Kate is 3!

We went to Sunsplash with cousins on Kate's birthday, so we brought a cake and made it a party. She wanted a princess party.

Her cousins earned tickets playing games and let Kate pick out prizes. She got glasses, a laie and a little unicorn. In this picture, Rebecca, Jim, Erin and Zack are in the background.

Kate opened presents at home after a fun day in the water. She loves to play with Natalie and Elizabeth's barbies, so we got her her first barbie. She loved her princess magnet toy and her 3D chalk. It's kind of sad to see her getting so big, but we're enjoying watching her grow.

Bowling

We went bowling with our Hodgson cousins. I probably bowled my worst game ever, but Elizabeth won the kids game against Ryan, Beth, Natalie, Nick and Kate. Kate got second place. They didn't actually finish their game because they were only this far into it (see picture) when all of the adults and teenagers were done.

After the game, we got a tour of the back of the bowling lanes. It was interesting to see the machines that set up the pins and return the balls. It was loud back there, though, and the kids kept asking to leave. I thought it was cool.

Karen's wedding

It was so wonderful to be there for Karen and Mike's sealing. Kate loved seeing her aunt in a pretty white dress. I loved seeing Karen so happy.

Natalie was thrilled that Karen asked her to hold her bridal bouquet. Swarming around her are cousins Joseph, (Elizabeth), Beth, Emily and Olivia. The girls followed Karen around hold up her train. After the wedding, Karen and Mike fed about 80 of us at the Olive Garden.

Folsom Lake

We had a nice evening at Folsom Lake on Nick's birthday. We rode John's seadoos, ate cake, played in the water and in the sand, and went for a ride on David's boat. I practiced swimming for my triathlon and Nick played with that big stick in the picture for quite a while. In the picture below are nieces Erin, Michelle, Rebecca, and Kaitlin, sister-in-law Keri, Ken's parents Fran and Joe and Ken.

Nick is 5!

Nick's long awaited birthday finally arrived! He got a transformer and a tool box and a scooter. We went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens at the theater with Hodgson cousins and then had birthday cake at Folsom Lake. He thought it was a great day. He keeps bringing up the fact that he's 5 now. It's relavent to almost every situation.

Amused at an amusement park

There were a whole lot of Hodgsons at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. We were together as one big group for part of the day and broke off into smaller groups the rest of the day. Nice weather, fun rides, yummy funnel cakes and doughnuts, good shows, great company. :) We went back 3 days later with Jim and Jill and the kids for another day of fun. We've gotten good use out of our season passes. 6 trips in 7 weeks.

4th of July

Fourth of July at McBean Park in Lincoln! Ken's brother Jim and his family were in town for Ken's sister Karen's wedding, so we had everyone at the park, including Karen's fiance, Mike (in blue shirt). Also in that picture is Ken's brother John, niece Beth, niece Michelle, nephew Michael and his girlfriend Kayla and Karen. The fireworks went off right above us and Michael got a piece of one in his eye. Kate covered her ears because of the loud booming and fell asleep during the show.

Dance

For part of the reunion with my parent's family, we had a family dance. It was so fun! In the conga line are my brother Kevin, sister Amber, sister Camille, nephew Jordan, me, Natalie, niece Gabby, Kate, Elizabeth, Braden, Rachel, Andrew and Cameron.

The hokey pokey with sister-in-law Gherine, sister Amber, my mom and my brother Todd in the foreground.

Temple Open House

While we were in Utah for a reunion, we went through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. This was the first time that Natalie and Nick and Kate had been inside a temple (Elizabeth had been to the Sacramento Temple open house). It was fun manuevering Ken's wheelchair through the 3 story temple. In the picture are my mom, my sisters, my brother and their families. If the faces were easier to see, I'd name them all. :)

A Christmas Carol in June

We went to the promotional train tour of Disney's "A Christmas Carol" movie. They had fake snow, activities for the kids, behind the scenes footage, a 3D preview, and they took our picture and morphed our faces into the characters in the movie. It was almost worth the 2 HOUR wait with 6 six kids (we had our niece and nephew Rachel and Ben for the day). It was fun to see Christmas decorations in June. Afterwards, we went to get ice cream at Sacramento Sweets Co. in Old Sacramento. On the short walk back to the car, we lost track of Nick and Ben. We couldn't find them for about 15 minutes! Agh! I lost my sister's kid! A guy that we were chatting with at the ice cream store about our mini freak show (6 young kids) ended up finding them. They had just kept walking past the car and went to the end of the block. I had checked that way, but not far enough down. We stayed home the rest of the day to keep them all corralled.