Henry's birthday

Henry had a super low key but great birthday!  He loved every one of his gifts.

He chose our favorite chocolate bundt cake for dessert.

The next day we set up his slip and slide.  The kids had a blast!

Lucky number 7

For the past year Henry and I have had an ongoing joke that he will only be 6 on his upcoming birthday.  I always say that I remember his last birthday he turned 5.  This is because I was at Girls Camp on his 6th birthday.  The truth is that I really can't believe that he is 7 now!

Henry is such a cuddle bug.  He's always good for a cuddle or a hug.  He is super hilarious and has perfected his Ralph Wiggum impression.  Henry loves to have fun and is a sweet older brother to Lydia... but he also likes to be included in whatever the big boys are doing.

This little boy has always been a light in our family.  We sure love him!  Happy birthday Henry!


What is your favorite...
color? red and black
food?  ribs
toy?  legos
show? The Amazing World of Gumball
animal?  black panther
book? The Bad Guys series
song? It's Raining Tacos and a Minion song
What do you like to do?  play video games
Who is your best friend?  Jayden and Soul
What do you want to be when you grow up? a construction man (at first he said "instruction" and when I asked for clarification he said, "a person who builds things and gets paid.")
Do you have a girl friend? No!

I am - a kid
I am afraid of - the stuff that I am afraid of

I like - stuff

I like to eat - pizza

I don't like - to eat poo (so gross!)

I know - math

I want to be -a person (I asked, "you're not a person?" and he replied "I'm an alien from my planet.")

My hero is- nobody, well, on my planet I have cookie hero... because it's a candy place

I cry when - somebody punches me in the stomach really hard

Mom gets mad when - I do not obey

Mom is happy when - I do my jobs

I can't wait for - my next birthday!

Something Mom says to me - "no"

Something Dad says to me - "yes"

My favorite place to go is -  Uswirl

My Mom makes me laugh by -tickling me

My dad makes me laugh by - tickling me

I know my mom loves me because -she just does!

I know my dad loves me because -he just does

Girls Camp

Our stake rotates between stake and ward Girls Camp.  This year was a ward camp year.  We headed to Camp Hinckley in the San Bernadino Mountains.  We left on Tuesday morning and I had a few girls in my car.  I was driving Rich's car so that he would have room for all the kids back home.  The engine started to over heat around Baker.... but it was fine when we turned off the AC. The girls needed to stop for a potty break so we pulled over in Baker.  The car seemed back to normal.  However, just a few miles outside of Baker the car wasn't picking up speed.  I decided to pull over and the car just died.  There was smoke coming from under the hood and it started to leak fluid.  We said a little prayer and called Melissa Belt to let her know what was going on.  They did some shuffling around and came back to get us.  We were in the desert waiting for about 1 1/2 hours.  It was hot but the girls had good attitudes.  I told them that now we had a good story and camp hadn't even started yet!

We finally made it to camp and our late arrival only threw the schedule off just a little bit.  The leaders got this awesome cabin!  We loved having a kitchen, bathrooms, and beds.  It was my kind of girls camp!

We had over 40 girls from our ward at camp.

We had a lot of fun leaders.

Our theme for the year was: It's Better to Look Up.  It was based on a talk given by Elder Carl B. Cook in 2011.  (One of our girls free handed this poster!  Amazing!)

During the week the girls made arrows to hang around the sign saying "It's better to..."  It was fun to see what they came up with.

We had so many great activites.  Wednesday morning we went on a fun hike to a heart rock.  The group in front got a little lost because the trail was unclear but we found our way to the rest of the group.  Because we went the long way we were able to walk along the creek and see a rattle snake.

We also participated in a Lifeboat activity which got everyone a little emotional but I think bonded our group overall.  We really were able to see how much the girls cared for one another and how they felt about themselves. 

We also had a great fireside, had a movie night (we watched UP), had a hilarious skit night, and some great rotations during the day.  I was in charge of crafts so I didn't get to go to all of them.  I had fun with the girls doing craft though!

We had a picturesque little pond near our cabin.

I don't even know how it began but we had a group of girls who came to hang out with us in our cabin every day.  We had so much fun with them playing silly games.

It was really nice for our entire bishopric to be at camp for part of the week. 

I wish I had more pictures that I had taken... but we asked the girls to give up their phones for the week so I thought it was only fair to keep mine put away as well. 

It was such a great week to get to know the girls in our ward better.  They really are amazing.  I am lucky to work with them and the other leaders.

Lydia really wanted to go with me (she is a girl after all!)  I hope I am able to go with her when she is finally old enough to go.

May Happenings

May is always a busy month with birthdays, anniversary, end of school, etc.

We love free comic book day.  Lydia especially loved it this year--probably because she watches Teen Titans Go! and so she recognizes the super heroes.  Alex and James went as well but they didn't want their pictures taken.

Lydia is a great little shopper now.  It took her a while to get to this point but I love it now!  She loved pushing the cart at Trader Joe's with Cotton Candy (the bunny) inside.

Sometimes Lydia thinks she needs to take my picture... so I guess I should document it.

Lydia loves to wear her OU shirt because "it matches dad".  Boomer Sooner!

I will miss it when I don't have a little shadow next to mine anymore.

Lydia and I had a fun girls weekend.  The boys were all camping so we ran errands, ate Cafe Rio and watched a movie.  In the morning we had a picnic in the loft and watched Frozen.

Mother's Day was great and I was spoiled as usual.

Lydia loves when her brothers make time to read to her.

Selfie by Lydia.

I loved being able to watch the live streaming of Jacob's high school graduation!

Alex turned 9!  How did that happen?!

Taking pictures keeps Lydia busy when we have long waits.  This was an extra special selfie!  Ha!

We only had one car in the Pinewood derby this year.  Alex's car was so slow but he had such a great attitude about it!  He is a great sport.

Lydia loves to look in the mirror after she gets ready.  It's super cute.  And she really loves that we "match" in these dresses.

I was having a crummy week and my friend (Melissa Belt) stopped by with my favorite yellow roses. 

The boys had a campout in the living room to kick off summer.

Another self portrait by Lydia... sweet little legs with princess shoes (on the wrong feet).

Cowabunga Bay lets students in for free if they have 3 or more As on the Friday after school lets out.  We made sure to take advantage!

Lydia really wanted to match Rich when we went to the Fitz's summer bash.  (I think Lydia is the only person that Rich doesn't mind matching with).

The Fitz's summer bash is always fun! Lydia had fun playing with all the baby dolls and the boys had a great time playing with the other kids and watching the Sandlot.  James told me later that the kids in the tree house treated him like a king--because he burped so loudly.

Rich and I celebrated our anniversary at Texas de Brazil churrascaria.  It was delicious!

Over Memorial Day weekend we took the family to the park to play tennis for a little while.  In the afternoon we had a water balloon fight and then Alex made us a patriotic dessert for family night.

Lydia and I made some strawberry freezer jam to enjoy this summer.  She's such a fun helper.