Monday, July 27, 2015

Thomas' 4th Birthday

The week of Thomas' fourth birthday we met up with the Pulhams, Maxwells, Thayns, and Kirkwoods for a splash pad playdate to celebrate Thomas, Jens, and Josiah who all have June birthdays. Thomas was so excited for his "party" all week! haha Glad he was so easy to please. For his birthday cake he requested brownies... no frosting or anything! Our chocolate lover was thrilled, and the best part was I din't have to slave over some crazy creation... Brian actually made the brownies! haha We hit the jackpot with his birthday presents... Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Rescue Bot Transformers! He was hilarious opening them! He also got some cool oobz building toys he has enjoyed too. Boy do we love our easy-going, sweet, peacemaker Thomas! He is simply a joy to have around. He constantly cracks us up, has the cutest voice, and is all boy. My favorite line he says all the time now is "oh yeah!" We couldn't imagine our family without him!






June in Indy

In June we enjoyed Brian's more relaxed schedule of half days and scattered days off. We took advantage by going on a family trip to the children's museum, where Ezra has so much fun now that he is finally figuring how to play with all of the neat things there. I got to help throw an ice cream baby showere for my friend Michaela Burns. It was super cute and simple and there was a great turn out. Her little Holland Rose is so loved! Thomas played soccer for the first time on a little league our ward put together, with one practice and one game a week for the month. It was so cute and hilarious! Though he didn't excel at the sport, he had a fun intro and we all had a great time cheering him on. Brian and I finally got to some deep cleaning and I finished my kitchen wall decor I've been putting off for months. The kids and I spent a lot of time at the library and reading at home for the library's summer reading program. Ezra has just started to love books and it is so fun reading to all three of them with him on my lap before bed. I took the kids bowling with the kids bowl free program... not as cool this year now that I have to pay $3.50 each for Maybrie and Thomas to rent shoes... so that was a one time summer outing! I also got to go into the dental school and be Brian's second patient. It was really cool to see him in action and realize just how much he has to know and how hard he works! I could never do it. So proud of him!












Myrtle Beach

This summer instead of taking our usual trek West to visit family, we went on our own family vacation where we didn't have to travel so far. Also, since Brian only had a two week break from school, fitting in a drive and visiting to Utah and Washington would have been too difficult. We drove down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Brian's brother Darin and his family were kind enough to put us up for the night at their home in Richmond, KY to help break up the full days drive on our way there. 
We got a groupon to stay three nights at the Springmaid Resort. It was right on the water, we had access to a really long fishing pier and a private beach only for resort guests. There were also six swimming pools on site. It was overcast and rainy for a lot of our stay... but that didn't stop us from playing at the beach and having a blast! It was our first time stepping into the Atlantic Ocean. Our main reaction to the water... It is so warm! It was Ezra's first time walking on sand, and at first he wanted nothing to do with it. But then slowly he reached our for the sand toys and eventually inched his way in and had a blast just digging away! He didn't like touching the water either. Whenever he would walk out to daddy and his siblings playing in the waves he would hurry and run back just as he saw the tide coming toward him! It was pretty funny. Ezra did love swimming with us in the pools though.
Maybrie and Thomas loved everything about the whole trip! They were little fish who didn't mind being waterlogged for days. Maybrie loved collecting shells and Thomas loved knocking down our sand castles. They both bravely tried the boogie board we bought on the second day. They had a blast once they figured out how to do it. Brian and I also went out on our own for a bit... it was really fun! I don't know that I've ever used a boogie board in the water, though I do remember sliding down the stairs on one as a young girl in CA! The kids were excited to eat out three times and have a pizza picnic on the pier. We also introduced the kids to miniature golf, which was free at our resort. They had fun. (Man, do they have a million min golf places in that town!) We all just had so much fun being away together. It was a beautiful place and it was great to just relax, swim, play. 
On our way home we stopped in Greensboro, NC and stayed the night with Brian's old college roommate Scott Olsen and his family. It was fun to introduce our kids to each other and catch up. The kids got along so well, it was fun! The last stretch of our drive home was the hardest... Ezra picked up a new high pitched scream and we unfortunately had to listen to it for about half the drive. Amazing that a few days driving straight across the country last year could be more pleasant than that eight hour stretch of road! haha It was definitely a trip we will remember and cherish.