Brady Plays Coach Pitch Baseball

May-June--The whole season I kept forgetting to bring my camera to games. I don't know why but I did. Finally, I remembered the last game and was able to get some great pictures. Brady had a great baseball season. Nate volunteered to be coach again and prefers coaching baseball much more than coaching soccer. His assistant coach, Keith, was very helpful and so excited to work with the team. The first couple weeks of the season were met with really bad, cold weather so 2 games were cancelled and the season was extended a couple of weeks. I think it turned out to be a good thing because the kids got more practices. Brady seemed to improve throughout the season and usually hit the ball pitched to him. The kids would get a few pitches and if they weren't hitting them then the coach would put a tee next to them and let them hit the ball off it. Brady had to hit off the tee every once in a while. As usual, Brady was quite the little social bug and really enjoyed all the kids on his team. The team decided to call themselves the Raptors. I really liked visiting with many of the moms during practices and games, even getting to know moms in my neighborhood that I didn't know before.

Great job Brady! .........and great job coaching Nate!

Iowa City

Saturday (afternoon), June 26th--Our Stake youth are getting ready to go on Trek. Trek is basically a re-enactment of a small part of the Mormon Trail. The youth go with adults and spend a few days in the miserable heat, wearing pioneer outfits, pulling handcarts on a rough, rugged trail. Sounds pretty crazy, eh? And yet, I'm totally jealous! I would LOVE to be asked to help with Trek! Anyhoo, the Stake set-up this "training" day for the youth to come and learn some handy things that might be helpful for Trek--it was called "Iowa City". In the afternoon it was open for families to come. We had a great time going from station to station learning how to make arrow-heads, riding in a handcart and roping a calf. A few people brought their full-size teepee's. It was so incredible to walk in one and see kind of how they work. It was well done and I hope they will do it again!

Lehi Parade

Saturday (morning), June 26th--We've made a tradition of going to our local parade and the Lehi Parade. Both take place in June. We weren't able to attend our Eagle Mountain parade this year but we were able to go to the Lehi parade. We got there early enough to grab our regular spot next to the city building. Along with us, was my neighbor, Kathy, and her 3 girls. We brought our camping chairs, plenty of sunscreen and umbrellas galore--it was pretty hot! As part of our tradition, Nate walks across the street to the local bakery and grabbed us a dozen donuts to munch on while we waited for the parade to begin. YUM! This year Nate's parents, his brother and his family met up with us. His brothers two sons were in the parade walking along with a float their ward made. The float was a made to look like delicate arch (the actual one found down in southern Utah). The theme of this years parade was "What I Saw". We saw so many different interpretations in the various floats--it was pretty amazing and creative. The kids got TONS of candy, a few bottled waters, t-shirts and toy footballs thrown at them. As usual, a great parade and we enjoyed the company too!

A Fun Day at Boondocks

Monday, June 21st--About a month ago we attended a JDRF family night at Boondocks in Draper. The weather was pretty cold and rainy so we were given vouchers to come back another day. So on this day, Nate took the day off work and we headed over. We played miniature golf, went on bumper boats and played games to earn tickets for prizes. I was able to hit a "jackpot" on one of the games and earn over 800 tickets (how come I'm never so lucky in Vegas?!?!)! After a few hours we were done so we turned in our tickets and got a few cheap prizes and then headed home. Pretty awesome day to spend with my family and it was all free!

Elise's 1st Piano Recital

Saturday, June 12th--Elise has been taking piano lessons for a year now. Her teacher, Sister Mitchell, is constantly amazed at how well Elise is doing. For only a year of lessons she plays remarkably well. Music seems to be one of her many natural talents and so we want to encourage her. She really seems to enjoy it too. For Christmas, she got a Disney songbook for beginners. She's been bringing that to piano lessons since then and picked "Sleeping Beauty" as her recital piece. She practiced it over and over..............and OVER again till she had it memorized (yes, we're sick of that song!). It all payed off when the recital came and she played it perfectly. We are so proud of her hard work and for such an amazing, patient piano teacher that keeps Elise interested in piano playing. There are piano players on boths sides of our family ranging from not-so-great (me and Nate) to absolutely amazing. If Elise continues to be interested in piano I can see her being absolutely amazing as well.

