Living By Faith

Our Cheerleader

2011-12-24T18:13:00.001-06:00

Nicole is excited to be a Jr High cheerleader this year. They are practicing very hard to learn all the dances, cheers, and stunts.

Visiting Family

2011-12-24T17:34:00.001-06:00

Richard's mom with her sister, Betty, and brother-in-law, Don.

Don taught the kids how to shoot a BB gun. Jack had so much fun with him!

He gave Jack a hat and a bear skin rug. Jack had fun with "his buddy".

Lookout Mountain

2011-12-24T17:09:00.001-06:00

We took Richard's mom to Tennessee to visit her sister. While we were there, we took the kids to Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, rode the Incline Railway, and went to Point Park. Richard's grandfather worked as a night watchman on Lookout Mountain.

Lauren's 8th Birthday

2011-12-24T14:47:00.000-06:00

After traveling through 10 states and 6,000 miles, we were all exhausted, but we stopped at Rebecca's house in Garland to celebrate Lauren's birthday. She was so excited to spend her birthday with cousins.

Mesa Verde, Colorado

2011-06-14T21:31:00.000-06:00

Snow on the mountains in Colorado.

From Four Corners, we drove to Mesa Verde National Park. The kids have read stories in school about the Indians who were cliffdwellers, so we wanted them to see the real cliff dwellings.

Inside the park, we saw horses grazing in open areas that were not even fenced off.

These houses were built in the side of the cliffs. We hiked into the canyon to see them in the Spruce Tree House area of the park. The trail was about a 1/2 mile long.

They got ahead of me when I was taking pictures, so I took this to show how far down they were.

We climbed down a ladder into a Kiva, a pit house that is built under ground. The roof is even with the ground.

The girls with the grinding stones.

Inside the museum, we saw pottery, clothing, weaving, basket making, food, types of houses, weapons, etc.

In this picture, you can see forest land in the front, plains in the middle, and mountains the snow in the distance!

Four Corners

2011-06-14T20:37:00.000-06:00

We left Holbrook and drove to Four Corners today. We kept seeing these huge rock formation in the middle of the flat plains.

Four Corners is on Indian land. It is where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado meet.

All four children are standing in a different state in this picture! I was standing in the Colorado section with Jack, but all three girls can say they have been to a different state without their parents. HAHA!

The seal reads, "Four states here meet in freedom under God."

The sand blows everywhere out here and sometimes makes it hard to see. It was piled up along the fence rows in some areas, and it was piled up really high along the cliffs.

The Grand Canyon

2011-06-14T09:37:00.000-06:00

We drove from Sedona to the Grand Canyon today. I took this photo upon top of the mountains. Check out the temperature: 48 degrees!!!!

We stopped at an overlook to take some pictures. This shows the road that we just traveled to come up the mountain. There were Indians with tables set up selling jewelry, pottery, etc.

We saw about fifteen Lamborghinis following each other up the mountain. These cars cost between 1/4 to 1/2 million dollars each!

The Grand Canyon was beautiful! It is amazing how far down the canyon goes. They said that some parts are ten miles across. We were on the South Rim.

The Lamborghinis that we saw earlier on the mountain were also at the Grand Canyon. They said they were in town for a factory rally that they have once a year.

We stopped at an Indian trading store on the way to Holbrook.

Snow on the mountains just outside of Flagstaff.

We traveled for a little way on Route 66!

More Sedona Scenery

2011-06-13T23:35:00.000-06:00

I took these pictures while we were shopping in downtown Sedona. Sedona is such a pretty place. I would love to come back again sometime.

Slide Rock

2011-06-13T23:26:00.000-06:00

We went swimming at Slide Rock State Park between Sedona and Flagstaff. The scenery, waterfalls, natural rock waterslides, etc. were beautiful! We weren't expecting the water to be so cold though. It was even too cold for Richard. We kept getting in and out to warm up. The water comes from snow melting off the mountains.

The girls talked Richard and Honey into going down one of the rock waterslides with them.

We saw this blooming cactus on a trail beside the swimming area. We also walked through the apple orchards.

Look how tall this blue spruce tree is compared to Richard!

Verde Canyon Railroad

2011-06-12T23:54:00.000-06:00

We took a four hour train ride through Verde Canyon yesterday.

The scenery from the train was beautiful!

They call the rock formation on the top right "Angel Rock".

Another picture that I took hanging out the car window on the way back to the resort. :-) Everywhere you look, you see pretty rock formations.

Tuzigoot National Monument

2011-06-12T23:18:00.000-06:00

Tuzigoot National Monument is the ruins where the Sinagua tribe lived from 1000 to 1400. There were many examples of pottery, arrow heads, etc. in the museum area.

This is a model of what the pueblo style houses would have looked like. The family in the upper room would have needed to climb seven ladders just to get to there room. Imagine carrying water up there!

