First Date! :)

Aubrey recently went on her very first official date!   Well, aside from the mandatory first date with her father anyway.  ;)

She went with a boy named Dylon.


She had an absolutely wonderful time on her date.  Dylon was a perfect gentleman.  He opened doors for her.  Of course, paid for the date and treated her with the utmost respect and kindness.  They double dated with another couple which only added to the fun.  Together they all went and watched the new movie, Malificent.  Aubrey LOVED it.  Then the boys took them out to the sand dunes located just north of our town for a picnic.  The boys made up some turkey sandwiches according to the girls' taste and wishes.  For Aubrey that meant a ton of mayo - she takes after her mother on that one.  They played out there for awhile...threw frisbees and the girls buried the boys all the way up to their necks.  :)  Afterwards, they went to a local dairy farm where they bought and ate their deliciously fresh ice cream. 

I waited up for her to get home.  I could already tell she enjoyed her date before she walked into the house because I could hear her laughing with him as he walked her to the door.  That's a good sign right there....and of course the next 10 minutes of her telling me all about it with a smile on her face.  It was a great first date for Aubrey.

Aubrey and Ronins' Birthdays

Hello blogging world...it's been far too long since our last post.  Yes, we're still alive.  Just popping in to say hello and post a few updates of our family.  Yesterday we celebrated Aubrey's sweet 16th birthday and Ronin's 11th birthday with our extended family.   

Dishing up ice cream and cupcakes after the presents.  My parents and brother, Cory, with his wife and kids came too.  :)

Sweet 16 Party

On the day of Aubrey's actual birthday, she had a friend party at our house - she had a great turnout.

They played the game 500.

 Afterwards, they played Eenie-I-Over.

 

A close family friend, Kendra, stopped by to give Aubrey 16 balloons...well, it ended up being 15 since one of the balloons popped in the car.

 The rest of the evening they played a few other games and laughed a lot.

 The evening was topped off by opening up gifts and cooking up smores.

Aubrey & Alexis.

 Aubrey's childhood friend, Keneisha, who moved away years ago stopped by and surprised Aubrey.

  Now that she's 16 she is old enough to officially start dating boys too - I'm not sure Jed is ready for that.  From the looks of it, I'm not so sure Aubrey's all that comfortable yet with male attention either.  :)

The only boy in the group that Aubrey welcomed physical affection from - her brother, Connor.

But even that is only allowed so far.  

After the family party yesterday, we went and visited my brother, Troy's, grave.

Happy Memorial Day from our family to yours!

More Summer Fun

Sumer is just flying by, here are a few thing we've been up to.  :)

Fourth of July was spent at a nearby water park as a family with my mom and brother and his family.  Getting in the water sounded really good since it's been blazing hot these last two weeks.  Connor brought along his friend, McCade.

Aubrey with her cousins from Florida and Arizona - Drewe and Zoe.

Rigdon chowin' down.

Later that evening we had a BBQ with some family, friends, and neighbors....

Neighbor, Les Devries.

...and ended with some fireworks to top it all off.  :)

As far as the rest of the summer goes.....

Hangin' with Drewe some more at home.

 
I decided that the kids (particularly the boys) could use some practice on their handwriting.  The school system here really doesn't focus on penmanship, especially when it comes to cursive. 

I'm not so sure the boys were as enthusiastic as I was about their practice writing sheets.  Aubrey was excited about it, but then again, she's already got really beautiful (and legible) handwriting.

It's becoming a lost art and I'm determined that my children will at least be able to sign their signature instead of just printing it.  My 12 year old niece, Drewe, informed me the other day that she only knew how to print and didn't know how to write in cursive AT ALL PERIOD.  Say what???  She wanted a copy of my writing packet so she could learn it too and I gladly gave her one.


Rigdon had dental surgery on his mouth two weeks ago.  Such a little cutie.

Coming out of la la land after the surgery.

It took awhile for him to fully become alert.  

Among the several different procedures done, a tooth was pulled.  Who's ever seen a tooth with three roots instead of two?????  I'm still puzzled by this. 

Connor's spending a lot of time with his Grandpa on the golf course. 

 My dad has been teaching him the in's and out's and Connor's really starting to improve and get a knack for the game.

 

We took Connor and Aubrey mountain biking for the first time last week.  It was long, tough going at times, and a bit muddy. 

But they really enjoyed it and said they would like to do it again.  :)

Me and my buddy.  :)

All done and ready to go home. 

But first we got a shot by the trailhead.