Vacation

Denzil has had a blast this year having his buddy Abel come over several times a week to play. They come up with some funny things to do together and they sure can run and ride bikes forever.

At the beginning of April Kris had 2 weeks off from work. The first week we went to Myrtle Beach and bought a kite. We tested it out and when I tried it took a few times for me to get the hang of it, then all of a sudden it went crashing down and right on to Denzil's head. He was ok and only cried for a minute. I was concentrating so hard on keeping the kite up that I wasn't watching where he was standing.

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium which was totally packed (we didn't think about it being spring break) but fun going through the tunnel under the water.

We also decided to make a little trip back up to Winston-Salem to visit some of our friends and neighbors that are still there. We love Bill and Jeannine and it was so nice to visit with them for a little while.

Our friends, the Kunz's, let us crash at their house for the night and Denzil couldn't have been happier. He got to have a sleepover with Lucas in his room and wrestle and play. Holly was nice to let Kris and I go out to dinner on our own and watched our kids. They loved her house and being with their old buddies.

It was sad to leave. In the morning Lucas cried when the bed Denzil slept in wasn't there anymore and Denzil cried when he thought he wasn't going to see Lucas again when we parted ways during the day to visit some other friends. We have been so blessed to make great friends and for our kids to have great friends while we have been here. Such a fun time.

What have we been up to?

Well, the last couple of months have been fun. We have tried to take advantage of the days Kris has off and when I don't have to babysit. Someday we will get a big enough car that will fit 3 carseats.

The kids love bubble baths, maybe I'll have to let the Easter Bunny know that so we can get some more. Bath time is a favorite around here.

We have been enjoying our pass to the children's museum. Some weeks we go twice, like this week.

We have done a few little crafts with the kids for different holidays that have been tons of fun. Denzil loves doing crafts and is getting quite good at making silly faces, drawing them too;).

We went to a battle reenactment. It was fun but the kids weren't too excited about the big cannons going off.

We also went to another fort for a medical demonstration from the civil war. This was the tent talking about amputations. It was quite interesting that even though things were very primitive about 70% of those who got amputations survived.

This guy had dental tools from the civil war era. Denzil was very interesting in the tools and asked lots of questions. Before this table he was ready to go home but then we ended up staying another 15-20 minutes talking with this guy.

We had our first and probably only snow here. The kids were super excited when they woke up from their naps to see the huge snowflakes. It didn't stick around for long though.

We made a little trip to Monkey Joe's. It was perfect because we went on a Monday morning when all the kids are in school so there were only a handful of people there the entire time we were there. I got to join in the fun too! Only a few people made comments about me being pregnant.

This was our first beach trip for the year. It was a bit chilly but the kids love the sand and had a fabulous time.

Ahh, aren't we cute!

Our second beach trip when my sister and her family came out to visit us. McKinley is a very good shell finder and such a cutie!

We spend a lot of time playing outside with our neighbors, even when it is a bit chilly.

We went to the NC Maritime museum in Southport, took the ferry to Fort Fisher, the aquarium, and the actual fort with Laura's family. We had a couple of fun filled days and some pretty tired kids, at least mine were.

Denzil has been practicing writing his letters and is getting pretty good at them. He also is starting to use his imagination and try to draw things. Can anyone guess what this one is? You will get a high five if you can.

Announcement

For anyone who isn't in the know, we are having another baby girl due May 13, 2013.

Christmas in Utah

So we had a sort of surprise visit to Utah for Christmas this year. We were going to stay home because of the expense and the fact that we would be there in 7 months anyway to live. But with my brother Eric having a pretty rough go with the first round of chemotherapy and a super nice aunt of my sister-in-law, we were able to go out and spend 3 weeks with the family. We decided to ask Santa if he could come early to our house so we wouldn't have to bring home a bunch of presents and he said he could do that for us. The kids were super excited about opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Holman and having Santa bring some extras too. They still got a couple presents at the big Christmas Eve party at my parents too so they couldn't be happier. Denzil woke up in the middle of the night crying saying he wanted to open up his wood. He got Santa's sleigh to build and could understand why he couldn't open it. He helped Grandpa make it Christmas morning.

 We went to the park a couple times for a little sledding. Needless to say, they had a blast and it wasn't too bad for me because the hill isn't too big so carrying kids and the sled up wasn't bad.

 We made a trip up to Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Denzil was scared of these ones because they moved and made noise but McKinley and I watched them for quite a while. She even started making the noises that the baby triceratops made.

 We also went to Jungle Gym's. I'm pretty sure the kids had great time with their cousins and Nana. I wasn't sure how Denzil would like this ride with getting squished and all but he had a big grin and even did it a second time.

 We also went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. The only problem there was the kids getting hungry, otherwise we had lots of fun checking out the dinos and other displays.

 This is Denzil being a scorpion. He also had a noodle aka light saber stuck in his pants as his stinger but it must have fallen out or something.

 We went for a little snowshoe hike to Willow Lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was a lovely day and Denzil was even able to get a little shut eye while standing in one of my dad's backpacks.

 We made a day trip to the cabin for a little snowmobiling and a much needed nap for Denzil. He also got to at least see the beginning of the classic The Land Before Time. I guess we must have really been into dinosaurs this trip.

 And to finish it all off, we stopped to say hello to the horses and mules. McKinley was super excited but it was very cold and dark so there wasn't much else to do but say hello then head back up to Grandma's house.

We had a wonderful trip and the best part of it was to see my brother improve. He still has a long road ahead but he is doing so much better than he was just before we got there. I am so thankful for modern medicine and the great things that can be done to fight diseases and save lives and for the power of prayer and fasting. If you are interested in his story and how he is doing you can check out ericstheman.blogspot.com. Happy New Year y'all!

Finally caught up!

At the end of September a friend of mine invited us to join them at their beach house rental and stay overnight. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and with Victoria again. It was lots of fun for me and Kris was able to join us too. Someday maybe we will have to do it ourselves! 

Rebecca is very smart. They had hot and cold water for a little shower outside the house so she used it to fill this pool after the kids were done playing on the beach. They were warm and got cleaned up without a fuss.

We went for a little adventure to a pumpkin patch when our neighbors were going. They had fun riding on the tractor pulled hay ride and then picking out their very own pumpkins. 

Denzil kept asking when we were going to have pumpkin pie! 

We painted the pumpkins a few days later with Sophia and Kipton. The kids had a great time and we just used crayola paints so they cleaned up pretty easy. The only bad thing was that it came off with the dew in the mornings.

This was just too cute. We went to a birthday party and the kids loved the cupcakes, can't you tell?!

Happy Halloween! This was the kids before I put them in their costumes. Denzil was soooooo excited to get some candy and has been asking to eat some all day long.

My cute cowgirl and cowboy. I'm pretty lazy so I didn't want to have to buy anything for a costume. Good thing they love their boots and hats.