The Stratton's

Port Aransas

2011-06-11T09:52:00.015-05:00

We met Bre and Tyler, Brick and Tiffany, and Tommy and Ashley at the beach for our summer vacation. The weather was great, but hot. Cole got fried to a crisp the first day. I guess I forget how white that white boy really is. Ben saw a huge jelly fish the first time they got in the water but that didn't seem to keep the them out.

The kids are sitting on a piece of drift wood that Bre found on the beach. One day this will make a beautiful bench. It was huge though, so she and Ashley bought a saw and Ben cut it in half so they could both have a bench one day. Can't wait to see them, ladies!

Cambry and Ellie surfin' the waves..or something.

Carly, Bre, Taite and Nixan

These birds were well fed while we were there. The kids fed them almost a whole bucket of peanut butter stuffed pretzels. No wonder they stuck around.

Carly thought they were great.

These two were so cute together!

Carly is at the stage whenever you take her picture she says 'cheese' and gets a big cheesy grin on her face. I tell her not to smile but we are still working on that. She is such a stinkin' cutie!

Dallas

2011-01-14T17:23:00.004-06:00

It's been so long since my last post I almost forgot how to blog. Here are just a few semi-updated pictures. We met my parents and brother in Dallas when my sister had her new baby. It is always so much fun to see the fam!

A Few of our Summer Highlights

2010-08-05T00:06:00.017-05:00

CAMPING

We went camping with some friends a while back at Palmetto State Park. We assumed Carly wouldn't appreciate the great outdoors yet so we left her with Grandmother and Grandaddy. The kids hitched a ride on the paddle boat with Clifford and Azakiah Valente. They had so much fun!

Starting a fire was not one of our strong suits.

Cambry and Riley

UTAH

Every summer the kids look forward to our trip up north. We stay at Aunt Mary and Uncle Jims for at least a day. The last couple years Olivia (Libby and Johns girl) has stayed over night so she can hang out with us. They are all so dang cute and loving, seriously!

Cole, Cambry, Abby (Jenna and Ryan's girl), Olivia and Caulder

Jared and Becca's twins - Noah and Bella -So Cute!

LAS VEGAS

The Shark Reef - This is a projection on the wall and when you touch it or walk past it, it ripples like waves. Very entertaining.

Gotta get our In-N-Out Burger!!

Bellagio

IDAHO - WYOMING (Actually)

Best hike ever! We felt like professionals with our Camel Packs on our backs. We got up real early on Caulder's B-day to go hike Table Rock by the Tetons. It was snowed in so we took a different trail.

Devils Staircase - 9 miles

We were purifying some water at a little creak and didn't even notice this beast about 30 ft away. He didn't seem to mind. Curtis hit a moose on the road a couple days later. It totaled his car. I wonder if this one had anything to do with it.

WOW, the view was so amazing!

Carly and Grandpa at Blastoff for Caulder's Birthday. I was too busy playing lazer tag so I didn't get many pictures.

Snow ball fight at the top of our hike- Ben got a lucky shot and hit Megan. Notice how he celebrates and doesn't even realize she is crying. It was hilarious!

Easter

2010-04-16T16:33:00.009-05:00

Easter 2010 - Pretty much self explanatory!

We were trying to decide if the boys were too old to participate in the hunt this year. So the dad's made them work for it. This gave new meaning to the words Easter Egg 'Hunt.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2010-04-08T21:30:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandpa! We are thinking of you and wish we could be there to help you eat your Birthday cake. We love you so much! We can't wait to see you!

Carly - Two Months

2009-12-04T16:36:00.009-06:00

Carly had her 2 month old appointment this week. Dr. A said she is a perfect little girl. (Of course we already knew that. :) ) Our little baby is growing like a weed. Her stats are:

Weight - 11.8 pounds - 55%

Length- 23.5 inches - 90%

Head- 38 cm - 50%

She is definitely a binky girl. She might give Caulder a run for his money! She is a formula baby now. I was supplementing for quite a while and she was doing great at taking whatever was put in her mouth. But eventually she chose the bottle. Her best friend is the ceiling fan. We lay her on the floor and she will smile and stare at the fan for forever. She sits on the freezer at the back of Teka and watches the ladies cook. Today they informed me that all of them were her aunties. They are so cute with her. I feel especially blessed this time of year for my healthy, wonderful family.

