Hinton Highlights

Okay, I’ll try my hand (since it has been a while) at writing this month’s newsletter. Where has September gone! Nathan continues to enjoy Kindergarten and has learned to count to 100 in several ways (by 1s, 10s, etc) and is starting to recognize some simple words in books. It’s exciting to see his mind growing in some many ways. His favorite thing lately is to “outthink you”. Something he learned from one of the stories he likes.

We're posting this a little late, but as the saying goes, "better late than......." (slideshow at the bottom)

Apparently there is some contest going on where some BYU department invited people to submit a 30-second video demonstrating Cougar spirit. This is our humble offering. It was a lot of fun to make - I'll have to post the outtakes later, they are just as funny.

A big shout-out to Kevin and Grandma Hinton, as well as Travis, (am I leaving anyone out?) for helping organize our filming session. Go Cougars!

You never know what your kids are going to say, but you can be sure that they are always listening and drawing conclusions, often with unexpected results:

An example of this was interchange between my wife and my daughter Becca:

"Mom, how do they make milk? Do they just squeeze it out into the buckets?"
My wife responded, "Yep, they just squeeze it out into the buckets."
Becca then asked, "And then they get the "stink" out before they put it into the jugs?"
My wife was perplexed and asked "What stink?"
Becca came back, "You know, the stink out of the milk."

It was then that my wife realized she was referring to the "stink" from the cow farms that we used to drive past often on our way out to our house. My daughter thought the "stink" she smelled passing the cow farms had to be removed from the milk somehow so that we would actually be able to drink it.

Not a bad conclusion for a 4-year old. Just makes you wonder how long that question had been percolating in her brain!

Photo courtesy of Skinnyde's Flickr album

Benjamin Darris Hinton has arrived! He was born at 2:24am on Sunday, April 20th. He weighed 7lbs 2 ounces and was 20.7 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well.

We had a bunch of fun today as a family. It started out early with a ward Daddy-Daughter breakfast and activities at a local park. Becca and I had a great time and it was wonderful to spend time with my daughter. We saw some baby chickens in a nearby field and played wheelbarrow softball.

The festivities were not over, however. We decided, because it was a bit of a blustery day down here, to pack a picnic and head to the park as a family to enjoy the last of the reasonable cool weather and to fly kites. The picnic was great, aside from a bird pooping on Brett's head. Yep, he was just sitting there eating his lunch when he suddenly felt something wet hit him on the head. Yuck! Anyway, after we got him cleaned up we moved on to flying kites. The kids loved it, and tired themselves (and mom and dad) out thoroughly. What fun we had!

We closed up a fun-filled Saturday with a BBQ in the backyard, some basketball, and finally a little trampoline jumping. Food, family, and fun - what a day!

Nathan's T-Ball season has started - his (and our) first. We went down to Freestone Park for his first game Tuesday and loved watching him play! He did well and hustled after balls hit all over the field. Here's a video of his 2nd at-bat (I know it's a bit grainy and all - it is from my cell phone after all) and some pictures from that 1st game.

Perhaps it is improper to refer to "having fun" on the Sabbath, but we sure do enjoy having time together as a family on Sunday. It is the one day a week we can count on (apart from our church meetings or callings) having time as a family.

Some Sundays that time can be a little hectic, especially since the types of activities we do are different than other days, but we try and find ways to enjoy the Sabbath together. Here are a few pictures from a recent Sunday we had - we sure love our kiddos!

Becca is celebrating her 4th birthday today (her cousin Eliza's is tomorrow). She is excited to celebrate her birthday with some friends, a cake (Amber made it from scratch - if you look closely you'll notice it is a modular "cake" made from cupcakes), family dinner, and a fun weekend. We're happy to help her celebrate!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECCA!