I love being married to this guy. We're busy having a fun day at six flags. Can't everyday be saturday?

Tim! And a new favorite!

Tim....you know we love you. And I do mean 'we'.......Than loves you just as much as I do, if not more.

So back in June....Pacen's last day of school to be exact we headed out to Marysville to watch Tim!!! We bought Walt and Becky tickets for a combined mother's day and father's day present, and of course we didn't want to miss out on the fun so we bought tickets for ourselves. It was a three concert ticket so we also get to see Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith. Toby I could live with or without but I'm pumped for rascal flatts.

It was a super fun day. The weather was perfect and the music was awesome. The company was okay, too. :) Than ran (of course) to get us the best lawn seats and they really were the best. He's crazy like that. And I found my new favorite band....The Band Perry! I love them. I had never heard of them before.....that has something with the Bay Area having ZERO country music stations on the radio....but after I heard them I went out and bought their album and I love it. I listen to it the whole way through and Than said the other day, "Why don't you just go to a band perry concert!??!" And I would. So there. :)

I need to find some cute western plaid shirt to wear next time though. I was a little out of place in all my modesty.

I love this guy. He's out of town right now and I can't wait for him to get home! And I haven't talked to him all morning and that never happens. Apparently he 'works' on these business trips. He is very thoughtful and kind to his mother. I hope Pacen is just like that when he grows up. Becky can always talk to Than and Than can always talk to her. We can't make a big decision without consulting them first. We bounce ideas off each other and that is what family is for after all.

And also a big THANK YOU to brittney and Jason for watching our kids. They live like 5 minutes from the amphitheater....how fun is that?!?!?!Come down for a date in the city....we owe you!!!

And all photos courtesy of Becky...how backwards is that?

Monday Monday.

Look out world! Gentry is crawling up the stairs!

I tried to teach her to go down today but she would have nothing to do with that. She is so darn proud of herself for going all the way up! I chase her and pinch her fat little legs and she squeals with delight and it's such a fun game. The other day she crawled up and the door was closed at the top of the stairs and we hear this crying and we head up there and she's standing on the little piece of carpet that is there flat against the door with this look like, "Why is no one helping me!?!?!" We have to keep our eye on that one, that is for sure.

This was the other day when we were trying to reenact her STANDING ALL BY HERSELF!!!! She was holding onto my leg and then just let go and stood there for a few seconds and plopped right down. Than said she did this the other day, too. That girl! Can't she just slow down for a minute and just be our sweet little baby! No, she has to like grow up and stuff. Whatev, Gench. I guess we can't do anything about it! Better just love you anyway. :)

Oh yeah, and Pacen has found his new calling in life....Baby Whisperer. She was crying after about 45 minutes into her nap (very typical Gentry!) and after I huff and puff about her not sleeping very well he says, "I'll help her." And this is what I find. He's the best.

For being such a good kid, I reward him by doing stuff that I hate doing. Like putting together legos. BLEH! I'm just not that into that, but I sat down with Pacen and we dumped out all the little, itty bitty, tiny lego pieces and got the book out and put Jack Sparrow together just like we knew what we were doing.

Pacen really got the hang of it towards the end and finished it all by himself. The thing about legos is that Gentry and legos do not get along. Her sitting on my lap while I try to put legos together with Pacen was not happening with all of her grabby-grabber-ness. But we were victorious! We ended up only losing one piece and we didn't really need it anyway. And I loved that Camry was just as excited to play with Jack as Pacen was. That's my girl.

Here is a picture of some Gentry lovin'. I was unsuccessfully trying to get a picture of Gentry's top tooth that has come in.

AHHH, too much love.

What else have we been doing? Oh yes...swimming. It's consumed our summer but it's been so much fun. Every meet is like a ward party. There are five LDS families that swim (including us) and we stake out our little spot and watch everyone's kids and just have a great time hanging out and watching the kids swim. And they really are just getting better and better.

I think Pacen has had it harder because most of the kids that are 6 have swam for at least one, if not two years already and so he's been a little slower, but he is catching up. They are finally getting the whole 'race' thing down and are excited when they beat their times.

Camry's freestyle time is only 6 seconds away from Pacen's time. She's really getting it!

Today she won a prize at swim practice for working hard and she was so proud. She said that she didn't stop once on a lane line all practice. Pacen was so cute too. He said, "Camry, dad is going to be sooooo proud of you." I love my kids.

