Kayley Turns 9

While weird for me to think about it, for Brooke it is even weirder, but Kayley roper turned nine this week! One more year and she'll be in double digits. That much closer to being a teenager. Weird. That, and I spent all week thinking she was turning eight. So we joined the Roper/Miller family and a handful of nine-year-olds for her party and games!

I'm sure Kayley is so happy we put this picture of her up! But the cake was THAT good!

It's a game we were playing. It involved Vaseline, cotton balls, and a timer. Under most circumstances, that would be weird.

I totally owned that nine-year old girl in this game!

Yeah, I didn't vote for this picture to be put up. I had Vaseline all up in my nostrils.

Landon, with a random, yet strategically placed birthday decoration, looks to have a mohawk in this picture. He is awesome enough to pull it off if he wants.

Stacking golf balls for another game that I owned. I'm putting that on a resume for sure, I can stack two golf balls on top of each other in 15 seconds.

Epic. Fail. Game. ALAN.

Kayley rips into her stash.

Landon felt left out of the present fiasco. But all he wanted was the paper, anyway.

Yet another self-portrait. Without having three chins, these work better for me nowadays.

Happy Birthday, Kayley!

Wilson County Fair

This past week the Hensons and Baughmans took a little trip out to the Wilson County Fair to get some good food, ride some rides, and people watch (which is awesome to do at fairs). It was a great time, I rode a bull, and our arteries clogged just walking by the food vendors.

The always necessary self-portrait. This one turned out pretty good I thought.

The Baughman family of three and a half, our enjoyable company for the evening.

Kelsen happy that Brooke is nearby and that she gets to play with animals.

So, I'm not an expert here, but I'm pretty sure that camel is a Zebra. But hey, it's Wilson County, we'll roll with it.

She is not so sure about the goats... probably because they wanted to eat her.

Something about riding in a ferris wheel that is broken down once a week and transported to other fairs makes you feel like you could die every time you hit the top.

Pretty view of Lebanon from the top of the wheel, great sunset!

Facebook profile picture!

The fair from above, actually pretty big when you really look at it.

Told you I rode a bull. I left out the part where it is mechanical. But I went well over eight seconds, I think I did well for my first time.

Piggy back rides with daddy! Awesome...

Fried butter. Yep, it was real. All my weight that I lost? I almost put it back on thinking about how fried butter would taste.

Kelsen playing with the toy I won with my mad skillz. Mad skillz and a guy that said he'd let me win no matter what. But in my defense, I totally popped the balloon anyway.

Still not sure about the goats...

That's a huge, uh, rooster...

And as the sun set on the fair and our evening, we took another self-portrait for the road, got some homemade ice cream to top off our funnel cake experience, and headed home. A great, random, Thursday night well spent!

Destin '10

I can't go a year without visiting my beach in Florida, or it's just weird. Something about being on those white sand beaches that just makes me happy, feel at home. This year Brooke and I went to Destin with her mom and brother, a nice little family vacay. We stayed at a condo on the beach, we could fall asleep listening to the waves, and we ate things that definitely were not on my diet plan. It was amazing.

Our attempt at nice family pictures on the beach... amidst a 15 mph wind coming off the water. Apparently that doesn't allow your hair to stay in place.

Our awesome condo on the beach and HUGE bedroom...

The view off our balcony. I could get used to seeing that every day.

Representing Tennessee with my flood shirt in Florida. Ironically, it rained every day there.

Good self-portrait with the patented stretch the camera out and take the picture yourself.

It was a little rainy in the morning, but awesome in the afternoon. Rain or shine, I love this view.

OH MY GOD! BROOKE LET ME PUT A PICTURE UP OF HER IN HER BEACH GEAR!

Sandra enjoying her first Osaka experience. Our chef ironically worked at Samurai in Murfreesboro before going to Destin to work at Osaka. Small world.

Awww, cute family portrait, post the ginormous meal at Osaka.

Two seconds later, the gorilla attacked Sandra. Seriously. Twice.

Annual putt-putt night in Florida. I won. Of course.

Don't break the concentration. Tiger Woods ya'll. Oh wait, no, I made the putt. And my wife didn't attack me with the putter.

Brooke struggling to understand why she is losing so bad. She obviously doesn't have them skills.

Amazing waves, red surf conditions, and of course me and Russ were both out in it. Brooke totally approved.

Tackling the waves, or rather, getting my butt handed to me by giant waves...

The closest thing we had to a sunset, it got cloudy every night. But all in all a great vacation. How can it be bad when you are in Florida staying on the beach?

Ayden Turns 1!

So for those of you who don't know, Jesse and Morgan Gambill have many, many reasons to celebrate Ayden turning 1! This little guy has been through multiple surgeries and hospital visits in his first year here, so it is pretty exciting to see him healthy and celebrating a birthday! Since Brooke and I will be out of town for his official party, we got to be a part of the family for his actual birthday... and it is always fun to see a baby dive into their cake...

Me with my nephew, since I can't claim him as my son anymore... dude looks too much like his daddy!

Ben being good, ready for presents... he was pretty good about letting Ayden open his own :-)

He was not amused by the hat.

Rip it open! Tear it! Bite it!

He spotted the camera again.... AFTER IT!

Ayden got upset, I think because we insisted on taking a million pictures before he could dive in... he just wanted the GIANT CUPCAKE!!!

FINALLY he can dig in... and oh, he did.

The aftermath... one happy boy, one dad on clean up duty, one less giant cupcake (note: he did not eat the whole giant cupcake himself, that would be dad's job to finish it off). Fun times with the Gambills! Can't believe all the kids are turning one... Landon is next!