Happy 32nd Dave!

Today is my handsome husband's birthday! Happy Birthday, hon! I just wanted to post some of the things that I love most about Dave.

1. I love the way he loves our children. He is definately the "fun" parent, as I am a lot more serious. He loves to play with them and tease them. He and Easton love to play catch with the football. I can see the pride in Dave as his son throws him a near perfect spiral. :) The girls have him completely wrapped around their little fingers. It is so cute. They completely adore their dad.





2. I love the way that he loves me. He is very good to me. He understands my quirks and my flaws and loves me despite them. He is very patient with me when I am frustrated (usually with the kids) and tries to help me through those times. He is so good about giving me time to myself while he watches the kids. I am so thankful for alone time because it makes me a better mother, and he understands that. We are good partners and I am so thankful for him.



3. I love how he is the BEST gift giver. When I think about buying him gifts, I never know what to get. I usually end up with something kind of lame or else the same type of gift that I have gotten him before. He is very good about thinking about my needs and listening to my wants. He always comes up with very good and useful gifts for me. And, who doesn't love gifts??



4. I love that he is obsessed with sports. :) This one I admit, I don't LOVE all of the time, but I love that he has something he loves so much. Sports make him happy. Playing or watching, it doesn't matter. Three years ago we went to Atlanta. He is a life-long Atlanta Braves fan. So, that trip was an absolute dream come true for him! It was very fun to watch him, like a kid in the candy store. We went to an afternoon came in the beginning of July in Atlanta. Let me tell you, it was HOT, HOT, HOT! We had super great seats, but no shade. I thought I was going to die! I have never been so hot. I must have drank 5 bottles of water. I could hardly watch the game because I was so concerned with how hot I was. Was Dave hot? I am sure he was, but he never noticed! To this day he tells me that it wasn't very hot. That is soooo not true, but he just didn't notice because he was in heaven every minute of that game. It is funny!


Our view of the Braves dugout...you can see why he was in heaven!!

He also loves to play sports, especially softball. He has played softball every year that I have known him, except for the years he was on his mission. He plays very well and is in love with the sport. We have traveled many miles playing tournaments and spend countless nights at the ballpark.

5. I love it when he cooks. He cooks a few things really well. He makes great eggrolls and fresh salsa. Those two things are 100% his and I don't have much to do with. They are always very yummy. I am sure he could make a lot more yummy things, but unfortunately for us, I do most of the cooking! :)



6. I love his sense of humor. He is really funny and fun to be around. He is a big tease. He loves being with people that he can tease and joke with.



7. I love the way he LOVES a clean garage and well manicured yard. I love it because they are HIS. I don't ever have to clean the garage, and I don't do the yard work (unless he is working long hours. I have done my fair share when needed). The garage is his and the house is mine and we are fine with that! :)

I love many more things about Dave. He is my best friend. He is my support and my partner. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so happy that he chose me to spend his life with, I am a lucky girl for sure!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday, Dave! You deserve it!

More vacation fun...

TOGETHER WE SWING

DIVIDED WE FALL!

So, we have had some fun days here in Washington. Yesterday we went shopping for school clothes. Okay, so that wasn't a ton of fun. The kids are not really that good of shcppers and it stresses me to have to spend so much money at one time. So, that wasn't so great. But we did find some good deals which made it worth the trip.

That afternoon we got out grandpa's remote control cars.




It was really hot that afternoon so we didn't play for too long. But, they are pretty neat little cars and are fun to drive. The kids (and mommy and daddy) had fun driving them! We brought their scooters up with us, so they had fun doing that, too.




In the evening, we ventured out to Chuck E. Cheese.




They always love going there. But, we DEFINATELY don't go there for the pizza! It isn't very good.



But, it is all about the games! They love it.





They each were able to earn quite a few tickets and get some prizes. It really was a fun night.

We did find out that Avery has quite a "thing" for Bob the Builder...see for yourself!


Going for it....

SCORE! :)

Since it was so hot yesterday, I think today we are going to take them to a splash park. But, Paisley has not been feeling well and has thrown up this morning. She says she is feeling better now, so we'll see if we actually get to the splash park or not.

