Ward Campout

Last weekend we headed off to Niagara Springs for our ward campout.  I get to be in charge of it so we headed off early Friday to get ready.  We had so much fun with friends and the kids absolutely loved it.

Luke spent every possible moment with this hose and this little kiddie pool.  He was constantly wet and in heaven.  Most of the boys played their Nintendo DSs' the whole time and the other boys looked on (Seth) and if they weren't doing that they were hanging out by the fire.  Their was also a place to play in the water and we spent a lot of time there.  It was so pretty and besides being freezing cold it was fun.

Friday night turned out to be quite eventful and the average night sleep was about 2 hours.  Most of us headed to bed about midnight.  Just as we were getting to sleep the teenagers started shaking our tent.  They are a good bunch of kids so we just laughed and off they went.  Then just as we were getting back to sleep again, they started doing something else to our tent (it ended up being toilet paper--boy we sure need to teach them how to toilet paper properly!).  So after that it being about 1:30 in the morning one of the babies start crying and crying and crying.  Then about 2 we started hearing a loud raucous.  Across the river (it really sounded they were next door) there was a group of very, very, very drunk boys and girls.  They were yelling and screaming the "F" for about 3 hours.  Serious!  Most of us were awake the entire time.  After they took off and we were just getting to sleep about 7 skunks (it was hard to keep track in the dark) started roaming through our camp.  After that it was hopeless to sleep, so I go up and decided to saran wrap all the teenagers in their tents.  They thought it was great.

On Saturday we played lots of games with the kids and then we packed up and took off.  We had lots of fun and it turned out really good.  The best part, we had enough food.  I am always worried that we won't have enough food but we did and everybody loved it!

Kathryn's T-Ball

Kathryn played t-ball this year and loved it (at least when her feet weren't hot).  I got to coach her team and we had lots of fun with 14 little kindergartners (or as they always tell me, 1st graders).  Here are some pictures from her games.  She can always be found chewing on her mitt, but she is quite the little hitter.

And what kid is not sitting through part of the game?

Seth's 10th B-Day

Seth's actual birthday was the 6th so we had a little party that night to give him our gifts (and mostly because he couldn't stand waiting till Friday to get them when he "real" party was).

On Friday he invited several friends over for a "Lego" theme party.

We ate his favorite dinner, Hawaiin Haystacks and then they played games.

Steal sticks was the favorite.  They are lined up here listening to directions.  Then it was time for cake and ice cream, again his favorite, Oreo ice cream cake.

He then opened presents and we were off to the drive-in to see Karate Kid.

The part he loved the most was the sleepover after wards. Sam told them they could stay up as late as they want as long as they do not wake us up.  They finally made it to bed about 3:30 am.  Seth thought it was awesome!
I just can't believe that I have a child in the double digits.  I am feeling kinda old!
Anyways, things Seth loves this year: star wars video games, re-arranging all his legos into awesome ships with massive guns, cannon, missiles, etc., playing with Karson, reading, Hawaiin Haystacks, ice cream, cream soda and riding his bike.  Seth we love and are so glad you are part of our family!!

Grandpa and Grandma's Part 4

*These posts are in reverse order so you might want to start a ways down*
That night it was off to my brother's house for a BBQ and fireworks.  The kids loved helping and were thrilled to be old enough to light some of them on fire.

(sorry I can't resist taking pictures of food sometimes :)

We had so much fun and were sad to have to come home and do normal things but thank heavens for family!!

Grandpa and Grandma's Part 3

Friday we were mostly trying to recover from all our fun of the day before.  That morning, my mom and I cashed in our massages (we got the for Mother's Day).  I have never had one before and WOW!  I did a deep tissue massage and I loved it!!!!!!!  Sam thinks that is weird because I still have huge bruises from it today, but I am so tight all the time it was so nice to have things relaxed.  Afterwards, Sam met me for lunch at his favorite restaurant , Red Robin, and then we met everybody at where we had the reception.  This man has built a huge slide into the side of his property and said that we could try it out.  It was so fun and everyone had a blast.

(still can't keep blogger from rotating my pictures, arghhhh!)

The little kids were game for the slide the first time down and then after that we couldn't convince them to try it again, so they contented themselves by swinging and jumping on the tramp.

The next morning we took off the neighboring city of Melba for a fun run/walk.

It was freezing cold (stupid weather!) but we had a good time.  Afterwards, Grandpa and Grandma took the kids to get sno-cones, fireworks and treats (no wonder home is not so cool!)

Grandpa and Grandma's Part 2: The Wedding

Warning:  will be long.

We started the morning off at the Temple.  They looked wonderful and so happy.

(sorry for the sideways picture, I rotated it but blogger re-rotated it for me, so nice!)

Afterwards we headed to the luncheon which turned out fabulous.  The food was awesome and it was heaven for the men, as much prime rib as you could eat.  (we also had it for leftovers for two days and Seth and Sam thought they had died and gone to heaven).  Then it was off to the reception.  It was held in Michele's friends back yard and it was so beautiful and so fun for the kids.