Feeling Lucky?

We were bored tonight and needed to go do something, so we took the kids to a place just out of Indy called Indiana Downs. It is a horse race track that has free admission and they have a "family pavilion" that is smoke-free with an arcade and playground....and of course horse races. You could go over and see the horses up close right before the race (so you could choose your horse to bet on or whatever), and then stand right against the fence as the horses raced by. We didn't go to gamble, but James decided to pick a horse after he watched for a minute (#8) and just put $5 down to see what would happen. He didn't look at the odds or anything (we would have had no clue what they meant anyway), but apparently the odds weren't very good, because "his" horse won and he went and turned in his ticket and they paid him $50! He decided to try again (while I was in line with the girls for popcorn) and checked out the horses with Steven and picked his winner. #7 this time. He put down $5 again, and we went to watch the race. Well...apparently the odds were worse for #7, because he did win, and they paid James $186 this time! What? We decided we were through being lucky and took our wins and left! It was a fun outing for the kids and us!

Our Revised Reunion

As most of you know, we came to AZ for a Moore reunion (well, Johnson, but James' family) and some freak weather messed everything up (almost). We got snowed out of our cabin and had to come up with a new plan to get everyone together. We hiked in the mountains (the weather was so PERFECT for it), played volleyball at the park, and just played together. We chose to stay at mom and dad's, so we all got to see and hold Halia and ride quads and play with Walter and see cousins and everyone (except g-ma and g-pa). Thank you Suzi and Jaba and Nancy for being so hospitable. We loved coming "home" at the end of the day and relaxing and letting our kids relax. So...all's well that ends well. We are glad to be back in our Indiana home, but we are glad we got to spend time (what little of it there was) with all of you.

A few more pics from Memorial Day weekend...

We had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend. We obviously wore the kids out! They tubed for like 45 minutes straight! After that they were so wasted! :)

Lennie's mom passed away last night...

We are of course very sad (for ourselves) but we are very happy for her. She has been relieved of her ailing body. She is reunited with her child, mother, grandparents and numberless other relatives I am sure.

There will be a visitation on Monday morning at 9am (I think) at the chapel on Mesa Drive and University. The funeral will follow right after at 11am.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for us and for her these past months. They have meant so much.

This picture was taken at a family photo shoot at the temple less than one month before Linda went into the hospital.

A few days in "Sunny Seattle".....

Bruce and Lois were able, at the last minute, to go to Seattle for the Memorial Day weekend. We missed all the activities in Mesa, but we were so happy to be able to spend some time with the Gustins.

We visited the Northwest Trek. It is a wonderful wildlife habitat with many of the animals free roaming. (Well, not this guy.) He was just sleeping on a log.

It was such a nice day....

Lots of babies. See him under his mom eating?

All red in the face after an hour in the Bouncy Place.

Tallie wanted to get really close to the ducks!!

The water in Lake Washington wasn't that cold! Come on in, the waters fine!!

The tubing was great!

Sunday morning movie....

While I was trying to catch a few extra minutes of sleep this morning this is what my boys were doing. They used Grant's little digital camera that also takes video. I thought it was quite entertaining, so I am sharing it with you all!

The Moores are in town =)

Macey is such a good big cousin! She loves holding and rocking Halia!

The boys got to go on a ride with James!
Nobody wanted to get off! Good fun at Grandpas house!
Zayah say cheese =)

Who woulda thought it would be cold and rainy this weekend? I'm not complaining though. I don't want it to get hot. Thanks to the weather we get to see the moores =). I look forward to the BBQ tonight! EVERYONE is invited. See you there. Rob says he wants to try and get a fire going! We love you all have a great day!!

Halia

Halia is finally here! Hurray!! Thank you Christi for posting pictures for us. She is so sweet, Her big brother just loves her, and we are so happy she is a part of our family. In case you are wondering about her name =) Halia is just a name I really liked, Fa'atuatua is Jaba's sisters middle name, that means Faith in Samoan, Heka is Jaba's Dad's mom's name. She took care of Jaba when he was sick as a baby. We will be blessing her Sunday June 1st at 10:30am at the church on McDowell. Please come if you can =) We love you all and thank you to all who helped our family during this time!

