Happy Birthday A&W!!!!

Today is the 89th anniversary of the creation of A&W rootbeer in believe it or not, Lodi, California which is the next little towan after Stockton. The original stand is still there (see photo), just with a better paint job. We might need some rootbeer tonight to celebrate!
Here's a little history in celebration of our favorite family beverage, ROOTBEER!

The "A" and "W" in A&W Root Beer stand for "Allen" and "Wright," the two founders of the company. Roy Allen purchased a root beer formula from an Arizona pharmacist and sold his first mug of root beer in 1919. In 1922, he took a partner -- Frank Wright, one of his original employees. Two years later, in 1924, Allen bought wright's share of the business back, but he stuck with the name, and the rest is history. By 1933, he had more than 170 franchised A&W outlets, and by 1950 he had more than 450 outlets nationwide.

The printer...and Sketchers

So, last night I was trying to print coupons for free Thomas Trains (if any of you out there want coupons, e-mail me and I'll send you the link, it's this weekend, free Thomas Train up to 12.99, no strings attached at Toys R Us)and I just couldn't get the printer to work. I tried reloading the paper like 20 times without any luck, finally I decided to take it apart a bit and found four Double Bubble gumballs inside the back where the paper loads, essentially blocking the paper feed... wonder how they got there....

Yesterday we drove past the Sketchers store with always the same reactionf rom Micah, "Mom I need some Sketchers", and I ask "why"? I've never gotten a convincing reply. Listen to the one I got yesterday:
"Well, with every step you take there is air circulating between your toes, cooling your feet and letting them breath so your feet don't stink"! He told Scott he saw it on a commercial.... hmmm....

back at it...

Summer is almost officially here and it's already been steaming hot. We've been swimming every day, yes every day. Good thing we have friends at the pool! This week it might hit 100 degrees again. Summer here we come!

T-ball Glory

Well, the season is sadly at an end. All week Micah was excited for his "team party" not realizing that meant it was also the last game. He also was dreaming of a trophy.... he was buidling them out of jumbo legos all week, talking about getting big hits and the possibility of a trophy. We didn't want ot promise anything but we were definately hoping, for his sake, that there would be a trophy for each kid after the last game. Not only did he earn a trophy, it has him name on it. There is trophy love and trophy envy (see picture of Lauren) in our house... what a great season!

Happy Father's Day part 2

A picture from the actual day, one great Dad and his two very happy kids...

Also pictures from the night before. We got free tickets from our friends (thanks Tory and Janie!) for the Thunder indoor soccor game. We had a great time. The highlight of the night was Micah's stellar performance throwing footballs into this game type thing. It was for adults, you got three balls and if you made three you got a signed football, if you got two you got "thunder sticks" to cheer on the team. Well, Micah wanted to do it SO BAD. He couldn't stop talking about it. We didn't think he'd make and shots at all, it was hard even for adults. Well, out of nowhere he actually got two footballs in and won a prize. Everyone in line behind him was going crazy, it was pretty lucky if you know what I mean!
Just a side note, yes that is Lauren wearing not one but two pairs of pajamas, hers and Micah's and yes, she did sleep in both. She is darling but she is STUBBORN!

An Ode to Fathers...

For all you Father's out there- Happy Father's Day! When you have little kids, all holidays are exciting. We've been excited about our small tokens of affection ( a new Beatles t-shirt, sunglasses and a decorated framed picture) for weeks now. In tribute, here is a little verse by Micah he wrote for his Dad for Father's Day (arranged by me, but in no way altered in any way):

What Makes My Dad Special
By Micah T. Holladay


He plays with me.
He watches me play t-ball…
He plays games with me…
He plays catch, football and basketball with me in the backyard.
He makes me so happy when he gets home, I run for the door and he makes me so happy!
He snuggles me when I’m scared…
He takes naps with me…
He sits by me when I eat dinner…
He lets me stop eating…
He drinks sodas with me…
He tells jokes with me.
He asks me what’s wrong when I am sad and he always makes me feel happy.
I really love him and he’s my favorite best friend!

Trip to Oregon

We jumped on a plane last minute to get to Miriam and Chase's reception in Oregon. It was a great time! Some of the highlights....
1. Lauren had the stomach flu to entire time. Not a little barfing, LOTS of barfing, everywhere... On the plane, going through security, in the car... AWESOME! Poor baby...
2. Scott popping the tires on our rental car... not his fault, the security guard triggered the spikes accidentally popping the tires as we were leaving, on a BRAND NEW CAR. Not awesome for Enterprise...
3. Spending time at the coast... beautiful.
4. A great reception complete with all you could eat Marie Collander's Pie... YUM!
5. Seeing Adrienne and the kids, our long time friends from BYU
6. The Tillamook Cheese Factory... great cheese, even better ice cream!
7. The largest bookstore in the world, one square block and our new acquisition of many Little Critter books which Micah finds "fascinating"....
And all the less note worthy but very exciting adventures. What a great trip! (except maybe the barfing...)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our little artists...

We go to the Children's Museum a lot, it's like the only place in Stockton for kids and we have a family pass so we exploit it as much as possible. Micah loves to paint, although we have paint at home, it's much more fun at the museum. I let Lauren try her hand at it for the first time and she loved it! Yellow was the color of the day, for her painting, her skin, her clothes....

Summer fun

Summer is here and we are enjoying it.... We had a few days of over 100 degree heat a couple weeks ago which got us into swim season nice and early. Here are a few pictures of pool tricks and our not so glamourous (but works in a pinch when you're 4or 1) backyard swimming pool.... Summer here we come!

T-BALL!!!

Micah is on t-ball team this summer. He absolutely loves it. His favorite thing is being on a "team", he takes it VERY seriously. He's been practicing his hit and his throwing and he's getting quite good. One week after one of his big hits a mom said "Who's son is that! That was quite a hit!" I told Micah and now he repeats it to everyone, he's very proud of himself!

Preschool

It's been a fun year. The end of the year has been filled with fun outings like horseback riding, a trip to the zoo and a summer party. Here's a few pictures so you can see what I'm talking about...Oh, and Lauren actually got to ride a horse (with me of course) also. She tried herself, our guide was her Nursery teacher, but she was scared so I hopped on with her and it was a lot of fun.

It's been a LONG time...

Time to recommit to blogging at least once a week... wait didn't I just say that a couple months ago (and a couple posts ago)!?! Well I really mean it this time. Here's the two stinkers since you saw them last, a little bit bigger and a little more fun!