Utah here we come! We are busy packing this weekend to take a nice family road trip out west. I am so excited to be there for the 4th of July, where people actually celebrate (ask me sometime what they do here..it will take me two seconds). We head out Monday and will be there for a few weeks. Yay, so excited to see family and friends!

Reverse Pyschology

Clint again. I forgot to post my favorite picture of all time. Shout out to Golden for getting a photo (and it was his driveway). You're looking at a 2003 Chevy Malibu combined with Jody's reverse driving technique. She claims it was dark outside...

Spring Break

Clint here. I thought I would give Jody a break for once since she usually does the bloggin' for the family. Here's a few pics from a quick trip to NYC for spring break. The kids wanted to ride a train, so we spent a night in Connecticut and rode the train into Grand Central. (I tried to tell the kids that commuting an hour each way on the Metro-North Railroad isn't very glamorous, but they didn't believe me). Jody let the boys buy these bright blue hats, which it made it easy to keep track of them...

 Max, Maddy, and Chase posing for the camera...

 The kids playing on the big piano keys at FAO Schwarz...

I have no idea who the dude in the scarf is or what he's so happy about, but that's a polar bear behind him. The bear would swim up to the glass, rub his (her?) back on the wall, and then push off and swim to the other side...

Me with the kids in Central Park Zoo. Jody says I have "beav hair". It's not the first time she's told me that, but I don't know what she means...

 More of the kids at the zoo. This was at the smaller zoo a little further into Central Park...

 Kids sitting on turtles at the zoo. Can't tell if Chase if happy or not...

Aubrey after a long day of walking around NYC. She held up pretty well. Hope you enjoyed my post, might be a while before Jody let's me back on here...

Goggles

Our cute, little Aubrey bug always keeps us laughing. Her funny personality comes out more everyday. She thinks she's something else...and she is. We always look forward to her comedy shows. We never know when they will happen, but when it does, we stop whatever we're doing and feed into her self-absorbed, all eyes on me, I'm so adorable routine. She knows we can't get enough of our bug-eyed, bundle of sweetness, and she takes full advantage of it for sure...who wouldn't?

Holy Ears...get it?

Ok, so I haven't blogged F-O-R-E-V-E-R, and I am a little rusty, that's why my pictures are in the wrong order. I guess you can guess the order they go in... lets make it a game.

My not-so-little-anymore Madison decided she wanted her ears pierced about a year ago when she turned eight. After I told her the process, she wasn't so sure about it, and put the begging to rest for a year. Well it's coming on her 9th birthday and she has been getting the itch again, so we decided to make it a date. She decided to talk her friend, Rylin, into getting it done also. We headed to Claire's the only place to pierce your ears in Ithaca, besides the tattoo place in the Common's (I'm kidding...well, kind of) and started to check out the wide variety of earrings. Let me tell ya, the selection has definitely changed from the silver studs they had when I got mine pierced around the same age. They actually had some really cute ones to choose from. Madison and Rylin both chose some little flowers with different colored jeweled petals. I don't think I got a good shot in the pictures. When we first got there, the girls were in heaven letting their little imaginations run wild of the many dress up possibilities that stood before them. It was so surreal to see my baby with her friend at the mall saying, "cool" and "awesome" about everything in sight. Rylin was the brave one to get her ears done first. She shot a mile out of the chair and had big tears well up in hers eyes, but never let one fall down her cheek. Madison was terrified to say the least and tried to hide her fear by giggling (she is too much like her mom, I remember doing the same thing when I got my ears pierced). As I stood watching her anticipate the pain, I had so many thoughts flash into my mind of being a helpless mother,wanting to take away her fear and protect her from any kind of hurt. I had flashes in the future (the distant future) about her giving birth and wanting to tell her the pain would be for a brief moment, but in the end it would be all worth it. I know, it's two totally different extremes, but the love of a mother is still the same no matter how small or big the situation might be. In the end, I saw my little girl in a different light, she is stronger than I give her credit for, and she handled it with grace and humor. She looked a whole lot older that day, and walked just a little taller, because she overcame her fear, and I was able to walk a little taller knowing that I was raising a confident, beautiful young lady.

Happy Birthday Babe!!!

My handsome, studly, loving, amazing husband turns 32 today! Happy Birthday Babe! I love you!

(Our camera is broken, no new pictures for a while, boo hoo!)

OBX Thanksgiving 2010

Once again, we went to Outer Banks, North Carolina for Thanksgiving and had such a great time. This is the view from our bedroom at our beach house.

I love that Chase is our little dare devil and will try anything. He got right out in the water and had a great time boogie boarding with his dad.

Max is a little more timid in the water, but still had a great time. I can't believe he went in without a wet suit. The weather was terrific this year, but still a little chilly in the water.

Doesn't she look like she was born to surf?

There were a lot of dolphins this year that came pretty close to the shore. Clint and some of our friends got pretty close to them in their kayaks.

Madison is our water girl. She is so comfortable in the water, and loved every minute of it.

I love this shot with Aubrey's little footprints.

We look forward to this trip all year round. It is such a nice way to spend the holiday when we can't be close to family. We are already starting the count down to next year.