The NC Five

DJ's the big 11 today!!!

2012-02-09T23:03:00.000-08:00

Five minute post....

looked over our flagged pictures and these were the few that stuck out to me today....thinking about my sweet boy and how much fun he has been in our family the past 11 years!

LOVE YOU DJ,

SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!

Here it goes, random pics, no particular order, just clicked on pics that made me happy :)

9 years old

DJ had to see the west coast ocean as soon as we moved to WA.

So off we went, two weeks after we had moved here.
He loved it, of course.

National Zoo, 6 years old

cousin Mia

First time going to scouts, LOVE the hole in the knee!

Age 7

So love this picture of my boy!

Confidence

Always, always taking care of his sissy.

Disneyworld with Grandma and Grandpa Sheneman

He loves water.....just like his daddy

Virginia Creeper, rode the whole 17 miles -- 7 years old!

super heros, ah we were in that stage for so long!

7 years old, on our way to church we stopped by Hugh McRae park, beautiful morning with my handsome boys.

Determination, on the soccer field. Caught it!
7/8 years old

Almost 11....

LOVE MY SWEET DJ!!!

I am one lucky mamma to have a boy as special as you!
No sappy post tonight, I'll save that for another day and post....soon I am sure :)

Jan Pic Recap

2012-01-29T22:47:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve Party!!!

So fun!

2nd year tradition going strong :)

Progressive Party
We move house to house through the night.

We're always the game house...kids included!

Whew, it wears ya out, but by the last house the kids are pooped out and ready to fall asleep in front of a movie while the adults enjoy time without the kiddos.

We headed up to Schwietzer Mtn for a family day of skiing

Yay, Kate!!

What an awesome day!

I love watching my boys especially, they love skiing!

Kate's getting used to it and now randomly says in her prayers at night that she will "learn to ski"

Daddy painting nails....daddy only has one girl but he sure knows how to make her smile.

Last but not least, Eagle watching

Bald Eagles

These kids loved it, we saw at least 50 - 60 bald eagles in the hour we were there.

The last weeks of December and beginning of January they migrate to this area and it has become quite the hobby for northwesterners.

last but not least.....

we finally got a good snow fall, although it's long gone now.

Back to a mild sunny winter, but I am sure we will still get our fair share in Feb.

Bring it on, my kids love it!

and it doesn't bother me too much either....

my crazy runner friends have me running over 20 miles a week lately!

Crazy girls, keepin' me healthy and feeling great even when it's slippery and a bit chilly outside.

Thank goodness for under armor running clothes.

I feel like I am running in the tropics when I put them on ;)

We ran our 9 mile wednesday lake run in a blizzard....didn't think the storm would be that bad!

we were pretty proud of ourselves at the end.

happy january

Christmas 2011 at home

2012-01-29T17:18:00.000-08:00

Santa couldn't drop off everything in Utah....

we pulled in late after our drive back home and in the morning we woke up to this...

Two Christmas mornings....pretty cool!

Christmas 2011 in Utah

2012-01-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

Visiting Family for 2011 Christmas Festivities

Christmas Eve on the Nixon side

Great Grandpa Bob

Stories with Grandma Nixon

Acting out the Nativity

with all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins...so fun!

Christmas "pre" Eve at the Shenemans

Santa visits, games and a great dinner put on by my fabulous MIL.

Waking up

Christmas Morning with

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Andy and Aunt Sarah, Uncle Michael and Brody

Newest Nephew and Cousin, Brody, cutie!

Family time and first time in years since all the siblings were together at Christmas.

My sistas!!
More and more fun the older we get!

Some fun outings during our SL visit

Midway, UT
Hot Spring diving :)

Wrote at the beginning of December:
"Lying works in the beginning, but it always loses in the end." Wise words from my 8 year old while we are watching a Christmas movie together. DJ is out on a date with his dad and Kate is asleep in her bed. Ethan and I enjoyed ourselves a good old Hallmark movie tonight....cheesy, yes! But he gained a little bit of 8 year old insight while watching it.

December has been full of crazies as usual, but we have been able to fit in the important stuff too.

We started a tradition last year of doing 12 days of service before Christmas. This year were doing it again....it didn't quite start on the 12 day before Christmas, it's new name this year is the 10 days before Christmas...roll with it.

It's been super fun though! I got a gift bag that has a message and a gift that has to do with what type of service we are doing that day.

A couple things we did.

*got a sparkling bear ornament/ message: make someone sparkle inside by writing them a sweet note. We wrote a note to someone in our family and left it on their pillow

* a 99 cent snowglobe :) / message: let's make someone feel magical by doing a something nice. We chose to visit an elderly woman in our ward and take her some potato soup....she loved having the kids visit and we enjoyed seeing her home full of christmas decorations

Ethan's birthday party....finally!!!

2012-01-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

I finally threw Ethan his friend birthday party the first day of Christmas break.

A month late, but it's done!

It was a small b-day party year so he invited over a few friends and we had a basketball party watching the Tarheels play and some fun games during the commercials!

Perfect and simple for his 8th b-day!

Cute boy!! Love him!!

Even sissy joined in on the boy party and made the best basketball cupcake out of all of them, thanks to daddy's help ;)

Gratitude

2011-12-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

I pretty much am in LOVE with my little family!

Much happiness and joy this past year for us. Hoping for more this year....not going to lie, I like to be happy. I thrive on it! Thank goodness my family likes to be happy too. Life is much more enjoyable for us since thats how we roll :)

Pics from our family photo shoot this past fall, it had been a couple years since we had a family photo session. I love them, and I love how my cousin/friend Randi captured us having fun together. My request was to capture moments, it's all I wanted....I got them! Thanks Randi!

So, for keepsake purposes and my blog book....here's all our photos from the session.
I LOVE THEM!!

Joy, pure joy
Merry Christmas, little family. You make my day everyday, not just on picture day ;)

Baptism Weekend

2011-12-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

Sweet Ethan was baptized!

My boys a keeper, love him sooo much!

Ethan's baptism was wonderful!

We are proud of Ethan and for the choice he made to be baptized. He has been excited all year to be baptized like his big brother.

He was lucky to have two of his Grandparents speak at his baptism. Grammy Pammy spoke to him about getting baptized and what it meant. Grandpa Sheneman talked to him about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how it can be a constant guide to him though out his life. Both Grandparents used stories and visual aids that made the talk fun to listen to for Ethan. They did a great job!

I gave a quick spotlight on Ethan at the beginning. I chose to pull out some funny stories that I have written down through the years that Ethan has said. Ethan loved that I was sharing funny things he had said in front of his friends and family.

Damon baptized and confirmed Ethan a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

He's a lucky boy to have such a great Dad that loves him more than anything.

We were so lucky to have family come visit us for Ethan's special day!

We love all the effort they made to be with us, it means the world to us!!!

Many of the kids in Ethan's primary class showed up also to support Ethan. They were so cute and excited to see him get baptized. I had them write letters to Ethan while he was getting dressed. It's precious to read what they wrote to him. He has some good friends here.

Ethan was so excited about his new scriptures that were given to him by his Grandparents and us. He was reading and highlighting them all weekend.

Since then we started a new family goal and we are 4 days strong.... 7:30 a.m. we meet in the living room and read one chapter of the scriptures together and then have family prayer.

Thanks Ethan for being a good example and inspiring us to read our scriptures as a family together.

Special day for a very special boy!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

Happiness!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving with family here to be with us!

Grandmas

and Grandpa's

Uncle, Aunt and cousins

Memorable memories....pretty much what life is all about.

Turkey time

Yum

Time together after the turkey was gone and Grandma's "special pumpkin pie"

games with uncontrollable laughing but it didn't seem to bother Grandpa Sheneman's turkey nap.

things settled down and Ethan got his Grandpa Nixon to play a game of chess with him before bedtime

We were lucky to have our family with us for a couple days after Thanksgiving.

Our agenda:

swimming, bike rides, shopping, b-day party for Ethan and Uncle Brad, and time spent in CDA

Cousin Sam, lovin' Kate's pink boots :)

We love you family and thank you so much for coming to see us!

Wow!

2011-11-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

Grateful! I am not a huge writer and have not always been able to express how I feel through words as well as I would like to. But a link posted by my friend in NC today made me feel sadness, gratitude, love, and it inspired me. A family she knows lost their 12 year old son when he was swept away down a overfilled creek in their back yard just a couple of months ago. I don't know this family but I wanted to read their story so I kept reading. Several posts have been made on the family blog that all focus around the new struggle in their lives of not having their son with them anymore. She writes in a way that is raw and real. I admire people that can write this way, it benefits us who are reading it. I feel moved and feel changed because of it.

So many people out there have experiences like this and are hurting beyond words.