The ruins are missing the wooden roofs.

The houses were built side by side and on top of each other. Each family had one room. See how small Dad looks at the very top!

One of the rooms was restored to show what it would have looked like.

Lauren found a stone and trough in one room that would have been used to grind corn.

Dad always finds the oddest things. We thought this lizard was cool that blends in with the tree bark.

Sedona, Arizona

2011-06-10T19:31:00.000-06:00

Driving through Arizona this morning, we saw several hot air balloons.

The red rock formations here are just beautiful! It is amazing how different other parts of the country look.

We went to the Chapel of the Holy Cross on top of one of the mountains. The view was wonderful!

Looking down the mountain, we could see this HUGE house.

California Sunset

2011-06-09T22:23:00.000-06:00

We have had a lot of fun in California! Maybe we can come back again sometime. Here's one last picture from California: a beautiful sunset over the ocean. Tomorrow, we will go to Sedona, AZ.

Dolphins and Whales

2011-06-09T00:31:00.000-06:00

Today we went to Dana Point on a whale watching tour. We saw dolphins, blue whales, and a sea lion. It was a lot of fun.

The dolphins completely surrounded our boat. We have seen dolphins in Florida before but never this many at one time. They were beautiful!

They were swimming right along with us, jumping and playing.

We saw a blue whale several times. They said that it is so big that it's tongue is the size of an African elephant and a child the size of Jack could swim through the main artery going to its heart and never touch the sides. WOW! We only saw part of it when it would come up for air because it was feeding on the kreel.

Jack and Paw-Paw relaxing.

Fun in the pool... also VERY cold!

Oceanside

2011-06-09T00:12:00.000-06:00

We made it to Oceanside, CA yesterday. The scenery is beautiful, but the water is so cold! It's in the 60s here all the time, so the water doesn't get very warm.

Even with the cold water, the kids couldn't resist playing in it for a little bit. It was too cold for the adults!

We watched some surfers from the pier across from our resort. Look how tiny the surfer looks beside this HUGE wave!

This surfer had a wipe-out when this wave crashed.

Knott's Berry Farms

2011-06-08T23:58:00.000-06:00

On the way to Oceanside, we stopped at Knott's Berry Farms. We didn't go to the theme parks, but we ate at the famous fried chicken restaurant and got to do some shopping. They serve over 1,000 chickens a day at their restaurant!

Look at all the yummy jellies!

Lauren and Jack could have stayed in the candy room forever!

We stopped at a roadside rest stop along the coast and these ground squirrels were everywhere! They ran right up to us begging for food.

California Adventure

2011-06-08T23:48:00.000-06:00

We bought Jack a graduation Mickey apple to eat at Downtown Disney and they gave him a "Just Graduated" button to wear. He was so proud of it. They gave us anniversary buttons too.

We all got SOAKED on this ride, and it was so cold!

The view of the ferris wheel and roller coaster from the ground:

The view of the roller coaster from the top of the ferris wheel:

We all rode the bumper cars and had a great time crashing into each other.

We saw a stage performance of Aladdin. (They only allowed pictures without flash.) It was neat to see them fly into the audience on the magic carpet.

Disneyland

2011-06-07T22:17:00.000-06:00

We started the day off with breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. The kids got to meet Goofy, Chip and Dale, Pluto, Aladdin, Snow White, and Rafiki. Baloo the Bear was there too, but he had to go on a break. Then we headed to Disneyland for a full day of riding rides and meeting more characters.

Hollywood

2011-06-07T21:44:00.000-06:00

The famous Hollywood sign in the distance.

The Kodak Theatre where they hold the Academy Awards each year.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre where lots of stars have the impressions of their hands and feet in the sidewalk.

Richard posing outside Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum with "Marilyn Monroe".

Outside Grauman's Theatre, there were lots of people dressed as different characters and famous people who wanted tips for posing for photos. Jack wanted to take a picture with Diego.

Lauren trying out Will Smith's handprints.

Natalie with Natalie Woods' prints.

Nicole with Nicole Kidman's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's star.

This wreath was at James Arness' star because he passed away on June 3rd.

Trolley Car dining

2011-06-07T21:09:00.000-06:00

When we were in Phoenix, we ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I didn't have my camera with me, so I took a couple of pictures of us on my cell phone. Inside the restaurant, they have a trolley car where you can eat.

Jack ordered spaghetti and meatballs. What he got was spaghetti and one BIG, HUGE meatball. It was so funny!

California

2011-06-04T00:48:00.000-06:00

We drove from Phoenix, AZ to Anaheim, CA today. These huge windmills are everywhere.

I just had to get a picture of this! Snow in June!!! We didn't have a place to pull over, so I had to take the picture out the car window.

We went to Downtown Disney to look at all the shops. Jack's favorite was the Lego store.

