Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Bored Scout

We have an awesome thing at our house. Teach works in the Customer Service center at Smith's. That means she sells all kinds of tickets for SmithTix. So a couple of weeks ago she called me from work. "Want to go to a Bees (baseball) game?" Now you all know I LOVE baseball, but we usually can't afford to see the real games, even Triple A.

Wiggly Curly

"How much?" I asked, afraid for the answer. "Five bucks each!" she exclaimed, "And that includes a hot dog." The only deal was that it had to be a Monday night in June. Of course we bought tickets right away (OK, I did call Bossy first to see if she wanted to get in on the deal).

Tonight was the big game. The Bees were playing Reno. The game itself was awesome! The wiggling kids were not. Nobody under the age of 8 except for Baby Doll could hold still for more than 20 seconds at a time. And they certainly weren't watching the game (as you can see from the pictures). I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the game. Teach got us awesome seats right on the first base line. We were only 16 rows up. I could have kept score!

Princess...Who wouldn't want her number?

You got me a hot dog???

The older kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Princess was trying to get the phone number of the boy behind us...
Drama Queen spent most of the time texting on her phone....
Teach kept asking me silly questions...I swear she played this game when she was little, why doesn't she remember the rules now?
I think the Dog Walker used every restroom on the lower deck.
And I'm pretty sure Curly drank out of every single water bottle which means we will all be sick with boogery noses tomorrow.

I never get to sit by my sweetie at events like this.

But I'd do it all again in a heartbeat just to watch one play. The Bees player on third was running for home as the ball was coming to the plate. The catcher caught it and we all held our breath as he went for the tag. But I think that runner grew wings because he practically flew around the catcher on his stomach and snagged the other side of the plate before the catcher could get him.

It was so awesome!

Even better than my box of Cracker Jack (I bought them at the grocery store and we ate them in the van for about a tenth of the cost at the ballpark).

For a few minutes I felt like a kid again.

Fathers' Day Gifts

Did you see that anonymous comment on yesterday's post? The one that thanked me for the Kindle Fire? Any guesses on who wrote that?

If you guessed my sweetie, you are right! I know, it's not quite Fathers' Day, but he is headed out on a business trip and a new toy might just make the whole thing a little easier. I actually bought the Kindle Fire back in May and stashed it under my side of the bed. I don't usually spend that much, but I had a bunch of credits at Staples, so I only had to plunk down $70 and I even got a $15 gift card with it!

credit

 

I was so excited about my purchase (if you remember, I'm a terrible secret keeper) I had to tell someone. So I picked Teach. Next to me, she is the second worst secret keeper in the family. It was less than 24 hours before she asked my sweetie if he would like to have a Kindle Fire. And then when his answer was pretty negative, she naturally passed that information on to me.

I was crushed!

I thought about taking it back to the store, but I had gotten such a good deal on it and I didn't know how they would deal with the credits, so I wrapped it in a grocery bag and stashed it under the bed. And it sat there for the last 5 weeks. This morning I pulled it out and wrapped it up. Then after dinner when he was worrying about what he might do for hours alone in a motel room, I presented it to him.

The kids immediately pounced on it, so I couldn't tell if he liked it or not. I gave him a regular Kindle reader for Christmas a few years ago and even though he had casually mentioned he might like one and I thought I had a winner, he never used it. Oh, he might take it to church on Sundays, but the scriptures were about the only thing on it. A paper copy would have been much cheaper!


I manage to score about every five years or so between birthdays, Christmas, and Fathers' Day.  He is always gracious and thankful, but if the gift lays on his desk, or worse yet, still in the gift bag for several weeks or even months, I know I missed the mark.

I seem to have the same problem with my dad. I don't know, maybe it's just me...

How about you? Are you the perfect gift-giver?

