Jaydon's Time Trials

This year Jaydon decided that he wanted to do swim team insteadof soccer. Well, he will play soccer in fall after swim is over- Anyways, he is on the Anderson Mill Barracudas and has been having a great time. Last friday was time trials where they swim their strokes and find out a base time so that when they compete they have an idea of what time they need to beat. This team is really great in that they really stress "personal best" as the goal. They want the kids to ultimately swim against themselves and try to get better each and every week.

The girls were being so good considering it was 98 degrees outside.

Here is the whole team getting ready to take the team picture. There are 213 swimmers!

At first Jaydon was not happy about wearing a speedo- but then he said that it made him swim so fast that he loved it!!! He looks so small when he wears it- it cracks me up.

Jaydon is still learing how to do all the strokes and how to breathe properly so he placed towards the end but he had so much fun that he didn't even notice. We know that he will get better and better.

Although he has to swim 6 days a week he absolutely loves it! We hope that this will really make him a great swimmer.

C.J. and Angelica's Wedding

O.K. so I know many of you never even knew I left, but I am now back. On sunday I got a call from my mom saying that my brother was getting married on Thursday- yes, Thursday. So I left at my mom's request on Wednesday afternoon to go and help. The wedding was very emotional as my brother was leaving the next day for his training to get ready to deploy to Iraq. He will be officially deployed in September.

My brother C.J. and his wife Angelica (Angie)

I can't believe that he is married. Doesn't he look good in his uniform?

Angie was a lovely bride. Despite almost faining during the ceremony she was beautiful.

My mom and Dad with the happy couple.

My littlest brother Brandon and his gorlfriend Taylor were both in the wedding. Aren't they cute?
The wedding party.

My family missing my brother and his family in Tennesse. We wish he could have made it but with 4 days notice not all could be there.

Giving that the wedding was planned in 4 days it was a very nice one. All our family and friends that lived close by were there and I was very glad that I could be there to support my family. I wish C.J. and Angelica the best of luck and hope C.J. has a safe deployment in Iraq.

California Bound

Well I got a call on sunday from my mom... Seems my brother has decided to get married before he goes to Iraq and he has decided to do it on THIS THURSDAY!!! So I am leaving tomorrow and will be there until Sunday. Here is a picture of my brother C.J. and his girlfriend Angelica.

I will see you when I get back and probably will not post until then. I hope everyone has a great mothers day!

funny girl

I guess there is a reason we call Jazlynn "funny girl". Colleen sent me this picture of Jaz. This is what she did when she told her to smile. What a charachter!

Our Cruise!

First, I need to apologize for not posting sooner. We have been home for 4 days now and I have been rather slow in getting this posted. Second, I need to apologize for the length of this post. But as you all know, we were on a cruise for 7 days and this isn't even half of the pictures I took. We had a great time. It was really nice to have family with us so we could actually relax a little. The kids were great and we all had a blast.

This is our ship- The Carnival Conquest

Jazlynn during the muster drill- everyone has to do it and not so much fun after standing in lines to get on the ship and the kids having had no naps. Jazlynn was a good sport. Janae on the other hand was not and cried the whole time since they make everyone wear their vests.

Jared, his brother Ben, and the kids hanging out at the in-laws balcony. It was nice that they had a balcony since we were in an inside cabin.
Janae with her pirate-princess faice painting. The kids program was so awesome the kids begged to go there and would stay for hours. Seriously a lifesaver.
Jazlynn loved climbing on the bunkbeds. Kinda scary but she is a monkey.
Jaydon and Jared during the muster drill.


Jaydon going down the waterslide on the ship. He loved it and went over and over again. He had to clinb like 6 flights of stairs everytime so he got alot of exercise.
Jaydon eating his icecream before the slide. What a life huh??
Me on the deck watching the ocean- so much fun!
Jared and I got to spend alot of one on one time with Jazlynn since the older kids were in camp carnival alot of the time and she ate it up.

Our first port was jamaica and we went to a resort called sunset beach. They had water slides, a lazy river, beach access, all you can eat food, hot tubs, kayaks and kiddie pools. We had a great time and the kids loved swimming. Jaydon stayed int he pool all day.
Jared and Janae enjoying the lazy river.
Nana and Jazlynn enjoying the lazy river.

Grand Cayman was the second stop and we went to sting ray city.
Us on the ferry to get off the boat.

Sunset Beach, Montego Bay Jamaica.

Jared trying to get Jazlynn to see the stingrays- the water was too choppy and she didn't like it too much.
Nana and Jaydon on the way to stingray city.
The girls and I hung out on the boat-I decided that I did not like stingrays. Creepy and slimy and considering that they can kill you- not my thing.

Jazlynn our little model.

All the black spots are stingrays and you swim with them and hold them, touch them and feed them. The guys thought this was awesome, the girls- not so much.

Jazlynn is our little beach bum.

Daddy taught Jaz how to hang out and enjoy the sun.

We also went to Cozumel but I have to get the pics from my bro-in-law since he took all the pics that day so I will post more later!

Adios Amigos!!!

Well, the time has come to bid you all farewell. We will not be posting for a week because...
We will be on our Caribbean Cruise. We will be going to Jamaica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. I would say that I will miss you all but I don't know if that is true!!! Ha Ha. We will have lots to post when we are back on the 20th. Adios Amigos!!

Jaydon turns 7!!!

Well- I officially feel old. Jaydon is 7. Which makes me... well old. Last sunday Jaydon celebrated his 7th Birthday and we had Papa, Uncle Richard and Aunt Heather, Uncle Dave and Aunt Janae, and the Bontrager Family over for a small party. Jaydon picked out fish tacos as his birthday dinner (yes, fish) and it was great.

Doesn't he look big???

I guess he liked the squirt guns the Bontragers' gave him.

Heather and Richard gave him pictures that they took underwater of fish and sharks for his room and he was sooo excited.

Jaydon has been asking for snorkeling gear for awhile and was really happy to get it. He loves to snorkel and he loves to swim.

Jaydon's main gift from us is an excursion to x caret in cozumel. We are just taking him and we are going to go snorkeling. He is so excited he can't wait.

Jaydon's new hobby is guitar hero and he is getting pretty good. Here he is showing off for everyone.