The Drinkwater Family

Meet our new addition...

2012-01-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

Trigger Bullet Drinkwater!!!

The week after Christmas, while we were enjoying some relaxing time with family, we started looking online for dogs. And by we, I mean I! This is something we've been discussing for a few months now, but hadn't officially decided upon. While looking, I happened upon a breeder that was preparing to sell yellow lab puppies from a liter of 12 that week. We went, looked, and fell in LOVE!!!Trigger is now 10 weeks old, but was 8 at the time. He is so cuddly and fun!We have been exhausted by this puppy stage, but we know he is going to be a fun family pet for years to come. So the waking up twice a night to let him out to go potty will all be worth it!Ryan and Austin fell immediately in love with him!Ryan want to get home every day right after school to take him out to play!We love Trigger and can't wait for all of the camping trips, walks, endless fetch sessions and big wet kisses we will enjoy with him!

Wonderful Break and a Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

The week between Christmas and New Year was so fun, relaxing, and entertaining!!! Justin took the week off, and the rest of my sisters and brother-in-laws had the week off as well, so we had a blast together! We shopped, played games, chatted, held the baby, and had a great time! One of the days Nana got Max out to take the boys for a ride. They were so excited! Austin was up first!

Next up was Ryan!And lastly Tyler went for a ride!
The boys had fun watching and waiting for their turn!Another day we enjoyed just playing and being outside! Goofball!

Ryan had a lot of fun practicing T-Ball with his new equipment Nana and Papa got his for Christmas. So excited for the season to start up!During the week Justin and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary! I can't believe that we've been married for that long! It has flown by! We enjoyed a dinner with my sisters and their husbands whose anniversaries follow ours on the 29th and 30th! At the end of the week we rang in 2012 in style!!! We went to Wong's Garden for a delicious dinner, then celebrated at 9 PM with our very tired kiddos! They enjoyed banging pots and pans while watching fireworks the neighbors were firing off!They would have never made it to midnight! The rest of us did! We spent the night playing games, watching the ball drop, and the major fireworks show the neighbors put on. New Years Day was a nice quiet day while we celebrated Nana's birthday! Happy New Year everyone! May 2012 be blessed and bring much happiness to you and your family!

Merry Christmas 2011!!!

2012-01-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

We had an AMAZING Christmas this year!!! With Christmas being on Sunday, we decided to spend all of Christmas in Loomis. Daddy made sure to email Santa and let him know that we were going to be there rather than our house, and he definitely found us! We haven't been at my childhood home in Loomis for Christmas morning in about 4 years, so I was very excited! Carefully filled stockings!Ryan was one of the first ones up, so he enjoyed going through his stocking with a little bit of help from Tyler!Ryan finally couldn't wait any longer and woke Austin up. He had fun, although you can't completely tell!

Daddy helping Ty see what Santa left in his stocking

Ryan had to help me go through my stocking too!After going through our stockings and checking out all the presents, we enjoyed a nice breakfast together. Next up was church! The boys were well prepped on the plan for our Christmas Sunday and knew the order that everything would go in! They did GREAT and didn't beg or even ask to open any presents before church at all!

After church we returned home, and dressed down to begin opening presents at around 12:30 PM! Oh wait... first we had to take about a million pictures! :) These poor tortured boys! Merry Christmas 2011!!!Love these little Angels!!! They make Christmas soooooo much fun!Cousins!!Sisters!!!The Ross family!Aunties with their boys!!!YAY!!! FINALLY!!!The first presents the boys opened were the presents they picked out for each other. They were so excited to give these to one another, and they were both thrilled to get them!They got to open a few more presents and started with the ones from Santa...
...then Uncle Trevor called from his mission in New Mexico. We stopped all present opening and took turns talking to him, asking questions, and telling stories. It was so good to hear his voice, and so much fun to hear about his experiences first hand! After 1 1/2 hours, we got back to present opening!
We had to halt our present opening yet again and head to the Schmidt Family Christmas Party!!!Not many pictures were taken at this event, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the company of our extended family! Austin completely conked out on Dad before the party was over. He was pooped!Our beautiful new niece Rachel who joined our family 5 weeks early! We were lucky to have her here for Christmas and had fun passing her around while we opened presents that night! Oh yeah, because we came home and all of the adults finished opening our presents until 1:30 AM! We are big Christmas partyers!!! It was a lot of fun just hanging out and seeing what each other got!The following morning, yes December 26th, the kiddos finished opening their Christmas presents! They were so patient with our hectic Christmas this year!This picture is hilarious!!! Austin got a box of dress up clothes that he had asked for, so he immediately had to put one on. Then he proceeded to open presents dressed as Spiderman. We were cracking up!
That evening we went to the Callaway Family Christmas Party. We had a lot of fun, as we always do, getting together with this fun bunch. Yet again, I forgot to pull out the camera much, but snapped a few! Ty with Mommy and Daddy!Justin jokes that we have the marathon family Christmas, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I LOVE all of the traditions that I had growing up, the ones that Justin had, and the ones we've created with our own family! We are so grateful for this time of year that we have to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior Jesus Christ! May we remember to celebrate and come unto him the whole year through!

Christmas Festivities!

2012-01-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas we enjoyed several different activities to get us into the Christmas spirit and remind us of the true meaning of Christmas! We enjoyed one night at Austin's preschool Christmas program!This rascal is not easy to take pictures of and usually runs the opposite direction of the camera! Hence this not so amazing picture of my handsome little man! But, he was very excited to stand on the stage and wave to us sitting down in the chairs!Here he comes!Okay, I guess I'll wave to you! :)The sang a lot of cute songs about Jesus' Birthday! It was very cute!Austin spent most of the time with his fingers in his mouth, and would take them out occasionally to wave to us and to do a few of the actions for the songs. Typical Austin! Would expect anything less!A few days later we enjoyed what has become another Christmas tradition for us in the Drinkwater household. We went to the Oakland temple to enjoy the lights and a live nativity.SOOOO EXCITED!!! They look forward to this every year!Ryan wanted so badly to take a picture where it looked like he was holding the temple! He must have seen this somewhere, because he was relentless in trying to get this picture taken! It was funny!Our friends the Robertsons who went with us!Getting these three to take pictures was nearly impossible!In the past, the rooftop of the temple has been closed. So, we've never been up there. This time it was open, so we treked up to the top to check out the view! It was beautiful! Ryan thought it was so fun to look down over the lights!After walking the temple grounds, we enjoyed the live nativity! We got front row seats and enjoyed listening to, and watching about the birth of our Savior!We had so much fun!!!

O Christmas Tree...

2012-01-07T20:36:00.001-08:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving we headed for the hills to pick out a Christmas Tree! I was beyond excited to take Justin, Ryan and Austin to Snowy Peaks where I went nearly every year growing up to pick out a Christmas Tree with my family. I think that this is a tradition we will start up in our family now!We were so excited to hike around and find our tree!We enjoyed the day with some of our favorite people!!!

Megan and AllenNatalie and AubreyTylerRyan and Papa SchmidtNana Schmidt, Aubrey and AshleyNatalie, Me and MeganLove them all to pieces!!! (Wish Trevor was in this picture, but he's serving the Lord, so we'll forgive his absence)Once we were all ready, we began the hunt for the perfect tree!Can you see it?! It's out there! I promise!Ryan and Austin thought they were pretty big stuff......and had a lot of fun following Papa around the mountain!"Bye Mom! I'm going to find a tree!"Such a cutie!I love this place! You can pay and go for a ride around the tree farm! After a while of hunting, we finally found it!!!Ryan had to help Dad cut it down and did such a great job!Counting the rings to see how old our tree is! 12 years old! Ryan thought Daddy was soooo smart that he could figure that out!Little Goober!Carrying it up the hill! Luckily we didn't have to carry it too far. The truck came by to pick it up for us and take it to the front of the farm so we could enjoy a leisurely stroll back. While we waited to get our trees, we enjoyed some hot chocolate by a nice bon fire......and played on Santa's Workshop and train!

