Hampton Family: 2009 Summer of Fun

Sorry, I have been a horrible blogger this year. Ruth made me a book out of my 2008 blog and it came out so nice that I decided to do some catching up on 2009. It turned into a nice picture journal to document the year. This is JT and Tia at Breakers water park for their summer reading program reward. 8-8. They had to read for 30 minutes every day for the summer and they got a free pass to the water park.

The waves were huge.

We rented these tubes for the day and they were fun. JT went down the red enclosed tube slide behind him this year all by himself. His eyes were big and round when he came out the bottom into the light. He was all smiles the rest of the day. Tia is still a pro from last year.

Joshua's 1st birthday. 8-14. Cupcakes and frosting in the nose. It is our tradition to put the cake in front of them and let them get creative. This year did not disappoint.

Joshua's new popper machine. He had just as much fun with the balloons.

One sword for little man and one sword for big man to keep the peace among brothers before the war broke out.

The two brothers sleeping together hanging off the bed. 8-22.

9-10 was get your shots day. Tough guy through the first two needles and the crying through the last two. Sore arms the next day.

Iron man JT showing his scars.

Tia's first game. 9-11. She improved a lot this year and had a great coach named Tim Pedersen that helped her learn the game.

Tia showing her speed and hair whip.

9-13. 12 years of marital bliss, 3 kids, 2 states and one goal. Happiness.

9-16. I took an elbow to the eye on a rebound playing basketball. Split it wide open. Kirk Bowden was playing with us and took a look at it and said, "Well you can go to the emergency room and pay a lot of money or you can super glue it together. I chose the glue. Kirk is in his medical residency here in Tucson so I trusted his judgement. He followed me to the Walgreens while I drove with one hand on the wheel and one on my eye to keep the bleeding in check. He fixed me up in no time.

Adrianne!! I had a nice shiner and had to tell the story about 30 times to explain how I got my big black eye.

If anyone ever needs to glue an eye back together give us a call. This new skin has antiseptic in it which helped heal it without infection. I had to reapply it periodically and I did glue my eyebrow to my eyelid one night and had to fix it quickly.

9-18. JT's 1st day at soccer practice. Tia's old shin guards and shoes from the Maces.

New uniform and name tag.

The parents helped with the drills and mini games. Joshua wanted to score too.

Brock Driggs, Abby Derrick, Jonathan Hampton, Ashlee Herring and Lincoln Rasmussen. Amy Greenwell was also part of the team.

9-19. Reading time before bed turned into a fashion statement. Thomas the train and shades. Tia has her journal that she is pretty good at keeping her private thoughts in.

Mom reading to little man with his shades.

Mission accomplished! Sleep. Quiet house full of sleeping children.

10-2. Kiddos watching cartoons with Joshua showing his abs or lack thereof and his tongue out.

Tia's bird catching contraption. Pieces of bread tied to the cage by string with a door opening on the top. Result....dried up bread and a good laugh. I think Joshua ate more bait than any birds.

10-4. Wagon ride at Sunset.

The driver and tour guide.

The passengers.

Pit stop by the monkey bars. Only one monkey got out to play.

10-5. I had our Mahoney Group Producer trip to Prescott this year and I brought back some Sheriff badges for the boys. Our team won the scavenger hunt with the help from the Jarmins. $500 prize money. The first clue was in the bottom of the pool and I had to jump in with all my clothes on. It was worth it.

10-6. The Gurvines gave us their Thomas the Train set that the kids loved.

Ruth chatting with her family via Skype. Online phone system for free. It has been nice to have and we were able to see and talk to her father with our kids a few days before his passing.