A Handful of Hancocks: July 2015

Friday, July 31, 2015

Sauvie Island and a $20 bet

6/15—Sprinklers in the backyard! Andrew and Josh were gone swimming with Corin and these guys were feeling left out. So we set up the sprinkler for them to play in.

6/16—Went to Sauvie Island with the Smiths. Our kids LOVE to do this! It was a tad windy that day, but that didn’t stop us from having tons of fun.

This large tree trunk floated by and the kids captured it and loved playing on it.

6/18—Had our annual neighborhood BBQ. Laurie made TONS of super yummy food, and I was voted to be on the HOA board. lol. Done with PTA and on to HOA…I just can’t say no, I guess! Luke and Christopher entertained themselves by giving piggy back rides!

6/19—Darrin and the boys got free tickets to go see a Thorns soccer game. They had a great time and from what it sounds like, it was a really exciting game! Love these boys of mine!

Ella and I went shopping while they were gone. We had a grand time together and found way too much to buy!

6/20—We seem to have a tradition of taking the kids golfing every year around summer solstice. The light lasts until almost 10pm and weather is still cool. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. The kids really got into golfing this year. They hit through 2 buckets of balls in no time.

Someone got frustrated and decided to pout. She was very dramatic, but I couldn’t help but chuckle. This is a face we see often at our house.

Practicing their putting skills

and washing dad’s golf balls.

Super hot guy sitting next to me watching the kids play.

Love you babe.

Darrin bet a twenty dollar bill he could hit the golf ball more accurately than the kids.

Yeah, he lost twenty bucks. Oops.

Luke was super excited to be rich! I hope he’s enjoying those Pokémon cards he bought. lol.

6/21—Father’s day! We made a big candy bar card for Darrin.

The kids were super excited to show it to him!

Hopefully Darrin had a great, relaxing day. We sure appreciate all he does for our family!

Monday, July 27, 2015

End of school, temple walk, and visitor

6/11—End of the year assembly at school. Andrew received the character trait award for cooperation. The assembly was combined with the talent show so it was extra fun to watch! It was also the principal’s last assembly since he got a promotion for next year.

6/12—Last day of school! Luke and Zack were super excited school was OUT!!

Besties!

Done with 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade!

After making 6 batches of freezer jam, I still had a ton of strawberries left, so I washed up them and froze them. They looked so pretty spread out on the pan!

We bought a new camera, and Darrin has loved playing around it. His favorite thing to play with is the focus.

The ladies of the house.

Cool picture of some cake.

6/13—Our ward had an activity were we walked to the temple from our stake center. The total mileage was about 8 miles. With Darrin’s knee not being 100% we didn’t think we should walk that far, so we started about halfway. It was a fun thing to do as a family and memories were definitely made!

Ready to start!

Pit stop at a park for play, drink, and bathroom.

There is a park right next to the temple where we ate lunch. Then we walked over to the temple and gave our names to the designated person who went in and had our cards printed for us. We enjoyed the temple grounds and the visitor’s center.

6/14—Our good friend Brad came into town for a reunion and had some extra time to spend with us! He came to church and surprised Darrin. The look on Darrin’s face when he saw him was priceless.

After church we hung out waiting for Darrin to get done at the church. Josh entertained him by showing him all the movies he’d recently made. And of all people, Brad is the best one to show stuff like that too…he laughs hysterically at everything. :)

After grilling some dinner, we played games and played in the backyard. Brad was a good sport and had pretend picnics in the backyard with Ella. She adored him.

After the kids went to bed, Darrin and Brad worked on their family history and chatted. I went to bed long before they did.

Darrin and Brad both left Monday morning before Ella work up. Her first question after looking around was “Hey, where’s my two dads?” lol. It was hilarious!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Spring Soccer 2015

Luke’s team name was Terror. Most of the kids on the team were playing up one age group. At their normal age group they were killing every team they played, so Darrin thought he’d move them up and see how it went. The team did okay: lost some and won a few. I think the transition to the bigger field threw them off a little bit and height was usually an issue as well, but overall it was a good experience. It’s good to learn how to lose every once in awhile! lol. Luke worked hard and had several goals throughout the season.

We decided to have all the team parties at our house. It was great to have everyone over, eat yummy food, and hand out awards.

The sibs eating ice cream!

Josh’s team name was The Mooing Cows (yeah…they didn’t ask my input on the team name lol.) He also had a great season. He played goalie during the first half of every game and then played during the second. It’s so much fun to watch these boys play and nerve racking at the same time! I think their record was about half and half as well, but they put their heart in every game.

Team party. We had all three parties within 1 week of each other. We may or may not have been sick of hot dogs by the end of the week!

Andrew was on the Hurricanes. They were a little timid at the start of the season, but as time went on they gained a lot of confidence as a team and did pretty well! Andrew continues to be a good passer and strategically knows the best place to dribble the ball. He can kick with both feet which definitely gives him an advantage.