Reading about this family made me feel instant gratitude for what I have in my life RIGHT now. I hold onto today and look back at the FUN we have had and have on a daily basis. I really believe moments together filled with happiness are the ones that last....so when I say FUN, I really mean that's all I want! Ha, but I know we don't always get what we want, life is not just full of fun moments but I'll tell ya those are the ones I cherish and remember the best! I am sooooo grateful for my little family!

I want to remember this family and how they made me feel inspiration today..... I am going to hug my kids a little longer than usual, and same with my hubs, that guy is totally getting a make-out session when he walks through the door tonight....totally kidding, but not really ;)

Little family from VA, thank you for sharing your story, you got a big piece of my heart today.

aninchofgray.blogspot.com

http://aninchofgray.blogspot.com/2011/10/bridge-one-terrible-night.html

Ethan's 8!

2011-11-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

Happiest Birthday to my Ethan today!!!

We love you so much and don't know what we would do with out you in our family!

Ethan is our hugger, lover, sweetie, math rockstar, tetherball addict, soccer and swim superstar, and his latest love, piano practicing.

Geez, he's a busy 8 year old!

Today was a short school day, I asked Ethan after school if that was so cool to not have a long school day on his birthday? He casually said, "yeah." He was kicking birthday ballons around the living room and said, "this is the best birthday! I love playing with all these balloons." He is sooo easily entertained and easy going when it comes to much attention on these big special days:)

Since this is the year of his baptism too, there will be more posts to come about his special day.

For now, here are some pics from his past. My cute boy brings me more happiness than he will ever know! His hugs melt my heart!

Ethan, you are my sunshine baby! Born in the sunny state of Arizona.

We named you after your Great Grandfather, William Pyper because he and your Great Grandma Pyper lived in Arizona.

Ethan William Sheneman

Big Bro, Little Bro

My beach boys!

18 mo

2 ish

3ish

4ish

5ish

6ish

7ish

Happy Birthday my little buddy!

Somebody has been excited all day about opening up some presents!

Red Robin was his pick for dinner tonight, he'll have to wait till then to open his birthday surprises!

Love you, buddy!!

While were were out to dinner tonight we decided to alliterate Ethan's name. We all took a letter and this is what our creative minds came up with.

E Economical Ethan (DJ)

T totally toe tapping teaser (Mom)

H happy handsome hugger (Dad)

A Awesome animal (Kate)

N nice NC nut (Ethan)

October Travels!

2011-11-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

I lucked out this month, got to travel twice!

I am known for my gypsy blood, I LOVE to travel! So when the opportunity comes up I go....of course the stars have to line up for the kids to be covered till Daddy-o gets home from work.

The beginning of October we had a girlfriend trip. Our friend Randi had a photo shoot in Seattle and asked if anyone wanted to join her for the drive over and we could turn it into a girls weekend! Super fun! The icing on top of the cake was when my sis, Em flew into Seattle and met us there (lucky girl flies for free since she works for Southwest). We celebrated her 30th b-day and I LOVED being with her!

We hit a piano bar both nights, had a blast dancing and sipping on diet cokes! Darn sober girls have too much fun!

Saturday morning, we had a 10 mile run, by accident (took a few wrong turns)....then hit our favorite breakfast place, Portage Bay....YUMMMMY bananna foster french toast! We deserved it after our long run!

While Randi was off photo shooting we rented a canoe and off we went exploring Lake Washington.

Shopped a bit

don't ask what Anna's doing :) Love this girl, so glad we got to see her while we were there!

We ate awesome Thai food that night, lovely napkins, eh?

We all ate the best choc cake ever at 11p.m. Still deserving from our morning run :)

We danced and laughed.....gut laughed again at a dueling piano joint called, Chopsticks that night.

Closed that place down at 1:30 a.m.

Amazing how young you can feel again with out your kids for a night or two. But us good mommies missed those kids of ours by the end...the very end :)

Trip 2

End of October, Damon and I went to San Francisco. He had a surgical meeting for the American College of Surgeons. Our friends from residency were going as well. In fact, my friend Bea from residency called me the beginning of this year and said, we are going to this meeting in October and you have to come! They were going to be on our end of the country, so we went!

PLUS a weekend away with my fabulous husband, not turning that down!

A few pics of our weekend away.

Alcatrez, yummy eat outs, a 12 mile run with Bea (by accident again ;))

We were able to see Damon's sister Monica and her husband and little boy for a late afternoon walk at Golden Gate Park and then dinner out to a fun cuban restaurant called Cha Cha's.

Trolley time

Late night dinners

Late night walk

What a great weekend together and a fun reunite with our old friends in a town we had never been!

till next time...

My sister just sent me some photos from our Seattle trip...I had to add them!

I love this sis of mine, very lucky to have her :)

Cami belting it out, my sister LOVED her!

Dancin' and makeovers (crazy ones might I add).....screams girls weekend!!!

Thanks Em, you made me remember again how much fun that weekend was! I am soooo happy you got to come! xoxo

Happy 30th weekend to you!

Happy Fall Y'all!! Lots of pictures

2011-11-03T22:19:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Fall!

Finding those perfect pumpkins

watching the pumpkins being launched out of the cannon at Knapps Farm on the Green Bluff

Straw maze

The pumpkin blaster.

Kate the horse whisperer...she loved them! She is such an animal lover :)

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween Parties

Rocker parents, Homeless DJ, Ethan with a werewolf shirt and Snow White Kate

Adult dance party at the Brunts....totally off the hook :)

Halloween Day and Night

Spectacular Weather for the whole day and the perfect little bit of cold came in for trick or treating.

Halloween parties at school

I needed to be three places as once but there was no way to triplify myself so I just did the best I could...

Fancy Nancy all decked out for Pre-K party

2nd grader Dracula....I got to stop by for a few minutes to see how much fun his class was having! I wish I could have done one of his craft stations, but it wasn't his turn this year for me to be his class mom.

I signed up to be DJ's class room mom this year since this is his last year in elementary school.

Pretty easy, the teacher had the game "minute it to win it" planned and all I had to do is coordinate getting food for the little 5th graders to munch on. It was a blast watching them though, super fun!!

As soon as I had the food set up, I handed off "clean up" to one of the other moms and raced over to the preschool to see Kate's "mini concert" the last 10 minutes of her class.

She is the one that is the loudest....just so ya know :)

Halloween night- trick or treating.

Both the boys really wanted to be something scary this year. I was not a big fan of this or wearing masks, but I made a deal with them. They could pick something scary only for trick or treating but not for any of the halloween parties or school or church parties.

I don't know why I had a hard time with it, but I also wanted to give them some independence in their decisions. I seriously had to have a discussion with Damon about this and he said something profound I thought.....he said you know our boys are really good kids and I think giving them some leeway in this is better than always saying no to little things like this. In the end giving him a little bit of independence in these type of deciscions will help him not want to make crazy decisions when he is older.

Really, I think it all comes down to that I just want them to be cute little boys their whole lives!

So since they agreed to our deal here is the list of what they dressed up as for everything but halloween night.

DJ- Spiderman/Hippie and Homeless Boy

Ethan - Karate Kid and Dracula

Of course they just grabbed these out of the dress up box

Even though they are scary little dudes, they are still my cute scary boys!

Have to admit the picture cracks me up!

Kate's not afraid of any ghosts of werewolves ;)

Next year I said, it's funny costume year....they have to wait an extra year to pull out the scary stuff again. :)

As a side note....their masks were off after 10 minutes of trick or treating, they said, "we can't see with our masks on!"

I love this kid...even if she is my little diva!

2011-11-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

All dressed up for the Primary Program

Kate's a Sunbeam in Primary and I love hearing what they say when it is their turn to get up in front of the whole congregation for the primary program each fall. When it was her turn, she stood up at the pulpit and spoke right into the microphone and clearly said her part. I remember it was funny and made us laugh. It's always cute what they say at this age.
The question they asked the Sunbeams was:
Where did you live you before you came to earth?
Kate's response was something about living in a different place and having a different kitchen.
She was clearly thinking of her old house in NC :)

Some "Kate funnies"

Today she was telling me about being in Pre -K. "Pre K is different than preschool mom." I said, "wow you really are getting so big, Kate." She responded, "yeah, but you can still hold me mom." as she smiled sweetly at me.

The other night at dinner we brought out our box of Table Topics that has questions to ask each other while eating dinner (our neighbor gave us this box of questions for Christmas last year....we use it all the time.)

The question was: what would you do for fun if you had to give up TV?

Kate didn't understand why she would have to give up TV, so I rephrased the question and said, "pretend the TV was broken and you couldn't watch it, what would you do for fun?"

Kate responded, "I would fix the TV and then watch it!"

This morning at breakfast she and Ethan were talking about having to be five years old to go to kindergarten. Kate said, "when Ethan was in kindergarten I was with Jesus."