Nicole and Natalie look so tiny next to this Lego giraffe.

The Grand Californian Hotel is at Downtown Disney. We looked around and found some hidden Mickeys.

Natalie inside the World of Disney store trying to take Ursula's pearl.

Nicole posing at Studio Disney 365.

Since today was our 16th anniversary, we went out to eat at The Cheesecake Factory.

More from Tombstone

2011-06-02T21:07:00.000-06:00

Today we toured more of Tombstone. We ate a yummy breakfast at Morgan's and made Old Timey pictures dressed up in Old West clothes. That was fun. Here are a few more pictures:

This is the courthouse.

There were old stagecoaches that you could ride to take a tour around the town.

This is a statue of Wyatt Earp outside of his house.

O K Corral

2011-06-01T22:55:00.000-06:00

We left New Mexico today and drove to Arizona.

The scenery out here is so different than at home. The kids just keep saying, "WOW! Look over there!" over and over.

Nothing like hanging out a vehicle window that is traveling at 75 mph to get a picture!

These HUGE boulders were everywhere.

We got to Tombstone in time to go to the O K Corral.

I think Lauren would have been an Annie Oakley if she had been born during Old West times. Haha!

We watched a re-enactment of the gun fight at the O K Corral followed by a show about the history of Tombstone.

Carlsbad Caverns

2011-06-01T22:20:00.000-06:00

Carlsbad Caverns was amazing! It's so beautiful to see what all God has created. The caverns go down 750 feet, and it is about 60 degrees inside all the time.

6th Birthday

2011-06-01T21:51:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday, big boy! Jack wanted a new bat and his own batting tee so he could practice batting. He really liked t-ball, and his coaches were great!

Birthday cake at school with his class and a few of his t-ball buddies from my class.

Our Graduate

2011-06-01T21:34:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that his kindergarten year is already over and that he will be going to 1st grade! He loved school this year and really learned a lot!

He was so proud of himself and wanted to stand on stage like the big kids do at sixth grade graduation.

Mother's Day Tea Party

2011-05-31T21:45:00.000-06:00

Jack's class had a Mother's Day Tea Party for the mothers. It was so sweet! They sang a couple of songs for us, served us our food, and gave us lots of goodies that they had made.

My handsome little man!

Birthday Girls

2011-04-24T18:44:00.000-06:00

Natalie turned 11 this month. She loved her pink "bling" case for her iPod and her new purse.

We let her take a couple of friends to see "Diary of a Whimpy Kid: Roderick Rules" and had a cake at the mall afterward. It was a funny movie.

Nicole turned 13 this month! Finally a teenager. We gave her a new purse and cheerleader necklace.

We let her take a couple friends to see "Soul Surfer" and surprised her with a cake at the mall. The movie was great! It had a wonderful message.

"Charlie's Angel's" talked Richard into letting Nicole get her ears pierced for her 13th birthday. +

Sarongs from Puerto Rico.

Opening Ceremonies

2011-04-10T20:12:00.000-06:00

This is Jack's first year to play t-ball.

Lauren is playing softball again this year.

Kindergarten Rodeo

2011-04-10T19:36:00.000-06:00

Jack's kindergarten class had a rodeo and the students all had a great time. The said the pledges and had a grand entrance like a real rodeo.

The first event that they did was barrel racing.

Jack was running so fast that I got a picture of him with both feet off the ground!

They also did calf roping and horseshoes. It was very cute!

Track

2011-04-10T19:04:00.001-06:00

Nicole decided to run track this semester. So proud that she is trying new things! She ran the 400m and 800m.

Lauren was cold she she put on Nicole's sweat suit. HAHA!

Donkey Basketball

2011-03-16T18:36:00.000-06:00

The cheerleaders sponsored a donkey basketball game for a fund raiser to raise money for uniforms and cheer camp. I had never been to a donkey basketball game before, but it was so fun!

Congratulations!

2011-03-16T18:12:00.000-06:00

Nicole tried out for cheerleader last year, but did not make it. We are so proud of her for not giving up and for trying again. Congratulations, CHEERLEADER!

Basketball Tournament

2011-03-16T18:08:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-03-16T17:52:00.000-06:00

Birthday Snow

2011-03-16T17:38:00.000-06:00

On Richard's birthday, we had a mixture of snow and ice. School was canceled. The kids loved it!

Little Dribblers

2011-03-16T17:23:00.000-06:00

Jack and Lauren both played Little Dribblers this year. They both were #12 on their teams. It's good to see them doing something they enjoy.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-03-16T16:56:00.000-06:00

Fireworks at midnight in our front yard. Happy New Year 2011!!! We've had so much happen in 2010 with losing Granny and Richard's mom being sick that we are looking forward to the new year.

Sparkling grape juice to toast the new year.

