Tim Takes The Boys Bowling

This morning Tim looked over my shoulder and said "wow, you make yourself look like a Saint on your blog", this is the week after we had a talk that went something along the lines of "whatever Suzanne, like people wanna know about my rooster-tail".

So here's to my saintly husband, who knows the real me is less saintly than what comes across this screen...


While my brother, sister-in-law & friends were in town shopping, Tim took the boys to the Aquarium and Bowling! These are the pictures Tim took of the 'father n' sons day out'.


The tuff guy showing Daddy what bowling is all about. Notice Tann's cute feet in the bottom of the photo?


Go Hunter!

Thanks babe, you're the best! And just for the record, we all know who the real "saint" is... Click HERE.

Chinese Nursing Home Visit

K, so I know Christmas was 3 months ago. But since there's something addicting about reading what goes on in other people's lives through their blogs, I figure you might like this one too. ?

That or I'm just late, and you don't mind-- I've always loved you for that.
For my church's youth mutual night, we visited a nursing home to sing Christmas carols.

Only the toughest of guys can get away with singing jingle bells, even though in Chinese it goes something along the lines of "Ding Ding Dong". Seriously.

They all clapped to the beat... even to 'Silent Night'.

And my favorite guy, who clapped to the beat of his own drum. We must've been kindred spirits.

The larger group.

Here we are again.

These are for you, Allie. You're husband lead us in a rowdy "old saint nick" song.

He was showin' us up, what with all the moves and stuff. Way to be cool Ken, one of the reasons why the youth LOVE the Brienholt family (and who doesn't, really!).

Tami, sweet Tami. She's the branch Young Women's President.

Tami's husband Trent (who is the Young Men's President, and the source of many a joke regarding what and where the planning meetings would be like when you're under the same roof at any given moment- the cutest couple ever).

Megara delivering her goodie bag.

Tam making friends. She does that so well.

Izumi (from Japan) delivering her goodies too.

Group shot. I'm in the green, top left. Seriously, why do I look so tall in this picture? Fun was had by all, and more than anything we felt the Christmas spirit.

Heaven Sent Smiles Today

I was off to a store one morning, and ran across this little smiley crew.

L to R: YanYan, DongDong, HaHa. Wouldn't you love the nick name "HaHa"?

His name matched his jovial personality. And don't you love YanYan's little tongue sticking out of her mouth in laughter?

I won't tell you what was going on on the other side of the camera to get those smiles. Let's just say I have no shame (even on the side of the road closest to my house), and I have an unbeatable Grover impression.

It didn't hurt that they thought my granny mobile, aka my glorified my tricycle (I wish I wasn't so absolutely in love with it, but it's the best) was the coolest thing. As I pulled up, they all three together climbed on before I could even turn around.

Kids are so innocent-- they saw a bench big enough to fit all three of them and just hopped right on, as if it was made just for them.

I caught Tami off guard for this picture. It was a sweet somber moment when she pulled out quilts her friends in America made for opportunities like this.

When I told her I'd invited these sweet kids over to play with my boys, she couldn't wait to stop by with the quilts. Over the phone asked their ages and gender to make sure she'd picked out the perfect quilts for each one of them.

And she did. This family collects trash in the area, and Tami gave them gifts nice enough for her closest friends.

Our house was so blessed to have some of Heavenly Father's choicest grace us with their visit. Thank you HaHa, YanYan (twins) and sweet little DongDong for playing with us. You certainly loved playing with those toys, and we had a fun time loving you!

Backyard Fun

Boys are so easily entertained.

Just give them a bag and tell them to fill it with their favorite backyard things and you've got 30 minutes of fun, at least.


Hunter's favorite was this pine cone.


Tanners? A leaf, but then again, the dude's always had a slight obsession with leaves, and their ''beins'' (veins).

And what's a play date w/ boys without something turning into a weapon (where does he learn this stuff?).

Here's my boy looking like he's 8 years old.

But still so sweet.

About 10 here.

Here he's thinking he's as big as Daddy in making the umbrella pop out-- out of sheer elbow grease.

Well, and the logic of pulling this little piece out.

"Mom, take a picture of my muscles" (no need to mention his half Grannis blood here).

Umbrella success.

Soccer star.

Another soccer star.

Who needs Wii Bowling?! Whew, I distracted them.

I still have them thinking I don't know how to work it so they only play it at night when Tim gets home.

But like my friend Allison's husband said (as well as Tim) "It's for bonding with my children".

Anybody else's husbands use that excuse? LOL.

Hunter and Tanner were actually kicking the ball back and forth.

And I love that Tanner still has the baby pot belly at thee.

BTW, do you see the lattice fence along the canal? It's made of bamboo. I had them add an extra foot to it. Just in case... even though they don't play back here unsupervised.

For this very reason-- Hunter is fetching a ball that rolled down the hill.

Tanner still is very content staying on the porch. He jumps from the highest part of the bench at school only to land on concrete (over and over, btw) but is still scared enough to not venture out the unknown. The funniest kid ever!

This was about as close to the water as he would get. And that's about as close as I'd wanna get too... let's just say it's not quite drinking water. Though it is a ton of fun to see the XL Koi gold fish. They eat bread crumbs and almost jump out of the water to get it.