cool stuff

this was pretty cool:

jake hit a bomb of a home run at his pirates game.  isaac found the ball up on the hill in left center.  420.  it's a shame he's not playing for the high school.

this was also really cool.  but really hard.  and really sad.  but mostly cool.

here he is.  elder parry with bishop tueller and president taylor.

these people were really cool to come and support elder parry:

memorial day and a few more last suppers

we went to the cemetery today to pay our respects to grandpa karl and scott.  it did not go well.  after taking this picture, i headed back to the car while the kids and craig lingered for a few minutes and looked for scott's unmarked grave.  i hate going to the cemetery on memorial day. 

evan requested a last meal at tucano's brazilian grill so we decided lunch on a holiday was a great time.  the brazilian lemonade was delicious and it was fun to taste a little of each of the meats that were brought around from the grill.  the garlic beef seemed to be the most popular at our table.  they also sang to isaac for his birthday.  he said it was awkward.

another request today was dinner at mo' betta steaks.  mo' bettas was closed for memorial day, so evan, craig, g-dawg, steve and ryan gnoshed at winger's.  apparently, their end of the restaurant and their waitress were all belly laughing about the goings-on at our table.  ryan and steven were in fine form.



the mother ship

dinner at the mother ship (g-dawg's house) is a racous, loud, hilarious affair.  there's nothing better than sunday dinners there.  tonight we had mexican food, off-color jokes, legitimate funny jokes, a high-speed chase through the house, and probably someone left offended.  that usually happens too.  for some reason, jake fell asleep at the table and ryan put jeter in the high chair and fed him like a baby.  the fun never ends.

this was another 'last supper' for evan and it was not disappointing.  this one will have to get him through the next two.  wish we could bottle it up for him and bottle him up for us. 

today was a really good day

today was a really good day.  we woke up and went here:

everyone went except for ick.  we did baptisms for the dead.  evan baptized and confirmed us.  it was great except when the temple workers asked evan if he was leaving on a mission this week.  that made me sad.  so to avoid the ugly cry, i tried to think about something else.

then we all piled in the car and headed for salem to watch isaac to play baseball.  it made me so happy that everyone agreed to go so that we could spend the day together as a family.  and isaac was in seventh heaven with all those fans. 

isaac played great!  they brought him in to pitch and he was lights out.  the other coach was telling our coach after the game how good "big ick" was.  he had lots of cheering. 

now it's raining cats and dogs again.

dead pioneer

we had more baseball today.  only three games.  sam won his.  isaac lost both of his.

jake got a flat tire.

caroline went to two movies in the theater.  pirates {again}.  i told her i was not paying for a thir viewing.  then kung fu panda 2.  as we speak, she is downstairs watching something she ordered on netflix.  hmmm.  some days are like that.

i'm not sure what evan did today.  i hope it was productive.

craig had to change jake's tire in the dark.

i kept getting warned by isaac's umpire today (who was truly a moron), but he never had the guts to throw me out.  and i wasn't even bad.  once i told him the kids were nine and he needed to have a 9-year-old strike zone.  he told me to shut my mouth.  punk.

and isaac had his school program today.  it was about rocks.  last year the program was about conservation.  hmmm, wonder what next year will bring.  part of today's program was about the history of utah.  one of the pioneers couldn't make it at the last minute so mrs. mcintosh asked for volunteers to fall in.  she said she needed someone who was willing to die.  isaac volunteered and did indeed become a dead pioneer.  i received two text messages during the program about what a good job he had done dying.

five games & les mis

craig bought tickets to les mis several months ago.  he bought six, hoping some of us would like to go.  unfortunately, our weeknights in may are often filled with baseballs.  so, caroine, craig, g-dawg, aunt joyce, and grandma & grandpa parry enjoyed the music and story of les mis.  i spread myself over five baseball games.  isaac had two.  sam had two.  jake had one.

isaac's first game was a make-up comp game in riverton.  they only had nine players.  we were playing a bad team, so we thought we could get a lead before ick had to leave.  it wasn't to be.  when it was time for us to go the score was 4-3 for the other team and isaac was about up.  so i let him hit.  he hit two batters in to give us a lead and we drove off quickly for bountiful.  i dropped him off there for his second game, which he also won.  he did tell the pitcher on the other team that he would buy him a hot dog if he struck isaac out.  it didn't go well for the pitcher.

