Sunday Family Dinner

Last weekend we went up to Vancouver to spend time with the whole (Lindquist) family. This past Sunday was Easter and traditionally I think we would all get together at my parent's house then, but Karter and Melanie headed back to Idaho for school. 

It was great to see everyone. I am continually amazed at how great each of my brothers are and how they are lucky to have all found someone special. Our boys had a blast playing with all their aunt and uncles. 

Family fun out in the back yard.

 A semi-competitive game of badminton, a little friendly game of basketball, lots of good food and great conversations. 

Since my parent's agreed to take care of dinner for everyone I volunteered to make dessert. We had a sibling vote and the winner choice was a No Bake Samoa Cheesecake. 

I'm not gonna lie, it was relatively easy to make and REALLLLY delicious! 

I added whip cream and it was the perfect addition. 

OH SO GOOD! 

Friends.

I have spent the last 4 weeks watching a good friend from our ward's little girls while she studies for online school. They are adorable and so well behaved. This is our last week with them and I'm sure the boys will be sad, as they truly look forward to our 3 days a week with "the girls". It's also been a lot of fun having girls in my home. They bring such a different vibe to the house and balance out my crazy boys quite nicely. We have had some killer dance parties, craft days, and awesome bike rides. 

In addition to having the girls each week we are so blessed to have great friends in the neighborhood who frequent our house with surprise visits. The boys were thrilled to take a ride in this bad boy one morning. B told me he wants to get a car like this for his "treat" for doing his school stuff. I informed him that he'd better ask Santa or maybe mom and dad for something like that on his Birthday. 

Blazers v. Clippers

Tyler was able to score some tickets to the Blazers/ Clippers game for a great price from a discount he receives through work. We decided it would be fun to treat my youngest brother, Karter, and my dad to going with us.

 Although the seats were a little higher up, we still had an enjoyable time. I had a hard time trying to zoom in (which my camera does well), but not being able to use my flash. Thus some of the pictures are a little blurry, but you get the idea.

 The players lining up for the national anthem.

 My favorite part, aside from watching the actual game) was getting to see the cheerleaders (something you don't get to watch on TV). I love being at an actual game-- hearing the crowd roaring to life, watching the dancers and cheerleaders, feeling the vibrations from the speakers and the arena, seeing two people get chosen from the crowd for silly free throw shooting games, observing people become incredibly outrageous over a bad call, I love the atmosphere, the music, and most of all I love that I get to be there with my husband. Watching him light up, feeling his hands get sweaty when the score is close, seeing him smile because he's happy to be watching something he loves, and best of all getting a couple of kisses. :)

 What more can I say, except for that we had a wonderful time, the Blazers won (whoo hoo!), we had great company, awesome food, and left the game with our free Chalupahs! :) Ha ha, we got a good laugh about that since the tickets we paid for and the overpriced food more than paid for those Chalupahs we got when they scored over 100 points, but it was still fun.

After herding out of the arena, somewhat cattle style, we had the most entertaining part of watching people cram onto the trams. We were lucky enough to be able to get on one later that wasn't so full.

Thanks for an awesome night of fun babe!

Halloween/ Harvest Apartment Party

Halloween is such a silly holiday.... what other time during the year can children and adults alike dress up in ridiculous costumes and still appear normal? However, it's a kids dream come true. Dress up, say "Trick or Treat?" and then get some candy in return? Who could deprive their children of such fun? Not me.

It's just that it sort of kills me to spend money on a costume that my kids will wear once (twice if I can re-use them for Braxton). This year I decided to be more creative. I thought Braxton would make the cutest cowboy. I had some fabric I got from my Grandma and figured I could sew up a little vest. Then, with the help of my mom... I borrowed the red bandanna and the black cowboy hat (from Unlce Scott, who's on a mission- I don't think he'll mind).

 Total cost of B's costume: $0.00! And doesn't he look ridiculously cute in that gigantic cowboy hat?

 Quincy decided this year that he wanted to be a skeleton. I looked everywhere for the cute skeleton jammies that are sold in lots of stores... problem? Everywhere I went they either didn't have his size or they didn't have them period, due to the fact that stores are cranking out Christmas stuff. It was rather frustrating. BUT my wonderful visiting teach informed me that she had not ONE, but TWO skeleton costumes-- one in Quincy's right size. The only problem with borrowing it is that she wasn't able to get it to me before the Apartment Party so we had to improvise with a costume for it. Q didn't seem to mind wearing the Micheal Jordon outfit again.

 At the party, they had a bubble machine. I don't care how old kids are.... bubbles are ALWAYS a hit. My boys spent lots of time over here by this. By the end of the evening Braxton's hair SMELLED like bubbles.

 The only downside for B was that there were kids Quincy's age that were bigger, taller, and faster at popping the bubbles before he could get to them. He seemed to handle it well....

 Quincy trying to sneak some pop.

 And speaking of pop... Braxton doesn't yet understand that pop has carbonation in it, he also can't describe the feeling that carbonation has in his mouth/ tummy. The only way he describes drinking pop is by saying "HOT". This pictures is him telling me the pop is "hot". lol

How DO you explain the feeling of carbonation??

 My little poser.

 Whenever B sees a baby that is sleeping he says "sssssss" instead of  "shhhh". I still think it's cute.

 CHEESE!

 "Where's the bubbles?"

 During the party the kids get to hit a pinata. They have all the little kids line up first. Each kid got two swings. I thought it was funny Quincy was surrounded by all these princesses. :)

 I told Q to hit the pinata as hard as he could-- try to break the candy out. He did a good job. I, however, did not do a good job capturing a picture of him hitting. The picture above looks like he didn't even hit it, but he did. There were too many parents in the way for me to get a good picture.

 Apparently since the cowboy hat was gigantic B felt the need to walk/ stroll around with his hands on it like this. To  keep it on?? I'm not quite sure.

We had a great time at the party and the boys already have a bucket full of candy. Good thing they just went to the dentist, right?

It must be summer... at least weather wise...

It's a rare thing that we have beautiful sunny weather around here, but since we do we have to enjoy it. And what better place to enjoy the sun than by (or in) an outdoor pool? We have an outdoor pool in our apaartments, but it's always freezing and partly covered... so we thought we'd try out one of the two... yes. TWO Portland outdoor pools. We went to the Sellwood Pool. It was pretty packed, but would you expect anything less during a hot day? The pool is wonderful. Not only is it surrounded by the beautiful Sellwood Park, but it is an old pool- just celbrated over 100 years now.

It is also extremely family friendly. The pool has a zero degree edge, so the little kids can play and walk right in. Not to mention it has lots of water sprayers, a side, and a kids basketball hoop. We will be returning next year, as that will probably be the next time the weather will be that nice. :)