Happy Birthday Dallin!

Dallin had a Birthday!  He  turned six years old.  We are very proud of him.  He is so kind and thoughtful.  At times he can be down right belligerent, but his thoughtfulness more than makes up for it.  He will be going into the first grade.  Currently he loves Star Wars, Power Rangers, playing soccer, and swimming.

Dallin asked for pop tarts for his Birthday.  Easy enough for me, I guess.  :)

Dallin asked for a Power Ranger cake with real Power Rangers on it.  He aslo got wonderful gifts from family and friends.  He was very pleased.  For Dinner he asked for McDonalds, so that is what he got.

We celebrated on Saturday by going to Little Elm beach.  We had a blast with family and friends.  We are grateful they drove out with us to spend the day.

We were on Lake Lewisville.  This beach had real sand.  It was messy but fun.

We played a little soccer, played in sand, ate, and swam.

Michael was pulling the kids on the board.  He is really sore today.  ha ha

Good times with friends and family!  

Brinkerhoff Family Reunion

We had a great time at the Brinkerhoff family reunion.  We drove for two days to get to Nevada in a rented 12 passenger van with my Sister.  We stopped on our way there to stay the night with Michael's brother Paul.  He was a great host.  It was great to see where he lives and visit for a bit.  My grandparents lent us their trailer so we were living in luxury.  :)  The food was delicious.  My Mom and Aunts made wonderful food.  We ate like Kings and Queens. It was so fun to hang with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, and siblings.

I am having all kinds of trouble with blogger today, so this post will be all over the place, but the pictures will be up.

I finally got a four generation picture.  I love it!

On the 4th of July my kids got to be in the town parade.  It was an agricultural theme.  Joshua is a carrot, Dallin is corn on the cob, Leah is a flower, and Evan is a bee.  When my Mom was little they would get 50 cents and a popsicle for being in the parade.  Well, several years later my kids got 50 cents and a posicle for being in the parade.  They loved it!  They were even interviewed for the paper.  :)

We have several July Birthday in the family.  There were 8 of them all together.  We had a big Birthday for all of the July people.  Aunt Lori made a cake for each one.  Dallin loved all of his gifts and attention.  

Once again things are out of order, but I am too frustrated to fix it anymore.  On our way home we drove through Phoenix to see Quinn since he couldn't make the reunion.  It was great to see him an see where he lives.  He was a very gracious host.  We had two kids throwing up on the way home, so we were able to get everyone cleaned up there before driving the 15 hours home.

We had lots of games and activities at the reunion.  This was Michael's activity.  The boat regatta.  Everyone had fun.  Michael ended up being champion.  I put on a 5K  which Jenny won.  Joshua ran it in 31 minutes and Dallin in just under 40 min.  Jason took the men's devision.  We made stones  and Christmas ornaments.  We played lots of ping pong, horse shoes, crochet, and volley ball.  Michael had everyone playing rocket ball as well.  There was never a dull moment.

We played softball.  My team won!  

The kids swam in the local pool and little pool.  The boys really loved the slip and slide.

My family and my wonderful grandparents.

My Uncle and my cousins race.  My kids loved sitting in their race cars.

They even loved the truck that hauls the race cars.

Since we live in the city we aren't exposed to tractors as much, so my kids love to climb into the tractors.

All of the Birthday kids with their cakes.

Leah is playing in the misting hose.

We dyed bandanas.  

More parade photos.

What I do best is sit around and chat.  

Sometimes Michael and I can pose in a picture together.  :)

Evan after the parade.

My amazing Grandparents and all of thier grandkids minus 2.  Loren and Quinn are missing.

We had a wonderful time.  I love family!!

Happy Father's Day!

We have some awesome Dad's in our life.  I am grateful for wonderful Fathers and the wonderful examples of the great men in our life.  We made Michael's choice for dinner and had rootbeer floats.  Michael got to open a few presents and then get ready to head to scout camp.

I put Evan to work at Church, since we were in the hall anyway.  ;)

The kids made Michael a few gifts which he appreciated.  Joshua made him breakfast in the morning.  Dallin made him a magnet.  

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day!

Birthday and Schools Out!

Michael had a morale night at work on my Birthday, which was a night at a baseball game.  It worked out nicely to have Raytheon pay for my Birthday.  :)  We had a great time at the game.  My wonderful sister watched my kids while we had a blast.

They even had a fireworks show for me at the end.  ;)

Michael made a delicious cheesecake.  He did a great job making me feel special on my Birthday.  I got wonderful gifts, messages, and phone calls.  I feel very loved!

Joshua and Dallin moved on up to the next grade.  Joshua got all kinds of awards.  Dallin did great too!  They are excited to have a break from school.  Leah is excited to have them home.

We also did the DRC race.  The kids love running the 1K.  Dallin and Joshua did great taking first in their age division.  Not that it is competitive, everyone gets a cute medal, but the boys make sure I know where they came in.  :)  

Leah finished too and enjoyed the beautiful day at the lake.  

We have been spending time on our trampoline with the sprinkler.  Evan hates it, but the others love it!

Last week Evan took a spill and hit his face on the sidewalk.  It was awful looking.  He now has a little lip caught in his front tooth.  They said his teeth will move or it will come out on its own an bleed a little.  He creid and then was perfectly fine, but all the grown ups around were feeling for him.  

The kids also discovered posion ivy in our yard.  Dallin had a terrible reaction to it.  I had to take him in to the Doctor.  The others just had a little rash where they touched it or rubbed their faces after touching it.  They are doing much better now.  Dallin actually slept all through the night with no complaints of itching.   

Dinosaur Valley State Park

We decided to go out camping before it got too hot out.  We invited the Clarks and Cruz families.  We went to Dinosaur Valley State Park.  We loved it.  Evan is a great camper.  He went to sleep while Michael and I had to yell at the big kids to sleep for hours.  I guess that is how it goes.  They were all up before 6 AM.  

The  boys love camping.  They have been counting down the days until we got to go, and now are asking non stop when we'll go again.

I love Thomas's pose for this picture.  :)

Evan wandered around and got really filthy, but he was so good the whole time.

Jessica is good at posing as well.  I guess that is where Thomas gets it from.  :)  

We went out hiking to find dinosaur tracks.  

We had to cross the water to find the tracks, but found some good ones.  It was fun to see, and my kids loved it.

We of course have to stand by the life size dinos.  

This was Rylan's first camp out.  He made sure to keep his parent's on their toes.  We had delicious food and the whole time.  

We had a great time.  I am going to have to steal other people's pictures, because ours weren't the best.  It is hard to take photos and take care of little ones too.  :)