Next we loaded up the tree......and stopped by the store for some dinner!I love this tradition and all of the traditions that come around Christmas time!

The following Monday for Family Home Evening we put up the Christmas Tree! This year was a lot of fun decorating the tree. Ryan and Austin were able to decorate so much of the tree themselves, and pretty much did. They would tell Justin and I where to put some of the ornaments, and we would do it for them. They did a great job and we all had a great time!

Thanksgiving Festivities 2011!

2011-12-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We have so much to be thankful for, and that was not far from our minds as we celebrated with family and great friends! The Tuesday before I got to celebrate with Austin at his preschool!The little pilgrim all ready to feast!This is Austin and his best buddy at school. He talks about him non stop, so it was fun to spend some time watching them interact. Lets just say that I totally understand why these boys get along so well! They are identical in so many ways!!! I seriously sat there laughing feeling like I was watching two of my little Austy Poo! They are so adorable together and have so much fun playing with one another, and unfortunately getting into trouble together! We are getting better at that, so that's good!The Friday before Thanksgiving I was in charge of a Fall Harvest Festival for all the kindergartners at Ryan's school. It was a lot of fun... and work, but so worth it! The kids had a great time! Ryan with his Native American Head Band!We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving Holiday! We enjoyed dinner with the Callaway side of the family, then dessert with the Schmidt side of the family. Unfortunately I'm lame and forgot my camera, so we have no pictures. We did, however, enjoy the day with loved ones celebrating, feasting, and thanking our Father in Heaven for all of the blessings we have been given!

The following day we celebrated Tyler's 1st birthday a few days early!He did great with opening his presents!Ryan and Austin had to get in there and help out too!First birthday tradition... DIGGING IN THE CAKE!!!He really enjoyed it!8 Seconds!!!The next day we had a baby shower for my sister Ashley who was expecting a baby girl!She got the most beautiful and adorable outfits and bows for sweet, little Rachel to wear!SISTERS...AND MOMMA!!!

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving and our time spent with family! We are truly grateful for them! Among the many things we are thankful for, we include our Savior Jesus Christ, the gospel in our lives, the knowledge that our family can and will be together forever, as well as our Father in Heaven! We have so much to be thankful for!

Halloween Festivities 2011!!!

2011-12-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Halloween we had fun at our church's Trunk-or-Treat! All the kiddos in the ward were so excited to be in their costumes and have fun with one another!Ryan and Austin were so excited to introduce their cousin Tyler to everyone!Having fun at the carnival games!The week before Halloween before we also enjoyed an evening at the local pumpkin path with our friends the Toutais! Austin and Mo are best buds!Going for a hayride!!! Daddy and Ryan!Ryan and Mapuana!Next activity was the pumpkin blasters! Austin was not too thrilled about carrying the pumpkins apparently!These things were awesome and so much fun! We hit the ghost, a car and some pumpkins! Everyone took a turn and we had a BLAST! No pun intended!On the hunt for the perfect pumpkins!And we found them!The night before Halloween we finally found some time to carve our pumpkins!On Halloween we spent the evening with some of our good friends enjoying good food, good company, and a lot of fun!!! We felt so much safer having these two superheroes with us on Halloween!Ryan as Captain America!

Austin as The Incredible Hulk!Off we went to go Trick-or-Treating!!!Trick-or-Treat!!!
One of our favorite houses to go to will always be in our memory! Sweet Emily was there with her bright, smiling face to pass candy out to all of the trick-or-treaters! She passed away this week, and when I came upon this picture it brought a smile to my face so I had to share it!Ryan joined us Mommies as we went around the rest of the neighborhood while Daddies and the younger kiddos went back to the house to check out their loot!We had such a fun Halloween!

Fun school activities!!!

2011-12-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

In October I was able to spend a day with each of the boys at some fun school activities. It was so nice to spend that one-on-one time with each of them seeing what they were learning and working on!

Ryan's kindergarten class has what they call a "culminating event" once a quarter. For this event the parents get to spend some time in the classroom and the students show them around and together they view student work from a particular unit they've been working on!

Ryan was excited to show me all about "Apples!" Then we got to read some books together!It was a lot of fun! Ryan insisted I smile with his Apple puppet!The following week I got to enjoy a day at the pumpkin patch with Austin and his preschool class!Little cheeseburger! You never know what kind of a smile you are going to get with this little rascal!Austin had a lot of fun with Mommy! But getting to play with his friends was his favorite part!Austin's other favorite part was the petting zoo! He LOVED being around all the animals! Uncle Trevor has rubbed off on him! :)Austin and our new pumpkins!!!I LOVE these boys to pieces and love every moment I get to spend with them! I am so blessed to be their Mommy!

Fall Fun!

2011-12-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

We have had a lot of fun this fall! We have of course enjoyed a few Del Oro football games!!!Even Ty had some fun!!!On October 22nd we enjoyed some low 80 degree weather at the lake! Yes, in October!!! It was a crazy beautiful day!!!Justin, being the stud that he is, got up on the wakeboard!!! He almost lost his drawers, but he did it!!!Megan, Ryan and Mommy on the tube!!!Cooling off in the lake!

Ryan's 6th Birthday!!!

2011-11-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

The day we headed home from Reno was Ryan's 6th Birthday!!! I don't know how this has happened! Six years has flown by, and my precious little baby has grown into a sweet boy!He was so excited to see Nana and Papa's house all decorated for his special day!We had some family over for a BBQ and enjoyed hanging out and playing outside!Present Time!!!"Happy Birthday To You!!!"Make a wish!!!We love you Ryan and hope this year is a great one for you! We love watching you learn and grow everyday, and enjoy your fun loving personality in our home!!!

RENO!!!

2011-11-29T20:25:00.001-08:00

In mid October Justin had a convention in Reno he had to attend. It just so happened to be "Fall Break" for the boys, so we decided to join him!The boys were SOOOO EXCITED to get to our hotel room and check everything out!The convention started on Sunday afternoon, so we spent the morning together and went and walked around the temple grounds. Even though we missed out on our church meetings, it was fun to go to the temple and partake of the spirit there!On Monday we mostly hung out at the hotel and swam at the pool. The weather was beautiful and just right for us to lounge by the pool all day!

On Monday evening we took the boys to do some fun things for Ryan's birthday, which was Tuesday! We found this fun place that had a indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course. Ryan was dying to go to "Pirate's Cove!"Headed in to "Pirate's Cove!" Austin was a little less than excited in case you couldn't tell!He finally warmed up to the fun, but had to be holding someones hand at all times!The Birthday Pirate!!!After that we headed to Scheel's and took a ride on the Ferris Wheel!!!Goobers!!!
This one's for Uncle Steve who's such a huge fan of UNR! Haha! Not!Later that evening we had some fun at the arcade at the hotel!We had so much fun in Reno celebrating Ryan's birthday and hanging out with Dad while he learned a lot at his convention!!!

Ryan's Party!!!

2011-11-27T21:06:00.001-08:00

Early in October we had a Birthday party for Ryan's 6th Birthday! He was so excited to have a "Jake And The Neverland Pirates" themed Birthday party and have his friends from school and church over to celebrate!So excited to share some "Crocodile Blood" (red cool-aid) with his friends!Happy Partiers!!!After some tasty Pirate food, we had a fun treasure hunt with lots of loot on the path to become a pirate!The map led us in the end to the treasure chest! These feisty pirates had to fight for it of course then try to break it open to see what was inside!SCORE!!!After some presents and some "Happy Birthday" tunes...These partying pirates enjoyed some time on the trampoline!

Thank you all who celebrated Ryan's 6th Birthday with us! We had a great time!

Airport Open House!!!