Christmas Play

2011-03-16T16:34:00.000-06:00

Natalie, Lauren, and Jack were all in the Christmas play at church this year.

Natalie was Mary.

Lauren was an angel.

Jack was a wise man.

Christmas 2010

2011-03-16T16:24:00.000-06:00

Miss Merry Christmas Pageant

2011-03-16T14:45:00.000-06:00

Natalie and Nicole competed in the Miss Merry Christmas pageant again this year. Lauren didn't want to this time.

My beautiful girls:

Natalie won Queen in the 9-11 year old division. Nicole won 1st Runner Up in the 12-13 year old division. We are so proud of them!

Halloween 2010

2011-03-16T14:29:00.000-06:00

Nicole and some of her friends decided to be fairies this year. Nicole was a blue, cheetah fairy.

Natalie was Snow White and she carried the Seven Dwarfs in a basket.

Lauren and Jack were Jessie and Woody from Toy Story.

Cousins and friends met at our house to go trick-or-treating on Main Street. It was a lots of fun! Everyone got plenty of candy, cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, etc...

Carving Out Memories

2010-12-28T09:59:00.000-06:00

Ever year the kids carve out a pumpkin and Richard makes a pumpkin pie from scratch. YUMMY!

Nicole had a pumpkin decorating contest at her school. She made hers into a turkey. The turkey is holding signs that read, "Just say NO to pumpkin pie!" and "Eat more apple pie."

Johnny Appleseed Day

2010-09-27T20:14:00.000-06:00

Today was Johnny Appleseed Day in kindergarten. All the kids in Jack's class dressed up and they spent all day doing apple related activities and trying lots of yummy foods and drinks.

Jack wanted to take an apple pie, so Richard and I made one last night from a recipe we found on the Internet. It was yummy! Can't wait to get more apples and make another one.

Grandparent's Day

2010-09-27T20:03:00.000-06:00

My pre-k class and Jack's kindergarten class said the pledges and then the kindergartners sang a song.

Back to School

2010-08-23T19:06:00.000-06:00

I can't believe Nicole is in Jr. High! WOW! 7th grade! I took a couple of pictures of her one day before school started when no other students were there. Didn't want to embarrass her on meet the teacher night.

Lauren is so excited to be in her Daddy's class this year.

Jack is in kindergarten. Now he says he's "one of the big kids".

Natalie is starting 5th grade. She's going to miss having Nicole on our campus.

BLING!

2010-08-10T21:11:00.000-06:00

I took Nicole to get her top braces today. They will put the bottom braces on in a month or two. I told her that she should like them as much as she loves "bling" on everything else (note the sunglasses and hat!), but she insists, "These aren't bling!"

Before:

During:

After:

Of course she chose blue bands when they let her chose her color for this month. Each time she goes they will give her thicker wires until they get to the size they need.

After she got them, we were in Hobby Lobby and it started storming. We were standing on the sidewalk waiting for the rain to slow down before we tried to get to the car. It lightened and thundered at exactly the same time and Nicole hollered, "Oh God that was right in front of me and my mouth is full of metal!" I asked her if her teeth were tingling. She was NOT amused. Of course her Daddy asked her if she could open her mouth and find a radio station playing Hannah Montana.

Minnie Mouse Party

2010-07-31T22:41:00.000-06:00

Robyn had a Minnie Mouse birthday party for her first birthday. See how sweet she is and how clean her face is at the beginning of the party. ;-)

She definately knows what money is! Look at her expression in this photo when she sees the money in one of her birthday cards. She's ready to shop!

Remember how clean her face was at the begining of the party?... Time for cake...

I jokingly said to another guest at the party that I was waiting for her to stick her face in the cake. Almost as if on que, she put her face on the cake and looked right at me like, "Well, go ahead! Get the picture!" It was so funny.

Where's that clean face?!?! Happy 1st Birthday, sweet niece. I know you enjoyed your big day!

Chuck E. Cheese

2010-07-31T09:06:00.000-06:00

We came to Dallas this weekend for Robyn's 1st birthday party. It's hard to believe that she is already a year old! When we got here yesterday, we went shopping and took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese.

Panama City Beach

2010-07-17T18:36:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we stayed at Panama City Beach. Our room was on the 22nd floor! WOW, what a view! There was no oil in the water there, so we were able to swim and play in the sand for a little while.

This was the view from our balcony before the storm and then as the storm was passing by. Notice in the second picture how you can see clearly on one side but you can see the wall of rain on the other side of the picture.

2010-07-15T09:54:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we slept late after staying out late for the Electric Parade. We went to Epcot for our last day. The kids got to meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy at a Character Spot inside Innoventions exclusively for Disney Visa cardholders. They will take group pictures and you can print a free 5x7 at the Kodak store near the entrance. We rode Spaceship Earth and played the games at the end.

