My Girls Came Back!

It's been 4 long months since I've seen my girl Michele.  We had the best few days skiing, hanging out with our friends, and spending time with our families.  A definite highlight for me was our day at Snowbird.  We skied our hearts out and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Elizabeth flew in the following day and we met her at one of our favorite spots in Salt Lake, Poplar.  Man I wish they still lived across the street from that place.  We had such a great crew with us that night.

I was so excited to show Michele and Elizabeth the magic of Sundance on a Sunday.  Despite Elizabeth forgetting her coat, the day was perfect.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  Of course I ran into Riley up there and he hooked us up with this sweet picture.  I wish Randy could've joined us but Max wasn't feeling well and someone had to be the responsible parent and stay home.

Sam and Michele created quite a bond while she was staying with us.

He couldn't wait to show Miss Molly his friend Michele.  He just happened to be the leader so this picture made it to Little Bear's journal.  It was such a treat having Elizabeth and Michele stay at our house.  We had so much quality time together.  They have so many people who want to see them when they are in town.  I felt pretty special they spend the majority of their time with me.  Come back soon girls, miss you already!

Friend Par-tay!

Hank's birthday partying continued a few days later with all his buddies.  Kate let us use the gym at her school and the boys had a free for all!  It couldn't have been a more perfect place to let these boys run wild.

From the top left, Ethan, Sione, Nate, Jackson, Danny, Jake, Sam, Boston, Colby, Cooper, Hank, Dayton, Max, Preston, and TJ.  You can imagine the smell in that gym with all these boys.

Hank's friends share his competitive nature.  This basketball tournament was intense.

His friends can ball!

Hank strategizing, hilarious!

Meanwhile, Mino was hula hooping up a storm.

One thing I love about Hank's friends is how nice they are to Sam and Max. 

Dodgeball!!!

We took a quick break in the action for some cake.  Yes, Hank got 2 birthday cakes this year.

We ended the night with a very complicated obstacle course thought up by Randy.  I think these boys could have played all night.  It's going to take Kate all weekend to air out the stench these boys created.  You can tell a lot about your kid by his friends.  I couldn't be more proud of the posse Hank has chosen to surround him.  Good boys I tell you!  

Hankster is Eleven!!

Here he is folks in all his 11 year old glory!  I have to say this is my favorite age yet.  Hank's personality is really shining through and he is so much fun to be around.  He has the best group of friends who love to laugh and have a good time.  Hank is excelling in school, sports, and life in general.  I'm one proud mama.

Clear goggles for his new found love of night skiing.

New running shoes in a manly size 6!

Sam and Griffers had to give him a proper send off before he headed to school.

After delivering donuts to his class, I checked Hank out for lunch at one of his favorite restaurants, Costa Vida.  We had quite the crew join us in our celebration.

After our lunch date, I didn't have the heart to make him go back to school on his birthday.  I'm such a sucker.  Oh well, you only turn 11 once.

He had one request for his birthday and that was dinner at Tepanyaki.

This kid enjoys himself some Japanese steakhouse deliciousness.

After dinner we had all the family over to party.

Books, books, and more books!  Boy does this family know Hank.  He loves to read and has a whole new crop of fantasy genre books in his arsenal.  I'm so impressed with his love of books.  I wish I could say he got it from me, or Randy for that matter.  

He even willingly posed for birthday pics!

Watching Hank grow up is my greatest joy.  I'm amazed by his ability to make everything look easy.  He is such a special boy, I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. 

Thank you for making me a mom sweetie!  I'll love you forever and ever with all my heart.

Diabetes Nerd

I know I'm weird, but when you manage 2 diabetics every day you get amused by this.  To check their blood sugar randomly at 3:25 in the morning and have it be the same number is extrememly rare.  

Just picture me running to my room to get my phone so I could document this in the middle of the night.  I've officially lost my mind!

Most of the time they are polar opposites so when they sync up it's pretty cool.

Not so cool that Max has filled up this entire detergent bottle with used syringes.  Sadly it only took him a couple months to do it.  I'm guessing this poor kid has had close to 700 shots since his diagnosis.  The amazing thing is he hasn't complained once about it.  He is one for the books.What a courageous little boy.

Oh and have I mentioned he started giving himself his own shots! Seriously, such a stud.  He amazes me.