i'm so behind...

the boys went to sleep-away camp in july for the first time...

camp perkins is named for lake perkins, and i'm the proud parent of "polar" and "grizzly" bears, which means they had to get into the lake at night stay in the cold mountain lake and do bobs (griz) and then also go in the icy morning water of the same mountain lake (polar) and do more bobs!

jackson

they both were very excited to go... not one teary eye from any of us!

ryan

the boys of cabin #8

"nestled in the Sawtooth Mountains National Forest, camp perkins is a place where the Holy Spirit is at work. within this setting of pristine mountain lakes, babbling creeks and inspiring ridges of granite peaks you will find the comfort of our facilities, the excellence of our programs, the exciting recreation of the lakes and meadows and a friendly staff of people committed to sharing the Word of God" and world-class fly-fishing...

dave had a great day of fishing, after we dropped the boys off, and before the storms came rolling over the mountains... i read.

i {heart} my dad

my dad is awesome.

back in the day, i came home from somewhere and the house was all dark. my mom met me at the door and said, "don't go downstairs yet." being a ME and a tweener, i probably whined and fussed until my dad yelled up the stairs that we could come down.

so my mom grabbed me, and together we walked downstairs. it was dark with the exception of the glow of the tv, and then there was the vision of the beginning of michael jackson's thriller video! at the time, MTV was only showing the abridged version--not the whole 14 minutes, which included the scene of the werewolf movie. so you can imagine my confusion over why we were seeing the whole thing, and just at that minute...

but wait! what was that shiny silver box on top of the tv?

my parents had just bought a betamax and the first video they bought was "the making of thriller." then they schemed a plan to have it queued up as a surprise for me. this is how i grew up... mysterious car rides that always ended up at a dairy queen; the ruse of having errands to run, only to go to the garage to see my first car... and now, he's doing it for my kids with the whole disneyland trip...

did i mention, he's awesome?!

summertime...

...and the livin' is easy...

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...