i then drove to farmington to watch the pirates suffer their first loss.  it was a heartbreaker.  evan played first base and he was amazing.  anyone could watching could tell that he knew his stuff and in fact when the game ended the other coach said how good evan had done and how much he enjoyed watching him.  jake did a great job catching too. 

sam had a game in layton that i missed.  he won and had a couple of good hits.  then sam had a late game in bountiful, so i drove back to mueller park to catch the end.  before i got there he had the best hit of his season so he was happy.  that team won too.  so we were 4-1 on the night. 

i called isaac when i was driving between farmington and bountiful and he told me to "drive responsibility".  this was after he had driven with me from riverton to bountiful the first time and i was afraid his rec team would forfeit if he was late, so i probably drove a little bit fast.

classy chick

tonight was ninth grade recognition night at mueller park junior high.  queue caroline.  she got outstanding achievement for 4.0 (six times), high honor roll (9 times), honor roll (2 times), citizenship honor roll (3 times), national jr. honor society, yearbook, service club, honors english, ap geography, state language fair, outstanding iowa test scores in reading, president's aware for academic excellence.  whew!  i'm out of breath.  caroline is an amazing girl.  she came within a coin toss of being the outstanding yearbook student of the year. by her teacher's account it was a neck and neck race with one other student.  we said we would have voted for her.

clearly, she had a memorable academic and social experience in junior high:

isaac spent part of his day at the district math and science olympiad.  he qualified by winning several categories in his class.  he didn't bring home a medal, but had a fun afternoon.

jake and evan went to the bees game.  our friend, keith, who manages the bees, got them tickets. 

"don't care"

the yankees walked off tonight.  it was an exciting game.  i was watching it on my phone while i was watching isaac win his game.  i texted jake to tell him that the yankees won and he texted back, "don't care".  when isaac's game ended, i told him that the yankees won and he said, "don't care".  very alike children.  united in their hate of the yankees.

isaac played a great game.  it was fun to have doug, linda, and becky stop by to watch.  jake umped.  caroline had violin.  sam didn't do much--finished a report i think.  evan went somewhere with a friend--his days are numbered.

evan and i spent part of the afternoon getting pictures organized and printed so that he could take them on his mission.  it took us several tries to get a good picture of the puppies:

numbered days

today is just another day evan can cross of his list.  he only has eight left.  dead man walking is what we're calling him.  his days at home are numbered.  i'm sad.  but i'm glad i don't have to be sad that he isn't going on a mission.

we spent today busy.  lots of things to do to get a missionary ready.  we focused on medication today, filling the rest of his prescriptions and loading up on over-the-counter types.  we also took time out for lunch at a japanese place downtown with craig called takashi.  it was yummy.  probaby nicer food than what evan will be mostly eating.

the rain continued.  rain, rain, go away.

we had enough of a break to get in two wet baseball games.  jake played in farmington--a barn burner that we won by 11 runs.  jake was 3-for-3.  after that i hurried to a wet mueller park to watch the angels play.  isaac played well, and trash talked everyone along the way.  except for the rain, it was a great night.

last supper

we had a last supper of sorts for evan tonight.  we went to craig's parents for dinner, the last time before evan leaves.  it was very enjoyable.  we had yummy schnitzel and then visited after dinner. 

jake had an experience on saturday when he was umping.  there were no bathrooms where he was working for ten hours, so he peed in a bush.  actually inside the bush.  the result of that choice was this:

picture these hives just about everywhere.  yuck.  after lots of antihistamines and a bath with baking soda and cornstartch, he's feeling a bit better.  lesson learned.

my baby's birthday & kissing your sister

i know isaac isn't a baby anymore.  but he's my baby.  and my baby boy turned 10 today.  he hasn't looked like a baby for a really long time.  i mean he wears a size 10 men's shoe.  he weighs 116 lbs.  and he's only five inches shorter than i am.  i didn't even see ick until 8:00 tonight.  he extended his fathers & sons night out by staying to fish with the stobbes.  by the time he came home, we had headed out for sam's games.  in fact, aaron stobbe felt so bad for isaac he offered to go get him a cake.  we made good later though with take-out cafe rio (which isaac informed me he is now allergic to--who knew?), a brand new 3d nintendo ds and an uneventful trip to keva juice (i'm always afraid we'll have to call an ambulance after eating there).

