Hello everyone! I'm sorry about the recent lack of posts. I took a little break in the process of updating and then...got lost.
So.
There will probably be more posts, but I'm not gonna bother with updating the past. We are gonna start right in with new stuff!

   So yah...happy 2013 to everyone! (I know it's March, but I had to say it.) Today we have a cute video of Samuel, who is becoming an excellent little pianist. Doesn't he have the most adorable little smile? :) Enjoy and hopefully we will have more posts soon.

Utah, Part 2

While we were in Utah, we also went to...

the prehistory museum!!!!!

Our group of adventurers included several people...

(This is from left to right.) Andrew, Jakob, Hayden, Samuel, me, Ry-Ry, Tate, and Sariah.
Gavin and Corrine aren't in this picture, but they were also there. ;)

Here's Corrine (that's Tate behind her. Tate got into a lot of these pictures.)

Here we have Corrine, Gavin...and Tate's arm.

This is our good friend Eremotherium Laurillardi, also known as the giant ground sloth. There's Tate and Corrine under him.

Here's me with Mr. Giant Ground Sloth.

Sariah and the giant ground sloth.

Help! A sabertooth tiger! (This is me and Tate if you were wondering.)
We had a lot of fun with the dinosaurs. If you're ever in the area, you should visit!

Utah, Part 1

We just got back from our trip to Utah! We had a great time seeing cousins, grandparents, and everyone else. As usual, we drove to Utah. It was a LOOOOOONG trip. 

Samuel was tired.

Andrew and Charlie were tired.
(I was tired too, but we have no pictures of that. Mom and Dad were VERY tired. Again, no pictures.)

When we got to Utah, we did lots of fun stuff with the Schramm cousins, who are probably the funnest people on the planet. :) One of them was...shooting!

One fine summer day, Anna Oakley,

Little Miss Corrine Sure Shot,

Single-Shot Sariah, 

"Atomic-Bomb" Andrew,

I'll-think-of-a-cool-name-for-him-later Jakob,

"Blow-'em-to-bits" Samuel,

and Hotshot Hayden went SHOOTING!

These are the guns. Aren't they awesome? (The pink gun is Corrine's. We started calling it Pink Magic, because it rocks.)

.This is Uncle Keith. Uncle Keith is very good at shooting, and he showed us how to do it.

When you go shooting you have to wear ear protection so the sound of the gunshots doesn't hurt your ears. The ear protection can also be used to simulate bug eyes.

The only water was a cooler with a little spout. If you wanted a drink you had to carefully pour it into your mouth without sucking on it and getting it all germy. The little kids baby birds needed some help with this.

Sometimes Mama Bird also needs a drink.

Corrine showed Samuel how to shoot. Here is Hayden demonstrating. (That's Andrew off to the side.)

Samuel's turn.

Jakob, Andrew, and Uncle Keith played with the big guns.

I got to do some shooting also. It's a very satisfying experience. 

I am very proud of this picture. Yes, it's what you've been longing to see: Andrew sitting in a princess chair.

I took another picture of the princess chair so you could see it better.

Mom has Dad's gun. See how scared he is! :)

Andrew got to use the big shotguns. They kick pretty hard!

Reloading.

Helpers in the work of destruction...someone needs to get out the targets, right?

The view from the shooting area.

Hooray for shooting! I will be back soon with more vacation pictures. :)

Arrow of Light

Here we go with Step Three of Operation Update Blog. 

In this post we will be skipping...

Andrew's choir concert, 

A Pinewood Derby win,

Charlie having a bath (an all-too-rare occurrence, sadly)

and a ballet recital, (you can tell how excited Andrew is about this)

we'll move on to...our very own Scout Extraordinaire. 

Let's have a big hand for Andrew Hales!!!!!!

   Andrew is amazing. He got about a zillion awards. Including all these pins which must be pinned onto the one sleeve of his scouting uniform. (I'm a little afraid that he might fall over from having to wear said scout shirt, which is probably very heavy by now from all the thingummies and doodads attached to it.) Anyway, as previously stated, Andrew, you rock! He worked really hard and we are sooooo proud of him!!!!! Also, he got his Arrow of Light. Besides having a really cool name, the Arrow of Light is the highest award you can get in Cub Scouting! Go Andrew! 

   Now, the thing about arrows is that they are very fun, and give you a sense of power. Therefore it is not advisable to hold them for too long, or the things shown in the above picture may happen.

Just kidding. Andrew has not tried to attack anyone with his arrow...at least not yet.

This is kind of a bad picture, but if you can try and imagine how bad the other ones are.. you'll feel better. Maybe.

Anyway, Andrew is the best! We are really proud of him and excited for him to continue to 11-year-old scouting. Yay Andrew!

Braces

Welcome to Step Two of Operation Update Blog. In this post...braces! (Disclaimer: These pictures may have been taken in an actual orthodontist's office, or they may have been taken in an alien spaceship. You can't really tell the difference.)

