I have an obsession...

I love watching my kids sleep. So much so that I take pictures (often) and post them on my blog (occasionally). I just love checking on them multiple times before I go to bed each night. It's part of my bed-time routine.
The checking on them part may be normal, but the taking pictures part...not so much.
Here are a couple of my favorites from the past:

Elena in April 2008 (15 months old)

Kevin in March 2010 (9 months old)The next two are Elena and Kevin September 2010:

I have to explain the jumble of Elena's "friends" that you see. Elena is holding her triplets:
Baby Liam : yes, he's a boy, but pink is his favorite color
Teddy Pig: her favorite of all, he was also in the picture from April 2008
Sally: also known as "Paci Baby" (short for pacifier)
Behind her you can some random things including her sleeping hat. One day she decided that her Santa hat could be a sleeping hat because "sometimes in books, people wear hats to bed" (i.e. The Night Before Christmas). I've even caught her asleep with it on her head before. I wonder what she was so deep in thought about before she fell asleep? :)

Kevin is asleep with his favorite friend Teddy Dog and a musical seahorse which he loves to roll over in the middle of night. He sleeps right through the noise, but it occasionally wakes me up when I hear it on the monitor. He's such a sweet boy! I want to crawl into the crib and cuddle up to him sometimes!

This all reminds me a little of the book, Love You Forever. The mom loves peeking at her sleeping son and singing to him. I love this book and I get emotional each and every time I read it.
But you have to admit, when you stop to think about it and don't "suspend disbelief", the book starts to get a little creepy as the son gets older. I don't think I'm to this point yet, but you'll have to check back in few years when the kids are away at college.
Yep, she got a ladder, drove across town, and crawled in his window.

Girls Camp

Before I could leave for Girls Camp (I chaperoned at our 4 day/3 night church youth camp), I had to drop the kids off at my parents house. I was only there for a couple of days to get Kevin settled (Elena needs no "settling" when it comes to Granny's house), but we managed to squeeze in a trip to the beach. Shelby Condon joined us there with her three kids. It was so nice to sit on the towel and talk and relax with the babies while my dad had a blast playing with the big kids.

Shelby's Benjamin:

My Kevincito:

Okay! The rest of the post is about camp! This was a pretty area on our 5 mile hike. We arrived, ate lunch and hiked. Then went to the camp (thankfully the tents were already set up by the time we got there), ate dinner, played games, and totally ran out of time for fun before it got dark. We camped at the Apple Tree Campgrounds in Nantahala National Forest. It was gorgeous and very shady and a whole lot cooler up there than down here. I loved snuggling up in my hoodie and sitting by the campfire for our devotionals each night. It was a blast.
Day #2 we went white water rafting. The leaders in charge planned awesome activities for us because we were tent camping and usually Girls Camp is at a 4H camp and we stay in cabins with ceiling fans. Tents mean more money for fun stuff! Well, they are geniuses because the girls had a great time and there were NO complaints about the tents. :) This was my first time white water rafting believe it or not. When I was a teenager, I was at field hockey camp/California/something when my own stake (group of several congregations) went. It was so much fun. I want to go to WV and try the Gauley/New River soon. This was not our bus, but I didn't take my non-waterproof camera when we went, so I took a picture of a bus that looked kind of like ours on the way back to camp.
I was in charge of this awesome group of girls. They were all 13 except the Youth Leaders were 16 and 17. They are in a knot and untangling themselves. I never got a picture of the girls that I camped with: the 7 young women from the Spanish branch (congregation). I could kick myself!
This is a view from the field were we played various games during the late afternoons. Gorgeous! We went over here one night to look at the stars and it was amazing. I wish my dad had been there to point everything out to me. The moon was either new or had set because it was clear and pitch black. Nothing quite so humbling as millions of stars and galaxies staring back at you. God is good. :)
Day #3 was horse back riding. I haven't done this since freshman year of college. I went to NM with Ann and Beckie and rode horses on Ann's ranch. I remember it being intimidating and awesome. It was the same this time. We went on a great trail with ups and downs and trees everywhere. We even had a cross a little creek. I can totally see why some people just love riding horses!
I look like a giant in this picture and Hermana Rivera looks so small, but really I am less then a foot taller. We went to a high ropes course after horseback riding.
Do you see me walking across that telephone pole? I had a lot of fun on this part of the course. I am really quite scared of heights and felt proud that I made it all the way to the top on this one. The first part of the ropes course that I tried, I chickened out and only completed half of it. So I was extra proud when I finished and enjoyed this section! I guess I'll never be a tight-rope walker. :)
I'm so glad that I went. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Bethany for your help with the kids! And thanks Dan for letting us all leave you lonely for a week. Sorry about that, Babe! You're the best!

