North Carolina 2011: Part 2

The reason for this trip was to see family. John had not seen or met many of his family members. We were very excited to come and be with familt. Heather and Theresa, John's sisters, came and of course my kids had fun with them. Briauna kept wanting them to take he to the waves. This is Aunt Suzanne, Tori, and Karla. They were so kind and great. We were so hap[py to be able to meet them adnspend time with them.

Here is a bunch of the cousins and 2 aunts. From left to right: Rachel, Aunt Suzy, Tori, Candace, Karla, Theresa, Aunt Laura, and Heather.

Briauna had a little buddy to play with. This is John's cousin Candace son Jordyn. He is so stinkin cute.

He loved when the kids played with him.

This is John's Grandpa Joe and Briauna

Here is Aunt Suzy and Wayne. They were so great and Wayne told so great stories from when he was a kid.

This is cousin Candace's husband Nate. He was so funny.

Briauna had a great time doing hair. Aunt Laura was a great sport.

One evening we had karaoke. It was fun even though I didn't sing.

Candace and Nate were so fun.

Theresa and the girls had fun in the ocean.

Cousin Rachel was also a good sport and let Briauna do her hair.

Rachel is so good with kids. She read this painfully long story to Briauna.

This is Ryan and Karla.

Briauna even did Grandpa Dubois' hair.

Caleb and Jordyn became good buddies. He loved Caleb and Caleb loved that this little guys wanted to play with him.

It was so great to see all the family.

To be continued again ........

North Carolina 2011: Part 1

We had the wonderful opportubity to go to North Carolina for a family reunion on John's side of the family. We have awesome neighbors that work for Southwest airline. They gave us 7 standby tickets to help us go. This was extra fun for Calen and Lance since they have never been on an airplane. We left Sept. 3rd and staued until Sept. 9th. We were going to be able to meet many cousins, aunts and see Grandpa Joe.

Here we are going to our terminal at Sky Harbor. I am sure we were quite a site walking through the airport. Everyone had a backpack with homework and activities to keep them busy.

We are getting ready to board the plane. We left Phoenix and had a lay over in Las Vegas. We first thought we were going to seperated into 2 flights to Vegas but at the last minute they got all of us on. Caleb and Garrett sat farther up in the plane but they did fine without us.


After a very long lay over of about 5 hours in Vegas we are ready to head to Norfolk, Virginia.

We were very lucky to have Briauna under 5 yrs old becasue we got to board early. We were able to sit together in the back. It was great to be close especially since the flight was 5 hrs. The kids played musical seats but did great. All the flight crew and the people we sat by were impressed with how good they were.




We arrive in Norfolk at 12:45 at night. We then had to drive 2 hrs to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We got the rental car and started the drive. Luckily the kids slept. We got a call from John's family telling us we couldn't get to the house at night because 0f
of high tide. We stayed at a beach house that was on accessable from the beach which required a 4x4 to get to. So we drove as close as we could and stopped at the Walmart just across the bridge and selpt until daylight. Once we met up with the family we headed to the beach house. It was the craziest thing driving on the beach. It was about 8-10 miles on the beach. And you definitely needed a 4x4. It was crazy.


Once we got to the beach house we headed straight to the beach. We walked right off the back of the house to the beach. It was so cool.



The beach house was great. It had boogy boards, sand toys, chairs, etc for us to use on the beach. The kids were in heaven except fot Briauna. She wasn't sure of the waves.

We played in the sun for several hours. It was great.

Briauna decided after a little while that the ocean wasn't so bad.

This was the house we stayed at. It was 8 bedrooms on 3 levels. It came with everything you would need but food. We stayed in loft area with 4 sets of bunk beds. It was very fun. The kids hid on the lower level which had a game room and media room. I have never been in a house that you really could lose someone. There were times we wouldn't see another family member all day. It was an awesome house.

To be continued ........

Happy Birthday Boy!!

Caleb is now in the double digits. He is 10!! It is so hard to believe that he is getting so old. He will be starting 5th grade this year. He is also going to play football and just ended wrestling. Both sports he is very good at. He is a tiny guy but he can hold his own. He is the big joker of the house. He loves to tease and that reminds me of my Grandpa Elison. He loves to play with friends and loves the Xbox. He is a great son and we love him so much.

Money is always something he loves having.

John also has this hat. Caleb would always steal it so John got him his own.

The video game he wanted !!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

I can't believe that my baby is 4. Oh, how fast time goes. This little lady is so fun. We love her so much. She loves her sister so much and tries to do all that Jenna does. She is learning her letters, loves to color, ride bikes, and play with friends. She was so excited for her birthday. She was counting down the days. We decorated her door for when she woke up.

She started twirling baton this year so we got her her very own baton. She loved it.

She always loves clothes.

She really wanted a barbie horse.
Ready to go.

I love this little girl!!

Lance is 12!!

My boy is 12!! Crazy to me believe. He is being a gof ball and doesn't want to show his smile to me. We love him so much. He is startig 7th grade this year. He love sports and just finished wrestling. He starts football soon. He is becoming quite a class clown the older he gets. He is fun to have a round. We wrapped his gifts individually and then put them in a big box. He thought it was pretty funny.
Money, Money, Money!!!

Gum and Good and Plenty's (Grandma Pam's favorite)

Of course a Xbox game. My boys sure do love their Xbox.