A Day of Mourning

Today I'm in mourning. Gone are the days of being 30-something. I can't believe I'm really 40. Middle Aged. Not that I'm really any different than yesterday, but it just seems weird to think that I'm 40. I have a baby and little kids.

Dave wanted to make sure I remembered that I'm old. He very sneakily blew up 40 black balloons and hung them in the family room along with black streamers. Somehow he did this between 11:30 last night and 7:00 this morning when we got up. The kids woke me up saying "Happy Birthday" and shoving a present in my very sleepy face. Once I sat up, they started opening everything while I just watched. Dave has been trying to give me my present since Sunday. (You all know he can't keep a secret!) He bought me a new camera. I've been wanting one that I can just keep in my bag. So many times I've wished I had one and it was either sitting at home or Dave had it. So now I get my own! Yippee! It's quite nice and less than 1/2 the size of his. I'm so excited! Anyway, the minute it was opened, Dave took it and took a picture. So much for my own camera. Then Seth announced, "Come see your balloons!" I think that burst Dave's bubble. He had wanted it to be a surprise - and it still was. I couldn't believe how many balloons there were. He said he's been planning this for 6 months! His friend, Mike, even offered to sneak in the house and help him blow them up. But Dave did it all himself and, yes, he's still alive! It's been a fun day and the kids are totally into it. I think we're going to dinner later tonight to celebrate. So I'll enjoy my day of mourning the loss of my 30's, and I'll look forward to my 40's. ARGGHH!

Easter pictures

I thought I'd post a few pictures of Easter today. Each year, we've done less and less, trying to move away from all the commercialism and more toward Christ. We still do the Easter bunny, but he hides a few eggs and leaves one small gift for each kid. It used to be almost another Christmas, but I think I've finally convinced Dave that it doesn't need to be that big. I want to teach our kids about the resurrection and why we celebrate Eater, but I still want them to enjoy some fun. I've heard of some families that do NOTHING and I don't think that's very fair to the kids. They are kids, after all. Hope you all had a nice Easter. With us having late church, we really didn't do much. But it was nice day to relax after our trip down south.

March Madness

For most of you March Madness is all about college basketball. It used to be that way for us. But this week March Madness has taken on a new meaning. That is the name of the baseball tournament held in Southern Utah this weekend. Dalin just made a Super League team last month, so we are new to this. There are about 300 teams from all over the western US down here. We had no idea where we would be playing, so we opted for a 3 bedroom condo in Mesquite, hoping that the games would be here. We have our 5 kids, plus Dalin and his friend Rhyse from the team. Rhyse's family wasn't able to make the trip, so we brought him with us. (It's not like one more kid would make a difference!!)But at it usually goes, no such luck. The games yesterday were in Hurricane and today's games are in Santa Clara. We all made the trek up to Hurricane yesterday only to find the worst fields EVER! There was no parking lot - just dirt, portapotties, no playground for the kids, no snack shack, and stickers everywhere. I think I picked out about 20+ stickers from each wheel of the stroller. That adds up to almost 200 stickers!! So this morning I sent Dave with the boys to the game and stayed here at the condo with the kids. It was nice to sleep in a little and give everyone a bath and relax. They are driving back to get us for this afternoon's game and after that we're going to drive to Vegas. We told the kids it was to see the strip at night, but it's really for some IN-N-OUT!!!

So far the games haven't gone so well. We lost the first game in extra innings, and got clobbered in the next two. Hopefully, we can pull out a win later today. It's been a fun trip, but the madness of driving all over with so many little kids I could do without.

Benjamin Ray Banner

Welcome to the family!! Benjamin Ray Banner was born last night weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz. He is so tiny and cute and looks a lot like Derek. Spencer and I were able to go up to the hospital and see him last night. Melanie looked great after a long day. Tyler, Brooklyn and Derek are so excited to have their own baby. They've had to "borrow" McCall for the past year, but I think she'll become old news really fast now. They were so antsy yesterday waiting for a call from the hospital. I don't think they really understood that a baby takes a long time to come. Tyler kept saying, "They told my mom 7:30, why isn't he here yet?" Wouldn't it be nice if you could just go in and immediately have the baby out?

