ok....

I have never been so far behind in my blogging life as I have these past few months. This post is ridiculously random!!!

These first few pictures were taken at the beginning of April. Sean hasn't let up on his smoking addiction.. meat of course. On Mothers Day this year he actually smoked a brisket for me & it was amazing!! This is a random pork shoulder...


I took this picture because it is exactly what Joe does almost every day. He is drawn to the outdoors more than Sam is, if that is possible. He LOVES being outside & he is often found standing at the back door staring outside, longing for that day that he can run around like Sammy.
This was also taken in April after Sammy went in the big potty. Sean wanted to really reward him.. unfortunatly, he is somewhat afraid of the toilet now. Any time I mention going on the potty he has a small panic attack. I think he will be closer to 3 years old before he is fully potty trained.. or even close at that matter.

Sean took several pictures when cooking one night. Here is a spread from his rub & sauce making.
and his famous smoked beans.. I hear they are good, so if you like beans you must try them! I, sadly enough, cannot make myself like beans no matter how hard I try, so I will take everyone else's word on this one.
At the beginning of April Sean's grandma Labor was here visiting, so I had to get a picture. Making 2 kids look at the camera at the same time is pretty much impossible!!
In mid- April, Sean & Sammy found a poor little bird by the house that had lost its way. Sean has such a tender spot for animals & is always trying to help out a lost animal.

So they made a little home in a box up in the tree so that no cats would eat our little friend. Sammy would ask to look up at him for days afterwards.
Speaking of new animals.. Roxy joined us around that time as well. She is one hyper puppy, & Sam is a pretty good match, cause he NEVER leaves the poor dog alone!!!!
This was taken Easter Sunday.. Sam LOVES to jump on the trampoline at the Dillards & asks quite frequently to "jumpy, please". I'm pretty sure that when he gets on there with the other kids, he just gets thrown around alot cause he is the smallest, but apparently that is tons of fun!
Also on Easter Sunday, dad showed off his best Mr. Fredrickson impression.. what do you think?
Joey is 9 months old now & into EVERYTHING!!! He wants to crawl, crawl, crawl, & he is one fast little guy!! He stand up on furniture & has even stood in the middle of the floor a few times. He is pretty happy most of the time, & sure LOVES to eat!! This kid wants to eat everything!Not that it shows, or anything :)

Yesterday we went on our first swim of the summer. We swam with a bunch of the fam at Phil & Melissa's pool (which is awesome! btw). I got mad at Sam for deciding he could jump on in any time he wants without an adult nearby. I told him very sternly that he would drown & then realized he probably didn't know what that was, so I told him he could die if he wasn't careful. Later on he was playing on the steps & stepped of & went under for a split second. When he came up he was a little frazzled, but pretty quickly began telling everyone he had died. He is still telling me that today. Here are the boys after our swim.
One other addition to our family... the fifth wheel. We sold ours last year & just hadn't replaced it. Sean's insane camping desires drove him to seek out a new one.. I guess I shouldn't really say new, cause it's a 90', but it is newer than our last. We love how open the layout inside is, but we do not love that the crazy lady that previously owned it decided to cover the walls in magazine clippings instead of the wallpaper that was there. We also are not too big of fans of the crazy orange she decided to cover the wood veneer with. We have most of the wallpaper off, but "after" pictures will come in the next few months!!!
Hectic is a nice word for what my life has been like this year. We also got a desk top instead of the laptop we had forever, so I don't get on the computer as much as I used to. I will try to be better about keeping up on here!!!

Mother's Day

I'm trying to play catch up on my blog since I've been the biggest blog slacker on the planet this year.
Mother's Day this year was an adventure.. shouldn't they always be when you are a mom?
All I asked was that I didn't cook, clean, or change diapers.. & my wishes were granted.
We were up in the night with one or both of the kids.. can't remember, but we have 8:30 church & that looked almost impossible with the night we had had. I ended up taking Sam to have fun in nursery & Sean stayed home with Joe so I could go & actually listen to a couple of church meetings.. what a great present :)
When I came home he was finishing up the brisket he had smoked & we had a nice lunch/dinner that I didn't have to cook :) It was amazing by the way.
Right after we ate, guess who runs in looking like this???


Sam & his cousin David decided to go play in the charcoal that was left out in the backyard. What a treat!! Since it was Mother's Day & I had requested no cleaning, yet another wish was granted as Sean hosed down Sam in the backyard. Maybe Sam will think twice about getting dirty on Mother's day again. Dad doesn't clean the same way Mom does :)
I also made a request for a nap, which I got! & then that evening we went to visit our moms.








The only thing I didn't get was a picture with the boys. Oh well.. all in all.. decent day :)

California adventures...

Last weekend we went over to California to relax & also pick up a fifth wheel that Sean found to replace the one we sold last year. We camped out on the beach, went to Disneyland, & relaxed!!! Sean's mom & sister & her son came along.

Joe & Sam in the trailer

Joey bear
Sam tried to play in the sand every breathing second he could!!


Disneyland
Jungle cruise
hanging out outside the tiki room

waiting for the rockets..
Sam LOVED them :)
Grilling out at the beach


The boys absolutely loved the beach & cried when we left the water! They had a blast playing in the sand.









In the trailer
Saturday night our friends the Duffy's joined us for a bonfire on the beach. Sam got to roast his first marshmallow!! Thanx Duffy's for the good company & smores :)
Joey loved to play on the bed in the trailer.