Birthday Boys!!!!

Luke's birthday seemed to last 3 days long! Matt had to go out with the missionaries on Luke's actual birthday (Friday) and so we decided to celebrate on Thursday night with our family after I got back from dance and Matt got back from his corporate 5K that he ran in. Well we got back and Gavin was asleep (he was actually still asleep from his nap that started when I left for dance at 3:30 and it was 7:30 when I got home!) Talk about marathon nap (must be growing). So by the time Matt got home at 8:00 Luke wanted to just open his presents first before we went out...well he didn't finish until about 9:00 and Gavin was still asleep so instead of going out we had frozen chimichanga's and frozen waffles for dinner! What a birthday dinner! :)



Emma gave Luke some Rescue Hero action figures

Day 2 of his birthday started with green pancakes that said his name. Nicholas and Brooke (our neighbors) rode to school with us that day so it felt like a party even in the morning. Then that night we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner.

Day 3 of his birthday was his friend's party. It was a pirate themed party and it turned out to be a blast! I had made a pirate cake, we had hot dogs with little pirate sails on them, we decorated pirate swords, they got to walk the plank and jump onto the tarp (which was the water) and pretended to swim ashore. Then the 2 highlights were the cannon ball throw (water balloons). They took Matt quite a while to fill up all 100 and they were thrown in about 2 minutes! Then we had balloon swords that they sword fought with and that lasted about 10 minutes until all the swords popped on the grass! What a fun day!

Poor Matt had his birthday 3 days later but I was all partied out and worn out and so his was a little low key, he says that's how he likes it, but I think it was even lower key then he expected! SORRY Matt! Next time you can have the pirate party! :)

Check out all those candles!!!! He could even roast marshmellows with all the heat the cake was giving off!

Family Trip to North Carolina

We had a great time visiting the Gillespies in Hickory, NC, this past week. For those who haven't been there, Tyler and Anna and the kids live in a beautiful little town that is literally in the foothills of the Smokies. Sara and I ran those foothills on a couple of mornings and let me tell you...it felt a bit different than running on the flat, sea level terrain of Orlando.

We loved attending their ward, having some fun at Hickory Dickory Doc (Hickory's version of Chucky Cheese), and watching the NCAA basketball tourney. Talk about some awesome games and great teams!

We picked a beautiful day to finally take advantage of the beautiful outdoors in NC and went camping at South Mountains State Park. It's about 45 min from Ty and Anna's house. We had a ball! Pretty Jacob Fork River, lots of wild life, good fishing, and solitude all combined to make it an awesome family memory. Luke and Emma made friends with a few of the locals, i.e. Jayla the Centipede and Brooke the Brook Trout.

Jayla the Centipede

Brook the trout

Sara and I also got acquainted with a very brave and very curious/hungry racoon who decided to pay a visit as the fire died down and we chatted around the fire. The night was great and despite a very flat mattress and Gavin waking up every hour, we did manage to get some rest. Breakfast the next morning was tasty, just like you would expect it to be on a campout. Something about the outdoors makes food taste so good!

So, we are officially a camping family. Luke shared his extensive knowledge of camping throughout the evening and morning since he has been on several father/son campouts with me. It's a good thing we had him along for subject matter expertise.

A worn out Gavin

We left for home on Wednesday evening, stayed in a hotel outside of Savannah, GA, took a brief car tour of Savannah the next morning, and then headed for home. It was a great spring break vacation.