Great Wolf Lodge (trip number 5)

We are Great Wolf Lodge junkies! We wanted to take Preston on his birthday but the rates for spring break were RIDICULOUS! So we went a few weeks early and this trip we roped in our friends the Ownbys to come with us. Preston was so excited to show Trenton all the slides.

Squirting others with water is always a favorite! Look at the smile on Trenton's face.

Elic thought he was big man on campus since he's been to the Lodge before. He wanted to try the wave pool and kiddie activity pool all by himself, but didn't argue when we said he had to be with an adult.

This is the "hurry up taking pictures, mom, so we can go play!" look.

I thought Darren was silly for bringing the Baby Bjorn with us, but he really did use it. And now that we have three to look out for, it was great to have free hands to help wrangle the older boys.

I was so happy to see that Preston seemed to pick swimming right back up from where we left off last summer. He only wore the life vest because it made his mom feel safer (yes, kids in water kinda makes me extra paranoid).

Trenton and Preston were all giggles as they slid down EVERY slide they could. I don't have any pictures of the water fort, but I think that was one of their favorites. They spent most of the day running up and down it.

We missed story time since the kids were still wanting to play in the water. But, we did make it for the animated show.


This was our first time to get a "fun" room. Usually we get the cheapest room which is the family suite- two queen beds and nothing special. But we felt that the boys were old enough for a bunk bed room. We chose the Wolf Den and it was so cute. The boys loved that they had their very own flat screen in their den.

It's great when your kids are so tired from all the swimming and playing that they ask to go to bed.
We let each boy play one game in the arcade. Preston loves this one. You basically "jump rope" over the digital line as it moves faster and faster. I wish I had pictures of Darren playing this game- it was quite funny (and he almost won the big jackpot!).

The second day was more swimming and more playing. Darren and Mark took Preston and Trenton to play water basketball. Trinity was sweet to give me girl time and ride a big raft ride with me and Stephanie. Although you can stay until the water park closes the second day you are there, we never make it past lunch time because the kids are so worn out.

Well, I don't think Holden had the best first experience with water (outside of a bathtub). Right when Darren set him down to splash with him a little, some kids ran by and drenched him. He never really recovered after that. We hope for better results this summer in the pool.


I really wanted a picture of all three before we left and they were so sweet to cooperate even though they were all extra tired.

Aren't they precious? Everyone was asleep in the car even before we left the parking lot. We can't wait until the next visit- who wants to go with us?

Baby Aaron

Darren's brother Shawn and his wife Kim had a baby boy! I know that he is over six weeks old now, but Aaron Patrick Hughes made his way into the world January 18th. He gave his parents a little scare upon arrival. His umbilical cord was short and seemed to be wrapped around him, well it tore as he came out and he wasn't breathing. But the midwives took control of the situation and he is perfect and healthy today. Every picture I have of him he's sleeping (must be nice to have a baby that truly sleeps all the time). Holden liked spending time with his cousin, but had strong opinions about me holding Aaron.

It's just like Holden is saying "Wake up Aaron so we can play!"


This is the most awake I could get him- the one eye open look.

Now it's back to deep sleep. We love you Aaron and can't wait to see what kind of young man you become!

Crystal's Shower

I know I am almost a month behind in posting this, but I did want to include Crystal's shower on the blog. My sister-in-law, Kim, and I hosted a recipe and kitchen shower for Crystal and Sammy. Don't they look like they should be on the cover of a magazine? They're beautiful people! My sweet friends Stephanie, Nicole and Jenn Pool braved the snow to help me decorate- and I'm so thankful that they did because I could not have made the Fellowship Hall look nearly as beautiful as they did.

The shower was held over Valentine's weekend so we used red and pink as our color scheme. The center piece boxes each displayed a different type of Valentine candy and conversation hearts were sprinkled across the tables. Yes, those are miniature wooden spoons and whisks in the center piece boxes as well (thank you Jenn for letting me borrow your idea from the Santa breakfast- super adorable!!)

Each guest brought a family favorite recipe to help Crystal fill up her recipe box with yummy dishes to cook for Sammy.

We served breakfast treats like Mexican egg casserole, apple French toast, fruit with marshmallow dip, and powered sugar donuts to name a few. Aren't those tulips pretty (great pick Stephanie).

These little hearts were my favorite item at the shower. Yes, it took quite a long time to make them but it was so worth it. I wanted to make cake balls except my first attempt at them didn't go so well. But, my friend Anna told me some trade secrets and had the clever idea of making them into shapes- so cute! These were red velvet on the inside and yes, Stephanie and I did dip the bottoms in chocolate and the tops in pink tinted almond bark. They were delicious!! And why wouldn't they be- red velvet cake, cream cheese icing and two types of chocolate- YUMMY!

I loved all the pretty ribbon on the plates and all the fun stands everyone let me borrow. I sure know what I'm putting on my Christmas list.

I would eat one of these just because of how cute that plate is!

This is the gift table and I only had time to take pictures before the shower started- but doesn't it look great?

Yes, I dressed the boys in pink- even though Preston protested greatly. It's hard to get him to do things for me especially when his dad won't wear pink. But it was Valentine's weekend and I ultimately won the battle. And I really like them in pink! Holden was sleeping in his stroller so I decided not to bother him with a photo shoot.

