Fun in the Sun

Summer is in full swing, which means of course that the Dickens are at the pool or playing in the sprinkler. Noel has this theory that he sweats in inverse proportion to how much time he spends swimming or running around. Hence...we spend a lot of time wet! :)

Here are some pictures of the Dickens' summer fun. 

Greg in the backyard shouting for me to turn the sprinkler on.

Hulk aka Greg

Learning how to pick up chicks next to his ride :)

Bubba chubs enjoying his toy horse.

Yup...looks like Brighton.

Brighton at the pool. Love the new hat!

Awesome goggles!

Nothing says the pool like Cars fruit-snacks

Hard to Say Goodbye

After nearly 7 years of marriage, there is one absolute truth about us...Amber hates change. To which she says, "Yes!" In the last two months we have had to say goodbye to two families with which we have grown to love and appreciate as dear friends. The Birds left us at the beginning of May and now the Reynolds are picking up shop and moving to Kansas City for a couple of years. 

On Friday several families in the ward put together a potluck farewell at Hartland Park. Greg loved it, Brighton loved it, and of course the parents didn't...never fun to say goodbye. However, there was good food and although I said we didn't like it...it certainly was fun :)

Here is Brighton boy playing in the swing. It only took me twenty pictures with the point and shoot to get the one shot I wanted...yuck! Still worth the effort. Although the adage "the difference between a  professional photographer and an amateur is the number of pictures one takes" holds true for point-and-shoots, you still look like an idiot if you shoot too much with a DSLR. Thankfully mine was packed away for a wedding on Saturday :)

Ashley Ann and Greggors romping around. Both tried climbing the tree. Thankfully they never got more than a foot off the ground.

Jennilyn and Amber. What a great combo! Jennilyn and her husband are a pretty stellar couple and taught us many things while they were here.

No post would be complete without a picture of Greg. This is at the end of the evening when we told him he had to go home. Can you tell by the tears that he wasn't happy?! And how about the dirty face...someone likes cookies and running around.

Why We Love Guests

We have been very fortunate lately with the visit of parents and friends. But like usual, let's start with some nice pictures.

Here is bubba chubs with Amber (nice job on the self-portrait). Nothing says tired parents like a sewn on tie. 

Papa and Grandma Dickens stopped by last weekend to visit. They had not seen the boys since Christmas and made the most of their trip. The girls spent the morning combing garage sales. In the afternoon we went to Mellow Mushroom for some yummy pizza and hummus. And of course...we went to the Arboretum. Here is Brighton being quite the little chubby football.

Brighton learned to sit up recently and now enjoys reaching for everything. He particularly likes the tv remote, so taking this picture was quite easy.

Here we are last Saturday weekend in the morning taking the boys for walk. Greg loves his bike. He loves telling us, "Here comes another hill! I beat it."

This weekend Greg Creighton came to visit. That's right, the Greg - the one who our Greg is named after - came to ride the Horsey Hundred with us. Big Greg flew in Thursday evening. Friday we spent preparing for Saturday. Saturday morning and afternoon Greg and Noel, along with Jon bylund, participated in the Horsey Hundred's Century ride. The weather was perfect except that Greg's allergies went crazy. Poor Greg spent Saturday night recouping with Benadryl and Claritin. We did enjoy a nice meal at Masalas which was perfect after a long day of sugars and gatorade.

After church on Sunday and a delicious meal of homemade steak and chicken fajitas we went to Waveland. Lil Greg loved running around and telling Big Greg to follow him.

Here are some pictures from Waveland.

Love this picture. Lil Greg convinced Big Greg to go down the slide. Unfortunately for Big Greg, it was hot and the slide was unforgiving to sweaty legs.

Two peas in a pod. 

Where else but in Kentucky would they make Corn-hole part of a wedding party. Love it!

Great series of pictures of the Gregs

Brighton also loved being pushed in the stroller.

This morning Big Greg left for New York and little Greg was devastated. On the way home Greg kept telling us how Big Greg will come back tomorrow. Poor lil Greg, he had so much fun with Big Greg that are worried that he will be satisfied with just us :)

The End of an Era + Pics

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. Brighton has come into his own; he has started to sit by himself, roll all over the house (not that great during diaper changing), and eat solid foods (loves peas and hates beans). He is even starting to understand the concept of smiling for pictures.

Like usual..."people" like pics over words so here is a series of Brighton pictures.

Last weekend was also Dental school graduation and our good family friend Jeff Bird graduated. We were happy for the Birds and to celebrate we had a fun afternoon at Waveland taking pictures and of course playing games. We have lived near each other for six years and in two states and despite being sad about them leaving we wish them the best.

Jeff and Melea

Embree

Melea, Maddox, and Embree feeding ants.

The Birds

Embree

Embree and Melea

Maddox (far right) hanging with the cousins

Embree and cousin Amanda

The Boys...Matthew and Maddox

Spider man Maddox!

Hide and Go Seek Greggors

Early Mother's Day

We've been married almost 7 years and every year is so busy around Mother's Day that I am left scrambling for ideas and appreciation gifts. This year was just as busy, but low and behold, the Great Noholio stepped up and absolutely nailed Mother's Day! That's right folks, nailed it!

As a preview, I designed a 12" x 12" collage, printed it on special metallic paper and had it mounted on bamboo. I know you are thinking it, so let's just say it out loud...Awesome!

Stay tuned for some more awesome Mother's Day Noholioness!

We also had fun running around in the backyard like usual.