Hynes Family

The Birthday Wrap-up

2012-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

My birthday week wasn't all about me you know...there was so much amazing stuff going on, it will take another post to catch you all up. First of all, I have to say how much I love my family. I love Mike's and my little family, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my family that raised me. My parents are the greatest two people in the world, and spending time with my family spending time with my family is one of my favorite things to do, ever.

One of those moments:

Aunt Heather spending some quality time at the piano.

Little Kason. He is such an independent little man! He is so young, but still insists on feeling himself, and it is so cute.

Elliott and Karver were again inseperable, and Elliott liked showing him how to jump on the tramp.

And helping him tie his shoes.

Papa captured this picture of Archie while he was watching him for me.

This one too. I love seeing how Papa sees Archie.

A little moment Uncle Jason captured. Archie, Aunt Heather loves you!

Ok, I'll admit, I'm not the only one who loves my parents.

This week was officially sponsored by our smart phones, and more specifically, the game Words With Friends. It's like the game of Scrabble, but you play it one turn at a time on your phone, over vast distances! Or, while sitting across the couch from each other...whichever!

The kids had other things to do to keep themselves happy.

Elliott bought some speed stacking cups, and they kept him happy. It doesn't take much.

My birthday was pretty perfect, but when combined with all this family time, it is one for the record books!

What a Birthday!

2012-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!

My parents just happened to schedule a Boise visit over my birthday weekend, which was enough incentive to get my sister Ruth and her family up here too! Combine them with Emily and Heather's family, and you have the makings of the best birthday gathering ever!

We had so much fun, and it will take several posts to catch up, but I have to start somewhere, so I'll start with MY BIRTHDAY! A very good place to start, if I do say so myself!

Kason was very sweet with Archie. He kinda liked the Buddha Archie statue more than the real thing, but he was still very sweet.

We got tickets to a hockey game on friday night for the whole group, and we had fun!

We had a birthday "breakfast for dinner" on Saturday night, and my sisters and Mom were VERY helpful. Look at the slaving away over my dinner!

The kids' table isn't just for Thanksgiving at our house. Little Korean tables are very useful.

Have you ever seen a more attractive picture of a man, EVER?!?! He must really love me...

As an early birthday present, my parents brought up a box of Arizona oranges!! SPECTACULAR!!! They taste like sunshine and my childhood...I love them!

One of my gifts came delivered with plenty of packing paper, which Kimo and Elliott enjoyed very much. Kimo is the teasiest and funnest Uncle to have around, and Elliott is such a good sport.

Breakfast for dinner is such a sweet meal, that a cake just seemed like overkill, so we put a candle in some cinnamon rolls and called it good.

I wish you could see the panicked expression on Archie's face here. He was so freaked out by the candle, or maybe the singing; no, it couldn't have been the singing, my family is so melodious...

Archie is so relieved when I blow out the candle! Mom's can make everything better.

On my ACTUAL birthday, we went to lunch at a yummy BBQ restaurant, and Archie had his first high-chair meal.

Gramma Karen came prepared to do a Valentine's Day craft with the kids (and Emily). They made cute candy heart topiaries.

And finally, rounding out the birthday festivities, desert with Mike's family! Mike made his world class brownies (from scratch...I know, right? He's amazing. He didn't wear his apron this time), and we had them with ice cream and caramel!

Whew! You can never celebrate a birthday too much. That's what I always say.

3 of My Favorite Things

2012-01-18T18:31:00.001-08:00

The grocery store had these cute little bags of gorgeous meyer lemons (the same lemons I grew on my little lemon tree, may it rest in peace), so I had to buy it and make something lovely. I remembered that when I was little, my home teacher, Brother Carpenter, had a wife, Lela, who made the BEST lemon meringue pies! They were my favorite. Then, I realized that my kids have never had lemon meringue pie! Well, I had to do something about that. This was very exciting to me. Making this pie is kinda something on my bucket list. I grabbed my America's Test Kitchen recipe and got to work, and the adventure began!

SUCCESS!!

Turns out, I don't like meringue! Oh well, it looks pretty, the crust was spectacular, and the lemon was superb!

Onto another favorite thing of mine...family sports outings. The family went to a BSU basketball game. We loved cheering them on!

And finally, and I mean FINALLY!!!, we got some snow in Boise! This morning at 7am, it started, and it just kept coming! How cute are Elliott's sunflowers covered in snow. They look like little snowballs.

By 8:30, the kids had their gear on, and they were out playing before heading to the bus stop.

Poor Archie, this is as close as he gets to the snow. If it would have stopped snowing for a bit, I would have plopped him in it for a photo op, but it just kept on comin!

After school, Elliott's first snowman.

PLEASE let this be the first of MANY snowstorms this winter...we love them!

Have I mentioned....?

2012-01-16T18:45:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned my son is a budding musical genius....?

Have I mentioned my son is sooooo cute right after a bath....?

Have I mentioned my son is equally as cute all gussied up for church...?

Have I mentioned my son wakes up in a better mood than anyone I've ever known...?

Have I mentioned my son has 4 itty bitty teeth that are my favorite things EVER ...?

Just though I'd make sure you are all in the know...

License to Drive

2012-01-13T18:54:00.001-08:00

Archie is an amazing little guy. He is so smart, so curious, and so inventive! You can see him thinking, and figuring out, and then see him do, whatever it is he sets his mind to.

This week he has learned to pick up Cheerios and put them in his mouth. It is so crazy to see! The first time he tried, he looked at them and swung at them, then grabbed and went for his mouth. The next time, he remembered what to do and got to practicing again. The next time, he had it down. That's how he is with everything! He is so smart, focused and busy!

His favorite thing is his walker lately. All he needs is turn signals and a horn, and he is ready for the big roads! I watch him zoom around in it while I'm cooking dinner, and it is so funny! I have seen 3 point turns, and he reverses like it's second nature to him!

Today, when the kids headed off to school, he literally RAN after them and saw them off from the open doorway. He likes to head to the oven to pull all the towels off and then gaze at his reflection in the oven door. He also makes a run for the laundry room door every time is opens. I don't know what his fascination is with that room, but he gets in there, shuts the door with his walker and just hangs out in the dark. I think it's sad that he gets trapped in there, so I try to keep it shut. But, whenever it opens, you can hear his little feel running and see him steering his way in as fast as he can.

Here are some pictures.

You can see the pure joy of sweet freedom written all over his drooly, little face!

This is the view we see of him most of the time...the back of his head in a mad dash to somewhere he is running off to!

Family Fun Day

2012-01-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

It was a day of family outings, and it was a great day. We went to lunch at our favorite pizza place, where the kids can make their own pizzas and then watch them cook! We had Elliott's friend, Bo, and Kristine, Jason, Maric and Rowan come along. After, we walked across the street to our favorite candy shop and got some yummy treats.

Archie tried some straw sucking. Mike said he put more liquid into the cup than he got out....gross.

That night, we all went to a local high school basketball game...Archie and I got to go this time!

Archie's first basketball game!

It looks like I altered this photo of Elliott somehow, but that's all him. Apparently that's how he looks with popcorn in his mouth and a smile on his lips!

I think we can safely say the boys loved it, and so did I. It was a great little family outing day.

What a Great Start

2012-01-06T19:16:00.001-08:00

There is no better way to ring in the New Year than a little Taekwondo testing!! It was time for Elliott to test, and the masters thought he should, but I just didn't think he was ready. He went to class yesterday and he didn't get his full yellow stripe, so we weren't going to do it. This morning, however, Master Mia called and wanted to know if Elliott was testing....long story short, she convinced me to bring Elliott in and give him a little practice, and DO IT! So, it was so last minute that Mike couldn't even make it because he works, but Elliott did the work and got it done! There were 35 yellow belts testing, and we had to sit there for 2 HOURS while they all tested, but we did it, we survived, and Elliott is now a high yellow belt!

Here he is all geared up and waiting! Nice mouth guard huh!

The sparring testing is over, so the gear is off and he is waiting again!

One step sparring testing.

Form testing.

He just broke his board with a side-kick. Love the smile on his face.

After Korean terms testing, they all gather and bow to their parents.

To celebrate his accomplishment, we let him pick dinner and they get to eat at the Korean table in the tv room (normally forbidden), and I think that's the best part for them. Oh look, surprise, he chose McDonalds!

We are SOOOOOOOOO proud of him. It is so scary to get in front of so many people and perform, especially such last minute, and he is one of the youngest up there.

He is moving on up!

2011 Comes to an end...

2012-01-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

What a year!!! Baptisms, babies, trips to Arizona, so much fun!!! I have loved nearly every minute of it. Archie is growing too fast, and Elliott and Lucy are getting smarter and smarter. I ran 4.5 miles, farther than ever, and Mike is serving for the first time in a leadership calling in the church. What a year!! Let me fill you in quickly on the last minute fun we had this year, then it is on to 2012!

While I was feeding Archie last night, I noticed that his eyes look EXACTLY like something I had seen before; Sliced black olives!!!

Just take my word for it, his eyes are the EXACT same color and texture as olives! I love it!

Lucy got to enjoy herself with Had Abogi and Rowan's Grampa Ron while I had my pink party. Looks like fun!

Lucy attended a Zumba fitness camp at the YMCA for a week during break. On the last day they put on the black lights and danced for us. That is Harmony and Lucy shaking it on the left.