A Very Relaxing July 4th

I love holidays. Always have. Christmas is, of course, #1, but I love them all! And since I grew up in Virginia Beach (with lots of military around), Independence Day has always been a big one for me. This year however, I decided to go low-key. We ate hamburgers and watermelon after church, talked about living in the USA and how lucky we are. Then we did sparklers in the backyard. Elena decided a few days prior that July 4th was Baby Liam's birthday too, so we had a cake and little party for him as well as America.

The girls in red, white, and blue. The boys were coordinating too, but Kevin was asleep at this point in the day

For some reason, Elena was in her pajamas by the time we took the rest of the pictures. Here she is being adorable.

Skip ahead to after dinner:

This is what happens when Kevin realizes that we have to dispose of the sparkler when it is done sparkling:

Happy birthday to Baby Liam. He is Elena's #1 baby doll (although Teddy Pig is her #1 toy overall). She's so attentive to her "babies".

It was a nice afternoon and everyone got to go to bed on time. :)
Don't think that I'm not already planning how to celebrate next year...

June 29th & 30th

Abuelita went back home. :( We knew it had to happen eventually. Dan put a hold on his studies the night before she left and played games with his mom and me. I got this cute picture of them.

And these funny ones:

The next morning, we went to the airport. Instead of coming right home, the kids and I stopped at Kristin's house near Charlotte and I got to enjoy her hospitality and company while the kids all played. I didn't get any pictures of the children playing together because I was too busy chatting, but here are a few of them sitting/standing. :) Thanks for having us, Kristin!

Will and Elena:

Kevin wanted to sit in the chair too. Now, whenever we go to a friend's house, he will rush right to the kid-sized chair if they have one.Beautiful Audrey:

Penske and his new biggest fan:

Getting all caught up:

About a month ago this video wouldn't download, but I promised my mom I would try again. So here it is: Kevin eating his little cake on his birthday! Once we picked it up off of his lap, he ate it all in just a couple of minutes. :)

World Cup

We really enjoyed watching the World Cup this past month, and we are sad it is over. We had fun rooting for the US and Mexico, and watching Spain win today was great! 4 years is a long time...
Elena isn't even that old yet!

Grandfather Mountain

Grandfather Mountain is a few hours away, but the drive was nice (if you take the Blue Ridge Parkway), and we will definitely go back before we move. Next time we'll make sure that Dan can make it. There is also a mini-zoo there with bears, deer, otters, cougars (Go BYU!), and eagles (Go USA!). I don't have any pictures of that because my camera died, but the kids loved it. They also have picnic benches and a candy/fudge shop. There is a little museum that is pretty pointless, but has clean bathrooms. :) It was a perfect day.

This is the view from the beginning of our drive up the mountain. We actually didn't have to do any hiking, but you can if you want to. The picture at the top of the post is taken from the parking lot.
Elena said, "I want to stop the car and take a picture with my favorite rock!" It's called Split Rock and I'm standing under the other half.

This is after we crossed the Mile High Swinging Bridge. Behind us is the gift shop where they sell yummy ice cream.

Right after crossing the bridge: It is a little intimidating because there are no guardrails or anything once you go up those steps. That's why I took one kid at a time. The other one would wait right here with Abuelita.
Some photos of the view:
The full 360 from the top of Grandfather Mountain:

God is so good to give us these glimpses of perfection. It is gorgeous there!

Kevin's First Haircut

Before:

The Baby Hair:

After:

Kevin had his first haircut a couple weeks before his birthday. He was looking a little mullet-ish. The long hair in back wasn't super noticeable; I made it stick out for the "before" picture. Normally it would just lay flat, but it was getting too long. I just used clippers on the back (I didn't have to touch the top) and Voila! -- Instant big boy!