2011-11-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

The first Saturday in October we attended the Livermore Municipal Airport Open House! This is where Justin works, and the boys love taking every opportunity possible to go visit and see the airplanes.Daddy was able to step away for a few minutes here and there to show us around! Austin and Ryan thought this was the greatest thing in the world!We wandered around and checked out every type of airplane that was there and had a great time doing so!They even got to climb inside a few and give them a "test drive!"We also got to take a peek at a helicopter...an army truck...and a firetruck!!!Later in the day we enjoyed watching the air show! The boys were very excited!Ohhhhh!!!! Ahhhh!!!!
Ryan was very intrigued!!!We had so much fun at the open house and visiting Daddy at work! Can't wait for next year!

Final Camping Trip of the Year!!!

2011-11-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

I am sooooooooo far behind on blogging that it makes my head spin just to think about it! Every time I sit down to update the blog, it doesn't seem to want to work, but I think I've figured my way around it! Anyways, time to start catching up!!!

The second weekend in September we headed back to Pinecrest with some friends for our last camping trip of the year. Ryan...

and Austin...had a BLAST with all of their friends!!!

PaytonMoMapuanaScarAnd of course Viliami!At camp we had a ton of fun! We set up this little tent that was just for the kids to play in! They thought it was the greatest thing ever and had the thing laying on it's side several times from their wrestling matches inside!Climbing on trees and stumps was the highlight for these little munchkins as well! These two were inseparable! It was so cute!Roasting marshmallows and hanging out by the fire after a very wet day!!!Feed Me!!!While we were camping we would have some beautiful mornings, then around lunchtime some awesome thunder storms would roll through and we would get rained on for a couple of hours. We tried to stay inside the tents, but the kids wanted so badly to be outside in it! It was fun! We spent Saturday morning at the lake before we were rained out. The kids, and Lo, had a blast in the boats! They were paddling all over the swimming area of the lake!We took the little boat again, so we went out and cruised the lake as we watched the storm roll down the valley. Love these guys!!! We found a nice little spot and did some fishing...but Austin was not as interested and wanted to throw things into the water instead!The morning we had to head home, we decided to take the 1.5 mile hike to the dam. With yet another storm rolling in, we had to rush our trip, but had a great time. At the dam!Once we were at the dam we enjoyed some more fishing time!These munchkins had a great time together!!! We missed our friends who weren't able to make it, but had a lot of fun with all of those who were able to come! Can't wait for more camping fun next summer!!!

Hike along Russian Gulch!

2011-10-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

On the first day of our camping trip we hiked the Fern Canyon Trail up Russian Gulch in Mendocino County. The trail was 2.5 miles one way, so we were a little nervous about how the boys would do, but decided to give it a try! They were so excited, because they knew there was a waterfall at the end of the trail!
Ty in his pack!
Here we go!

Ryan ran ahead with all of the grown ups, but Austin was a slower hiker, so Justin and I were taking our time with him!

Silly boy! Austin always has to have something in his hands!
He made it about 1.5 miles, and jumped on Dad's shoulders for the rest of the hike!
There it is!
The waterfall!!!

So pretty!
We were all sooooo sweaty! Justin decided to shower off in the freezing cold water!
Ryan went through this "peace" phase1 Don't ask me, but he's still cute!We had so much fun hiking as a family!
All of us together on the giant log that had fallen over the falls!
Justin being a goof!
Ready to head back to camp!
We hiked back out together and the boys made it the whole way!
We had so much fun hiking! We need to find more places to hike and explore!

Labor Day Weekend Camping!!!

2011-10-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend we held to tradition and went camping in Ft. Bragg, even though there was a killer on the loose in the mountains! It was soooo nice to escape the heat of the valley and get to some cooler weather!
We enjoyed a fun bike ride down the beach!

Then played in the caves...and on the rocks!One of the days while camping we went to Sand Dollar Beach and enjoyed playing and hiking around!Ty had a great time playing in the sand! He eventually ate it, and didn't love it so much anymore!Aubrey and I on the giant rock/mountain we tried to climb!It was really hard with no shoes on!
Justin and Ryan found some other rocks to climb!We walked to these beautiful arches that were partially in the water!Justin found out just how deep it was by trying to walk through it!
We had a lot of fun that afternoon!
I love how much these two love each other... most of the time!!This is Tyler's favorite spot! On Daddy's shoulders!

Here we are!

We were joined on this camping trip by Eric, Holly and Warren!Ashley, Steve and Tyler!
Megan, Allen, Natalie, Aubrey and Allen's sister Emily all also joined us! We had so much fun and ended our fun with a trip to Glass Beach on our way out of town!We had so much fun and can't wait to camp at MacKerricher again!!!

6 Years Old!!!

2011-10-18T15:35:00.001-07:00

I don't know how it happened, but somehow my baby boy is 6 years old today!!! Time has sure flown since the day Ryan joined our family!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RY RY!!!
We sure LOVE this face!!!
Ryan is such a sweetheart and we love him so much! At 6 years old Ryan...
1. loves planes, trains, trucks, cars, basically anything that goes!
2. plays 20 questions without even realizing it! (He is so curious and asks questions about everything)
3. gives the best hugs, when he really wants to!
4. is learning to read and sounds out words all the time!
5. instigates problems with Austin, and Daddy and Mommy just to laugh about it (usually annoying, but funny after).
6. plays soccer and is getting better every day! (Scored 3 goals in his last game on Friday, October 14th)
7. makes the cutest pouty face, which he really needs to grow out of!
8. loves learning about Jesus and his gospel, then teaches us all about it!
9. is such a worry wart! He is so concerned about everyone and everything all the time.
10. is SOOOOOOO LOVEABLE!!!
Happy Birthday Ryan!!! We love you so much and can't wait to see what the next year holds in store for you!!!

Soccer Family!!!

2011-10-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

This year we have taken on the fun of being a soccer family!!! In the spring, Ryan was on his first soccer team The Firecrackers!
And Mommy was his coach!
He had so much fun that he wanted to play again! So, we signed him up for fall league which is a much bigger deal and way more competitive! He was sooo excited to be on the Green Dragons!!!
Ryan improved A TON over the summer! I think he matured more and became more coordinated! He also got a lot more aggressive and better at defense!
Offense as well! He scored his first goal on August 26th!!! Right before! I was cheering so much that there isn't a picture of him actually scoring!
Go Buddy!!!Our little Giant! He's about a head taller than everyone else on his team, and on the other teams as well!Good Game!We have loved watching Ryan learn and play the sport that I loved as a child!!! We are sad the season is ending, but look forward to next fall when Austin will likely be playing too!!!

Going NUTS!!!

2011-10-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

On August 23rd, we went to the Modesto Nuts game with the Robertson's! We were sweating our tails off, but we still had a great time enjoying America's favorite past-time!
Ryan and Austin were mostly excited to meet Wally Walnut!Not only was this a fun day at the baseball game, but Ryan lost his first tooth that day which made it even more exciting! He was very excited about it!
Mommy and Austin!
Daddy and Ryan!
At one point during the game Justin took the boys to get a treat and Scarlett thought she scored the jackpot! Austin was very sweet and shared nicely with her!
Ryan, Austin and Payton loved being so close to the action! Payton was even given a baseball by one of the coaches and loved it!
Scarlett's fun was running away from her mom and dad, as well as climbing over the chairs!
We had soooo much fun at the Nuts game and can't wait to go back again next season!

Fun at 6 Flags!!!

2011-10-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

During our trip to the Beach House we spent a day at 6 Flags Magic Mountain! We had a lot of fun together that day!Ryan and Austin planning our attach on the park!First stop was "High Sierra Territory" for a ride on the Log Jammer to get nice and wet!After some fun we had a good time at Bugs Bunny World!Checking out Bugs' house!My caged little animals!My cute little munchkins having some fun!I had to take a picture of Austin next to Taz, since he reminds me of a little tazmanian devil!We had some fun on a few other rides......before meeting some of the Looney Tunes characters!!!Next up we rode the swashbuckler as a family and had a great time!On our way out of the ride, we met this cool pirate! Ryan thought he was cool at least, Austin thought he was scary!We walked to the back of the park and enjoyed DC Universe!The Batmobile!The boys with Wonderwoman and Green Lantern!After a while we met up with some of our cousins who were there and enjoyed some time with them!

