Memorial Day Vaca 2011

This year we had a little vacation for our Memorial Day weekend camping/boating trip. We drove about 3 hours out to East Texas and camped at a place called Lake O' the Pines. The campsite was very nice, well maintained and all the giant pine trees made for some great shade. We spent 3 nights camping and had two other families join us for part of the time. Ethen brought his friend Chandler with him and Phoebe had Tierney join us as well. With 2 extra bodies and all our gear we ended up taking 2 cars to get everyone there. But I think that actually worked out nicely to separate the kids a little. We ate lots of junkie camp food, got dirty and played in the water to our hearts content. I love these simple kind of vacations. They don't require too much planning, everyone has a great time and is worn out afterwards.

This lake is FULL of clams. Phoebe decided to cook one up over the fire. She couldn't get anyone to try this dish.

the kids enjoying a mud bath that later turned into a mud fight
All mud fights end up with at least one casualty. I was pretty sure this crying was more for show than hurt. Seriously such sick mud.

It was Luke's birthday the day we started. Can't quite believe my little man is now 6. He wanted a cookie cake and I was thrilled with how great that would work out for camping!

O Captain, My Captain

Ethen and Scott double surfing

nightly ghost stories
A leisurely ice cream stop

Phoebe's solo

Phoebe spent a lot of time practicing and preparing to try out for a solo spot in her 4th grade choir this year. We are so proud of her for being so brave. She was able to sing one performance on her choir trip. Everyone keep telling us how great she sings. Doesn't she sound like an angel?

Easter Festivities

Easter Morning we were able to snap a quick family picture

Phoebe's hair-do for Easter. Thanks to Jen for the great hairclip!

Here we are dying the eggs (that turn into yummy deviled eggs!). The kids look forward to this every year and we used our handy whisks for dipping again this year. I almost forgot to put them out but the kids reminded me and I just love how easy it makes coloring the eggs for the younger kids.



We have a great neighborhood Easter party every year. I tried so hard to get all the kids with the Easter Bunny but Paisley is still freaked out by large people dressed up as animals. She knows they are people inside, but can not get within 10 feet of one. And Ethen was just embarrassed at me trying to get him away from a friendly game of basketball to take pictures with the bunny. We had a good time playing games and the kids scored a good bit of candy as well.

My new favorite food website

TasteSpotting.com.This site is so yummy to just look at the pictures, but I LOVE how you get the recipe when clicking on the picture. There are so many great and different food finds on here I will never run out of ideas. I hardly have time to cook or bake currently but I have several things on my "to make" list.

Spring Soccer

Luke and Phoebe are both playing soccer this Spring. It is so fun to watch them out on the field. They both really love it and are having a lot of fun. Thankfully we don't have any overlapping games so we don't have to be two places at once. Phoebe is #2 and Luke picked #13.

Handy Man

Scott is amazingly handy. It's one of the reasons I love him so much, and I just think there is something super sexy about a man building things. Our front fence was looking pretty bad so Scott decided to put an entire new one up one day. He pretty much did all the work by himself with a tiny bit of help from Ethen and I. It is perfectly spaced and level. It looks beautiful and I love pulling into the driveway and seeing it every day now.

The Beautiful Finished Project!!!!

Luke Star of the Week

Luke was the star of the week for his Kindergarten class.

Girl hair

I love playing with my girls hair and trying new styles out. I wish I could be as creative with my own hair, but it is harder to do on myself and most of the things I do don't really work on a mama. Here are a few pictures I have taken of some of the things I have done. Sorry lots of them are pretty blurry, but you get the basic idea.

Back Cracking

My brother, John, is in Chiropractic school here in TX and we LOVE having him so close by. Not only is he a fun guy to have around, but he is really good at cracking our backs and necks and anywhere else that may need some adjusting.

Here's Luke enjoying a little adjustment

Happy Birthday to Paisley

Our baby turned 4 on Valentine's Day. It seems hardly possible for her to be this old already. She is our fiesty independent girl and brings so much laughter to our home. Tina and Phoebe made a sweet heart cake that was so big that I was able to save the top layer for her little party with friends.

We went to Build A Bear on her big day and got her a new bear she named Pinky

The party was thrown together at the last minute and only lasted an hour, but they had fun and Paisley was happy (even though I forgot to invite 1 of her church girlfriends). The little girls made cereal necklaces and frosted heart shaped rice krispie treats.

New Tile

Scott found the perfect tile for our kitchen backsplash. It helped to have some family in town when doing this project. It went pretty quickly with Scott and John doing most of the work. The kitchen feels totally new and I love it!

Ethen's Deacon Quorum Initiation

Apparently Ethen thought it was Scott trying to get him up from sleep, but he quickly realized that was not the case. They took him out to IHOP for breakfast

Feeding Ducks on a Cold Day

While Nana was visiting we took an afternoon and went over to Town Lake to feed the ducks. The wind was blowing pretty strong and cold that day, but it felt pretty good in the sun and the ducks seemed to really appreciate our donation. The seagulls even hovered over our heads in swarms. Paisley didn't like that very much. They got too close and look a little scary in such large groups. It was good to get out for a little, even in the cold.