Happy Birthday Great Grandmother!!

2009-11-12T20:22:00.006-06:00

We love you Great Grandmother! Hope the singing isn't super annoying. We know it's definitely annoying, we just hope it's not super annoying. :)

Crash and Burn

2009-11-09T12:10:00.003-06:00

This was the saddest thing in the world. Cambry crashed on her bike a couple weeks ago and face planted right into the sidewalk. She scraped her head and hands and obviously her mouth. Her gums above her teeth were so soft. It was bleeding from above the teeth and they had dropped down. We contemplated taking her to the ER but after going through almost the exact same thing with Caulder (getting hit in the mouth with a golf ball a couple summers ago), we decided to watch her for a couple days. The swelling is gone but she is left with a beautiful gray tooth. This goes really well with her already chipped two front teeth from a previous fall. Poor kid.

After the motrin kicked in she was anxious to see what the damage was. She just looked in the mirror for a few minutes then said, "Hmm, my lip is bigger than my nose".

I have decided to order Carly a full mouth guard and helmet that she can wear 24 hours a day. Seriously, we have the worst luck with front teeth. Cole's front teeth went gray after a bike accident also. We look like we have hygiene problem or something. :)

Ben cheered her up with her favorite Chick-filet chocolate shake and a new purse with all the accesories in it. Such a loving dad!!

Carly - 2 Weeks

2009-10-15T10:46:00.008-05:00

Carly had her two week check up this week. The Dr. said she is very healthy. Obviously, right? Her stats are:

weight - 8'6"

length - 20 1/2 in.

head - 35 cm

She is still a good baby. It's been nice to be able to enjoy her while all the kids are in school.

The kids always check on her when they get home. Cambry usually tucks her in and puts a stuffed animal by her...or on her. We just can't get enough of her! We can't wait for her to meet the rest of the family!

2009-10-03T14:33:00.007-05:00

Welcome Home Carly Marie!!

I can't believe she is finally here. She is such a sweet baby. Carly was born at 1:17 on Tuesday the 29th of September. The delivery was very smooth. We have been so blessed to have such healthy kids. And I do mean healthy. She was 8 pounds 5 ounces (our second biggest next to Caulder).

Whenever she is awake she thinks it's dinner time. She licks and smacks her lips like she is starving.

First Bath.
As long as I was dumping the water on her, she really didn't mind her bath. This bath chair keeps her out of the water so it is pretty cold. I would be screaming too.

Not asleep, just enjoying the warmth!

Cambry has learned to put her own hair in ponytails and likes to comb everybody else's hair. So, she was very excited to see that Carly had a lot of hair already.

That's our sweet lil' chunky monkey!

First Day of School

2009-09-26T17:17:00.008-05:00

The kids flew out of bed with excitement on the first day of school. We are now into it a few weeks and they all love it but they are not flying out of bed anymore! Cambry has a hard time getting up in the morning though. Six 0'clock is way too early for this girl.

The boys were very protective of Cambry.

They are all doing great in school. I am so proud of them! Caulder and Cole have started their GT classes and they love the projects they get to do. Caulder got into the robotics club. He was very excited about that. Cole was excited to find out that Genesis, a 'girl friend' from last year, was in his class this year. Cambry's teacher said she is a great participater in class. I guess we'll find out at PTC next week if that is a good thing. :) She comes home singing songs and loves to tell us all how to spell things that she has learned.

Summer in Idaho

2009-09-26T15:15:00.009-05:00

Wow! It's been a while, but I am back! I have a lot of catching up to do so I promise to keep the writing brief. Enjoy the pictures!

Paint balling in Idaho.