Ethan quickly corrected her and said, "no Kate you were 2 when I was 5, you didn't live with Jesus then."

Utah Fall Trip

2011-11-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

Some highlights from our Utah trip in September.

We left Thursday right after the second day of school. I decided to drive through the night...crazy I know. Everyone fell asleep, including Damon :). I stopped a couple times at rest stops, but I was "feelin' it" and just wanted to get there since it was going to be such a short weekend.

We crammed in lots of stuff....

Friday

Hogle Zoo with Grammy Pammy, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike and Brody

A highlight after the zoo was stopping by Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon....just us :)

On our way back into SLC we drove the historical road where the LDS pioneers descended into the SL valley after crossing the plains. It was a fun history lesson for my kids. I realized they were not as familiar with Salt Lake (my hometown) and all the history of our church that is there.

We rushed over for a

Sheneman get together for Damon's Dad's b-day

Newest cousin, Max

Saturday

We threw a baby shower for baby Brody and our sister, Sarah! So fun!

My sissys at the backyard shower!

Sunday

Uncle Andy's Homecoming from his mission!

I was so busy making food for the lunch after I didn't get one picture of my little bro!

He did a great job speaking in church and it was so great hearing about his two years of serving a mission for our church.

Welcome home Elder Nixon!

Family Pictures were done after the homecoming events were all done on Sunday.

I caught a couple fun photos

Kate and Kiley

cousin Brookie

The happy new parents

Shining Mama

A few of the cousins...Ethan, Brookie, Kate, Brock and Robbie

The whole crew!

Mom and Sisters :)

Quick post for a quick family weekend!

Time away!

2011-11-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

L.O.V.E. this man!

We escaped to San Francisco last weekend.

Grammy Pammy came into town and spoiled the kiddos with lots of Grandma love while we were enjoying our time away.

It was not until we got back that we realized how much we really did need a get away that was just us!

xoxo Babe, I love you!

The kids are still asking when Grammy will come back, so maybe we will have to plan another weekend away ;) Grammy, you game???

Running and keeping healthy

2011-10-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have to document that I ran 9 miles yesterday, it might not happen again! I usually only run 2-4 miles when I do run and I run 2 -3 times a week.

So to all my running buddies, I'll need you to push me out next Wednesday when that 9 mile run comes up again. I want to do it again, but I don't think my thighs want to do it again. I asked them and it was a resounding NO!

My only saving grace was getting up this morning at 5:30 for Hot Yoga.....my thighs are feeling much better but my eyes have been droopy all day :)

Another random note, I have to say I love skinny jeans on my boys! I know, random, but Ethan looked so cute today leaving for school in his black skinny jeans (which I got for $7 bucks on clearance ;) )

Canning

2011-10-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't canned in years, but I had a box of peaches that were going to go bad so......

Damon and I had a good time the other night canning some peaches together :)

So pretty!

September the beginning of fall flurries....

2011-10-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

Our September has not had a cold "flurry" in sight, beautiful summer weather all month. Our schedules on the other hand are feeling "flurried".....so much for lazy summer days, they are long gone. Here we go, let the back to school whirlwind begin.

Labor Day weekend ended and off to school we went.

DJ is King of the School now that he is in 5th Grade

and Ethan's not the baby of the school this year since he raised his rank to 2nd grade.

I could see a big difference in how they felt about school this year compared to last year. Even though they did great last year coming to a new school and fitting in well, I could tell that both their confidence was stronger and better this year as they walked onto the playground.

Ethan still lets me come in and snap a quick picture, but my 5th grader wasn't as willing. That's ok, he still gives me two-armed hugs....when nobody is looking....inside joke ;)

The first morning of school, they were excited to start their new year, but just a few minutes before I called for them to get into the car for school, I caught them on the back porch gazing out on the lake. I grabbed my camera quick and caught this before they knew I took the picture. It's classic, I would be torn too if I were them.....school vs playing on the lake....tough choice. Summer ends, bitter sweet!

Luckily for them, the fun didn't end even though they had to head back to school. Temps were hot on the first day back and we had visitors show up as soon as I picked them up from school.

Uncle Brent (Damon's Brother), Aunt Marisa and cousins, Sophia, Thomas, and Charlie came to stay with us for one night since they were on vacation in CDA for the week.

We played on the boat and BBQ'd on the back porch. The weather was perfectly warm!!
A first day of school party with family visitors!

Ethan and cousin Sophia

The boys went to their second day of school and then we headed off to Utah for a long weekend with my family to celebrate Uncle Andy (my brother) coming home from his mission.

I'll post separate about our UT trip....too many pictures
But I have to say, I drove the whole way....through the night!!!

As soon as we came back from our UT trip, Kate started Pre-K.
She informs me that she is not in preschool any more, she is in "Pre-K rocks!"

but I still get her two days a week at home and our latest thing we like to do is make playdoe....every color in the rainbow is her request.

Besides school, the kids are involved in after-school activities already that keep us living in the car most afternoons, sound familiar mommies???

Just so I don't forget and for fun, here's our weekly after school schedule:
Monday - DJ soccer 5:30 - 7:00 and FHE!
Tuesday - Ethan- Scouts (which I teach, so we all get to go) 3:30 - 4:30; Ethan-Soccer 5:30 - 6:30
DJ Scouts 6:00 - 7:00
Wednesday - Kate-ballet 3:30-4:30; DJ-soccer 5:30 - 7:00
Thursday - DJ Art Class 4:15 - 5:30; Ethan soccer 5:30 - 6:30
Friday....nothing!!!

At least the bus stops in front of our house so I don't have to get my car in the wee morning hours too.

Last but not least.....

The last weekend in September was FABULOUS weather. We soaked it in so much that I didn't even get my camera out once.
It was 90 degrees on Saturday so we played down at the lake. Damon went off surfing for a couple hours with one of his friends that also lives on the lake. A few of our friends showed up to play on the lake with us, so since Damon wasn't back from surfing yet, I took our boat out with the kids and tugged them around the lake for a while (Thanks to my friend Mylissa for helping me) Damon jumped in with us near the end, but it was so fun to wave back and forth from each other's boats while we were out playing.
When the sun went down I was heat exhausted and dehydrated so we got the kids all jammied up and ordered take out thai curry so I drank lots of water ;). Yummy.
After dinner, we got a text from our friend The Joy's who live on the lake also. They invited us to a bonfire on their beach. We put Kate to bed and set the boys in front of a movie and we jumped in our boat and drove just 2 minutes down the lake to their beautiful home and parked our boat next to several others that came for the bonfire too. We enjoyed meeting new friends, chatting and eating some yummy homemade popcorn and treats. The best part of the evening was when the guys decided to try a night ski run at 10 p.m.! Crazy husbands all took off in the boat on the moonless lit lake just so they could say they did it!

Lucky for me, Damon had his I-phone and I took the one picture to represent our weekend of fun!

Dance Party before school

2011-10-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

I started a new Zumba class this morning at 6:00 a.m.

Not only was it a blast, but it inspired a dance party before school this morning! Dance jam sessions are pretty regular here at our house, but before school, that's new! All votes are in..... morning dance parties are a must now here, especially on Zumba mornings :)

Kate said to me while we were dancing, "mom your shaking your booty." while she laughed pretty hard at me....I am not taking it personal ;)

Her comments lately always surprise me and make me laugh.

Last weekend, Damon had the kids while I was in Seattle. He managed to get both boys to their double header soccer games and all the while Kate tagging along by his side. He said she would keep commenting through out the afternoon of games..."I wonder when we will go home dad."

That term, of "I wonder" is common from her. Instead of asking a question, she will say, "I wonder......

Documenting these cute things Kate says on the blog makes me grateful that I also documented cute things DJ & Ethan said too. When the boys were younger I would write down what they said on 3 x 5 cards and file them in a recipe box. My mom also did this when I was a kid and still has it. She pulls it out on our birthdays to read funny things we said when we were young. I love keeping this tradition she started.

So, I can't resist, heres a couple "funnies" I pulled out of my recipe box that my boys said when they were 4 years old.

Ethan

Just turned 4

He woke up one morning and came into to tell me, "mom, my leg hurts." He then cocked his head to the side and squinted his little eye and said, "I think it is growing, and I think my leg wants to be 5."

4 1/2

Ethan had just inherited some red rubber boots from our friends in Boston. He wears them all the time. Yesterday we went to the aquarium and he of course chose to wear his red boots, as he was putting them on he said, "I bet all the girls will say they like my boots." He went on to say, "Carson's mom will say she likes them too."

January 2008

The boys love playing together. But they are brothers and they can still get a bit tired of each other.

This afternoon, they were walking through the back yard to their friends house (The Gaskells). As they left the back door, I said, "have fun see you later." DJ responded back, "bye mom, see you later." Ethan echoed DJ exact words, "bye mom, see you later."

