Portrait of a Rock

Yup, that's our kindergartner. 

Costco and CatRyker

Bubbles needed another trip to the car doctor so we turned the trip into a Costco run.  Jens likes Costco, especially during free samples!!

 She made sure to get two of all the good stuff, one for her and one for Dolly.

 Oh, and she made sure to get one for Ryker, too.  I don't think Ryker ever saw his corn dog or yogurt drink samples.

 The kids are starting to do a great job of showing affection.  Rock always asks if he can hold Jens' hand in the car, and she seems to be happy to oblige.  Ryker just wants the Surface to play Jetpack Joyride.

 Ryker has a...unique way of showing affection.  Hugging him is like hugging a cat since he claws your face off and gives you attack face.

  Jens and Huddy are pretty good buds and find projects to keep themselvs busy.

 Uncle Buffalo Nick came over to hunt Bambi but took time during church to cuddle Jensley.  She loves cuddling with Uncle Buffalo Nick. 

  I am trying to leave work a little early on Wednesdays to spend time with the kids and DeA.  Last Wednesday we went to the school for Rock's soccer game and to let Ryker run all over the field.

 It's hard to tell if he loved or if he LOVED it.

 Jensley loved the free time and space but she kept trying to steal the soccer ball.

 They invented a game where Jensley ran away and Ryker chased her and tackled her.  She is getting good at taking a tackle and pretty soon she will be laying the punishment to her brothers.

 Rock was feeling sick and didn't quite have his usual energy.  He kept asking for orange slices and Capri Suns.   

 Papa Dale came to enjoy the match and get tackled by Jens.

  There's that Energizer Bunny that we are used to seeing.

  He tried, but you could tell that there wasn't a lot of energy in that tank.

 Ryker had enough energy for everybody.

 As a bonus for every Papa Dale brought by some Bandbooster hamburgers.  Everybody wins!

Superheroes!

Our lives is pretty chock full of superheroes.  Ryker wants to play Lego Batman all day and Rock wants to be batman.  He has worn his Halloween costume to school pretty much every day of the year.

 Batman got in trouble for not being happy at school, so DeA started drawing smiley faces on his hand to remind him that Batman is happy.  

 Look, those smiley faces are twins!

 The kids wanted to watch a show on Netlix the other day so I kind of lied and said that Nacho Libre was a superhero.  He liked how Nacho 'flew' from the top rope onto the bad guy.

 So he became NaaaaaccccchhhhhhOOOOOOOoooooo, el luchador.

 Jensley couldn't resist the lure of lucha libre and liked the idea of taking a punch to the face, or an elbow to the face and she knew that wrestlers get all the free creams and fancy lotions.  But the Bible says not to wrestle your neighbor...

Rock might be the most observant little boy in the world because he noticed that Superman has a curl in his hair.  He went and found a marker and fixed his lack of black hair.

 Ryker hasn't really been wearing superhero stuff lately, but I think that's a combination of being a little sick and not having any clean costumes since Rock is always wearing anything he can find.

Conference Weekend!

On the Friday before conference Rock, Ryker and I went to Cashmere with Papa Dale.  But this wasn't any trip to Cashmere, this was a night flight in the helicopter. 

 It was a very cool flight and the sunset was beautiful.

 The helicopter dropped off the homecoming princesses at halftime and then we went to buzz Wenatchee.

 Things were so pretty and amazing that it knocked Rock and Ryker right out.

 General Conference weekend was full of great talks, Halloween sugar cookies, french dips, great plays with amazing catches and no meetings.  Oh, did I mention that DeA learned how to turn on the picture and picture so she could watch football in the corner?  Pretty awesome.

 During the sessions the kids had to release their wiggles which meant we had a family dog pile.

 Going into the weekend DeA vowed to stay on top of the laundry.  Mission accomplished.

A Ton of Pictures

Here are a ton of pictures to make up for the slow month blogging-wise.

Rock is still loving school and wakes up very, very early most days to get ready.

 One of the best parts of the day is waiting for the bus with him.  He tells cool stories, let's you know that he won't miss me and that Colby eats his lunches for him.

 Jens is surrounded by boys and really wants to fit in with her brothers.  I guess it isn't too early to call her a tomboy.  A Batman tomboy.

 She desperately tries to keep up, but her little legs are just too short.

 But DeA's heart is glad that Jens is certainly all girly girl, too.  We bought her new shoes yesterday and she just loved walking around and looking at them.  Oh, and she has to have a matching purse with everything.

 Even though her accessories don't go with it she still loves her superher masks.

  The pic isn't clear, but she just loves twirling and showing off her pretty dresses.

 Tomboy or not, she is the cutest little thing I've seen.

 Well, the second cutest thing I ever did see.

 Speaking of cute, lil' Gyker got to ride the bus with Rock and Papa Dale.  He ate his ham and cheese bread breakfast, just like Rock.

 He told tall tales and other stories, just like he learned from his brother.

 He made this face...I don't know where he learned it but it is pretty cute.

 I think he knows that we think he's cute.

 Speaking of someone who knows they're cute...

 Two big boys, waiting at for the bus.

 "I hear it!  I hear it!"

 Rock has school pictures today and was practicing his potential smiles.

  Believe it or not this was the face he decided to go with, so we'll see...

 Ryker was certainly Mr. Smiley waiting for that bus.

I don't know if DeA is about to smack him or bless him or cast out a devil, but it's probably one of those three.

 Someone (I think Megan) had the great idea to have a tailgate party before the MHS game last Friday.  There were grills and soups and chips and peoples...

 and other grills and spicy burgers and the BYU game on watchESPN.

 It was a lot of fun and the food was great.

 Jens stole Ryker's sweatshirt and went to town on a bag of popcorn.

  We finally cashed in the golf passes that we bought two years ago and went to Highlander with the Hinckleys.  I'd never been there was was really impressed with how nice of a course it was.

DeA was a little intimidated with the niceness of the place was and assumed that everyone there was a really good golfer.  After all the duffers laughed at that they watched her smack that ball right down the middle.

She started slow but before long she was whacking those balls all over the place.

The kids love their Papa Dale.

Rock recently was disciplined at school and his Mommy made him write an apology letter.

Nothing says "I'm sorry" like Batman.