We are having a great time. It is nice to have a break from real life and just play!

Camping pics (finally) and Washington

It has been a very busy and crazy week. I have been wanting to post pictures of our camping trip all week but I just haven't had the time.

We had a great time camping! We have a fun group of people in our ward and it made for lots of fun and laughs around camp.





We had a talent show. Easton and Paisley, accompanied by Dave, told jokes to the group as their talent. It was very cute! :)



We also had a pajama fashion show and smores. The kids slept well in the tent, even though we didn't get to bed until really late and got up pretty early. In the morning, the guys made breakfast for everyone. After breakfast, most of the kids made bottle rockets and were able to shoot them off later. That was a lot of fun!







The kids loved every minute that we were camping! I had a really good time, also. Dave has never had any desire to go camping. We did it once about 6 years ago, and haven't done it again. But, obviously this time he had a pretty good time. When we were talking to my parents later, he suggested that we all go camping sometime this summer. I was shocked that he would be the one to suggest that! So, I am very happy we went and hopefully it will lead to a few more camping trips in the future!

The reason why I was so busy this week is because I was packing, paying bills, cleaning house, returning library books, and all the things I had to get done before we left on VACATION! That's right! We are currently in good ol' Washington visiting Dave's parents. They moved here this year and so this is our family's first trip to this area. We have been excited all summer for this trip and we are finally here.

We left Thursday night and broke it up into two days. The trip was very long, but the kids actually did pretty well. We had the luxury of 3 DVD players on the trip and so they each got to watch their own movie. That definately made the trip easier.






We arrived Friday afternoon. Dave's mom had a nice dinner prepared for us for that evening. After dinner we took the kids down to a park that is right near their house. That was a great way to run off the cooped up energy from our long drive that day! The kids had a lot of fun!







This morning, we went to breakfast at a really good local restaurant. Afterwards, John and Shirley gave us a nice tour of the tri-cities area. We stopped at a Farmer's Market and bought some produce to make some homemade salsa tonight. We also stopped by a fantastic 12,000 square foot playground for the kids to play on.











There was so much for them to do. They could have played there all day! We will definately go back there before we leave.

Tonight we all watched a movie that we rented and just got the kids put in bed. It has been a really nice, relaxing day. I am looking forward to several more of these kind of days before we leave! It is so great to be away from our everyday lives and just focus on having fun together!! :) Thanks, John and Shirley, for letting us crash your quiet house! :)

Fun Friday!

lantern...check
sleeping bags x 5...check
blankets...check
hot dog sticks...check
cooler...check
mosquito repellent...check
tent...check

Can you guess what we are doing tonight???? Yep...camping! Dave and I's FAVORITE activity. Such a favorite in fact that we have only done it once in our almost 9 years of marriage!! :) We can't wait!

Our ward is doing a family camp out instead of a father/son camp out this year. At first, I was really excited. Our kids have asked us to take them camping on multiple occasions. I know they are going to LOVE it! But, the closer we get, the more work it becomes and I wonder if it is worth it!! I mean, I will spend most of today getting ready for one night, probably 15 or so hours of outdoor fun! :)

I know it will be worth it, don't let me kid you. I am just dreading a bit the dirtiness and smokiness of it all. But, it will be fun to visit with friends and hopefully make new friends. It will be fun to watch kids in a talent show, watch people in the crazy p.j. contest, witness Avery's first experience in a tent, spend good quality time with my most favorite people in the world, and of course it will be fun to....EAT SMORES!! So, what am I complaining about? This is going to be a blast!

(Stay tuned in...I am sure I will have some fun stories to tell tomorrow!) :)

I know you are all probably sick of posts of us doing water activities! TOO BAD! :) That is our life right now. I swear not a day goes by without swimsuits! :) I am thankful for friends who come up with good ideas and get us out of the house!

After swimming lessons today we headed for the lake with a few friends. It is pretty shallow and the kids actually got to play in the sand. It is the closest thing to a real beach they have been to. They LOVED it! :)

So, enjoy the pics of our day! :)








Nothing like lunch in the sand to make a true "sand"wich! :)

They were pretty dirty and tired by the time we left, but it was very worth it!