Abbey and Cambry at the 24th of July Celebration in Ririe. We rode on a horse-drawn carriage around the church. Our horse slipped on the asphalt and fell over. Maybe that's why they didn't have asphalt in the days of the horse-drawn carriages, huh?

Devon and Caulder waiting for the rest of the 4-wheeler ride.

Cole - Looks like the swing of a pro!

Cambry and Nixan posing at the ranch.

Devon, Caulder, and Cole hiking Cress Creek in Ririe.

Nixan - Potty time in the beautiful outdoors!

Banks, Caulder, Devon, Cole, Nixan, Cambry, Taite, and Berkley

We all made it to the top of Cress Creek.

Enjoying the world famouse square ice cream in Swan Valley Idaho, ok, maybe not world famous but definately delicious!

Grandma is such a crazy driver. Nobody wanted to get off.

Abbey, Thailey, Cambry, Grandma, and Wendilyn

I saw these flowers and couldn't pass up a photo.

Bre and Tyler and Ben and I enjoying an all-you-can-eat brunch at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City. Life doesn't get better than this, especially when you're pregnant and there's no holding back! Ben and I were celebrating our 11th anniversary!!

We rented a 15 passenger van to go through Yellowstone Park. Despite the heavy traffic, we still had a great time.

We didn't see too many wild animals but the kids loved the geysers and melting pots.

Although its not depicted in this photo, Uncle Brigham is a pretty vicious boat driver. Basically you don't get back in the boat until you have been thrown from the tube. The kids caught some pretty high waves and loved it.

The airplane ride home.

I should probably leave it at that, but I won't. They look so peaceful and entertained but that only lasted for so long. We were all sick of traveling and everyone became agitated. The last hour or so Taite and Trevy decided they had had it. They had contracted pink eye and were not feeling well. We arrived at the airport early, but instead of this making our trip shorter, they had no place for us to go. So we sat forever while they found us a gate to pull up to. Meanwhile, Cole, who had been asleep for the last hour gave us no warning at all that he was sick. He threw up all over! I passed out a whole box of Bre's wipes and hand sanitizer to the passenger behind us (who left his feet under the chair). I was so glad we were landing and not taking off. We were all getting nauseous. Cambry made a big deal out of the scent while we were trying to down play the whole situation. Cole said he was still feeling sick so I grabbed the barf bag from the guy I was sitting next to. When we got inside the airport Cole looked like he was going to 'go' again so I stuck my hand in the bag I'd borrowed to open it up for him. It was then that I realized I was using the bag that he had been spitting his tobacco in the whole filight...all up my arm. Bre and I died laughing.

Cambry's New Talent

2009-07-17T16:19:00.006-05:00

While we were at Grandma's in Idaho, Cambry talked her Aunt Shanna into helping her ride a two wheel bike. After about an hour of practice she is still a bit wobbley but she picked it right up.

Canyon Lake

2009-05-27T20:19:00.013-05:00

On Memorial Day we went to Canyon Lake with Brik and Tiffany, Bre and Tyler, and their friends Nicole and Jason. We were planning on going the previous Saturday, but the weather didn't work with us. We were excited to see the sun on Monday. It was so much fun, a little toasty but fun. I think we all left fried. I promise I won't coment on each picture, there are tons of them! Enjoy!

Hot Dock!

While we were eating at the cabana, which was about 100 yrds from the water, Mercedes said she was going back to the water to collect sea shells. We had sent each of the kids back by themselves so we didn't think anything of it (there were more adults there). Later, we realized that Mercedes never made it. It had been quite a while so we freaked out. Everyone started looking up and down the beach. Nicole found her at the ranger station. Two women had found her and took her there. It was so scary. It's amazing how fast things can happen. We were so blessed to find her and that nothing else happened. After that we didn't want to push are luck so we all packed up and went home.

We rented wave runners for a couple hours while we were out. Caulder and Cole got to drive. They thought that was the best thing in the world. I was holding on for dear life!

Madison and Cambry

Caulder and Cole love hanging out with Maddie. They won't admit it, but I think they are fighting for her love. :)

What an exhausing day!