Wednesday is our last meet for this year. There is the big end of the year meet that we might do one event, but it's the same day that Than bought us Giants tickets all the way back from Christmas. But we have basically spent everyday at the pool so I think we're good. The kids have loved it, become super swimmers and super tan. Those tan lines are just ridiculous. Even Claira has crazy tan lines from hanging in the baby pool everyday.

What else is going on with us.....I'm eating the end of a gigantic bag of costco trail mix and I've pretty much eaten all the m&m's out of it and I just keep reaching in and grabbing out handfuls of nuts and raisins and putting it all back until I can find some more chocolate. Why not just buy m&m's? I probably would have. This was Than's purchase.

Today I checked the office supply store ads and started my back to school shopping that Merideth got me started on a few years ago. 25 cents for a two pack of dry erase markers....1 cent highlighters and pencils....50 cents for a four pack of glue sticks...you can't beat that! And I got two reams of computer paper for 1 dollar (with a mail in rebate that I already did online!) I'm pretty proud of my bargain shopping. I can't wait to see what the special sales are next week! I printed off the kids back to school list and we got a lot of it done today. Only one month left of summer. Boo. We have been having too much fun for that school thing to get in the way. :)

This little boy is OBSESSED with music. He is constantly on my computer choosing music off our itunes and creating his own playlists...it's quite funny. The current favorite songs of the house are Journey's Don't Stop Believin'....a classic, I love it......I Gotta Feeling...to a 6 year old it never gets old!.....Dynamite....Bruno Mars' Runaway Baby....and the Jimmer songs--Teach me how to Jimmer and The Show Goes On. We hear those songs many times a day. On Sunday, he's getting his primary song mix going, too. He cracks me up that he cares already, and just the fact that he actually knows how to use itunes.

I love these shoes. I bought them this spring and I've worn them over and over again this summer and I feel like I can be cute and still wear flip flops. Best purchase of the summer. That and my Zella workout clothes. I love feeling semi-cute while exercising. I've started up crossfit with my friend again now that she's had her baby. I love it because I feel like I'm on the biggest loser. Burpees are not my friend but I feel like I'm actually getting stronger. I do like push ups and sprints and box jumps and feel like I'm gonna puke. It's pretty awesome.

This girl makes me laugh on a regular basis. We did a Pioneer themed FHE tonight and we played the game and I'd ask a question and she's raise her hand all kid-like and everytime she'd answer with, "Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Ghost," or she'd say, "Follow the gospel and walk and walk and walk and walk." Yes, that Primary song has had an affect on her.

We went and saw Harry Potter finally. Than was about to divorce me because we didn't see it on the opening week. I just LOVED the books and I just like the movies. This movie was really good though, but they always mess with the best parts of the book and I just can't get behind that. Just do it the way she wrote it!!!! You don't need to take any personal liberties!

Than is out of town until Thursday, and I forgot how much I don't like him being out of town. When he's gone all the time, I get used to it, but he's been home so much I forgot what it was like to be a single mom. Pacen, Cam, and Claira are all snuggled up in my bed and I left them crying because they all wanted me to sleep next to them and so I said that I'd just sneak in where there was room and so then they were shoving each other over so they'd have room for me. That's when I just said, "Good night," and walked out the door. I don't hear anything now so they must have figured it out.

I got to rock this little baby to sleep tonight.

It was so sweet. We sang songs and rocked and loved each other. It doesn't happen very often that all the stars will align so we get all that time just the two of us at night, but they did and I loved it. She's just growing up so fast. A lady in church was so funny because Gentry is just loud these days. And the lady comes up to me and says, "Well, she is sure finding her voice these days, isn't she?" That is the polite way to say, "Take your baby out!" I'm kidding, she's a sweet lady and wouldn't say anything mean ever but Gentry is seriously LOUD in church. But that duty is going all to Than because now I'm Camry's only primary teacher. No more switching off weeks for me. It's good bonding time for Than and Gentry. He can get her to sleep every afternoon right towards the end of Sunday school. He's got the magic dad touch.

What else......oh! My sister's BFF (I think you are supposed to say bestie now...I'm behind) had her twins today and I get to take some pictures of them next week! I'm so excited. Get this...the babies were 7 lbs 7 oz, and 6 lbs 10 oz! Those are some HUGE twins!!!!

Alright...time to go do something productive. Maybe. I always have grand plans when Than is gone to do all these things that I don't do when he's home but then I just want to plop down on the couch and watch some TV. Than's been making fun of me because I've been watching the Oprah Season 25 Behind the scenes. I could watch stuff like that all the time. I love seeing how shows are made and what people are really like. Although I just watched the Inside the Actor's Studio with Jennifer Aniston and she's just boring. I'd rather like to think that she's fun and bubbly and cute but she was just boring boring boring. Okay, this blog post is derailing quickly. Let's quit while we're ahead. :) And I'm pretty sure that it's official....all the m&m's are gone. Sorry Than.

