Hill grandparents

Nana and Papa Hill came to visit.

The highlight of the trip was probably the outing we took to Wahooz

Its a fun center, we played arcade games, go carts and mini golf.

Party On! 

At the end of mini golf the titki head puts out a huge fire balls if you get a whole in one. Big hit with the boys.

Jump Creek

We love adventuring in the summer months.

 This last weekend we went to Jump creek. 

I had never gone there before. It was great, very crowded. The waterfall is in the middle of the dry canyon, it seems like an oasis, there are lots of caves to explore also. It makes me think about ancient peoples living there...

I wanted to take epic photos , crowds of people and dusty winds limited that, for this visit. Next time.

We want to go back another time hopefully when less people are there. 

zen kayden

Fathers Day 2016

To the fathers in my life,

Thank you.

For fathers day this year Mitch received an Osprey day pack with a camel-back, a tie, some candy and some tee shirts. 

The boys love to wear a "daddy's shirt" to bed in lu of PJ's; its adorable, but they tend to stretch them out and generally trash them so they got him replacements.

We choose to give daddy a little questionnaire filled out by the kids instead of a card. It had simple questions  "what does daddy always have in his pocket?" (money and phones); and what does daddy always say?" (its time to go). It was certainly educational. 

We also filled one out for grandpa, favorite response: "what does grandpa like best?" Eli's answer: "giving us ice cream". 

To Mitchell,

I can not say in words how much I love you. 

You work so hard to take care of our family and you do not complain, you enjoy our family and look for ways to spend time with our children. Thank you. I'm so glad we choose forever.

Love always, Your Melinda girl

Table Rock

Last Saturday we went for a little family hike to table rock. We climbed to the very top. The boys (except law) hiked the whole thing all by themselves, not bad for little legs.

We saw a groundhog and that was considered exciting , also lots of other wonderful birds and plants.

The kids needed pep talks thought out the hike, we kept telling them they could make it, they could do hard things! We where proud of them for finishing strong.

On the way back down Eli told me with pride that now he is a good hiker and can go fishing and backpacking with papa (my dad). I think my dad will be glad that he is apparently such a great motivation for my kids in regards to outdoor recreation! hehe!

Hiking with them was a great time to talk to them about how good it feels to accomplish goals.

Hiking is a great example of working towards a difficult goal.

Family pictures

when she was in town for memorial day my sweet sister offered to take some family pictures for us, she knew that I loved pictures and she said she could use the practice so i didn't feel guilty at all for saying YES1
We took them in the evening . It was actually a really fun time. The park was crowded and my boys a bit tired so it was challenging but she got great shoots!
our little baby Lawrence was just 2 and 1/2 weeks old in these pictures. He looks so tiny but so grown up.

Memorial Day

In the evening we went to the graves this year for memorial day as we always do. I am so grateful for that tradition and for a husband who is so supportive. It is wonderful that we have such loving extended family!

We also had a really fun day. First we went out to sandy point at lucky peak and had a BBQ picnic and the kids played with cousins.

in the afternoon the girls went to a movie, it was pretty fun to go out with my mom and sister (and baby).

We also spent time together with the Barthlome's in the evening when they came over, the guys went to a movie and the kids played.