pretty awesome day for the butler family!  for the first time {in what seems like forever} all thirteen of us children and our posterity were able to spend some time together.  my brother micah and his little pup zek, sister amber and her little man ian, all drove up to the mountain for the day and we were able to celebrate micah's 24th birthday.

a little note about micah is that he was the sweetest brother growing up.  while my other brothers were busy making fun of me and calling me names {out of love i am sure} micah was always the one to walk into the bathroom while i was getting ready and tell me "you look pretty".  and he said it in a way that you would never question his sincerity.  it was such a joy to grow up with this boy.  i love him dearly!

of course we had to get some family pictures to commemorate the day.  {thank you aunt jona for being my human tripod.}  here we all are putting on our best faces for the camera.  two parents, thirteen children and seven grandchildren.  and of course we all miss our sweet angel girl.

the guys were all giving me such a hard time while we were trying to get a picture together that i decided to line them up and drag it on for them.  they were good sports.  aren't they all so handsome?

dad, burke, jamison, justin, micah & zek, matt & marcus.  and up front: gage, trenton, aiden, garrett and ian.

this is my sweet sister and handsome nephew.  i had to go over a year without seeing them after she moved out to wyoming and it was just a sad ordeal.  i missed them so much!

i just can't tell you how much i love ALL these faces!

these pictures were all taken while we were out visiting with family at the burke reunion at brown creek.  it was so gorgeous out there and i wish we would have had more time to spend out with everyone.  i desperately miss the mountains.  texas is it's own kind of beautiful but i was raised, running around in these fields, hiking these mountains and splashing in these creeks.  it will always be one of my sacred places because it reminds me of who i am and where i came from.  and it also reminds me of my sweet grandpa burke who i miss so frequently.

i had to take a picture of these wildflowers that some of the little girls gathered up in nana's famous orange pitcher.  a perfect visualization of how i felt out there.  bright and beautiful!

another shot of the handsome birthday boy.

our little miracle callie jayne hanging out in the pretty grass.  the pretty grass was also peppered with cow patties which made things very interesting while positioning the big group.

here's all the women folk.  i really feel like i took one for the team here.  i am not so much a fan of being in FRONT of the camera.  so much baby weight left to lose.  but i am trying to take it in stride.

emma, elsie & kelsie, yours truly, the mamacita, amber, monica & maylee and haley.  and in front: hayden, brinley and callie.

after our trip to brown creek we headed back to the house and had some yummy vegetarian lasagna and the fixins per micah's request.  and we washed it down with another good dose of homemade pistachio ice-cream.  once our bellies were good and full we drove into heber for the fireworks.  we were able to lay in the grass on the baseball field right beneath the huge show.  those heber folks sure know how to put on a good show!

it was such a fun day and i will remember it for a long time to come!!