AJ, Ryan and Addy!Aunt Vicki and Addy in the bumper cars...right before Ryan and AJ came and hit them!Before we left the park, Justin and Ryan decided to climb the rockwall. The boys both wanted a superhero cape, and it cost just as much to climb the wall and win a cape as it did to buy one. They were so excited!Ryan did soooo well and made it half way up! Justin made it to the top to ring the bell, then they both made their way back down!Austin and I enjoyed watching with both feet on the ground!
The boys and their new capes! They were so excited!

For Uncle!!!

2011-10-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

2011-10-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

More Fun at the Beach House!!!

2011-09-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Tyler lookin' studly in his shades and hat!
Having the pool table is always fun! Ryan was mad one day that the big kids were playing and he didn't get to, so he was hiding under the table!
Uncle Larry played video games with the boys to occupy them one day!
One of the days while we were at the beach house, about 18 of us headed to LA to the Price Is Right!!! Aunt Sarah made all the arrangements and we geared up in our matching reunion shirts made by my dad at FM Graphics! All of us in the excursion... for the last time! (Mom and Dad sold it!)
Waiting for our shot to "Come on down!"
Watch on Nov. 16th to see us on the show!
One of our other favorite things to do at the beach house is sit on the sea wall and watch the waves crash. When the tide was up, the guys would do some fishing!Allen was the first to catch!
"What is it? What is it?"
None of us knew exactly, so if you can tell, please let us know with a comment! Lol!
Later that day Allen caught another one! This time it was some kind of shark. We know that for sure!
Our cousin Scott caught a baby leopard shark later in the week too. It was so much fun being at the beach house! Hopefully we'll be able to make it again someday! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Callaway for making such a fun and amazing trip possible!!! We love you so much and appreciate all of the fun and memories that you've created for us!

On the water!

2011-09-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Nearly every day at the beach somebody, if not everybody, would be braving the cold waters of the Pacific. And when they did, this was the sight you would see!
Everyone would line up along the wall and the deck with their cameras taking shots of all the crazy people in the water! Here they are all lined up waiting for the next big wave!
Here it comes!
Wooooohooooo!!!!!
AJ was out there all day! Usually the first one in the water and the last one out of the water!
Papa enjoyed riding the waves...
...and even created his own outfit for doing so with the seaweed floating around him!
So handsome!!!
Ryan was dying to get out there and go boogie boarding like he had at Sunset Beach!
Unfortunately the first wave he rode had some other plans and flipped him over, so he never went out on the boogie board again!
Justin was dead set on learning to surf! So, he and some of my brother in-laws and cousins went in together and rented a few surf boards! He had a lot of fun!
There he his, catching a wave!!!
Time for a break!
This was as close as the boys got to surfing, but they were scared of how big these boards were anyways!
Justin, Austin, Ryan and Allen!
Justin, Allen, Craig and Ross!
Allen, Justin and Steve!
The other fun thing we had to do on the water was kayak! Ryan was really excited when Big Ryan (Krista's cousin) and his friend Matt (who we call Uncle Larry) invited him to go out on the kayak with them!
Ryan got a little nervous when he was the only one in the kayak and the waves were trying to tip it. But once they passed where the waves were breaking, they were off and he calmed down!
Big Ryan said that when they were out there, Ryan was kinda worried about sharks coming to eat them! It doesn't help that we went to the Beach House the week after Shark Week! We were all paranoid!
They were riding a wave back in which quickly flipped them over. Uncle Larry's first instinct was to grab Ryan and get him above the water. I was so impressed with that, and with the fact that Ryan didn't freak out! We thought for sure he would come in upset and crying. He was just cold and ran straight to the hot tub...
...after hosing all of the sand off of himself!
Megan and Allen also had some fun on the kayak!

"Toes in the water...Toes in the sand!!!"

2011-09-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

When you looked in the hot tub and the boys weren't there, you'd find them on the beach! The greatest thing about being here is all you have to do is walk down some stairs to get down to the beach! Ryan and Austin were great about following directions and would only go down when they were with Mommy or Daddy! Which relieved a TON of stress!
Heading down for some fun!Run before the waves get you!!!Hi Mom!

I know you're shocked! Austin is holding tightly to his Uncle Allen!
My absolutely adorable nephew Tyler feeling the sand between his toes!WE LOVE THE BEACH!!!
We walked down the beach and found a fun hole that someone had dug! the kids thought it was a ton of fun to play in and knock down!
Don't let the waves get you!
It was so fun spending time on the beach with everyone!
Like I said before, my brother Trevor wasn't at the beach house, because he's on his mission. Right before we headed to the beach house he hit his 6 month mark, and he's doing some amazing work on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico. Even though we know he's doing what he's supposed to and where he should be, we still missed him like crazy and wished he was there. On the day we walked down the beach, we were standing there talking and I looked up and saw his name written on the wall. We had just been talking at the house about him and what he was up to. It just made us feel like he was there in some way! We love you Trev!

Hot Tubbin'

2011-09-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

At the beach house there are two hot tubs. One upstairs, which is reserved for the grown ups, and one downstairs, which is for the kids. These little rascals spent nearly every waking moment in that downstairs hot tub. If they weren't on the beach, they were in the hot tub!
Austin, Ryan and Addie!
Austin, AJ and Ryan!
Ashley, Tyler and Kylie joined the boys for a while in the hot tub! Okay, so I guess it's not only for kids!
This little boy would just sit in the "cuzzi" as he would call it all by himself. He would just talk to himself and hang out forever!
We LOVE the hot tub!

Beach House 2011!!!

2011-09-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

The first full week of August we spent our time together...
...at this amazingly beautiful place!!!
Saylor's Sandcastle in gorgeous Ventura, CA! I've grown up going here about every 3 years with the Ogden side of my family. I didn't realize how being here would remind me so much of my Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Ogden! We loved it!!!
We spent the entire week with all of these crazy people!!!
My family (minus Trevor on his mission)!
The grandkids who were able to make it! Everyone accept Trevor and Lauren! We missed them a ton!
EVERYONE!!!
Bunch of crazies!!!We did sooooo many fun things while we were at the beach house!!! Check back to see the fun we had!

Summer Concert Fun!!!

2011-09-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

The first Thursday in August, Justin and I went to the Toby Keith concert! It was my second of three concerts that I got tickets to for my birthday. We had a great time together, despite all of the obnoxiously intoxicated people surrounding us!
Eric Church was one of the openers! He was great!
We really enjoyed Toby Keith! We love how patriotic he is and it was really shown a lot at the concert!
Up next... RASCAL FLATTS!!!

Camping at Sunset Beach!!!

2011-08-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

In mid July we went camping at Sunset Beach in Watsonville with Nana and Papa Schmidt, Uncle Steve, Aunt Ashley, Tyler, Uncle Allen, Aunt Megan, and Aunt Natalie! We missed Uncle Trevor who was on his mission (and still is) and Aubrey who was at Lake Powell (brat)!We decided that we are going to do a camping trip every summer together, so this was our first anual trip! On the first day after everyone was settled, we drove to Capitola and walked around the little town.It's so cute! We checked out the beach there, then went to the best deli/bakery in the world!That night while we made dinner, Justin and the boys found some cool trees to climb near our camp spot. They had a lot of fun being little monkeys!Daddy and Ryan got up pretty easily, but Austin was having a hard time!So Daddy reached down for him, and Mommy lifted him up! He was a lot happier then!The next few days we just enjoyed the beach! It was beautiful!!!

