Wow. This summer has be cray cray. And when I say cray cray I mean non stop busy and visitors and fun. Our most recent trip was to Utah. The point of the trip was for baby Cougar's blessing and started out for us in Reno. I believe I took this picture because than wanted me to capture the essence of Reno in the form of this crazy dressed lady but then I snapped this and my storage was full. She was pretty fantastic though.
On the road. We drove to Reno so Than could work and hotels are only like $25.
Car entertainment.
And since Hancock's are Hancock's, the very first thing we did in the morning is head to LAGOON! It is so fun there for families. My kids love it and I love watching them love it.
RIDES!!!!!!
Maren wasn't too sure about the whole thing. :)
This is what Camry does. She cries and cries because she doesn't want to go on a scary ride, and then she rides it and has a blast. We are used to it now. :)
By the end of the day, Maren was a big time rider! She loved it.
SWINGS!
We go to Lagoon for moments like this. Kathy is so great with my kids. There is so much love between them!
Cousin love! Maybe a little too much love. Olive, Camry and Cougar.
These Hancock cousins got to stick together!
Utah showed off her sunsets for us while we were there. I miss sunsets living here in Walnut Creek. It's to hilly and we don't have a good horizon here. Many many amazing things, sunsets are not one of them.
George and Gentry are cousin besties.
"Hey Mom, take a picture of me jumping in the sunset."
Claira captures fun very well.
Yes, this was a good evening. Thanks, Utah.
We were creating slow-mo karate sunset videos. They were classic.
James and his overalls!
Maren found her seat in the house.....in baby cougar's swing! She's a monster baby!
I was not on my photography game on the 4th. These were pictured before gentry burned her finger on a sparkler and cried for a long time and also before I went psycho and took all the glow sticks away. It's hard when Olive and Scotty were able to make a ball and wouldn't share it and everyone else wanted to too. I had to put the smack down! No more glow sticks! I didn't think I acted too crazy but apparently everyone else did. I thought I was fairly calm. :) And then I said, I think everyone is tired and cranky and needed to go to bed. And then Claira says, "I think mommy is tired and cranky and needs to go to bed." Gotta love that spunky personality.
Hancock adventures continue. Saturday morning.....HIKE THE Y!
Knock that one off of our bucket list!
We had Pacen, Camry, Claira, Gentry, Scotty and Cougar. Gentry and Scotty only had flip-flops so that was a little challenging but they were champions! It's a pretty steep hike for a mile and she walked a lot of the way. I was totally impressed by her and Claira. I thought there would be more complaining but they really just did awesome.
The best part was when Claira was talking to Than.
I can't remember it exactly but it was something like this.
Than was saying something about it being pretty tough and scotty only having flip flops and Claira said, "That's okay. Scotty is strong. Once he fighted a bear."
Very matter-of-factly. She's so believing. And of course Than laughs and Scotty says Claira is a liar. That scotty.
Both Hancock Families.
We had a quick stop at Jana's. Maren made a friend in Pickles & the boys played soccer and ended up in the hot tub.
More playing with Uncle Than.
Our family July 2014....
Our family July 2009. We've gotten bigger!
We snuck in a visit with Cache, Carrie, Brad and Katie. Gotta love the original zinchers!
Pacen’s birthday really was pretty awesome this year. I’m always nervous when we aren’t at home for my kids birthdays and feel like we need to something when we get home to make it really feel like their birthday. Or I really don’t like giving presents early because then you don’t have anything to open right on your birthday. I’m a moron I realize that. Birthdays are just a big deal for me and I want every birthday to be like the best day ever. But Pacen’s birthday this year was a little different. We were in Utah the whole week before and I didn’t really have time to shop before so I wasn’t really prepared the way that I like. It was the first time that we let Pacen kind of pick out his own presents. We went to the BYU bookstore and let him choose a new hat and he chose a new sweatshirt and warm up pants. The kid never wears real clothes anymore. Just sports clothes which is actually fine with me. I like that he is active and wants to be ready to jump in a game at any given moment. We knew he was going to the Jimmer Basketball camp and he had grown out of his baseball shoes so we had him start looking for those at the mall. It actually presented a good learning experience for him. Than found some sweet LeBron James ones that were really cool looking and some some other ones that were totally nice but just not as cool. The LBJ’s were 100 bucks and the normal ones were 50. Than turned it into a good growing experience by making him choose. He would pay the 50 dollars for the normal ones but if he wanted the LBJ’s he needed to fork over some of his own money. Luckily for him, Grammy had already given him $20 and Kathy was there and gave him $20 and so he only had to come up really with $10 but it was still really hard for him to decide. He stewed and stewed over it but you could tell he wanted to spend all his money on those shoes and I don’t blame him. They were sweet. :) But I know he wanted to be a good boy and save his other money but in the end he just bought the shoes. And he was in heaven.
