Another one of our fun outings was to Grimes Creek. We had fun practicing skipping rocks in the river and having an afternoon picnic. The picnic was truly with ants like in the cartoons.

My goofy boys

Connor has gotten pretty good at taking pictures of Rich and I

The Master Skipper

I didn't think about bringing swimming suits and the boys all got a bit wet practicing skipping rocks

4th of July

Happy 4th of July. We are thankful for all our freedoms and love this country!

Capital Classic

Connor ran in his first race in June. The Capital Classic is a one mile race down main street to the capital building. Connor loved it. Rich ran along the course taking pictures like any good doting father would.

Connor and Blake before the race

GO!!!!

Ahh the finish line. The best part for Connor was being able to get a medal like mom and dad.

Who wouldn't want their picture with Darth Vador and the gang?

Nashville Half and Full Marathon

In April (yeah I know that was a while ago) Rich and I went to Nashville. We ran in the Nashville Rock n Roll Marathon. Rich ran in the full marathon (26.2 miles) and I ran in the half marathon (13.1 miles). It was also a great time to visit Cristiana, who I grew up with. We had a blast on our mini vacation.

My view of downtown Nashville while I got to relax and wait for Rich and Cristi to finish.

We did a zip-line tour. Totally worth it and a major thrill. I highly recommend doing one sometime.

Thanks to Cristi, who had connections, we stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. This was the view from our room into one of the three Garden Atriums. There were waterfalls and shooting water fountains that light up at night.

We did your normal touristy things. Nashville is a pretty cool place to visit. They even have their very own full-scale Greek Parthenon.

The King

Braden had his spring dance recital. Out of all the performances from all the daycare centers that night he was the only boy. He got a nice "Awwwe" from the audience when he came on stage and lots of compliments afterwards. His class performed to The Lion King. He had a great time and was excited to be able to keep his crown.

Braden Turned 4

I need to back track a little. First I will start with Braden's Birthday in March. He requested Chuckee Cheese and I was not about to have a bunch of little kids running around that I needed to keep track of. We settled for the family going on his birthday. It also happened that dad came home for his spring break on Braden's birthday. It made his day. Later we had some friends and family over for cake and ice cream.

Easter 2012

Everyone has to have a picture of the Easter Bunny holding your screaming child right? Poor Andrew. Everytime he saw the Easter Bunny he would stop dead in his tracks and watch him. Then I tortured him be placing him in the arms of this very tall fuzzy thing with a big face. I hope you have forgiven me Andrew.


It took some time, but he finally caught on to the whole pick the egg up thing. Once he learned there was candy inside he would open them up and eat the candy along the way.


The egg hunting crew. The boys and my sisters two girls.