Raingutter Regatta

I know I've told you before that my sweetie is the Cubmaster for our Cub Scout Pack. He has about 25 boys and their families to entertain once a month at Pack Meeting. He hands out awards and then he has activities planned. We have done some pretty exciting things, like the Blue and Gold Banquet and the Pinewood Derby. One month we all made paper airplanes and then flew them for prizes. Another time we had a treasure hunt with GPS and compasses. The Dog Walker helped lay out 4 different routes and at the end of each was a small box full of candy.

We have all kinds of fun at Pack Meeting and tonight was no different. The boys (and anyone else who wanted to participate) built balsa wood catamarans with tiny sails and raced them in raingutters with fans to propel them.

We had awesome attendance with only a couple of the scouts missing. While Sport and I were setting up this afternoon, we put up about twice the number of chairs I thought we might need and tonight we filled almost every one.



The kids were so excited! My own kids had spent several hours each on their little boats, cutting and sanding and painting. Their sails were covered with colorful stickers and everyone from Curly to the Prima Donna had participated. As Cubmaster and Assistant Cubmaster, my sweetie and the Dog Walker also made boats.

No, I didn't make a boat. I was the support crew. Instead I made reminder fliers and distributed them. Twice. I made all the certificates and attached the prizes and I made sure everything was set up and ready. I even called all the leaders to make sure they had treats and prayers and such.

And tonight went off without a hitch...except for the fact that some people thought the start time was 6:30 and others thought it was at 7:00.

Scout placed third in the Open Class division and Sport won Best Design for the cub class. I'm thinking I remember Burrito winning a prize too, but it was a bit chaotic and I don't remember what. Maybe Bossy will comment and let us know.

Teach was our amazing photographer and she snapped some fun pics. Maybe now I can relax for a few minutes...at least from Cub Scouts.

What's for Lunch?

My sweetie works for a large engineering company across the valley and it is too far away for him to come home for lunch, so he packs one every day.  With all these kids, we have several large (OK, there are three) chest freezers in our house. One is only for meat, one is almost exclusively TV dinners bought for lunches when they are on sale really cheap, and the other one is for everything else.

So this morning my sweetie sent Crafty to grab him something out of the freezer before he dropped the kids at school. Crafty grabbed a grocery bag, headed downstairs, and came back with the box tied up and ready to go. My sweetie slipped it into his pack and they ran out the door.

When he got to work, he took the package out of his bag and put it in his little fridge. It was still tied in the grocery sack. His usual mode is to let the dinner thaw during the morning hours and then it doesn't take nearly as long to cook for lunch.

Around 1:00 he sent me a text. "The kids packed my lunch...fish patties...12 pack."

Not exactly your typical TV dinner, unless you're a seal...

Guest Blog: Pinewood Derby Cars by Sweetie

When Sport was less than two years old, we noticed that two things seemed to get his attention… cars and girls… maybe it’s just the curves they share?   It was actually fun to watch.. He would play with his toys (toy cars if they where present) and ignore the TV until  a car or lovely lady came on the screen.  . He would stop... watch until it went away, and then go back to playing.  

That love of cars has continued on.  He loves hot wheels, watching the Velocity channel, etc.  Since he also loves Cub Scouts, pinewood derby is one of his favorite activities. In the last calendar year we have built and raced three vehicles...at three different races…  

Every time it’s the same thing, he loves designing the cars and he’s most excited about the design. He doesn’t care if it’s the fastest because he doesn’t like flat, very aerodynamic pinewood derby cars that don’t look like cars.  And that’s all true until about 20 seconds before the first race… when suddenly he wants to win. 

This last race was interesting.  He wanted to make a jeep..  Tall and short, it would be slow …even if I spent hours on the wheels and axles.  He didn’t care, he just wanted it to look cool.  Once we got there and he found out there was no prizes for design, he watched the first race.  The jeep took fourth on a 4-lane track…so Sport quickly headed off to the exhibits, leaving Dad to the humiliation.

