From Minneapolis to Mazatlan Mexico

In March, our good friends, the Gardners, invited us to go to Mazatlan with them for Spring Break. It was pretty hard to leave Minneapolis at this time of year to go to Mexico, but we did it anyway.....
Oh Heaven!!! It was amazing. Just to feel the warm sun again and feel your whole body unthaw, and to remember there really are warm places in the world! Once we got there, we never wanted to leave!
The kids spent hours and hours playing on the beach. We also had bonfires on the beach at night and roasted marshmallows...great memories!
Camryn and Lauren dancing on the beach
Lauren strikes a pose!
Samantha's hair was so curly there. I loved it!
We rented a 4 wheeler (I should say, Greg rented a 4 wheeler--his favorite thing! :) for an hour one day. It was so much fun to ride it up and down the beach.
Johnny is actually driving the golf cart all by himself. The Gardner's house is right next to a beautiful golf course.
A four wheeler and a golf cart in the same day----what a treat for a little boy!
There were beautiful sunsets every night.

Camryn is our boogy boarder and body surfer. She runs right into the water and spends hours in it every day. She's our little fish.
And little Sammy--she was just happy to be outside, exploring the world on her unsteady little feet!

Samantha Turns One!

January 28, 2011! One of the fastest years of my life! Where did the time go?
Happy Birthday cutie pie!
Not sure what to think at first....
Decides to touch it and see what happens...
Finally takes a bite...
Turns out she loved it! :) Way to go! You dug right in. You'll fit in just great in this family! :)
Samantha Marie Stone...absolutely adored by her parents and 3 older siblings. She loves to be right in the middle of the action. Loves to be held, loves her favorite pink fuzzy blanket, her bottle. Loves to smile and laugh and to be anywhere her mom or dad is! We love you!

Christmas 2010

This was our first year staying home for Christmas! Although we missed being with family, it was fun to be in our own home. On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner, then we read the Christmas story and the kids did their favorite Hanks tradition, "the ball!"
Johnny got a fire station from Santa!
Camryn and Lauren both got Nintendo DS's from Santa! They were really excited.
Lauren also got a piggy bank, some wii games and some clothes.
Here they are bright and early waiting to see what Santa brought!

Samantha was not sure what to make of it all! :)
Here they are doing "the ball." On Christmas afternoon we had some families in our ward over for a Christmas Brunch. We also surprised our kids with their biggest Chistmas gift: a trip to Pennsylvania to see all of their Stone cousins and their Grandparents. We left the day after Christmas. The kids were really excited!

Johnny Turns 4!

I just had to write a few things about Johnny on his birthday. I can't tell you how much I love this little boy. Part of me can't believe he's 4, but a bigger part of me can't believe he is only 4, because I can't believe that there was ever a time that he wasn't a part our family. I can't even imagine my life or our family without him in it and it seems that I've known him for a lot more than 4 years.
Yesterday, we had a speech assessment done on him so he can start getting speech therapy. He was so cute, he yelled out all the answers to every question with such energy and confidence! :) Anyway, after the interview, the lady said to him, "what's it like to be the only boy with all these sisters?!" Johnny thought for a second and said, "well...I have my dad!" It was so cute, because Johnny truly LOVES his dad and feels such a connection to him. Whenever Greg is home, Johnny is his little shadow...following him everywhere and just talking his ear off :) He always says, "We the boys!"
Today Johnny said, "Mom, I can't believe I the birthday boy!" Johnny's present from me today was that I played cars with him on the floor for over an hour---something I never do and should do more of. (now we have to move all the cars over here and fill them up with gas...now we have to drive all the cars to Wendy's...now we ......) Good for all you mom's who do this on a daily basis! I don't know how you do it! Luckily Johnny's usually just as content doing it alone :) I did enjoy it today.
I also just wanted to write about Johnny's prayer tonight. I love hearing what comes out of his mouth/brain/heart..."Heavenly Father, thank you for this day...all about Jesus never die on the cross again and he go up in heaven and he stay there so he safe so the bad men can't never kill him again..."
I love you Johnny!