Go Bombers!

Yesterday was the second to last game for Brandon's softball team and they have a lot of fun! Their full name is Brigham's Bombers since they are all LDS selected from all three wards in our building. It has been so great going and supporting him with all three kids in tow. They have watched maybe 5 min. of each game, but still, they give him high 5's, yell "Go Daddy!" every once in a while and I make them watch him while he swings away at bat. What a guy! I hope he knows how proud we are of him for just going and playing. PLUS he got MVP last game! woohoo!Most of the team... we are missing many key players in this shot, but it is all that were there this game.

Hey batta batta . . . SWING!

Brandon has made some stellar catches including many diving catches, jumping catches, and even a few where he shed blood. Way to sacrifice the body!

Big Bomber with baby bomber.

Yes. I made these shirts. It was fun to make them with Jamie and they lasted, sort of, all season. I found out t-shirt making is not one of my talents.

Brandon's #1 fans!

This is what the kids do MOST of the time we are there. Thank goodness for dirt!

Bombers in training.

Random picture of me at the game. Surely I must have been cheering or something.

Motivation to cook?

Wow! I heard from a friend that her cousin was having a contest online, so I checked out her cute website and found some fun aprons that she sells. I entered and actually won! So fun! You can check out the cuteness here and I will have to post a picture of me wearing it when I get it. Thanks! Don't you think it will accentuate my eyes? :)

Utah Trip Dos

Dylan's first ride. Go go powerwheels! He loved this thing and would even make a car sound while in it. tthhhhh.

Haley posing in my sister's backyard. This was the same day when my 10 yr old cousin Bryana fell from this same swing set and landed on her head. We called 911 after she had what looked like a seizure after blacking out, and they took her to the hospital. She ended up being fine (thank-goodness!), but it was a night-long fiasco since my uncle was working that night and they lost their car keys at the hospital AND they had to wait until their other son who had to borrow my grandma's car to drive 1 hour away to bring them a spare key.

Maleia also sporting a casual smile. She had quite a few bumps and bruises this trip. She got a tick the first day from an outdoor cat, a sliver in her hand, a sliver a couple weeks later in her foot, she fell down the stairs and bumped her head while trying to chase a different cat, she got hit in the side with a basketball, a few owies from a bruiser cousin, and scraped by the same cat that she was chasing all week. Stay away from those cats, girl!

Can you see the stellar water slides in the background? INDOOR! This place was really fun with also a lazy river, lap pools, hot tubs, and a huge shallow area with a playground-type play thing in it. Seriously! Best part: Not having to worry about a sun burn and not having to put on sunscreen.

Yes, I caught a candid pic of my nephew when I let him do some Biore' strips that I had. Blackmail picture for sure! :) What a cute nephew I have!

The highlight of the trip was being able to go water skiing with my sister. The water was 50 degrees and we didn't even have wet suits. We didn't have a ton of time, so we decided that we would go together at the same time and we both got up on the second try. We couldn't stop laughing and shaking becuase we were freezing, but we loved every minute of it!! My dad got a few pictures of us together on his camera for proof, so I'll have to try and get those from him. Ahem. We didn't even get our hair wet. :)

Maleia also got her hair cut while we were there. Her very first cut and it looks so much better now that it is even all the way around, though I can't do the cute piggy tails that she liked so much. . . Hopefully her hair will grow more soon.

Since my uncle is the president of the University of Utah, he gets to live in the "President's house" which is pretty sweet! He also got an amazing tribute to him while we were there, so he had a family party at his home. It was fun to see the extended family and treasure the moments that we could be together. The sad story was that they used to live in VA and moved to Utah two months before we moved out here, so we just switched places! Bummer. They are one amazing family.

More bars in more places.

We live on a military base, but we decided to go to the Air Force airplane museum there. Fun times. Hey, it's not everyday you can get a family picture in front of a fighter plane! :)

Utah Trip

So these are just going to be random pictures with random captions under them since I don't have a lot of energy to organize them in order of appearance. I had fun, but 4 weeks was a loooong time. Again. Fun. fun. fun. fun. fun. (Does it sound like I am convincing myself it was fun?) It really was, but I cannot lie. It was exhausting!

Lagoon's carousel where Maleia FINALLY got to go on her "Piggy-go-round." She even waited a whole turn so she could ride on her piggy. Life is so good.

Haley on the traditional horse and Brandon on the zebra. Dylan and I just made sure Maleia didn't kiss the pig to death. Ew. Imagine all those hands that have touched that thing...quit kissing the pig!!

We had to pass the time while we were waiting for lunch or something. Duck, Duck, Goose with the cousins.

