Kumbaya

Ellie's first horseback riding lesson with "Miss Laura", who owns the horse farm across the street from us.

What happens when Daddy is in charge of clothing....

These are actually a few weeks old but I forgot to post them. Hudson and Doug went on their first father-son campout and survived. Hudson got to fish in the Huie's pond and had a wonderfultime. He just didn't want to get in the tent and sleep. Doug called me at about 11:30pm and said he was trailing after Hudson who was walking around with a flashlight. Better him than me! I think Hudson looks like those guys from "Strange Brew" if anyone remembers that fine feature film from the 80's!

Doug bought the kids new wetsuits for the trip to North Carolina. So cute!

Carolina...oh you get the picture!

Last beach pictures, I promise! Great shot of Doug's parents

Our House for the week, "Granted Wish"

View from our bedroom balcony

I could've spent all day here in these chairs!

Doug's sister Stephanie and her boyfriend, Irv

Carolina In My Mind Part C

Oh-we're so excited to go to the beach!

Oh, we're so bummed to be leaving the beach!

Cousins Maddie, Nathan, Trenton and Hudson being induced into a "Veggie Tales" coma.

Doug and Nielson taking in our incredible view

All the McMinn grandkids together for one fleeting moment before total meltdown occurs. (You see my two boys on the end had a head start in the meltdown department!)

We had a wonderful time. Great weather and great people! I feel very blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. Doug's family is scattered between Virginia, Delaware, Georgia and California so we really look forward to these reunions. The kids had a blast together both at the beach and in the house, and us old folks played dominos and watched some movies at night, when we weren't asleep by 10!

We were able to celebrate cousin Camryn's first birthday as well as Doug's and his sister, Stephanie's birthday since they all fall within a few weeks of each other in May. As always, Grandmom Judy had a great meal and great cake!

Hudson came down with some mysterious virus midweek and basically slept for two days straight with a high fever and other assorted bodily functions which shall not be named here! He recovered in time for one more good beach day and managed to pass along a milder case of his ailment to Nielson. Never did figure out what it was or where it came from...other family members had varying degrees of mild ailments but overall no epidemic, thank goodness!

The house was incredible, thanks to the generosity of Doug's parents. Plenty of room for each family to spread out and great space to gather in for dinner, plays, dance parties and recitals! We had some excitement on Tuesday night when a tornado watch was issued. We rode it out on a lower level and all was fine. The week went by way too fast and we are going through beach withdrawal! Hudson keeps saying "Let's go to the beach." I'm right there with you, brother.

Carolina In My Mind

Waiting for the perfect wave...and to learn how to swim!

Hudson on the mend from his mid-week death virus

Check out Ellie's catch-two fish on one rod!

Nielson kickin' it with Ellie in his beach crib

Little surfer girl!

I finally downloaded these but it's really late so I'll post a few tonight and get the rest up in a day or so, along with a better description of the weeks events.

Happy Birthday to You...

OK-
So I'm a few days late with this one. Doug's birthday was Monday and all the poor boy wanted was to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Those of you who don't kow where we live are saying, "What's the big deal?" WELL, the big deal is that the closest Outback is an hour away.

Being the dutiful wife that I am, I pack up the kids and we head to Williamsburg for dinner (at 4pm before the crowds appear and we have to add to the torture by waiting for a table with 3 squirmy kids.) I figure they'll sleep during the drive and arrive refreshed and in good spirits. Yeah, right. Hudson slept for about 20 minutes and then woke up just in time to see us drive by a McDonald's playplace. What 2-1/2 year old wants to go to an Outback after seeing a Mcdonald's Playplace? Certainly not mine.

We get to Outback and are promptly seated in a booth. Hudson (who had to be carried in by Doug because he refused to walk at this point) proceeds to remove his Crocs and chuck them across the table. Before we can recover from that, he has located the famous Outback steak knife and is brandishing that at his sister. It didn't get much better after that, but the details go a little fuzzy. I think I've blocked them out. I do remember Nielson deciding that his eating needed some accompanying sound effects that sounded like a cat getting stuck in a thorny rose bush....Yep, we officially became THAT family.

Needless to say, after two spilled drinks, lots of wailing and crying, two loaves of Outback bread stuffed into kids mouths, Doug got to eat his Ribeye steak (And King Crab Legs, which Ellie ate most of.)

Happy Birthday, Honey. Maybe next year we can stick around long enough for you to get dessert.

(On a side note, Nielson decided that today would be the day he could finally hold his own sippy cup and take a swig. Hooray!)

It's A Hard Knock Life...

A little free word assiociation to describe my Sunday morning...

