Hello Sunshine!: May 2011

Friday, May 20, 2011

Abby's birthday

Abby loves her birthday because it's the one time of year she gets a pedicure. It is often her number one request as a present. I love Abby's birthday because I get one too!!! Abby also loves to shop for her birthday. She has great fashion sense and is very thrifty and aware of prices. I love watching her decide if something is worth the money, or how many other things she could get for the same price!

I can't believe she's already 11!!! She is such a beautiful young lady and is super talented! She is the tallest kid in 5th grade and will be in middle school next year!!!! I'm not ready for that, but I know she is and she'll do great!

Random Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Did I mention our cousins got passes too? Well, Aislynn's family and Brandon's families also got passes. I didn't take many pictures with Aisi's family, but here are some random shots from different trips.....we are having a blast! I think I also forgot to mention what a great motivator season passes are. "There's too much fighting! If you guys don't knock it off, we can stay home. Or just ONE of you can stay with me and the rest can go with dad!" We haven't had to keep anyone home yet, but there have been some close calls! :)

Family Outdoor day

One of the cub requirements it to plan an outdoor day with your family. Matthew decided to he wanted to go downtown and see the Riverwalk and the Alamo. If you aren't familiar with San Antonio, google the Riverwalk. Under the city, they have made this super cool boat tour of San Antonio. The have diverted part of the Guadalupe River (I think) and built shops and restaurants for a couple miles. It's really cool. The offer boat tours and give lots of info about the city. It was really fun during the day, and sort of romantic during the night. After the Riverwalk, we ate lunch at Subway and headed to the library. Matthew planned a great day. It was relaxing and fun to just enjoy the family and this fun city we now live in.

Enchanted Rock

So, we get a few extra holidays here in San Antonio. One is the Battle of the Roses. I have no idea what it is about and had no interest to look it up this year, so we just enjoyed the break from school. We got an extra Friday off school the week before Good Friday. There were a few ladies in the ward who wanted to hike Enchanted Rock. It is a national park and is a fun place to camp and go repelling. My sister's family went for their spring break and I heard it was a lot of fun. So us moms decided to take our kids (19 in all) and have a picnic, then hike up the rock. It took about 45 minutes to drive to Fredricksburg (I think), then we ate and started hiking. All the kids did great! It is literally a gigantic boulder that you hike. There wasn't a lot of shrubbery and other obstacles, so that was nice for the kids. It was a gradual climb so that was also nice. On part was a little scary when you have to climb a few boulders to reach the flatter surface again, but other than that it was great! It was super, mega windy at the top, but there were craters with water in them to play around for a bit. We had a blast and will definitely do it again, maybe with out of town visitors...:)

Life goes on...

So I pulled out my calender to make sure I don't forget to blog about something really important, and realize just how quickly we have gotten back into regular life, just somewhere else. The kids have piano lessons on Wednesdays, scouts and activity days on Wednesday night, random birthday parties for different kids, preschool for Rylee on Tuesday and Thursday, the gym for Rylee, Macy, and I every morning...it makes me sad and happy at the same time. I'm glad that we are able to just adjust our environment and move on, but I liked my old routine too...I still feel a little home sick.

We have season passes to Six Flags and go just about every weekend. Macy and Rylee are cheese balls and like to have their pictures taken, so here are some random shots.

Matthew's natural talent

So on a totally random note, I have to share this story because that what blogs are for, right? Anyway, Todd and I were sitting by the table talking. I think the girls were in bed and Matthew had just come home from scouts. Todd and I were just chatting about everyday boring stuff and Matthew breaks in and says,"Can I be funny right now?" Todd and I look at each other and reply, "Sure Matthew, then you need to go to bed." Matthew proceeds to lift up his hand with the item above on it (which happens to be a golf club driver cover I got for Todd when I was in Norway) and in a totally normal voice and straight face says, "I have bad news. I just found out I'm a Norwegian Elk. I thought I was a moose!" Todd and I burst out laughing for about 5 minutes. It was hilarious!!!! I immediately thought, "I have to write this down and take a picture. I am a blogger now!" It only took me 3 months to actually blog about it, but it still makes me laugh just thinking about it!

Spring Break with Kober's

So I'm just going to back track a bit (as best as memory serves) and run down the last few months. I was not as good as Meredith at taking pictures, but we had a blast! We went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, the zoo, play at my brother's house, went to the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and just hung out. March madness was in full swing, so we watched a lot of basketball (sorry Meredith, go UNC) and played "Feets and Hands" a ton!

Now, let me explain..."Hand and Foot" is the actual name of the card game. IT requires a minimum of 3 decks (for 2 people) and more if more people are playing. It involves collecting as many of the same number card as possible, but lots of different numbers. It is super fun to play (Todd and play almost every night after the kids are in bed) and it is super fun to play in pairs, like against Kober's. Todd and I were playing one day and Macy walked up to us and said, "Are you playing Feets and Hands? You know, Numbers?" And so now it has officially been renamed Feets and Hands.

Anyway, it was super fun to have our good friends around and it fun to listen to the kids being crazy! They all had a blast and loved sleeping as a mob in the game room. There were two empty bedrooms because they all wanted to sleep on the floor together. They are getting so big I'm not sure how much longer they will be able to do that, but what great memories they have!

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Happy Anniversary, Handsome!

I know I haven't updated in a LONG time, and I promise to do some today, but I just wanted to say happy 12th anniversary to Todd (on the 18th). I can't believe how fast the time goes!!! It seems like just yesterday we met at Wells Fargo Bank and started playing basketball with my cousins at the church. I'll never forget the lunch date with 2 other co-workers at Training Table when he found out how old I was. His expression was priceless and he was so withdrawn for the rest of the day, it was quite comical. I'm glad he was able to get over the age gap and realize it is just a number (but holy dang-he is old now! :) Just kidding, no really...). Anyway, I don't have any pictures scanned in from our wedding, but I"ll put up as soon as I get a second. But look at us now, 12 years and 5 kids later and still as happy as our wedding day. I don't know who I'd be without my better half and I'm eternally grateful I get to keep him forever! Happy Anniversary, love!