We Are the Champions

Ok well at least the champions for this game. Caleb hit the ball tonight and made it to first base and their team won their first game after losing the last 4 I think! Those kids were so excited to finally win one!! Yippee!!! I was so excited for Caleb and of course he was just beaming and he has had a great attitude all night long. He has not been a stinkpot once since we got home. I hope that I did not just jinx myself though by saying that although the kids are are all in bed now. I'm sure that I made a spectacle of myself cheering for him because I wanted him to hear me but it was a big deal for him and for our family so poo on every one else who thinks that they are funny by making sarcastic comments to me afterward. I will not ruin this happy thought for Caleb by venting about stupid people right now because I am currently trying to find my chi and not be irritated . (I may vent tomorrow though so watch out!:)-
This one's for Caleb! YEAH CALEB!!!!!

Another Day in the Life

Today I debated about whether or not to go to Vegas because the Panini maker that Don gave me for Christmas just died on Sunday and I need another one. I have been eating peanut butter and honey paninis alot lately because they are quite tasty and now my Panini maker is busted. AARRRGGGHHH I also wanted to get some baby stuff for a friend who just called to tell me that they are getting a baby-now that sounds weird but it is true. They have been trying to adopt and they just a call yesterday saying that there was a baby girl born on Friday and did they want her? What a question-do they want her-of course they do. Anyway my friend has nothing for this baby because they are picking her up today and they had no idea what was going on as yesterday was the first time they were contacted about even getting the baby. So I decided that I would not go to Vegas because I was afraid that I would jinx the baby getting by being overly excited and going out and buying stuff before they even got her. They are picking her up today so I decided to wait just in case. Gas is sooooo stinking expensive ($3.58 at Maverick in Overton and $3.65 at Wally's) and my huge, family friendly but safe Suburban uses quite a bit of gas. I needed an appointment with one of my chiros and did not schedule it until today-at least now I can use the trip as a deduction for taxes because I am going to the doctor.
Cody stayed home sick and I baked and cooked all morning. My new favorite jello salad (orange jello made like normal-mixed with lemon cook and serve pudding made like normal and then lemon instant pudding on top Yummy!) zuchini bread, a bacon, cheese and zuchini quiche (it was pretty good but needed a little bit more flavor maybe sausage instead of bacon) and a macaroni dish for my kids tonight because by the late afternoon I do not want to do anything let alone cook dinner.
After cooking and doing dishes all morning I have been messing with Itunes because alot of my music that was there last week is no longer there and I can't find it anywhere on my computer-another AAARRRGGGHHHHH-this could have something to do with the fact that I have children who like to mess around on the computer and they may have accidentally deleted the music but it is unlikely because there are whole albums missing not just songs. I did down load the latest upgrade of Itunes and that is the only thing that I have done differently maybe that did something but who knows. So after talking with my brilliant brother who said that I was pretty much SOL-I have been loading CD's on my computer all afternoon as well as looking at blogs and writing this. Mostly I have been loading George Strait-my favorite and did you know that he has his own channel on XM? XM 17 Strait Country all George all day-I have been hoping for a while now that they would do this and wouldn't ya know it they did. Lucky me! I am not sure what time I officially started this post but it is now 5pm and we have another baseball game tonight. By the way-Don is in Idaho-anyone need potatos? JK!!

Fun Filled Fair

The clown named PJ that has loved my kids ever since she started coming to the fair 8 years ago. She has always had to work to get them to like her and so she is trying to get Cayden to warm up to her with the help of Bubba Sweeny

Cayden finally warmed up to PJ with the help of Bubba.

The boys and PJ and Bubba Sweeny

Connor and Caleb and the Sweeny Family Band

Cayden likes the big cooler.

Caleb and his purple tongue and slushy.

Cayden hiding from Bubba Sweeney's pet "squirrel". This guy had a musical act with his brothers on the stage in the BBQ tent.

