Mexican Fun & Football Trivia

After church, our family headed to a local Mexican restaurant. I was so surprised at how much my twin nephews LOVED salsa. I can barely stomach anything spicy, but an 18mo year old?

Colton had it from head to toe!!

Connor was having a great time checking out the crowd...

And, Mr. Hunter was too funny naming off his Crimson Tide's star players...

What a bunch of cute nephews I have!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Hunter!!!

My sweet nephew, Hunter, turned 5 years old on August 2nd. This past weekend, he had his birthday party at I-Jump (if you have never heard of it, click here!!) . We all had so much fun! He had a wonderful turnout and he had lots of fun! He also received a lot of wonderful gifts! It was a great occasion to visit with family and great friends!



Hunter, at 5 years old:
-Has a pretty good sense of humor.
-Has a pretty big imagination.
-Loves Transformers, Spiderman, and Batman
-Just decided about a month ago that he likes the water. He was petrified of getting in the pool for most of his years!
-Loves his baby brothers! At first, we were all worried how he'd react to them, but he is a wonderful  big brother who helps his Mommy and Daddy out a lot with them.
-Is pretty sweet when he wants to.
-Is pretty definant when he wants to.
-Is a very picky eater.
-Loves Alabama football
-Loves playing baseball
-Can beat most people at Wii games

I love Hunter-boo very much!!! I pray he always stays sweet and loves his Aunt-La La too!

Some more "Back-to-School-ers"

Scott's nieces started back to school yesterday! McKenzie started 1st grade and Madison started 3rd grade! Wishing them both a wonderful year!!

Aren't they too cute?

Three Stryk-ers on the Enemy!!!

Just before my Dad passed away, he was going through some of my Grandmother's belongings and found this newspaper clipping from WW2. He gave it to my cousin and he had someone in his company scan the image in and clean it up because it had been folded, torn, and warn over the years. My cousin sent this to me, all pieced together!

These people are my great grandfather and his two brothers! Two army men and one Marine! It was such a big deal because they were all leaving at the same time to fight in the war. And, they must have been rough and tough based on this article. I guess I know where I get it from! :)

Learning about your lineage is so interesting! Have any of you traced your ancestors?

This article makes me proud to be a Stryker!

Some Cute Boys!

In case you don't remember, I have some precious nephews! I took some pictures of them in June that I thought were too cute!

Mr. Connor

Mr. Colton

These little boys are so much fun!!! They are so precious and are at a really fun age! It's so crazy how different they are in so many ways! I miss seeing them so often!

Happy July 4th – In August!

Better late than never, right? Bare with me…

Our family had one of the best July 4th weekends that I can ever remember having. I think the best part is that it fell on a Sunday and we had the following Monday off! We had the pleasure of having both Haley (4) and her cousin, McKenzie (6) the entire holiday weekend. So, I had a sneak peak of what it is like to have two girls. Boys, boys, boys! :)

On Saturday night, we went to the firework show put on in Veterans Park in Alabaster. It was sponsored by Kingwood Christian Church and it was wonderful! There was a ton of free stuff for the kids to do, a movie displayed at dark, and the fireworks were incredible! Unfortunately, no pictures.

On Sunday, we ate some barbecue and loaded up the kids to head out to a true Patriotic venue – American Village! We ended up missing most of the kids activities and thought we would make it to walk around and catch fireworks at dusk. Well, come 9:45pm, still no fireworks. They had a oldies cover band playing. They were actually pretty good, but when you have two whiny children who wanted to know where the fireworks were, we didn’t get to enjoy them and really wanted them to stop singing! We ended up picking an AMAZING seat…about 100 yards away from where they were being shot off. It was so cool! So loud..but so cool! The kids were laughing so hard because it felt like we were being invaded by fireworks!

There are some awesome places in Birmingham to catch fireworks if fighting the traffic downtown isn’t for you!

It was also great to spend some time at a place that is so special to me and Scott! The next event at American Village will be the wedding of someone you might know…..