As they walked down the yard, I heard DJ say to Ethan, "why do you always have to copy me?" Ethan was one step behind DJ, following his footsteps literally and said, "well, your just my favorite guy."

Just after DJ turned 4 we lived with Damon's parents for a couple months while we were waiting to head off to residency in North Carolina.

One of the evenings he was going out with Damon to run some errands.

He must have thought I was worried because his response to me as they were leaving, "don't worry mom while we are gone, Grandma is upstairs if you get scared, you can go get her. Grandma will protect you." He was repeating what he heard us tell him when we would leave after we laid them down for the night and would head out together for errands or a date.

He also said while we were staying at Damon's parent house...

DJ asked his Grandma for a glass of chocolate milk. She said, well you better ask your mommy first. DJ quickly responded by saying, "she is a good mommy and good mommies let me have chocolate milk. In the next breath he said while standing by the open fridge, "if she wasn't a good mommy she would make me drink cheese."

4 1/2

I had just gotten home from Visiting Teaching and had taken the boys with me. As I parked the car, I said, "ok boys were home." DJ's face was sad and I asked, "DJ what's the matter?" He said in a quiet little voice, "I don't know, sometimes I just miss Jesus."

Melt my heart!

Almost 5

DJ came up to me one afternoon looking for his toy yo yo. He told me he was looking for his yo yo because it "keeps him in business." I asked what that meant. He looked at me as if I should know, "you know mom, it keeps me from saying I am bored."

I love this kid!

2011-09-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

This picture is blurry, but it was taken at 6:00 a.m. this morning.

Since school has started, I have the boys read 20 minutes in the morning before school as part of their morning chores. Last night, I had told Ethan to come read to me when he wakes up so I can hear him read and help him with words he struggles with.

Well.... in comes "Early Bird Ethan".... 6:00 a.m. with his headlamp and all geared up ready to do what I asked him to do! He laid down right next to me and said, "mom, I am ready to read to you."

Ah, I love this kid!!!

I love this kid!

2011-09-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Guess what, this kid got braces today!

Yes, that dressed up goofball is DJ.

He was secure in his manhood this past Sunday morning when his kid sister begged him to play dress ups with her. I am glad he did, it keeps her entertained ;)

Ah, milestones, the older they get the more milestones they burn through.

Braces. Check. My little boy's not gettin' younger :(

Signs he doesn't need his mamma as much now....

He swims right next to his dad in the lake and doesn't bat an eye about it.

he's turning out to be a fantastic artist.

He loves to ride his bike the two miles to school and the two miles back.

Plus, tonight after I dropped Ethan off at soccer, I decided to run home to get my exercise for the day. As I was running, DJ passed me on his bike on his way to scouts. I love that we live in a community that my kids can bike to school and church. It's almost like he can drive now.....ha! Pretty soon he won't need me for anything....boo hoo!

DJ we love you! Your a good kiddo and you make braces look good!!!

xoxoxo

Mom (aka Mommy)

This was kinda cool too....

we walked into DJ's appointment today and a boy named Drew from our church was there for his last orthodontist appointment. We had to get a picture because DJ idolizes Drew. I have had Drew watch the kids a couple times but he is hard to get since he is so involved in school sports and student government. But we will take him any time we can get him. He is a wonderful role model to my boys!

Cabin Vacation August 2011

2011-09-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

Island Park Time

Family cabin at Macks Inn: time with family and our wonderful friends who flew out from VA to be with us.

Fishing and Hiking along the banks of the Snake River

Canoeing

We canoed the snake river and rope swung into it, welll some of us :)

DJ and Carson, taking the plunge!

and canoed some more....but this time down the box canyon rapids :0

We were lucky to have Grandpa and Grandma Gloria join us for a few days while we were up there too! I love this 87 year old man and I love that my kids get to spend quality time with their Great Grandfather!

By the end of the trip, "Grandpa Bob" had won over the hearts of Steph, Madison and Carson. A couple days after we all got back to our homes, Grandpa, e-mailed me and said, tell Steph and Madison that I want to friend them on Facebook! HA! What a current Grandpa I have.

We went into West Yellowstone one evening for a Playmill show, High School Musical.

Afterwards the kids had a great time "flarping"(google it) on passerbys in West.

I was not the most mature parent for letting them do that was I (Damon was involved too)??? Ha! Ah, well, we gut laughed so hard and I can't help it when I am laughing that hard, I can't stop.

Steph is no better, she laughs even harder than me, we sort of egg each other on. By the end we were trying to get the kids to keep going and they were done.

It is so nice to have a friend that the basis of your friendship is laughter. It's refreshing and welcoming every time your together. :)

We were also lucky to have my parents join us for three days.

BTW: Grammy Pammy brought the flarp toy for the grandkids, not me!

Our last and final canoe ride....the midnight canoe ride.

Our friends the Thornes who were also visiting Yellowstone, joined us on this fun stary evening.

A day in Yellowstone Park

20 minutes away from the cabin and lots of animals to see, but I didn't get any pictures of them....just people.

Carson and DJ

Old Faithful Lodge with Grandpa and Gloria

Steph with her two girls

Madison and Jessica.

Kate waiting for Old Faithful to blow..

The Canyons with the beautiful and powerful waterfalls we hiked to.

Hiking

Steph and her family left Saturday morning,
luckily my brother showed up with his family the night before so we were distracted that our friends left and that we wouldn't see them for another year. Boo hoo!
Plus, Kate's favorite little twin cousin, Kylie made Kate super excited and it is so entertaining for us all to watch them play at the cabin together.

We stayed till Sunday afternoon and enjoyed time with our family.

My great Aunt (Grandpa's youngest sister) hosted a roast in her backyard, Saturday and we enjoyed talking and being together.

After dinner we walked down to the river and let the boys fish one last time and enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the Snake River. Glad I brought my camera, I love this shot!

What a relaxing, fun week full of people we all love!

Till next summer.....

Labor Day Week 2011

2011-09-20T00:58:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend turned into Labor Day week for us here.

My brother Rob called the Monday before the weekend and asked if he could come with his family to visit us for a couple days! Of course!!! We were so excited! I didn't tell the kids. They found out when they opened the front door Wednesday evening to a porchful of cousins and an Uncle and an Aunt. Damon had them all stoked up that a surprise was coming, the kids had convinced themselves that a puppy was being delivered to them that night. Luckily, they were just as excited to see their cousins!

We took them out on the boat for a ride around the lake and then let the kids go wild....building nerf gun forts and girls playing princess and tea parties in Kate's room. It was music to my ears.

Aunt Erin took a lot of pictures of us out on the boat. I will need to get some e-mailed to me.

They only stayed for two days, but we fit a whole lot in. CDA, surfing behind the boat, dinner out on the porch and flashlight kayak rides at night.

CDA candy store

It was fabulous to see them and we love hosting guests! Thank you for coming to see us bro!

Rob always teases that he is my favorite sibling, he could be right.... hee hee

His family had left by Saturday, but we still had the whole weekend with a daddy off and fun times to be had.

Saturday morning, we went to the local farmers market. On the way home, Damon dropped me off about two miles from home to run ( I wanted him to ;) ) and DJ said he would come with me. He had already run two miles with Damon that morning on the way to the farmers market. The kid ran almost 5 miles! He was so proud of himself and I was just as proud! It's great to see your kids enjoy physical activities that are hard.

That night we went to Pavillion Park to enjoy hearing the Symphony play.

I love music in the park.

Sunday was church and such.

Monday when we woke up DJ had the idea to do a family triathlon. He and Damon mapped out a course and off we went.

We started with a swim/kayak.

Damon and DJ swam, Ethan, Kate and I kayaked next to them. I honestly didn't think DJ would be able to make it as far as he did so I kept staying close like a good mother hen would do ;)

He again amazed me and swam almost a 1/2 a mile. Near the end he was diving down to the bottom of the lake look at something he saw.....I knew then, he was fine!

Next was the bike. Our bikes were set up in the garage and our shoes by the garage door ready to go.

Ethan and I only went 1 mile, but DJ, Damon and Kate went 4 miles.

When they got back, Ethan and I were ready for the run and off we went....again.

E and I - 1 mile DJ, Daddy and Kate - 3 mile run.

I was proud of Ethan for sticking with it, it wasn't his idea to do this triathlon anyways ;)

Sweaty, worn out and hungry

We ate a hearty lunch and then headed down to the beach for some relax time. Our neighbors were out also on their docks so we chatted and hung out and we tried out their jet skis too.

Around 5:00 we started to get ready to host our annual low country boil that night with a few friends coming over.

We did this last year on Labor Day, so it was fun to make a tradition with a 2nd year.

DJ was HUNGRY!

