Monday, June 24, 2013

Sophie's 15th!

Happy Birthday Sophie!
She turned 15 today and wants to go to the DMV tomorrow as soon as it opens.  YIKES!

She got a new swim towel from her swim buddy Ben.
 
A new scripture case and lotion from Dad.

3 Maxi skirts from me thanks to Sarah Miller's Maxi Party.
A new Fable Haven book and super cute owl necklace that the wings open and reveal a clock.
 
Josh gave her a real clay Ocarina and some cool big headphones.

Finally, she got her own bow and arrow set.  I wish I had a huge field and a ton of money to let her practice with a really good achery set.  She'd be Olympic bound!   
Here she is with Kyle up at the Wells' cabin in Pine Valley.  She was really good for it being her first time.


 
Love you Sophie!  Good luck on your Learners Permit test!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

BASEBALL!

For some reason Washington City decided to only do Pee Wee baseball this year and not tell everyone that their only choice if they have an older kid was Little League.  Little League Stinks.  It's 3x the price and is for kids whose parents want there kids to play professionally.  What about kids like Ben who are good at more than one sport and are still trying to decide if they like baseball over the other sports or not.  Well, up until this year the city had a huge league for them and there wasn't a problem.  This year I guess the Little League complained about the competition and their low numbers so the City decided not to run their league but didn't say anything so those who were waiting for the city didn't sign up for Little League and then found out to late and were out the entire season.  I wasn't the only Mom upset about it.  So Ben came to each of David's games and watched and complained the entire time.  It was great!  Not.

 
Once again we had Mike and Josh Jensen as our coaches!  They are awesome and the kids know them and because of that they can immediately concentrate on the game and not feel shy or awkward.

 

Joel calls this picture his Home Run Shot because he's watching his ball go out of the stadium after it's been hit.

 

Here's another one
 Havin' fun on 2nd base.  David refused to stop on 1st after he hit the ball.  It wasn't worth it to him to not run as fast as he possibly could and get at least an extra base.
 
This week he got to be catcher.
 

 Joel and I were able to go down to a Vegas 51's baseball game with the Red Rock Group.  It was a lot of fun.  We were allowed down on the field to take a couple pictures and  had a great time.






I think we'll go down again but this time without the 25 other kids. 






Monday, June 3, 2013

My new front yard! Finally!

This is the story of a sad, sad lawn who loved it when the neighborhood kids would come play but was so worn out when they left that all she had left to give was dirt.
 She longed to be even and straight like the other lawns on the block but she couldn't for the roots of the 3 huge trees made her lumpy and weak.  She was unique, that's for sure. The only way that she could grow roots long enough for her to be strong enough to withstand the rough and tumble play of the kids was to put 3 or 4 more inches of soil down and new sod laid on top so she could grow some deep long roots to keep her strong and healthy. But she was not healthy and could not give her family and the kids what she thought they needed.  One day the wonderfully beautiful mother of the house took pity on her and decided to buy some bricks to build up the far corner of the yard so the water wouldn't runoff and the kids wouldn't wear out that corner as easily.  But alas, she could not do it alone.  So she called her super cute and smart daughter to help her.  Oh yeah... And 3 lovely neighbor ladies came to cheer her on in her pursuits.
 Now this daughter was not just cute and smart but she was a terribly hard worker and knew that the job was not over until it was completely finished.  She worked so hard to help her mother but a nasty root got in her way.  Knowing that the lawn could not get the new life that she so badly wanted if the root remained the daughter chopped and chopped until she had broken and removed the terrible root.


Now in this neighborhood there were also men.  Men that were kind and wise and helpful.  Two of these men saw that the Mother and daughter needed help building the wall and because of their many talents and kind hearts, finished what they had started and did it how it was really supposed to be done.  Not the way that it was trying to being done.  While they were working incredibly hard the Father, being gone all day to work or to church meetings, had shown up with his son and were able to stand and watch and learn so that someday, maybe, they too could help someone in need. 
They were shown and taught many things,

And still the son sat and did nothing.
 At the end the Father, Mother and Daughter were very, very grateful to the wonderful men for building them a spectacular wall.  The son was glad he didn't have to do it.



 Now, building up the corner was just the beginning for this lawn.  She was a work in progress. 
 She had many, many bare spots from wonderful times spent playing with the kids.

 However, the Mother still wanted her to be healthy and to live a good long life.  So nearly 6 tons of dirt was brought in to fill in the spots that were uneven and to cover the roots of the 3 large trees.




After the dirt was brought in an extraordinarily generous man came by with many bags of cow manure.  It was spread across the entire yard to help bring nourishment to the soil as to be a healthy place for the roots of the new sod to grow.  Then a light coating of fertilizer pellets were laid down to prepare for what was to come.
 
 The SOD!  Form a local sod farm ran by a great family down the street that we know and trust dearly.
 Then with the help of even more wonderful men in the neighborhood and even some Young Men the sod was laid.  Within an hour what was once worn, wobbly, old, weak and tired now had new hope and was straight, green and looked sharp and healthy.  She looked like she could take on all the kids in the neighborhood at the exact moment and I'm sure she would have tried.  But CAUTION tape was put up around her and she was told to relax and recover and grow.  To become the strong straight lawn that she had only dreamed of before.  The children of the neighborhood where told that she could not play until she was better and they were all glad to see her looking so great.  After all the fun times she had given them they we glad to give her the time she needed to become the lawn she wanted and needed to be so they could once again be together and run and play and not wear each other out.


 



 THE END