keepin' the spark alive: 2014

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Setting Sail

After spending a few days in Robert's mission areas, we met up with my family in Miami to go on a cruise; our first cruise! We spent 4 kid-free days going to Key West and Cozumel and it was a blast (our kids stayed with Robert's brother David and his wife Mandy, and had their own fun with their cousins...Thank you, thank you David and Mandy!!!)

Florida

While in Florida, we took a boatride through the Everglades. It was beautiful but we went during the hottest part of the day, so we didn't see too much wildlife. The boat captain scared us several times when he jumped down from up above though. Seriously, you need to not jump out at people when they are looking for alligators :)

The fenced in gators posing for pictures

This giant iguana guy was chillin' on the lawn in front of church. Pretty cool.

Florida Trip

Back in May, we got to go on a vacation we have wanted to do since we got married. We got to go back to Robert's mission and meet the people he worked with in the Ft. Lauderdale mission. It was such a great experience and one that we will never forget. We got to stay with the Wilson family for a few days and also got to visit the Lustig's. To see how much Robert loved these people from his mission was amazing. We could see how happy they were to be living the gospel of Jesus Christ and our faith was strengthened from their testimonies.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Movie Mania Music Workshop

My friend Tara and I decided to do a music workshop for kids this past summer. Wow, it was a lot of work but really fun and rewarding too. All of the music the kids learned was from the movies, new and old, some familiar to them, some they were hearing for the first time. They learned theory, piano, vocals, choreography and sign language during the week and had a performance that Friday for their parents. It was a lot of stuff to learn in just a week but they did awesome! All 3 of my kids got to participate and sang solos at the performance. It was a great opportunity for all of us!

Hamblin Reunion 2014

Carter tries steer roping

Lane and Nate

The hit of the reunion was the carriage rides!

Sage and Gabby

Saturday, September 06, 2014

Preschool Grads

I was glad to be part of our preschool group these last 2 years and to be able to help teach these cute kiddos. We had some fun times! Now they are growing up and most started kindergarten this year.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Sleeping Beauty

All 3 kids participated in the Children's Theater this Spring for Sleeping Beauty. They all really enjoyed this play!

Carter had a blast with her first lead part and solo. She really impressed us with how well she did!

Gabby made lots of friends with her cute group of loyal subjects.

Nate looked up to the older royal guards and felt pretty cool to have 2 lines.

Sleeping Beauty cont...

This picture just needed to be documented, just because.

The best part of the play for the kids is the cast party with enough junk food to last them the rest of the year.

Carter with her friend Karen

Nate exploring the dressing rooms

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Fathers and Sons 2014

Backyard Campout

Robert helped the kids set up a tent in the backyard so they could "campout". They loved helping get it ready with all their pillows and blankets and watched a movie inside the tent. They even liked sleeping in the tent until about 5 in the morning. I had left my bedroom window open and at 5 am my blinds started blowing like crazy from a random wind that had picked up. I looked outside and the tent was halfway in the air! I went out, unzipped the tent and the kids were trying their hardest to hold down the corners and not blow away. I had them all come inside, and put something heavy inside the tent so it wouldn't fly down the street. The kids were asleep on the living room floor within 30 seconds.

Gymnastics Show

I asked Nate which picture I should post of him at the gymnastics show and this was the winner.

Nate was in an all boy class and those teachers probably hated Wednesday afternoons, ha ha. He always had fun though. I was very proud of Nate when they gave out awards for his class. They only gave 3 trophies and so lots of the kids left in tears. He didn't cry and told me he was happy for the boy who won. Way to be a good sport Nate!

The girls both made a ton of progress in gymnastics this year! They have all kinds of new tricks they have learned and love to do them all around the house! You have to watch where you are walking around here.

Easter Sunday

Glow-in-the-dark egg hunt

The Goodmans had us over for a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt. It was so fun! The kids got to hunt eggs with glow bracelets and candy inside. A few eggs even had some money for some extra hunting incentive.

Easter Eggs

This is a catch up post from Easter. Yikes, I'm behind! The kids had fun dyeing eggs and I had fun letting them do most of it by themselves.

This one was my favorite. Didn't know what they had written until it came out of the dye...

Monday, May 19, 2014

From Nate's point of view

Nate took this picture of Gabby running crazy through the house...just thought it was a good representation of everyday life around here :) Love my crazies!

T-ball 2014

Nate had a fun year on the Dodgers this year with awesome coaches. Here he is before his first game.

A quick wave to Mom before his first at bat :)

Running home!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Spring Break

We spent Spring Break in Mesa this year. Since the kids and I didn't make it down for the Gilbert Temple open house, we stopped by to see it. It's beautiful! Robert and I were able to go to a session also.