Everyone enjoyed the good grub and good company. It was a fun night

......and a fun, busy weekend!

Whew! The rest of the week we slept...ah, I wish, school started,

now the schedule really starts!

Welcome Fall

Oh, and I almost forgot.....we got a kitten that Sunday morning.

That story is for another post, but here is a picture of our little Mikey (named after Micheal Jordan...of course).

And, no we didn't get him instead of a puppy. My kids are still hopeful a puppy will show up on their door step one of these days.

I-phone Photos - Thanks Damon!

2011-09-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

Look at these photos I found on Damon's I-phone!

Dawn Patrol.

Damon and a group of random guys who also live on the lake would water ski three or four mornings a week at 6 a.m. What a way to start out his work day!

And ..... Dusk Patrol

Damon and I enjoyed a few dates right out our back door this summer kayaking.

Bike ride up the county park just minutes from our front door.

Kate being pulled through the stream since her bike cart wouldn't fit over the narrow bridge.

Such a pretty trail, we love it and put it to good use this summer, especially on Sunday mornings.

Several summer concerts in our community, but this was our favorite. The road down to the beach (lake of course) was magical for the kids.....tree covered dirt road going down a curvy hill until they ran into the lake.

I had forgot about this one....the Liberty Lake Loop Race that happened in July.

I ran the Loop (4 mile race) just under a 10 minute mile. I am not super fast, but I am finding out since I have gotten into running this past year, I am really not that competitive with it. But I love the feeling of a good run, nothing better than starting your day out with it.

The best part about the Loop race was that after the adult run, they had a kids fun run. It was divided up into age groups and they had various routes for the ages around the elementary school. Both boys ran it. At the time, DJ was not thrilled about it ( a lot like his mamma, not really competitive ;)). But more recently, DJ really has enjoyed running....stay tuned for our Labor Day weekend post...DJ ran 4 miles that day with Damon and me :)!

Grandma and Grandpa Nixon were here this weekend during the races and loved cheering on their grandkids and daughter.

Thanks Damon for using your I-phone for a camera, I love these pics!

Summer Outings

2011-09-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Summer Outings 2011

Apple Camp - Kids learned how to make movies on Macs. It was free and fun!

Check it out at your local Apple store too!

Manato Park

This a beautiful park on the South Hill. We enjoyed spending the afternoon there exploring with our friends the Youngs.

Ethan really enjoys spending time with them especially, he has said to me before,

"the Youngs are perfect for our family."

I am glad he feels so comfy around them.

Camping one night with our cousins the Brunts

and

Silverwood Theme Park with our cousins too!!

Just the big kids and the moms! We had a blast!

Girls Camp Leaders night....we had too much fun showing our girls who the "cool" leaders were (or crazy....take your pick!)

I am sad to say though, I was released last week and now I work with the cub scouts. I am going to miss my Young Women sooooo much and the ladies I got to work with.

I have worked with the youth a lot the past few years so I guess the timing was good to work with a new age group. I am especially excited to be Ethan's scout leader. Now I can get to know all his little friends even better!

Festivals like Pig out in the Park

and concerts & movie at Pavilion Park kept the kids entertained a bunch this summer.

Hikes right out our back door at the County Park were a big hit especially on lazy Sunday afternoons.

This is not an outing, but the kids have been thoroughly entertained by our neighbor Jordan's new hamster, Hermie.

They have all spent hours building run ways and hideouts for this little rodent ;)

Plus I love Kate's face in this picture.....little rascal showing off her crazy hair day!

Kateisms

2011-09-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

Kate is at the age where she is saying some pretty funny things.

Today she said, "I am not your little girl anymore."

I of course retorted a loud, "what?"

She continued with,

"Kylie (her "twin cousin") taught me that, I am four now, so I am big now."

Summer on the Lake

2011-09-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy this summer! My kids are loving living on the lake and we often spend our afternoons down on the beach, swimming, running back and forth from dock to dock, sliding down the neighbors lake slide, and fishing. Friends come over often to enjoy the view and the refreshing dips in the water with us.

DJ and Ethan were heading down early every morning for a while to go fishing together.

In July we were lucky to have both parents come for a visit. I already posted pictures of Damons parents here on the 4th, but here are a few shots of my parents up just a few days after the in-laws left.....my kids got some major Grandparent time the first two weeks of July! Lucky kids!

Going golfing with Grandpa and Dad

Boating of course

and just to show me up, my mom got up on the surfboard after just a couple tries!

It was great having them to ourselves for a few days :)

We also celebrated Damon's birthday!

The boys made him this card for him.

We love our dad and hubby!
The kids wanted to celebrate with us that night so instead of going out
alone we took them all out to Red Robin....they felt included but not our first choice for a
birthday dinner ;) Ha!

We spent a lot of time out on the deck, enjoying the view and had many sunset dinners :)

Mommy photo shoot for Mother's Day

2011-08-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post these pictures from June

Mother's Day gift from my sweet hubs...photo shoot with my kids!

My friend/cousin Randi Brunt took them for us the beginning of June and did a fabulous job!

I love them and how she captured each of their personalities and some fun moments.

Damon got the gift originally for just Kate and I thinking it would be a fun mommy daughter shoot, but I couldn't resist getting my handsome boys in a few pictures!

DJ 10 years old

Ethan 7 years old

Miss Kate, almost 4

Randi loved capturing Kate's bouncy hair....lucky girl

I am a sucker for catching any moment I can on camera.....thank you Randi for helping me remember some of these sweet moments with my kiddos.

And my wonderful husband for knowing how much I love to have these memories preserved in a photo.

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

This week I am thankful for my marriage!

On Tuesday, August 23rd we hit our 15 year mark!

I am amazed that we are already there. But when I really think back thru the years I say to myself, "yep, we've been together that long."

Just like any couple that has been married awhile, they say they have been thru a lot...good and bad. Luckily, Damon and I are better at remembering the good. That is my favorite thing about "us", we love to cherish all the good.

We are really different from each other, but we share the same need of wanting a marriage that is fullfilling, enjoyable, fun and full of unconditional love.

I remember when we were first married, Damon pointed out to me that we were "equally yoked", he wanted a wife that he could stand beside and give 100% to. He was in luck because I wanted the same thing and realized then and still know now that I have to give another 100% to make it a success!

He's a keeper and I am grateful I have him forever!

July 4th 2011 Small town style with family visitors

2011-08-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

Pre-Independence Day celebrations

The in-laws came to town to celebrate our nations independence with us!

Quite the eventful weekend...

Rockin B Ranch Dinner Show

B stands for Brownlee which is Mom's maiden name, but no relation we found out.

And I just found out from the local paper today that this was their last season, I am glad we went!

Monday, 4th of July started out with a bang early that morning.

Decorating the golf cart that Damon found for me on Craigs list

for the Liberty Lake 4th of July parade

The kids wanted Daddy's surfboard on top so the theme of the decor involved NC and of course random other things the kids found thru out the house :)

Grandma waving and helping Kate throw out candy and

seeing friends along the parade route made it all a fun small town experience.

That afternoon, we headed out on the boat with Damon's parents and our friends the Youngs

Crazy drivers.....

we kept the kids bouncing all over the lake.... but we got our share of wet too!

But this took the cake for the day..... G'ma Sheneman surfing! She got up almost instantly!

60 something (don't worry mom I won't give away your age) and she's showin' her grandkids how it's done!

We all kept getting wet, enjoying the sunshine and water...

After boating for a few hours we packed up a quick picnic and took it to Pavillion Park for dinner and the 4th of July concert put on by the city of Liberty Lake.

Kate got to see her good friend Caroline before she moved away two days later :(

As a side note story: Earlier this week, Ethan was trying to help Kate decide who she could play with that day. He mentioned that Kate could play with Caroline and Kate's eyes got big and she said matter of factly, "no Ethan, she's not here, she's in Mexico." I didn't really discuss with her that her friend was moving to "New Mexico" I just hoped that she would forget by the time preschool started in September...but she was smarter than I thought and knew exactly (well almost exactly) where her sweet Caroline had gone.

After the concert, we headed back home to watch the fireworks off our backporch. It was so fun, we had a big group of friends show up to celebrate with us. Smores and fireworks, what could be better?

Happy 4th of July 2011, what a great community to celebrate in!

We loved it!

Part 2 ....June 2010

2011-08-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am finished with 2010, almost ready to publish my blog book!

Sheneman Style

Going full throttle our last month in the Carolinas!

Although we had a few quite nights on the dock together....

Here goes our crazy month....

Took the ferry from Southport over for a visit to Bald Head Island

to see our friends Neil and Jen Jones. They were taking a week of vacation there.
They were kind to invite us over to spend a day with them in their sweet beach rental.

Neil picked us up in their boat and we headed over for a day of secluded island time!