In the end the jeep was only about 0.8 seconds slower over 4 runs than the fastest car…good enough for third  place…. from last that is. Point 2 seconds doesn’t seem like a lot but it’s several car lengths.  

When we were finished, I told him not to play with this one because I wasn’t building a new car for the town days race. I'm just not sure I can lose that many more man-cards, but I am thinking about buying special cheater wheels and axles on the internet.  And Sport is warming to flat aerodynamic designs.. and...dang I hate to be in the bottom half.  Oh and everyone says he’s just like me… and while I’ve learned not to jerk my head when a lovely lady walks by  (love will do that), an Italian sports car.. a nice custom… or a really cool pinewood derby…well, that’s a different story… 

Maybe it's genetic.

Oh, one more thing to explain the pics... Sport and I have built and raced 3 cars... Curly and I - 2 cars,  Scout and I - 2 cars… Crafty one car, Prima Donna one car, Dog Walker one car…

   

Tee Ball

Me and My Team

Scout

Pretty sure I've told you several times about tee ball, but I finally got the camera with us to a game and my sweetie snapped some pics for you. When I signed Scout and Curly up for Tee Ball in the same league, I didn't realize just how often our games would be scheduled at the same time. We are more than halfway through the season and tonight was the first time I've had the opportunity to watch Curly play. (If you remember, I'm coaching Scout's team and my sweetie aka "the awesome-ist guy in the world" is coaching Curly's team.

Our game was pretty uneventful. Scout was her usual amazing self near the pitcher's mound and Taco played first base. They have a great thing going that you don't usually see in tee ball. Scout fields the ball and then tosses it to Taco and the batter is out. Not that it matters, nobody is ever really out in tee ball. And Burrito loves to chase after the ball. He has been know to totally tackle his own team mates just to be the one to get the ball.

Burrito with Taco in the background

After our games was over, we headed over to Curly's game where they were just taking the field. To keep the little ones from getting bored, the coach is supposed to recruit someone to practice with them in the outfield while the game is going on. Even though he has tons of parent support, that job generally becomes his.

Taco

Since I was there, my sweetie asked me to help Curly with his turn in the infield. Now I try to be enthusiastic then the kids will be excited about the game, so when they are fielding the ball I yell, and when they are throwing the ball I yell, and when they are batting, I yell the loudest. So Curly and I were standing there, waiting for the kid to hit the ball to us so Curly could throw it to first.

Only that's not what happened. The boy smacked the ball into right field. I immediately started yelling, "Get the ball! Get the ball!" and Curly took off running. Unfortunately, so did the little guy who was running from first to second. They had a horrible collision with both of them running at top speed!

Curly

It took me about three more batters before I could get Curly's tears to stop. Then he picked up a ball and threw it to first and actually made an out. He was so excited! When the second to last batter came to the plate, he popped the ball up just slightly over Curly's head. I wanted him to field another one since he had done such a great job with the last one, so I grabbed at the ball. Unfortunately, instinct took over and I actually caught the ball.

Smacking the ball

Some of the parents weren't too happy.

But most of them didn't care...the little guy ran the bases for a home run anyway.

That's tee ball!

Running to first!

The Appraisal

I know I promised you a pinewood derby post today, but my sweetie was too tired to write it, so here I am, pouring my heart out. That's because a couple of weeks ago in the middle of all this craziness, we had a pretty good-sized wind storm. Like every other time, that wind blew a bunch of shingles off my roof and into the flowerbeds.

This is usually not that big of a problem because my awesome son-in-law (BTW HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GAMER!!!) climbs up there and patches the bare spots. That's been going on for the past 8 years. But this time my sweetie said, "Enough! How much is it going to cost to re-shingle the house?"

This is actually the second time he asked this question and the first time the answer was like $14,000. Now I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of money just laying around...and if I did, I'm not sure I'd want to spend it on my roof. So the obvious answer was to check into our equity and see about refinancing the house.