We went to a local hockey game downtown , and the kids loved it! Mike and I loved it too, we will definitely do it again.

NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!! With a little baby Archie, a tired Mommy, and church at 9AM the next morning, we didn't really celebrate properly this year. There was no countdown or ball dropping because bedtime was at 8 o'clock! But, we did still have poppers and some innocent bubbly.

Archie was a little over-stimulated, I think...

CHEERS...

...AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Pink Party Time!

2011-12-31T19:46:00.000-08:00

I co-hosted a pink party for my friend Lisa who has breast cancer. We had scarves, necklaces, hats and fun! it was a pink explosion!! We love you Lisa!

(these look gruesome, but they are just beet-apple tarts)

PRESENTS, PRESENTS!!!

2011-12-28T17:30:00.001-08:00

I didn't get many pictures of Christmas morning, but luckily Uncle Jason was there with his camera at the ready! He let me use some of his pictures, so here you are!

Emily and Jason gave us a picture frame with a note saying he would do our family portrait. I am so excited because we have never had an official family portrait done!! BEST GIFT EVER!! Elliott got to open this present, and it was very anticlimactic and very funny. I love the look on his face in the last shot

Here are some great gift-giving moments he captured. Lucy looks so beautiful in these shots, I think!

Let's take a moment to enjoy the many expressions of Lilly...

...too cute.

Lucy got a video camera from Santa, and she was so funny with it!! Jason captured her capturing EVERYTHING!!!! Look closely at each picture and you will see her camera lurking somewhere nearby.

Thanks Jason! Now my Christmas recap is complete!

Yule Tide Festivities

2011-12-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

This year for our gift to Harmony and Had Abogi, Kristine and I got the grandkids together and had a photo session!! We haven't posted the pictures yet because we didn't want to give it away, but they have their gift, so here they are!

The last two years Mike has put together our Christmas cards, and he is amazing. I know you can't see the photos and words well, but here they are for posterity.

Yesterday we started a new Christmas Eve tradition...DIRTBIKING!! Lucy put her gear on, and Mike braved the cold to watch her go up and down the block. Elliott was still leery, but he DID sit on it in neutral for a bit. He was very proud of himself.

Archie had to get all pretty for Christmas Eve, so Mike gave him his first sink bath. He LOVES splashing.

Christmas Eve begins our festivities. We have a progressive dinner with Mike's family. We started at Jason and Kristine's for appetizers, or h'ordeuvres if you're fancy.

Archie's first Christmas present EVER!!!!

Then onto Harmony and Had Abogi's for the supper.

And more gifts.

A Korean tradition is to give socks for Christmas. You can see by his expression how Archie feels about this choice of gifts.

What you don't see is back to our house for dessert. Then we read one Christmas book, and sent the kids off to bed while Mike and I relaxed!

The kids were up at 5AM, where they rushed downstairs to find their goodies.

All gussied up for Church on Christmas Day.

Archie got a musical plush octopus from Santa. He likes it.

Later today, my family, the Wilsons and Emily and Jason, came over for a late brunch. I LOVE BRUNCH WITH MY FAMILY! I didn't get any pictures, but I'm hoping to steal a few from Uncle Jason sometime. We opened a few presents and talked and ate. What a perfect Christmas. All the better that it was on Sunday, so we could go to church and remember Christ with beautiful music and friends. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! But, I have to wait another year to do this all again, good thing my birthday's next month, it lessons the pain just enough. My kids are happy, and I am happy. Another successful Christmas!

School Christmas Parties

2011-12-22T12:03:00.001-08:00

Happy Christmas everyone! Archie and I were able to make it to both Christmas parties, and it was a fully fun and busy day!

First Elliott's class for games, snow globe making, and treats.

Then to Lucy's class that afternoon for Charlie Brown's Christmas, cookie decorating and gifts (even Elliott got one!)

Merry Christmas everybody!! We can't wait!

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I'm a proud mamma

2011-12-17T16:33:00.001-08:00

The kids posed for a poster for their Taekwondo studio a few weeks ago, and they've finally got them up at the local Korean stores. Cute.

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Generations of Tradition

2011-12-12T19:21:00.001-08:00

I am a traditions kind of lady. Just ask my parents, they'll tell you. At 19, I was the one insisting we still hang our stockings on Christmas Eve even though we were on vacation in Arizona and it had been a decade since my last letter to Santa. I love starting new traditions with my little family, and keeping up old traditions as well. Here are some that we do:

1. Driving to look at Christmas lights

2. Holiday goody baking with my sisters

3. Singing carols as we come down the stairs Christmas morning

4. making Christmas crafts of all sorts!

5. Christmas Eve progressive dinner with Mike's family

6 Christmas Day brunch with My family

7.On Christmas morning, we gather the gifts we have to give, and pass them out one by one so we can see everyone's reactions

8. Making poppy seed loaves that are "worth their weight in gold" (quoting Uncle Kimball), for all Mike's employees

9. Making Mother Laura's caramel corn!!!!

Tonight, for family home evening, that's exactly what we did. We had Kristine, Rowan, and Maric over, they brought their air-popper from Mike's childhood, and we made ooey, gooey, sticky, yummy corn! My Grandmother used to make it with my Dad, Pappa Lund, and then he used to make it with me and my brothers and sisters, and now, we are making it with my kids. It's as amazing as I remember.

First you air-pop the corn. This is a novel thing for the kids, and they love it.

Then you butter-up the bowl very well.

You don't use a candy thermometer, you use the old ice-water test, not pictured, and being the grown-up, I got to sample all the caramel tests! Lucy got to do all the fun stuff. She buttered the bowl, and sprayed the counter with Pam, so the corn doesn't stick while it cools. Then you dump it on!

Eat up everybody!

Is your mouth watering yet?

This post was brought to you by the memory of Mother Laura and our love for Pappa Lund!

Hansel and Gretel....?

2011-12-09T22:02:00.001-08:00

...nope, just Elliott and Lucy decorating their gingerbread houses! I found pre-assembled houses at Walmart, and they were perfect! There was more snitching than decorating, but that just made it all the more fun!

SNITCHING!!

Lovely Lucy.

Mike helping out.

Elliott's so precise...when he's not snitching.

Lucy's concentration face. Archie digs it.

Lucy took a break from house-making to make Archie smile...

...and smile some more.

isn't Christmas time the BEST?!?!?!?!

Picture Fun

2011-12-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

Not much has been going on at our house these last two days, but I have been playing around a bit with my photo editing software. Ok,it's just the photo editor that comes with Mac, but I still think it's fun. I love this picture of Archie because it looks like a cartoon character! The angle is just right, so it looks like I've manipulated the size and shape of his head, but I haven't, that's all Archie! But, I did make it look like a drawing, and I think it's pretty cool!

This is our "wee bonnie bairn" that Pappa and Gramma got us on their trip to Scotland 6 years ago. Elliott wore it first, and now it's Archie's turn.
Mike took Elliott to the high school basketball game, and they stayed through one and a half games! Elliott is his father's son, he is now totally devoted to all things sports. He'll sit with Mike and watch any sport they can find on tv: soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball, football. He asks Mike questions constantly, and Mike, being the all-knowing sport fan that he is, answers all his questions with a big, proud-daddy smile on his face. I love that they are bonding over sports.

And now, a story: Today Elliott was having a tantrum moment and was inconsolable. When I finally got him to calm down enough to talk, he asked if there were any sports on tv, then he watched some basketball and football and calmed right down. His dad couldn't be more proud, and I'm happy to have a secret weapon to combat his bad moods!
More editing fun. I think Elliott looks like some Norman Rockwell painting of a dirty little-boy face. I swear I've seen it somewhere!

How I Know it's Christmas Time

2011-12-04T09:00:00.001-08:00

When I was a little girl, Christmas didn't officially start until I had slept under the light of the Christmas tree with my siblings. We would set up our blankets and sleeping bags, and spend the night in the living room with the biggest and most wonderful night light of all.

The decorations were fun, and the goodies were yummy, but I didn't get that giddy feeling of anticipation in my tummy until I snuggled in with the pale, multicolored lights of the tree for the night.

That is the memory that brings back the excitement of Christmas. I wanted my kids to have that memory, so last night, they camped out under the tree ALL NIGHT!

I was especially surprised Elliott was up for it, but I guess if you get them tired enough, they will sleep anywhere.

After about an hour, I snuck downstairs and took a few pictures.....sigh...I love being a mom at Christmas!

PS, here is a bonus picture of Habi and Archie watching the BSU football game.

First Christmas FHE

2011-12-01T12:49:00.001-08:00

For our first Christmas family home evening, we made dough ornaments! Mike remembered making them a few times as a kid, so it was fun to relive it. I also let the kids eat the special fat candy canes. You know what I'm talking about, the ones that are just a little bigger and fatter?

They are my favorite, I swear they taste better.

We made cinnamon applesauce dough...

And salt dough. The idea is to paint the salt dough next time. We'll see!

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Where's the teeth?!

2011-11-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

All those pictures just to get a shot of Archie's too-cute little front teeth, and I got nothing! Well, not nothing, I did get some cute shots of him, and Elliott snuck in there a few times too. But alas, you will have to wait even longer to see my two favorite things.

Look what Archie can do!

