Mahoney State Park

This was Peyton's first camping trip. We all had a blast. An interesting fact...Erin and the girls planned this trip. I thought it might be the best idea due to all the activities planned the following day and the chance of thundershowers as well. Erin was determined and got us all ready to go. Guess what? No rain and we had a wonderful time. It was fun to be with Chelsae and Craig, Dan and Maryanne, Jon and Becka, Mike and Larual, and Micha and Camille. I'd name all the kids names but I don't think I'd get them all correct.



Craig was the child entertainer. He had all the kids running around like crazy "getting their energy out before bed." He did a great job. I figured out why parents always have their kids "find wood for the fire." All the kids thought it was a great game and had a blast trying to see who could fine the most sticks for the fire. Our tent was interesting. It says it's a 4 man tent and maybe it is, but with our double sized air mattress we quickly learned that alone probably reduces the capacity to about 1.5 men; if that. We found a way to fit Erin, Porter, Peyton, and myself in and we actually slept fairly well. Erin says she kept waking up and I kept waking up because I'd have these life like dreams of a buck deer rubbing his antlers against my side of the tent so I'd wake up and notice it was big gusts of wind pushing in our tent. The same dream happend several times during the night, each time it was just the wind. I thought it was pretty funny. I wish we would have gotten a picture of our odd looking arrangement.
As always while camping, the food was great. We made 7-up chicken and everyone loved it and of course the smores were amazing. Chelsae brought a symphony bar for the chocolate...I highly recommend a trial. MMMMMM!

More Peyton memories

Erin put up the boys little play tent the other day in the living room. It was getting close to the boys bedtime when we noticed Peyton had already found a place to crash. He looked pretty cute snuggled up in his blanket in the tent. We let him sleep there all night. He loved it.

We've started the packing and cleaning process that always finds itself with moving. While starting on our room, Peyton found some old radiographs from my freshman year of dental school. He had a blast punching them out of the holders and then I noticed he's a nature at reading them. We just had to take a picture.

$2 Tuesdays at Rosenblatt

Omaha Royals games have become one of our favorite family outings. The kids love it and at $2 a person it's pretty reasonably priced. Erin's not in the picture because she, along with Alicia and Chelsae, was at a baby shower. So, they missed the first couple of innings. Craig and I had a bet on when they would finally make it and I won the bet by a couple of minutes.

Weekend Happenings

Friday night we had fun going to the first Omaha Royals game of the season. They gave out bead necklaces and kazoos.

Porter just had to get his picture taken with KC the Lion. Peyton was terrified of the mascots and cried every time he saw one.

Chelsea and Craig brought some blue candy, so everyone had blue tongues.



Saturday:
Lynn and I got to dress up and go to his Senior Banquet. We had fun watching all of the Senior Videos.



This is me with two of my good friends Jessica and Lisa.

Which one is Lynn?

Lynn is with his friend Jace. All of the teachers used to get these two confused with each other.

Lynn and some of his dental school buddies.

Visit from the Acors

Last week Porter had spring break and so my sister Jodie came with her family to visit. We had so much fun with them here. The kids had fun playing with eachother. Jodes and I had fun shopping together. Barry and Lynn had fun playing basketball together.

Here are a few pictures of when Jodie and Barry were here last week.

Group hug!

The kids on Easter morning

Kara and Kendra

Porter and Tanner had fun playing video games.

The kids and I made bracelets.

My boys at the hotel getting comfy.

The Acors took this picture without us knowing, but it is so cute!

We had so much fun. We wish they lived closer so we could do this more often!

New place to call home soon

So, here is the condo that we have decided to rent. We are very excited to have found a place in Columbus to live that is within our price range, close enough to Ohio State, in a good neighborhood, and has a nice/understanding landlord. Porter is excited to have a pool to swim in. I am excited that there is a workout room. We were hoping to find a place with a back yard, but we think that the back patio will work well for now. It is a three bedroom, 1 1/2 bathroom with a finished basement.

We loved the kitchen because the cupboards are very spacious and have organizers in them.

The fireplace will be a fun addition especially when we want to roast marshmallows :)

Main floor with the living room kitchen and dining room.

The front of the condo. We like that it is on the end because it provides more light and less neighbors to share a wall with.

The back patio.

Master Bedroom. The closet space in here is awesome, I'm excited to take up the big side of the closet.

The basement. There is a little work room through the door with a lot of storage space. Lynn is excited to do his lab work down here. Get this, there is a laundry shoot that comes down to the laundry room! Super cool.

Updates

Updates, updates, updates...

Well since we've failed to be good bloggers this past month, I thought I'd catch up on all the stuff we've been up to.

-We've traveled through Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

-We found a place to live in Columbus!!!! I'll have to post pictures later.

-We visited my sister Jodie in Wisconsin and got to leave the kids there while we went to Ohio. Grandma Belcher came and helped watch the kids too!



-We got to represent Brazil in our Branch's World Fair.

Peyton just ate a bunch of black beans :)

I was the server of the Brazilian feijoada

-I threw a shower for my good friend Alicia with these two lovely ladies. (I don't know why, but this is the only picture I took at the shower)

-Meghan and I threw another baby shower for my good friend Jessica. (She's the one sitting by me in the beige jacket)

-We celebrated St. Patty's Day with a green meal. A leprechaun came to our house and sent Porter on a scavenger hunt to look for a pot of gold (aka a pot of rolos). He thought that this was so fun and wants to catch him next year.

-We went to Mahoney State Park and played in this ginormous play place big enough for adults. I don't know who had more fun, the kids, or the adults. We plan on taking my sister Jodie and her family here next week when they come visit.

Can you find Lynn?

I finally got a picture of Porter holding still. He wouldn't stop running. The slide he is about to go down was so much fun. I caught air at the bottom of it.

Peyton wasn't too sure about the ball pit.

-Jeff taught Porter how to skateboard.

-We had our first tornado warning of the season last Monday while we were taking our friend Maddie a get well treat (she broke her finger at our house). We ended up staying at their house until the tornado sirens stopped, and then they invited us up for dinner. Thanks guys!

We waited in their rec room until the sirens stopped. Here's Maddie with her little cast.

-We've been wondering when this crazy winter weather will let up so that we can enjoy the spring. We need to get out can you tell?




-Last but not least....LYNN IS DONE WITH HIS BOARDS (hopefully he passed)!!!!! Now all that's left is graduation, wahoo!