The Festivities

When my brother and sister were in town for Spring Break and for my younger brother's wedding, we decided to have a family party for Caden and my nephew Jack since both of their birthdays were coming up.

Will finally made it to town, Becky and the boys were here for 10 days before he was able to come. His family sure missed him.

Here is Caden, ready to blow out candles on the fancy cake Brad and I made. :)

Here is Jack the big 4 year old!

On Caden's real birthday he wanted some of his friends and cousins to come for a little party. The plan was to swim and play video games. Well the temperature was around 69 or 70 and so most of the boys and girls didn't want to swim, a few did and they were freezing! Crazy boys!

Playing video games.

We also headed over to the park and the boys played some games, the girls decided they only wanted to swing.

They played basketball, soccer and a little football. Before Caden's party he said he wanted a free party, where it wasn't planned and they got to do whatever they wanted, so no pin the tail on the donkey, I guess he really is getting old. :(

Caden opening his gifts, he got so much money! I told him to save it but it is burning a hole in his pocket.

Now onto Carsyn's and then Brad's birthdays in May and we will be done with our family's birthdays for the year!

Happy 9th Birthday Caden!!

Caden turned 9 today, I can't believe how fast he is growing up! He is such a joy to be around. I love his since of humor, he makes me laugh everyday! I love you Caden, Happy Birthday!

Favorite Foto Friday

Why do schools feel like they need to do a fall picture day and a spring picture day? I always buy a few of the fall pictures, although they are horrible, but just because they are fun to look at when you get older. Why in spring pictures, on the other hand, do they feel the need to have ridiculous backgrounds, like I want to put the picture on display in my house, does anyone remember laser background pictures, what were those all about?? Well here is to spring picture day, the picture quality is bad mostly because it was the proof they send so you'll order pictures.

A day at the beach

Every so often Nixon will put on old Halloween costumes, this one always makes me laugh!

Josh and Marianna Simpson

My little brother got married yesterday. The wedding was small but nice, at his mother in laws house. He seems to be very happy, so I am excited for them. Congratulations Josh and Marianna! These pictures didn't turn out so well, thanks to Emily Waite there will be better pictures to share soon. Thanks Emily!

The happy couple.

What am I going to do?

Last night I was getting the kids ready for bed and Caden was being a stinker! This was our conversation:

Me: Caden go brush your teeth

Caden: No

Me: Caden go brush your teeth!!!

Caden goes in to brush his teeth

Me: Why do you act like that sometimes? You should never tell me No! That is a bad word, when it comes to saying it to your parents.

Caden: Okay, so when you ask me, are you going to smoke when you grow up, I should say yes?

Me:

I have my hands full with that boy!

Spring Break

My sister Becky came into town for spring break and so we have been busy playing the whole time!

First stop was Monsters vs. Aliens, the kids loved it and the 3D version was pretty cool.

Next we were off to the zoo. My kids had been there but my sisters hadn't, they had a fun time. Of course we had to hit the outlets on the way home!

The kids got to pet the sting rays, they even fed them fish and shrimp. I was surprised Carsyn and Nixon actually held the dead fish in their hands. Not me!!!!

Queen Carsyn being pulled by two strong kids.

The little ones turned into tigers when we were leaving the zoo.

We also went to the lake again. The water was cold! I tried to ski and didn't get up, Becky got up on the first try! Here is Blake in the cold water!

My nephew Tyler getting ready to ski.

We had a picnic and Easter egg hunt at the park with my family. We played kickball too, it was fun for the kids and the adults.

My sister Shelby and my niece Ashlyn.

Carsyn and Nixon showing off their eggs, love the plastic bags! Every year Brad throws away the kids Easter baskets because he doesn't like to store them in our cupboards or the garage. So my kids always have the plastic bags until Easter morning when the Easter bunny brings them new baskets. Poor kids, but Brad's garage sure is clean.

Some of the grandkids with Grandma.

I forgot to take pictures of my kids on Easter morning, I snuck a picture of Nixon right before he changed into his other clothes. I'll have to have them all dress up again and take a fake Easter picture. (Picture to follow soon.)

Then off to the Race family Easter party.

Brad's mom has a cool backyard with lots of places to hide Easter eggs.

Here are Nixon, Caden and Gavin after finding the eggs. Notice the plastic bags again.

I love this picture of my nephew Kenneth and (a friend of the family) Sergio. Kenneth is so cute and is growing up sooooo fast!

The kids enjoying their candy and money, (thanks Poppy!)

We also made a day trip to Ventura and had a fun time for a couple of hours. The weather was nice but the water was freezing to me!!

The kids digging for sand crabs.

On the ride back to town the kids tried to get the truck drivers to honk at them, I think we got about 13 truckers to honk, the kids thought it was so fun.

We have had a ton of fun. These days have been long, but it sure makes bed time easy when the kids are so tired!! Now the kids will be back at school, so I can finally clean my house!

The Brad Race 1st Semi Annual Extended Family And Friends 5k/ 10k Fun Run, Walk, or Bike

Brad wanted to set up a 5k/10k just for fun and to get some friends and family together. It turned out to be a really fun day. We had a pretty good turn out. I was hoping to be able to run the whole thing but it was kind of hard with all the kids. The kids had a lot of fun though and so it was worth it.

Here is Brad's sister Alyson and her son Bobby with Nixon, They came over from Ridgecrest just for the event.

My sister in law Mariela with Kenneth, her family came down from Fresno.

Carsyn geared up for the bike ride, she rode the whole way!

Caden, loved the 5k because he came in 1st on his bike and was pretty proud of himself!

The lovely couple in workout gear, NICE!!!

My cousin Amy and her family came and represented my side of the family! Thanks Amos!!

After the run we came back to the park near our house and hung out, ate lunch, kids played and even got into the swimming pool, although the water was freezing!!!!

This is Brad with his parents, one of his sisters and two of his brothers.

The girls after swimming!

Caden and Nixon hanging out, and too chicken to get in!

We purchased another boat last night so everyone wanted to check it out. We ended up taking it out to the lake to test it out. We drove out to lake ming and found that the boat launch was closed so we had to drive all the way out to BV which is like sewer water usually but it actually wasn't too bad today.

It ran great we are so excited to take it out again this week!

Thank you everyone that came out today, I thought it was a fun time. We are doing it again in September and anyone is welcome!

Track Meet

The other day our kids had a track meet at school. Everyone had to participate in 2 events. Carsyn chose the 50 and 100 yard dash and Caden chose the 70 yard dash and the long jump. It was so much more organized than the track meets at their old school. For those of you that know Carsyn, you know she doesn't have a competitive bone in her body, she is 100% girly girl! As she was running she was fixing her shirt that tells you how much she wanted to win. She got 5th place in the 70 and 3rd place in the 50!! I was proud of her for trying! Even though she wasn't one of the first she still had a smile on her face! Caden on the other hand is the most competitive kid I know!! He hates to loose and gets upset if he does. He got second in both his events. He did great even though he thinks 2nd is the first looser. I need to work with that boy, on not always having to win!

Caden and his class watching the races.

Caden coming to the finish line!

Carsyn racing to the finish line!

This is what Carsyn cares more about, her friends!