Up early, too early, head throbbing, sleep lacking, husband leaving, kids crying, Hudson screaming!, wants Daddy, no Mommy, kids breakfast, very hungry, poopy diaper, whoops poopy pjs, clean clothes, more breakfast, more poop, different kid, potty training must start soon! Get dressed, kids crying, me counting 1,2,3 time out! Kids ready, me sort-of, packed up, ready or not, off to church we go.

I just looovveee when the day after vacation end falls on a Sunday!

Pictures to come when I can unearth my camera from the bottom of the pile of swimsuits, boogie boards and sunscreen where it currently resides!

If I Had Only One Friend Left...

Or two or three friends who actually read this blog, I'd tell them that I haven't forgotten about my blog project. I am neck-deep in packing for three children to go to Emerald Isle, North Carolina on Saturday all the while trying to get invitations out for a trunk show and back up an entire computer onto an external hard drive using an antiquated USB connection. Whew!

Needless to say there will probably not be any new photos or news of note until we get back. Try to hang on till then. I know it's hard.

Mom, do you know what this flower/plant is? Doug and Ellie found it in the "back-a-back." For those of you who don't speak Huddish, that's the very back part of our yard, in the forest.

I'm off to the beach!

Another "Dress Rehearsal"

Tonight Doug thought it would be a great idea to have a practice campout in the backyard to see how Hudson (2-1/2) would do on the father and son campout tomorrow night. Unfortunately, we have severe thunderstorm watches all night in our area. Do you think this stopped Doug? Of course not! During a break in the storm, he cooked hot dogs and smores on the grill. After an exhausting game of "catch me" (where Doug chases the kids around the yard, all the while beaning them with miscellaneous balls while they laugh uncontrollably) the tent was set up in the soon to be office.

Two kids and one husband almost asleep in a tent downstairs, sleeping baby upstairs. Hooray! Two minutes of quiet, uninterrupted time.... HA HA! I hear the door open from the dining room. In rolls Hudson, wide awake. After some negotiations, he agreed to stay on the couch and watch Cars for a little while. Scratch that, he just came in. What's one more day with that month old to-do list not getting done, anyway?

At least we know that Doug will sleep soundly at the campout tomorrow night...he just better get a lock for the tent door;)

Bella Dancerella

Here are the photos from Ellie's first dance recital. She was so cute (if I do say so myself!) Very excited the entire time and VERY preoccupied with the idea of getting flowers after her performance. Camille, it made me think of you while I was watching the older girls dance...remembering all those recitals at USU and BYU you made me..I mean that I was SO fortunate to attend! (You know I am kidding...I loved every minute of them...mostly.)

Tiffany, you are her dance goddess. She can't stop talking about coming to Utah and showing off her new skills to Aunt Tiffany.

Glad the recital is over. Very stressful for the mothers, I tell you. Trying to put eyeliner on a five year old is almost as much fun as running out in traffic in a downpour. Not to mention keeping an entirely white costume white!

Be patient for the video...it stays dark for about 45 seconds before starting...also, the camera kept tring to focus in so the quality isn't great. Steven Spielberg has nothing to worry about.
Anyway, she is third from the right once the camera zooms in.

The shape of things to come...

Today was a big-time kid shuffle day. Ellie went to the farmer's market early this morning with Doug only to be picked up by me at 11:30 for dance recital dress rehearsal. Meanwhile our two unsuspecting boys got dropped off at the farmer's market to be help captive at Doug's company tent for two hours. Luckily Hudson entertained himself with the box truck (or the oyster.com truck, as he likes to call it) and Nielson got some quality Aunt Stephie time. Yeah Aunt Stephie!
As I sat waiting for Ellie to finish her "Goin to the Chapel" number I began thinking, "This is only the begining!. First dance..then what??? Soccer? Piano? T-Ball? Olympic Volleyball Clinics? (hey-I can dream) And that's just Ellie. Who knows what the McMinn boys will end up doing in their spare time? That is, what will they do when they grow out of their sucking on (Nielson) and throwing (Hudson) every toy in sight and when they have been liberated by the oppressive Pampers which have held them back all these many months?"
I'm scared. How will I get our kids everywhere they need to be? How will I do so without losing my mind? Or a child? The truth is that I will get along just fine. I'll do my best and have some faith that everything will work out. Doug will pitch in where he can, and we will be there to support our children in whatever they choose to find joy in doing. Except wrestling...and maybe water polo. Never been a big fan of either of those. But anything else (just about.)
Don't be surprised if in a few years I:
1. am still writing this blog
2. issue an open casting call to any friends or family members wanting to spend some good quality time with some adorable (I think) pretty good (most of the time) almost perfect children. The pay ain't great, but you get all the chicken nuggets and kid hugs/slugs you could ever hope for.
Here's some more temple pics and I'll post little miss sunshine's dance photos Monday.