Guns in the Desert

On Memorial day Todd started a new tradition, he called it the "Hendrix Family Shoot Out." Unfortunately, I was recovering from surgery and had to stay at home. I was so glad they took so many pictures of the event. The kids had a great time and shot a variety of weapons. From what I hear, they are all naturals. They seemed to enjoy posing for the pictures almost as much as they enjoyed the shooting. They had a picnic lunch and Aaron and Megan even did a little truck driving. I look forward to joining in next year.

When Meg got home from the shooting excursion, she made this poster and put on all of our bedroom doors...I thought it was terribly clever.

Megan's Birthday

 We just celebrated Megan's 17th birthday. I can't believe she will be a senior next year. Life is speeding by out of control. I don't like that the kids are growing up so fast, soon they will all be gone. Ariel and I decided to make Megan a fancy cake for her birthday. She pretty much had the lamest birthday cake in birthday cake history for her 16th birthday, so I really needed to make up for that this year. We made a homemade chocolate cake and fondant to make it fancy. We had a lot of fun making it. We did it in two days and spent about 6 and a half hours on it. Aaron even helped knead the dye into the fondant for a few minutes. Megan was very impressed and surprised when she saw it. We were more impressed and surprised that it turned out so good. Ariel made all the yellow flowers for the cake. It didn't start out to be a hat cake but once I made the bow, it sort of became one. Megan chose Memphis BBQ for dinner. It was good and we hadn't been there in awhile. When it was time to have the cake, Ariel insisted that we put sparklers on top of the cake. I didn't think sparklers were a very good idea, but went along with it. Those sparklers were letting off some serious smoke before they burned out and when they finally did, Meg's cake was covered in black powder...all over that pretty blue fondant. Who wants to eat a cake covered in carcinogens? It kind of put a damper on the cake eating part. Probably her best present ever is that her braces are finally off and her teeth look awesome! We had a nice day with Megan and we're so happy she is in our family.

Ariel's Home

Megan and I picked up Ariel from school the first week of May. She graduated from SUU with her Associates Degree. We are so proud of her. She will continue with school in the fall and be working towards a bachelor's degree in Dietetics. She was home for a few days and then left on a trip back East with her friend, Alicia. They toured Washington D.C. and NYC and drove through CT, NJ, VA and MD. While in NYC she got to see Mary Poppins and spent an evening with my brother and his friend, who are there on business. Ariel really appreciated all the history she was able to see and we loved hearing about everything she was doing each day. She spent last summer away, so we are so glad to have some time with her.

Aaron's Birthday

My baby turned 13! I can't believe how fast his life has gone by so far. His birthday was on a Monday this year. I hate when the kids birthday's are on school days. For a mom, it's a huge rip off when that happens!! Well I guess it is for the kid too. Who wants to sit in school all day on their birthday? This year we had even less time with him because he had lacrosse practice right after school and he didn't get home until 5 p.m. When he got home, he chose Olive Garden for dinner. Aaron and I shared the fettuccine, one of my favorites. He chose a coconut cream pie for his birthday dessert, it was delicious! Aaron didn't get to open any presents on his birthday. After his game on Saturday, we went to the lacrosse store and he picked out some new gloves and a new head for his stick. He was very happy with his gifts and didn't mind that he got them early. Aaron is a great person and we are so lucky to have him as our son.