Sleeping Bear and a Park

We are so fortunate to have family that is willing to drive hundreds of miles to spend a weekend with us. And it was so much fun! They drove all night and still managed to look pretty darn good for a few pictures.

Aunt Muriel. Such a beautiful woman with a beautiful family.

 Even Aunt Megan came to visit. Felt like we won the lottery. This was the first time Karli and Aunt Megan met, and as you can see, Karli took right to her.

 Chasidie and Sunni with the mini celebrity.

Mia was thrilled to have more girls around, especially such pretty ones.

After we had some lunch, we thought we'd take the kids to a park we came across with some pretty cool playground equipment. Of course, this was partly to get them out of the house and burn off some energy while "the bear" slept.

 If you look past the beautiful girls on the sidelines, you can see the bear nestled on the couch, taking a little nap. Remember how I said they drove all night? We told Mia that Uncle Chance was a bear in part because of the grizzled look his facial hair gives him, and because he was snoring so loudly it actually sounded like a bear. For that whole first day, Mia wandered around reminding everyone to "SHHHHHH, the bear is sleeping." It didn't matter if we were making any noise or not-she felt it was her duty to remind us.

 The girls decided to try on the kids' hats as we were leaving for the park. Oh yeah, only these two could wear those hats and still manage to look cute!

 I love this thing. I have no idea what to call it, but it's so much fun. We first discovered this park a few weeks ago. We watched a few parents help little kids grab on and take a little spin. Amusing. Then, when the little ones cleared out, a nice teenage boy convinced Chase to grab on and see how long he could hang on while the kid spun it. Pretty Funny. I then convinced Denver he needed a turn to see how long he could hang on-couldn't let Chase beat him right? Hysterical. Denver held on until he was completely horizontal, and then told the kid he'd had enough. Apparently, all teenagers suffer from poor hearing because even after Denver said he'd had enough the kid kept spinning. And when Denver could hold on no longer, he flew. And I laughed. We let all the kids take turns holding on while Denver spun it around, and even timed to see who could hang on the longest. Teenagers can be so much fun!

We thought it would be fun to put Denver on top and let him have a turn spinning without the threat of flight. Of course, he was nauseous enough by the end that maybe he would've been better off being thrown.

 Denver had to sit still for a bit after spinning like mad. It was fun to watch him be an uncle and brother. And to see Muriel find his gray patch.

 Hmmmm. Must be something genetic because the older generation can't help but make faces. And I thought it was supposed to be the younger ones.

 At first, Mia seemed to be enthralled by all the girls around. But in the end, it was Chandler that she fell for.

 Denver was trying to balance out the weight. I forgot how much fun teeter-totters are.

 I can just see the two of them doing this when they were young. Makes me smile.

Mia begged Muriel to swing her but she's not used to big kid swings so she sat on her lap and held on instead. It was pretty adorabe.

Aftewards, we picked up some pizza and pigged out. We decided we'd head out for the beach in the morning....

Flying thru 32

I am 32, and although it may seem odd, I LOVE getting older. I know how easily a life can be cut short so every year I thank my Heavenly Father that I've had the chance to be with my family and continue to learn and grow and enjoy new experiences. Speaking of new experiences, my favorite as a 32 year old would have to be the flight that I took with my husband! It was so much fun! Denver's been working hard and ever since he earned his private pilot's license, he's wanted to take me on a flight. (Okay, so I actually told him that I absolutely had to be the first person he took up for a flight-outside of his instructors, of course.) We finally made it happen. The day started out a little cloudy and I could see that Denver was concerned that we wouldn't be able to go that day or until later in the afternoon. However, the kids were already planning on going to their favorite place, Kimmy's house, and we didn't want to disappoint them so we dropped them off and headed on out to the airport. The closer we got the better the weather looked and by the time we got there, I was getting excited. I finally got to fly with my husband and see him in action. I wasn't disappointed. Denver is an excellent pilot. He made it all seem so effortless and natural. I loved watching him make adjustments and fly the plane without even looking. I remember listening to him talk about his first flights and how hard it was to concentrate on all of it at once, and then I watched as he made adjustments and flew the plane without even looking up from his charts. When I asked him why he'd just adjusted the controls he didn't even recall he'd done it. It was like flying had become so natural that he could do it by instinct alone. It was AWESOME. I suppose the only time I really had a heart attack was when we were landing and that's only because I've never looked out the front of the plane while approaching the runway. It's a little initimidating watching the ground come up at you like that. As we got closer and the plane was slowing down and the ground coming up even faster, I had a white-knuckled kung-fu grip on the seats. I kept waiting for us to smash into the ground and bounce all over. We never did. When we touched down I almost didn't notice because it was such a smooth transition. So. Much. Fun. I took as many pictures as I could, and even though our lighthouse is under contstruction I tried to get a few pictures of it.