2011-11-29T10:31:00.001-08:00

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Twas the first Day of Christmas!!

2011-11-27T17:02:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful start to our Christmas season!!! Since the day after Thanksgiving officially starts the Christmas season, we kicked it off by getting out our decorations, and turning on our lights that Mike put up on Thanksgiving day. Keeping it going, on the second day of Christmas, we got our tree. Mike found a Christmas Tree Farm near us! My Grandpa and Grandma Johnson owned a Christmas tree farm in the Mother Load in California when I was a kid. It was so special to share this tradition with my own family! We read from my grandma's history on the drive up, so the kids could learn a bit about why it was such a special experience for me. I am hoping to make it a yearly tradition, the farm, and the family history.It is only about 40 minutes away, in Horseshoe Bend, and it was GREAT!!! I tried to take pictures to tell the whole story...let's begin.

The kids enjoying the hunt.
We found the tree!! It doesn't look so big, out here in the great outdoors, but it is a beauty. It's amazing how glossy and soft the needles look. It is just beautiful.
The tree farm is also a chestnut farm. Here are some fallen nuts.
There was a fire for the kids to roast marshmallows...

And of course, there were chestnuts roasting over said "open fire"..
Once the tree is cut and driven up the hill, they stick it in the shaker to get all the loose needles off.
Then they load it into the bailer. We really didn't need it bailed, but this is one of the only things I remember from my grandparents' farm, so we got it bailed just for me!

Just to commemorate the moment, here we are by the sign.

It just barely fits in our living room.
The kids love their tree.
Once it's out of the great outdoors and into our mediocre indoors, it seems MUCH BIGGER!
Archie loves it.
Here it is! It makes me smile every time I see it because it is so ridiculously HUGE! I smile because I remember how we picked it out, and what it means to me to have a tree from the farm. I also laugh because we picked a great, HUGE tree, and I love it.

Thanksgiving; just a Nibble

2011-11-24T20:54:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I only have 3 pictures to show for it! (And one of them I borrowed from Kristine's blog; thanks Kristine!)

Lucy, Harmony and I started the day with a little ZUMBA class at the Y. It was my first class, and Lucy's second. Harmony's a Zumba pro. It was nice to start a day of eating with a little active fun. Hopefully, this will be something Lucy, I, and even Elliott can do together often.

We had the tiniest Thanksgiving in my memory...only 10 of us! It was the Wilsons and Mike's parents at my house for dinner, then on to Kristine and Jason's for dessert! Some highlights were mounds of sweet potatoes, a great glazed ham, Heather's homemade blueberry pie, and my pumpkin cheesecake. YUM!! Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I am thankful for a healthy, happy and loving family; extended, close, and everybody in between! I am so blessed.

RED BELT ALERT!!

2011-11-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

Lucy tested for her red belt this month!! She only has 3 more belts until black...CRAZY!!! She had many supporters. Here is Elliott and Archie.

Check out her high kick!!

Her form...

Breaking the board with her spin kick...

This is the testing group.

Receiving her RED belt!!

We are so proud of her. It is getting harder and harder, and she just keeps on going!

These are some projects I saw hanging up in Elliott's class. He is grateful for:

And he dreams to be a police officer. He sounded that out himself.

Here is a little bit about Archie. When he gets excited, or anxious, or pretty much any fun emotion, he covers his eyes with his little fists. Elliott used to do a similar thing, but he would grab his ears instead.

Our kids love our Harmony. She is so fun to have around. Here is an homage to Harmony that Lucy made in her free time at school.

Harmony loves to knit gifts for the kids. She made Lucy and Elliott some scarves and hats.

Here, she is feeding Archie persimmons. When we went to Korea, Lucy was 1, and Great-Grandma Khumsu used to feed Lucy persimmons in the same way. It made me smile to see this picture.

Dad has been busy too! He decided to take Elliott to a high school football game. Elliott LOVED IT!

Oh yea, Mike and I had our NINE YEAR ANNIVERSARY too! Don't look a day over one year, do we?
Lucy, sweet, cute girl that she is, made us this "Happy Marriage" sign at school. What a great life we live!

First day of Thanksgiving break

2011-11-18T12:04:00.001-08:00

What do we do when there's no school?
Mom's hair...

Lovely!

Watch a little TV

And Elliott practices his numbers. All the way to 73!!

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Happy Birthday Dear Elliott...

2011-11-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

Happy number 6 Elliott!!!

Look at that smile!! Happy birthday to my biggest helper, and my smart-little kindergarten boy! This year he had quite a birthday list. Everything from a big Power Wheels to a tiny nano-bug robot.

We had a family dinner and presents this year (it wasn't a party year, those are 5,8,12, and 16; trying to save my sanity by not doing a "friend party" every year). Family and presents abounded! Here are some of his fun faces, and a few of Lucy's too (the first picture).

BEST PRESENT EVER PAPPA AND GRAMMA!!

Yummy Spider-man ice cream cake.
Frosting that matches his eyes....hee hee.
Mike and I got him a new bike. It's HUGE!

But, he's amazing and he manages to ride it just fine.

Elliott discovered that when he lays on Archie for a photo-op, Archie giggles. Cute boys.

Lucy gave it a try too. Still works!
On a side note, we are trying to teach Archie to drink from a sippy cup to avoid the bottles all together. He spills a lot, but he thinks it's hilarious!

Halloween in a Hurry

2011-11-03T12:44:00.001-07:00

I am SUPER behind on my blogging, and Halloween is so full of fun that I was feeling a bit overwhelmed: Activity Day party, YMCA Halloween party, crafts with the neighbors, taekwondo party, Halloween fun run, class parties, cookie decorating, trick or treating....YEESH!! So, I decided to be succinct. Rather than have a mile of pictures for you all to look through, I condensed with collages and here is what you get. You can still take as much time as you need looking at each picture, but your "down"arrow will get a bit of a break. Happy Halloween!

On the Monday before Halloween, for Family Home Evening, we invited Kristine and Rowan and Maric over and we made ghost suckers while watching Charlie Brown's Halloween. It is a tradition in my family to make these to give to trick-or-treaters, and it was fun to do that with my kids and cousins. I don't know why Lucy is strangling her ghost... And the kids had spirit week before the week before Halloween, and they just looked so cute on pajama day that I had to take a picture.

Real quickly, here are some pictures of crafts with Ron and Sonya, our neighbors, and the Daddy Daughter party Lucy and Mike went to. Yes, Lucy painted his face, and yes, that's Mike in a tutu. Anything to get those little girls giggling.

And now, onto the class parties. There is one of Elliott's birthday thrown in there too (oops, make that two...oh well). It's the top middle picture where he is standing, nervously, in front of his class. There is a picture of some of Elliott's friends from the neighborhood: Ethan the Darth Vadar, Carter the Power Ranger, and Jake the Gansta. There is one of Lucy and Lauren: 2 lovely vampires. Elliott and I happened to go to Fred Meyer for groceries at the same time they were decorating cupcakes, so that one's in here too. And, Elliott and I made cookies that the kids decorated at our house!

Here is some fun from the YMCA, and some pumpkin carving.

The kids are trying to make the same faces their pumpkins are making, and Archie, well, he always makes that face...Fun times.

On to the next set...Taekwondo party! This is fun because it was our Halloween dress rehearsal. We got to put on the makeup and the costumes and see how it all went. Behold, the Ninja, Vampire and Sock Monkey!
Then, on Saturday, the kids, me, Kristine and Rowan and Maric, and Harmony and Had Abogi did a little Halloween Fun Run Mile to feed and clothe families in need in Boise. Lucy and Harmony were the only ones to complete the whole mile...way to go! It was so casual and fun, we are going to have to do it again next year for sure.
We made it to Halloween night! We got all dressed up again (yes, even Mike!) and headed to the neighborhood park for a little fast- track-trick-or-treating, then Mike took the kids out while Archie and I handed out candy. You may notice a few differences from the dress rehearsal. Elliott ditched the mask and weapons, and Lucy went for a black lipstick rather than red. It's all in the details. On a side note, I bought Mike that mustach weeks earlier because I thought it was hilarious, and the day after Halloween, while comparing pictures with Kristine, we discovered that Kristine had bought his brother Jason the SAME mustache for Halloween !! Mike says it's because we are both obsessed with Target, but I know it's because we are both so awesome.
That's it!! I'm all caught up....oh wait...I forgot about the time someone kidnapped Archie and replaced him with this guy:

There. Done. Oh, I mean, done except for Lucy got her ear's pierced,

and Elliott had a birthday, but those pictures will just have to wait....then, I'll be caught up, I promise!

October Odds and Ends

2011-10-31T19:38:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures to tie up some loose October ends. This is the problem with getting behind on my blogging; it seems like every post becomes a game of catch-up! Oh well, at least the pictures are fun to look at, right? Off we go:

Some Archie shots by Uncle Jason on Lucy's baptism day...

This is a project Lucy did at school. I walked down the hall in her school and saw this hanging on the wall. I love how sweet she is, and this kinda sums it up:

"it's fun to Love, I hope to be a good person, and I care about Archie".
Archie representin!!! (the Steelers of course!)
One of the last GORGEOUS autumn days at the park by our house.