We wrapped some presents for him and made a card to tell him that he was going to the camp. He LOVES opening presents so I was happy he had some to open. And when he read the card it was just about the cutest thing ever. He just got a huge smile on his face and all he said was, “Oh wow.” And it was all worth it as a parent. He was going to meet one of his idols and get to play basketball with him. What a ten year old dream birthday!
Cougar was there to celebrate too.
The camp was pretty cool. It’s limited to 100 kids so that it can feel smaller and get a little interaction with Jimmer. I was nervous to take Pacen there because he was all on his own and he’s not super outgoing but when we got there, there was another little boy who I could tell was all by himself so I started talking to him and made Pacen see that they had stuff in common and by the end, they were little buddies. I stuck around for a little while but when they started doing drills I knew he was in his element and would be fine. It was so cute when I picked him up because he was just so excited and speaking really quickly….so much so that i could barely hear him and had to say…okay…slow down. The first day was definitely his best day. He got to have Jimmer teach him how to shoot and watch him drain threes over and over which he said was amazing and then Pacen got to shoot right in front of him and he swished it! Jimmer told him good job and messed up his hair and Pacen was on cloud nine! Worth every penny.
The second day was fun, but it ended by being put onto teams for the 3 on 3 tournament. And on his team was a girl. And he was not happy about it. Not at all. Angry even. And when I watched his games I totally could see why he was mad but it was all good.
This was from the first day. Pacen is in the black shorts with the yellow stripe. Jimmer is in the red shirt and black shorts. Basically bff's.
After camp on Monday, we headed out to my kids favorite PG destination....PG POOL! For some reason they still think it's the coolest pool ever. I love that our kids are still friends with each other even though they only get to spend a few days a year together. Hopefully it'll stay like that forever.
Here Millie....eat this shoe! It's delicious!
Camry is such a stinker about taking pictures with me lately. She'll love them someday, I promise!
He goal was to make it seem like she was doing the same face as me and then switch at the very last moment. Mission accomplished!
Jana and Millie. Callie and Claira.
Gentry went down this slide probably 50 times.
So did Maren.
All ELEVEN of our children. We've made some pretty amazing people.
Ray Ray and Maren became friends. It's funny because Ray is a whole year older and can speak really well but Maren is just as tall as him so it was funny to hear real words coming out of his mouth. He is hilarious and just goes outside whenever he wants but always comes back. He cracked me up.
The second day after camp I got to hang out with Tiffany! It was awesome to see her and her kids. She took us to the new children's museum at Thanksgiving point. Really really awesome....but Soooooooooooooooooo crowded. So much so that we did it for as long as we could muster and then Getnry had a MAJOR breakdown and we had to leave. But it is really awesome and I want to go back.
You could set your baby right in this water table. How cool is that?!?!?
Camry got to hang like a sloth. She still loves the rainforest thanks to Mr. Siegel.
There is this whole tree canopy thing that you could walk through.
And then we left and ate at the delicious JCW's.
Tiffany is so great. Hopefully they'll be able to come and see SF soon. She's never been here! What's up with that?!?!?
One night Ben set up this Mario tournament. I need ben to make these games on my TV! Pacen said, "Mom, I've never seen you so interested in a video game!" Oh yes, Pacen. Only the good ones. :)
And then Ben set up the ultimate game......DR. MARIO! The only thing missing was Emily.
I have to say I held my own after not playing for YEARS! But she got me on most of them. But it was close!
