Christmas Eve - Dinner

A few years ago Mom H. started the tradition of a Christmas Eve dinner that includes dishes that Jesus may have eaten (things such as nuts, dates, fish, bread, ethnic/cultural food, etc.). Because most of the members of the family have spent time in Saudi Arabia, the middle eastern dishes are also family favorites.

As something fun and to add to the spirit of the meal, I actually made baklava for the first time today. It turned out pretty good. :) I didn't get any pictures of it though. :/

Here are a few pictures of some of the scrumptious food we ate tonight:

Asparagus



Tabouli (Kent actually made this. :))



Spanakopita



Pita Bread



Humus



Sauteed Onions



Mujadara





It was a super tasty meal with layers of significance to those of us who ate it.

Christmas Eve - Gingerbread Houses

A few years ago Mom H. started the tradition of making gingerbread houses with the grand-kids so this afternoon those that could, got together for construction fun.

This year it was the boys against the girls. The boys got a train and the girls got a house to put together. (Luke isn't a grandchild but he gets to participate anyway. :))







Kent III came over to check out the girls' progress...



...and decided to stay and help decorate the house. :)





Then Sean showed up and got in on the action!



The finished projects with the construction crews.
Left to right: Savannah, Kent III, Amber, Samantha, Sean, Luke and Justin.



And then the best part of the project...eating it! :)



Kent III decided piecemeal wasn't good enough and took the entire train roof to eat. :)





Thank you Grandma for another fun, successful engineering project!

Christmas Eve - Breakfast

Because we have to drop off the girls to their other house at 10:00 am on Christmas Day we took my parents out to breakfast this morning so they would get to spend a little bit of time with their granddaughters during the holiday.

While at breakfast Grandparents and grand-kids traded gifts. For Grandpa and Grandma a little something and gift cards to their favorite stores.



New jammies, a yearly tradition from Grandma.





A fun craft for Samantha.



A watch for Savannah.



And the prèsènt de résistance...a complete collection of the new commemorative State Quarters...a present years in the making!



A fun morning spent eating tasty crepes and having fun with grandparents!

A 3rd for Kent III

Today was Kent III's 3rd birthday. We opted not to celebrate with the Hinkson's tonight because his sisters weren't with us, however, I snapped a few pictures of him just to have some on his actual birthday and thought I would share. :)







Happy Birthday little man!

Hinkson December Birthday Party

Tonight we went over to Mom and Dad H.'s to celebrate Mom and James' birthdays.

Tallie and Nick setting up the Little People nativity collection set most of us went in on for Mom.



Make-shift wrapping paper, complete with a bow. :)



Singing happy birthday (with some fun facial expressions). :) Tallie and Nick were definitely the stars of the song hence the huge smiles on most of the faces. :) You really had to be there to hear it and appreciate it. :)







A beautiful sweater from Ralph and Julie.



James got some nice sweaters...all of them striped. Guess he had fashion theme for this birthday. :)





Time for the big unveiling...it seemed to be a big hit with Grandma and the grandkids. :) (Great job again Tallie for coming up with such a great gift idea!)





A shirt, a scarf and some Christmas earrings from Dad.





For some reason I did not get any pictures of the tasty food...how unlike me! :) Anyway... :)

It was a very fun evening spent with family. :)

Happy Birthday Mom and James!

Truer Words Were Never Spoken

Just had to share a conversation Savannah had with Kent III today...

Kent III: *cough*

Savannah: *cough*

Kent III, pointing at Savannah's mouth: "We're both, we're both, we're both sick!"

Savannah: "What are we sick of?" (Hoping to get the answer 'a cold'.)

Kent III: "Mommy and Daddy!"

:) :) :)

School Pictures

School pictures for Samantha came back. I can't believe she is in 6th grade...what a cutie! :)



And I take advantage of the 'siblings can go in and get pictures too' deal so Kent III's pictures also came in. I love the curls! Awww! :)

Announcement

We’re expecting the stork to drop by next May.
If you must know, the 13th, as the exact day.
Will it be cars and trucks or ribbons and bows?
Right now, what we’re having, only Heaven knows!
One thing is for sure, it’s “Hip, Hip, Hooray!”
Because there’s a Hinkson baby on the way!

Provo River Fun

Saturday, August 29th

After taking Savannah to breakfast for her birthday we headed out for our river run. We had a small problem on the way up because the Nucanoes are so light. One actually flipped up and out of the trailer! Eek! Nothing like watching that scene play out in front of you as you drive behind (I certainly won't forget it any time soon!). :) Luckily it hit the road and then flew to the side of the road and there weren't any other cars near us.



Getting the canoes ready.



Savannah got to hold the first Nucanoe on the shore while we hauled the second one down to the water.



Oh
My
Cuteness!



Getting ready to launch. :)



Enjoying the ride.



Savannah and I shared a Nucanoe this time. We laughed and giggled the whole time. :)



We got a little bit more water in the Nucanoe while going down the river than we did while rowing around the reservoir. We actually ended up using my tennis shoes as bailing buckets. :)



Taking a break to play on one of the little islands in the river.



We did have one little problem when Kent's Nucanoe flipped. Samantha did her job though and held on to Kent III until Kent could grab them and pull them out of the water. They were only under the water for a few seconds but Samantha was pretty shook up. :/ Kent III had been playing with a stick and when Kent pulled him up the first thing he said was "MY STICK!!" Ha! :) At least he wasn't too traumatized. :)

All in all we had a TON of fun! I definitely liked going down the river more than rowing around the lake. I can't wait until we go again! :)