Family Reunion

We spent last week in Nags Head, North Carolina in a beach house for a family reunion. What a great trip! I love the beach! There were 27 of us in all. On our way there we drove through Durham, NC and visited Duke University campus. Also, we went across the freeway to Chapel Hill, NC and visited the University of North Carolina campus. The boys really enjoyed walking around the two colleges.

Dustin and Kannon outside of the Duke Blue Devils Basketball Stadium.

The boys outside of the UNC Baseball Stadium.

The first night we were all there we had a "Luau" Birthday Party for Corey. Wow, he is twelve now!! He was very excited to celebrate his birthday at the beach with so much family.

He got snakes, a video game and Sonic cards. His favorite things!

Happy 12th Birthday Corey!

Monday we hit the beach . All of the cousins had a great time reconnecting with each other. We spent the week:

playing in the surf,

building sand castles...

and drip castles,

flying kites,

playing paddle ball,

hanging out with cousins,

and of course, digging holes!

Off the beach, we visited an early colonist museum, played miniature golf (thanks to Uncle Bill) , had a beach bon fire with s'mores, went crabbing (thanks to Kendall), and spent a lot of time in the beach house pool.

Our pirate gang - What a fun museum with lots of dress up stuff.

It wouldn't be a beach trip without a fun game of miniature golf.

The s'mores never tasted so good!

I remember "crabbing" as a kid so it was great to have a chance for my kids to do it. Corey and Papa caught the first crab. For those of you who have never crabbed before, you have to have a lot of patience. You tie a string around a chicken neck and then you throw it into the water. You then very slowing pull the string up when you feel a nibble. When you get the chicken neck close to the surface your partner uses a net to scoop up the nibbling crab. Many times you come up empty but then you try again. I think just about every kid caught a crab or at least got to help catch one. Fun times.

We also got to celebrate Sophie's 5th birthday and Summer's 1st birthday on Thursday night.

Happy 5th Birthday Sophie!

Sophie's birthday included a treasure hunt that led us to the beach to dig up a treasure , an adorable "Strawberry Shortcake" cake (thanks to Susanne), and some fun time dancing.

Happy 1st Birthday Summer!

Saturday morning came too soon. We all had a wonderful week with family. We are already talking about the next reunion. Thanks Nana and Papa for a great week!

Baseball Season

Corey, Tanner and Kannon finished their baseball seasons. It was a crazy time with so much rain but all three enjoyed playing and improved throughout the season. Tanner's team placed first in his league and of course Kannon's T-ball team was first too - remember everyone wins in T-ball!

Look at the long legs on that boy!

With all of the rain, we had many make-up games. On this Saturday, we had five games. The boys were pretty worn out after a long day at the ballpark.

Tanner's team had a cook-out and swim party to end the year.

Kannon sure enjoyed his season. He came home after each game and marked the score down on his schedule. (They don't keep score in T-ball but he always had a score to mark down)

Great job boys! We sure enjoyed watching you play ball.

The Berthelson Family

Our good friends, the Berthelsons, stopped in Jonesboro for a visit on their way to Virginia last week. We were very happy to see them. They moved to New Mexico about 4 years ago but we have kept in touch over the years. We spent an afternoon at the park, went to the movies, hung out at the water park in Paragould one day, and played and swam here at our house. All the kids got along great and Janice and I enjoyed catching up with one another.

Janice, Emma, Camille, Kannon, Marie, Andrew, Tanner & Adam

Camille and Kannon

Tanner and Andrew

It sure was fun reconnecting with good friends.

Boy Scout Camp

Corey went to Boy Scout last week. There were 8 scouts from our Ward that went. The camp was in Cherokee Village which is about an hour from Jonesboro. He was there from Sunday through Thursday. Barry and I both worried so much about him but he did great. He earned several merit badges: Reptiles, Trail Blazer, Orienteering, and Fire Safety. He loved the food in the Mess Tent and didn't mind sleeping in a tent. He came home with only 4 ticks and 20 chiggers which we thought was pretty good.

One night a raccoon got in their tent and ate their snacks and another night there was a rainstorm but everyone survived and had a great time.

School's Out

The boys are all out of school for the year. :) The last few weeks were filled with parties, award programs, field days, movies, and field trips. All three boys were on the Honor Roll and Tanner and Corey received the Citizenship award in their classroom. Corey also received the Principal's Award which is given to one 6th grade boy and girl for Service, Friendship and Scholarship. We were so proud of Corey. What an awesome award! All of the boys had a great year and worked very hard. They are all looking forward to staying up late, sleeping in, swimming, baseball, and playing lots of video games.

The State Champion Baseball Team

At the Sports Banquet, Dustin received the Best Defensive Player Award in Baseball and Assist Leader in Basketball.

Corey and his awards.

Tanner's Field Day

Tanner with the other Honor Roll students.

Summer must officially be here: school is over, the pool is up, the garden is planted, it was 90 degrees a few days ago and I got bit by a mosquito last night.

Happy Summer to everyone!

Pine Wood Derby

Tanner and Corey got to particpate in the Pine Wood Derby last week with Scouts. This was Tanner's first time to make a car and race. He was very exited. We didn't have any winners this year but we all had a fun evening of racing.