thank heavens for 4 day weekends!!

We have had a GREAT 4 day weekend, although technically tomorrow will be the 4th day so I guess maybe it's too soon to sprout such accolades..

We went to the Hopkington State Fair yesterday, it was SOOO fun, the rides were NOTHING like the LA fair so the kids were satisfied with just riding a few, we did the petting zoo, saw all the live stalk and the high light of the day is we ate FRIED TWINKIES and a FRIED SNICKERS BAR... they were actually pretty good.. My fave was the Twinkies and we probably wouldn't have even tried the stickers but Hunter can't have Twinkies due to his wacko allergy to artificial whipped topping.. but it was a GREAT day and I'm so glad we did it!

on another high note BRAD MADE THE A TEAM... no he's not going to jump into a Black van with Mr. T and the rest of "that A Team" he made the Varsity squad of Soccer.. he was pretty convinced he would be on the B team when the coach was calling off the roster because he thought he was reading guys off in alphabetical order.. he was wrong.. he was last on the roster.. Brad ALSO knows he'll need to work VERY hard to keep his spot (the boys were also told they could be "traded" at anytime for a B team player)... He is on cloud nine and even texted ME to tell me before he got home from practice (a sign he was VERY excited for sure.. texting your mom is so not cool!)

So that's whats going on here..

ta ta

Back among the wired..

So we just replaced the modem.. and we are back among the internet.. so it's time to share our trip... brace yourselves this is going to take a bit to get through...

we'll start from the beginning... or at least the beginning where i started taking pictures... We had a Fox Family BBQ it was fun and yummy and we swam and just visited and had a great time.. the kids had a ball playing with Levi their cousin who they only saw one time before.. and KayLea was just in love with Dylan the new baby cousin... everyone but Sheri and the happy new couple was there (actually Sam made a short appearance to eat and run but i got ho photographic proof) KayLea's most exciting thing to share was that she no longer has a phobia about swimming and infact LOVES to jump in now... she was a little fish...

Levi and Dylan were just adorable and Dylan even tolerated me getting him out of his pack and play and onto the grass so i coud get some cute shots of him... we realized this trip that i have completely lost my mojo for babies.. i mean i still love them but they not so much love me... i think it must be the baby factory closed sign that my faramones give off, and Levi was giving his parents a heart attack by "learning to climb a tree" (his dad is just out of camera shot)...

After our lovely BBQ (actually later that evening), the Fox girls (Me, Shannon and Trisha) took out the soon to be Fox girl (AmberLee, Sam's then fiancea) out for dessert to get to know her better and welcome her with open arms.. hopefully i won't be thrown out of the club for posting these but it was such a fun evening i just had to share.. Shannon got the prize for turning her checks a cute shade of red but come on,this picture is pretty mild if you ask me! i won't share what else was in the bag! haha! Amber is a great girl and will fit in nicely.. I'm sure she and Sam will be so happy!

Ok so the next fun thing was wedding day.. the morning of the wedding Ben decided would be a great time to teach the boys how to tie a tie.. i couldn't resist shooting some pic's of this.. it was funny but very touching!

Ok so i'm going to publish this and start a new one for the wedding

California take 2

ok so i was getting some fits from blogspot and it got me nervous so i decided to publish and start a new post.. where did i leave off, oh yea.. the wedding it was a great day, the weather was hot but clear and the sealing was great.. the absolutely only hitch was that Sheri (Ben's Mom) couldn't attend the Temple.. she had such a great recovery from just the week or so before but she still wasn't well enough to be released from the hosp and make the trek to LA.. I'm posting this group of pic's in small if you want to get a better look click on the pictures..

The kids of coarse got board to tears during the pictures so a great girl Jenae (formerly Dalton but she's married now, don't know her married name) played games with the kids and got them coloring etc.. what a great girl, i knew her when she was just a little girl.. be still my old heart!!

So i think the highlight for my day was going to see Sheri, we had promised her we'd bring the kids up all dressed up and Sam and Amber also came all spiffed up in their wedding attire.. you could tell she was a little sad that she missed the temple but i think it brightened her day to see everyone.. the hospital staff couldn't have been more nice, they really overlooked allot of stuff (there was more than 10 of us there) and i have to acknowledge the good deed of the photographer.. when she heard Sam's Mom was in the hospital she asked where it was then said she'd meet us there.. this wasn't pre arranged or part of her financial agreement etc.. she just realized how much it would mean.. i wish i knew her name so i could give her some free advertisement but if your in the market for a photographer in the S. California area let me know and I'm sure i can get you her name!
here's the only decent picture i got with the kids and Sheri... but it's only because my camera somehow got off of manual focus and i didn't realize it until i had taken a few quick picks (didn't want to tick off the photographer!)

I almost forgot the reception.. it was decorated really nicely (I'm not just saying that cuz i helped decorate!) and the food was great.. the kids had fun and KayLea zoomed in on all her 2nd cousins (all of Ben's cousins came with their little kids.. just the right age for KayLea..) she had a blast dancing and playing.. all the kids were asleep before their heads hit the pillow...

So the last Fox kids is married... hard to believe! it was really a great day!

OK one more post of Disneyland!

Disneyland

Ok so we had a BLAST at Disneyland.. and of coarse it did quite a number to our wallet so we might be eating ramen noodles for the next 2 weeks but my vote is that it was worth it.. (don't ask BEN!)

KayLea spent the first half of the day with Uncle Matt, Aunt Shannon, Levi and Grandpa Budd she had SOO much fun she didn't want to leave them.. they did all the kiddy rides and took pictures with tons of characters.. i don't have those pic's yet but if you click on Shannon's blog (to the left) there's a cute one with KayLea, Grandpa Budd and Eeyore.. here's just some random one's of the day... again i did these small if you want a bigger pic click on the picture..

so here are some things we learned at Disney,

1. KayLea LOVES, loves loves her Aunt Shannon and Levi (frankly whats not to love),
2. Hunter HATES anything that remotely resembles a roller coaster (ie: space and Thunder Mt.)
3. Bradley by the end of the day loved being the kid who would go with Ben on any ride.. (even though he was a little skeptical about space Mt. at first)
4. all the restaurants at Disneyland HAVE to give you free ice water (thanks Shannon for that tid bit of info)
5. I'm not certain if Disneyland IS the happiest place on earth but seeing your kids experience something you grew up with is pretty awesome!
6. KayLea may have to her her princess Disney ears surgically removed.. the boys also got ears but they were attached to a top hat and they were FAR too cool to be photographed with them on..
7. I love my family (but i didn't just learn that at Disneyland)

so i thought i'd post some pic's

so i havn't been so good at the e-mailing myself pic's from my camera on my cell phone mostly because the thing is always in my car which means its ALWAYS dead unless i'm actually driving (it rarley come off the charging cord).. so i actually had some battery life and took some pic's of the kids eating their "happy ending" sundae's at Friendly's yes that infamous day i wanted to strangle them all at the end.. see it didn't start so bad..

the last one is of KayLea on the merry-go-round a the mall a week or so ago..