Fun at home and Scottsdale

Hello!!  Here is the fun we have had in May! Megan turned 30 again and we went out bowling to celebrate.  It was a magnificent time, just the 5 girls.  This is Rachelle and the birthday girl.

Tami, Me and Aarika

Birthday girl bowling.  Look at that mad form.

I was having way too much fun.  Whoo! Lay off the Diet Coke!

And Aarika looked the most professional out of all of us.

We went to Disneyland quite a few times this month before our passes were blacked out for summer.  Landon, evidently, did not appreciate Buzz Lightyear.

Aspen is 6 months old this month! She weighed 15 lbs 10 ozs and was 26.5 inches long at her 6 month check up! She is such a joy all the time.  When she is hungry, she opens her mouth really wide but very rarely yells, screams or cries.  She's a pretty decent sleeper and a great sitter.  She eats like I do, which is to say that she is a GREAT eater and loved everything I give to her.  I don't think she could be a better, happier, more lovely baby.  We are so blessed to have her.

For Hunter's birthday we went to Disneyland with Meema, Peepaw, Uncle Jeff and Uncle Jason. Hunter LOVED this day.

Hunter and Uncle Jason

Playing in Toon Town

Eating Mickey Ice creams

Watching the parade

Hunter's fiancé came over for a playmate and they played dress up (costumes courtesy of Gramma Kathey). Hunter and Avery had a great time playing dress up, playing house and having a dance party.  Cute couple.

A train!

Landon dressed up as a race car driver.  Does it get any cuter? Nope.

Brian took Hunter on the Fathers and Sons campout for our church. This was the morning after.

Scottsdale! How we love Scottsdale.  I flew with the 3 kids while Brian drove the 6 hours by himself.  We both had it much easier than it would have been if we had all gone together.  I am probably playing Words with Friends with my Gramma in this photo and Brian is making fun of me for my WWF addiction.

Pool time! It was the first thing we did when we got there.

My princess

Hunter adored his new shooter!

Sweet girl - excited about life

Hunter hugging the little one.  I think she is a little Landon, but she does look like Hunter.

FOOD!

Yes, that's Landon flying through the air.  He is QUITE the swimmer these days.  I am so proud of him and his independence in the water.

Hunter is 100% independent in the pool.  I'm not saying i would leave him in the pool alone, but I trust him.  He is cannon-balling into the water.  I actually am confident that if either of them fell into the pool, they could get out on their own.

LOVES his goggles.

Sink baths are the best on vacation.  This is as unhappy as she gets.  "Mommy, this is ridiculous."

This boy is SO happy.

Date night! Aspen came on both of our date nights with us.  Not amazing, but she sure is a sweet baby (who refused to sleep in the restaurants.)

11 years! Today, actually.  I cannot believe I've been with this man for my entire 20s.  Over a decade of my life! I also can't believe that I love him more now than I did before.  Life together keeps getting better.

Daddy playing with Aspen in the water

A passed out boy.

We went to our favorite ice cream place with a friend who has a baby the same age as Aspen, and a boy who is Hunter's age.  it was fun.

Katie and Kaylee

Sleepy girl

We had a blast in Scottsdale.  We spent almost everyday by the pool, except for the afternoon at the trampoline center (so much fun). We'll be home all of June! I'm excited to open the pool for summer.  We are blessed.

Chi Chi's visit and Hunter's 4th birthday party!!

Last week was Circle of Love's biggest fundraiser of the year.  Basically, the kids ride their bicycles/tricycles in circles around the track and the parents donate money.  There is also a silent auction and a carnival.  It's all very cute!

Hunter and his girlfriend, Avery, have taken their relationship to the next level and are now engaged.  Please send engagement gifts to my home address.  We got home from the cruise and the Trike-A-Thon was the next day.  I heard that they embraced when Hunter got to school and kissed! Can you imagine?! Anyhow, this is them on the way to the trike-a-thon.  Holding hands.

 This is her smile face.  So cute.

 Hunter, Kellan and Jack.  Cute buddies.

 Landon SO badly wants to do everything his brother does.  He threw a giant fit about not being able to ride when Hunter did.

 There he goes!

 At the end he got an award!

 And the love of a girl...and his little brother.  He's pretty much a celebrity.

 Showing off his medal.

 Avery on Hunter's lap.

 Meema came down for the trike-a-thon .  Here she is with my smiley little girl.

 Chi Chi came to town! What a blessing my aunt is! She came for 48 hours.  Amazing.  She helped me make cookies, feed the baby, love the boys and we went strawberry picking.  It was a busy 2 days.

 Strawberry picking with church friends.

 Ryan, Landon and Beckett.  When did Landon get SO big?

 Me and Chi Chi

 Picking away

 The boys

 Jasmine, Ryan and Brandon

 Kate, Hamilton Strawberry face and Beckett.

 All the kids on the wagon

 The 5 of us

 Making cookies

 Caught in the act!

 In the "hideout" - hideouts are a very big deal right now.

 I'm decorating the cake and Brian lending his support.

 Landon's cute face in the hideout.

 Hunter put eyes on the cookies - he wanted 2 eyes on a lot of the cookies.  It's so cute the way the almost 4 yr old mind works.

 The cakes! I ended up with leftover cake so I made a baby dinosaur too.

 When did Landon get so big?! :-(

 Me and my little man

 Meema, Chi Chi and Aspen

 Rachel and Landon

 Cheering for Hunter while he plays air hockey.  Oh -and you can't see my amazing cousin, Jenny, who drove up from San Diego for the day and night.  She was my photographer until my camera battery died! How sad. Anyhow, we were SUPER excited to have her there.

 Avery (Hunter's fiance)

 Me and some girlfriends - Adrienne, Tami, Mega, Kate and Mackenzie

 On Sunday morning Jenn helped me with the kids while I got everyone ready for church.  My beautiful wonderful cousin!

Rachel was nice enough to take photos for me. The rest of the photos are courtesy of her.  Wonderful, wonderful friend!

 Birthday boy!

 Chi Chi, Landon and Gigi

 Me and Landon

 Rachel and Clayton

 CHi Chi helping Landon to play

 Mackenzie helping Rhys to play

 King George

 All the kids before dinner!

 

 Dinosaur cookies

 Dinosaur eggs + dinosaur hatchlings

 Brian and Clayton in their Mickey mouse shirts

 2 of my favorite people - Chi Chi and Megan

 Cake time!

 Family shot

 "I'm 4!"

 Rachel and the boys

It was a very successful party.  Hunter had a fantastic time and I think it lived up to his hopes and dreams. All of his friends seemed to have a lot of fun too.  What a sweet boy he is.  He is so kind to his brother and sister, doing a great job of sharing and bringing them things when they need something.  He is happy to share his gifts and even offered that Landon can open some of them.  Whenever he asked for a gift, he would ask for one "for Landon."  I love the kindness that I see in him.  He is starting to calm down a bit, but still has a wonderful zest for life and happiness.  He is SUPER social and, from what I understand, the most popular kid in his class.  Every parent has told me that Hunter is their child's "best friend" and he has a ridiculous number of requests for playdates.  I am proud of the person that my 4 year old child is and I look forward to seeing him mature and grow.  For now, I am going to love every minute of him - even the difficult ones - because birthdays just remind me how quickly his life has gone thus far. I love this little boy.