the plan was...

...they would fly down to arizona to see their nana and papa.

they could beat the heat with a swim everyday,

they could take an art class with their zia,

they could go to the mine and see the big trucks...

but no one said anything about a road trip to DISNEYLAND!

and yet, i guess that's what being the nana and papa warrant... you get to do whatever you want, whenever you want! so today the four of them leave green valley for the happiest place one earth; while dave and i are at home, thankful that we again have water,

the big backhoe is no longer in my front yard and that idaho falls might just get into the 70's and summer can finally start! yea!

happy, happy, happy...

our ryan is 10 today!!

doesn't seem possible, but our second blessing is already ten

...the skateboard...

helmet, ebow pads, knee pads... we've got it all

...the lego brick cake...

and the red smiles everyone was smiling after eating the red cake

... the bionicle buiding...

everyone got a bionicle as a party gift (great idea amy)

so we built them and had bionicle battles

what's a bionicle?

happy birthday, snuggle-bug!

it's so much fun to have the home birthday party... but now i'm so tired : )

as a matter of fact...

... why no, granny, i haven't updated the blog... it must mean that it's time to do so, if i'm getting update requests! : )

speaking of granny,

!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

our granny turned 80 this month, and we road tripped to colorado to celebrate her over memorial day weekend!!

some of my cousins with granny

ali, daniel, granny and mallory... the two party girls on the right : )

our trip was planned this year (unlike last year) and all of the sudden it became this crazy-hectic-totally-fun weekend for us,

first we had granny's party...

we have no idea what was over there, but it was far better (to the boys) than a room full of people they didn't know

then we went to the denver museum of nature and science to see how we now measure up to the dinosaurs...

last time we checked, these guys were a bit below the t-rex's knee... and the one on the left didn't have quite the attitude. he used to be happy to have his picture taken in front of the dinosaurs... {big sigh}

a teaching lesson for our little pals on how to have a super-fun pillow fight and how to make a dog pile...

thanks for the picture megs...

and finally, the hentzen memorial day tradition:

a colorado rockies game...

next time we're going to call ahead for winning game...

not a sad, sad, s-a-d loss

and the long, long, long drive home...

they almost fit!

my mom just sent these...

i'm not sure what else to say

ryan-- and his pimp sunglasses

is it me, or do jackson's legs look long enough to drive that thing?

this is my dad's new toy, by the way.

you let them retire to arizona and they go crazy...

here and there... and there

it's been a very hectic april...

i have been to boise for my annual meeting for the Idaho Center for the Book, and who knew that boise had so much to offer?!

if you're ever in our captial, check out the viziato... 90 minutes of pure heaven! and then there was this awesome flatbread community oven place that i had lunch at with my friends, amy and jacquie--thanks for lunch amy : )

but then we had Easter... and sadly, this is an Easter without pictures. i hate to say that {in this independent-woman day and age} there are things that i really rely on my husband to do... things like bring paper towels and toilet paper up from the basement, pay the bills--literally, write the check, put a stamp on the envelope, and mail it; scoop snow, take out the trash... oh, and make sure there are batteries in the camera.

i've adapted to some of these, like i keep the toilet paper (all 12 rolls in the linen closet) and cait brings up paper towels when she cleans; and the boys scoop and take out the trash... but i still don't pay the bills... and call me lazy, i don't do batteries.

so when we were coloring eggs, i picked up the camera and saw that the batteries were dead, i just set it back down and went back to coloring eggs--how sad is that?! i kinda chalk it up to not wanting to celebrate anything while dave is gone. pathetic, but i love this man and when he's gone, so is my enthusiam...

okay, anyway...

the good part is that he came home and we all flew to houston to see the morrisseys thenext weekend! they had another baby! another girl {for me to indulge}...

so, we're the very proud god-parents to erin...

and to collin...

and reagan...

and now to summer anne!

now, you may recall i have had this love/hate relationship with texas... okay, mostly hate. everytime we would travel there was always--i mean, always--a major hassle. and this trip was awesome! we had the most fun! the guys played with all of the morrissey cousins, just like they were one of them. i sometimes feel bad for jacks and ryan because they don't have cousins, but it's just the way it is. i could blame my parents for just having me, but why?! i just have to be thankful that we are so blessed with great friends and they great times we get to spend together. and it's so nice that somethings never change and can be counted on... like dave and erik having many beers.

we got home on monday, and now i'm in the flathead valley... eventful times.

ah... spring break!

we were on vacation to relax...

and so relaxed that very few pictures were taken, but here are some of the good ones

ryan immediately started drawing pictures of nana's cacti

jackson... don't you love those floral shorts with the striped shirt

field trip with papa to see TRAINS!

spring training baseball...

there is nothing better than a minor league field with a major league team! and to catch brad hawpe's foul ball--yep, life is good! sunglasses were a big thing this trip too

whip-tailed lizards were every where at the sonora desert museum... and i managed to stay on the trail on stay off the cacti!

we had a great time!

thanks nana & papa!

happy birthday, jack-inator... part 2

not only did we have a blast sledding the weekend before, we got to celebrate jackson's birthday again --
on the real day!

i think it was the first friday the 13th since he was born 11 years ago! some may say it's bad luck, but not us! we we're blessed early that morning with our sweet jackson henry!

and this year we did it up big at our new red robin and came back home for chocolate-chocolate-chip cake with the house favorite mint chip ice cream... and presents!

we had friends over and dave was home... it was about perfect with the one small exception that my baby was 11!

i don't know where that tiny baby went? or that chunky monkey that helped us welcome home his new baby brother? where is that sweet toddler who used to crawl into my bed every morning to watch clifford the big red dog on pbs? i feel like i just got used to the pre-kindergartner who had a backpack that was practically as big as he was...

and now here he is... in 4th grade , playing all kinds of sports, hanging around with other fellas in the neighborhood, riding bikes and playing catch, you know, just being a kid.

he's growing into a wonderful person who has a kind heart, is helpful and still occasionally crawls in bed with me--only now we watch spongebob!

happy birthday to my beautiful boy!

he got binoculars from jacquie for our rockies spring training games

(too bad we won't be able to see matt holiday play ball)

i call this an "uncle eric smile"...

he may have been tired of smiling, or he was humoring while i made him smile for me instead of opening another present!

and here are my other two favorite guys!