earlier in the day, sam played two games in roy.  i got really sunburned, which is a first for this season and about darn time.  sam played great and craig coached great.  we won the first game by an 8-run smackdown.  the second game was a real nail-biter.  at the end of seven innings, the score was 4-4 and the ump called the game.  i have never been part of a game that ended in a tie.  totally lame.  like kissing your sister. 

in an effort to break our "second game curse" (we have been regularly playing really well in our first game and then losing our second game because of crappy play), jesse's dad brought fresh chips and salsa from his brother's restaurant for a between-game snack.  the chips and salsa were really good and i guess we broke the curse, but only barely. 

fathers & sons

caroline and i got lovely pedicures today.  my toes are a bronzey orange and caroline's are silver. 

as the day went on, the rain got worse, so all five of our games were canceled tonight.  grrrrr.

as evan continues his restaurant tour before leaving, he, craig and i had dinner at joy luck then evan and craig went to fathers & sons.  the tents were full so they slept in one of the zarahemla cabins.  sam and isaac had gone up earlier in the day with scoutmaster stobbe.  the little scouts all slept in the tent together. 

caroline went to a world festival and had food from three different countries.  jake.  who knows what jake was doing. 

this isn't seattle

i don't remember moving to seattle.  and i don't even remember wanting to move to seattle.  except i would like easy access to a yummy salmon and rosemary sandwich i had at pike's market in downtown seattle.  anyway, i digress.  it has been raining here for four solid days and it's getting really old.  craig has enjoyed the time off of baseball, but i'm thinking it doesn't bode well for our older years when the kids don't play baseball anymore.  i've been pretty bored.  we have had a lot of games canceled.

there was definitely something to do tonight for anyone who could hang on until midnight.  pirates 4: on stranger tides came out at midnight.  of course, jake and evan's team "the pirates" all went to the midnight showing together wearing their "pirate" shirts.  jake used police "caution" tape to save three rows of seats.  it sounds like fun was had by all--that is until this morning when people had to get up for school.  craig also took a group of groupies to the midnight showing, but he had a car full of girls.  he said they were loud and all talked at once.  he took caroline and eight of her friends.  isaac had to go in the girl group.  sam and i stayed home safe and warm in our beds, perhaps dreaming of pirates.  i was awaken at 2:30 by the loudest and hardest hitting hail storm i've ever heard.  it passed quickly and i was soon back asleep.

rainy days and wednesdays

spring just can't get it right around here.  it's really cold and it's been raining pretty much for two days straight.  i'm alright with the rain today because we didn't have any baseball games, but i'm not going to be alright with rain tomorrow.  sam has two games.  isaac has a game.  and jake and evan are umping two games.  so get it together. 

i decided after two nights with no baseball that there are going to have to be some changes around here.  to me.  i've spent two evenings completely uselessly watching tv.  what am i going to do when we don't have kids playing baseball anymore.  i hope that day is still eight years away when ick turns 18.  i'm resolving to be more useful and more productive tomorrow.  i'll ask evan what he wants to do before he leaves...he's down to 13 days.

ram-man

a rainy may day (we even had snowflakes for a time).  so baseball games were all canceled tonight.  i'm always disappointed to be denied baseball, but i'm still so wiped out from the farewell, that i'm headed to bed early to catch up on some dvr.

today i had the great experience of going to the salt lake temple with evan and his freshman roommate, ramsey carroll, who is awesome beyond words.  the day i logged on to pick a dorm room for evan, i prayed that he would be matched to a roommate that would work for him.  ramsey has been a blessing in so many ways and i know that he and evan will be lifelong friends.  ramsey is going to olangapo, philippines on his mission in july.  thanks ram-man for being cool beyond words. 

crash

let me tell you what happens when you stay up really late saturday night (2:00 a.m.) then get up early sunday morning (7:00 a.m.), watch your son give his farewell talk in church, host an open house for hundreds of people, and then think about how your son is leaving for two years.  crash.  that's what i did this morning when the kids left for school.  i told the dogs we were going night-night, climbed in bed and slept off a farewell bender. 