Up next, yet another sum-up! This time it's the festivities of the last weeks of October. It's a doozy, but it'll be GREAT! Then I'll be all caught up, I promise! Until next month when all sorts of fun things happen and I don't blog them fast enough. It's like laundry, I just can't ever seem to catch up with it!

Elliott's First Testing!!

2011-10-25T17:54:00.001-07:00

After years of watching Lucy test for higher belts in taekwondo, it was finally Elliott's turn! He has only been out of the little tigers class for a month, but they teach them everything they need to know to test for yellow, so after a month of white belt, he tested for yellow! Mike and I were a mess! It is so STRESSFUL!!!!! He did great though. We are so proud. Pappa, Gramma, Aunt Juliet, Harmony and Had Abogi all got to be there because it just happened to be scheduled for the day before Lucy's baptism....PERFECT! It was a great weekend all around!

Elliott doing his form...
The passing class! (Elliott's the last one on the right in the front row)
The next monday, he got to go to class and get his new, yellow belt.

His first yellow-belt class. He is sitting facing left with the blue head-gear on. Sparing (in full protective gear) is his favorite part of his new class.

YAY ELLIOTT! WAY TO GO, WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!

BSU games and Babies

2011-10-22T19:16:00.001-07:00

Mike, Archie, me, Kristine and Jason headed to the BSU game tonight!! Heather and Kimo were there too, in the student section but they came and sat with us at half-time. Archie was a champ! There was a jet flyover that was a little loud (they were playing airforce academy), but he did great.

He had a super-cool BSU leisure suit to wear to the game:

Gorgeous autumn weather:

He fell asleep in the first few minutes, and slept through the first and third quarters. It was sooooo loud, I think he just retreated to his happy place. Funny, sleep is my happy place too.

We were only 4 rows in on the end zone! They were kicking field goals over our heads, and occasionally AT our heads. It was amazing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lucy Gets Baptized

2011-10-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have the best family ever, have I said that yet? For Lucy's baptism weekend, we had so much support from my family, and Mike's family, and it made it such a special time for her. Thanks so much! We had Juliet, Ruth and family, and Gramma and Pappa come from out of town, and we had Uncle Jason and family, Harmony and Had Abogi, and the Wilsons from in town. Here are some of the fun goings-ons!

Impromptu concert from Elliott and Karver. Recognize that tiny guitar Anne? Still being put to good use! Thanks again!

Gramma is so good with focused, one-on-one attention with the grandkids. They loved story time.

Karver and Elliott enjoying quality ipad time.
Aunt Juliet bonding with the cutie, Archie.
In classic Pappa style, he offered the kids a $2 bill if they could memorize a poem (he used to post poems on the walls at home and give us rewards for memorizing them when I was a kid). Lucy and Lilly memorized a Shel Siverstein poem about an upside-down pencil. Not to miss his chance for money, Elliott wanted to show Pappa that he memorized the church song "I Lived in Heaven"; all 3 verses! When it came recital time, he was a little nervous. Thanks Uncle Jason for documenting this moment!
nervously wrapping Lucy's $2 bill around my arm...
finishing the recital on my lap...
the audience...
and finally, the payout.
Fun family happenings weren't the only amazing things this weekend....there was the BAPTISM!! Mike baptized Lucy, and she chose to have Pappa Lund give her the confirmation blessing. That is when he lays his hands on her head, and by the power of the preisthood, gives her the gift of the Holy Ghost. From now on, she will have the Holy Ghost to guide her and help her in her life. What a blessing! Thanks for being part of her special day, Pappa!

Here are Lucy and Daddy before the baptism:
And here is Lucy after! We baptize by immersion, so she is nice and wet and clean all over!
Then there was the struggle of a family picture. There is so much I could say, but instead, I'll just show you. If I was a skilled photo editor, I could compile a decent family picture from bits of each shot, but it is much more fun to see the craziness of the moment, I think.

Oh well, we tried.

This next family picture turned out a little better. We were a calmer bunch. These are some of my family members: Aunt Juliet, Aunt Ruth, Mom Karen, Dad Lund, Aunt Emily, and me. Baby Karver snuck in there last minute, but EVERY picture is cuter with Karver in it, so we didn't mind.
Great weekend, thanks everyone! Like I said...best family ever!

September Wrap-up

2011-10-11T13:37:00.001-07:00

First of all, I'm not sure if I used the right "rap/wrap" in my title, but just go with it! Up first area some cute pictures of Archie from September. He loves his little cheesecloth blankies, as you can see...

Mike thought he'd be funny with the Archie crock-pot stew...
On Lucy's birthday, some youngwomen and friends of mine ran the Women's Fitness Celebration 5k. Here we are bright and early...
It is the biggest women's race, by the way! How fun to be a part of something so big...15000 women ran this year!

They don't care who runs, they take all kinds, as you can see.

It was so nice to have this race as a last hurrah with they young women. What a great calling it was, I'll miss those girls! Maybe we'll get together and run it again next year!

The last of the good weather

2011-10-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Lucy and Archie and I went to the park yesterday and just enjoyed the nice weather. Lucy found yet another use for her butterfly net Gramma and Grampa Johnson gave her. It was raining rose petals...

I Like My Birthday's, Every One...

2011-09-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

"...Each brings a greater joy to me, but I can't wait until I'm 8, for then I'll be baptized you see!"

Lucy is 8 years old!!

I felt guilty because I had a 5k race on her birthday morning, so I surprised her by decorating our dining room the night before her birthday.
Her birthday was on a Saturday this year, so the day before, she took the day off school, and we had a special breakfast of pancake balls, got a much-awaited pedicure, went out to the "miso soup place" for sushi and soup, and went shopping for her birthday cake and pinata.
Lucy and Archie at the nail salon. Archie is showing off his nails, all natural baby!
Her chair had butterfly wings and a little DVD player....so cute.
Mine had a massage chair and an amazing massaging lady!
The results.
While shopping for a pinata, Elliott wanted me to buy him these glasses. I didn't. But I also didn't miss the photo opportunity, hee hee.

We decided to do Lucy's party at the taekwondo school, like we did Elliott's last year. It was so fun! I love it because all we have to do is bring the pinata and cake, and they do the rest.

Lucy got to wear a black belt for the occasion.

All the guests got to break boards. Here's Rowan,
and Lilly,
And Elliott.
They also get to attack the pinata:

When the kids can't do it, the adults get to try!!

Into the party room for cake and pizza!
Cutting the cake with a Samurai sword.
You have to click on this picture and see it bigger so you can see the smile on her face...She can't help but smile as big as she can: she loves the attention. It isn't often you see her so unguarded and just pure happy! This is the best. face. ever.

We got her a GIANT new bike that we weren't sure she was going to fit. Silly us, she's amazing; look at her go!

Arche's first meal

2011-09-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

So, Archie has started waking up earlier and earlier in the night, and it isn't my favorite thing. I was beginning to think that maybe it was because he is ready for a little more food in his life and he is hungry sooner. So, I didn't want to do this....I've put it off as long as I can...I didn't want to know he was old enough for this...but, we tried some rice cereal today! I was going to wait until he was exactly 6 months old to do this because I don't want him to grow up! But, today for lunch, I ground some brown rice, boiled it up, mixed it with milk, strapped him in and gave it a go. Success! He IS ready for solid food! He didn't have the thrust tongue reflex any more, and he ate several good spoonfulls! We are going to do it for dinner too, and hoepfully it will help with his sleepy nights! Elliott got to help feed him too. Look closely at the pictures, there are some fun expressions, as always! Love you Big Boy Archie!

The Fun Doesn't Stop When the School Bell Rings!

2011-09-18T17:47:00.001-07:00

Lucy has wanted to ride in a hot air balloon since she was about 3 years old. Nothing makes them happier than seeing a hot air balloon in the morning sky. So, when the Spirit of Boise balloon festival happened this September, Mike set out at 5AM to take them to see the dozens of balloons launch downtown. Archie and I got to sleep in....in theory...

To celebrate the kids' first week of school, the kids came home from school to a box of "Nerds" candy, because they are officially nerds now, and then we walked to the Maverik gas station for a treat:

Archie trying out his future high-chair...not quite there yet.

Mike took Elliott to the Mountain Home Airforce Appreciation Day Parade. Now this I was sad to miss! Lucy and Archie and I had to stay home because Lucy had a birthday party, but I love this parade: we have gone every year since we've lived in Boise. It is an over 3 hour parade, the kids get their weight in candy, and then there are the festivities afterwards. Elliott scored some cotton candy that he didn't finish because it was too messy...Mike got a treat too--hee hee.
Elliott graduated from the Little Tigers class in taekwondo!! He is now in the white belt class, and will soon test into his yellow belt.

Elliott has a classmate named Carter that he just met. Turns out Carter lives basically across the street!! They are peas in a pod. They were awfully quiet, so I peeked around the corner, and this is what I saw: tv-watching fort.
One more weekend of fun before we go: Community Appreciation Day at Mountain Home Air Force Base. Again, Archie and I stayed home because the air show would just have been too loud. Again, a total bummer, I love the air show, and I would have loved to see the kids' reactions to all the cool stuff. Luckily, Mike took a lot of beautiful pictures, and you can see the fun on their faces.

Some things not pictured were Elliott and Lucy BOTH got students of the week in their classes for being responsible, Archie is finally outgrowing some of his 0-3 month old clothes, I volunteered in Elliott's class for the first time, and I won Johnson's Family Biggest Loser! Fun Times!!