I go to go on the new ride "Wicked" with my supa cute nieces. One was pretty scared and I was so proud of her. Come to find out, Deron Williams, (a Jazz Basketball player) was riding right behind us and I saw my friend Reno (Junior) Mahe who played football at BYU (where I met him) and plays for the Philadelphia Eagles now. I got to talk to him for a bit and see his three kiddos, too. Fun running into old friends!

My kids love their cousins and loved all the kiddie rides...

this one is an all time fav...

okay, so they didn't enjoy this one too much... look at their faces. Oh my. Poor kids. The boys in front of us liked it though. They even smiled for my camera! Those girls definitely earned their cotton candy I promised them at the end of the day. :)

What a trooper! His favorite rides were the "Chapman stroller," "Nana's cool green stroller," and the "Stewart Stroller." He went on a few other rides, but just liked looking and watching the commotion. What a cutie!

Lagoon beach water park. Haley couldn't get enough of the water slide and I found out that I am allergic to fiberglass. Who knew? Thanks Curtis, the EMT there, who I saw a total of three times while we were there.

The BEST part, though, was a huge ego boost when a boy came up to me (about 18 or so) in the water park after getting a drink at the drinking fountain and asked me if I wanted to go on a water slide with him. I knew I couldn't have heard him right, so I said, "excuse me?" And he asked again a little louder. I then said (trying to hold back a grin) that I needed to take my daughter to the kiddie pool. He then turned to his back-up-bros standing ten feet behind him watching and yelled, "Dude, I just hit on a mom!!" I had a GREAT time at the kiddie pool, thank you. :)

The grandparents in Vineyard, UT. The location where Maleia got a tick the FIRST day there. ew.

Some awesome amazing friends. I laughed until I cried, ate until I burst, scrapbooked, shopped, and spa-ed until I dropped. Not much sleep, but whole lotta fun! Thanks girls.

So sad that Marc and his family couldn't make it, but it was great that we can all be together in the same home thanks to an awesome older sister. She rocks.

We almost got them all looking.



more later.... this was only a couple of days worth of pics...

Game Gone Good/Bad

We decided to play a game called "Good choice/ Bad choice" and I let the kids come up with some of their own scenarios. Here was one of Haley's: "Okay. So let's say that you were at the park with your friends and your friend was at the top of the slide, but she had to wait a second before going down because she had to pick her panties because she had a huge wedgie and a mean kid pushed her down the slide because he wasn't patient and she got hurted PLUS she got a wood chip in her knee. You ran inside to tell her mom and got a bandaid for her. Was this a good choice or a bad choice?" (I promise I didn't laugh.) Mom: "Well, that depends if I was the boy who pushed or the friend that got the Bandaid." Haley's response: Blank stare at first, then, "Mom, you are not a boy." Mom: "Well then I would have made a right choice." Haley: "If you were the boy?" Mom: "You said I wasn't the boy." Haley: "You aren't the boy. Did you make a good choice or a bad choice then?" Mom: "So I was the friend that got the Bandaid, right? Haley: Mom, you are making this too hard. Yes. Mom: "I made the right choice, then." Haley: "Good."

Haley's next scenario: "Let's say you are playing a game and your friend takes too long taking a turn and you are really patient and let her take a looooong time even though you esplain it over and over again. Was this a good choice or a bad choice?" Mom: "Hey, I was not taking a long time." Haley: "Mom you are not a friend, you are a mom." (Double ouch!) Mom: It was definitely a good choice to be patient. Haley: "Thanks. I mean, good job!"

There's no place like home...

It feels good to be back. Here's the chop chop! More to come tomorrow.... sorry. This pic seems a little washed out and pixilated. (It looks better when you click on it.) Yes, 6 1/2 inches of my hair is gone!

UTAH or BUST

So I know you are all fustrated to see that I haven't blogged in a while. I am still in UT and I have LOADS of things to blog about when I return, but just because I'm mean, I'll tease you with a few things:

-I cut (more like chopped) my hair!!

-Fantastically Fun Friend Reunion with friends from or formally from Fort Meade (say that 10 times fast!)

-Another fabulous Friend Reunion with friends who even flew from far off places. (those f's are killing me!)

-Seeing Monticello, UT where Brandon's folks live (in UT they say "folks" instead of "parents")

-Chapman Family Reunion in Park City with a Washburn Family Reunion mixed in (I thought I've been everywhere in UT, but we found some awesome places...)

-Stewart Family Reunion (immediate family) with a Holdaway Reunion mixed in AND a different Stewart Reunion (extended family) as well

-Another Friend Reunion with some great college friends. (MMMM Spices!!!)

-Me skiing/wakeboarding (love it and will miss it terribly)

Love and miss all ya'll (especially my hubby) and am dreading the flight back home by myself with three kiddos.

P.S. Saying goodbye for an indefinite amount of time can be tough.
P.P.S. Don't you just LOVE the mountains??

P.P.P.S. Yes, Cafe' Rio still rules!