Nascar... who knew?

Bored again, we decided to head out to the Larry H. Miller Motorsports way for a little Nascar!

We are insane people I know!

It actually was really cool and loud. We all liked car number 3 becasue the kids felt sorry for it being in last place!!! It would come around almost a full lap behind the rest of the pack and the kids would cheer for it!

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Bordem....

So what do you do when your kids go to school? 9 to 4 is a long time...

Apparently you tear your house apart and decide to paint it from top to bottom!!!!

I've been wanting to redo my cabinets and re-paint for years but didn't have the motivation to get it started. Craig also has always wanted to ceilings white.... so I PAINT!!! What else?

We've had ladders in the living room for weeks and poor Sami has had her room torn apart too.

The end will be worth it thought... RIGHT?

Who goes to school in July???? We do!

So Sami and Zach are back to school. Yeah it's July but such is the life of year round school.

Zach started 3rd grade the day before Sami started 1st grade (she had testing). I can't believe they are so old!!! I can't believe I have my baby in all day... it's so bitter sweet. She's my pal and I feel lonely with out her... But, she loves it and is so thrilled to be in school. Can't say Zach loves school, but he's such a sweet boy and goes diligently!!

!
Both kids are lucky enough to have their friends again this year.
Zach has been with Braden McCoy since pre-school and Sami and Elliot Stevens (her future husband:) ) were in kindergarten and pre-school together too...
just more wedding album photos!

Daddy's Little Princess

Craig has a soft spot for his girls...

I've always said that, Natalie might think he's hard on her and Nicole too might think that, but when it comes to his 3 girls he would do just about anything for them... Dance trips to New York and gorgeous weddings come to mind... but this might just take it....

Meet Riley and Shadow:

Now I am not saying by any stretch of the imagination that Craig loves Sami more... it's just Sami might have him wrapped around her finger just a little too tight!!!!

I would love to have gotten a pic with all three kids eyes opened or at least looking at me, but they had better things to do that look at the camera!!!

So how do we have three dogs? Who does that?

It all started when we were going to watch the boys play softball at Draper Days. We are driving along and we see a sign in a parking lot for Maltese/St. Bernard pups. Craig and I are both thinking how weird we've got to stop and see this strange mix.... yeah stupid!!! Natalie even said don't stop you'll have to buy one.

We stopped FIRST MISTAKE! They weren't a mix they were separate and Sami fell head over heels with this Maltese/Pom she said she loved her (it was a boy).

We leave and go to the game. Sami is hysterical, beyond hysterical just beside herself she has to have this puppy. She just won't let it go.

Craig decides to stop and get the guys number on the way home SECOND MISTAKE!!!

Her little dog has been sold and she just looses it! The guy tried to tell her where it went and how this guy just returned from Iraq and bought it for his little 4 year old... she could have cared less. She cried non stop for hours.

THIRD MISTAKE: We look in the paper to see if there are any puppies we can look at. We go look at these poodle pups and of course Sami says that this little one ( the black one) love her... she has to have her (it's a boy!).

Natalie and Zach like the little grey guy so the lady says she'll give them both to us for a deal FOURTH MISTAKE and we are on our way to Wal-Mart to get supplies for TWO more dogs.

Normal people stop after the first mistake right?

Well, can't complain they really are darling little pups and if you are training one why not two? I don't know maybe I need to be hospitalized???

Sun, Fun and Family

Mostly we've spent several weekends up on our property... WE LOVE IT UP THERE!
We still haven't had an opportunity to have Jeff see it but we finally had Ryan up there to spend the night with us.... good times.

We have laid out and watched the stars, we even were able to see the Space Station one night when it was so clear it made a rare appearance. That was fun to watch it travel across the sky from west to east.



We've done endless days in the sun... the slip n' slide with friends and cousins was a favorite (not with Craig burns the grass)... but the kids LOVE it.



Endless hours with Sage and McKenna and Aspen. My kids love them!

Camp Tracy

So I am a mom of a boy... What do mom's of boys do?




They go to Camp Tracy!!!! Well technically Craig was supposed to go as Cub Master but he had meetings he couldn't get out of so I went instead.

It was actually fun. I basically followed Zach's troop around while these darling boys taught them all sorts of fun stuff. How to shoot a BB Gun, hiking, fun skits and all about maps.

The best part is that Zach's friends were there, but when he saw me coming he ran up to me and said, "Mom I'm so glad you are here!". He grabbed my hand and walked with me the whole day, talking to me and just wanting to be by me.

At one point Braden wanted Zach to come be by him and Zach said I want to be with my mom.... AW I was so touched I could have cried right there becasue I know at 8 that's neat to have your mom but soon enough he will want nothing to do with me so I will treasure that moment forever!

Birdie... Birdie... in the SKY!

So I woke up in the middle of the night to Natalie making some rather weird nosies. Huffing and Puffing and slamming doors. Then I heard her on the back porch in the window well...

The next morning she's at it again! What is going on???? Turns out a baby bird had gotten stuck in the well and couldn't fly. The parents kept flying in and crying and trying to get it out to no avail. So Nat and I were both too scared to touch it so we get Zach... He gets it out and it walks back over and falls in again!!!!