I got so busy once the guests started arriving that I really don't have many pictures of the actual shower. Here is the future Mr. and Mrs. Sammy Duran. I hope Sammy knows what he's getting himself into! We love you Aunt Crystal.

They received some great gifts for their kitchen.

The kids only lasted through eating breakfast so we let them watch a movie on the DVD player. It was wonderful because we didn't hear a peep from them the entire length of the movie.

Now that all their showers are over we are anticipating the wedding (March 20th). Should be quite an event and I can't wait to see how all the months of planning come together. We're praying for you Crystal and Sammy- try to stay stress free these last few weeks.

Winter Wonderland!

I couldn't believe all the snow we had last week! The whole day at Sunshine School all I kept saying was "I can't believe it's not stopping!". We were so happy to come home and finally get to play in it. I don't know how many of you read Frog and Toad stories but they're a favorite at our house. There is one story called Down Hill where Frog convinces Toad to go out in the snow. He makes him put on all the clothes (snow pants, hat, scarf, jacket, etc.) and sled down a big hill. By the end of the story Toad decides that while the snow may be beautiful, his bed is warm. Well, that sums up my feelings. I love to look at the snow from the comfort of a window. I got so tired of drying all our sweaters, mittens, and socks and hearing all the crying when their hands were hurting from being too cold. But we did have a few good snow ball fights. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our winter fun:



Elic would barely stop throwing snow balls at me to let me take pictures.

Now that is a great picture isn't it? Elic took that snowball right in the face and just laughed and laughed. We invoked the "no snow balls in the face rule" right after that shot.

Look how hard the snow was still coming down! And you can see that is was up to their knees, which was so fun to watch them try to run in.


Sliding down the fort was a favorite activity.




Maybe this was why they were getting so cold- laying down in the snow and getting soaking wet!

Yes, this is our poor snowman. He's just sad looking! We didn't even try to dress him up or anything.

Preston's favorite thing about the snowman- knocking him down!

Our neighbors built this cute guy- maybe they should come teach us how to make a real snowman! If you're wondering where Holden is during all this fun, well, he was on my hip while I took pictures, but really I didn't want to risk getting him sick and letting him truly experience the snow (I know, I'm protective of my baby). He did sit by the window in his exersaucer and watch his brothers and dad play, though. We'll end with this little clip of the boys- enjoy!

Mayonnaise, Mustard, Ketchup!

I just wanted to make sure that everyone saw all the posts I did yesterday in an attempt to catch up. Be sure to scroll down and view the "new addition" and "tents and towers". I'm hoping to post our snow fun and Crystal's shower later today. Enjoy!

Valentine baking

For the last week we have been getting ready not only for Valentine's Day but also for a kitchen shower for Darren's sister which was held on Saturday, February 13th. I'll post all the shower pics later, but wanted to show you how our kitchen looked like a Valentine explosion on Wednesday as we baked for two kids' classmates, plus my sweet class, three wonderful teachers, and our Sunshine school staff. Oh, did I mention it was also my night to bring snacks to small group? Why not- what's adding one more when you're already cooking all day!

Here's a mid-day look at the goodies.
These yummy treats were not only for small group but also the party favors for the shower. I don't think I'll be making any more of these anytime soon. It took us two full days to make them all! The boys were big helpers. I just gave them a pan and they lined up the pretzels and even unwrapped the Hugs. I did all the M&M placement since the pans were a little warm from being in the oven.

The boys also helped make these cookies for Elic's class and the Sunshine school staff. I thought they were extra tasty!
I bought a fun brownie pop tray that I wanted to try out. All the pops came out tilted, but I think they turned out great. Preston helped me dip them in the white chocolate and then added all the heart shaped sprinkles. We gave these to his class, my class and all the boys' teachers.

Even though it was a long week of baking, it was well worth it when Preston picked his brownie pop as the first Valentine treat to eat after the parties at school. Thank goodness there aren't any holidays for a few months- wait I have to get ready for Preston's 5th birthday party! So much for resting!

New Addition

We have closets- glorious closets in our game room! The only complaint we have with our house is that it has no storage. I wish I had some before pictures of this room but you can just imagine boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling and then covered with a sheet. Games stacked and covered with blankets- and then try to tell a 4 year old and a 2 year old to stay out of the games (my that didn't work). We found a contractor through Darren's work (the husband of one of his co-workers) and Mr. Todd and his son worked for three weeks to make our beautiful closets. Really, if you hadn't seen the room before you would never know that the closets didn't come with the original house plans. They look so nice! We had two closets built, one on either side of a window. The doors face the inside and it really has opened up the room.
Shelves were put in on one side for all the games.

And finally a closet for all of Darren's collectibles! The shelf along the top is for his signed basketballs and other memorabilia.

Yes, this is the closet now. Can you see how badly we needed it? Really this one is almost all baby stuff so if we can just stop having kiddos then we can empty most of this.

And here is the collectible closet with a few other things thrown in- wouldn't want to waste any space.

Doesn't it look nice (minus the vacuum cord).


Here is how the room looks now (nice and calm)

We finally put in the TV that Darren worked so hard to buy when he got to Walmart at 4:30am the day after Thanksgiving! The surround sound works great and the kids love to watch movies up there. They say that it echoes! We can certainly cross that home repair job off our list.