We rode Mission Space again, but this time we went on the green team, not the orange team. We rode Energy Adventure, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and Soarin'. We watched The Circle of Life. We walked through the aquariums at the end of the Nemo ride.

The kids had fun playing the games at Innoventions. There was a video game that took your picture running, jumping, and dancing and put you in the game as characters.

Everywhere we went, the people who work in the shops kept giving the kids stickers. The more they got, the more people tried to give them. It was so funny.

Well, it's been a great vacation. Thursday, we will spend the day packing up and swimming in the pool, and we'll start home Friday.

Disney's Electric Parade

2010-07-14T10:01:00.000-06:00

We stayed at the Magic Kingdom to see the Electric Parade. They had this the year that we came on our honeymoon, and just started having it again this year. It started to rain toward the end of the parade, but it was pretty.

Hall of Presidents

2010-07-14T09:30:00.000-06:00

After eating at the T-Rex Cafe, we went to the Magic Kingdom to get my mom a picture frame from Splash Mountain. We rode Splash Moutain and It's a Small World again and watched the show at the Hall of Presidents.

T-Rex Cafe

2010-07-14T09:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we went to look some more at Downtown Disney and ate lunch at the T-Rex Cafe. It is like a Rain Forest Cafe, except instead of rain forest animals, there are all kinds of dinosaurs that move and instead of thunderstorms they have meteor showers.

Part of the restaraunt was an ice cave with a dinosaur skeleton inside. During the meteor showers, it changed from blue to red.

I didn't even notice while I was taking the pictures, but it totally cracked me up when I was loading the pictures. Click on the picture below to make it bigger and check out Lauren's face! She is such a character.

At first, Jack didn't want to walk around, but he finally decided that he wanted to go see everything once they quit moving.

Natalie still has not been able to find a Lotso Bear, so she made a Wooly Mammoth at the Build-a-Dino. She named him Brownie.

Hollywood Studios Day 2

2010-07-12T19:16:00.000-06:00

Today we went to Hollywood Studios again to ride some rides that we missed the first day. Natalie and I rode the Rock 'N Roller Coaster while the others went to see Beauty and the Beast Live On Stage(Nicole took pictures of it on her camera).

Then Natalie, Lauren and I rode of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It dropped us four times! Lauren would have ridden on the Rock 'N Roller Coaster with us, but she wasn't tall enough and it goes upside down a couple of times.

After that, we rode Toy Story Mania again, because we all like that ride. Nicole made the highest score out of all of us(100,000 points!) We also took Natalie to meet Lotso again so she could get him to sign her autograph book. We didn't have it with us the last time.

We also rode The Great Movie Ride.

We watched The Voyage of the Little Mermaid on stage.

We came back to the resort to eat and swim in the pool/lazy river for a while.

Relaxing Day

2010-07-11T20:10:00.001-06:00

After breakfast at Chef Mickey's, we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian and took some pictures. I might use the family photo for our Christmas card, so I'm not going to post it.

We came back to our resort to swim in the lazy river and went to the pool across the lake with the waterslide. For lunch, we grilled steaks outside.

After lunch we all took a long nap, then went to play Putt Putt and play in the sand at the volleyball court.

It was relaxing just to stay here today and enjoy the resort.

While I was posting this, the fire alarm started going off! It has a speaker on the alarm and they were telling us to immediately leave the building and do not take the elevators, so we walked down all the way from the 12th floor! Turned out to be a false alarm, but it was a little scary. Lots of people were in their pajamas. Too bad I didn't take my camera with me to get a picture of the fire truck.

Chef Mickey's

2010-07-11T19:31:00.000-06:00

We got up early this morning and went to eat at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Pluto were all there.

Epcot Day 2

2010-07-10T19:41:00.001-06:00

We went to Epcot again today and rode the Soarin' ride twice as soon as we got there. It is such a great ride! If you ever come to DisneyWorld, you MUST ride it!

While we were waiting for the ride the second time, we met this man and his wife. We didn't even ask their names, but he played games with the kids the whole time. He was hilarious. In this picture, he and Nicole are having a staring contest.

After we rode it the second time, we went to the World Showcase part of Epcot and walked around all the countries. It's always fun to see what items from each country they have in the shops that we don't have here in the States.

Canada was the first country that we went to.

The United Kingdom was next. The kids met Winie the Pooh, Tigger, and Alice there.

France was next, and we stopped at a wonderful pastry shop. We shared a piece of cheesecake and a chocolate crossiant.

Pictures from Morocco:

A view back across the lake toward Spaceship Earth.

Japan is the next country.

Followed by the American Adventure.

A picture from Italy:

In Germany, we saw this statue of Cinderella's castle covered in jewels. Be sure to notice the price, $37,500, what a souvenir!

Japan:

In Norway, we rode Maelstrom.