 They give you these sunglasses because they use very bright lights. Don't I look fabulous, darling?

 To make you feel a bit better about the incredible amount pain you are about to stagger through in the next few weeks, (note: I'm joking...mostly...) they give you a large assortment of band colors to choose from, arrayed on an attractive plastic wheel.

 After the braces.

First, the nice picture. 

Now, the not so nice one. AAGGGHHH!!!!!! What have they done to me?

Chicago

Now for step one of Operation Update Blog!
Okay. Here we go.

Skipping over a Head-to-Head meet,

a new backsplash, 

and a clown, 

   I will now proceed to tell y'all about our spring break. 

   Ahem. 

"We just got back from the Windy City, 

the Windy City is mighty pretty..."

(I hope you enjoyed that Brinli.) 

   Anyway. We went to Chicago, Illinois, also known as the Windy City. It was pretty fun and we took enough pictures to sink a ship. I will only include the best for your viewing pleasure! 

This is the trunk of the cramped, cramped car we went in. Fortunately we stayed in a hotel or we never would have survived.

   We started off with a trip to the Field Museum, which was very awesome. Unfortunately none of the exhibits came alive for us. I guess you have to visit there at night. (For the totally bemused in the audience, this is a reference to Night at the Museum.) 

Our family (minus me, the photographer) with Sue. Great face on Samuel, eh? 

We actually discovered that the head on the actual Sue is a fake (the real one is too heavy) and the real head is upstairs. Samuel seems fairly unfazed by the dinosaur head. Dad and I might have freaked out a bit...

We took some pictures in the gift shop which are, I must say, rather awesome. Behold:

Dad and Samuel in...actually, I have no clue what these are, except for the fairly certain fact that they are to be worn atop the head.

If you're a little confused right now, this is a panda hat. This is Mom's panda pose. Isn't it awesome? :)

The next day, we visited the neato Shedd Aquarium. The bulk of our pictures were taken here. Lucky for you, I will only put a few of the skillion jillion pictures we took on here.

In the entry, we noticed this cool shark. It's like a blimp you steer with a remote control. (If anybody out there is thinking of getting me a random present, I hear you can also get a dolphin version of this.) 

We took tons of pictures of the jellyfish exhibit. I never knew that jellyfish were so weird.

These little guys are called egg yolk jellyfish. Weird, huh?

These are way weird: upside-down jellyfish. They just lie on their backs with their legs in the air. They must live very boring lives.

We also visited the penguins.

Just one example of why I need a penguin! The zookeepers were petting penguins on their laps, with a long line of hopeful penguins waiting impatiently in a line. When they left, all the penguins followed. So cute!

A bunch of adorable penguins penguining around. The line in the picture is the glass.

Lunch break!

These are weird little worm thingys that live in holes in the ocean floor. Evidently their one purpose in life is to poke their heads out of their holes and amuse people. 

Look! I found Nemo! 

This is a huge snake from the Amazon River. I'm glad it was in a cage, because I think it wants to kill me. 

Now, scary giant bullet ants. Don't know why they were in an aquarium, but I think they also want to kill me. 

This is how we ended up: Dad and Samuel asleep, Mom sitting on a bench probably about to fall asleep, me trying to figure out where we are, and Andrew taking embarrassing pictures. (This is the least embarrassing, included only for accuracy.) 

After wandering for a while, we came upon the gift shop and took more goofy pictures.

 Star Wars...and otters.

 Harry Potter...and otters. It doesn't get much better (read: nerdier) than that.

I love how Samuel is holding the snake by the throat (the only safe way to hold a snake.)

At the Museum of Science and Industry, they had a Mythbusters exhibit in which you could try some of the safer exhibits, those not involving explosions. 

Dad tried to pull a tablecloth from under some (plastic) dishes, leaving them standing there. 

I tried to get dressed in a "superhero" outfit as fast as they can in movies. I failed miserably. But don't I look great? ;)

Mom tried to dodge a bullet. She didn't do so well.

Gift shop pictures...I think Dad should have bought that beret, don't you?

We also went to the Chicago Art Institute, which was way cool.

They had these nifty lions out front. I really like this picture.

The little round things are not, as Andrew believes, primitive yo-yos. Although they look a lot like them. They are teeny tiny boxes. 

My favorite part of the museum was the Thorne rooms, a collection of itty bitty rooms. They are so realistic it's almost scary. I could have stayed there all day. 

 Me and Samuel, appreciating art...we were getting a little tired at this point (probably like you are right now, reading all of this-I'll wrap it up soon) which is why we were sitting on the floor. 

Mom, Dad, and American Gothic...

We had lunch at a little Italian restaurant before heading home. 

Here I am in front of the restaurant.

We had a great time and will hopefully be coming back to Chicago sometime!