Home Sweet Home

End of May I have had zero motivation to blog for the past month, so before I get any further behind, I'm going to give a quick update. Baseball & T-ball are over! Brighton and Adaira did great and enjoyed the season. I never had any complaints from them about attending practice or games, and it was so fun to be able to go and cheer them on (except when we couldn't watch them because we were chasing Dale around making sure he didn't disappear)  Adaira says she wants to try soccer next but I'm going to try to talk her into sticking with T-ball one more season. Brighton has one more season this fall for Coach Pitch ball before he would start regular pitch, so we are hoping we can get him caught up even further by playing again this fall. On the 19th of May we went with Ale & Peter Ray to the lake. They needed a few extra adult hands on the boat, but unfortunately that also meant an additional 4 kids! It was fun and our kids had a great time. I don'...

Father & Sons Outing Some genius in our ward keeps planning the Father & Sons Outing for Mother's Day weekend (this was the 2nd year in a row). Initially Justin was just going to take Brighton because Dale is, well, IMPOSSIBLE, but at the last minute he decided to bring him as a gift to me for Mother's Day. Can I just say that my day to day routine is so much more relaxed without Dale around?! I wasn't cleaning up mess after mess and I could actually relax and not wonder what he's getting into every time he leaves the room. Thank you Justin! They were going to sleep in the van but Brighton INSISTED they take a tent. Justin grabbed this little one. Doesn't look too small at first...   But look at the size of it with Brighton standing in front of it! Needless to say only Brighton slept in the tent, and it was his first time ever doing it alone. Good job buddy! Always willing to help grow a fire  Dale loves his Daddy's blue cap a...

 Ward Primary Talent Show and more A few weeks ago our ward primary was putting on a talent show for the kids. Brighton signed up during primary, and under the section "Act" he put "ask my mom". I have always been lacking in the creativity department and trying to think up a skit of some sort just seemed pretty impossible, given I only had 5 days to do it, so I told Brighton that since he signed up he'd have to do a dance with Adaira or something. Then he started saying he didn't want to go to the talent show at all, but I told him we needed to because he signed himself up. Justin had the idea of doing a skit from the cartoon Megamind since Brighton, Adaira, & I have seen it dozens of times (thank you Dale and your addiction to one single movie at a time) and at random times we had acted out the dialogues on our own for fun. It was a great idea, given that Brighton knew almost all the lines on the first try (we did the scene at the beginning where they...

Swimming at Uncle Don's We were all so so sad when Justin's parents decided to move three hours away last year. Not only because we miss seeing them (which is the biggest reason) but we also miss their pool! We used to go swimming at their house almost every Saturday during the summer months, and now we can't :( When they moved my kids asked me if we could still go swimming at their house. I told them that we couldn't because we didn't know the new owners. They were so bummed and couldn't understand why we couldn't just go in the backyard and go swimming. We had a little get together at Don's house in May (to celebrate May birthdays I think?) It was the first time swimming this year. A little too cold for Daisy and I, but everyone else got all wet and had a good time.  It's not possible to get a good family picture with two cameras going at once and a million little kids around...

 AUDRA  Today while driving I was thinking how blessed I am to have such a wonderful wife. I notice you don't have manicured nails, the most stylish haircut, the most trendy clothes or regular massage appointments. Your home isn't appointed with posh furniture and your walls aren't adorned with contemporary art or even fancy family photos. You don't drive a luxury vehicle and after the small vehicles you have recently driven, the minivan seems like quite a treat. You don't feel the need to spend hours getting ready to leave the house or getting your body in the perfect physical shape in the gym. You don't have these things, not because you don't want them - if I made twice what I do, you probably would be enjoying several of them right now. You don't have these things because you are willing to sacrifice them for me, for our family. I wish I could spoil you with these things but I am ever grateful that...

This past month has been crazy! We put both Brighton and Adaira into Baseball (Adaira is actually T-Ball through Chandler Girls Softball, Brighton is with Chandler Youth Baseball). We have had several games and practices a week for the past 5 weeks and it has kept us busy. This was Brighton's first year so he had a lot of catching up to do compared to the other boys on his team, but he has had a great attitude and a desire to learn. He's really improved a lot this season and does so great considering when we started he didn't know how to throw, catch, or bat. The last game of his he hit the ball every time he was at bat. I love being able to cheer on my kids! Adaira's league is all about socks and hair ties. She loves her girly ribbons! Adaira is totally built like a softball player, I hope she stays interested. I thought this video was so cute when I recorded it, but came to find out after the game that Brighton was mortified and so embarrasse...