Batter Up!

Tuesday was Brigham's first baseball game.  He played against some 5 year old boys.  You would think that his team (the Yankees) would have trumped the other team but oddly enough, not one boy on Brigham's team has played baseball before.  It was a LONG game for Hyrum and Levi to sit through but David and I got a kick out of all these little kids not knowing what they were doing.  At one point, our catcher nailed the batter in the head with a ball that he was throwing back to the coach.  Thank goodness for helmets!  

They play machine pitch for the first few throws and if that isn't successful then the coach comes in and pitches.  It took a while with most of the boys!

They don't keep score and there is no stealing of bases so it was funny when Brigham hit the ball and ran to first base and Levi yelled, "Keep running Brigham!!!"  Even though the ball was still being chased after, I had to inform Levi of the rules of this type of baseball.  But 2 kids batting later, Brigham steals home base.  Of course that just sets it off for the rest of the kids and they all ran to home base.  All the parents just laughed.

 Hyrum was pretty darn bored until he met some friends :)

I couldn't help but think of my Uncle Chuck and Ronald while Brigham was playing.  Brigham looks so much like my brother when he was younger and this is the only sport he played.  This made me think of Chuck of course because everyone always said Ronald looked like Chuck growing up and he loves baseball.  

I really think Brigham might stick to this game.  It is perfect for his asthma.

Volleyball

 Levi had his first volleyball game a few Saturdays ago.

 I think he is going to be my boy who has to try every sport at least once.

I have to admit...I really like volleyball.  It is a safe sport and is inside an air conditioned building!

Brigham's first baseball game is tomorrow.  From today on is going to be crazy until school gets out.  Monday nights are David's late nights plus volleyball practice.  Tuesday is scouts and baseball game.  Wed. we will have Family Home Evening.  Thursday is another baseball game.  Friday and Sunday will be our only breaks while Saturdays bring volleyball games.  This will go on until school gets out.

I'm already exhausted!

Booty Strawberries, anyone?

I have a bad habit of taking the kids out to dinner when David works late.  It doesn't happen very often (Thank goodness....financially and emotionally).  Usually only once a week.  Usually I just take them to McDonald's so they can play at the PlayPlace there but Levi has been complaining that it is boring.  So I took them to a Carl's Jr tonight to change it up.  Right across from Carl's Jr is a Zupas.  I LOVE ZUPAS!  It is a soup, salad, and sandwich place and it is seriously so yummy!  I am not a fast food fan so I thought I would get something at Zupas and bring it over to Carl's Jr and then they can get whatever they want there.  

One of the many wonderful things about Zupas is that they give you a chocolate covered strawberry with every order.  The boys had never been in there before so they freaked out when they saw all the chocolate covered strawberries behind that large glass next to the cash register.  They kept begging me for one (well, Hyrum didn't.  He doesn't like strawberries.....can you believe that?!) and I finally gave in.  So the lady is ringing me up at the register when Brigham says VERY loudly, "I want the one that looks like a booty!"  I wish I could have gotten on a video camera the look of the woman's face that was at the register.

She just said, "WHAT?!" while busting up laughing.  She thought it was so funny that even though the "booty" one was the farthest one away, as she said, "You deserve the booty one!"  She even searched through the rest of the strawberries to see if she could find another "booty" one for Levi.

I love people with a sense of humor!

Guy Weekend

David had the opportunity to spend Friday evening and Saturday in Idaho.....NOT FAIR!  Originally it was suppose to be families camping out near Lava Hot Springs but with the weather being so rainy that didn't happen.  It really isn't fair that David got to go to Idaho before I did (since moving back) but I GUESS it was Podge's birthday celebration and not about ME :)

One of the times that I talked to David on the phone while he was up there he said, "You probably shouldn't have encouraged me to go."  He had so much fun that of course he wants to go back soon and meet up with the guys (Ron and Podge).  I can't blame.  Those 3 are such good men in my eyes and it is I D A H O !  

No....I'm not obsessed....

 Then today, he got man time with Elder Sattler!  I just can't get myself to call him Zach.....just too weird.  

It was so good to see him.  David and him had a little bit too much fun while Elder Sattler was on his mission in Oklahoma....ok, maybe they got some work done...ok, so maybe they were real good about serving others but I have to give them a hard time for playing around so much too!  

He came over at 5 and didn't leave until just before 9 tonight.  I love that he still feels that comfortable with us to stay so long and just be himself.

Some cute things the kids said tonight at dinner with Elder Sattler.  We were talking about what was our favorites about Utah and Oklahoma.  Brigham and Levi feel like they have more friends now.  Hyrum informed us that Utah was better than Oklahoma because of the tornadoes!  That made me laugh because I had forgotten how scared he was that first time we had to go in the cellar during one of the times the sirens went off.  But Levi really hesitated when I asked him which state he liked better.  I wasn't surprised so I didn't make him answer.  I told him that I know how much he liked Oklahoma.  He then went on and on about how we saw so much more family when we lived in Oklahoma.  He is right.  I love that he loves his family so much.  I do too.

Happy Resurrection!

I love this picture but it makes me a little sad.  This is the last picture of Levi as a believing child of the Easter Bunny.  

Today at lunch, Levi said to me, "Mom, Brigham says that he thinks you and Dad are the Easter Bunny."  