We are all excited to have a new baby in the family. Congratulations, Melanie and Kevin!!!

Girly Girls

Yesterday, Melanie went in to have her cute little baby boy. So while she was there, her kids were here. During a quiet moment in the morning, I thought I could get on the treadmill for a bit. Most of the kids were downstairs playing, which made it easy to know what was going on. When I finished, I headed upstairs to check on the girls. As I start walking up the stairs, I here lots of giggling behind Tiara's closed door. I opened the door and this is what I found...

Brooklyn and Tiara had changed out of their clothes and back into pajamas and put EVERY clip and barrette that Tiara owns into their hair. They giggled and giggled and thought they were so cute...which, of course, they are. They were having their own girls pajama party!!!

Am I Inactive???

Here I sit, DURING CHURCH, typing on my computer. I can't remember the last time I made it through all 3 hours of church. We have late church this year (1-4 pm) which happens to coincide directly with naptime. McCall is still too young to go to nursery, but too old to sit quietly on my lap. So most Sundays, my goal is to make it through Sunday School before I give up and head home. But today she's sick, so I didn't even try. She's had a fever all weekend, which I'm attributing to an immunization reaction. No other symptoms, just a fever. She is normally such an angel, but when she doesn't feel well--WATCH OUT!!! She has been permanently attached to me since Thursday night when the whining started. I should have known then that something was brewing because she never whines. Anyway, here I sit, wondering if the rest of the people at church think I'm inactive. The past 4 years have been so hit and miss for me. I've either been pregnant and feeling yucky, had a newborn, or a sick kid. Not that I wouldn't like to be there, but even the days that I am there, I feel like I would be better off at home. Somewhere between crying kids during Sacrament meeting, dirty diapers, tired babies that only sleep in cribs, and pacing the halls, the Spirit leaves. Many times I feel like I would feel more peace and be happier if I was at home with a sleeping child. So why do I still attempt to go every Sunday? I guess because I know that I should and because I believe it's true. So I guess I'm not realy inactive. Hopefully, Heavenly Father understands. I hold on to the hope that someday I will be able to last through all the meetings without leaving part way through and that once again I will be able to feel the Spirit there. Maybe when the kids leave for college? *U*

My Love & Hate Relationship

Before you get the wrong idea, this has nothing to do with Dave. It's all about Daylight Savings. I love it when we "spring forward" and get to have daylight at night. It makes me happy to think that summer is really coming and I can finally be warm again. I freeze all winter and have no idea what I'm doing here in Utah. I would be better off in Florida. But it's here and we moved our clocks forward. Problem being I lost out on an hour of sleep, which is the last thing that I need! Now in the fall, we get to have an extra hour of sleep which I love, but then it is so dark so early and I just want to stay home until spring. Now what I really need is to "fall back" once a week or so that I can get everything done that I want to/need to do. While I'd like to think that I get an extra hour of sleep, what I really get is an extra hour to clean up after the kids go to bed. This would be great as long as it stays light (and warm) and summer still comes. When am I supposed to ever get anything done if we keep skipping forward an hour?

Spencer did so well at the recital on Thursday. It didn't go exactly as we had planned, but it was still a nice night. We had arranged for a babysitter to watch the other kids so that Dave and I could enjoy the recital and then we were going to take hime to dinner to celebrate. But when the babysitter bailed and I couldn't find another one at the last minute, Dave stayed home with the kids and I took Spencer. We enjoyed a night of amazing music. The older kids that played were so talented and I couldn't belive how well they played. Spencer listened intently to all of them play. When I told him that he could be that good if he kept practicing, he was so excited. I think he really likes music and playing, which makes it so easy for me. Not very often do I have to prod him to practice. After the recital, I took him to get some ice cream. It was nice to have some one on one time with him and just talk about things he likes.