Mexico was the last country that we visited. There we rode the Gran Fiesta Tour.

The Grand Floridian

2010-07-10T08:40:00.000-06:00

We rode the monorail to the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and Contemporary to look around at the shops. We found some cool designs in the marble floor at the Grand Floridian.

Lauren and Jack both fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel. We were all tired, so we ordered pizza and Chinese food to be delivered.

Magic Kingdom Day 3

2010-07-10T08:33:00.001-06:00

Jack was playing around with Richard's sunglasses while we were waiting on the bus to take us from Bonnet Creek to the Magic Kingdom.

We rode the ferry boat from the transportation center to the Magic Kingdom.

We took the Walt Disney World Railroad to Toontown and walked through Mickey and Minnie's Houses. I remember when Nicole used to be shorter than Minnie's mailbox!

We took a picture of Lauren in Minnie's sink when she was a baby and again when she was 3, 5, and 7. By the time we come back again, I'm sure she will be too big to get in Minnie's sink.

Meeting Tinkerbell and the other pixie's from "Pixie Hollow", Rosetta and Silvermist.

We rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mad Tea Party, and Prince Charming's Royal Carrousel.

They got to meet Mary Poppins and Bert outside on of the stores near the castle.

Making a wish in Cinderella's wishing fountain.

Pirate Adventure

2010-07-08T22:08:00.000-06:00

Tonight we went to a pirate dinner show. It was cool. The kids were able to participate in the show. Each section had a differnt pirate to cheer for during the show.

Pirates took over and kidnapped the princess and the entire audience.

Downtown Disney

2010-07-08T21:58:00.000-06:00

Today we went shopping at Downtown Disney because Mom, Dad, Trent, and Lance are going to go home in the morning. I didn't have my camera with me (GASP!!!!), but luckily, Dad and Nicole had theirs.

Outside the Lego store there are some really cool Lego sculptures!

The World of Disney at Downtown Disney is the largest Disney store in the world.

Stitch is over one doorway spitting water on you as you walk by.

We ate lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe while we were shopping.

Space Mountain Photos

2010-07-08T07:53:00.002-06:00

Magic Kingdom Day 2

2010-07-07T22:01:00.001-06:00

After the lunch at Cinderella's Castle, we watched Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. It was so funny! We rode on the Walt Disney World Railroad, Tomorrowland Speedway, Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and Stitch's Great Escape. Richard took Jack and Nicole on the Mad Tea Party and the Tomorrowland Speedway while we were riding Space Mountain.

Lynnette, how cute is this?! Lance really would be great with a little sister! He and Lauren have been best buds this week.

Lunch at Cindrella's Castle

2010-07-07T21:44:00.000-06:00

Today we went back to the Magic Kingdom for lunch at Cinderella's castle. We got to meet Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Aurora, and Ariel. They gave the girls wands, the boys swords, and all the kids wishing stars. Everything was YUMMY!

Disney's Animal Kingdom

2010-07-06T19:54:00.000-06:00

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom. We watched "It's Tough to be a Bug". We rode Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, Primeval Whirl, and TriceraTop Spin.

This was my attempt to take a picture of Natalie and me on the TriceraTop Spin.

Nicole found a "hidden Mickey" on a dinosaur in Dinoland.

We got some ice cream. Some of the kids got these Mickey ice cream bars and the others had fruit bars.

I took this picture from the top of the Expedition Everest ride. Yes, I even take pictures in the middle of a roller coaster ride! HAHA!

Trent asked me to take this picture to show his mom and dad how wet he got when it rained.

Playing around to pass the time while waiting in line for a ride.

Lance got a little wet under the first waterfall on the Mali River Ride.

But, Paw-Paw and Honey got SOAKED on the second waterfall!

When we left the Safari ride, the parade was just passing by. As it moved, they moved the rope and people were walking down the street behind it. All the kids on the sides were waving at the characters, and Jack was waving back at them. Afterward, he said he had fun being in the parade!

Disney Hollywood Studios

2010-07-06T16:49:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we went to Disney's Polynesian Resort to eat breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch. They served cinnamon bread, pineapple bread, passion fruit juice, eggs, bacon, sausage, Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, biscuits, potato wedges, and fruit. They danced in the parade with maracas. Nicole thought it was funny that she is taller than Stitch now and had to lean down to hug him.

We went to Disney's Hollywood Studios and rode Toy Story Mania, Backlot Tour, Lights, Camera, Action Stunt Show, and watched the 3D Muppet Show. Mom took Trent and Lance on the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster while we took our kids to meet Buzz Lightyear, The Incredibles, and Lots 'O Hugging Bear(from Toy Story 3). Mom also take Natalie, Trent, Lance, and Lauren on the Star Tours ride.

Nicole was excited to see the shack from "Hannah Montana: The Movie" on the Backlot Tour.