Austin loves his Uncle Allen! He wanted him to play with him the whole weekend!LOVE the two little beach bums!!!The beach was littered with Sanddollars! They were everywhere! Megan taught Ryan who taught mommy what live sanddollars look like when they are alive compared to when they were dead. We walked the beach and gathered quite a collection of them!On one of our many walks down the beach we noticed that there were a ton of seagulls in one area. We decided that they were having a meeting and Ryan decided that "we should interrupt their meeting!" It was too funny to watch the boys chasing after them. Especially since Austin was only in his underwear thanks to a huge wave that soaked his shorts.We spent all of Saturday at the beach, and this time the boogie boards came out!Ryan headed out for his first experience on the boogie board!He LOVED it! He would stand up once he was beached and head back out yelling "Yeah Baby! WoooHooo! Let's do that again!" Ryan's coined terms when he's having a great time!Austin decided he was certainly missing out on some fun, so he found himself a boogie board and headed out to hit the waves!Since Daddy was helping Ryan, who did Austin turn to?! Uncle Allen of course!He wasn't too sure about it and only went out the one time! Once the boys were done, the guys headed out to watch the dolphins swim right by them while they waited for the best waves!We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the sand......playing games......and flying kites!!!

We found this big hole that someone dug, so Uncle Steve got his shovel and started digging deeper with the boys. They thought this was so cool!

We had an amazing time camping with our family and can't wait for the tradition to continue next year!!! Love you all!!!

More Washington Fun!!!

2011-08-25T14:28:00.000-07:00

We have had such a busy and fun summer! Can't believe it's already over and that we are in full swing of the school routine now, but I have some catching up to do!

While we were in Washington, we went to the park with Sunne, Piper and Dawson while Justin and Jared went shooting. The boys had a blast playing with their cousins! On the teeter-totter!After some dinner and fun at the park, we went back to Jared and Sunne's house, and the kiddos watched a movie! Piper was so excited to have Ryan and Austin (but mostly Austin) over to play! They were so cute!One of the other days during our visit we headed to Spud's for some fish n' chips! Justin had the boys as excited as he was!We love visiting Washington and spending time with our Drinkwater side of the family! We truly miss them living here in California, but look forward every year to the time we get to spend with them! Love you all!!!

First Days...

2011-08-16T20:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, August 15, 2011 was Ryan's first day of kindergarten! He was ready and excited to go!With his backpack loaded and ready!We arrived to Mrs. Applegarth's kindergarten classroom which was all ready for some learning and fun! Ryan was a little anxious and stood beside me while we went inside and looked around, which isn't usually like him. After checking out the classroom, he got a little more comfortable and joined his class on the carpet! I'm going to miss this face every morning!

I'm sure any mom who has sent a child off to school can completely relate to the feelings I've been having! Even though Ryan went to preschool, there's something different about knowing that he's now gone and in someone else's care five days a week. It feels like it's just the beginning of my kids going to school and spending more time away from me, but mostly just growing up! It's only going to get worse! I know it's the path we take as we learn and grow and progress in life, but I'm just really not ready for it! I held it together really well until I got into the car and called Justin. Then I lost it and cried off and on throughout the rest of the morning. I miss my little guy!

Today, August 16, 2011 was Austin's first day at preschool! Thus making those feelings I just described even worse!!! Austin was very excited to put his superheroes backpack on and head to school!My two, big school boys!!!The theme at the preschool this year is "Leaping into preschool!" so frogs were everywhere! He was very excited about that!His teachers are Ryan's teachers from last year, so Ryan's been teaching him their names. When we walked in he went straight to her and said, "Hi Mrs. Ribota!" It was so cute! He eagerly walked in and got straight to playing with the toys.We had to get him focused and taught him how to put his name on the apple chart......where to hang his backpack......and then let him get right back to the toys!I also showed him where the bathroom was, but he still had an accident on the first day of preschool! Oh yeah, this boys a stinker!!! I miss my boys already, but I am excited to see all that they will learn and how much they will grow! Myself as well!

Fun on the Ferry!!!

2011-08-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

While visiting Washington in July, we took the boys for a ferry ride across the sound to Bremerton! They were soooooo excited to drive the car onto the BIG ferry!

Once we parked the car, we headed up to check out the view of Seattle from the sound! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! This is one of my favorite things to do in Seattle!Ryan was so curious about everything and wanted to know what everything was!I love him!These cute little stinkers wanted to run around the ferry and see everything!There were, of course, seagulls EVERYWHERE and a ton of them! There was a really nice guy on the ferry who gave the boys some bread to feed to them. He showed Ryan how to feed them out of his hand.

Here it comes......and there it goes with the bread! Right out of Ryan's hand!Austin was up next, but was a little nervous. So, big brother Ryan helped him out!Here comes the seagull......but Austin freaked out and dropped the bread a second later and ran away! It was so funny to watch!

Once the ferry arrived in Bremerton, we checked out the park along the...We had a lot of fun just wandering around the park and seeing the sights!There were these cool fountains that the local kids were playing in, even though it was only like 75 degrees out!The top of a submarine. Makes you realize how big they really are!We had such a fun day with Grandpa and Grandma exploring Bremerton and riding the ferry!

Visit to Seattle's Museum of Flight!!!

2011-07-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

While we were visiting Grandpa Ben and Grandma Patti in Washington, we took a trip one day to the Seattle Museum of Flight! The boys were so excited to see all of the airplanes and helicopters, and were astonished that they had them inside of a building!Grandpa, Ryan, Daddy and Austin!Seeing the old military planes outside while we waited for Grandpa to meet up with us after work!Austin found this headband and had it on his head before I could catch him!After heading inside we wandered around a looked at everything we could! Daddy and Austin with the astronaut's space suit!Ryan practiced landing a space shuttle! Rather unsuccessfully I might add, but he had fun doing it!Getting the feel of what the inside of a space shuttle is like!In the airplane and takin' it for a test drive!Over and over again we would hear, "Daddy, what kind of an airplane is that!" I love that little boys think their Daddy knows everything!After some fun in the museum, we walked across the road to the airplanes we could tour. First up, the Concorde! It was quite a hike up the stairs......and was extremely tight quarters inside! I would've been very claustrophobic riding in this jet! After the Concord, we toured the airplane of the President of the United States of America, which has since been upgraded to a larger and newer plane.

Austin, Justin, Ryan and Grandma Patti!

As we were headed back to the museum, the newest model Boeing 747 800 was taxiing the runway and Justin ran to get a picture with it! While we were leaving, Austin found this hat on one of the airplane seats that we were touring and grabbed it. Since it features some of his most recent favorite Super Heroes, we washed it and let him have it! Cutie Patootie!

Independence Day in Washington!!!

2011-07-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

We spent the Fourth of July this year in Washington like we've done in years past. It was a beautiful day and the boys were sooooo excited to celebrate their Independence!Ry RyAustyWe started off the day participating in the annual Lake Tapps Fourth of July Parade! The boys got some patriotic tattoos......and Harrison got them these balloon swords! So sweet of him!Ryan, or maybe Daddy, loved checking out this old military vehicle!Austin jumped in too, but wasn't quite as intrigued!Ready to roll in the parade!Grandpa Ben cruisin' the parade route!After the parade, we enjoyed a BBQ by the lake......then the boys had some fun at the park!Silly boys!!!We then spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying this beautiful place!Ryan and Justin out on the wave runner!Austin and Piper having some fun!Ryan and Harrison riding in the kayak!Ryan and Adam going for a ride in the tube!

These little ones were just the three musketeers!

Ellen, Austin and Piper!Austin and Piper giving loves!Later in the day all of the guys headed off and bought the entertainment for the evening!Pyros in training!First round of sparklers for the evening!Later that night...Roman Candles!!

And sparklers again!

We had a really fun Fourth of July celebrating with all of our family in Washington! We love you all and miss you already! We are so grateful for our freedoms and such a beautiful land to live in!

Fair Week!