One more week to go in September, we still have Lucy's birthday, my 5k, Carter's Birthday party, Lucy and my first activity day together, and much, much more! Bring it on September!

Summer's Last Fling

2011-09-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

Mike took the kids camping again without Archie and I...what a great Dad. They just went overnight at Idaho City, but they had great fun.

Then, we had a community service project for our church, and we layed sod, planted trees and cleaned up some local baseball fields.

Off to the State Fair!! It was the day we went to the fair, last year, that I found out I was pregnant with Archie! Crazy to think how much has happened in just a year!

Someone got all tuckered out in the high 90 degree weather! He is asleep with his hand in his eye...too cute.

Lucy snuggled up to a sea lion. I think he likes her.

There....whew....all caught up on summer!

Let's Play Catch-up!!

2011-09-08T13:54:00.001-07:00

Mike's birthday, I haven't forgotten, just gotten sidetracked is all! It was a wonderful birthday! He REALLY wanted an ipad, but he told me not to get him one because they are too expensive...that's when my brain started working...I had to get that for him! He makes the money, he works hard, he deserves to have some fun stuff. So, here is how it went down:

I was lying in bed one night and realized we had about $200 dollars sitting in our "Disneyland Jar"--our savings for a trip to disneyland. Knowing that it would take 10 of those jars, and 10 more years, I decided to ask the kids if we could use that money. Then, I got Mike's parents, my parents, and Jason and Kristine to go in on his gift with me, and we got that ipad for more than 1/2 off! It was a deal so good that even Mike would have to approve of the new price. The kids were SOOOOO excited, and so was I, so we had to come up with a fun way to give it to him. Here's how it went.

I bought 3 boxes of Mike n' Ike candies. Each was wrapped, and Mike opened them, sending him on a mini-scavenger hunt for his present. It was fun for me, because my family did these every once in a while, and I loved them. Later that night, Mike told me it was his first scavenger hunt for a present, and he was very happy.

I gave him this one:

Then his mom gave him:
Then Kristine gave him:
These are coordinates for our garden in the backyard. He got to use his GPS and geocache for his present!! (Aren't I terribly clever!)
Lucy could hardly contain herself because she knew what was coming. The kids did so good, they kept the secret for like 3 days!
Uncle Kimo made Mike a custom geo-caching container. He was as excited about that as he was about the ipad!

Inside the container, it had a note that told him to check the Disneyland Jar, and that's where he found his gift.

Here is my handsome, one-year-older husband! He gets better looking ever year, yes?
You can't have him ladies...he's all mine!
Love you Mikey! Hope you have another great year!

The Second of the First Day

2011-08-31T09:59:00.001-07:00

Lucy at her meet and greet the day before school starts

Lucy is in second grade now! She is in Mrs. Davison's class with her good friend Lauren...finally! Lauren and Lucy have been friends for ages, but never had a class together until now. Lucy is so proud of herself for the amazing things she can do now that she's a second grader: she wakes up to her own alarm clock, gets herself showered and dressed, reads 30 minutes in the morning, reads to Elliott, and helps do her own hair...her specialty is her side ponytail. She was also very eager to help Elliott get ready for going to kindergarten. We went for a run to Discovery Elementary the other day, and she showed him the playground, the third grade playground, and the bathrooms. She has told him the playground rules, and the hallway rules. She sits by him on the bus, and gives him, and I'm quoting Elliott, "a big hug, a big kiss, and picks me up" when she sees him on the playground. It must help him so much to know he has her to help and look out for him there. She is amazing...have I said that before?

When I got ready to photograph Lucy's first day of school, I didn't have to give her any direction, she just went for it! I love to see the progression of her poses:

she starts serious,

gets a little silly, cracks herself up

and ends strong. Love her.

The bus stop. They made it to the front of the line, and Elliott couldn't be more excited.

Lucy and her friend, Lauren

Lucy and the neighborhood gals, Alayna, Lauren, Sydney and Emma

the bus stop

Proud Mamma and her little students!

Here are some bus adventures...

Elliott's grin is so genuine here.

What a good sister she even lets her brother sit by the window

Off the bus and onto the campus

Outside her classroom

Showing her brother the ropes

IN STYLE

The day is over, she is officially a second grader!! She is ready to go and learn as much as she can!

Looks like it went well, she looks happy to me!!

We got Lucy a book too:

I think these are fun books, and we have all 200 of them, so we are set for the next several years of book gifts!

The First of the First Day

2011-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Elliott at Kindergarten Meet and Greet the day before school starts

My baby Elliott is a kindergartener!!! I am freaking out quite a bit. This morning he got up before his alarm clock, and the first thing he said to me was, " I am just so excited to ride the bus, Mom..." He had me do his hair too. He didn't want the usual, Superman hair, instead he wanted it cool; he wanted to look like his dad. He picked out his school clothes last night, put on his fancy new light-up shoes and spent the next hour and a half asking if we were going to be late and if it was time to go to the bus stop yet. I love him so much. He is our innocent, sweet boy, flying the safe little bubble we've managed to keep him in for almost 6 years. He'll do great for sure. He had plenty of time to pose for my Mommy-camera this morning, so to begin my documentation of Elliott's First Day of Kindergarten, here are some beauty shots:

I told him I wanted to get a picture of him off to school, so there is one where he is walking, muscle man smiling, superman smiling, cool smiling, silly smiling, and just smiling. He is quite a personality; see for yourself.

When Lucy went to kindergarten, I didn't know you could follow the bus and take pictures at the school, so I didn't. I didn't make that mistake with Elliott...the whole thing was well-documented!

Here he is with our neighbor, and his good friend, Jordan as they walk to line their backpacks up against the wall outside their classrooms.

Elliott with his classmates, and more neighbors, Jake and Carson.

The thing he was second most excited about was the playground. He enjoyed it first thing.

Looking a little more nervous now that the bell has rung, he is lined up to go inside, and the girl next to him is having a meltdown. You can see his nerves in his hands. Notice how he is playing with his backpack or twiddling his hands constantly, so sweet.

Elliott with his teacher Mrs. Mckay

Still looking nervous. He said she asked him to go to the window and see what the weather looked like today during circle time. He was very proud of having the responsibility of announcing it was a sunny day.

Such a sad little nervous smile!

The long march into class.....he is now officially a preschooler no more! (He was very excited when I pointed that out to him after school.)

And DONE!!! His first day was a success!

Doesn't he look smarter? He reported that he liked walking down the hall quietly to the cafeteria for a snack of chocolate milk. He liked seeing Lucy on the playground twice during recess, He used the sign language "T" to tell his teacher he had to use the restroom, and he gets two recesses instead of one. After school, he got to pick where he wanted to eat, and order whatever he wanted, so we went to McDonald's, and he got chicken nuggets and a smoothie. That boy would sell his own family for a smoothie, so it made his day. This year we are starting the tradition of giving new books to them on the first day of school, we gave him a cute book called Jeremy Draws a Monster.

He is officially a student.

A Dose to do you good

2011-08-29T20:29:00.001-07:00

I know you all need your weekly Archie fix, so here are some pictures to keep you going!

He is learning and growing so much every day. This week, he is a big boy in his WALKER!! True he doesn't really walk in it yet, and true his little feet barely touch the ground and true he more leans then sits upright in it, but he is in it! And that's all that matters.

Another first for Archie is his ability to hold onto and interact with things! True he can't really control what he does with the rattle, true he can't get it reliably into his mouth, true he often hits himself in the head quite hard with it, but he is holding it! What a big boy!

Lucy with Stripes

2011-08-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

My Lucy is so amazing. She is so brave and confident and amazing! She is learning so much from Taekwondo, not just kicks and blocks, but confidence and stamina and courage. She has worked so hard this semester to get her high blue belt! She is half way to black belt now, and still one of the youngest in her class. Master Lee really upped the intensity for blue belt, no just sliding by, you really have to know your stuff and she did. Here are some pictures of her amazingness!

This is her back-stance in her form. I love it because it looks like tae-chi to me!

This is her one-step sparring...look how high she is kicking!!

This is Lucy moments before she broke the board with her spin kick. This kick is crazy. you start facing the board, then spin around, swinging your leg, and kick the board behind you, finishing where you started. Sound confusing? It is. I told you she was amazing.

Here she is receiving her new belt in front of the class.

That's my girl!!!

Here she is with Archie. She is amazing with him too. She helps me, holds him, helps him be happy and helps him play and learn. She is starting 2nd grade next week, and I am so proud of her! It's going to be a great year!

My Little Buddah Baby

2011-08-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

For an update, Archie just had his 4 month appointment. his weight is 13 pounds: 10th percentile; his height is 23.3/4: 5th percentile; and is head is 43 cm: 90th percentile!!! That's the way we make them at the Hynes house. Thus the following story:

I turned a corner at Pier 1 the other day and this statue took my breath away! (that rhymes!)

It is my little buddah baby Archie! I think it looks like him; it has his head for sure. It was so cute and I instantly loved it so much that my stomach actually hurt. Mike said I could buy it for an early anniversary present...I love it! Thanks Mike! Here is the actual sleeping Archie, so you can compare.
It's true, the real one IS much cuter.