I should back up a bit.  I don't tell my children that there is a Santa or that there is an Easter Bunny and so on.  I tell them about them and why Santa represents Jesus (my favorite book that I think explains it best to children is "I Believe In Santa Claus" by Diane G. Adamson) and why we have things like the Easter Bunny to remind us of Jesus' resurrection and so forth.  When they have asked me in the past if Santa and all the other mysterious holiday figures are real I just ask them if they believe they are real.  They have always answered yes and so I just follow up with, "Well, then that is all that matters."  So today, when I asked Levi that question he paused.  He then said, "I think that you and Dad are doing it."  Levi is so innocent.  It doesn't surprise me at all that Brigham figured it out before Levi did.  Even as a baby,  Brigham did things so much faster than Levi ever did.  So, I took Levi back into a bedroom and told him that he was right.  The look on his face still makes me sad!  Soon after he was crying softly and told me he had wished I hadn't told him that.  It made me feel so bad.  I told him that I was waiting for him to tell me that Daddy and I were the Easter Bunny before I actually told him.  He got a little more upset and told me, "But I only said that I think you and Dad are the Easter Bunny.  Not that I know!"  That broke my heart!  I guess he wasn't ready after all.

Later today when Brigham talked to Daddy about whether the Easter Bunny was real or not, he just thought it was all funny.  They couldn't have reacted any more differently!  Brigham informed me later that he knew that Santa wasn't real either then (again, laughing!) while Levi quickly told us that Santa was real!

 So, yesterday there was an Easter Egg Dive at our Herriman Rec Center.  Brigham has been so excited for this that he literally would get mad at us if we mentioned it throughout the week.  Not joking!  He said talking about it got him too excited!  

 Here we are with the masses!

Afterwards they got to have a free swim and they were in heaven.  

This morning our apartment complex (Monarch Meadows) had an Easter Egg hunt.  

Can I tell you how happy I am that all these other people are doing the Easter egg thing for us!

As we were leaving, David noticed a family coming towards where the hunt was.  Of course that makes you feel bad seeing little ones who just missed out on all the fun.  So we asked the boys if they wouldn't mind giving some of their eggs to the kids who didn't get any.  These are moments where I am so proud of my boys.  They didn't even hesitate!

Tonight Helen is coming over to watch the boys while David and I go on a date.  We told the older boys that they could help us set out the stuff for the "Easter Bunny" tonight (which they are super excited about - Levi is doing just fine now, by the way:).  Grandma will spend the night and tomorrow we will focus on the real meaning of Easter!  Charlene told me once that she does the "worldly" things on a separate day of the actual holiday so she can separate them from the real meaning for her children.  I have really tried to do that every since.  Tomorrow I will teach my 4/5 year old class about Jesus' resurrection, go home and have FHE with my family, Ronald and Hannah, and then have our Easter dinner.  I hope I remember throughout the day that because of our Savior, people in my life who have left us too soon (Shane) as well as those who got to live long lives (grandparents and church friends), I will get to see them again.  And they will have bodies....perfect ones!

General Conference

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference.  The boys groaned when we tried to prepare them on Family Home Evening a few days beforehand.  I can't blame them.  We usually didn't go to the Saturday sessions, growing up, that often but I do remember a plenty of Sunday ones and was bored out of my mind.  Back then, living in Oklahoma, staying home in your nighties and watching conference on t.v. wasn't an option.  You drove to your meeting house (in Sunday dress), stayed the 2 hours, and then had a potluck with the rest of the branch.  Then we waited for the next session to start.  6 hours later you were finally heading home!

For the last few conferences I  have tried different things to entertain the boys.  Last time I bought all kinds of different toys/activities for them to play with during different talks.  As you can imagine, that got expensive.  Last Wednesday night I got to go have dinner with some of my college friends (Charlene, Eileen, and Kristi) and was mentioning this to them.  Charlene suggested something that she has done with her kids.  She gets a bowl full of candy and picks a certain word per talk.  If the speaker says it, then they get to get one candy.  

Brigham explained, "This is the best conference ever!" once he learned of the goodies.  Mommy, however, didn't do so well...

I don't know if it was the fact that it was my heavy day on my period or that David wasn't there to help me (he was fixing the truck) or that all this candy was making my boys WAY too hyper but I did not enjoy this!  So by the last session on Sunday, I was done with the candy!

 There were a few sweet moments here and there though :)

I had to get creative by Sunday's last session.  So I printed off some coloring sheets from the internet.  Instead of them coloring certain blocks the right color, I changed them to odd colors.  This got the boys to crack up as they colored the missionaries faces blue :)

My worst day was on Saturday but you know, honestly, I got the most out of the talks on that day.  My favorites were Henry B. Eyring, Jeffrey R. Holland, and David S. Baxtor's talks.  On Sunday, my favorite was probably Dieter F. Uchtorf.  

Each one touched my heart in some way as I either applied it to my life or thought of a loved one.  Life can be so difficult and then there are times when you feel so much love for it.  I loved listening to these men as I remembered past experiences and knew I was in a much better place.  I loved listening to them as I tried to apply what I was now being reminded to do.  I truly am grateful for conference weekends.....even if my boys drive me nuts sometimes during them :)