Saturday, March 29, 2008

Boy's Sports!

Christopher is signed up for Maple Valley Lacrosse this year. He wanted to do football but here the games are on Sunday's. Here he is all suited up with his new gear. He has a couple of practices and then it is right into the first game. We thought we should take a look on YouTube so he could see a bit of what the game is like. This video makes football look like a sport for sissies. It is a bit grainy but you will get the picture.



What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...right?

Preston also had his "Opening Day" for baseball. As you can see his team is called the Pirates. This is his first year and he is loving it.

I have not seen this before, but they take all teams in Maple Valley and parade them out on a field in front of all their parents. A cub scout den presents the flag and we listen to the Star Spangled Banner then pledge allegiance to the flag. They then go over the rules of good sportsmanship and get them jazzed for the season. I think the kids (and adults) may have gotten more out of it if it was not so FREEZING COLD.

Yeah, it is almost April and today we have had snow and hail and rain and burrr it is cold.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Easter Weekend 2008

Happy Easter. It's rainy today. Here are some pics from the day. Ness took the one of the flowers in the yard. I have been trying to teach here there are other things to take pics of other than herself. I think she is getting the hang of it. :)



I slept 11 hours last night and it was much needed. I have been working many hours at work and as a result not receiving much in the way of sleep. It was good to get caught up.

I was supposed to go on a hike with the young men/scouts yesterday. I feel badly that I was not able to attend. It is part of my responsibility with the boys. I also am a bit selfish about it. I love getting out in the outdoors and these kind of activities give me that chance to get out there. The problem with yesterday was that we have been in our house for over a year now and the backyard is still not done. I need to get it DONE. Luckily there are three of us that are responsible for the scouts and Ben and Trevor were able to take them this time so we were covered. Less guilt for me this time!

Stacy and I spent some time moving some dirt around and coming up with a plan for how to put in the yard. I was having a hard time coming up with a game plan then Stacy just blurted out a step by step action list.

  1. Level the grass area dirt
  2. Bring in top soil
  3. Spread the top soil
  4. Get the sod and lay it
  5. Prep the retaining wall site
  6. Get the retaining wall in
  7. Get and spread some bark for the flower / shrub area
  8. Put in plants as we can afford it
  9. At some point put in the walking path on the side of the house
  10. Put in curbing in when we can afford it
I don't know if she just came up with it or if she had been working it out for months. Either way while she was laying out the plan I had this feeling of love an appreciation for her. I always love her but there are times where I feel even more so the love for her. It's funny to me the times when I feel extra closeness to her. She probably does not even know when it happens other then I stop and give her a kiss or tell her that I love her. It may seem like a normal event to her, and it is, but some times, for me, it is for what I think are special reasons. I am so glad to have her in my life.

Yesterday, Jaycee had her last day of soccer tryouts. After the morning tryout the group was told they would get a call to let them know if they had made the "A" team or "B" team. She wanted to get the "A" team BADLY. She had worked hard and learned a lot during the past year and felt ready for the advancement. She finally got the call from the coach telling her she was on the top team. YEAH JAYCEE! We all hooted and hollered. :) She was nothing but grins. She was happy to learn later that some of her old team mates had also made the "A" team but sad to hear that others had remained on the "B" team.

Christopher is starting Lacrosse this year and we were supposed to go watch a tournament but I suddenly came down with some nasty flu symptoms. It became a good idea to stay close to home base instead. We will need to go to one of the other days for the tournament. He is pretty excited and anxious for the season to begin. We think he will love it.

Preston has also started playing machine pitch baseball. He is loving it. OH! He also started to ride a bike with no training wheels yesterday! Yesterday was a big day! I am a bad Dad though because we did not take any video or pics. We will have to get some today.

Nessa is getting rich this weekend. She has been a babysitting fool. Scary thought though. She now has enough money to start driving school. The deal was that we would come up with half of the money and she needed to contribute the rest. She does not understand why we are making her pay for half but it will help to make her more responsible for learning during the class if she has some skin in it.

Writing in this blog is a good thing as it gives me reason to reflect and think about what is happening in my life. This was a big weekend and I would have missed the significance of it if I had not started writing. It is just a reaffirmation that the prophets of God tell truth. Writing in a journal is good. It helps us remember what blessings we have to be thankful for. It helps us think of things we should do differently and how to make our lives better.

Monday, March 3, 2008

2nd

This is my second blog entry. Went to learn about Tahoma high school tonight. We have a daughter entering the school as a sophomore next year and needed to find out what the requirements are for graduation so we know what to register her for. Or at least encourage her to register for. I could not believe how much the requirements have changed and how much the expectations for entering college have increased. I wonder if it is just here in Washington or if expectations have increased back in Utah as well.



Also, we celebrated Christopher's 10th Birthday tonight (early). He was way excited to find out that we are going to go shopping for a mountain bike tomorrow for him. Here is a pic of how we told him. If you look close you can see a funny face he made cropped into the picture of the mountain bike rider.


Saturday, March 1, 2008

Hello World. First blog. I am not quite sure what to write.