Seriously so cute.

I wish this picture were more clear. I took it last night right before I went to bed when I go in and check on the kids. My big 7 year old boy in the crib with his little baby sister. He's so sweet. My girls and lucky to have a big brother like Pacen.

THE tire swing.

At Bill & Peggy's, they have the most killer tire swing. I love that thing. I wish that I was a kid so that I could take a proper swing on it. It reminds me of a homemade swing that we had at my grandma shirley's house that hung from a giant weeping willow tree. I can still feel what it felt like to swing on that tree and I loved it. It was Bill's birthday on Sunday so we took him some brownies (the man only eats hot dogs and chocolate. Some chips and salsa occasionally, too) and so of course the kids had to swing. But luckily this time I had my camera.

They can get soooo high!

Camry was being a good model.

Claira is getting more and more brave each time.

Bill and Peggy are so good to my kids. Anytime we just stop by they act like they have nothing better to do than hang out with us and she explores in the yard with the kids and always gets them some kind of treat. Here they are picking plums. And yes, she's in bare feet! Crazy woman. In a lot of ways she reminds me of my mom. Like her hippy-ness.

And tough guy bill can always be found holding a baby when there is one around. :)

And Peggy finds a nice, big blanket to bring out for Gentry to sit comfortably on and what does she do?? She heads right for the part closest to the dirt so she can dig and eat her dinner.

I've said it before, but I'll repeat myself. We are really lucky to have those guys around. The other day I needed to vacuum out my car and now that Carrie and Cache are gone I can't use their shop-vac and I thought, who would have one? And you can bet that Bill and Peggy have one. I think they had three. They have everything! I don't think that they've thrown away anything. Ever. She was wearing a dress the other day that she made when she was my age. Pretty impressive. They really do come to our rescue often out here and I'm glad we've rented their house so that we could become better friends with them.

Bikes and Tears

Poor Camry. Poor, poor Camry. Her life is just hard these days. Monday night was attempt #2 to get her to ride on her own. My favorite quote of the night, screaming at the top of her lungs is, "I'm just gonna die!!!! I'm just gonna die!!!!". Or maybe it was, "This is the worst day of my life!!!!!!" I did take a little video but I felt guilty to take so much pleasure in her frightened state. Granted, she puts in all on herself and is completely out of control. But....I just might know who she gets that from so I have sympathy for the poor girl.

The tears start even before she starts.

You have to gear up for this. We are not a family that likes to see blood. :)

Look, Cam! You're doing it!

The conversation went a little something like this:

"Look, Cam! You did all of that by yourself!"

"I just wanna be done! I don't want you to let go!!!! I just wanna be done! I did it already!!!!" And then throws herself on the ground.

Ride....then repeat. This time throwing herself on the ground with a little more gusto.

If you know Than at all, you know that this is testing his patience BIG TIME! But he's sticking with it. Some might say that she's just not ready and we should give up, but let's be honest...it's just not the Hancock way. :) Pacen really wanted to go out last night and Than wasn't home so I took them out and had a little bit of an easier session with Cam. My goal was to get her to stop crying the moment we mentioned the word bike and that was accomplished. I babied her a bit but she still rode a little on her own. She just doesn't have turning down but I think she can stop better. We might take a day off today, but Pacen has the riding bug and wants to go out everyday now. Look at that stud! He is very proud of himself!

While Camry was screaming, we were enjoying the park!

Claira is so fun to have around. She just cracks me up with her little voice and little body. She has been insisting that she is four and gets really mad when I tell her she's just two. When we were at Target the other day, I let Cam pick out her present for swimming all the way across the pool without stopping at her meet (which was Rapunzel hair....what a mess already! But she loves it) but claira was very upset that she didn't get a present. I told her we needed a goal for her to reach and then she could get a present so I made a little sheet for her to check when she goes and uses the bathroom without my help. And she's doing it very faithfully and she'll come and check off her little box and say, "Can we go to Target now?"

And then there's our Gentry pie. How do fourth children survive in this world???? Seriously she is the most toted around little baby I know. She is constantly putting stuff in her mouth and I constantly hear Camry saying in her most motherly voice, "Gentry...No!" And then saying something like, "Mom, Gentry has dirt in her mouth again!"

And look at all of that hair! This growing family is so much fun.