Begas, Baby, Begas

While Than did this:

We did a little this:

And this:

Than has a little conference in Vegas--now pronounced with a B so it's Begas thanks to Pacen--and so while he worked, we had a little R&R at the pool. Pacen & Cam were introduced to their first Push Pops which I think they liked most of all. Most people were very helpful with the kids seeing me all fat and pregnant chasing around two little ones. I only heard one, "I would never bring my kids to Vegas," comment while I was walking with them.

And there is hope for the world--I lost my wallet, but someone returned it! It must have fallen out of my stroller and some guy found it and called our home phone and we were able to get it back from him. Too bad I had already canceled our credit cards, but such is life. We were just glad that there are honest people out there...especially since I'm driving to Oroville tomorrow and kinda needed a license. :)

Busy Weekend

I feel like we've just been on the go for the past few days, and the bummer of it all is that my camera battery died, and I never plugged it in. Argh. So, instead of posting pictures of us this weekend, I'm posting this old picture that I think is just too cute. Pacen has to be wearing the same thing as Than. If Than has jeans on, then Pacen has to have jeans on. Since Than had on a white shirt underneath his BYU shirt, Pacen had to wear a white shirt. It's cute, but annoying when you're just trying to get him dressed and he's freaking out because Daddy wasn't wearing shorts today! And don't think that you can wear a BYU shirt if Pacen isn't. But mom, why do you get to wear BYU?!?!?! Yes, we've created a monster.

On other news, it's raining today. Happy Memorial Day to us! Rain is not ideal for a BBQ or softball game or family pictures that I wanted to take today--doesn't the earth know that?!?!

This weekend has been great because Than has been here and the kids have been so missing him on all of his trips. On Thursday, we went out to lunch with Than, and then that night, Pacen was dying to go bowling, so we went. Why not give our kids everything they want to they become spoiled brats?!!? Then there was a tragedy. I lost. I, Erica Jon Hancock, got my butt kicked by my ever gloating husband, Nathaniel. And it wasn't just like I barely lost, I lost by like 35 points. I blame it entirely on the pregnancy throwing off my inner bowling balance. I seriously think that it is one of the first times that I've ever lost to him. It was sad day, but then in the words of the ever quoted Walt Hancock, "The sun shines on every dog's butt once in a while." Or something like that. Gotta love Than's dad.

Friday we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I have to say that it is true Indiana Jones, but not my favorite plot topic. It kind of ruined it for me. But still fun to watch Harrison Ford beat people up. Then we went to the Bee's game with Kathy and the Papa's. It was a looooooong game but we had to stay till the end because they had fireworks!

Saturday was the Zoo at our friend's birthday party & than played in two games of soccer.

Sunday was definitely our day of rest.

And here's to a day of BBQ-ing in the rain!

Payson Lake...no...Yuba Lake

Jana and I have the worst luck ever. This goes back to days in high school, I think, when we were trying to find her Aunt Carol's house and drove around in the same neighborhood for over and hour without finding her house and turning around. Then, a few weeks ago, we decided to take a trip to the indoor Lehi pool. We check the website--it's open and all good, then we drive there and unload the car, only to see a sign that says, "Pool Closed Today." It was the stinking heater that had busted and that ONE day & it was closed. Such was our luck today. We wanted to have a lake day since we were supposed to have 90* weather, and so we make sure the Nebo Loop was open--and it said open May-October--(It is May 20th!!!!) only to get 6 miles from the lake to see a "Road Closed" sign. ARGH! We almost knew it was going to happen. It's just what happens to us. But we had Plan B--go to Yuba Lake--it was only 50 miles more down the highway. FUN! Especially with 4 kids 3 & under in the car. But, we were determined to have a lake day....so here it is.

Dang! Why didn't we just call the park ranger people!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Check out Benji's glare.

The lake was a lot of fun, despite large killer bugs that kept attacking Camry, and fierce wind that almost blinded us at the end of the day. Jana is so great at entertaining kids. She was some kind of Mud Monster and the kids thought it was hilarious.






The kids LOVED playing in the mud and jumping in the water. And no trip would be complete without a dead duck floating by. Seriously.

Camry & Candyland

This is Camry's current outfit of choice:

The "Sleeping Booty" dress.

And this is our current game of choice. Disneyland Candyland. Pacen is always the blue, Cam is the green, Daddy is the red, and I get the yellow. It's taken a while for Pacen not to cry if he doesn't win, but hey, who likes to lose?!?!? I have no idea where he gets that. :)

And I just love how Pacen has to sit just like Than. Than has even implemented "Scripture Pillows" which are just those same red pillows, but for some reason, Pacen and Camry think that it's the greatest thing ever and will actually sit for a few minutes to do scriptures. That's why dad's are the coolest.