Golf carts only on the island.

We must plan a trip to this island again!

Our long lost friends, The James from UofU days came to visit us for a weekend. They had just moved to Charlotte right before we left Wilmington.

My b-day weekend.
Damon and I took a kayak ride from our dock over to Masonboro Island for the afternoon.

Parties!!!

Goodbye parties thrown by sweet friends

and graduation parties

World Famous Britts Donuts

The boardwalk and beach nights at Carolina Beach, soaking as much of it in as we could.

Took our sailboat out before we handed it over to the new owner

DJ and Damon named it You and Sea (UNC)

This evening we were out, a family shouted over from their boat to us, "you look like a postcard!"

Cub scout activities

We hosted the rain gutter regata, if I remember right, DJ took 1st place...so proud ;)

Friend playdates as much as we could

DJ's end of year school class party. We had a giant waterslide in the garage and all this land to play on, so we asked his teacher, Ms. Durant and she was thrilled for us to have a party. DJ felt pretty cool having all his classmates over before he moved away.

The Witts came for a last visit too. They lived in Durham for our last three years in NC and we loved being able to see them a few times a year. They moved just a couple of months after we left to move to California.

Family came to visit for some last time Carolina fun and for graduation!

Aunt Emmy and Grammy Pammy soaking feet with Kate

Family sail boat ride with Grandpa and Grandma

Baseball games for Ethan, thank goodness soccer was already over for DJ :)

Kate's birthday party on the beach with all the family that came to visit.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Her birthday was on daddy's graduation day!

Last but not least,

Kate and I snuck in a few times at the beach while the boys were at school just to feel the sand in our toes.

Happy times in the Carolinas....loved it, miss it, and now it's documented so I won't forget it!

Thankful Thursday

2011-08-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

SUMMMMMMER TIME!!!! Thank you Liberty Lake for being so fabulous, we are having a blast!!!

June - part 5....last one

2011-07-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

Random Utah trip pictures

Grandpa's hot rod rides

Trax ride with Grammy Pammy to go visit both the Grandpas downtown at work.

The Church History Museum has a great Primary room for the kids, they loved it!

Cousin day at Liberty Park

and then to the candy factory for a tour.

Grammy spoiling the kids at cold stone

Kate loves playing Barbies with Brookie

Aunt Emmy and Sunday walks

A couple reunions with old friends!

Got one picture....Becky Larson from college days. Our boys were instant friends.

When we finally did head home, we were lucky to get Aunt Emmy to tag along. We stopped at the cabin halfway outside of West Yellowstone. The kids loved having her along for the ride.

June 2010

2011-07-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

I was so busy last year with moving across the country, graduation, and just life that I never blogged about our last month in the Carolinas....kind of important stuff going on that month and I figured since it's been a year since the major life change happenings in our life, I better blog about it now before I forget it. Wow, a lot can happen in just one year!

Biggest event by far....Damon graduated!

His co-residents, Borden and Stan were just as happy to take that diploma as Damon was.

The traditional graduation night was put on that evening by the residency program to celebrate these great resident docs and all their accomplishments at an old southern mansion in downtown Wilmington.

Damon's parents, his sister and husband and my mom flew across the country to support Damon and his big day.

Past residents came to show the support and enjoy the reunion with each other. It was great to see them!

Residents that are not quite done yet come every year to support and see the hope in the graduating residents eyes....light at the end of the tunnel! A free meal helps too, but really they come to see the "roast session" done traditionally each year to the graduating chief residents, but the leaving chiefs always have the last word with a "roast" back to each of the continuing residents.

All in fun and always good laughs!

The chiefs did quite the "roast show" I caught a few seconds of Damon giving it out to one of his buddies, Danny who was a 3rd year at the time.

The "graduating" wives were all about the celebration dinner.

It was a long but rewarding five year road that was worth celebrating big!

Valarie, me and Brooke

We caught a few gems pics like this one where we were all loosened up from a night of laughter.

Good times and many life long friends that we hit the trenches with for a few years together :)

The party doesn't stop there.....

The following night I threw a graduation party for Damon so we could celebrate with our friends and families outside of the residency program.....they all supported us so much and meant the world to us!

Carolina BBQ, desserts, relaxing walks out on the dock, music, and rides in the 4x4 thru the forested 17 acres of our lovely rental property......we took full advantage of this place for the few months we lived there. Parties were a must!

My neighbor Becky made this beautiful cake for Damon and made sure we had a "cutting ceremony" while we sung an endearing congratulations to you song!

He even fed me cake at the end of the song....of course I got messy....stinker!

Carolina BBQ

Good friends

Ethan of course lovin' on all the Young Women from our ward.

A few pics of friends who showed up for the celebration.

Some of the youth from our ward.

Both Damon and I worked a lot with the youth in our church while we lived there those five years.

Damon's surf "brother," Dave and my sweet friend Anna came with their newborn

Damon's boys that he got to teach on Sundays and other days in the ocean how to surf!

The 4x4 forest rider...

The kids all stood in line for a turn for Damon to take them on a ride to find the "forest hermit." They all loved it and Damon enjoyed telling his far fetched tales along the bumpy deeply wooded ride.

However it wasn't just fun for the kids, the big boys had to go on their thrill ride too....this picture cracks me up! Borden and Donnie couldn't help but hold on while my crazy driver husband drove them around

My dependable, loving, loyal neighbors!

We were in the thick and thin of young baby motherhood together.....last minute baby help, coming over while going into labor, endless play time at each others houses, long talks that consisted of laughter and fun but also lots of deep meaningful heartfelt ones that had tears involved in the end no matter how hard we tried to avoid them.

Becky and Jennie, I love you guys!

Bobby Jean Sellars......We LOVE this lady more than anything!

She was our NC Grandma and took my kids frog hunting for frog races of course!

I would invite her over for Sunday dinner randomly, especially when Damon was on call and not at home. My kids loved her and they KNEW she loved them.

This whole past year my kids have received a letter with a homemade gift on each holiday from their Grandma Bobby Jean!

We really are very lucky to have her in our lives :)

The Graffs - Damon's other surfing "brother" and our school car pooling family that split the time with us every crack of dawn, Laura and Nate are awesome!

The Glew family, the first family we met when we moved to Wilmington. They took us under their wing and helped us feel welcome to the foreign southern south...at the time.

Notice Damon is not in any of these pictures because he is off riding wildly thru the forest with the children and the menchildren (made that up) of the party.

But all these people mean so much to him too, he would just rather be playing than anything else in the world!

Ah there he is....finally in a picture....too dark to ride in the 4x4 anymore.

This post is already way too long so I'll stop there with the pictures.

But, I'll have to do a part 2 for our last month in the Carolinas, I have to document before I forget. This has been too much fun for me.....makes me grateful for all the wonderful people I have in my life, past, present and hopefully future.

to be continued ....

P.S. Don't judge my grammar on this one....it's late!

June - Part 4

2011-07-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Kate!

Pink, Pink, Pink --- Kate turned 4!

Since we were in UT for our summer visit, we threw a birthday bash and we were thrilled to have all the cousins there to celebrate...even the boy cousins... good sports!

My sister and I made the cute banner at midnight the night before, our best work happens in the wee morning hours ;)

And my sis-in-law, Laura pulled this cake table off and made it look fabulous of course :)

Lunch, games, dancing, and a princess bounce house....success!

Tearing open presents

Thanks Grammy Pammy for letting us use your back yard!

June - Part 3

2011-07-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

July 17

Schools out and summer break started out with a bang...

The last bell rang for the year and off we went....car loaded and a 6 hour drive to the cabin!

We met Grandpa, Robby and Porter to help "open" the cabin up for the summer on our way to Utah for a summer visit to family.

We only stayed for 24 hours and then headed down to SLC for our visit.

But it was a fun 24 hours of boys running back and forth from the cabin to the river trying to catch fish, skipping rocks, and wading ankle deep waiting for the august trip to really delve into the winding Snake River.

June - Part 2

2011-07-02T00:11:00.000-07:00

End of school year crazies!

June always reminds me of Christmas, at least in the way of being super busy and running every which way to get everything done before the kids get out of school.

Wax Museum - DJ loved his teacher Ms. Ehlers and would remind me frequently that she was "THE BEST"teacher in the state of Washington. She really was good, I'll have to agree with him :)

Ethan with his teacher, Ms. Boni who I think did a fabulous job teaching Ethan this year.....she often referred to Ethan as the class math "rockstar" And that he is, that kid loves numbers and understands them all too well.

Field Day for the first graders....Kate and I got to help.

DJ's 4th grade field trip.

Piano recital- DJ has been playing for a year now, and has progressed well.

Ethan has begged me to sign him up for tap dance since last fall, I finally found a class that had boys in January....so I signed him up.

Spring Recital

He did great too!