Archie loves playing with his little cheese-cloth blankies. He rubs them in his face, sucks on them, grabs them with his hands, anything he can do with them, he does; and he is happy. Whenever he fusses, the first two things out of my mouth to Lucy or Elliott are, " can you get him his blankie? Can you get him his binky?" Those two things can solve most any problem.

Another Archie moment that I love is right before sleep time. He will be grumpy and fussy, so we swaddle him up and lay him down. Before I can even get the binky in his mouth, he is smiling and cooing and looking straight at me. I don't know if he is trying to tell me that's what he wanted all along, or if he is trying to show me how happy he is so he doesn't have to go to sleep! Crazy boy.

In August every year, our neighborhood celebrates National Night Out Day on August 2. There is jump houses and paramedics, police officers, and lots of fun. So much fun, that I forgot to take any pictures! sorry! But, I did get a picture of the pre-party fun as Lucy painted Maric's fingernails like a rainbow:

And now for some random summer-fun moments:

Play-dogh never gets old!
We used some animal cracker cookie cutters, and Lucy had a whole zoo-themed story going.
Elliott enjoying himself.

A family in our neighborhood projected a movie onto a sheet in their front yard and invited the neighborhood kids to watch. I have a special love of this plan because my dad used to do this for the neighborhood kids when I was very young. I love that my kids will have that memory from their childhoods now too. The only problem is that it doesn't get dark until 9:30 here, so the movie isn't done until 11:00! They didn't get to finish the movie because it was MY bedtime, but they still had fun.

The Cut

2011-08-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Archie's Baek-il! We had the Wilsons, Emily and Jason, Larry and Yoon, and Rowan and Maric over to help us celebrate. We ordered some yummy pizza (not very Korean, but easy), had some cookies and Korean rice cake. Here are some pictures of our adventures. This first picture was taken by me, the rest were by the resident photographer, Jason Natzke! Thanks Jason (and Heather for being the videographer!)

Archie BEFORE:

He looks suspicious...like he knows something's about to go down.
You can't really tell in these pictures, but his hair looks almost red sometimes....sigh...

Archie DURING:

We thought about leaving it like this; nice and patchy, but Archie didn't take to well to this idea, you can see his reaction in this next picture:

Archie AFTER:
He says so much with his facial expression, I don't even have to comment of his after shots!
He's hoping the string of drool will distract from the shiny noggin.

This is our attempt at a self-timed family picture. That slight blur you see on the left side is me trying to sneak in. Didn't work.
So we did it this way! Thanks photographer Elliott!
That's the event!

In a side note... I thought it was so funny how different Archie can look depending on how gravity is pulling on his cheeks! Here is an example:

They don't even look like the same baby! LOVE THIS LITTLE MAN!

Baek-Il Memories

2011-08-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

Before I get to Archie's Baek-il, I want to take a look back and the Baek-ils of yesteryear. I wasn't blogging then, so I have no world-wide evidence of Lucy and Elliott's head-shaving adventures. I am going to remedy that right now. Here are some of the before and afters of their 100 day birthdays.

BEFORE:

you cannot tell me she isn't Archie's twin! I think they look so much alike and even make the same faces!
AFTER:Isn't she sweet? Smiling despite the humiliation? I remember thinking she looked like a basketball player!

Now on to Elliott's BEFORE:
Cute blonde locks!

AFTER:
We can all see where Archie got his head shape! So, to sum it up, Archie is Lucy's face on Elliott's head. Ever the diplomat, he decided to be fair and look like both of them so there is no jealousy. Such a good little brother.

The Baek-il is a fun tradition, and a simple way to connect them to their Korean roots. It usually involves food and a family gathering, and we did both. Stay tuned for Archie's big reveal!

An Ode To Archie

2011-08-03T13:24:00.001-07:00

I have been gathering some cute pictures of Archie over the last while, and haven't had a chance to post them, so I am just going to do it all at once! But first, an Archie update. He is doing great at his naps ever since our trip to AZ, I think it wore him out! He is laughing now! Mike was the first one to get him to laugh, but now it is pretty easy, you just have to lay him on his back, squish his cheeks with his own feet, and give his head a little shake. Crazy, but it works! He weighs about 14 pounds, and he is now bald! I will post some of those pictures another time. He likes his swing ok, and his playmat ok, and he likes to be held and put down. Pretty much he likes to change things up....not happy being left at one thing for too long. But, the good news is, that when you keep it interesting, he stays quite happy! He loves smiling at Elliott, and he loves when Lucy helps by holding him or putting him in his swing. He gets excited when he sees his Daddy, which makes Mike's day for sure! We love him, and he is such a happy, chill little guy!

These are pictures of him looking at the black and white family pictures on our wall.

Just some brotherly love going on.

I see dimples!!!!

Look how content he is. He really is so sweet.
Is there anything better in this whole world than a sleeping baby? Amazing.

Pocatello Times

2011-07-31T18:28:00.001-07:00

We are in Pocatello with my sister ruth and her family visiting my brother Kimball at my parents' old house. It's empty if furniture, but we fill it up with fun and family!

Archie and aunt amanda's little guy Ben.

Uncle kimball and Archie.

Karver and Elliott have had 2 water plays already!

Then they knocked over some lawn chairs and were suddenly astronauts taking off into space...

BLAST-OFF!!
(who says you cant have fun in an empty Grandma's house?!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Summer Fun Times

2011-07-27T12:40:00.001-07:00

This summer has been a pretty mellow one, but still fun and busy. We have only had one trip--to AZ-- and haven't really been camping yet. We have a camping trip planned for August, but other than that, we are plan free! So, what have we been doing to fill our time? Running, Young Women stuff for church, plenty of play dates, chores, shopping, movies, and playing with Archie. Mike and I went on our first date in AGES (Archie came too, but it still TOTALLY counts!) the other day, to see a movie, and we are still enjoying the memories! Here are some other things we have been doing:

Archie tried out his big-baby-bed once or twice. Not too successfully I might add; the boy doesn't like to lay down flat. But, on a happier note, he is sleeping 8 hours at a time almost every night!

Yet another money-making scheme. A successful one too, once they went door to door and made phone calls.

Mike and I hosted a work bbq at our house. Thanks Johnsons for the painters tarp slip-n-slide idea! Only two employees couldn't come and we had yummy pulled pork, giant volleyball and other fun times! It's nice to like the people you work with.

Harmony and Had Abogi took the kids Cherry picking in Emmett. They got to pick at a friend's house and that meant climbing on the roof! Lucy loved it...

Elliott just made it to the ladder.

The kids made super-sidewalk chalk pictures at our neighbors', Sonya and Ron's house. He has his artist daughter outline pictures, then the kids sit on special chalk-drawing-rugs, and fill them in. Then Ron sprays on a coat of clear paint and the pictures stay for weeks. The kids got to do this twice and they loved it. Now a day doesn't go by that Lucy doesn't ask if she can go visit Ron!

Even Archie got to join in the chalk fun....he watched.

We went to a local indoor play center--Just Kidding Around-- and the kids found a new favorite destination.

We discovered that Archie is pretty darn good at tummy time!

While Mike and I were on our date, Harmony took Lucy and Elliott to a nearby splash-pad,

And we celebrated Archie's Baek-il; his Korean 100 day birthday. I am going to post pictures, but I have to do it separately because there are so many! It will hopefully be soon, but I am also trying to rescue pictures of Lucy and Elliott's Baek-ils from the other computer so I can post those too. I'm not very tech savvy, so it may take some doing! but stay tuned, they are coming!

The Real End of our Arizona Adventure

2011-07-18T18:43:00.001-07:00

One of the funnest things we did was go to the Southwest Museum of Natural History. It was amazing, and it's just right there in the middle of Mesa....unassuming and wonderful. Mike was so excited right away because you walk in the doors, before you even have to pay, and you see this:

Mike has never seen dinosaur bones before, so it was especially amazing for him. I got to see some dinosaur bones as a kid when we visited the La Brae Tar Pits. I remember it was super fun, so I hope my kids have this memory with them for a while too. Yay wooly mammoth!!
Washed-out Archie liked the giant, dinosaur shark teeth.
A Real triceritops!!!!! So cool!
This is our family feet compared to a dinosaur foot. Boy is Archie pink!
Panning for gold in the yard. Fool's gold, but the kids loved it. The water was a nice break from the heat too.
That's one hot-looking Elliott!
Don't worry though, we cooled off at one of my favorite dessert joints in the valley, Mesa Frozen Custard!! YUMMMMY!!!!!!!
This is my lone 4th of July shot. This is moments before the Transformer fire cracker shot a missile inches from Elliott's head, into the garage behind us. Exciting times.

We loved this trip! Mike didn't melt in the heat, we spent great time with great people in a great place, and we had so much fun. The kids came home and crashed. Here is the proof:

Same time, same place next year everybody?

Finishing up the Az Trip Part 1

2011-07-11T14:07:00.001-07:00

To sum it all up, here are some pictures!

Morgan put up a slip n slide in his backyard under a canopy. All the kids loved it, and I stayed out in the heat just long enough to take a few pictures!

Lucy and Cassidy were, as always, inseparable! Whether they were holding Archie, doing a nail spa or playing dress-up, they were together constantly! Thanks for being such a great, patient cousin Cass!
Christa is amazing. She had bought all kinds of art supplies and fun things for the kids to do together, and then she actually followed through and helped them do it all! My kids love to paint and they don't get to do it that much at home, so it was a treat!
Elliott and Will were always having some kind of fun together. Gramma Karen bought some painters tape and Christa let the kids have a ball! here are the cars lining up....but where is the road?
Ahhhh!

