Father and Sons

AKA - Heaven, at least it will be in a few years when ALL the sons get to go :)

I remember when my brothers would go to the father and sons with Dad and Mom and I had so much fun having a night together without all of them. Mom was out of town this year so she didn't get to come hang with me, but maybe next year.Last time they went Grandpa went with them and the wind blew so bad they spent the whole time hanging out in the tent trying to escape all the dust, but this time the weather was perfect and they had lots of fun activities planned. Daddy even spoiled the boys by getting them their own slingshots on the way home. Not quite as fancy as the ones the Indians were selling, but still fun if your a boy and like to shoot things.

Eating Smores made with the Giant marshmellows

Parker, Kai (a friend), and KC

Launching rockets with pop bottle launchers

The boys had a blast, thanks Aaron for taking them!! You're such a great Daddy!

Four Corners

On our way home from Sante Fe we took a small detour to check out the Four Corners Monument. Ya, pretty boring. It's basically out in the middle of nothing. But it was fun to see and they had an Indian Market with lots of really touristy things for sale. The kids really wanted some tomahawks and slingshots or course and were pretty disappointed to leave without any.

New Mexico

Last weekend we loaded everyone up and headed to New Mexico to visit Kris and Ginna for a few days. We had the best time and can't wait to visit again sometime. Aside from getting to visit with Kris and family, the next best thing was that the kids were SO GOOD in the car! It took us about 11 hours to get there, split over 2 days, and 12.5 hours to get home (all in one day) and we had very little fighting or irritating stuff. We only had one incident of car sickeness that luckily was easily cleaned up, and we managed to do it without DVD players or millions of toys and snacks. It was amazing. And I managed to only get 1 speeding ticket (on the way home) what road trip would be complete without one?

 We got there saturday and just enjoyed the day together at their great house and the kids had such a good time playing together. I love that Max and Parker are so close in age, makes it really fun to get together. Just wait till they are all big enough to run around, it's going to be so crazy!
 

Quintin and the Sandman

Movie time

We got to see Kris's dental practice and some fun sights around town. We even went to a cool park with a super big slide!

um, do I count as a "special patient"? We're so proud of you Kris

Dentistry for Kids waiting area

KC testing Uncle Kris's chair

Dr. Kris in his front waiting room

Perfect for the monkeys

Now that's what I call a slide

Isn't this a crazy bunch of boys?

We really had such a good time. Thanks again for letting us come Ginna and Kris, I sure do love you guys. I wish we all lived closer to each other so we could spend time together more often, but at least we can visit.

Who's Who?

Here are all our boys around 3-4 months of age. Can you tell who is who?

6 years

 6 years ago last December this was our Family
Not necessarily the best picture of us all, but we were all there and that's what matters.

6 years ago today I had just gotten home from a doctors appointment and I was getting ready to go to work when I got the call. Kenny was gone. He'd passed away the day before and his roommate found him. It seemed like such a bad joke, only it wasn't. The days and months follow his passing were so hard and we still miss him terribly. He would come and babysit for us sometimes and he loved Parker so much. It was really fun to see him as an uncle.  Parker was just a year old at the time so he doesn't remember Kenny, but we talk about him a lot and show the kids pictures so they can know just how great he was and how much we all love him.

Kenny was a lot of fun. He was full of energy and could be really sweet when he wanted to be. I have a lot of special memories of Kenny and am grateful for the time we had together. The summer we moved to Utah, when Parker was about 6 months old, Kenny and I went to Lagoon together and spent the whole day. I'll always remember how special it was to have that time with him and the fun that we had.

 This is at his grave on April 23rd, what should have been his 26th birthday.

And who knew that just 6 short years later we would be here again to say goodbye to another beloved family member. Has it really been over 2 months now? There have been so many times when I think of something that has happened or something fun the kids did and I pick up the phone to call you Dad and tell you about it. Sometimes I even get so far as to dial all the numbers. And I get the recording that the number isn't in service anymore and I am reminded that so much more is gone than just a phone number. I miss you so much, sometimes the pain of your loss makes me just want to run and hide until everything is back to how it was. But I know I can't. And as happy as I am that you and Kenny are together now, I would so much rather have you here with us. I'm holding on with all the faith that I have that we will be together again one day. But until then, I miss you, and I love you more than words can ever say.