Jessica 16th and Gavin's 8th Birthday (early party)

The kids had their birthdays early this year so that Rich could enjoy spoiling them before he deployed.

Jessica , her dad and new bike!

Opening presents! She got an adorable Fossil purse, Burberry perfume, and Guess jeans!

Gavin's excitement after opening his Nintendo DS!! He's been aching for one since Garrett got one for his B-day!

Gavin loves swords so of course he got some Narnia gear.

Gavin's party with friends, the kids made their own mini-pizzas, painted ceramic cars, and had fun with making animals out of balloons.

Southport and Oak Island NC

We took one last trip to the ocean before Rich deployed again. We hadn't been to Southport before so I made reservations at the Hampton(one of our favs) and got an extra night free! I don't think that there are any bad beaches in NC. This one was great! They had the best restaurant called Provisions that we went to and they had some really good seafood there. Rich fished up on the pier for most of the 2nd day with the boys while Jessica and I got some serious sun on. Jessica drove us home the 3 hour drive now that she has her permit. I got to relax in the back with the boys while Rich was co-pilot. It was really nice to get away

one last time.

Jan's Birthday

Jessica made this Happy Birthday cake for me! YUM! Rich was taking this pic, I have a video of them singing to me and it is hilarious, they weren't all in sync.

Asheboro, Nc Zoo

This is the first zoo I have been to where I didn't feel sorry for the animals! They have so much room here! One of the reasons I love NC so much is all the trees.

This seal was in a sun trance!

The trails were so nice I just had to get a shot in! Gavin has style!

Trip to Twin Falls Idaho

Here are the boys getting to see the Pilots for their first plane ride before take off!

Getting close to landing in SLC Utah,.

Here are some of the fun things we did on our 8 day trip!

Boys day fishing trip to Crystal Springs. The girls came down later and brought a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day!

Crystal Springs

Last group photo with the Miller's our best friends since high school!

Uncle Jason took his boat out to Wilson Lake in Hazelton and Aunt Estelle took the kids for tube rides, Rich did a bit of water skiing too!

Boise Zoo, Carleen with Cheri's Lily.

Kari and Vince drove to Boise for the day to meet up and we had breakfast and went to the Boise zoo. Brett and Cheri met us there too with their sweet little ones!

All the kiddos in our group. Jessica holding Lily, Gavin, Ethan, Lauren, Ryann, Garrett holding Vince.

Picnic at the Twin Falls. It had been 3 years since we were all together as brothers and sisters. Still missing 22 that couldn't be there!

Of course the kids had a blast playing games.

Girls night at Sandy's house!

Jammbas Ranch Field Trip

Gavin's 1st grade class went on a field trip to Jammbas Ranch and I went as a chaperon. It was a gorgeous day out and we did a lot of walking. We stopped half way through the ranch and had sack lunches.

The suspended bridge was the first I have ever been on, pretty cool and scary for some of the kids, including Gavin. I forgot he is afraid of heights, but we all made it across eventually.

This is Gavin's class with Mrs. Stewart on the far left. She is the best teacher ever! Gavin will really miss her next year!

I love all the trees and forest feeling here in NC. All that is missing is the Idaho mountains!

Gavin likes to pose, and the way he moved his hat around all day cracked me up.

Feeding the goats. See what i mean about the hat?

Love this toothy grin! The deer here are tiny!

Closest we have ever been to a bear and boy did this bear ever stink!

North Carolina Blue Crab

Anyone who is a seafood lover can appreciate how excited we were one day driving home and spotted some local fishermen selling fresh seafood from Wilmington alongside the road. Let's just say we had a lot of fun and a big pile of crab shells in the middle of the table! Jessica stayed far away, as she is allergic to shellfish...poor baby!