The Long Awaited Day; the Obtaining of the Church Key

I've always wanted easy access to the church to play basketball. When I was 14 I started up JPI, my basketball league, and spend too much time every week getting that darn key. The Clarks always had it, but they wouldn't lend it to me until I first got an adult to supervise and second, formally schedule the church. It was a pain.

Over the years, I've had to make friends to whomever holds those keys in order to play basketball. There has been many day in which I'd go to the church early in the morning, only to find out that the key guy didn't show up and everyone mournfully had to go home.

Happy day, that pain should not happen again, at least for awhile. Jen just got keys somehow, so I intend to use them (responsibly of course). But she did say, that I would need her permission first, which could be an obstacle.

Church Dodgeball 2008 2nd Place

For the first time in my life, my stake organized church dodgeball. It was very organized with ward against ward, with some wards having two teams, 14 all together. It only lasted three Thursdays with a preseason, season, and post season all lasting one day each. Well, for the tournament we had the sixth seed to start and somehow made it to the championship game. Since the games are so quick, we could play a best of seven series. In the championship we lost the first three games, won the next three to cause a seventh sudden death game and then lost. Thanks to the Bauer brother, Jason and Jared to lead us that far.

It was super fun and it was really exciting going to the championship. Also, I was suprised how much excercise dodgeball made me do.

-It was super fun and easy. It was nice to see other people that don't come to basketball came out for dodgeball.
-Last week, we left early because Rachel threw up, and I'm not talking about the dodgeball.
-It was nice too because the bishop watched us in the semifinal and final game, as one of our two fans. Jen and the girls were there for the first series, but since we kept winning, it was time to put the girls to bed.
-During the second week, all the wards were there at the same time, so there were probably 200 people in the building for dodgeball. I hope this continues into next year.


This video was one of our losses during the season.

Family Home Evening Fun

I love family home evening. It is such a nice thing to be able to know that every Monday night we plan on spending time with our family. Last week we were outside in the back. For some reason Jared got on the roof and then thought it would be fun if each girl got on too. We missed a picture of Aliza, but she was up there too. The girls loved it.
Last night we went on a family walk. The girls were all kind of sick... hence me REALLY needing to get out of the house :) The walk was the perfect thing! I love going on walks with Jared and just being able to talk and not worry about a messy house or the newest blog update :) I love my family and I love spending time with them!!
On a side note, Matlock is such a funny cat. No matter how much water we put in his dish he always goes to the toilet to drink from there. The other day I walked into the bathroom to find this:










He was waiting for us to flush the toilet so he could drink. Gross I know. We still love him.

Canning Applesauce

Last week- a full week ago! My friend Emily called and asked if I wanted to go to the church orchard to pick apples and then can them. What a fun idea! I've never canned applesauce before so I thought it would be a great experience.

It was really fun spending all that time with Emily. Our kids are pretty much the same age, so my kids had a great 2 full days playing at Daisy and Grace's house. It was nice to spend two full days with an adult :)

Actually canning was also fun. It was both of our first times canning applesauce, but I think after we figured out how to do it it went great. I think by the end of both days we were super tired- I know I was- but it felt great to bring home 23 quarts of applesauce. Jared was doing the math and lets just say it was a little disappointing how little we saved by canning our own apples. Even though I had fun, I think I'll just stick to buying applesauce in the grocery store. :)

Prego + Nancy =

Pregnancy!!!

That's right. I'm giving away the answer to the fun game from last post and I'm pregnant! (Maybe you have all already figured it out :)) We are all very excited to have a new little baby in our home. The due date is March 20th. Hallelujah for not being pregnant during the hot summer months! I've felt pretty good and I'm now past the 12 week mark so I don't feel so much morning sickness.

I was looking for a funny pregnancy commercial from when I was little, but I couldn't find it on you tube, but I did find this funny one of Bill Cosby. Enjoy!

Happy Grandparent's Day!!!

Taken after Rachel's baby blessing, Sept. 07

The other day I was looking at the calendar and realized that today, my mom's birthday, is also grandparents day! Double celebration for my mom! :)

My mom is such a great woman, mother, and grandmother and I love her so much. She is a great example to me of kindness, love and sacrifice. I have a special bond with my mom that I am so thankful for. Thanks for all you have done for me (and my family) mom! We love you!

Happy Grandparent day to all the Grandparents and Great Grandparents in our lives. We are so thankful for each and every one of you and for each of your influences on us. Thank you for being involved in our life and for caring about us. It is so wonderful to have a strong and supportive family unit. We love all of you!

And now, for a fun puzzle:

+
.......a brand of the sauce + Her first name.........

Labor Day Berry Pickin'

Yesterday we wanted to do something fun- and definitely not house cleaning- so I knew I'd better get out of the house or I'd feel compelled to clean :) (even though we cleaned the whole house on Saturday). So I went to aerobics in the morning and when I came home we decided to go pick blackberries at The Berry Ranch
I've tasted blackberries before and I'm didn't really love them, but I really wanted to go pick some fruit so we decided to go. You have to spend at least $5.oo per person that picks (ages 3+). Well we picked way more than that, but it was still alot of fun, and now we are going to have blackberry smoothies for a LONG time!! These were the biggest, juciest, sweetest, and yummiest blackberries I've ever tasted. They told us we could eat the berries as we went along... and to get a better deal on the final cost of the berries I stuffed myself full :) I didn't eat another berry yesterday, but I think after this post I'll go and eat some more :) Don't they look yummy!
As a side note, Madeline actually didn't pick any blackberries... she was afraid of the wind, and actually was throwing such a big fit that Jared took her and the other girls to see the animals (pigs, sheep, etc) while I picked. Rachel loved the blackberries and ate at least 10. I had a great time, and hopefully next time Madeline will enjoy herself more too.

Fun at the Fair

Every year Jared gets to work at the fair for a day. It's been a fun tradition we've started to go meet up with him at the end of his shift. He gets in for free and the girls are still free so I'm the only one who has to pay:) Our first stop is the Ag center, (Jared's area) where we let the girls play in the swimming pool full of wheat, corn, and other grains. The girls love it. Rachel had a lot of fun, we just had to keep her from throwing the seeds... :)
Another favorite for the kids is the petting zoo. Rachel and Aliza pretty much just looked at the animals, but Madeline had fun petting and feeding the animals.
When we were walking around a lady came up to us and handed us 6 tickets because they couldn't use them since they were leaving. Cool! The girls were all too small to ride on anything by themselves, so I was lucky enough to go on an elephant ride with Madeline. Aliza was SO sad and was crying during the entire ride. I felt bad, but secretly I did want to go on a ride too :) Overall we had a great time!