Family Home Evening

Just in case my children ever come to your house and color a picture of Jesus (or any other type of church figure for that matter) like an Oomp-Loompa, I just wanted you to know where it came from...




Our FHE's are never boring.



Especially with this crazy 2 year old who crowned himself King of the Crayons. At least he knows his colors and will hand you the right crayon now instead of throwing a random handful at you.




Thanks for making FHE fun!

Gulf Shores, AL

Yesterday we headed for the beach. We'd been wanting to get out of here for a couple of weeks now and even though we'd had a few things we could have been doing (and will be busy for the next few forseeable weekends) we made the decision to just go.

We tried to keep it a secret from Lana. I bought the kids' swim suits a few weeks back and every day Lana would ask me if she could put it on or she would tell me "the weather is perfect for going to the beach, mom". We told the kids we were going to the "park" to play. But the park was far away. Then as we were loading the car, the word beach slipped out of my mouth and Lana totally caught it. I tried to save the lie but I think she had us figured out.

This is me taking a picture from underneath the canopy, because this is where I was. Sitting in the shade, reading a book. Now it's not Destin or Hawaii but it was semi close to home (about 3 1/2 hours).

When we first got to Gulf Shores, we pulled into the first parking lot we saw. It took us about 10 minutes just to drive through the parking lot only to find out it was completely full. We said forget that and drove 5 minutes down the road to this beach. It's a state park but you just have to pay a fee to fish off of the pier. It was a nice and clean beach, had restrooms and plenty of parking.

The kids and Paul built sandcastles and ...

a sand ice cream cone. Yum! Paul later made it into a garden gnome but I didn't get a picture of that one.

The kids lasted about 5 hours on the beach and then it was time to head home. Seemed like a long ride home but well worth it.

An afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese

A couple of Saturdays ago one of Lana's classmates had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Believe it or not, but I had never stepped foot in a Chuck E. Cheese before. The kids seemed to enjoy it. Tanner was mesmorized by the animatronic mouse and Lana was creeped out. The pizza was bleh, but who goes to Chuck E. Cheese to eat pizza?


Tanner enjoyed a piece of chocolate birthday cake.


Mmmm, chocolate cake mustache.



Lana is blissfully happy in the drivers seat while Tanner looks slightly terrified riding in the back. Might possibly be a real reaction in about 11 years.