Here we are, just before take-off.

 I had to laugh and get a picture when I looked at Denver's giant hand holding those controls with his fingertips. It looks like he's playing with a toy.

 During takeoff.

 I loved the clouds.

 And here I am flying the plane. I flew it a few times and it was a lot of fun-more like freakin' awesome!

 Long-armed monkey man took this picture. If you look at his glasses you can see him holding the camera. We were born to fly!

 The ocean! I'd told Denver that I really wanted to fly over the ocean and we did! Can I just say how great it was to be able to order the pilot around and have him do it! I highly recommend it.

This is Florence. The bridge goes over the Siuslaw and one of the buildings on the river is Mo's. Most of the family has eaten there when they come to visit.

 And our lighthouse and beach. We got a lot closer but this is about where the camera battery died. Remember what I was saying about ordering a pilot around? I convinced my pilot to make a few extra passes so that I could get the video camera out and take more pictures...

This is what the lightshouse undergoing rennovations looks like from the air.

I can't wait to go back and get more pictures when it's finished.

This might be my favorite shot because you get a great view of the lighthouse, the beach and the bridge. I had an amazing time.

I am 32. I flew a plane. My husband rocks the skies. My kids are adorable and are champion Happy Birthday singers. I have an incredible family and friends that always remind me of how lucky I am to be here. It just doesn't get any better than this. Happy Birthday to me!

Cards

Whew. Nothing like a deadline to get you motivated. With Father's Day just a few days away, I figured it was high time we got cards made and sent to the grandpas. For Grandpa Dalton, I had all the kids make a handprint on a card. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it before we mailed it, so you'll just have to use your imagination. For Chip, or Grandpa Hewlett, we did something a little different...

I didn't want Chip to have any illusions as to what this family is like. Besides, the kids had a blast for this photo shoot. They've been practicing for it every day-they just didn't know it.

Dentists and Poop

Today the kids all had dentist appointments. Or so I thought. When I originally made the appointments, I spent 45 minutes on the phone with a woman who sounded as if she'd never made an appointment before in her life. So when I came home and listened to the message on the answering machine telling me that there were only appointments for Corbin and Mia, I didn't bother to call back and check. I just couldn't take the chance that the same woman would answer and I figured we'd deal with it when we got there. So we made it a family affair and we ALL went. That's right, even Denver. He didn't have anything super pressing at the time and I told him that this appointment just became his top priority. That or he could stay home with Karli so that I could focus on keeping the others in check. Silly man decided to come. Good news-Chase and Corbin were able to see the dentist and neither one of them had cavities! Oh yeah, that's right. Bad news-Mia has to wait a couple of months until her appointment, and she was very sad. I really didn't think she'd care, but I was wrong. Now, every time I go to leave the house she's asking if it's her turn to see the dentist. And Corbin keeps begging to go back. I wonder if it's because the gal that cleaned his teeth was so awesome and he got to wear glasses, and sit in the moving chair and count his teeth and tell her all about dinosaurs having teeth. Or maybe it was the time spent in the waiting room. Everyone was very nice and there was an elderly woman in an electric wheelchair that let him push a couple of buttons and then when she mentioned something about singing he stood right up and sang his favorite Primary song, "Stand for the Right." I'm not sure she caught all the words but I did and I loved it. And on the way home I told my boys how very proud I was and then we reminisced about the first time Chase went to the dentist. I'll admit it wasn't as fun as Corbin's, but it makes a good story. The first time Chase went to the dentist, I was anxious. I was a single mom at the time and there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room for appointments. We arrived early and all was going well until Chase, who was roughly 4 at the time, gave me a look and said, "Mom, I need to go to the baffroom. I pooped." Chase had been potty trained for months, and had NEVER pooped his pants. Until that day. I thought he may have mispoken and meant that he just needed to poop. Nope. He'd pooped. A lot. So I stepped out and told the receptionist that I was going to have to run home and change him, which might put us a little late. She was a little skeptical at first, but I knew we were close and there was no way I could reschedule-I just had too much going on. So we jumped in the car and sped all the way back home. During the drive, I was prepping Chase for what we were going to do. He'd run in the bathroom and get his pants off while I ran and got him some clean clothes. I had him take his shoes off in the car to save a little time. And I thought things were going well until I went into the bathroom and saw-well, poop. A giant smear of poop all the way down the side of my tub. Chase was trying to do what I'd asked but his little legs and arms just weren't coordinated  and he fell while trying to get his pants off. Poor little guy. We pressed on and I got him clean and back to the dentist five minutes after his appointment should have started. I was impressed. And when they took him right back and he hopped up into the chair and opened his mouth as wide as he possibly could, before the dentist even got his gloves on, I knew he'd be fine. And he was. No cavities that time either. I'm so glad that he's following that trend-I mean the no cavities trend, not the poopy pants!