Ball Game, Baby

I love our gorgeous weather in the Spring. I love when my husband has a day off, and I love spending time with my family. Also, my dad use to take me to Spring Training games when I was a kid, so I happen to love that too! This was a great day.

Hanna's 4th Birthday

This was an event that was thoroughly thought out and precisely planned by Hanna herself and it was preceded with much anticipation. To break it down neatly, there was some Build-A-Bear, some playground time, a little McDonald's, a few cupcakes and a lot of Madix and Ashley. How sweet! Happy birthday to my darling little girl. You make life SO fun!

We Like to Hike!

My brother Eric led us on the little waterfall trail at the White Tank mountains a few weeks ago. Eric likes to do a lot more than just hike. He has a very adventurous soul and we've been having lots of fun outings with him since his wife started graduate school and he started taking care of the kids full time. Eric has taught me that "I have little kids" is no excuse when it comes to getting outside and being active!

Spring Break at the Lake

Actually it wasn't OUR spring break, but it was everyone else's. And we never really saw a lake, just lots of snow piles and mud puddles. But we did go camping for a weekend at the Stoneman Lake campground, and brought home several stories worth telling. Some of my siblings invited us and first off, I had to bribe my husband into coming along. He was home from work with a broken ankle and I convinced him that if he was going to sit around at home, he might as well sit around in the woods. I also promised that I would do all the work and he wouldn't have to lift a finger. To make it even easier, we would borrow his mother's luxurious RV - surely nothing could be more relaxing! Much to my shame and his terror, the first thing we did was drive that RV out into the woods and get it stuck rim-deep in the mud. We spent the entire first day trying to dig, pull and peel that beast of a vehicle from its pit. My brothers and sister spent the day on their muddy knees right beside us, not just in manual labor but also in panicked prayer. And I didn't pay one speck of attention to my kids that day - I'm sure my mother (who also tagged along) must have been watching them for me. Just as night was falling, we caved in and called a tow. Though it was the more expensive option out of all the possible answers to our prayers, you could not have known a more grateful group. I could have kissed that grimy man with blackened teeth who did for us in fifteen minutes what we spent all day failing to do for ourselves. Once the RV was safe on solid ground, we breathed a sigh of relief and got back to camping. Only night had fallen, people were getting ready to retire and Shana (our college-aged sister who was traveling in solo) had neither called nor arrived. We knew we wouldn't be able to reach her by phone because of the trouble we had getting service to call a tow truck. But it was hard to know what action to take - maybe she just left late, maybe she decided not to come. If either of those were the case we could just go to bed. However there was a possibility that she was driving around alone on unlit dirt roads trying to find our campsite and had no way to get a hold of us. And just in case that was the case, we decided to go look for her. Scott and I hopped on quads and started winding out toward the main road. We hadn't gone far before we ran into Shana who had been driving in circles for 45 minutes doing exactly what we had worried she was doing - being lost. We led her back to camp feeling very triumphant. Aside from a very cold and nearly sleepless night, the second half of the trip redeemed the first. The next day was sunny and carefree (Until Shana got a flat tire on the drive back out - Brad and Lori came to her rescue that time). Anyway, I finally de-stressed enough to get my camera out and take some pictures. They are priceless to me - as is the entire experience. I've thought about how I would change that trip if I could. I would only wish that everyone could have slept warmer. If our other challenges had been removed, I wonder if I would have the same level of love and gratitude for my siblings who suffered with us while we struggled for a solution to our mud problem. I wonder if I would have as keen an understanding of what it feels like to be helpless, and then be saved. I certainly wouldn't have been able to feel the elation of gathering Shana safely in, or the success that resulted from a random shot in the dark, which didn't seem so random. Sometimes there are moments when I feel like the smallest spec in the universe; like God has so much to worry about that he couldn't possibly be concerned with me. But that night I felt like I must be his favorite daughter.

Broken Ankle

I don't have much to say about these pictures. My husband broke his ankle playing church basketball and that's the end of the story. But if my purpose in this blog is journaling, and it is, then I want this event to be included in the mix. Cover your eyes if you've got a weak stomach!

Farm Field Trip

This wasn't Colby's first field trip. He went to the zoo earlier this year but I missed it, so I was eager to chaperone this time. Thank you Kimber for watching Hanna and Liam so Colby and I could have a fun day at the farm! After a painfully long drive, we stopped at a pretty snazzy park in Chandler for sack lunches and playtime. I was in charge of Colby and his friend Dillon and it was all I could do to keep up with them at the park. Once we got to the farm, it was a little more organized and a little less stressful. It was what you would expect from a farm field trip - a lovely guided tour of a stinky farm and lots of animal touching. Colby has a band-aid on his chin because he had recently received some stitching. If you can picture him standing on a chair and then imagine his face colliding with the floor, that's pretty much how it went down (aside from lots of crying and bleeding). That's my six-year-old! I was glad to get some alone time with my busy little adventurer :)