Richard pretending to be Fred Astaire from "Singing in the Rain". Lance and Lauren both wanted to do it too.

Posing in front of the big camera at the Kodak store.

Oh, Happy Day!

2010-07-06T07:38:00.000-06:00

Lauren has tried forever to get the other front tooth out, and yesterday before we went to Hollywood Studios, it FINALLY came out! Doesn't she look cute with no front teeth?!?!

Epcot

2010-07-05T21:19:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we went to EPCOT. We rode Spaceship Earth, The Seas With Nemo & Friends, Soarin', Living With the Land, Journey Into the Imagination with Figment, Mission: SPACE, and Test Track. We tried sodas from around the world and went to Turtle Talk with Crush.

It was raining when we arrived, so mom and dad got rain ponchos for everyone.

Cotton candy kept everyone busy during the long wait for Soarin', but the wait was well worth it. Everyone said they wanted to ride it again some time, including Dad, which is huge for him to say!

We had fun riding on the Nemo ride, pretending to be eaten by sharks afterward, and going to Turtle Talk with Crush. He chose Lauren and me to talk to during the show. It was hilarious.

Test Track was a blast! Trent, Lance, Mom, Natalie, Lauren, and I all rode on it. Lauren said, "We're SPEEDING!"

We came back to the resort to eat dinner and swim in the lazy river.

We all decided we were too tired to fight the crowd to go to one of the parks and see the fireworks again, so we watched them from our balcony on one side and out a window on the other side from EPCOT. Fireworks were going off all around us.

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T06:41:00.000-06:00

We planned to go to the fireworks at Epcot tonight for the 4th of July, but it is supposed to be storming this afternoon and tonight, so they might be canceled. :-( Here are a couple of pictures from last night's fireworks over Cinderella's Castle. The fireworks were beautiful! They played patriotic songs during the fireworks, the lights around the castle made the castle look like it was changing colors, and turning into a flag. It was sprinkling but we enjoyed it anyway.

Magic Kingdom

2010-07-04T06:35:00.000-06:00

We had a blast at the Magic Kingdom today. The kids are enjoying spending time with their cousins, Trent and Lance, and of course Honey and Paw-Paw. We walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse. Then we rode Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Magic carpets of Aladdin, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, "It's A Small World", Peter Pan's Flight, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and Stitch's Great Escape. We watched the Country Bear Jamboree and Mickey's PhilharMagic.

Dad's favorite Disney character is Goofy. We saw him at the Pirates of the Carribean ride and there were only a couple of people waiting in line, so we stopped and let mom and dad and all the grandkids get a picture with him.

Jack was finally tall enough to ride the rides that he missed out on the other times we have come to Disney. He was so excited that he was growing! This is after his first "big boy" rollercoaster ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

All the kids had fun making faces in the stockages in Liberty Square. I told them we need some of these at home. HAHA!

Jack is so glad that Paw-Paw is at DisneyWorld with him. Paw-Paw is his buddy.

DISNEY

2010-07-02T21:44:00.001-06:00

We finally made it to Disney World today after two nights on the road. We are staying at Bonnet Creek Resort. We hung around the resort today and enjoyed the lazy river, swimming pools, and hot tub.

While I was checking in, there was a balloon artist making things for the kids in the lobby. He made Natalie a heart with a bear, Jack a fishing pole with a fish, Nicole a bracelet and earrings, and a huge flower for Lauren.

The suite is great!

We have a wonderful view from our balcony of the lake and the lazy river.

Fun On the Road

2010-07-02T21:29:00.000-06:00

It rained every day that we were on the road, so that meant no pool time. The girls were bummed about missing out on swimming, so we decided to do pedicures. I had one Tuesday before we left on Wednesday, and they wanted me to do theirs. Natalie and Lauren both got red, and Nicole wanted red, white, and blue.

Our Graduates

2010-07-02T21:23:00.000-06:00

This year we had two graduations on the same day! Jack graduated from pre-k and Nicole graduated from 6th grade. We are so proud of them!

Something's Missing!

2010-07-02T21:15:00.000-06:00

Lauren lost one of her top teeth a couple of weeks ago, and we thought the other would only be a day or two behind it. I was waiting to get a picture of her missing both front teeth, but the other just will not come out.

Birthday Fun

2010-07-02T21:11:00.000-06:00

These are a few pictures from Jack and Lauren's birthday party at the park in May. Jack wanted a "Big Green Tractor" cake. All the kids in my pre-k class this year loved that song.

Lauren wanted a guitar cake.

We played several games. The first one was so funny! Lauren and Jack put on some of my clothes and the girls and boys competed against each other to see who they could stuff with the most balloons. The girls won. It was too funny. Afterward, we used the balloons for a ballon stomp game.