2009-05-20T21:12:00.018-05:00

Happy Birthday Great Grandaddy!!!

Happy birthday Grandaddy! We wish we were there to celebrate with you. We miss you, Great-Grandmother, and Grandmother. We hope you enjoy our little birthday jingle! We apologize in advance for our nerdy performance, but rest assured it was created with much love. :) We hope you have a wonderful day! We love you all tons!

We are so thankful to have such wonderful grandparents. We are blessed that they have set such a great example for us and future generations.

Easter

2009-04-16T21:20:00.010-05:00

My beautiful three all dressed up for Easter!

Hunting for easter eggs is serious business!

When Caulder saw the size of his easter basket he decided to where a hat just in cases he needed it to put more eggs in. Check out the fire on Nixan' head in the background.

Cambry, Nixan, and Taite all looked so cute in their yellow easter dresses. We didn't even plan it. I can't believe I didn't get a good one of all three of them together:(

Cole you are such a nice cousin.

Taite is always doing something to crack us up. These pictures turned out too small to capture the emotion the bigger pictures had. I had about 20 other pictures between these four that helped tell the story. She loves her some Tuff.

Cascarones!

Watch out she is armed and dangerous!

Every easter egg hunt has to end wih a cascarone fight. Thanks tons granddaddy!

Even baby Trevi was attacked by the cascarones. She didn't seem to mind too much though.

2009-02-15T20:30:00.001-06:00

After watching Sleepless in Seattle, Cambry couldn't resist dancing to the music while the credits rolled. Enjoy our little ballerina!

2009-02-07T15:09:00.001-06:00

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

2009-02-06T21:28:00.014-06:00

Going to the rodeo each year has become a fun family tradition. We took the kids out of school early and they thought that was pretty cool.

Here piggy, piggy. Here piggy, piggy!

Cole put on a tough face, but he wasn't feeling well all day. He was a good sport to get on all the rides with Caulder. Later that night he had a fever of 103.3. I felt so bad for him.

Last year, Cambry didn't like the petting zoo at all. Not much changed this year. She faked a smile and tried to mingle with the animals, but I don't think she could get past the smell.

Best Buds!

You can never have too much cotton candy...

...or food of any kind for that matter! No turkey legs this year though. We heard that each leg had 1200 calories and decided it wasn't worth it(not that the $8 price tag had anything to do with it)!

Cambry's New Do

2009-01-28T12:56:00.005-06:00

Tuesday morning as I was combing Cambry's hair she started to complain that it hurt. This is a frequent response I get. So I said "Do you want me to just cut your hair off?" Her response was not what I expected. She got a really excited and said "Yes, yes I want it to be like Nixans." So this was our Tuesday night activity.

BEFORE...

DURING...AFTER Eight inches off.

She loves it. She's been flipping her head around and twirling around all morning.

She's my little Diva!

Happy Birthday Cole!!

2009-01-28T12:04:00.009-06:00

DIG IN! Watch out, here comes Taite!

Cole was frustrated with the whole skating thing at first. But, he became a pro real fast and helped teach the others.

Bre's just taking the baby for a little cruise.

I think this would be called 'snow plowing' if Ben were wearing skis.

Daddy/Daughter bonding. Really, it was a workout trying to hold them up.

At one point during the night; Tyler, Tiffany and I (the in-laws) realized we were all hanging out on the benches while our spouses tore it up on the rink. It was funny, we realized we couldn't hang with them. We heard lots of skating stories about the good ol'days.

My Fam's Visit to SA

2009-01-11T21:52:00.018-06:00

Hard at Work!

Nothin's free. You've got to earn your stay!
Thanks for your help!

Trans Siberian Orchestra!

My mom, dad, Brigham, and Todd all got to see the Transyberian Orchestra perform. It was more like a rock concert but it was sooo cool. It took a while to get our hearing back to normal.

So awesome!!

Fiesta Texas!

Cambry had to give each of these characters a hug and a kiss after the pictures were taken.

"Boring...where are the real rides?"

