FAMILY PICTURE DAY!

The end of October marks the Tinker family "All Because of Danielle" pumpkin carving and family picture day! We had so much fun even though the weather was cool and rainy! Grams and Mam & Papa all came over for Brad's homemade chili in bread bowls, Cream of Potato Soup and all the fixins! Taos made treat bags and popped popcorn for his skeleton hand bags. We played with Jace and Broxton and had a great evening of fun family! We look forward to the upcoming holiday season and all the great memories we will share.

FAMILY.....WHAT I LOVE THE MOST

GRANDKIDS.... Broxton Dean will turn 2 in December. Our little Jace Michael will turn 1 in May, and we will be welcoming another baby in June! Our little family is growing quite quickly and we are all very excited! Being a grandparent is a WONDERFUL thing! Brad and I are so excited for our children and how beautiful their little families are. Broxton is busy getting ready to say something amazing and little Jace is the cutest thing you have ever seen. HEALTHY, STRONG, and BEAUTIFUL are the blessings we have and we couldn't ask for anything more!

WEEKEND AT THE HOFF CABIN!

What a way to end the summer!! A weekend at the Hoff cabin brings back a lot of wonderful memories for our little family. Brad, Taos, Jeremiah, Michaela, Brody, Broxton and myself went and spent a wonderful weekend with Trey and Lorie and it was AWESOME! There is something special about Warm Lake and it was so fun to spend time alone with Trey and Lorie. Trey made us all laugh when he took Taos and his buddy Jeremiah on the tubes with the motor boat! Uncle Trey is the best!! With a motor boat, a beach and a water trampoline.....these boys were never bored! Brody wasn't getting enough attention, so he damaged his leg up pretty good jumping off a dock! Oh Brody! Great food, great company and great memories. THANK YOU AUNT LORIE and UNCLE TREY for making our family memories at the cabin so wonderful!

CAMPING......WE LOVE THE MOUNTAINS!!

Well it's not summer without a quick trip to the mountains for some CAMPING!! Michaela, Brody, Broxton, Taos and I headed for the hills to go camping. It's football season so Brad is not there to share in the excitement. Mikey and Danielle are back to work and so they missed out! (Not to worry they went the week prior for more than an over niter!) So Pine Flats up by Lowman was the destination and Taos and I drove Great Grandpa Tinker's camper up for the first time! What a blast....that thin hauls and I love it! Here are some of the memories we created and Michaela recorded because I forgot the camera!! We hiked down a trail to the hot springs that were right off the river...Broxton was into throwing rocks and he could have stayed down by the river for hours on end.
Games...got to have the board and card games (and by the way Brody cheats at Kings Corners) Yatzee is my game.....always won up at college and I think I won all but one of the 5 games against Brody!! It was awesome sleeping in a camper, when your from a military family it's tents or nothing at all......so bring on the campers!!! I helped Brody pitch the tent and that was all I had to do! NICE!! Michaela loves to camp and I sure am glad that is something my family looks forward to doing.
We are headed for Aunt Lori and Uncle Trey's cabin at Warm Lake and this time both Michaela and I will take lots of pictures of our weekend with the Hoff's! Mikey .....we will do a camping weekend with you hopefully soon.

JULY...Fireworks and Birthdays!

I love the 4th of July. Being a military brat I have learned the importance and gained the respect of our freedom and our flag. I miss you dad!

Well, Michaela and Michael both are our July birthday's - Michaela turned 24 and Michael turned 23. WOW.....where did time go? I remember when they were little and we would always have a combined birthday party (which was smart since they were 1 year and 10 days apart) and next year that is what I have planned.

We spent the 4th watching fireworks, swimming, scooter rides and eating (which of course was the most important). Danielle had a BBQ at their home with family and friends on Michael's b-day and so everyone is celebrated and a year older.

It is so fun to watch their little families grow and celebrate fun times together!

HAPPY JULY EVERYONE!!

GRAND BABIES are the BEST!

Broxton Dean and Jace Michael are too much fun! If someone had told us to have grand kids first....we would have listened! I saw a bumper sticker today that I loved:

I child proofed my house....
but my kids still keep getting in!

Here's to our awesome kids that turned out to be awesome parents!

Little Jace came home on Friday, May 21st, exactly 10 days after he was born and is doing great. Michael and Danielle are glad to have him home and begin their journey of diapers, baths, crawling, 1st steps, first words, and all the other worries and joys that come along with being a parent. We are very excited for them and can't wait to watch this little one grow.

May 11th, 2010 was a wonderful day for our little family, Michael and Danielle brought little Jace Michael Tinker into the world. He weighed 4lbs 7oz and 19 1/4 inches long. He looks a lot like Michael did when he was born (maybe it was because Michael was 4lbs 11oz and 19 inches long). Jace was 5 weeks early but poor Danielle had a hard time keeping her blood pressure down so they took him C-Section. Everyone is doing great and baby is trying to gain those chubs as fast as he can in the NICU. We are so proud of Michael and especially Danielle for hanging in there and bringing us that beautiful little boy. We are very happy for their little family and can't wait until they bring that little Jace home!

Race for the Cure - Scentsy Style 2010

Michaela, Brody, Broxton, Taos, Hailey, Camdyn and I "Raced for the Cure" on Saturday, May 7th in Memory of Ali Schultz and in Celebration of Ellise Weaver and Hailey's Grandma M.

It was so much fun and Scentsy paid the entrance fees for their employees and employee's families. So we wore the bright green Scentsy shirts and walked our mile (which ended up being 3 miles because we didn't take the shuttle!) We stuck Broxton and Camdyn in their stroller's and off we went!

On the way we ran into to Jussie and Travis after they had run the 5K!
It was so much fun!

Great Day for a Great Cause!!

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

The Tinker Family

Well, I've done it. I have figured out (after my daughters have explained it to me till they were blue in the face) how to post to our family blog. So old dogs can learn new tricks. Michaela and Danielle will be so proud!

Brad and I have been married since January 11, 1997 and I have loved every second of it. We have three wonderful children that have given us more joy than we could ever imagine. Brad has worked for the Postal Service for 23 years and also has been a high school football and pole vault coach for at least 20 years of that. He has been such a blessing to us since coming into our lives in 1995 and then adopting Michaela and Michael in 2001. So as far as we are concerned Brad has been "Dad" forever!!

Our daughter Michaela is 23 and has a little family of her own. She married her high school sweet heart, and the most wonderful son-in-law anyone could ever have, Brody in June of 2007. They have blessed us with our first grandson Broxton Dean, born in 2008 and we wait patiently for another little Chaplin to come into our family one day. They have a beautiful home and both work very hard for their little family.

Our oldest son Michael is 22 and was married in March of 2008, to the most wonderful daughter-in-law anyone could ever have, Danielle. On May 11, 2010 they brought little Jace Michael Tinker into the world. He is awesome and though he was 5 weeks early, Jace is a fighter and Danielle and Michael are great parents. It is great to see Michael turn into the father I always knew he would be. He has great examples in Brad and Brody and Danielle is a wonderful mom. They also have a beautiful home and both work very hard for their new little family.

Our youngest son Taos is 10, loves his older siblings, his Grams, Mam & Papa and being an uncle. In fact, he would rather hang out with Michael or Brody than kids his age. Taos is full of life and loves football, basketball, and the WWE. Being raised with older siblings and high school football players, Taos has mastered the "grown up" talk and can hold quite a conversation! Elementary school is not his gig and looks forward to a locker in Jr. High!

All in all, the Tinker family is growing and expanding and I would of never thought I could be part of something so wonderful. My husband and children are my life and I couldn't imagine life without them.