Cayden getting kisses from the pet squirrel.

Driving the cart-the kids favorite thing to do at the fair.

Cayden and mom coloring on the big coloring page.

Cayden and mom again.

Hardworking Cody

Cody part II

Silly snake from the face painter

Cayden loves the cart riding more than the carnival-he did not want to do the carnival at all.

More snakes

Funny Cody!

Count Your Many Blessings - A Miracle has Occurred seriously!

So last week on April 9 there was the arbitration hearing between our insurance company and the other guy's insurance company from the car wreck. Basically an independent person or something looked at the case as was presented by both parties and then determined the percentage of liability of each party involved. Well guess what-we won! 100% in our favor! Can you believe it? I am totally floored because we thought that they would split the difference. Originally (in October mind you) the other insurance offered that they would be 85% at fault with us being 15%. We said no that we wanted 100% their fault and so it went to arbitration. We thought (because we were told by our neighbor who works for Liberty Mutual) that the outcome could be that the arbitrator found them 93% and us 7% which is splitting the difference. Well they did so much better than that.
100% not our fault!!!

So this is my testimony that prayer and fasting really work and that the Lord is mindful of our needs and listens to our prayers. This whole thing has been a huge issue for our whole family and we have been praying about it now for the last year and so now hopefully we can finally get this behind us.

Baseball Part II

FYI-this is another long one.
So after the official start of baseball last Saturday we have had baseball every day this week except yesterday (Friday). Connor and Caleb practice in Overton and all three of the boys' games were there this week so we are going through the gas and putting the miles on the Suburban. Caleb was the first to have his game this week on Tuesday. There are 12 kids on his team so they have to rotate through them. He was kind of bummed because he did not see any action out in center field and he was unable to hit the ball(does that sound better than he struck out?) There really is no nice way of saying that but he was certainly not the only one either but it is so sad to see those kids so dejected when they walk back to the dugout with their heads down-I do not like this part about sports-everyone needs to win! Then Wednesday I had this brilliant idea that I should take my boys-minus Cody to the batting cages in St. George so that they could practice-no there is nothing here in Logandale and yes I pulled them out of school because there is just not another time to go up there in the next few weeks. Well my brilliant plan was not so brilliant. Those balls at the batting cages come really fast and they were not used to it so it was basically a bust and they would not do it very willingly and I did not get any points for being the mother of the year because I was frustrated that I had brought them all up there and they hated it. Luckily I was out only 6 bucks and we did do some shopping before we went over there-Caleb needed new shoes and we could not find what he wanted with what I was willing to pay so finally after 5 stores and 2 hours later we found him some at Journey's in the mall and yes they were overpriced but I could not drag them through any more stores not to mention there were not any more stores to drag them too. Caleb is wearing an 8 in mens and anything that fit he did not like-he is quite adamant about what he wants to wear and that goes for shoes too. So anyway Wednesday at the batting cages was crap and a waste of time and money but hey now we know. (This is where I would like to insert my complaint box about living in Logandale and not having many things accessible to us like shoe stores and batting cages)

