Texas Sized Fun 2012

 

(knock knock…) is anybody out there?

Yeah, I didn’t think so. Heck, I couldn’t even remember the password to get in here to post pictures at first. Sorry :(

 

View Full Album

I haven’t posted pictures this way so I am going to pray it works…y’all let me know if it doesn’t. THEORETICALLY you should be able to click on the link above that says “View Full Album” and it will take you to a set of pictures from our trip to Texas this June. You can click on the individual picture to enlarge it and then the arrow will appear on the right of the picture if you hover on it to move to the next picture.

We spent the most wonderful, “I never want to leave” time in South Padre, a week with my brother/Uncle Matt, the best day at a ranch owned by a high school/life long friend of my father-in-law and not near enough time with friends and family. Every year it seems like leaving home all over again.

I fought with many programs and many ways of sharing this time and I think I will have to start from scratch  next time. I couldn’t get my photo captions in the album itself to stick so use your imagination (sorry).

I also decided not to take my nice camera this year because we were traveling on more flights than usual and would be around sand and salty water. I hoped that my little point and shoot would suffice…as you can see that really didn’t work out. I normally would never share photos that are this out of focus and basically pretty crappy but they are all I have.

Enjoy your summer…every time I blink I swear a week has gone by!

Better late than never

Merry Christmas Happy New Year? (At least I am early for that one!)

I promised to hold the boys down with force if necessary, trick them into looking in the general direction of the camera and sitting next to each other without punching, pushing or elbowing each other.  It’s getting tougher to accomplish each year-bribes and “please do it for mom” don’t work anymore.  It’s so much easier to take pictures of other people’s kids.

Now only the mothers here will care but I have to share a mom frustration. I could tell you “please ignore the tear in Braxton’s shirt” but most moms have already seen it and everyone else would never notice it. It’s a mom curse I guess. Neither of my boys will EVER wear a collared shirt. The minute you suggest it they writhe on the floor as if in pain. I warned them weeks in advance that they would be expected to wear one on Christmas because Steve’s parents were coming and we would be taking pictures. It really is akin to being set afire to them. So imagine my surprise when Braxton BEGS to wear his brand new red collared shirt to school the Friday before Christmas break. This is the same boy who has ruined most of his shirts with paint and markers but he just keeps begging and promising that there are no crafts scheduled that day and in a moment of weakness I give in. He comes home PROUDLY that afternoon and shows me that there is no paint on his shirt, only a tiny hole! I could have strangled him. So now as an outsider looking at this picture I see two pretty handsome men but as a mom all I will ever notice is that stinking hole in Braxton’s shirt!  :(

Store bought Christmas goodness

 

 

 

 

I love these

do you?

we love homemade cookies in our house too

but there is just something about these!

A birthday Celebration

In honor of Braxton’s 12th birthday we spent part of our weekend at the Waterpark of America in Minneapolis, MN. It is the largest indoor waterpark in the U.S. It is 70,000 sq. ft in size and one of its slide towers is nearly 10 stories tall. As a parent all you need to know is that it is very loud. There are three body slides, two tube slides and a family slide.

As you can see, the slides all curve in and out of the building.

There is a wave pool and a lazy river (which believe it or not, is where the boys spent a heck of a lot of time).

here is the birthday boy

here is Cayden and Brandon (Brandon is a good friend of both Braxton and Cayden and we invited him to join us this weekend.)

here is a view of some of the smaller slides

I think the coolest ride at the park is the Flowrider…here it is empty.

The flow rider is a shallow but very fast moving sheet of water, moving from 30–35 miles per hour, that you surf or boogie board/knee board on.

Here is Cayden trying it out. It is just like the waves-you never know which way you are going to be tossed.

The object is to get to your knees and ride. This is just about when he decided to try and push up…

almost there…up on one knee…

WIPEOUT!

Here is Braxton giving it the college try.

Braxton wasn’t nearly committed to actually getting to his knees. He just had a lot of fun riding the waves on his stomach.

 

Well we had a ton of fun and I wish I had the pictures to prove it but the lighting was terrible and my subjects were even worse (especially Braxton). The minute I picked up my camera the boys disappeared under the water or around a corner every time. You’ll just have to trust me, he is another year handsome and another year ornery.

Dallas Family Photos

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.

and this is mine.

 

This is my gorgeous, brilliant, sweet sister Melanie and my handsome, equally brilliant brother Matt. It honestly seems like just yesterday that Matt was a sweet, cuddly, cute kid and now he is so good with my own kids. Don’t get me wrong though, Cayden and Braxton love Aunt Mel too-especially Braxton.

Here are Melanie and her boyfriend David- If David plays his cards right maybe he can be part of our crazy family someday.

 

Here are Matt and his wife Angie. She is so sweet and makes Matt so happy.  She is also going to make Matt a daddy! I guess I am allowed to say that she is pregnant-if not, sorry!

Last but not least, here are Matt, Mel and Donna (otherwise known as Nana and otherwise known as the Mom who raised me). I am not sure how I managed to not get any pictures of my sister Jenny and her family this trip (other than how fast and hectic and a little unplanned this trip to Dallas was).

We miss you guys a lot and it sucks to never see y’all.  Love you.

Water, Heat and Dallas (otherwise known as “Uncle Matt is the best thing since sliced bread”)

friendly warning: there are a lot of pictures in here…lots of fun=lots of pictures :)

We were recently blessed to spend several weeks in Texas catching up with family and friends, melting in the heat we have become so unaccustomed to and eating enough Bahama Buck’s snowcones to replace a glacier.  Part of our time in Texas was spent in Dallas with my family. We were invited to stay with my brother (Uncle Matt) and his wife Angie in their beautiful new house. (We may have been a tornado they won’t soon reinvite!) As background information, Uncle Matt is already deemed the bee’s knees, the ultimate in fun who can act like a bigger kid than my own kids. He has a large pool with a diving board in his backyard and we spent 97% of our visit in the pool I think…we almost had to since you could have fried an egg on the pavement. We have definitely become acclimated to North Dakota temperatures but even a Texan had to admit it was “warm”. On our drive between Dallas and Amarillo we passed through Childress, TX where it was a “warm” 117 degrees!

Here are a handful of snapshots of the boys soaking up the sun (and sneaking in a nap on the water).

  

                      

                                                                                                                                               

                                 

 

And here is my brother Matt teaching the boys a new trick…and the boys trying their hand at it.

 

 

 

 

More fun from our trip to share soon…

 

and hey Matt and Angie- Thanks so much guys for your hospitality. We had an AWESOME time. Come see us in North Dakota!

Practice makes perfect (someday maybe)

I love to practice on flowers-they are beautiful of course but they also don’t move when I say “hold still” and they don’t complain!