We happened to be in luck. Rates had dropped an entire percentage point since our last loan was written, so the whole thing suddenly made sense. I got on a fast-track loan program with our current mortgage holders and got started on the paperwork. That's when my kids learned the meaning of the word "appraisal." And they didn't like it!

We've spent the last 10 days cleaning and scrubbing and fixing up. Everyone had to clean their bedrooms and help in the common areas. My sweetie touched up paint, replaced the outside light fixtures, and scrubbed bathrooms. I didn't like the idea of someone being able to just wander anywhere they wanted in my house, but that is exactly what happened at 10:00 this morning.

Oh and since he had to measure the yard and the garage, all of those areas needed to at least look presentable. It was a nightmare! But everyone chipped in, even Bossy's family came over and helped us get the yard in shape. It was like spring cleaning on steroids.

I couldn't do anything about the massive pile of laundry, but my house looks amazing and I'm so proud of the kids for all of their hard work. I'll let you know how it works out...maybe tomorrow my sweetie will be sufficiently rested to write about the cars.

Maybe...

Cub Scout Stuff

Remember in February when I told you about the Blue and Gold Banquet? Well, my sweetie is still in charge of the Cub Scouts and he has to prepare an activity/awards meeting for them each and every month. Last month wasn't too bad, they all made paper airplanes and then had contests to see whose went the furthest and the longest.

This month they are supposed to do another craft or a service project and we have been wracking our brains trying to come up with something cheap and relatively easy since most of these boys are only about 8 years old. Except for their fearless leader who is 48 going on 11. Yup, I'm confessing...my sweetie is just a big overgrown kid at heart. He loves this kind of stuff!

When I mentioned that I wanted to go over to Beck's Leather and Craft for some supplies for my Girl Scout meeting today, he was right with me. I was a little confused by this because we already did leatherwork for the Cub Scout pack last summer. That's when he casually mentioned that they had a catapult kit he thought the boys might like. Trouble is, those kits cost $7 each!



Does anybody have a catapult pattern they might like to share? No, not one for throwing Cub Scouts, although I'm sure they would love that, just the right size for ping pong balls?

One More Day

Visiting the Zoo

 

On Sunday night we were sitting around, playing cards and enjoying each others' company. The Gym Rat spent Easter with us and we never get to see enough of him. I started lamenting that our Spring Break was almost over. We only had Monday left when all the kids would be home and that's when my sweetie confessed that he had taken one more day off and we would all be together. So many great reasons to love this guy!

We kicked around a few ideas, including a visit to my MIL's house, but since she was busy, we finally decided to go to the zoo. Since we had a family pass, that was a cheap, fun activity for us. Some of the school districts had different days off for spring break, so we were assuming that it wouldn't be too crowded...boy were we wrong!

We had to park across the street in the overflow parking. It took us a few minutes in the ticket line and then again at the gate. People were everywhere. While I was in the ticket line, the older girls helped all the little ones with sunscreen. That was mostly a good thing except that Princess and Baby Doll both got some in their eyes. I hustled the two of them off to the restroom and we rinsed their eyes several times. It didn't help much.

We visited with the monkeys, the elephants and the rhinos. The tiger was outside sunning himself and so were the giraffes. All except for one. Did you know that a giraffe can be trained just like a dog? We happened to enter the building at just the right time to see a full-sized giraffe going through training exercises with a whistle and treats. It could step up on a board with either foot, back up and turn around. I'm not sure about rolling over and playing dead...we didn't stay that long...

The weather was perfect for animal watching and we enjoyed our day at the zoo. Then it was back to school and our regular crazy life. I'm so glad that every once in a while we can take a break and remember how much we love just spending time together. Here's to counting down the days until Memorial Day!

We weigh a TON!

Our Mini Vacation

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from my Tupperware account. An awesome girl named Ashley wanted to do a Tupperware party and she was wondering if I would like to help her out. I was so excited! These sorts of opportunities don't come by every day (at least not for me)...