We did this about 3 times... finally Sami gets in and takes it to the yard. Well, Izzy goes nuts and tries to attack it. Natalie and I freak out screaming at the dog to leave the poor bird alone. Finally safe from the window wells it went into a tree under my window and was there all day. I saw the parents come over there and I left Izzy in side for several hours.

We went out later and couldn't see the parents or the baby bird... I figured it was safe.

Later that night the kids saw Izzy in the back flower bed freaking out... She finally succeeded in killing our rescue. We were all so sad, that Craig buried for the kids.

A few days later the kids found another bird by the garage. Turns out it was our same friend, Izzy had to have another go at our friend...

We have this family of birds that builds a nest each year in our roof. I found a baby bird by my garden about a week before this horror. I think that parents pushed it out to fly and it hit its poor head on the concrete mow strip.

Anyway, sad time for birds in our yard! Dang dog.

Snowbird

So I have gone to Snowbird every summer with my Grandma since I was like 7 or 8. I always looked forward to that week it was my one and only trip. Okay, to Snowbird? Really, it was our "trip"! We looked forward to it for so long, we waited out on the lawn for Grandma for hours. We checked in at 4:00 and we were out on the lawn by 10:00 just waiting!!!!!! It always took us about 3 hours it seemed to get up there because the car was loaded so much. We usually ended up waiting for Shelley to pass us in her pacer and give us a ride cause the car was to heavy to make it up the canyon.

We had some good times... swimming, walking to the plaza for ice cream, pretending to be indians on the "island", but I mostly just remember Grandma and how much fun she made that week for us. She was non stop cooking and cleaning and she never complained once!!! Still, all these years of going up there with grandkids I haven't heard her complain!! She's amazing.

Unfortunately, we were in San Fran for the first part of the week so we were only able to go up once, but my kids love to go up there with their cousins and Grandma!!!

San Fran

It's been awhile so bear with me as I update the summer goin' ons in the Hinton Household!!!!

We took Sami and Zachy and Brady to San Fransisco for a summer trip this year. We wanted to be different and go somewhere fun. Craig and I have both been there but never together and I always jump at a chance that I've been too so Craig isn't "Mr. know it all"!!!! Ha/Ha


We had a lot of fun and Sami and Zach were so excited to be with Brad they both adore him so much and just love being with him. He was a sport to be with two lame adults and two little kids. He was good to indulge their need to have him pay attention to them!!!

Here's a few highlights:

First of all when we got there, my camera battery was dead so we spent the first few days looking for a Best Buy to get a new one. We found one and they didn't have the right kind so we went hunting again ! I took this pic because we were all excited to not have to be on the "hunt" anymore!


I didn't get pictures of us at the Giants game that we went to.
Craig even paid 30$ to park a rarety for him... I have to admit that was a rip off!
But, the game was fun. The stadium is on the water and it was the best view. Just sitting there with the Ocean watching the best game on earth!!! I wanted a picture of Craig buying scalped tickets cause that was hilarious... we'll all just have to imagine it!

At Dinner... Cute huh?



I had to snap this because we waited in traffic to get across the bridge for so long, it was a relief to finally get to the toll booth!!



I took this picture because I personally have never seen so many homeless people as I did on this trip. It was really sad, wherever we went we saw at least 5 or 6 they were just everywhere and it was sad. I liked this lady though, her flag, her umbrella she was so cute in her little home.



Our Day at Fisherman's Wharf! Unfortunately, we didn't get to tour Alcatraz the tours were sold out! But, we took a tour around it and that was fun. FREEZING but fun we went around the island and then we went under the Golden Gate bridge. It's massive it was weird to be under it.




At the Aquarium...



Brad loves scary bugs!!!!


Zach's pretty into the fish, but what he really loves was the
sharks...



The kids loved the sea lions. We saw one that was so dead asleep it's head kept bobbing off the side... It would pick it up and it would just fall again, then the kids would roar with laughter they thought it was so funny!



Unfortunately, Craig missed it he was in line paying! Seems like that's where he always was... paying for this or that!!! THANKS HONEY...



We spent a lot of time driving and looking at the city... We took the kids to Haight/Ashbury and they had no idea what it was but, Brad saw a lot of "couples" and a lot of rainbow flags!



It may be the crookedest street in America, but it is gorgeous!!!!



We crossed the Golden Gate bridge and went into Marin County and that was just beautiful! San Fran is a really pretty city. It reminds me of a middle easteren city where there are just rows and rows of houses and the streets are all perfectly lined and they have these flat roofs. It's a spectacular city with it's own charm... it's so unique I've always loved it.



On our way home we stopped in Vallejo for a day and went to Six Flags. I didn't take any pictures.. I don't know why? But, Zach was tall enough to go on most of the rides and Sami went on a few roller coasters. I gave her Dramamine and we were lucky enough to not have to deal with vomiting!!! (She paid for it with a really sick day when we got home). Brad and I went off for awhile and rode some sick roller coasters and Craig carried the purse and took the littles around!

All and all a fun trip it was fun to do the hotel and restaurant thing and I always love the long drives... the movies for the kids (I think they watched Taken 3 times) and the long talks with Craig!!! Couldn't ask for much more than that.