This was a pretty cool moment. My best friend and my first born playing Dr. Mario together! And that picture of us playing on the floor is pretty awesome too. I could handle a few more nights like that in my life.
Then is was the actual birthday day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!
On his birthday birthday was the 3 on 3 tournament. Jana helped make a birthday sign for him to make him feel the love and he did. The tournament was pretty awful. Pacen played really well in the first game but the team lost. It was basically like playing 2 on 3. The girl just kind of stood there and when they did pass her the ball she just walked around with it and got called for traveling. Every time. He was so disappointed and mad and I don’t know how to teach him that it’s all good and to just roll with it. I never did as a kid but I do now so it’ll come. Jimmer spoke and we got to hang out with Cosmo. No pictures just with Jimmer though. I was really hoping for that one.
The cool part about the Jimmer camp is that it's all about teaching values. One of the slogans is Bullying is about to get Jimmered. They all had to sign this Anti-bullying pledge and had to do kind things for people. Hopefully that message with stick.
After the dreaded tourney, we cheered up with some snow cones. And they were delicious. 
Packer had some majorly blue lips.
And then worked out any more frustration at an Air Sport place that was actually pretty awesome. I wish I could go back in time and be a kid again and flip around at that place.
All Maren wanted to do was go and lay in this one corner of a pit. She kept going right back to that place and lying on her back with a big old smile on her face.
That's a birthday smile if I've ever seen one.
The Birthday crew. I'm glad I've adopted myself into Jana's nettesheim family.
Then as per Pacen’s request, we had Panda Express for dinner. And the wonderful Jana made Pacen a cake! And ben pulled through and got Pacen some new flip flops so he had a present to open on his birthday! All is well and right in the world.
Happy birthday buddy! I can’t believe he is ten! DOUBLE DIGITS EVEN! He is growing up to be a very sweet, very good boy. He has a great big heart and is working hard in all the areas that he needs. School does not come easy for him but he’s working on it. He had a big talk with Than the other night and he expressed that concern that he isn’t a good student and so it was a good time to talk about how he can work on it and that it does take work! His piano is coming along and had a big breakthrough where memorizing this one piece was very easy for him. He was super proud about that. He just becomes more capable all the time. That comes with getting older and its fun to watch. I get so excited when he still wants to hold my hand or wants to snuggle with me. I’m lucky to be his mom. I love that I have a boy. I feel bad that his world is filled with constant girl stuff and it’s always “Pacen and the girls” but it’s a pretty good place to be. This summer has been great for Pacen and Camry. I feel like they are good friends again. Not that they ever weren’t, but they are playing more with each other and talking about books and just being good buddies and I love that. I hope they can keep that relationship forever.
More pictures from the week.
Buddies. Born two days apart. I wish they could live close so they'd be everyday friends.
Sleep over! It's a good thing Jana's house is huge.
Feeing all of them is quite the chore.
Rosie and Gentry did some make up. Jana warned her only to do one color and not all over her face. She didn't listen very well. :)
Here is a pic of jana just being Jana. She loves stuff like this and she loves being a mom. So, figuring out Packer's rainbow looms is right up her alley!
I've shared this story on my blog before I think. This pic is from when we were kids and on the same softball team but we didn't really meet until high school! I found this when I was cleaning out my house when I left for BYU. One of my favorite treasures.
And her we are now!
I love Jana. Heavenly Father had a plan for me to meet her and change my life. Next to Than and my kids and my family, Jana is one of my greatest blessings.
On our last day, Pacen had one more birthday celebration thanks to Kathy! We swam all afternoon at Kip and Jim's and had cake and the kids just got to play with Kathy which is like their favorite thing.
Pacen and Camry played this game with Kip forever but I don't have any pictures of it. All he would do is throw a ball in the pool and they'd have to catch it mid jump. They thought it was the funnest game ever! (And so did Kip!)
And then we picked up Than from the airport and were headed back home.
This picture is hilarious to me. Everyone is exhausted and knocked out but not Maren! Our little TV mush head is still up trying to finish her show. I love her.
And then we were finally home and greeted by humongous zucchini. We stayed in the most ghetto hotel in Winnemucca. It was freak nasty. Please please please don't ever make me move there.
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