So Cayden had practice on Wednesday and then Connor had a game on Thursday where he did really good in right field but he was frustrated because he struck out too. Connor actually made a couple of good plays one where the pitcher over shot 1st base and Connor was able to stop it and get it to 2nd base. Cayden had a game at 8:30 this morning where Don and I coached. It was a little crazy and seriously out of the 15 kids that were playing that game maybe 3 had a clue as to what was going on. I needed another shower after that game mostly because one of our team players hit the ball and was running to first base when one of the kids that knows how to play from the other team picked up the ball and tagged him out. Our player was very mad and took off to find his mom who he thought was at the other end of the park watching his brother play but his mom was actually over watching him but he did not see her. I did not see him take off but a few of the parents (not his) saw him and hollered out-Hey coach you got one going AWOL. So Caleb and I took off after him calling his name but the more we called the faster he ran. About 10 miles later we caught up to him and I told him that his mom was back by our team and so he took off that direction again. I just let him run and did not even try to keep up with him. When I got back to our field I saw that he was pretty upset and said heard him say that he hated baseball and was throwing his mitt and his hat. His mom was trying to talk to him but he was having nothing of it. The funniest thing about this is that he is so little he is about the size of 3 year old but he is actually 5. He came back out the last time we were in the outfield but he was none to happy about. He did stop a few balls but mostly by default because they rolled right to him. It was quite a long 3 innings because you bat through your line up and there aren't any outs until the last batter. We are yelling and hollering directions to the kids the whole time because they still are not sure where to run and in what direction. The funniest is trying to get them to drop the bat and run after they hit the ball. They are like deer in the headlights and frozen in place until they finally hear us yelling to them to RUN! Cayden is at least playing this time-he would not play for basketball if you recall so we figured that if we were coaches then we could "encourage" him to play more. Baseball seems to be his speed-not so much running and confusion. So that game lasted until 9:30 and then we went home until 11:00 to watch a little bit of conference and then leave again for Connor's game. He is supposed to be there 45 minutes early to warm up so we got to watch the end of the other game-I should have brought a book. Connor struck out the first time at bat but then-Hallelujah he hit the ball the next time at bat and made it to first base. I was soooooooooooooooooo glad that he was able to hit the ball. He had the biggest grin and I swear the whole ball park turned when I screamed for him. Then before the next hit he stole 2nd base-unbeknownst to his coach and to my chagrin- and he was very lucky that the other team was not watching very good. We were quite the proud parents after that. Thank goodness he hit it-that has jazzed him the whole day.

Anyway that is how every Saturday will be for the next 2 months except next week because of the fair. So glad that is back in town. Insert complaint box here about Little League age rules and ignorant coaches who think that their kids are all that and a bag of chips. Connor is playing in the Majors which is 11-12 year olds. The problem is that he just barely turned 11 and some of those 12 year olds are almost 13. He is in 5th grade and some of the 12 year olds are in 7th grade because they have late birthdays-the cut off is opening day. Those 12 year olds are double the size of Connor and there is just a huge difference between a 5th grader and a 7th grader-some of these boys played on Don's football team and are huge. Connor is just really little-don't tell him I said that- and compared to those bigger boys he looks even littler. I will not go into my gripes about ignorant coaches who are not just ignorant during baseball but all the time in general. Sufficeth to say it gripes me and their kids are going to end up being ignorant too.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Cayden is thrilled to be going to baseball, my baseball boys and Cayden playing close to 2nd base during his game.

Caleb warming up and Connor in the outfield.
Saturday was Moapa Valley Little League's Opening Day! We spent the afternoon at the high school baseball fields with Connor, Caleb and Cayden and watched them all play a 1 inning game in their new uniforms. There were also 2 bounce houses and free ice cream plus a local caterer was there selling hot dogs and hamburgers. Connor's team is the Devil Rays, Caleb's team is the T-Rex and Cayden's team is the Rockets. Connor's team is sponsored by his grandparents and Aunt Dena and Uncle Chris' businesses Valley Enterprises. Connor and Caleb have had 2 practices a week for the last 3 weeks but now because of the games starting up hopefully that will be only 1 practice a week. We pretty much have baseball every night of the week except Friday and almost every Saturday too. Oh well at least they have something to do and are having fun too.

It's Alive!

Cilantro.

Zucchini

Squash

Spinach

Yes believe it or not the garden is actually growing. There is something coming up of everything but the watermelon and cantaloupe. The first thing that we saw was the spinach and that started popping up only 10 days after we planted it. There were also a few tiny cilantro starts. That day I saw 1 little zucchini plant starting to poke its head through the dirt. I think that there about 20 zucchini plants up now and I am so excited. We are quite proud of ourselves for at least getting them to come up. Now let's see if they actually produce food!