yankees v red sox

evan and i both enjoyed sleeping in a bit this morning.  we commented that if craig had been with us, we probably wouldn't have been able to sleep in too much.  which isn't a knock on craig.  in fact, he is really good at packing everything into a trip, which is definitely a perk. 

we decided to do a little shopping in china town, which was actually really fun.  we both bought watches and i bought a few purses and one for caroline.  then evan was nice enough to tag along with me to two knitting stores that i have wanted to visit for a long time.  we first went to purl soho, which was almost a spiritual experience.  i wish i lived right next door.  after shopping at purl, evan took me to a pizza place in little italy where he had eaten in the fall with sean, spencer and doug--it was delicious.  then we went to the lion brand yarn studio, another amazing experience. 

after another little rest, we headed for the bronx!  craig accidentlly bought us amazing tickets to the yankees/red sox game right behind home plate.  they were seats of a lifetime.  we got to yankee stadium an hour early, went to our seats and didn't move the rest of the game.  we didn't even go to the bathroom. 

so the yankees lost and that stunk, but we still had an amazing time.  and the yankees did give it their best effort, coming back in the later innings and only losing by one.  they had lots of chances to score in the last two innings. 

we decided you know you have good seats when you sit right by theo epstein, who is the general manager for the boston red sox:

at home today, jake and caroline finally took their ap geography test, which is a relief to have over for all three of them (craig has put in a lot of hour studying with caroline).  caroline went to the pizza factory for lunch with a whole crew of kids who were also relieved to be done with the test.

isaac, sam and craig are in pocatello at a baseball tournament with the blackhawks.  they played two games today, winning one and losing one. 

travel day

evan and i traveled from minneapolis to new york city today.  craig was sooooo nice.  he got us a room at the marriott marquis--right in the heart of times square.  so convenient.  we checked in, rested, then walked to a nearby restaurant that i have been dying to try.  it's another location of a restaurant that craig and i loved when we went to paris.  they only serve steak and fries, so there isn't even a menu--you only get to choose one thing: how your steak is done.  it was really good.

then we walked back to broadway for the 8:00 showing of the lion king.  the show was fabulous, especially the costumes and the music.  we learned later that terry francona was also there somewhere. 

three baseball games and more geography studying went on at home while we were partying in the big apple.

duboises

today we woke up, looked out our window, and noticed a tarp on the infield at target field.  booo to the rain...go away and come again another day.  lucky for us, the tarp came off and we enjoyed another glorious day of baseball.  today we met evan's freshman friend, drew dubois, and his mom, elsa.  they live in the suburbs of minneapolis and drove in to enjoy the game with us.  we had a great time visiting and watching a long game, which minnesota lost (of course).

after the game, we drove out to lake minnetonka and had a great dinner at a restaurant overlooking the lake.  we drove along the banks for a bit and saw some beautiful lake houses and then went to drew's house to visit some more.  after a long satisfying day, elsa dropped us back off at the marriott and we crashed.

off to new york city tomorrow. 

minneapolis

everyone got rained out at home, which was probably good for dad and caroline because it gave them extra time to study for the ap geography test, which they have been studying their hearts out for.

evan and i flew to minneapolis today.  after landing we took the train to the mall of america.  we went on a few rides (which was fun even though we were probably too old for the rides), had a yummy lunch, and did a little shopping.

then we took the train into minneapolis, checked into our hotel, rested for an hour and then walked over to the new target field...which is awesome.  we thought it was probably in our top five!  we enjoyed a good, but very long game, due to a rain delay.  of course, the twins lost.  they always lose.  

farewell central

we're calling this room "farewell central".  all the fixings for evan's open house (that don't have to be in the refrigerator) are right here.  it doesn't look organized, but it is.  evan and i are leaving for minneapolis and new york tomorrow morning, so hopefully when we get home saturday night at 11:00 p.m., this organized mess has been transformed into a lovely open house by caroline and g-dawg.  i know they are up to the task. 

mother's day & a phone call from alabama

mother's day was fabulous.  we began in church where caroline and katelyn brown played a beautiful violin duet accompanied by stacey.  they really did an amazing job.  president eyring had tears in his eyes at the first note and confirmed to caroline after the meeting that she had him at the first note.  caroline was so nervous before the meeting she said she was going to throw up, but she made it!