Grandma would be proud....

Last weekend we took a little trip to Gardener Village and of course, Camry had to ride the pony. She picked the white one that looked the most like my mom's horse, Cirrus. She is so much like her grandma--sparkly shoes and all.

And Pacen sat on the fence watching his brave little sister ride those scary horses!

Paint!

VS.

This is the difference between my sweet little boy and my crazy little girl. Pacen was so proud of his little painted finger, while Camry was saying, "Look, Mom, lips!" Her shirt was destroyed, her part of the table & chair had to be scrubbed, while Pacen could have worn his shirt to town. Actually, Pacen did get into it a little later but did not rub the paint all the way up his arms like his sister. And then after this, I let them play outside, and Cam decided to bring me a sand castle on my living room carpet, but we cleaned that up quickly without a picture so as not to drag sand all over my house.

Happy Mother's Day

I am a very blessed wife & mom. Than always works so hard to let me know that he loves me & appreciates the things that I do...especially on special days. I actually have a huge advantage in that Mother's Day always falls before Father's Day, and my birthday always falls before his. He always does something great and so I know just what I need to do, too.

Today was no different. He started by cooking me a killer breakfast of biscuits & gravy...it's my absolute favorite breakfast food that unfortunately has no redeeming quality in the health department so I try not to eat it that often. But it was wonderful.

He got the kids ready for church and just helped all day long. After church, he gave me two books so that I could just sit back and read all day while he cooked dinner and took care of the kids. Bless his heart, he thought that The Host by Stephenie Meyer was part of the Twilight Series and bought me that. I'm interested to see how it is, but definitely not as excited as I would be if it really were Breaking Dawn. But, he was thinking of me and that's all that counts. Also, he got me the 2nd book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. I read the first one on the cruise.

Then he made me Strawberry Pie from scratch--crust and all--and a great steak dinner. He's becoming quite the BBQ-er.

Look at the attention to detail!

Pacen was cute and all day would come up to me and tell me Happy Mother's Day and was very proud of the card that he made me in Primary. He did try and go sing with the Primary kids in church today but he was terrified and just turned his back to the congregation. He said that he was a little scared up there...that would be an understatement.

And then to top it all off, Than bought me tickets to go see Tim McGraw! He's playing here at the end of June and we LOVE Tim! I'm so excited.

More and more I just feel so blessed to have the life that we have. We have two (and a half!) wonderful kids that are healthy and happy that I get to stay home and play with everyday. I really have the best job in the entire world that gives me so much joy and fulfillment.

Good Morning, Beautiful

This is what I get to wake up to every morning. Camry has the nastiest bed head ever. And I have to say since I forgot to take out her little ponytail, this one isn't even near her worst. What can she possibly do in her sleep to cause this rat's nest?!?!?!


Only after a few shots of detangler, and a lot of whining and crying, we get her to look like the Camry we know and love, instead of the crazy girl with monster hair.

Sam!

I've been feeling guilty because Sam has been living with us since the end of January, and now is probably going to be moving down to the Provo sometime this summer, and I never put him up on the blog. And don't worry--he's often mentioned it. He'll say, "Oh, I bet that is going to go up on the blog before I will." And most things have. So here is a post all about Sam! Pacen and Camry love having their Uncle Sam around. He has taught Cam the art of not only sucking off the salsa from the chip, but actually eating the chip with it. Pacen had to wear his blue vest because Uncle Sam was wearing his blue vest to church on Sunday. Camry's conversation when she wakes up is, "Where's Daddy? Where's Sam?" She's very worried when he's not here. I loved Pacen's comment about Sam. "He only watches basketball." True statement, Pacen.
And while taking these pictures it reminded me again about how terrible a picture taker Sam is. Seriously. Angelee knows. How many photos did it take to get one of him smiling with his eyes open? He's already admitted that whomever he marries is going to be terribly upset on their wedding day when about 1/4 of their wedding photos are decent, or he'll have to have the mad face on. We'll see. So, this is Pacen and Camry's tribute to Sam's closed-eyed pictures. :) We love our Uncle Sam!!!

Real Mormon Girl

Alright--now it's official. I'm a true mormon mom. :) Yesterday I did my first Dry-pack assignment at the church family cannery. I've been working on our food storage since we moved into our house, but I've never actually gone down and worked. It was actually a lot of fun. I went down with my friend, Julane, since she had gone before and I could just have her tell me where to go and what to do! I was sad not to have my camera at the site, but this is our "after" picture at Julane's house. And just a side note: Wearing a plastic apron over your ever expanding belly and turning to the side in photo is never a flattering thing.