Field Day

2010-05-12T20:01:00.000-06:00

Jack in his Mickey Mouse hat running the sack race. His buddy in the orange sack fell and he stopped to make sure he got up before he kept going. That's what I love about teaching the little ones. The big ones will run over someone just to win. He also ran the 25 yard dash.

Jack in the soccer ball kick.

The egg and spoon race.

The big ball race was so funny. They could barely see around the ball to roll it.

Lauren also ran the 25yd dash.

Her class could see around the big basketballs a little better.

After the events were over, all the classes took turns using the big waterslide.

Nicole and Natalie had their field day on a different day. I wasn't able to go out there to take pictures of them, so I'll have to post a few from Nicole's camera.

Jack is 5!

2010-05-12T19:17:00.000-06:00

Our baby boy is 5!!!! WOW! When we went to mom and dad's this weekend, they got him a cookie cake.

Play Ball

2010-05-12T19:10:00.000-06:00

I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I'd go through the pictures I've taken lately and post a few.

Lauren at bat in a game a couple of weeks ago.

We arrived at the ballpark early for Lauren's game this week, so I took the opportunity to take some

close-up pictures of her.

Disney On Ice

2010-04-17T21:41:00.000-06:00

Richard, my Mom, the kids, and I went to see Disney on Ice today. It was a wonderful show! Almost all the characters were there.

Our Little Bumblebee

2010-04-11T21:55:00.000-06:00

When I told Lauren that her team was going to be the Bumblebees, she said, "Bumblebees?!?! Why can't we be the TIGERS or something." I said, "Bumblebees are cute." She replied, "I don't want to be cute!" Sorry sweetie, but we think you're cute!

The day of Nicole's birthday and her cheerleader tryouts, Lauren also had her first softball game. Our schedule is definately getting busy!

She was able to get a couple of hits and scored a run. Pretty good for her first game. She was going to play t-ball, but the softball team needed more players so they moved a few of them up.

Happy Birthday, Nicole

2010-04-11T21:40:00.001-06:00

Nicole had her birthday on the same day as she had cheerleader tryouts so I got her a cheerleader birthday cake.

She said all her friends told her that she looks pretty with make-up and should start wearing it everyday. I said, "We'll see..." She and some of her friends painted BJH on one side and a pawprint on the other side of their faces.

They were all nervous waiting for the results(18 girls tried out!), so they took pictures and tried out a few moves while they waited.

Nicole did not making the squad, but we are so proud of her for trying out. The cheerleader sponsor told the girls that if anyone is not able to participate that others might have a chance to move-up. If not, then she can try out again next year.

Birthday Lunch

2010-04-07T21:31:00.000-06:00

This year for Natalie and Nicole's birthday, they each chose two friends and we went to see "The Last Song" with Miley Cyrus and went to CiCi's pizza. For their birthday dinner with the family, they chose to eat at a hibachi restaurant. We LOVE their food and it's entertaining too!

They sang "Happy Birthday" to Natalie and gave her a dessert since it was her birthday when we went out. She even got to ring the gong.

They had more fun playing with the chopsticks than they did eating with them.

~~Somebody~~ SomeBUNNY had too much fun! HAHA!

Easter Portraits

2010-04-06T21:35:00.000-06:00

Here is one picture that I took Easter Sunday. Thanks to my WONDERFUL neighbor for letting us borrow her yard! I posted their individual pictures on my photo blog. Click the photo blog link on the right if you want to take a look.

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-06T20:45:00.000-06:00

We had about thirty children stay after church for our Easter egg hunt.

Everyone collected LOTS of eggs! Nicole says maybe next year she will help us hide eggs instead of hunting them, but I'm glad that she still wants to be a little kid for one more year.

A few more of some sweet kids from church.

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T20:48:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was Easter and Natalie's birthday! We had a sunrise service at church, followed by breakfast at church, Sunday school, church, an Easter egg hunt, and then went out to eat for Natalie's birthday all in the same day. Busy, busy, busy! I also took their Easter pictures between breakfast and Sunday school. Hopefully, I can resize those and post them tomorrow.

Let It Snow #4

2010-03-21T20:54:00.000-06:00

What happened to global warming?!?!?!?! Wasn't this weekend supposed to be the first day of Spring?!?! This is the fourth time that we have had snow this year. We didn't even realize that it was snowing until we started to leave for church this morning, and it snowed almost all day today. It didn't accumulate, but it sure was pretty coming down.

What a Concert!

2010-03-20T21:51:00.001-06:00

The girls, Roberta, and I went to see Chris & Conrad and Big Daddy Weave in concert Friday night. (Don't worry, Jack wasn't left out. He watched a movie with Richard while we were at the concert.) They are both excellant Christian groups. Chris & Conrad played first.

Big Daddy Weave played next.

Then they all sang together. WOW!!!!!!

We all had a great time.

I think Nicole is officially taller than her Aunt Birdie!