i had a mother's day nap and the texas rangers cooperated with my master plan by losing badly to the yankees.  we opened presents and i got great loot and great cards from my great kids and husband.  one of my presents was an amazing scrapbook complete with pictures and pages of handwritten answers to questions like, "a favorite memory of you" and "why i am a better person because of you".  one of my favorite responses was isaac saying, "and how many moms do you think now stuff such as you, like silly stuff just as silly as if balls come first or if strikes come first."  priceless.

we had dinner at g-dawg's, which we fondly refer to as "the mother ship".  dinner was prepared lovingly by the boys of the family.  it was a racous time with grandkids running all over the place, lots of food, sunday night baseball, and a very rough game of indoor baseball.  who lets their kids play indoor baseball and football?  g-dawg.

i even got more great presents.  these beach bags with towels and other fun things was from grandma.  

towards the end of the night we got to talk with thomas.  he is happy and working hard in foley, alabama.  it was good for evan to say good-bye and the rest of us got in a few minutes of conversation as well.  we miss and love elder hamilton.

pollen pictures

after a morning of baseball games and umpiring and practice ap tests, we headed to provo for family pictures since we might not all be together for four years (sad).  craig's sister, becky, picked this beautiful orchard.  and she took some amazing pictures.  she has the best ideas.  i know they are all going to turn out great. 

there's always a catch though, isn't there?  as our time in the orchard progressed, so did the hay fever symptoms.  sneezing started.  noses started running.  even eyes started to water and turn red.  by the end of the pictures, two of my children were "farmer blowing".  and one of them, wearing a shirt that we were going to return after the pictures, used the inside of the shirt for a kleenex.  pretty. 

a new outfit always makes me feel better

stress is my middle name right now.  it's definitely the busiest time of the year...this week we have 14 baseball games.  plus it's ap testing time at the high school--super stressful for jake and caroline.  end-of-year stuff at school is time consuming.  it's just a frenzied time of the year.  add into the mix evan getting ready to leave, a farewell and a mini-vacation for mom and evan next week and you get over-the-top stress.  and then there's family pictures on saturday.  in provo.  i know it's gonna be worth it, but pulling it off is tricky.

today i devoted a few hours to making sure everyone had the right thing to wear--harder than you might think. 

but the upside of today was mother's day sales at the "mom" kind of shops at the gateway (mainly j.jill and coldwater creek) and a few new outfits for me to wear in new york next week and to evan's farewell did wonders for my mood.  i checked caroline out of school and she went with me, so a few new dresses for her worked the same magic.  time (and money) well spent.

carpool day

today is monday.  it has been a largely uneventful day.  more school.  more baseball.  another day of thinking what to make for dinner.  but monday is also carpool day for me.  for four years, i have been driving to millcreek junior high.  i don't know what i would do if i were assigned another day, that would totally mess me up.  first i drove jake and his friends for three years and now i'm driving sam and his friends.  if you don't get to millcreek early and get in the queue, it's a big pain because there is nowhere to park.  so i always leave the house a little early and bring my ipad or a book or the ensign and catch up on a little reading. 

this isn't a very exciting post, but it's a part of our everyday life.

strike

i'm officially on strike.  in fact, i came home from church and went straight to bed and declared that there would be no prepared dinner.  lucky for the kids, craig made spaghetti.  after which i asked him if this would affect mother's day, because i don't want to cook on mother's day either.

i'm not going to name names to protect the guilty, but things did not go well around here this weekend.  it was mainly a chore problem.  isaac was the only one who did his, but at one point while he was cleaning his room he texted me and said, "you have already ruined my life enough".  i'm naming his name because even though i've ruined his life, he was the only one to acctually do his chores.

one child said, they "tried" to clean their room and bathroom.  after i had a talk with people about taking clean clothes out the dryer and leaving them in a pile on the counter, one child waited 15 minutes before violating this rule.  15 minutes.  two children completely blew me off when i told them to do their chores.  not a prety mom moment for me. 

one child made a list at church on their phone of my infractions.  leading the list was "on 5/1/11, mom got mad at me for no reason".  drop in the bucket.