Seattle Susan G Koman 3 Day

I can't tell you enough what a wonderful event the Susan G. Koman 3 day is!! The fact that it is in multiple cities, every year amazes me. You really have to experience it to understand what I mean. I just attended the Seattle 3 Day as a crew member (not as a walker), working for the Gear and Tent Crew. I'll leave out the boring details and tell you this is one of the most physically challenging crews to be on during the 3 day. Betsy and I decided "we're young and physically fit, we can do it" and do it we did! We were sore, and tired, hungry & thirsty all the time; we were just too busy to deal with any of those concerns :-) I do have a new respect for my crew members here in AZ, and have a couple of surprises planned for them this year! Below are just a few pictures from our weekend. Jason and I are still trying to raise money for our Arizona walk in November. If you haven't yet donated and would like to you can click the link on our blog to do so. Thank you!

The entire Gear & Tent Crew - Seattle 2010 (well minus Betsy because she had to go back to work). Yes Betsy got up at 2:45 am, loaded walkers luggage onto these moving trucks and then went to work at 7:00 am for a full day of work on Friday.

Josh, Betsy, Barb, and Sean. Josh & Sean were also on gear and tent, they made the weekend really fun. Sean's wife & friend were walkers in the event.

Seattle rain...urgh! It rained on Thursday and Friday - was gorgeous sunny (73 degrees) on Saturday, and then rained again Saturday night and Sunday.

Bags, bags, bags and more bags. I will never apply for a job at Southwest Airlines. Very few people stuck to the guidelines of 35 lbs. or less. Approximately 2,200 walkers and 500 crew members = a lot of luggage!

We managed to take 1 picture the entire weekend of ourselves. Too busy to even think about the camera.

A constant reminder why we were there and what all the hard work was for!

Downtown Chandler Photo Shoot

As mentioned a few posts ago we went to downtown Chandler and had Sam take photos of us. She has several on her blog as well. If you like what you see, she is for hire - she's an amazing photographer and editor. These are just a few of our favorites.

I can do it myself!!

Yes, we've reached the stage of independence. And it is only going to get worse with little Gavin. Actually he's doing a great job, yogurt is his specialty - it sticks to the spoon easy and doesn't matter if the spoon is right side up or upside down.

And the kid will eat just about anything, it's wonderful!

How do kids figure out that Olives fit on your fingers? I'm sure some parents show them, but we were sitting at the dinner table and looked over and he was cracking up at himself that he had an olive on his finger. Goofy baby!!

Let's Get Organized Part #1

It was a good weekend at the Hendricks House! When mommy's happy, everyone is happy. Thanks to Sam's organizing inspiration I finally finished my pantry as well. I wasn't going to label everything, but once I saw hers it was a must! And my spices...OH I love cooking so much more now. We had a great weekend cooking together as a family and Gavin is even eating our grown up dinners. Homemade pesto, linguini, and chicken sausage on Saturday, chicken tacos with coleslaw & BBQ Onions on Sunday, and Mushroom Bolognese with pasta tonight. Such a big boy! We're loving cooking with our Bountiful Basket each week and finding new recipes to enjoy.

*{BEFORE}*

*{AFTER}*

*{Find these at...The Container Store}*

*{HAPPY PANTRY}*

Picture Day

We had the pleasure of being "models" for Samara Link, our favorite photographer (and very good friend) in downtown Chandler. These pictures were actually ones that we snuck in on our camera, while she was doing her work! I'm sure we'll have some photos of hers to share soon. You can always check her blog Link Adventure which is full of amazing photography every day!

Our star, little Gavin...

Go Go Gadget!!

Gavin is just like his mom & dad, he loves his GADGETS! Unfortunately for us he spends a lot of time communicating with us via the phone. He has learned it quite well. He hears the house phone ring and he runs right over to wear it sits docked, he knows not to touch it, but sits and waits for one of us to pick it up. Then the yelling begins, he assumes every call is for him. He walks around the house like a grown up with that thing stuck on his ear. Oh yes, and he does talk...and talk, and talk, and talk. It sounds Chinese, but it sure is cute!

Whenever the opportunity is right, the video camera is no where in sight, battery is dead, or I just plain forget. Watching Gavin with his keyboard is about the funniest thing I've seen all year. Hopefully we can get some video of this singing, dancing, acting boy and post it here soon. He gets most of his moves from his Dad!! :-)

1st Peanut Butter & Jelly :)

Oh yeah baby! You're just not American if you don't like PB&J...and Gavin loves it!! Of course there isn't really much of anything this little guy won't eat. It was fun watching him have his first big boy sandwich. Mommy cut the crust off of course!

Pooh's 1st Year

We picked Baby's 1st Pooh to measure Gavin's growth; we will continue to take pictures each year with Pooh on his birthday. A fun way to document how he grows each year. Amazing how much he grew in just a year.

Gavin and Pooh, 3 days old.

Gavin & Pooh, 6 months old.

Active Gavin (had a hard time getting a still photo) and Pooh at 12 months old.

Playhouse

Duct tape = $3.59

Extra Large Black Sharpie = $1.99

Utility Knife = $6.78

The most entertaining toy of all time, made of free cardboard = Priceless

We will need to buy a new fridge soon so Gavin will have a large enough box to play in.

Birthday Toys

Wow, never would have thought being 1 would get you so many COOL things. Gavin has been overwhelmed with gifts by everyone he loves. We got a new shelf to help organize them and he plays so well. Not so good at cleanup, but he's learning. Thank you everyone for the generous and thoughtful gifts, here are a few pictures of him playing.

Books, books, and more books. I'm not sure this is Barb's son (she hates to read). Gavin makes us read at least 7-8 books a night. He loves to turn the pages.

Yes that's a tool box, made for 3+ year olds. He has already figured out how to hammer everything in sight. This is the new toy shelf, you can see he has the 'stacking toys' box slid open.

OK so the chair was a gift for when he was born, but he's now discovered he LOVES it at 1 year old. He sits in it every day, several times a day.

Loves to cuddle with his stuffed animals. Kisses all of them, it's so cute.

The lawnmower, makes noise and blows bubbles. He mows the living room, the kitchen, the dining room, the hallway, and more. He watches Jason do the real thing every weekend - he loves being just like dad.

Really? This thing is the 2nd best thing to Chuck E. Cheese. Seen how it is large enough to fit Barb AND Gavin in it, we will only be brining it out on special occasions. Once he realized you could go in and come out the other side he loved it. It's packaged up nice and neat in the hallway outside his room right now, every morning he sees it and says "baseball, baseball, baseball". Every ball is a baseball right now - pretty cute.

What birthday is complete without the ultimate noise machine. Gavin is a Mozart in the works. He loves to push buttons and get a reaction that plays music. And yes of course the dancing, he dances to any and all kinds of music (even Barb's hip hop). Currently Justin Bieber's "Baby" is his favorite.