DJ getting ready for summer, headed down to the dock one evening after dinner and thought he'd just drop a line for fun. He caught one, a big one. Our neighbor, Karl, was down with his son on the dock too and he called me on the phone and said, get down here your son wants a picture of his fish.

Last day of school, and last morning ride to school. I love that the school bus picks my boys up right outside our house.

Till next year.....

June - Part I

2011-07-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

June - Part I
My birthday! What a celebration this year...
Damon pulled off a great surprise birthday party for me. He handed out invites the week before and everything! I couldn't believe it!

Beautiful weather and fun with all our sweet fun friends!

Damon whipped out his chef hat and made everyone Carolina BBQ, it was DELICIOUS!

Man I love that guy!!!!

The next morning I flew out to UT to visit family for my actual birthday, really it was just a long date with my mom for two whole days!

Pedi's,

Walmart, my mom can't go a visit by me with out a quick trip to Wally world to pick up just one thing.

Clint Black concert with my brother's family and my mom of course

Yee Haw :)

Cafe Rio at 10:30, had to have it before I left the UT

We got home before midnight, but by then my sister had just gotten off work and she and I stayed up like college freshmen till 3:30 a.m. talking and watching movies and of course eating some more.

My mom in law stopped by my parents house to deliver my b-day present...a southern apron that says things like, "put some south in yo mouth", "hey yall", and "this mamma cooks"

And last of all we had a cousins party with my mom's side of the family on Sunday. I hadn't seen some of them in years! I love catching up with family!

A quick trip but worth it.

Damon picked me up on Monday morning with Kate in the back seat. She was not as happy as dad was to see me, she scowled at me for the first 15 minutes of the car ride home. I think she knew she had just been "dethroned" the second I sat my behind down in the front seat....poor, little stinker girl.

Luckily, we made up quickly when she decided to put the princess hat back on and give me my queen crown back :)

xoxoxo to my hubs for making a it a memorable birthday weekend for 2011.

I told him he is off the hook for a few years, I won't be 40 for awhile, so he's good :)

Kate Bug....four really????

2011-05-31T22:46:00.000-07:00

I turned over the calendar to June and I realized my baby turns four in just 18 short days!!!

Sometimes I just can't handle my children growing up....look at those baby blues!

Thankful ..... almost Thursday

2011-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

I received the sweetest surprise today when I opened the mail box! My dear friend Jen Jones who lives in Germany now wrote me a "Jessica memory" letter for my birthday! I couldn't believe what I was reading.....it was full of detailed memories of us together in Wilmington.

I am so grateful for friends that mean a million to you! And when they do things like this for you it just really makes my day! The best present ever to me is when a friend expresses love and gratitude. To me that's what life is all about, sharing memories and love for one another!

Thank you Jen for being so thoughtful and letting me know how much I mean to you :)

You mean a trillion bucka roos to me too!!

My favorite memory from her letter today was...

"You came to visit me after Ansley was born, brought your famous pot roast, pepperment ice cream and gave me a glass of H2O."

This made me laugh because I really do remember making her sit down to drink a tall glass of ice water while I held her cute little Ansley....I teased her I wouldn't give that baby back to her until the whole glass was empty :) Poor new mamma was dehydrated from the summer heat and feeding her baby.

On the other side of the coin, just 10 months later, she came to my house with toilet brush in hand and baby Ansley slung on to her hip just a couple days after my Kate was born and announced she was there to clean my bathrooms!

It was such a breath of sunshine when I opened that door...

I was so grateful because my Mom was not able to make it out to help me since she had just found out a month earlier she had stage four melenoma and was undergoing chemo at the time. It was a super emotional time for me so a friendship like Jen's was soooo needed and greatly appreciated!

xoxoxoxo Jen! I love you forever!!

My absolute favorite picture of Jen and her sweetie, Neal on his Graduation night!

May Madness

2011-05-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Spring is always super crazy filled with activities and projects.

Here's what' been keeping us busy as spring bees :)

This is just the fun stuff of course, it's all I know how to blog about.

Kate's Preschool Carnival, enjoyed by brothers too.

Soccer games..... for two boys every Saturday. Oh and lets not forget about practice twice a week.

Kinda glad the last game was last week, but I miss seeing my boys out on the field going for the goal!

Kate begging to bake!

She loves cooking days with Mommy.

I have been on a roll lately cooking some healthy stuff, mmmmmm, good and fun to try some new recipes.

All smiles about my dinners.......HA!

yeah right, more like goofing off at the dinner table.

He asked me to get the camera so I could catch him with two cobs of corn in his mouth, didn't quite make it, he was laughing too hard! I love DJ's laugh, it's the best!

Date to Wicked, the last show of our season tickets that Damon gave us for our anniversary last August.

Great gift, we were able to enjoy it all year long and it ended with a great one!

Getting the boat out and in the water for summer fun!

Damon making sure the wave is just right for boat surfing....crazy guy, he's got an addiction, but I still love him :)

Kids approve too.

All I hear on the boat is, wooooohoooo when Dad is driving, but when I get behind the wheel I hear, "come on mom, go faster!"

It has turned into a great family project getting our lake beach cleaned up from the winter and ready for endless summer fun.

Damon, DJ and Ethan have figured out a way to build a zip line that starts at our lower deck and heads straight into the water, they are all super excited!

Ah, there's Kate! The wee one gets squashed in the middle of two big brothers most the time ;)

Boys and Daddy working on the boat together, such fun to watch!

Watch out summer the Sheneman's are ready to party!

Yee Haw! A spring evening in May

2011-05-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

Last week our friends from church, The Lawrence's invited us over to ride their horses.

The kids loved it and it was the perfect evening for a little horseback riding with what my kids called,

"The Cowboy"

As we pulled into their property the kids could see Brother Lawrence aka "The Cowboy" riding and practicing his roping skills. They were impressed and in awe.

He was very kind to them and was great at teaching them a few things while they rode along side him.

Briscket

DJ decided to take some photos while waiting his turn again.....he's a little shutter bug.

Here's DJ's work....

Thanks DJ!

And if you take a close look, you can see Damon even pulled out is old cowboy boots from college days when he would sway us ladies into some good old country swing dancing :)

Thanks Cammy and Mitch for a fun evening!

Carolina on my mind....

2011-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

We finished out our month of April with another trip. My dear friend Stephanie was married in the Outer Banks of North Carolina! It was a quick trip unfortunately, but we were fortunate to make it out for a weekend of celebrations and the ceremony!

Besides being there for my sweet friend and her big day, it was the perfect little taste of NC that both Damon and I needed!

Damon and I were in heaven breathing in that humidity and sinking our feet in our "adopted homestate" sand :)

Friends reunited.....AWESOME!!!!

We finally met Kurt!!! All votes are in.....we love him!

Steph made a great choice! He's funny, easy going, and best of all completley in love with my Steph!

We were so excited to be able to bring DJ with us so he could be with his best bud, Carson.

Our weekend consisted of so much in such a little amount of time.....

Beach Time.....ahhhhhhhh.....lovin it!!

Wild Horses all over the beach!

And a pony :)

Damon was in HEAVEN!!!

Site Seeing

Currituck Lighthouse....the only one we had not already seen on the Carolina Coast.

Kitty Hawk, first in flight!

We bonded and partied together in this beach house all weekend long

18 rooms, tornado watch, games, dancing, relaxing, eating and more eating

We made new friends and became more in touch our old ones

Just a few pics

Damon, Kevin, and Chris

Amy and Kevin

Steph's beautiful Mamma

Chris and Dawn

My sweet Madison, oh how I miss that girl!

And we were lucky to get to see some of our family for just a few hours too!!!

Aunt Danelle photographed the wedding so we were lucky to spend a little bit of time with them while we were out on their end of the country!

Cousin Eliza was lovin' DJ

Duck's Donuts for Breakfast

Good times had by all, but the reason for our weekend gather was for these two awesome people!

A beautiful wedding day for these two love birds and I wish them nothing but happiness!

They deserve it because they are both wonderful people.

I wish them all the happiness and I am looking forward to many more memories to come together!

Just a couple months after we had moved to Wilmington (six years ago), I met Steph and I knew the moment I met her we were friends for life!

I was right.....

Steph, we love you!!!

And we love that you had your wedding in NC because we love it almost as much as you!

Pulling out in the wee morning hours on Sunday to catch our flight back across the country.

East coast sunrise

Next time, we will make it Wilmington to see all our friends that we loved so much while we lived there!

Broke my heart to the core to be so close and not get to hug all of my NC friends :)

Spring Break 2011 - Hawaii North Shore - Tourists

2011-04-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

Besides spending time at the beach, we got out on several excursions and played the "tourist" part quite well. We were able to see all the major spots we had scouted out before we left for the "mainland" and headed over to the land of swaying hips, rainbows and beautiful sunsets.