Again, Christa's foresight saved the day!! She bought nerf darts to spare and the bullets flew!

Christa, what would we do without you?! She even made goo for the kids to play with; brave lady!
Night swimming! My favorite part of living in the Valley of the Sun.
Ok, day swimming isn't so bad either. Here we are at Cathy Garino's house for our fourth of July feast!

These are some pics from the Mercury WNBA game that Morgan got us tickets to. Good food, good people and good fun!

Juliet fantasizing about her not-so-secret crush on Steve Nash.
Enjoying the game from the box seats!

My favorite chubby, little man (this caption refers to the bellow picture, not the above....not that I needed to clarify, but just in case hee hee).

And Now (why is all this suddenly underlined? I don't know, just go with it) onto the bloopers part of our story:

We had so many injuries this trip! Not my family necessarily, but everyone! (ok, Ruth mostly!) it all started with a beautiful, wonderful sisterly jog around the golf course by Morgan's house at night. We were just finishing our first lap when BOOM, Ruth was down flat to the deep bass sound of her kneecap striking the pavement. The next day her baby developed an ear infection, the day after that, her little Karver was all splotchy with a mystery ailment:

Guilio mistook my Clear Care Contact solution for contact rinse and put straight peroxide into his eye:

Some other mishaps:

Ruth got stung by a wasp while night swimming (it is now a full-blown infection on her arm)

Juliet, Morgan, Christa, Chantel, Warren, Pappa and Elliott all shared a cold

Lucy kicked Lund in the ear in the pool and burst his eardrum

and Elliott woke up one morning with blisters all over his lips

In spite of all this, we had a great time and would do it again in a second!

We Survived!

2011-07-06T12:40:00.001-07:00

What a night we had yesterday!! We were able to experience the biggest Arizona haboob in 50 years!!! Just so you know, haboob is an Arabic term that means dust wind...it should be dust tidal wave because that's what it was!! We watched images of it crawling over us on the news, while watching it cloud over everything outside the window. We couldn't even see across the street!! CRAZY!! Here are some pictures:

It was 50 miles wide and 1 mile high!

The kids loved it. They duct taped blankets to their hands and feet and "really flew!"

You can see the dust blowing in the light of the flash.

The kids came in looking like they had a gray film all over them. This morning, we had dust roads to drive on in the neighborhood...it was wild.

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Still Heating Up the Valley of the Sun!

2011-07-04T11:20:00.001-07:00

We have been having so much fun with my family down here! We have gone swimming, night swimming, gone to a WNBA game, had a giant johnson breakfast (26 of us!), helped my parents move into their new house, napped a lot, eaten at In N Out burger twice, slipped and slided un the backyard

and blessed Archie at the Johnson's house with my family here.

In our church, when our babies are young, we give them a name and a blessing. Mike and other men who hold the priesthood, stand in a circle holding Archie while Mike places his hands on his head and tells him all the beautiful blessings and hopes our Heavenly Father has in store for him. It was beautiful. So much of my family were here; Mike, Morgan, Pappa, my Uncle Buck and Brother Steele were in the circle. The Spirit was so beautiful, and I knew God was watching over our little family. We are so blessed to have Archie in our family. And what a family it is!! Here are some pictures to prove it:

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Fun times in AZ!!!

2011-07-01T17:05:00.001-07:00

Here is what we have been up to since arriving in Arizona on the 28th!

Swimming twice on Wednesday...

Playing with the cousins...( here is kason discovering Archie)

Watching everyone meet Archie...uncle Morgan loves the babies!!

Frog hunting at the golf course behind their house...( the same route Juliet, Ruth and I ran another night)

Making money with the Be Yourself day spa ( Lucy doing aunt juliet's nails)...

Making money with Taekwondo lessons from Elliott

And snowcone stands!! ( apparently there's lots of money to be made in Arizona!)

And trips to nostalgic restaurants! ( yay Peter Piper Pizza!)
I'll try to post the fun as it happens!

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Summertime wears a person out

2011-06-21T12:27:00.001-07:00

This is what the start of summer does to the Hynes family.....They go from a strict 7:30 bedtime to a "whenever Mom needs some alone time" bedtime and slumber parties every other night. They run in the sun, engage in fights with each other that would wear out Muhammad Ali, and then crash wherever they can find a soft, quiet corner of the house. I love these shots...Elliott started this nap out on the couch, sometime in the middle of it he slid onto the floor, then woke up and finished it on the red couch in the other room. I love Lucy's nap because it is in the biggest pile of blankets and pillows I have ever seen; who wouldn't fall asleep in that?

Here is a little bit more of the things we do to wear them out:
Library time!

Dirt biking adventures. I like the three motorcycles piled in Mike's truck....big, medium, and small.
Our Motorcycle Mamma.
Jump Time! It's an indoor trampoline extravaganza!

PS, another good thing about the summer is that they can play outside without getting frost bite. Example: right now they are banished to the front yard for an undisclosed amount of time because they wouldn't stop bickering...sweet.

In other news...I have finally started getting Brown Box. It's a organic, local vegetable and farm egg delivery service that brings me yummy goodies every other week. I like my rainbow radishes.

Archie is 2 Months Old!

2011-06-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

Our Little Big Guy

Archie is 2 months old now! At his doctor's appointment, he weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds!! That is wonderful considering he was too small and lost too much weight just 6 weeks ago! look at our little chunk now! His weight is 7th %, his height, 21 3/4, is 5th %, and his head is....76th%!! What a smart man he is going to be. I love his many faces. These photo collages capture them so well I think. See if you can find:

1. Archie cross-eyed
2. Archie raising one eyebrow (ok, he has no eyebrows, so raising one eyebrow- muscle)
3. Archie's "Hynes brow"
4. Archie cheering for his wonderful weight gain!

5. Archie doing his pursed lips (my personal favorite face)

*answers at bottom of page

Archie is now smiling more often at random windows and furniture, cooing more often (still mostly at Elliott), he has outgrown his preemie clothes, he has moved out of newborn diapers. He is such a good sleeper; when he is ready for bed, I just have to wrap him up in a tight burrito and lay him in his bed. He will gaze around him for about a 1/2 hour, and just drift gently to sleep....aahhhh. He sneezes at least 2 times, something he inherited from his Dad. Just like his Dad, brother and sister, he rubs his little eyes when he gets sleepy. He loves to nestle into my hair when I hold him on my shoulder, and he can go from happy to red-faced screamer amazingly fast. He is Elliott's favorite audience for his singing concerts, and he is Lucy's favorite thing to show off to her friends. He makes his Dad gush and his Mom so happy. We love our little Archie!

1. Cross-eyed Archie

2. One eyebrow muscle Archie

3. "Hynes Brow" Archie

4. Cheering Archie

5. Pursed lips Archie

The End of the School Year

2011-06-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

School's out! The first day of summer both kids had their annual breakdown....tears, tantrums, screaming and door slamming, so we can officially get this summer break underway! Luckily, the fits only last a bit, and then the real fun begins! This summer we are going to Arizona to visit family, camping, fishing, dirt biking, swimming, and anything else we can think of! I have to keep Archie warm and in the shade, so unfortunately, no swimsuits for me.....awe, bummer, I am SO SAD about that! **wink wink**

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids first and last days of school; let's see how much they've grown!

This year Elliott learned all his letters, numbers and shapes. He perfected writing his name (something he could actually do before, just not as well), learned his address, developed a love of cutting (something I wouldn't LET him do before!!), taping, pasting and creating, and he learned that he loves school. He has also realize that he loves his friends: playdates, school recess, whatever, the boy ALWAYS wants to be playing with someone. We are so proud of our soon-to-be-kindgergartener!

Elliott's preschool had a Jungle Jamboree picnic to celebrate the last day of school. It was cold and rainy that day (as it was EVERY day this spring), so it became and indoor occasion. But, it was very fun. They had booths set up, crafts and yummy hot dogs. This is Elliott's cool tattoo from the tattoo booth.

Decorating his goody bag...
One of his favorite games there, the bean bag toss...

Digging for treasure in rice! So fun.

His other favorite game there...GOLFING! He is obsessed with it right now, even though he has never been golfing! He even wanted to ditch dirt-biking the other day because he wanted to golf. Geeze, maybe we'll have to do that in Arizona when we're there!

Here is our little first-grade Lucy:

And here is our big second-grade Lucy! This year Lucy learned that she LOVES to read. I caught her up in her room reading the other night, an hour after bedtime and she said, "what, Mom, I do this every night"!! Great that she loves to read, bad that she is doing it instead of sleeping! She has learned about math, history, geography, how to jump-rope, criss- cross, she ran 10 miles for her school's Discovery Dashers, she learned how to be a good friend and how to be a good student. Way to go Lucy!

This is Lucy and her 1/4 Korean friend, Seneka, who just happened to be in her class! YAY Kimbop buddies!

Lucy and Surreal...
Lucy and Sydney B...
Lucy's teacher, Ms. Unger.

This is Tyler R admiring Archie; Lucy loved showing him off to her class.

What a year, and what a summer it is going to be!