2011-07-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

The last week in June was fair time in Placer County! That means a lot of fun in the barns for these little stinkers!
Ryan
Austin
Tyler
This year Aubrey's pig got sick, so she couldn't show it at the fair. Luckily, our cousin Andrew was showing pigs for the first time, so we got to go watch him! It was fun, and that meant more cousins to play with!
Nathan, Ryan and Austin played non stop on the caboose...
...and rode the train around the fair grounds a ton too!
As we wandered around the fair, we found all sorts of fun things! Austin with Captain Jack Sparrow......and wearing an adorable little hat he found! Would make a beautiful little girl with those baby blues!Ryan and Mary found the coloring table......so all the kids joined in and scored these very fashionable sunglasses for their efforts!What would the fair be without the rides?!Ryan found the balloon lady and got this awesome alien holding a bazooka! He loved that thing and was quite upset when it popped!
The boys got to walk the pig, which was one of the highlights of their whole time at the fair. We were cracking up, because some really air headed teenage girls walked up and asked my dad if it costs money to walk the pigs. He could've started up his own little business right then and there.
After spending some time at the fair, we took the boys to a water park. They had a blast!This park had a crazy spinning chair! I've never seen anything like it before! It would get momentum and start spinning and you couldn't stop it! The boys, and myself, got so dizzy you couldn't see or walk straight for a good minute of more!Another fair week treat was some homemade deliciousness at Nana and Papa's house! Homemade Ice Cream is a Schmidt Family treat that we love!!! The boys enjoyed helping Papa mix it all up!Just a cute picture of the boys sportin' Auntie Natalie and Auntie Aubrey's "I'm Another Friend of Mike Doyle" t-shirts! Loomis classics!

Father's Day Camping Fun!!!

2011-06-26T21:16:00.001-07:00

Father's Day weekend we went camping up at Pinecrest with some of our friends! Don't you worry! The weather was AMAZING and the complete opposite of our last Pinecrest camping adventure!"We love camping!!!"Our first day there we mostly just hung out at the campground and enjoyed each other's company! Lo climbed the tree and made room for our badminton set!We didn't waste any time and got right to playing!The kids were so cute and lined up to cheer us on! Once one of us missed, they would race to get the birdie (sp?) like the runners in tennis! Makin' dinner!Enjoyin' dinner!!!The kiddos were begging all day for some s'mores and were so excited once it was finally dark so we could make them!
Goobers! On Saturday we went to the lake enjoyed some sun!!!Josh and Mal were nice enough to pull the boat up so we could check out the whole lake!
It was BEAUTIFUL!!! It's places like this that make me so grateful to my Heavenly Father for creating such an amazingly gorgeous world for us to live in!
And so grateful to have these rugrats to share it with!!!Playing on the beach!Floating on the lake!After some fun in the sun, most of us headed back to camp to prepare dinner, while Lo and Justin headed out to catch theirs!They're small, but tasty! As they were getting cleaned up, we looked over to find Austin flailing these headless fish around! Nasty!While Mel cooked dinner that night, Mal and I got the kids to play a exciting game of "Duck, Duck, Goose!" They had a blast!The next morning we enjoyed a nice Father's Day breakfast...
...and bike ride... ...before heading home! We had a great time camping once again, and can't wait 'til next time!!!

Little Swimmers!!!

2011-06-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

The first two weeks of june we signed the boys up for swimming lessons! They were both sooooo excited, even though rain and thunder storms threatened to ruin the first day of lesson!

We signed up for the same time and class as several of our friends. The kiddos had a great time together, but Ryan was very bothered at first no one was in his class.

Payton, Mapuana, Mo, Austin and Ryan ready to swim!!!Austin was happy to get into the water, but not nearly excited to listen to his teachers! He loved Teachers Austin and Ashlyn and they were the only one's who could get him to do anything they wanted him to.Ryan remembered everything about swimming lessons from last year, except how to swim! He is slightly uncoordinated and struggles a bit, but he'll figure it out soon!We can't wait for more swimming lessons and lots of fun next year!!!

Tim McGraw Concert!!!

2011-06-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, we took advantage of the Country Megaticket being offered and I got concert tickets for three concerts throughout the summer. First up, Tim McGraw!!! Justin told me to take a friend to one and that he and I would go to the others, so I asked Mal if she wanted to join me! I have been given a TON of grief from my sisters, but I couldn't make any of them happy if I wanted to! When you have 4 sisters, how can you pick 1?! I love you all!!!

Mal and I!

The Band Perry and Luke Bryan opened for Tim and were great!But the star of the show was of course, Tim McGraw!!! He opened the concert in the middle of the audience and made his way to the stage! It was amazing!We had a ton of fun and were thoroughly entertained by all of the intoxicated people surrounding us! We ended up looking just like them as we traipsed through the parking field (I wouldn't call it a parking lot since it was literally farmland) searching for our car at 11:30 at night tripping on all of the cans and bottles they left behind! It was a fun little adventure to end the night! Next up, Toby Keith!!! Can't wait to go with my hubby!!!

Memorial Day at Pinecrest!

2011-06-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we took our first long camping trip of the summer! We went to Pinecrest Lake with...Steve, Ashley, Tyler...and our friends from our ward the Felt's and the Hawkin's!Even though it was the first camping trip of the summer, it definitely didn't feel like summer at all! We enjoyed bike rides......some time at the beach......and just hanging out at camp!We enjoyed every kind of weather! Rain, hail, sleet and snow! More like winter than summer!Austin joined Camila under the umbrella trying to keep warm by the fire!Ryan braved the snow and wanted to play hard!Before we knew it, a snowball fight broke out and the kids had a great time!After such crazy weather, the sun finally broke through and slowly melted the snow and thawed us all out!We had so much fun and are so excited to go camping there again! We just want warm weather next time!!!

The Graduate!!!

2011-05-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

On May 18th, Ryan graduated from Lions N' Lambs Preschool! He was sooooo excited and had been practicing his songs for weeks! He couldn't wait for Nana, Papa and Auntie Natalie to come too!After getting seats for everyone, Ryan went to his room and got all ready for graduation!

The Graduate!!! Walking onto the stage!We were sitting pretty far away, so the zoom isn't very clear, but Ryan had a lot of fun dancing and singing during the performance!After some adorable songs, each student was announced then walked across the stage to get their "diploma." Anxiously waiting for his name to be said!Mrs. Ribota, Ryan and Mrs. Brannon!Showing off his "diploma!"Austin totally wanted in on the fun too!Auntie Natalie, Nana, Papa, Ryan and Austin!Papa with his boys!Mommy and Daddy with their sweet little graduate!With little brother too!I can't believe that we are at this point! My sweet little boy is old enough to move onto kindergarten and go to big school every day?! It excites me to see where life will take him and to watch him learn and grow, but it saddens me to think that he will no longer be my buddy every day and here in my home. I can't go back now, and I can't keep him small forever! It truly does feel like he was just a little baby that I was rocking to sleep and didn't want to put down. Now he hugs me, then runs away to play. As long as I keep getting those hugs, I can appreciate and accept this step we are taking in life! We are so proud of you Ryan! Here we come kindergarten!!!! You are getting the sweetest, smartest, cutest, and brightest boy around!

Birthday Fun!!!

2011-05-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

May 15th was my birthday! Since it fell on a Sunday this year, we decided to make a Birthday weekend out of it! On Saturday we took the boys and met up with my sisters Natalie and Aubrey at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for some fun.Ready for some fun!We had a great time on the rides!Lovin' on each other and havin' some fun!We took a break from rides and went to see Shouka the Killer Whale! Shouka was posing for some pictures after the show! It was so cute! After taking their picture with Shouka, Austin turns around and yells, "Give me Five!" and puts his hand up for Shouka. After his "high five," he turns around and stomps away. We were cracking up!What about a ride on Shouka?!Before heading out, Natalie, Austin, Aubrey and I all headed over and rode the train!While we rode the train, Daddy and Ryan went to ride the river rapids. We got done in time to watch them be sprayed by strangers with the squirt guns!We had so much fun, and are so glad we bought season passes so we can go again!

