My book writing

So, I have had an idea to write a novel for quite some time now and I got the fever today to finally write it. It took me awhile to piece it all together what I wanted to do and I started writing today. I have the Forward, and most of the first section in chapter 1 finished. Out of excitement, I am going to post my forward on here for you all to read. That is the only thing I'm going to post from my book until it is 100% complete. The goal here for me is to feel accomplished in trying something I've never done before. I would love to have it be good enough to maybe get published some day, but that will most certainly be a pipe dream. lol. Anyway, here is my Forward! Enjoy!

Morning Fun w/ Tools and Cardboard

So, yesterday morning I (Travis) got up early with Alex to make him some breakfast and hang-out since I have been at work most of the week. After he ate his breakfast, I had this great idea to build a car out of this cardboard box that has been sitting in the living room for a week now. The reason being, Alex has this infatuation with cardboard boxes. His imagination goes WILD already at 2 years old. He pretends that it's an airlplane sometimes, makes it into a slide, car, truck, a THING...whatever current mood he is in...he loves his box.

By the time I got all of my tools ready, and Alex, excited about building his first car, (mine too) Brittany, got up and wanted to join in on the activity as well.

First, I cut the lid flaps on the top off and cut circles out of them for the wheels (cutting my inner-thigh while doing it), while Brittany and Alex were making the steering wheel and getting coloring supplies. Next, I cut a flap on the driver's side and made a door for him to open and close. Now that we had our door, tires, and steering wheel it was time to color! Me being an absolute car guy, I just had to incorporate many different things on this car. I.E. Mercedes symbol, Lexus trunk lights, Audi LED running lights, and the EVO halogyne headlamps. Oh ya...we had a LOT of fun.

He played in his new car for HOURS! He has a working steering wheel, a place to put in the car keys, a driver's seat made of pillows, and a tape-measurer to "go to work" with. Oh ya, and the ARR730 model of the car, are his initials: Alexander Rayne Royer. I added the GT for good measure. lol

Getting out of the car
Alex Waiving saying, "Eat my dust!"

He was trying to throw up Peace signs...this is what we got. lol

Brittany had dubbed his car the, "Rayne Catcher"

Here are some updates as to what we've been up to. So hopefully this will make someone happy, Lol, I love you Amanda.

Washing the Car

Alex decided he wanted to help Daddy wash the car and the best way for a kid to do that is to get into stuff. LOL. We all had a great time, especially Alex.

Time to drive

Make it pretty

Luckily for us he can't reach the pedals yet. but it was fun.

Pinewood Derby

In case you guys don't know Travis is the Cub Master at our Ward so recently we had the pinewood derby. It was my first time being a part of it. I unfortunatly forgot my camera for it, but I was lucky enough to be able to make a cake for the event. I added cars to it later, once we got to the church, but this is the finished product. I had so much fun making it, and even more fun at the derby. The kids were all so excited and rooting for eachother, but I think that the parent's just got a little more into it than the kids. It was funny. We all had a blast. The kids had to take driving tests and recieved their licenses. We made one for Alex too, but unfortunatly it got left in his pocket and it went through the wash. But it was fun while it lasted.

My Dad's 50th Birthday

The Whole Family

Just a fraction of the guests

The infamous outhouse

My dad...Cowboy Up!

So my Dad turned 50 this year and we had his party at our house. He is a cowboy at heart and so we had a western theme. Amanda helped me with the invitations and they were awesome. It looked like a wanted poster with his picture on them. Almost the entire family showed up and lots of his friends too. Lots of people dressed up too, including myself. Oh yes, I have my own hats and boots. We had such an awesome time. I think the best part about the entire party, besides the company, was that my mother in law, Kristi, made him a cake in the shape of an outhouse. It was a big hit. And no it didn't taste like crap. LOL. Though it was made of chocolate, it was probably one of my favorites.

We had bales of hay in the backyard to sit on, decorations of wanted signs and cactus and the bathroom door was covered to look like an outhouse. With bar-b-que hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken with chips and soda you can't go wrong. We also had karaoke, but not too many people joined in. Mostly the kids and me and my sisters, but at least we know how to have fun.

Easter

So we just recently moved into our new house just two doors down from Mom and Dad. That being said it was only appropriate to have the first holiday at our place. So the Easter bunny was on his way. We had a total of 22 people in our house. It was so much fun.

In the morning Alex woke up to find that the Easter bunny had came and brought him a basket full of toy trains, cars, candy, and clothes. The day was off to a wonderful start. It was originally going to be our family of 3 and my Dad, his wife Pete and my stepbrother Danny. We also invited Mom and Dad Royer which also meant that we got Karli and Juarez because they were down to visit, and it was awesome. Amanda and Brad had his family here as well.

They were originally going to go to Lake Arrowhead for Easter, but decided to stay in town, which meant we got to spend the holiday with them as well. So we now added Amanda, Brad, their 3 kids, Brad's parents Mike and Deedee, Brad's sister and brother in law and their 3 kids as well.

We were also so excited to have some of our very best friends Shawn and Emily come over with their new little one Hyrum. So needless to say we had a house full. What started off as a small get together turned into a mini family reunion. Totally awesome. It was nice to have everyone together.

We, Alex and I, had died one dozed eggs and the Easter bunny had 3 dozed plastic eggs filled with candy. As for Amanda and her family... well, they died 3 dozed eggs and had a ton more of plastic eggs. All of our eggs together totalled almost 400 eggs. For just 7 kids. Talk about fun! The yard was covered in eggs. All the kids had a great time.

After dinner we all hung out, played a little rockband and enjoyed eachothers company. I would say not bad for our first party.