Pearl Harbor - Friday

DJ & Ethan were able to shake the hand of a Pearl Harbor survivor

Hiking - Sunday

morning hike - Waiamia Valley

evening hike that ended in a rainforest

Hanauma Bay - Monday

We had a fun filled day on Monday. We took off early in the morning and hit Hanauma Bay which is a great tourist spot and guarantees snorkle sitings of beautiful fish.

This is not the best picture, but this was one of the highlights for me on the trip! I loved that we could snorkle with DJ! He is a little fish and it was so fun to be underwater pointing out colorful fish to each other. He would find one fish and try to follow it around the bay.

At lunch time we headed out for our parasailing appointment that Damon's brother had booked for us!

That was thrilling and exciting and scary all at the same time!

After that our kids really wanted to go snorkle again so we went back to Hanauma Bay and played as long as we could before the warm rain came tumbling in.

Kate and Ethan met a little friend there and played hide and go seek on the beach with her while DJ, Daddy and I snorkeled.

Dole Plantation - Tuesday

with Grandpa, Grandma, Libby and Sam

Waiamea Valley Falls Botanical Gardens - Tuesday

Waiamea Valley Botanical Gardens

Crafts for kids by this sweet Hawaiian "Grandma"

Our Grandma watching the hula dancers with Kate

The falls

DJ and I loved taking pictures with Grandpa teaching us some of his photo techniques

Hide and seek being played by Kate almost everywhere we went that week....this is her version of hiding ;)

Polynesian Cultural Center - Wednesday

This guy was hilarious!

DJ was called up on stage to drink up the coconut milk.....he was a good sport!

Damon volunteered himself to play the drums in the Tonga exhibit and he himself was quite hilarious:)

He won himself this lovely hat

Kate ready to watch the canoe river afternoon show. She loved the dancers

Ukulele lessons while waiting for our canoe ride

Uncle Brad, Aunt Libby and Sam poising for a Pepsi commercial joined us for a canoe ride that ended in a rain down pour.

We made every exhibit's show, they were awesome!

Just about to head into the luau for dinner

Food was great at the luau and the company was fabulous too!

We were so lucky to have Damon's parents and his brother's family(Brad, Libby and Sam) joined us in Hawaii :)

I think it is funny how we didn't really get pictures with all of us together.....next time!

Heading into the Breath of Life show, notice how I am sporting more lei's than the rest of the family, by the end of dinner more ended up around my neck than others...hmmmm

The Breath of Life fire show was awesome for all of us. Great message and wonderful entertainment through dance and a fire show.

Waikiki - Thursday

Damon and his brother went Scuba diving this day in the morning and then we met them down in Waikiki and hung out on the beach that afternoon. We walked to the International Market and bought a few cheap souvenirs and then went to Thai food that night together.

The kids headed home with the Grandparents and Damon and I stayed out for a couple more hours and found a band to listen to and walked on the beach together, so nice.

Snorkeling and Excursions - Friday

We found this little spot at Shark's Cove. The kids had fun playing in the cave and this is where we saw the turtle and eel while snorkeling.....so cool!

Count down on.....

Can't wait to be tourists again!

Spring Break 2011 - Hawaii North Shore - Our abode

2011-04-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

Our beach for 12 days!

North Shore, HI

Humpback Whales off shore, seen almost every day

Beach time as soon as we woke up.

Those North Shore waves were huge!!!

My coconut tree lovin' boys

First thing they did when they woke up our first day we arrived; climbed the coconut trees

Grandpa and Grandma beach walk/runs with the boys, morning, noon, and night... looking for turtles that had come up on the shore for a rest.

Turtles were up on the beach frequently, it was very cool to see.

This spot soon became a fort made out of an old palm frond that the boys found on the property. Two boys at the house next door would jump the fence and play with DJ and Ethan everyday. They would switch between the two yards and play hide and go seek, football and tag.

Kate loved to make beach cookies on the beach for us with an old pringles can. I would have to taste it each time she put in a new ingredient of sand....they were delicious :)

The "boys" (Damon, DJ, & Uncle Brad) liked to snorkle right off our shore and then they also tried some spear fishing.....with not much luck of course.

It was off our shore while DJ was snorkling with Damon that he dove down to 8 feet and grabbed a handful of sand from the bottom and brought it back up to Damon....he is such a fish!

Sunsets=Amazing!!!

I loved seeing my kids out chasing each other on the beach at sunset!

Spring Break 2011 - North Shore, HI - Our last two days

2011-04-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

We took full advantage of our last moments in HI. Everyone else from the family had left and it was just the Sheneman 5 left on the island for two days to ourselves.

We like to go full throttle when it's just us, it's how we roll.....

Saturday

We woke up bright and early Saturday and planted ourselves on the beach for a few hours playing in the sand and Damon was able to go catch some surf one last time

After the beach we headed out to go get some shave ice for lunch and to find the famous Giavonni's shrimp truck for garlic shrimp plate.

I really wanted to try paddle boarding before we left so we pulled over in a town called Haliewa and rented ourselves a paddle board for a couple hours. We all had fun on it.

That evening when we returned to our house, we saw our last sunset, the best one yet.

Sunday

Our last day on the island.

We headed out by 10:00 that morning, but before we did, we let the boys play with the neighbor boys that they had become quick friends with while we were there. They exchanged e-mail and phone numbers so they could be pen pals.

When it was time to get into the car, both boys sat themselves on the grass in front of the house and said, "we aren't leaving". We laughed and they didn't budge, so we said, "ok see ya" and pulled the car through the gate around the corner and waited for a minute. Damon got out and peeked around the corner and there they still sat arms folded and giggling, really hoping that maybe they could stay. Kate was in the car during all this and was calling out, "I need my boys!"

By 10:45 we had made it to church just in time for the 11:00 meeting, but come to find out it started at 10:00. We at least heard the last 20 minutes of testimony meeting and it was fun to hear them greet each other with an aloha before beginning their testimonies.

The Hawaiian temple was right next to the church so we took the opportunity to visit the visitors center and walk on the grounds. DJ loved leading the family around since he felt like he was an expert after going with Grandma and Grandpa a couple days earlier.

We ate some ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit and lemonaid in our car while we headed to Kailua (east end of the island) to return the surfboards Damon had rented for the week.

Patrick, the man who had rented us the boards told us we had to see the beaches of Kailua......he was right, they were beautiful! We took in the view for a while and then Damon and I layed down in the sand and let the kids bury our feet for a while we took advantage of a short nap.

On the way out we saw a sign that said, I love hula in Kailua. We stopped and caught the last second of the hula performance :)

By then we were headed towards Wikiki but stopped a few times to see beautiful sites outlooks...we were wearing the kiddos out!

We had to be to the airport by 7:30 and by now it was 4:15 but we really wanted to hike Diamond Head Crater and it was the one thing we hadn't crossed off our list. We pulled into the park and the attendent said last hike up is supposed to be at 4:30 but we will let you in if you promise to be down by 6:00. We knew this would be the topper for assuring that our kids would sleep on the red eye flight we had that night, so off we went!!! A pretty streneous 1 1/2 mile hike to the top of the crater and we made the boys walk the whole way. It was so worth it though, the view was amazing and the hike itself had a tunnel just before the top that was fun for the kids to go through.

And yes, the kids slept the whole plane ride home....perfect!

With an hour left we finished off our day with a dinner at a resturant in Wikiki called Cheeseburgers in Paradise and then headed back to the mainland, tired kids, five pieces of luggage and some benadryl to try to make those airplane seats a little more comfy than with out it.

Sneak Peak of Hawaii :)

2011-04-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

Coconuts, Rainbows, Hula and more

Endless fun however, has led to a few

"time outs" in paradise...

gotta love reality even when your on vacation!

Moving on

2011-03-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Winter, we had fun but we offically said goodbye last weekend by taking the kids skiing one last time :)

These boys were fantastic!

DJ went down the green hill several times and by the last run he only fell once!

Ethan mastered the bunny hill and getting on and off the "magic carpet" ride!

Daddy tried out boarding for the first time

Kate wanted to keep throwing snowballs at the boys while they came up and down the magic carpet.

Mommy and Kate started walking over to the rental shop to rent Kate some ski's but we ended up in the lodge eating chips and hot cocoa instead;) Next year we will try her out on some skis for sure when she warms up to the idea a little more.......pink ones of course!

Cute brothers, having a good time and feeling proud of how well they did!

Notice Kate in the background with another snowball...

Ethan showing Kate how cool skiing is.

Daddy and DJ coming off the green hill lift together....woo hoo!

So winter, we enjoyed you and made the best of you by getting out and being part of you, but it's time to move on........ headed to Hawaii tomorrow so we are really saying hasta la vista till next year!