Matching Smiles

Me and my most favorite girl in the world.

Oh and just so you know...

Movie Reviews

Hoop Dreams

If you know my darling husband John or have even briefly meet him I'm sure you know of his deep love of basketball, if you don't I'm sure he'd love to tell you all about it.

John started playing basketball back when he was in middle school, not on a team but at the playground. He recently took the kids and I on a drive through Aurora to show us his old stomping grounds where he would meet up with friends and play basketball everyday. At first he said no one would pick him for their teams so he'd just wait until after they left for the day then he'd stay late and practice until eventually he got better and finally started getting picked, then pretty soon after that he was the one dominating on the court (his words not mine). He didn't start playing on a team until he was in High School where he won awards like best defense and most heart. He truly loved the game and when he wasn't at team practice, you could find him playing ball at the local rec center or with 1 or 2 of his brothers trying to tear down the rim in their driveway. We drove by his old house and that basketball hoop is still there...bent pole and all.

Before we were even married John used to say he wanted 6 kids...5 on the court and one sub. I wouldn't necessarily use the word disappointed but imagine how he must have felt when instead of his 6 basketball superstars he got 3 devoted soccer players.

Now a days John plays ball once a week up at the church and tries to watch as much of the NBA playoffs as possible...40 games in 40 nights...and we're currently only on day 8. Now I'm all for watching a game or two, I actually enjoy them but 3 games in one night is a bit much. Usually John watches the games alone in the family room, cheering and yelling at the screen while the rest of us spread out to other room to watch our own shows or in my case read. But this year it's a bit different at our house...it started a few months ago with Zach asking a lot of questions about the game and the different teams. Then slowly he started watching games and cheering along side of his dad. Then Cameron started watching too. Then Ashley...well actually she still prefers watching Hannah Montana.

This weekend John took the kids out and bought them a basketball hoop (I know what took him so long). It took us over 2 hour to put the thing together but oh was it worth it. The kids absolutley love it and they spent most of the weekend outside shooting hoops with their dad...I had to make them all come inside when it got too dark to see the ball...John included. Cameron was our surprise b-baller, he's already a great dribbler and could sink almost any shot.

I haven't seen John this happy in a long time...his kids are finally showing an interest in his favorite sport and he gets to show off his talent a little bit. Basketball is now the topic of discussion at the dinner table, Zach loves calling John on his closing nights to give him game updates, it's being played right in our own driveway and best of all my hubby has a huge grin on his face...Life is Sweet.

Living up to his name...

The name Cameron is used both as a surname and a given name; the Camerons are a clan from the Scottish Highlands. The name is believed to be from the Gaelic 'cam' (crooked) and 'srón' (nose).

Back when I was pregnant with Cameron I remember reading in "The Great Big Book of Baby Names" that his name actually meant "crooked nose". John and I both laughed at the meaning since John has a bit of a crooked nose as a result from a break he sustained during a fight in the 3rd grade. Not overly thrilled with the meaning we decided to translate it to mean
"Son of Crooked Nose."


Well this weekend Cameron decided to live up to the Gaelic meaning of his name and take after his dad when he took a nose dive (pardon the pun) while walking on the brick retaining wall in our backyard and ended up breaking (well actually we'll find out for sure at his x-ray today) his cute little perfect nose.



Aside from the blood and all the screaming I was actually quite relieved....strange I know but ever since Zach was born I've been dreading the day one of my kids breaks a bone. So now that it finally happened and overall wasn't as bad as I had imagined (I didn't pass out like I thought I would) that nagging little fear in the back of my mind and in the bottom of my stomach is now gone...at least for now.

More Swimming, Beautiful flowers and back to Las Vegas

Our last day of swimming in our Del Mar hotel pool.

The San Diego area is absolutely gorgeous...we couldn't get over all the beautiful colors everywhere.

Our second trip to Las Vegas was much more suggessful than our first. We got into town a little earlier than last time and after checking in to our hotel we drove down to Circus Circus...our original destination spot from the first trip. Being that it was a Thursday, the strip was a lot less crowded so it wasn't as overwhelming. The adventure dome inside Circus Circus was closed for the day so we headed over to the midway to play carnival games and watch the circus shows. The kids played tons of games and won a bunch of stuffed animals. We all had a great time even though the hotel was very run down and fairly smokey...not at all how I remember it from when I was a kid. After the kids game money ran out we headed out into the dark and drove the strip a few times. We were all in awe of the bright lights and huge hotels. The kids spent the rest of the night counting limos from our hotel window...45 in 30 minutes!! Overall we left Vegas much happier this time...although next time I think John and I will leave the kids at home.

Del Mar Beach Sunset

More beach soccer.

Can you believe I took all these pictures with John's cell phone?

San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is absolutely amazing and was a big highlight of our trip. It's huge, the whole place is full of hills and trails and even a few escalators. We really enjoyed walking along the tree covered paths.

There were flowers and greenery everywhere and it was simply beautiful.

Not 2 seconds after I took this picture...that little monkey in the background decided he didn't like Cameron and came charging and rammed the fence while hollering super loud. We all died of laughter...Cameron on the other hand was a bit freaked out, especially when that monkey kept watching him and followed us until we past the exhibit. Ashley said the monkey just thought Cameron was his family and just wanted him back in the cage...aren't little sisters the best.

Zach and the Zebra.

The famous Giant Pandas!!!

The gorillas were super cool as were the orangutans...one of the female orangutans traveled the whole length of her exhibit...rolling over and over and over...it was awesome.

Mission Beach and Hotel Del Coronado

On Tuesday we headed south to Mission Beach to check out Belmont park and ride the famous Giant Dipper roller coaster. After that we were going to change into our bathing suits and head farther south over to Coronado Island for lunch and to play on the beach at the Hotel Del Coronado.
Our first stop was the surf shop to pick up a few souvenirs. The boys were thrilled when they discovered they had a beach soccer ball.
They played soccer on the beach while we waited for the roller coaster to open for the day.

This is unfortunatly the last photo I took before my camera broke.

As I was working away trying to fix my now broken camera...all 4 kids were harmlessly running around in the water up to their ankles. That was until Zachary tripped over backwards and landed just as a wave came in...completely drenching him. Not 1 minute later Cameron was also running backwards from a wave and also tripped soaking him right down to his underwear. (So wish I had my camera to capture Cameron waddling like a duck up the beach in tears). At this point we decided to go ahead and change into our swimsuits and we stopped back in at the surf shop and bought both boys new t-shirts. By this point no one was really up for riding the rollor coaster so we headed over to a beautiful little spot at Mission Point Park and had a nice picnic lunch and watched the sailboats go by as the boys played a little more soccer. (Once again very sad not to have any pictures because these would have been so great).

We then headed to Coronado Island and spent the rest of the afternoon playing and napping on the white sand beach in front of the beautiful Hotel Del Coronado. (Once again very very sad not to have pictures...that Hotel was amazing!!!)

We ended this day just like all the other with a dip in the hot tub while the kids swam in the pool.

Legoland - Snapshots

Zach snapped these pictures of us waiting in line.

Me, Nathan and Cameron on the Lego Technics rollercoaster.