Hunter's Latest 'Treasure'

Before you see this picture, I need to explain. Hunter loves to go exploring. Behind our neighborhood there is an area of trees and trails that the boys love to play in. It is a cool place where they love to have air soft wars, explore, etc...
Well, Hunter always comes home with some kind of 'treasure'. He calls them his treasures and even has a drawer and a box where he keeps these 'treasures'. For a while, he was carrying home bricks, yes, like a whole brick that was very heavy. He was so excited for these bricks because he said "I want to study bricks and what they are made of so now I have my very own brick!"
So...yesterday he came home with three 'treasures'. One of them was this pictured below:

The funniest thing about this is that he, and the other boy that was with him, thought it was an "old-fashioned whistle".
I hope this is his one and only experience with an 'old-fashioned whistle'. And I really hope he always thinks that it really was an 'old-fashioned whistle'.
Please keep me in your prayers as he grows up. I never know what to expect from this little guy!

Chocolate overload!

Skyler spent the weekend with us a couple of weeks ago, and I just had to post this picture I took of them at IHOP on Saturday morning. Hunter and Katie came with us but the boys wanted to be alone so they asked for a table across the aisle from us. I didn't know whether to be offended or proud that they are growing up and becoming independent. Ironically, when the bill came they just looked confused and then immediately turned to me!!
So here they are. I told them they could order whatever they wanted. They both began with a large glass of chocolate milk. Next, they both ordered a large order of chocolate pancakes covered in whipped cream. It was an extreme chocolate fest. Spencer finished every last bite of his breakfast and Skyler asked for a to-go container and finished his pancakes later that day.
I should have asked a senior citizen at the restaurant if I could borrow their blood tester. I am sure their blood sugar levels were OFF THE CHARTS. Seriously though, It is really fun watching these two boys grow up together. They are such good friends and I am grateful they have always had each other.
BTW. Our bill for breakfast was $75.00!!!

Medival Times in CA

For our last night in California over spring break we made reservations at Medival Times. If you have never heard of this place, it is a lot of fun. Expensive, but fun. So the concept of this place is you get an assigned seat where they serve you food on medival looking plates and you get to eat with your hands, that's them trying to be authentic. Before they serve the meal six knights come out and each section has a different knight that represents them, that we get to cheer for. We were the red team. That's our knight on the right at the end. Of course, he was the cutest of the guys, which the older girls loved. During the evening they
joust and sword fight and we all cheer and get obnoxious and the kids loved it.

Here's Hunter getting really into the jousting. My jousting pics were so blurry, I took my small point and shoot camera, so the action shots were horrible. Just trust me, it was very exciting.

Here they are all in their seats before the show began.

The big boys even enjoyed the show. This is the first course, the soup. Not very good soup, but cool bowls with a handle.

Katie HATES to get her hands dirty, so all week she was worried about eating this dinner with her hands. We made the reservations 5 days in advance, so you can imagine how much fun I had reasuring her that it would be okay and there would be a bathroom close by where she could wash up as soon as she was done eating.

Let the games begin.

Hunter loved tearing apart the chicken. He had to show me the wing.

Katie actually ended up enjoying the meal and the knights!!! I love how she only used her two fingers for the whole meal.

Our knight won the jousting competition, we all went crazy. He ended up loosing in the sword fighting, but not until near the end, so we did a lot of screaming and cheering, he loved us. It ended up being a great night with the whole family.

Why Austen Loves Aunt Melissa

I came across this pic last night and it was just the laugh I needed after a very long and busy day.

Disneyland 2011

A day at Disneyland during spring break. It was crowded, but we had great fun with all the cousins.

All the kids...

I told the boys to make funny faces. This is what I got:

I got Spencer to take a picture with me. And look, he even has his arm around me!!

Making fun family memories, even though we never got to go on Space Mountain, it was that crowded.

Our Day at the Beach part 2

So all my pics wouldn't copy to one post, so you get two!

No real reason for this pic, I just thought it was pretty.

Worn out from all the waves, taking a break and having some boy time.

Hunter is not giving up on the surfing, when everyone else was napping or digging in the sand, he stayed out there and would not give up. SO HUNTER!

Notice Hunter watching that surfer in the background. He thinks they are the coolest people ever.

Still waiting for a wave...

Ella loved running from the waves. And she would let out this loud scream that was so full of child joy I couldn't stop taking pics of it.

If I didn't see him everyday, I don't think I would recognize him as my son.

Our Day at the Beach

While it was snowing at home, we were enjoying a day at the beach in California. Notice how white everyone is, because the next day everyone was RED and hurting even though we sprayed sunblock all day long. Bowen couldn't understand why we didn't want to go to the beach the next day.

I love Spencer's big hurrah, he loves the beach, ocean... Until he went in and found out how cold the water was.

So if they couldn't swim, then they were going to dig for crabs! This brought back so many childhood memories. The boys got serious and found a few bigs ones.

Looks like fun, so everyone but Hunter and Bowen joined in. You can see the two boys in the ocean braving the waves and the cold, it really was cold.

Now even Hunter couldn't resist. I love this pic.

Spencer and Davis admiring all of their spoils. That was the official crab bucket.

There were a lot of surfers out that day, so Hunter got a boogie board and tried his luck.

I think I would call this backwards surfing. Whatever it is, they had a blast.

Waiting for a wave...

Here it is. Look at him holding his breath. I laugh everytime I see this. Goggles in place, ready for the big wave. I wonder what kind of a wave he thought was coming at him?

I got Katie to stop and give me one smile, then she was on her way with her cousins and she did not want the camera following her. If you know Katie, then her strict instructions will not surprise you.

Bowen loves the beach, water, sand, all of it.

Carrie went up to the house and got wet suits for the big boys, so they could all get in and do a little boogie boarding. Doesn't Spencer look like a man? Hate that he is growing up so fast.

Ella started burying herself, so the boys had to do it too.

I love my new camera! Love the lighting, love it all. I also love Hunter's face, so intense.

Haley, Spencer and Davis after playing in the ocean, now that the wet suits took the edge off the temperature.

I just couldn't resist those toes!!!

In a couple of hours they are going to wish they hadn't done this, let's just say, we did a night run for 3 bottles of aloe vera with an extra cooling gel.