Two Sweet Peas in a Pod

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out at my sister's house and I got the pleasure of playing with these two sweet peas!! They are 14 months and are both so much fun! They are completely different in personality and looks and I look forward to seeing how their personalities continue to bud over time!

Connor is a cuddle-bug! He won't give up on the baby-ways though! He will have nothing other than a bottle and won't walk yet! He's a super-fast crawler and is jabbering NON-STOP! He's got fine, straight hair and thin feet! We think he's going to have the "Stryker-Gap" in his teeth! He's super cute!! Everyone in the family says he resembles me when I was a child. What a compliment!

Excuse the hazy picture of Colton because the child won't sit still long enough to take one! Colton is always 90-to-nothing! He's a big walker, drinks out of sippy cups, and won't sit still long enough for anyone to hold him! He's got curly, curly hair and thick, fat feet! He's definitely a charmer too! His smile will brighten a room! We call him "Junior" because he looks JUST like his Daddy as an adult! But, we see some of his Mommy in him when she was about his age!

I love these boys so much! And their big brother Hunter (who won't take pictures!). I always said I wanted girls growing up until all the boys became a part of my life! I really, really hope I have boys now! There's nothing like a boy and their momma! But, just because I said that, I'll probably have a litter of girls! :)

Happy Memorial Day 2010!

Happy Memorial Day Friends!! I hope you all spent lots of time with family and remembering the true meaning of the special holiday!

Scott and I decided to get out and visit with his Mom and Step-Dad! They live in Jemison, which isn't far from Clanton, which isn't far from the..

We decided to load up and go get some...

..peach ice cream...

...peach turnovers..

...peaches and strawberries too! And I never can visit Scott's family without getting a bag full of his step-dad's Boiled Peanuts! DELICIOUS!!! (I wonder if you can have boiled peanuts at a wedding reception....)

We had a great time visiting with Scott's family and Scott even enjoyed getting to see a bus full of Tennessee Titan's cheerleaders on their way back from a camp..

(I opted not to look like a complete weirdo and snap pictures of these girls. I mean, the little redneck boys throwing stuff at them were traumatizing enough, I'm sure!)

We picked up Miss Haley and started to grill out!

Scott did an excellent job manning the grill!

We ate hamburgers, grilled corn..

..mixed fruit..

..and Parmesan new potatoes!

I think it was a success! Scott was so impressed with his grilling skills that he told me we are eating something grilled tonight and tomorrow! Woohoo! FINALLY!

And who doesn't finish up any good holiday without.....

..a holistic ear wax candle!!

Scott has wanted to try this because he heard from some other people how the treatment really helps! Haley was really amused...she kept saying, "I can't wait to see Daddy burn his ear!" 

I was really concerned about catching the couch on fire! It wasn't as exhilarating as I thought it would be, but entertainment, none-the-less!

Spring Break PC Style!!

Last week, me and my family took Thursday through Sunday and went to Panama City Beach! Vacations are no longer the same for me...it's no longer jello-shots and foam parties (haha..not really!..kinda..), but it's sand castles and coating kids in sun screen!

We stayed at a fairly new resort, Laketown Wharf. It's right across from Pineapple Willy's and the beach. It has 5 pools, shops (that unfortunately are empty), a cabana restaurant and the rooms were great!

Right as we pulled up, we saw this...

Dad LOVED the beach!! It's like he wanted to tell us, "Have fun!"

The little kids had lots of fun......  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... playing in the pool and at the beach

 

 

.... riding Go Carts

 

...jumping on trampolines

..getting new hair dos

 

..playing Wii

 

 

..shopping & eating..

....and sleeping in bunk beds, and playing mini-golf! And why don't I have a picture of me beating everyone at Mini Golf? I don't know, but I'm also happy to report that on Haley's first time to play mini golf, she got a hole-in-one at her first green! Oh...and the adults had lots of fun too! :)

And who goes to the beach without making pictures on the beach???

                                   

                                   

..And make kissy faces!!

..And take naked baby butt pictures!!

We had a great time! Looking forward to many more family trips in the future!!