Merry Christmas

I hope this finds all of our friends and family doing well and enjoying this special time of the year. We had a wonderful Christmas with the boys in Omaha, though we were stuck inside our house for two+ days as we were hit with blizzard conditions. The boys are all so active and getting so big. Taylor is fast approaching the beginning of his teenage years; Nate is convinced he will play professional baseball; Landon loves having his very own Nintendo DS; and Spencer is hooked on Blues Clues. As for Stacy and I, we are still very much in love!!!

I will post a few Christmas pics soon, as well as a more detailed writeup on each of the boys.

Snacktime !!!

Spencer has become much more "active" the last few weeks; much to our dismay. As you can see from the pictures, Spencer figured out how to help himself to a little snack. I think we are in for a challenge. :-)

Hill Air Force Base Museum

Here are a few pictures from our family trip up to the Air Force Museum that we took yesterday. The boys had a great time looking at all of the planes and learning about the history of the Air Force. Stacy and I especially enjoyed watching the boys as they played on the flight simulators. Nathan wants to be a fighter pilot now, but only if he can fly an A-26B invader (whatever that is). Landon really liked dressing up as an astronaut and pretending that he was blasting off into space. Taylor was not into the dress up clothing, but thought sitting inside of an airplane simulator was very cool. Stacy and I enjoyed it because it was free and got the kids out of the house for a few hours.

Ice Skating Fun

Nothing like beating the summertime heat by going ice skating. Stacy and I took the boys up to the Ogden Ice Sheet (site of the 2002 Winter Olympics Curling event) for a little family fun time. We had a lot of fun watching the boys skate around the rink. Taylor and Nate never fell down and proved to be very quick on skates (yes, they beat me in every race we had). Landon, while a little uncertain about skating at first, was able to skate around with Stacy by the end of the day. Lastly, Stacy proved to be a little ice princess as she "floated" around the ice doing various spins and twists. Overall, it was an enjoyable family outing.

Where has the time gone?

I cannot believe that it has been more than three months since I last posted about the family. So much has happened over the last little bit that it will be challenging to accurately capture all that we have experienced, but I will try my best.

I must first begin by saying that our family has been, and continues to be, blessed beyond measure. Our health is good, we have wonderful family and friends, and we are humbled by the comforts and freedoms we enjoy.

While we are uncertain where we will eventually end up (now that law school is over and the hunt for work begins), we are confident that if we continue to live our lives according to gospel principles we will be directed to where our family needs to be.

Prince Landon

Our family was able to watch Emmaline & Tate a few nights ago and Landon made the most of it. Landon was so cute to play along with the kids when they wanted to dress up and play "pretend." While he may not readily admit it, I think Landon had a lot of fun being the brave prince.

Opening Day - Part III

Just had to add in some pictures of Spencer.

Opening Day - Part II

Nathan's big day finally arrived. He was so excited for his first game that he was completely dressed (spikes and all) some four (4) hours before game time - it was fun to see Nate so excited to play. Nathan said he had a lot of fun, though he did complain about his toes being cold as the weather was not the best. Nate's team won 9-4 and he got up to bat four times; reaching three times and getting one rbi. He was a little disappointed that he spent the game in right field, but is still optimistic that he will get his chance to pitch.

Opening Day - Part I

Opening day for little league baseball for Taylor (majors) and Nathan (minors). Taylor's game started at 9 AM (yeah, no fun getting him up out of bed on a Saturday morning that early) and the weather was cold (48) and a little drizzly. Taylor's team WON 13-6 with Taylor playing 4 innings at second base, one inning at shortstop, and one inning at pitcher. Defensively, he had two fielding chances (at second) and made the play on one and had an errant throw on the other. He was a little on the wild side while pitching, but did strike out two batters and seemed to settle down as he got adjusted to the mound. Taylor had three plate appearances, going 0-2 (2 k's) with one walk and one stolen base.

Look Who's Walking

Hope this finds everyone enjoying a great Easter Weekend. Spencer has decided he has had enough of the whole crawling routine and is now trying out his walking skills. Enjoy the videos:

The Joy of Living in Nebraska

Had fun last night with the tornado sirens going off. While the real bad weather stayed to the west of us, we did get some real heavy rains, strong winds, and a little hail. I was at work when the alert was issued, so I had to bunker down there for about an hour or so until the alert was lifted. Stacy and the boys were at home in the basement riding things out. One of the fun things about living in the Midwest.

Spencer's 1st Birthday

Hard to believe, but Spencer is now officially a one year old "Big Boy" - how time flies. Here is Spence digging into his birthday cake:

Cute Video of Spencer

Thought you might like to see these cute videos of Spencer showing that he is a "Big Boy"

Trying to Catch Up

Stacy and I feel bad that we have allowed this much time to pass without updating the blog. We are doing well and keeping very busy. Our family has been battling sickness the last month or so, but we think we have finally overcome the worst of it. Spencer got the worst of it and ended up at the doctor/hospital with pneumonia.

School is going well for all. Taylor, Nate, and Landon just had their parent/teacher conference and received outstanding report cards. We really have been blessed with sons who love to learn and have adapted very well to being in school. My law school days are numbered and things are getting real hectic. I finally turned in all the information & documents needed for the Utah Bar Exam, though it just gets harder from here as now I have to pass the test.

Stacy and Spencer are having fun together and seem to always be doing something new. Spencer is getting so big and active - time is passing by much too quickly for my liking. While he has not taken any "official" walking steps yet, he is so close to doing so.

Thanks for hanging in there with us and hope you are all doing well. We look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

The Hinds Family

Winter Fun in Utah

Here are a few pictures of the sledding activity that we had with our good friends the Andrews Family. They have four children (3 girls and 1 boy) that are very close in age to our children. It was a great family activity, the weather was nice, and we had lots of fun.