Sunday morning I woke up, got ready for church, and came down to breakfast made and the boys having a birthday party for me! Party hats, blowers and all!We had a nice relaxing day! All I wanted was a nap, so I watched a movie Justin gave me for my birthday and took a snooze! Later we had some friends over for dinner and cupcakes!Overall my birthday was relaxing a very nice! It flew by, and I certainly wish the years weren't flying by as fast as they seem to lately!

Fun in the sun!!!

2011-05-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago in early May we had some really nice and warm days! We are talking like beautiful 85 degrees! That has since changed dramatically including some raining, windy and cold days. But while it was warm, we enjoyed it! The boys got this sprinkler from the Easter Bunny and were soooo excited to use it!
Silly boys!!!We also had to try out the Buzz Lightyear Rocket ship!Austin is now FINALLY potty trained!!! So without the diaper on, he's been struggling to keep his pants up.We can't wait for some more sunny and warm days to have fun in the sun!!!

Mother's Day!

2011-05-22T16:11:00.001-07:00

We spent Mother's Day in Loomis at Nana and Papa Schmidt's house. My siblings and I got Mom an ottoman that she's wanted for a while now! The boys were very excited to give it to her since it had been hiding in our car!After presents, we visited for a bit while we waited for our first phone call from Elder Schmidt! The phone rang several times and our hearts all skipped a beat every time. When it was finally his voice on the other end, we were really excited and emotional! This is what everyone looked like while we talked to you Trev!We just passed the phone around the room and everyone took a turn talking to him and asking all of the questions they had! He is doing sooooo well! He is loving the Navajo people and the work!

After talking to Elder Schmidt, we headed to Great Papa and Great Grandma Schmidt's house for a Mother's Day BBQ with the Schmidt family! After dinner, we played "Who's Your Mama?" with our host, 'Osama Bin Mama'! It was a lot of fun and entertainment!Some of the cousins were sitting together on the couch so I snapped a cute picture of them! Probably the most to be on that couch at one time!We had a great Mother's Day and are so grateful for all of the Mother's in our lives!

Port's Game Fun!!!

2011-05-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I found a great deal on Groupon for tickets to a Stockton Port's game. The Port's are a Division A baseball team affiliated with the Oakland A's. It sounded like fun and included baseball hats for all and a parking pass, so we jumped on it!

Our family......and the Robertson's......loaded up and we went "out to the ball game!"The mascot, "Splash" who reminded me of Elmo!***Justin******Ryan******Austin***These boys had a blast!!!I love the boys in my life so much!!!Josh and Mal!Mal and I!These boys were being so silly with the glow sticks!!!100% and Austin face!!! This kid is soooooo expressive!Austin sharing his ring pop with Scarlett! She kept trying to get more from him! It was hilarious!Towards the end of the night, Josh bought some cotton candy for the boys to share. This stuff turns into glue the second it gets wet! It was stuck everywhere, but they had a great time eating it!!!This picture truly portrays the fun we had that night! We can't wait 'til the next time, which just might be Star Wars Night!!!

Aubrey's Shower!!!

2011-05-07T10:35:00.001-07:00

The last Friday in April, we had a baby shower from one of my good friends from high school!!! Aubrey lives in Arizona, but was up for the weekend, so her Mom threw a shower for her and we hosted it at my parents house.

The BEAUTIFUL Mommy-to-be!!!

She got the cutest things!!!
All for Baby Girl!!! It was a fun evening getting to visit and reconnect with some old friends! Congratulations Aubrey! We are so excited for you and Jex!!!

Easter Festivities 2011!!!

2011-05-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful Easter morning and Sabbath spent at church, we drove up to Loomis to celebrate Easter in Schmidt Family style! Must have, a huge game of soccer! Ryan and Austin had a ball playing with their cousins and Aunties!!!
Ryan found the grass sled and he and Nathan had a blast! "Spin me Auntie!!!" Playing soccer with Auntie Aubrey! We finally took a rest from all of our playing and enjoyed a yummy dinner prepared by Great Grandma Schmidt! (Every meal she prepares is delicious!) What would Easter be without and Easter Egg Hunt?! Off they go! On the hunt!!! Checking out their loot! In addition to the eggs full of candy and money, my Grandma Schmidt does this fun thing where she also makes numbered hard-boiled eggs. Once all of the eggs have been found, the kids go up in numerical order and pick some fun prizes that just don't quite fit into those Easter eggs! Ryan got these silly glasses and gave himself the name Mr. McGuinney!Austin picked the carrot jump rope and tried with all his might to figure it out! It was quite hilarious!All of the big kids counting up their earnings! There was definitely a competition to see who found the most! After our Easter Egg Hunt, we headed inside for dessert, and to sing "Happy Birthday" to Great Papa Schmidt whose birthday was 2 days later! Papa with cousin Mary who just ADORES him! We had an amazing Easter, and hope you did too!!!

Easter Morning!

2011-05-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny definitely found our house on Easter Morning!

The boys were soooo excited and went running the second they got to the bottom of the stairs to see what the Easter Bunny brought them!Happy Easter 2011!!!

Ryan checking out his loot!

Austin seeing what goodies were left for him! They had sooooo much fun going through their baskets!!! After checking out their baskets, we had a nice breakfast before heading to church! We had a great Sabbath Day and enjoyed our church meetings remembering the true reason we celebrate Easter! We are so grateful for the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ and the great Resurrection that occurred that early Easter morning!

Egg Dying Fun!!!

2011-05-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

The Saturday evening before Easter we finally got to dying Easter Eggs!! Austin and Ryan were so excited and ready to make a mess!

First off, writing on the eggs with the "magic crayon!"

Daddy helped Austin get his just right!

Ryan went straight to the blue, no surprise there! He eventually used the other colors after several blue eggs! What a stud!!! Daddy taught Austin exactly what to do...

...then he tried it on his own and of course ended up spilling the dye everywhere!

Silly goose!!! Such a fun family activity!!!

Egg Hunts!!!

2011-04-28T13:01:00.001-07:00

Last week the boys had some fun Easter Egg Hunts with their friends! Ryan had one at school on Wednesday and was beyond excited to head out and hunt!

They were everywhere!
Ryan and his 8 eggs! Austin had a lot of fun watching and didn't even try to steal any of them! Such a good boy! Checking out his eggs with his buddies! After leaving Ryan's school, we headed to playgroup where we were having an Easter Egg Hunt at the park with all of the kiddos! Off goes Austin! Ryan was the biggest and oldest kid there, so he was running everywhere to find the eggs! All of the little ones and their baskets of eggs! Ryan checking out his loot! And Austin sure didn't waste any time digging into his candy!We had a lot of fun preparing for Easter and going on the hunt with our friends!!!

First trip out...

2011-04-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

... in our new tent trailer!!!

We had been wanting one for a while now! We really enjoy camping and being outdoors, but tent camping is getting a little old and annoying with kids. We were so exited when the opportunity to buy one came up. We decided to take it out while Grandpa and Grandma were here and we had a great time!!! After our fun ride in Felton, we drove to beautiful Capitola and set up camp at New Brighton State Beach.
Ryan and Austin were soooooo excited, but were upset that they didn't get to sleep on the big bed since Grandpa and Grandma were visiting. Next time!!!Austin collected pine cones... ...while Ryan rolled around in the grass!!!

After setting up camp, we walked down the trail that had been nearly wiped out by rain and mudslides...

...to the beautiful beach!!! When we got to the beach, there were all these cool little huts people had built with drift wood! Justin and the boys immediately headed down the beach! Ben, Patti and I followed behind and tried to catch up to them! Ryan wanted his shoes off ASAP so he could run from the waves. Austin would not let go of Justin's hand and was definitely reluctant to get his feet anywhere near that water. We had an amazing time! Trying to keep Patti warm was difficult, but we managed! We can't wait for more trips out in our new tent trailer!!!

Roaring Ride!!!