A really HOT Saturday!!

So Saturday was 95 degrees!!?! Isn't that crazy? And its random because Tuesday the high is supposed to be 58 again. But anyways, Kaden (7), Bryton (3), and Kolton(2) had their first Tball game. There was no shade and they had to wear helmets and hats, so they were roasting but they had a great time! They each got some nice hits. After that we came home and turned the backyard sprinkler on. The boys (Tallie was napping) had a blast running and playing in the water. We are all a little sunburned, but we loved the short lived change in the weather. Now we are looking forward to more like the 70s. :)

A HOT Friday...

When we heard that Friday was supposed to be 84 degrees (we have been having 50s and 60s), Todd took the day off and we took Kaden out of school! We went to the zoo in the morning. It was awesome, we saw a lot of the animals getting their breakfast. One of our favorites was a Beluga whale. The kids loved watching it swim right past the glass window. The other favorite was some monkeys that were playing, swinging, jumping all over the place. The kids were seriously just giggling watching them play. Then we left the zoo and came home and got the boat and went to the lake. We tried out the new tube and Todd wakeboarded. Some friends of ours live on the lake, so we had a BBQ in their backyard. The tube is awesome. At one point we had six kids on there, just having a blast. We finally got off the lake at like 8:30pm and the sun was just sarting to set and I was noticing how different our lake scenery is with Mt. Rainer, the trees, the houses, etc... so I included a picture of that too!

More pictures of Halia....

I just got home from visiting our newest niece...she is just precious!! Here are some pics I took. Sorry for the lighting...hospital rooms just arent the best for good photo lighting.

INTRODUCING!!!.....Halia Fa'atuatua Heka Aumua...

Born at 11:58am this morning. Weighed 8lb. 12oz. Mom and baby are doing great!!

Mike the Headless Chicken

You are invited to join us and our town to celebrate "Mike the headless chicken" this weekend. This chicken lived for 18 months with out a head. We think that it is pretty funny and are looking forward to the lawnmower races :) Look closely and you can see the owner holding the head of the chicken.

30 years old today!

James is 30 today. The first thing Brooklyn said when she woke up is, "Yay. Daddy is 40." Not yet, not yet. He had a horrible morning at school and came home early. The kids made it all better by singing happy birthday (SO cute) and being so excited about his gifts. He got some new sunglasses and some really nice art supplies (easel, oil paints, paint brushes, a canvas, and even one of those wooden boards with a hole for your thumb to mix pain on like Bob Ross). He spent the afternoon forgetting about his tough day at school and painting a masterpiece. It's awesome and he came down from his office happy and relaxed. (The kids painted their own "masterpieces" with their watercolors, too.) Thank you to everyone who called and sent birthday wishes. We love you.

Big Boy Brody

Brody is 3!!

Brody had a great birthday! He wanted a Scoop (from Bob the Builder) Cake. So I did my best with help from Family Fun. :) He got a lot of fun new toys, but his favorite - a pair of swim goggles! Isn't it great to be 3??

Don't lip off to Mindy

Chad had a sore eye last Wed, and thought that it was just from allergies. The picture is what it looked like on Sunday,(it was much worse when he woke up). The doctor thinks that is a sty but could be some kind of bug bite, but no permanent damage done...we think.

Batman spotted at the Children's Museum

We don't have too many "boy dress ups" around here, so when we went to the Children's Museum and they had a superhero exhibit, Steven was in heaven. He had to wear this Batman costume all through the exhibit and had to show his muscles! It's fun to have a little boy around to be the bad guy, the prince, the king, the pirate, the superhero, the ninja, Batman (usually James' character), and Spiderman (Steven's character). Every night James says to Steven, "Good night Spiderman." and Steven answers, "Good night Batman." Too cute.