Bedtime is very important in our family. A time for stories and snuggles, our kids love it. As a family we have a prayer and read a few verses of scripture. Then Brent reads a book with John, they're reading the Fablehaven series together now and they both love it, they're on book five in the series. (Sometimes after the boys are asleep I'll find that Brent is still reading Fablehaven because he can't wait to see what happens next.)
Adam will read a book to me, and then he'll pick a funny video on my Kindle and we'll watch that together. He loves Studio C sketch comedy and sometimes we'll pick a short Jim Gaffigan video. Adam loves to laugh, and it's a great end to the day.
Then we switch. Adam gets a dad snuggle, and I get to snuggle John and tell him a story. Every night since he was very little he has asked me to tell him a story about my life. I have told him hundreds of stories, and every night I wrack my brain trying to think of something new. If I repeat a story, even if I had told him the story years ago, he somehow always remembers. He'll then request something else. John is a story tyrant.
Fun on the lake
A couple of years ago we got a little boat. We love going out together on the lake. Summers in Arizona are hot, but on the lake it doesn't matter. The boys invite a friend or a cousin and we always have a great time.
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| Fun on the Lake. Nothing better on a hot afternoon |
The kids love to be pulled on a tube and to jump in for short swims. Our favorite lake is bordered by canyon walls and we frequently see big-horn sheep and bald eagles. Sometimes we have family dance parties on the boat, and the kids get to bring their favorite snacks.
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| Watching their laughter is the best part. |
My brother has a couple of sea-doos and sometimes we'll organize a big family outing, bringing dinner and taking turns going out on the boat and sea-doos. Spending time on the shore with family and cousins. This year for Christmas I (Julia) got a paddleboard. I love paddleboarding and I can't wait to try it out.
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| Making great memories, relaxing and playing on the lake. |
Adventures
Brent loves to have an adventure. That's one of the things I love about him. He is always coming up with some form of outdoor fun. On the occasions when he just takes the boys, he calls them "Manventures."
Adventures include camping, hiking, bike fishing, and dirt biking. These adventures frequently include extended family and cousins--one of the blessings of having so much family nearby.
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| S'mores and a campfire on a cool Autumn night. |
When it's cool enough there is a campfire and s'mores. Every Fall we hike up the West Fork trail up Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona, just so we can remember what Fall looks like. We love it.
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| Fall colors on the West Fork Trail. |
Vacations
We love to take vacations together. Every Summer we go to the beach in San Diego. Our boys love playing in the sand and the surf. Our favorite beach is on Coronado Island. There is a long, gradual beach as well as teaming tide pools.
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| Happy days on the beach on Coronado Island . |
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| Catching crabs and finding starfish. Great tide pools. So fun! |
Last Summer we had a blast staying at the Hotel Del Coronado. The beach is right outside the hotel and there's such a fun sense of history and elegance about the place. It doesn't hurt that the hotel has its own ice cream shop and candy store.
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| We had the best time on this vacation. They posed for photos for me before we headed home. |
We love to have a fun family day at an amusement park. The last few years it's been Legoland, since our boys are so into legos. Last Summer we got to see the real sets for "The Lego Movie." If you haven't seen that movie, you should. It's so funny. Batman is the best part, "Darkness, no parents..."
Last fall we went to Lagoon in Utah and rode roller coasters together. We're thinking about visiting Disneyland in the next little while before it gets too busy.
In the Fall we typically go up to Sedona to see the leaves change. We sometimes visit the snow in Flagstaff for sledding. John is a hard-core sledder and will make two sledding runs for each one that the rest of us can manage.
We went on a family cruise to the Bahamas a couple of years ago with all of our extended family and cousins. We had a great time.
Brent and I were able to visit various places in Europe before we had kids, and we hope to take our kids to Europe when they're a little older.
Brent loves to fish. He always has several fishing adventures planned every year. His favorite fishing spot is Florida, fishing the flats. He also likes to go deep-sea fishing off of San Diego, and fishing the mountain lakes in Utah. Sometimes he takes John if it is a good trip for a child. Adam will come too when he gets a little older.
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| This is a picture of a happy man. Fishing this Spring in flaming gorge, Wyoming. |
We love riding our bikes together, particularly on a lovely, Sunday afternoon. There are beautiful trails very close to our house. Bordering these trails, are several farm properties , which is really fun. We get to see horses, cowboys practicing their roping skills, a very noisy pig, and goats.
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| The horses are very friendly! Making sure we've shared all our treats. |
Swimming in our Pool
Our pool is one of the best things about our house. It gives us a chance to play outside together every day during the hot Summer months. Sometimes we'll just pop in for an after-dinner dip after Brent gets home from work. Our boys never tire—never tire—of playing "Marco Polo."
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| Popsicles in the pool. A fan favorite. We like helados. John prefers lime and so do I. Yum! |
We also love to have friends over to swim. We typically have a swim party on the last day of school each year and a "Farewell to Summer" swim party a few days before school starts back up.
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| Victorious! End of Summer party! Woo hoo! |
John learned to swim at three, to his utter delight. He used to swim underwater with a full, open-mouthed grin on his face every time he went swimming. Brent and I bought several disposable underwater cameras just to capture it. It was the embodiment of joy.
Breakfast
We love breakfast. Particularly Brent. He once ate a particularly wonderful in Switzerland, and it became his favorite country.
Yummy breakfast in our family often means waffles. Not mix waffles, belgian waffles where you beat the egg whites separately and fold them in at the last minute. Fluffy. Crisp. Perfect. The trouble is, once your kids (and husband) eat these waffles they will not accept a lesser, easier substitute. Luckily, Brent makes the waffles at least half of the time.
John likes his with strawberries and whipped cream, as does Brent. Adam prefers syrup with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
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| Mmmmmm. Waffles! Click here for recipe. |
If it's not waffles on a weekend morning, it is frequently bacon, eggs and toast. Brent makes the bacon--mine is a terrible imitation of a charcoal briquette. If you want to hear something funny, ask my boys about mom bacon. Brent, however, loves bacon. He speaks it's language, and it whispers all it's secrets to him. His bacon is crispy perfection. Even I like it and I am not a particular lover of bacon.
I partially redeem myself with my exquisite scrambled eggs. I add a little milk with the beaten eggs and mix in a little sharp chedder cheese. Then I cook it over very low heat while constantly stirring the eggs. They turn out fluffy and light. I even like my eggs, and I am not particularly an egg person either.
The toast is from homemade bread. I make bread for my family because they like it so much. Brent says the scent of hot baking bread in the air is my best smell. He prefers that to any perfume. I'm not sure if this is romantic or not. The funny thing is, my kids like their dad to make their toast. It seems like I do exactly the same thing, but they say dad toast always tastes better. My suspicion is that he's more generous with the butter. I think that butter may whisper it's secrets to him too.
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| Lovin' from the oven. Nothing smells better than hot, fresh bread. |