Spring is Creeping In

2011-06-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Finally it is starting to look like spring around here! Good thing too; things get a little crazy when we are stuck in the house all day when it rains...

We do have some fun indoors though, when there is dance video games, a wii console, and crazy Korean relatives to play with...

But, once the weather is nice, we get to explore outside and that is always fun. Last weekend, our subdivision had its annual garage sale, so the kids had something to do while I jogged around the neighborhood. Here is what Lucy bought with her allowance:

That day, we got our new chairs delivered, and Elliott found something fun to do outside with the packaging:
Then we had a barbecue at Harmony and Had Abogi's house and got to try out our new, giant volleyball:
See, life is good in the spring in Boise.

Here are some pictures of the big brother and big sister of the house. They look so proud of themselves: Archie is big enough that they can be a little more adventurous when holding him now. This is the "just-chillin" hold:

Poppy Happy!!

2011-06-04T15:29:00.001-07:00

I love POPPIES!!! All kinds, all colors, all over my yard!!! I have failed to grow them from seed for several years, so last year I finally bought a poppy mix and just poured it all over my flower bed: success!! They were Iceland poppies, so they are smaller, and I love the big Oriental ones, so I planted more seeeds. Bummer again. But, I bought a few seedlings and here we go! I am still waiting for my white and fuchsia orientals to grow, but so far my yard is lovely! Take a look:

I think Archer loves poppies too, don't you?
This was my first poppy of the year. Around my sidewalk, the water pooled and all the seeds flooded to there, so they are crowded and tiny! It is a little bit cute.

Elliott certainly loves a poppy too!
Mike and Archie are admiring the view.
That's what I'm talking about! An oriental poppy that I bought as a seedling. Hopefully it will reseed and spread the love next year!
Gorgeous!
This little guy loves poppies too, I just know it! That's why he's hanging out Alice in Wonderland style in my flower bed.
That's right....gorgeous again!
This is my crown jewel! I planted these peach oriental seeds last year, along with the white and fuchsias, but they didn't take. Bought this one as a seedling and voila!

Happy times.

Uh...Pregnancy Photos

2011-06-03T10:06:00.001-07:00

I meant to do this a couple of months ago, but life's been crazy lately, so I forgot. That's ok though, right? I'm allowed some craziness I think! Anyway, these aren't really for your enjoyment; sorry. They are more for my personal records. I've never done this pregnancy photo thing, so I thought I'd give it a go since it might be my last time on this wild ride! Here they are. If you flip down quick, you can watch me grow! Fun times. It starts with the day I found out I was pregnant, last August, and it ends with 36 weeks, about a week and a half before I had Archer. (Funny how it's not just your belly that grows huh? hee hee).

More May Fun

2011-05-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

Mike has been so available for the kids throughout the last two months, and Elliott has been eating it up! I'm sure Lucy loves it too, but she is in school so much that she doesn't get to enjoy it too much. Elliott is loving making space-ships with his Legos, and this day, he got Dad's help:

This is a random picture, but it is a sweet little Archie-Mommy moment. Look what a little snuggler he is!

By the way, he is a 9 pounder now! He is now, at 7 weeks old, the same size that Elliott was when he was born! He is a little chunky boy. He looks about the same size, he is just filled out; his skin just looks tighter. Super cute. Here is a picture of his little double-chin:

This is what his little legs used to look like...all wrinkly with loose skin:

And this is his roly-poly thighs now:

In other news, we have always had a big sinkhole right off of our driveway, and this spring the city decided to fix it. Enter SUPER EXCITED ELLIOTT. We sat outside and watched the construction, It was like Elliott's own private dream movie.

One weekend in May, Mike decided to take the kids camping at the sand dunes nearby to test out our new 1958 camper. Archie and I stayed home, and Mike and the kids had some adventures from Friday to Saturday.

Inside the camper.

Climbing the dunes.

Lovely Lucy.

This picture explains the buckets of sand that poured out of the laundry machines after the trip.

Dad is a supreme camping-cook. The kids are enjoying that in this picture.

They fished a little bit on the trip. Fishing with the kids is always tricky because Mike is always helping, so he can't do much fishing, Elliott just likes to cast for a bit and then gets bored, but Lucy, without fail, ALWAYS catches a fish. Usually the first fish, the most fish, and the biggest.

She caught two like this. What a gal. She likes to fish, but isn't too fond of the fish themselves. I love the look on her face.

Thanks for taking the kids out Dad! Maybe next time Archie and I will join you!

On the Road Again

2011-05-31T09:41:00.001-07:00

Today I started the Couch to 5k program. I have to say that it's a bit depressing to be starting on the couch when I was racing a 5k this time last year. I can't decide if it's comforting or discouraging to think that it is actually Operating Table to 5k, or Pregnancy to 5k, while pushing a jogging stroller!! Anyway, it's hard and I am starting from scratch. I've done this before, I can do it again. Please pray for me, encourage me, send me good vibes, I'll need all the help I can get!

I have a cool app to help me though, that's always fun.

The program gets you ready for a 5k in 9 weeks. I'm a bit more tentative. My goal is to run a 5k by September. After all, it is pregnancy to 5k for me. I'll find a race to run in September and get in it! I have another, longer-term goal; last year I raced against Coach Pete, next year, I'll BEAT Coach Pete. There, it's in writing, now I'm accountable, I HAVE to do it!

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Korean Visitors

2011-05-27T12:36:00.001-07:00

On May 15, Harmony's sister and Brother in law came in from Korea. They came to celebrate Harmony's and his 60th birthdays. In Korea, the 60th Birthday is a huge deal, like 100 in America. In Korean, Uncle is Emobu, and Aunt is Emo. They have never been anywhere like America, and they don't speak ANY English. Ok, that's not true, they can say "Hi, same, Thank You". Anyway, they are the sweetest, neatest people. Mike knows them pretty well, and Lucy and I have met them once, in Korea when Lucy was 1, so we are so excited to see them again. It is easy to see where Harmony gets her enthusiasm and energy, it must run in the family. They are loving the new experiences and always game to try new things. Here are some of the fun moments:

Meeting Archie at Harmony's house.

Habi is the master baby-burper. It looks pretty cute too.

First trampoline experience. They stayed on and jumped and sang for about a half an hour.

This is Emo doing the actions to a Korean folk song, Santoki.

My sister-in-law, Kristine posted the words on her blog, and I borrowed them from her. Thanks Kristine! Here they are:

English Lyrics

First Verse:
Mountain bunny, bunny
Where are you going?
Bouncing, bouncing as you're running.
Where are you going?
Second Verse:
Over the mountain peaks, peaks
I will climb them on my own
Plump, plump chestnuts
I will find and bring

Korean Lyrics Transliterated

First Verse:
San-toki, toki-ya
Uh-dee-reul gah-neu-nyah?
Kang-choong, kang-choong tee-myun-suh
Uh-dee-reul gah-neu-nyah?
Second Verse:
San-go-gae go-gae-reul
Nah-hon-jah nuhm-uh-suh
to-shil to-shil ahl-bahm-eul
Joo-wuh-suh ol-tae-yah

Bonding at our house.

They brought the kids Korean pajamas. They are so cute, and the kids have worn them every night that I'll let them!
They leave June 15, and they have a full schedule until then. They are on their way to Vegas tomorrow, and the Grand Canyon next week. We don't get to go with them, but I know they'll have a great time. Maybe next year we can go visit them in Korea!! Ahhhh, a girl can dream.

May-hem!!

2011-05-26T19:22:00.001-07:00

I found some more pictures of when Pappa and Gramma were here. It was so nice to have my Mommy and Daddy here for a while . They are such amazing examples of service and love. My Mom did a great job at reminding me to take it easy and that it's ok to take a nap (as if I need reminding!). Actually, I did need reminding, she was great. They helped Mike with the kids, they ran errands (thanks Dad), and they kept the kids feeling loved and attended to. Elliott was especially excited to spend time with Pappa. It was a welcome distraction for him and helped him adjust to all the newness of having Archer here. We were sorry to see them go. So, in order for us to remember it forever, here are some pictures!

Gramma Karen got Archie all dolled up for church. Lucy wanted him to wear shoes, and these are the only ones we had. Not quite small enough! Too cute.

Pappa oversaw the making of Elliott's fort. Of course there is plenty of tape, it is a dog-proofing gate. It worked too, Eddie was quite confused by it.

Pappa having a moment with Archie:

I love this picture because Archie looks like he's telling you to "call me". hee hee
Elliott loving his brother.

There is plenty of construction going on very close to our house, and Elliott couldn't be more excited. He is looking forward to the new traffic lights going up by the Maverik gas station. We stopped by and let him get a picture by the lights. It is crazy how big they are. Mike says it looks like a photo-shopped picture because of the proportions.

Lucy loves to do her makeup. Lovely Lucy.
Some cones outside of Costco were just too much like construction cones for Elliott to resist.

Gramma got in on the action too!

When the weather is nice, we like to take outings to the gas station. The road construction has helped us out because they finished the sidewalks so it is smooth riding all the way! Here is our first trip.

Even Archie was able to join us.

This is Elliott's cold face. I think it's a brain freeze!
I love the summer!! I can't wait to have more adventures, take more pictures and post more summaries!!! Thank you Mother Nature for the summertime and my lovely family to share it with!