2011-04-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

The first full week of April we had Grandpa and Grandma Drinkwater visiting from Washington! It's kind of become a tradition that they come during Grandma's spring break, and we LOVE their visits to California!!! While they were here Justin had all kinds of projects planned, but we made plans to take a break from those projects and do something fun! On Thursday the 7th we headed up to Felton in the mountains above Santa Cruz to Roaring Camp Railroads!

Grandma, Grandpa and Ryan being silly!
They have a steam engine that pulls open train cars through the beautiful red woods and up the mountain. The boys were BEYOND EXCITED!!! This is where we rode Thomas last summer, but Ryan had his eye on the black steam engine the whole time we were there. He was sooooo happy to get to ride it this time! Austin didn't care what we rode, he just wanted to get on a train! ALL ABOARD!?!
Grandma, Grandpa and Austin ready to ride! Ryan immediately secured his spot directly behind the engine! Grandpa, Austin and Daddy! Off we go!!! Up the tracks, over this rickety old bridge... ...and through the beautiful forest!!!
Ryan was so excited when the conductor came to take his ticket!
The train climbed to the top of Bear Mountain where we were able to get off and look around!
Ryan inside of an old redwood tree!!!
Austin in the tree, but he preferred sitting on the log! While on top of the mountain, the boys got up close to check out the engine! After our ride down the mountain, we got a family picture with the train.

We had a great time on our train ride, but the fun didn't stop there! Check back later to see what else we did!

Zootastic!!!

2011-04-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Ryan had the week off of school for a mid-winter break, or something like that, so we enjoyed a fantastic day at the zoo with some friends!

Austin...

...Ryan... ...Scarlett... ...Payton... ...Reyna... ...and Brody... ...all had a great time!!!

Silly boys!!! We made our way around the park...

...and often found Ryan as the ringleader of this crazy bunch!

They had a lot of fun checking out the animals...

...and playing on all the statues!

"Look Austin!"

"What?!"

We came upon this area with a bunch of trees, and these kiddos turned into a bunch of monkeys! Austin the monkey!

Ryan the baboon!

As we were heading out to leave, we found the boys climbing into the wagon together! It was so cute! I started to pull them and we sang together the theme song from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates!" "Yo Ho matey's away!!!" After our fun at the zoo, we headed to the park for a picnic! We had a great time there as well! Austin wanted to make sure Reyna got to her car safely! What a gentleman!

Thanks for going to thezoo and the park with us everyone! We had a great time! The "Free Entry" day was just the icing on the cake!

Weekend Getaway!

2011-04-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Back in December we found a great deal on a night stay at a resort in Squaw Valley! We decided that would be fun for our anniversary. After we purchased it and read the fine print, it wasn't usable until after January. So, we put it off and went a few weeks ago instead! We had a lot of fun! We've driven past the entrance to Squaw Valley many times, but had never ventured up the road. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!

We stayed at a beautiful resort that overlooked the valley! We road the shuttle to Squaw Valley Village for dinner the night we were there, but it was soooo windy and cold, I didn't even attempt to take out the camera. Friday morning we headed back to enjoy the shops and the atmosphere!

What a beautiful little village at the base of such amazing mountains!

It was neat to see where the Olympics were held all those years ago!

We had a great time on our trip, and definitely learned to better read the fine print! Haha!

Monterey Part II!

2011-03-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

After a fun morning at the aquarium, we spent the later part of our day in Monterey at the beach! It was GORGEOUS!!! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day in the middle of winter at the beach!

Ryan and Austin ready to play!

Justin and I enjoyed watching the boys play and visiting with friends as we relaxed in the sun!
All of the kids played so well together! Including Lo! Haha! Building sandcastles! Ryan designated himself to be the water fetcher! He's not afraid to get wet! After a while, Mo and Austin took off running down the beach. They got pretty far before the turned around and headed back!
Little stinker!
Aside from our house being broken into while we were gone, we had a great time!!! Love sunny days and can't wait for more to spend with friends and family!!!

Monterey!!!

2011-03-13T22:02:00.001-07:00

The weekend of Austin's birthday we went with some friends of ours to Monterey! We all have kids with birthdays the same week, and decided that rather than doing a party, we would go do something fun! Some of our other friends weren't able to come, and we were bummed about that, but we still had a lot of fun!

On Friday we made the trip down and stayed at the Holiday Inn! Even though it wasn't incredibly warm, we headed out to the pool anyways! Ryan was in heaven, as usual when it comes to water!!!Everyone else was content in the hot tub! Austin didn't want to leave Daddy's lap! The gang minus Josh and myself! Ryan finally convinced Daddy and Austin to join him in the pool... ...and they had a great time! The following morning we loaded up...

...walked down...

...Cannery Row where we enjoyed some of the shops... ...and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!!!We were all so excited! The boys with the scuba diver! "What do you see Austin?" "Little, teeny, tiny fishies!!!" This tank had some sharks in it! Ryan in particular loved all of the hands on things! Austin enjoyed watching him do them!

The boys refused to touch the Bat Ray, but Justin and I go in and touched the slimy creature!

Ryan looks like he's about to be eaten by the killer whale!

They loved the Jelly Fish! We had an amazing time at the aquarium and can't wait to go back again!!!

Austin turned 3!!!

2011-03-12T20:19:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday, March 6th, we celebrated Austin's 3rd Birthday!!! I still am amazed at how fast time flies! I can't believe it's been three years since our sweet, little Austin was born!

The Birthday Boy ready to party!!!

We started out the day with his favorite breakfast... WAFFLES!!!
With a Sunday birthday you get to celebrate at church! Wahooo!!! Luckily we had some family come for the day to celebrate with us!
Auntie Megan and Uncle Al!

Nana and Tyler! Uncle Steve, Uncle Allen, Ryan, Daddy, Papa and Auntie Ashley! Ryan was excited for everyone to be there... ...and Uncle Steve thought it was his birthday too! HAHA!!! Austin loved being the center of attention and having everyone over to celebrate and eat dinner with us on his big day! So excited and ready to open the presents! As he opened each gift he would say, "I hope it's some Star Wars toys!" And Ryan would be sitting next to him predicting each one! YAY!!! Star Wars Toys!!! He was so excited to see Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker having a dual on his Birthday Cake! Make a wish!!! The lady by us at Wal Mart enjoyed our conversation as we picked out the type of cake Austin wanted!

Austin: "I want a Star Wars cake."

Mommy: "Okay, what flavor of cake do you want?"

Austin: "Star Wars!"

Mommy: "Star Wars isn't a flavor. Do you want chocolate, vanilla, yellow...?"

Austin: "STAR WARS!!! With Star Wars sprinkles!"

Well, this is what he got, and he was certainly happy with it in the end! We had such a fun day celebrating Austin! He has brought a lot of smiles, fun, and Star Wars into our family! We love you so much Austin and are so grateful for your sweet spirit in our home! Happy Birthday Big Boy!!!

Day at the park...

2011-02-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

This week hasn't been the greatest, but the last few weeks have been BEAUTIFUL out! Spring like weather in later January and early February?! It has been awesome! Needless to say, we've taken several trips to the park to enjoy the nice weather. Last week we went as a family and had a great time!

The boys love their time on the swing!

Austin typically spends his entire time at the park on the swing, which means I spend all of my time behind him pushing away!
Ryan likes the swing as well! Unless there are some other kids running around, then he'll join in their fun instead. We decided to take the soccer ball and goal and start playing since Ryan's going to be on a team pretty soon. They had a lot of fun! Austin even gave it a shot! Ryan learning how to step next to the ball with your off foot... ...and give it a kick!!! He was so funny! Last summer I played soccer a few times with some friends and he apparently was watching. He kept kicking his leg so high in the air that he would lose his balance and fall over. It was cracking me up! I asked him why he was doing that, and he told me he was trying to get the ball to fly in the air like when I would kick it in soccer. So funny! I had to explain to him that once he gets the technique of kicking the ball in the first place, then we could later teach him how to kick it high into the air!
Just chillin'!Just being Austin! Little goofball!!!

We can't wait for more beautiful days to spend outside!!! Keep 'em comin'!!!