mommy's little convicts

dave brought home his work van this evening, which also happens to be a prisoner transport display van. this equals good times, as well as a "scared straight" lesson for the boys.

at first they were model prisoners:

but they soon turned into hardened criminals:




a scene out of "prison break" talan was at the wheel in no time:

after that stunt, he was thrown in the hole:





but soon, hayden ended up breaking free. security was pretty loose that nite:

mother's day

today we headed over to mom and dad's house to celebrate mother's day and mom's birthday (although she didn't want to hear about that part). jenn and rainah drove over to help celebrate as well.
dad grilled some lunch up for us all and then we let mom open her presents. dad got her an ipod touch which talan immediately grabbed out of her hands and said "you bought me this?!" he then asked over and over again "can you open this?! open this!" and refused to let go of it until they pried it from his little hands.
the rest of us all got mom a bunch of accessories to go with her ipod touch including a book telling her how to use it. although, she could just probably ask any one of the kids and they could help her out!
hayden gave me my mother's day present which was a beautiful beaded bracelet that he made me with my favorite color, blue, and his favorite color, red.
we all had a great time hanging out and eating lunch and then cake and ice cream!
i hope mom is aware that talan will no longer care about doing anything other than playing with her ipod touch anytime he sees her now!
happy mother's day and birthday, mom!

mom opening her new dock and talan hanging on to the ipod:

look at that glare. there is no way he's giving that ipod touch back:



hayden still loves his baby sister:

our annual table 17 reunion party

every year we get together with a group of friends that all sat together at our friends eric and jennie shanburn's wedding. it was the first time that some of us had met and we all instantly became friends. at the time we were all going to the bridge church but we have all moved on to different churches.
most years we only get to see each other a couple of times throughout the year. it's sad, but we're so happy that everyone still makes the time to all gather in the spring to catch up. the wedding was on 4/20 so we try to get together as close to that date as possible.
what started out as a group of adults has turned into 9 adults and 9 children....with one more due at the end of this month. so next year the adults will officially be outnumbered!
eric and jennie have also been able to make it for the past several years, but they just recently moved back to st. louis so they couldn't make it this year.
this year, the azema's were our gracious hostesses. unfortunately, the weather was cold, windy and rainy so we had to stay inside for the most part. but everyone still had a great time.
i totally forgot to get the camera out...again...until everyone was getting ready to leave. and at that point, matt, niki (with alivia) and everett had already left. and my self-timer didn't appear to be working (or i just couldn't work it) so i got as much of the group as i could!
thanks so much for opening your home to us all, kacha and michelle! we all had a great time and the food was wonderful! can't wait to do it again next year!

the ball pit was a huge hit. talan, eden, samuel and estella:
hayden, eden, samuel, cielle and estella:
talan, hayden, estella, eden, samuels hair, and cielle:
the kids table minus everett, joseph and london:

melissa, scott, matt and london:
table 17 minus the nichols family and myself. talan, estella and scott loudon, london and dave, joseph, susie and samuel loudon, michelle, eden, kacha and cielle azema, melissa weckler and hyaden:

table 17 offspring. london, joseph, eden, cielle, estella, hayden and samuel: