Nathan's Birthday

Nathan turned 11 years old!

The celebration actually started the night before. We ate dinner at the Olive Garden. Nathan chose this restaurant, because there kid menu is for 10 years and younger. He was so happy to order off of the adult menu. He had seafood alfredo and ate almost the whole thing.

At his request, he had a great birthday breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, and monkey bread!



Later that day, we went to the movie "G-Force" (hilarious, a must see!), with his side kick and best friends Nathan Otis and Josh.In July Nathan decided that he wanted a Nintendo DSI. He took a lot of the money he has been saving over the years and bought one. For his birthday, he opted to get money rather than presents and a party, to replenish what he had spent. So that is what he got. He did have a couple of gifts to open, but the money was what he was smiling about!Nathan's favorite cake is German Chocolate, so that was what he wanted. Since my birthday is so close to his, we decided to count it as a birthday cake for both of us. Two birthday cakes in one week is a bit much for Mom!

Happy Birthday Bud! We love you and are so proud of you!

Summer Vacation

First off, can I just say I HATE BLOGGING! It takes so long and I have had it with my blog. Tell me why my blog is the only blog that you cannot click on the pictures and have them enlarge so you can actually see them! I NEED HELP! I am having a blog melt down!

Okay, enough of that, but seriously, if any of you know how to help me, please leave a comment and let me know! I'll pay you money!!!!!

Yes, I am alive, we have just been vacationing in our yearly vacation hot spot....UTAH!!!!
We had so much fun and I took so many pictures, I don't even know where to begin.


Here is some of what we did....


*FAMILY: gatherings, shopping, eating, vacations, and reunions. We had so much fun and it was really hard to leave. Nathan made the comment that there is so much more to do in Utah. I agree, but what can I do?


*STRINGHAM FAMILY (minus Riley): we got to visit and hang out with Jen, Lauren, Izzie, and Clayton, our best friends from Iowa. One day, Jen and I drug the kids around BYU our old stomping. Boy had it changed. We stopped by the bookstore and got all of us some BYU t-shirts!

* BYU SOCCER CAMP: The boys attended a week long camp at BYU and loved it.

*BOATING: Grandpa bought a new pontoon boat and we spent a lot of time on it. The boys had a great time fishing one day and actually caught a ton of fish.

*HIKING: It was so nice to be back by the mountains. We spent a lot of time enjoying the fresh mountain air. It is kind of hard to "truly" hike in Louisiana.

*BEAR LAKE: Jared's family has a cabin at Bear Lake. We spent a few days up there with his family. They played on the beach, went boating, made a zip line, went four wheeling, and even went to church and saw and shook hands with Elder Quinton L. Cook (of the 12 Apostles).

*TIMP CAVES: We hiked to Timp Caves in American Fork canyon and had a great time. The boys were amazed at what it was like inside.

* SICK, SICK, SICK: And lastly, Nathan and I both got horrible chest colds while we were there. It made the last 2 weeks pretty miserable. Why is it when ever you go on vacation, someone gets sick! Thanks to my Dad for keeping me well with all the meds (he is a pharmacist for those who don't know.)

We did so much more, but I would have to write a book to tell you about all of it. Now we are home and trying to get back into our routine!

Father's Day Suprise

Happy Father's Day!

Joshua wanted to make his Dad something for Father's Day this year. He thought about it for quite a while and then decided on something. I told him to make a list of everything he needed and I would take him to the store. He made his list and I took him to Hobby Lobby. He picked out everything with a lot of thought. He waited for Dad to go to Scout Camp and then he got busy. He worked on it for hours, with a little help from Mom. Joshua made it with the thought that Dad would take it to work and hang it in his office. Joshua was SO excited to give it to his Dad. Jared made a huge deal about it and even took Joshua to his office that day so they could hang it together. Joshua was on cloud nine!

If you can't tell, it is a planet mobile. The big object is a satellite.

Catch up!

Lots has been happening lately, so I am doing a catch up post....

First off, Nathan attended Cub Scout Day Camp. He had a lot of fun, mostly hanging out with his friends!

Jared got to spend a week with the Boy Scouts at Scout Camp. Think HOT and HUMID, add sleeping in a tent, lots of bugs, and sweaty teenage boys and that about sums it up!

Jared took Joshua, Nathan, Nathan (thing one and thing two) and Chris out shooting. They didn't leave until 6:30, to try and miss some of the heat. They had a great time as you can tell.

HOT and HUMID

This is why you don't want to live in out visit Louisiana.......

These would be the temperatures without the humidity, add that in, and we are looking at temperatures in the high 90's to 100's. How can I do anything in this. I am WET all the time! Biking, going to the pool, going to the park, playing outside, all of this is a nightmare. I mowed the lawn today at 8:00 in the morning. I was sweating so much that I had to have a towel over my shoulders to wipe face off. I had sweat running in my eyes and pouring off of me. I ran errands today too and by the time I got from the air conditioned car to the air conditioned building, I was sweating. And the worst thing of all... IT IS ONLY JUNE!!!!!

Soccer Parties

Soccer season has come to an end. We are actually a little sad, because both boys were doing so well and it was SO FUN to watch them play. Jared coached both teams again and did a great job. It sounded like he had laryngitis the whole season with all the yelling, but he made it without loosing his voice. We had parties at Gatti's Pizza. The boys had a lot of fun eating, playing games and winning tickets, lots of tickets. Hence the crazy hats!

Nathan's Party

Joshua's Party

Someone came to visit me!

Yes, I know it is hard to believe but my someone did come to Louisiana to visit me. I now know who truly loves me. My friend Jen from Iowa came for a few days and brought her cute little Clayton with her. We had SO much fun! We even found some things to do other than sit at the house.

I took her out for some authentic Louisiana southern food. We ordered WAY too much and paid for it later that night, but it was good. We ate Gumbo Ya Ya Soup, Shrimp and Scallop Corn Chowder, Crawfish Bread, and Spicy Shrimp and Crab Cake Pasta. Yummy!

(All pictures are taken from Jen's blog, she did all the hard work and I just stole it!)


We went down the Louisiana Boardwalk. This runs a long the Red River and has great shopping and food. We ate some more and shopped a lot. I took her out to the Air Force Base to see a true Louisiana Bayou (aka: swamp). We didn't see any alligators, so I took her to Bass Pro Shop, so she could see the alligators they have outside. Not quite the same as in the wild, but a lot safer.

I hung out and did a lot of cuddling with Clayton. He is such a cutie and so well behaved. We drug him all around Shreveport and Bossier and he was a trooper.

We hung out at the soccer fields and watched Nathan's last game. Jen also got to hear Nathan play at his piano recital.

We were all so happy to have her and Clayton come to visit. See what ya'll are missing out on. Thanks for coming Jen and know you can come visit the Bayou anytime you want.