The post where I get sappy about my husband...

Yesterday Mr. Handsomepants turned 33. Being his birthday, that gives me a right to gush about him on my blog, and no one can complain, Right Gina!?!

Some of the many reasons why I love this guy:

My heart still melts every time I see him. He has the best sense of humor out of anyone I've ever met. He's an amazing Dad, these kids are so lucky to have him.

He is so passionate about the Canucks, and I love that he watches every game and cheers louder than the people who are actually in attendance.

He works so hard to provide for our family so I can stay home with the kids. He watches me say and do the stupidest things and just smiles at me. He is spontaneous and we never know where we'll be on weekends (now our children just blindly get into the vehicle, not knowing if we're going to the grocery store or California).

He likes to do things as a family and would be perfectly happy to never have a social life outside of the 4 of us. He encourages me to have my own ideas and opinions and act on them. He loves doing anything outdoors: quadding, snowmobiling, skiing, or even just working in the garage.

Neither of us is perfect, but we are perfect for each other. He is my best friend and I love spending time with him.

Yep. That about sums it up.

Happy Birthday Jared!!

She's gonna need a bigger jewelry box...

Last week, we took Hayley to get her ears pierced. She has been wanting to get it done for quite awhile, but I am always the one that chickens out when it comes right down to doing it. She was a trooper getting them pierced and I just think they look so darling on her little ears.

Easter Egg Hunt

On Sunday morning, we the kids woke up to their Easter baskets and eggs hidden everywhere. I love holidays like this, they remind me what it was like to be a kid. I just love Hayley's face in this one:

Happy Easter!

Fishy Fishy

Every Wednesday morning Hayley goes to a preschool program called Craft and Splash. For the first hour they do crafts and for the second hour they go swimming. It's a great program and Hayley loves going, adores her teacher, and has turned into quite the little fish. Today her teacher brought an underwater camera and took some pictures of the kids swimming. I thought one in particular was awesome:

As a side note...she must get her water legs from the Whidden side. Most of us Mendenhalls still have troubles even being seen in bathing suits :)

Carter's ER Visit

So Carter went to a birthday party on the weekend and got bit by their dog. They called us right away and he came home with a band-aid and some tears. End of story? Not quite.

He complained about that dog bite all day and was crying alot because of the pain. Within 24 hours, our poor little guy was burning up with a fever and his arm had swollen quite a bit so we took him into the ER to get checked. The wound was quite infected so they put him on painkillers, and antibiotics, and took an x-ray for good measure. True to my blogger self, I took some pictures to document the ordeal.

*The doctor drew permanent black marker on his arm to outline the swelling, so we'll know if it's getting better or worse...hence the dotted line around the wound*

We go back again tomorrow to make sure it's healing properly. And he's missing school today because he's still in quite a bit of pain, and can't move his arm. What little trooper hey?

Last week

(We had a visitor! Jared's old buddy Austin came to Elkford and they went sledding together)

Hidden Camera

She's delightful.

Coeur d'Alene

We went on a little weekend trip as a family to Coeur d'Alene. We've never been there before but quickly fell in love with it. Waterparks, amusement parks, lakes and beautiful scenery, and great shopping! The first day we took the kids to Triple Play and went on the water-slides all day.

We found a Cabelas, our family's absolute favorite store!!

Took a hike to Albeni Falls Dam near Spokane.

The best picture from the weekend???

We had an awesome weekend hanging out just the four of us and exploring new territory. We are definitely planning a trip back this summer so we can do Silverwood and rent some sea-doos on the Lake. The only question I'm left asking is: "Where the heck has Coeur d'Alene been all my life???"

CUBA

Jared and I were lucky enough to go to Cuba!! And trust me when I say LUCKY, especially considering I broke my tail bone 6 days before we were supposed to leave. Because of that, we thought we were going to have to cancel the whole trip but were able to make it happen...with the help of a wonderful Sister, Mom, orange inflatable bum donut, and plenty of Tylenol 3's :)

Too much to write about the trip, let's just say it was amazing and I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

bat caves

I got pulled up on stage one night and taught how to play the bongo drums

We went on this Catamaran Boat Excursion were we snorkeled, saw dolphins, and spent the afternoon on a private island, swimming and eating.

On the Catamaran ride back, a crazy storm came up and the weather changed in an instant. It was quite the experience being on the rocky waves, wind blowing, bombarded by rain and sea water.

one of the many beaches

busy Cuban street

taxi

there were hundreds of these little shops everywhere

more taxis

Okay the pictures just don't do it justice. It was a great trip and we were not ready to come home at the end. I would have tried to "miss" our flight home, had we not been missing the kids so much (who were at Grandpa and Grandma's in Sherwood Park). However, the kids didn't even miss us!! The nerve...