Then I asked her where she lived. When she said Manila, Utah, I immediately hopped on Google and started looking at the map. My heart sank. It was a three-hour drive and that was the short way through Wyoming! I called my manager to ask her if she would take care of it, but she didn't answer her phone so I just left her a message.

In the meantime, I called my sweetie. During the course of our conversation, I happened to mention this party and my disappointment. "Why don't you see if she can do it over spring break?" he suggested. "Then we can take the kids and run away for the weekend." That's why I love this man!

Oh, I knew that I couldn't really make enough on the party to pay for the whole trip, but it would help and we could write off the gas and other expenses. I hopped back online and started looking for hotels. Manila is small, only about 800 people this time of year, but it is only about 40 miles away from Vernal and we hadn't taken the kids there in about 15 years. I had heard that their Quarry exhibit was brand new and amazing.

It looked like the hotels were going to be too expensive and we might have to give up the party anyway, but then I got on the Super 8 website. I could get a room there for $55/night and they had an indoor pool and free breakfast. You can't beat that! So I made the reservations. Sometime during the week, Bossy got wind of our plans and was so excited to come that I called and added another room.

We took off Thursday morning and stopped in Roosevelt for lunch. The kids enjoyed the park there and they made me go down the slide. It was so silly...

We rolled into Vernal about 3:00 and hunted down the Scout Shop. Our Cub Scouts wanted to earn the Quarry patch and the Flaming Gorge patch and it would be much easier to just get them while we were in town. After that we spent an hour or so at the Dinosaur Museum. The kids loved the outdoor dinosaur garden and they had to pose with every one of them. The Dog Walker was voted the most Jurassic-like. Is that a good thing???!

We checked into the motel and got settled, then we headed out to dinner. The lady at the scout shop had recommended the Seven Eleven Ranch. It was a little pricey for us, but the kids loved the food and everyone was stuffed by the time we left.

Back at the hotel we took a quick dip in the pool, but the heater was broken and it was SOO cold! After warming up in the hot tub, we found our rooms and settled in for the evening.
 
On Friday morning, we arrived at the Quarry just before 10:00. I don't really remember much about the old museum, but this one is so amazing! They have basically built a building around part of the mountain and the mountain has been chipped away to reveal hundreds of actual dinosaur bones and you can even touch some of them!

After we left the Quarry, we went on a driving tour to see some of the petroglyphs and other sights. My sweetie took hundreds of pictures but he is trying to win a contest at work so most of them don't have people in them. Our last stop of the day was the dam at Flaming Gorge. We missed the last tour by 20 minutes, but it was still beautiful and we were able to watch a video and look around the visitor's center. We drove across the dam and stopped at the overlook.


We got back to Vernal about 5:30 and stopped at Little Caesar's for pizza. I'm thinking it was hotel time, but Bossy had one more auto tour she wanted to do before it got dark. She had read about some petroglyphs at the McConkie ranch west of town...

When we got there, the kids all piled out of the van and took off with Bossy up the steep mountain trail. By the time I got Baby Doll out of the van and bundled up in her jacket, they were no where to be seen. So my sweetie and I and Baby Doll started up the path...and I use that term loosely...


Even in my younger days I don't remember going up a trail like that one. There were quite a few times I kept thinking maybe we should just turn around, but we didn't. I was hauling Baby Doll because there was no way she could climb it herself. My sweetie was carrying his expensive camera and no, I didn't want to trade.

We finally got to the top and started back down. The kids had finished the trail and come back up the other way to help us (although I'm pretty sure we could have managed without them...I'm not that old!) After we were finally all safely back in the van, we headed for the hotel. The heater in the pool had been fixed and we spent over an hour playing with the kids and causing chaos.

This post is getting so long, I guess I'll have to finish it up tomorrow...Don't forget to come back!