I had to convince cambry that this was fun.

The kids waited over an hour to sled down this 'bunny hill'. My family thought it was hilarious.

Just goofing off while we wait in line.

Cole's no fear of heights made us all nervous on the Ferris Wheel.

Witte Museum

We loved the hands on experiments at the Witte Museum, especially my Dad.

The faces my dad pulls crack me up!

We learned about the digestive system @ an experiement they did. Caulder got to hold the large intestine that reached across the room.

Let it Snow!

2008-12-17T00:58:00.009-06:00

Cambry's first time in the snow!

It was so cold but Cambry didn't care. She loved sledding...as long as I carried her sled to the top of the hill.

Cambry and my brother's dog, Ginger. She felt bad he had to stay out in the cold.

Congratulations Cindy!

Tim and Cindy sang Romeo and Juliet while Amber rocked it out on the dance floor. This girl has some moves! It was hilarious.

Abby and Cambry

The reception was in a museum so there were lots of displays to entertain the kids.

We hung out in the visitor center while we waited for Tim and Cindy to come out.

Strattons in the Hood!

2008-11-09T20:33:00.004-06:00

Bad boys, bad boys - watcha gonna do? Watcha gonna do when they come for you?

Lovin' The Cool Weather!

2008-11-08T21:12:00.014-06:00

Nixan and Taite spent the day with us on Saturday. It's finally cool enough to enjoy the outdoors. After we went to the park we enjoyed biking, chalking, and playing basketball at the house.

Makeover: Bedroom Edition

2008-11-06T10:49:00.004-06:00

I thought I would show some pictures of Cambry's new room. I wanted to redo it for a while but kept putting it off (no ambition to paint again). Thanks to Bre's help, we had it completed in a day!

Any guesses what Cambry's favorite color is?

She loves playing dress up. This is her little dress up corner where she can reach her collection of princess dresses and check herself out in the mirror (she gets that from her dad!).

Cutie Patootie!

2008-11-01T12:52:00.012-05:00

Cambry never passes up an opportunity to get her picture taken.

I love that she can be such a girly girl!

She has to add her own personal touch, of course!

Fun at the Witte Museum!

2008-11-01T11:08:00.012-05:00

When hurricane Ike touched down in Houston, the Dinhs, unfortunately, had to evacuate while they waited for power and water to resume at their home. Fortunately for the families in San Antonio, we got to spend some fun times together.

There were lots of educational windows we 'looked' at real fast.

"Faster he's catching us!"

Bailey and Brice were great sports with my corny photo shots.

The 3rd level of the museum was all hands on. Bailey, Brice, and Cambry had fun trying to pull themselves to the top of the tower using pulleys with different tensions.

Cole can ride a bike on a rope 30 ft. above ground with ease!

Caulder and Bailey also succeeded at this event.

Make some noise!

We were definately the loudest group there (I know that's hard to believe). They could drum and make different sounds with different tools on the roof of the museum. Noise is encouraged.

Now here's a couple professional musicians!

They actually did get good at playing some songs on the PVC pipes.

We love our cousins!

The Ninjas and a "Who"??!!

2008-11-01T08:07:00.010-05:00

Trick or Treat!

After we went around the block trick or treating, Cambry told me, "I thought everyone was going to laugh at my costume, but they all wanted to take my picture." She was so cute as Cindy Lou Who! About four of our neighbors insisted on taking Cambry's picture after they gave her candy - and, of course, she posed for each one!

Caulder, Cole and some of their friends from church were all Ninja Warriors.

How about that hair? Too funny!

After we went to the church for the Trunk or Treat we came home to pass out candy to the trick or treaters. Caulder and Cole made them each work for their candy. Caulder told the trick or treaters they had to do a trick, then they would receive the number they scored in candy. Caulder would say, "That was ok, you can have 5 peices of candy." They were all good sports about it and the moms thought it was hilarious. It was pretty entertaining.

The perfect Cindy Lou Who!

My First Blog

2008-07-03T23:56:00.001-05:00