Hopefully, in the near future, when the headache of orthodontic work is complete, she will start voice lessons as well.

Elise's New Room

Monday-Friday, June 7-11--We've lived in our house for over 5 years now. Throughout that time I've worked on decorating rooms little by little. I love, LOVE decorating. I'm totally amateur at it but still enjoy it very much. When I get an idea I'm really excited about, I want to do it NOW and can usually do so because it usually only requires a cheap coat of paint and moving furniture. Elise's room was a totally different story. Her room is one of the last I've tackled because of what was required to do it. As she's getting older, I also wanted to do a "style" that would last for a while, which meant no fairies or princesses. She and I talked for a while as to what she would like to have in her room--I threw out all sorts of ideas and she decided she liked the idea of doing a tea party-ish/Spring-ish "theme". All the designer shows say buy one focal point item and base your entire room around it. We were in Disney World last year and I saw an Alice in Wonderland tea pot, tea cup and saucer. For Disney price standards, they were cheap. I showed them to Elise and asked if she'd like them for her room and she got really excited and said "YES!" We based the room around these items and it worked great (they are on the center of the wall shelf with a picture of her in her baptism dress)! She and I went shopping throughout this last year for items that matched and got really lucky to come upon clearance and sales at many of the craft stores. (to those family members that think this room was all about me, not so, Elise helped pick almost everything out!)

We decided, after school was out, it was time to do her room. I thought beadboard and a wall shelf, all across one of the walls, would look so cute. It seemed an easy enough idea too----not even close! My neighbor, Justin, offered to put the beadboard and wall shelf up. First, I brought home a bunch of different shades of blue to paint the wall above the beadboard. Elise and I compared the colors to the tea pot and a few other blue things she has and decided on a color. I went and got the paint and painted the upper half of the wall. Justin came in the next day. What was suppose to be a 2 day project ended up being a 5 day project because of our evil home builder (don't EVER buy from Centex Homes!). Elise's walls were uneven---BIG TIME! It wouldn't have been such a big deal if we were just putting a coat of paint on the wall but the beadboard had to be cut and re-cut to fit the uneven walls. Justin also had to try and make the drywall even, which meant plenty of patch-up. He got it finished and then it was my turn to spackle, sand, caulk and then paint. It took a long time but the finished product is so beautiful! Elise absolutely loves her room! There are still some things that need to be finished--putting up pictures, curtains, painting the door/closet doors, and changing the light fixture but that'll happen soon.

I'm so glad it's finished! Now what project to do next? There's extra beadboard so we might do the kids bathroom one of these days. It seems that it'll be easy enough but I've learned that's usually not the case with this house!

Our Annual Palisades Camping Trip

May 27th-31st, Thursday-Monday--We just LOVE going to Palisades State Park, near Manti, every Memorial Day Weekend. It is such a fun place to camp! As soon as Elise was home from school we packed up and headed down. We rented a camper again (complete with bathroom!) and pulled it with the Trailblazer. This year, my friend Heather, and her two kids, came along with us. Besides us, there were the usuals, my sister and her family and mutual friends that come every year. The first two days were WINDY! It made for rough sleeping! Heather had just bought a fancy tent from Cabela's and the wind snapped two of the poles. Being "handy" women we duct taped the poles like crazy and secured them with twigs. They bent some but held up the rest of the time. Luckily the weather was pretty good the other 3 days.

For the most part, we hung around the campsite just being lazy and enjoying everyones company. A few times we went into town. Ephraim (next to Manti) does Scandinavian Days on Memorial Day Weekend. We took the kids to the parade and then to the festival. Sunday was the best day! We found ourselves down at the beach catching some sun (hard to believe it had snowed a week before!) and getting tans/sunburns. Nate and I got some very comfy Cabela's lounge chairs for Mothers/Fathers Day and they recline so we spent our time totally relaxing. We did get a little too much sun but had ointment for that.

Many of the meals we shared with others. Everyone brings a dish to share. I love it! It's nice to have variety. Friday we did soups and breads. Saturday we went to the local pasta joint and got a few varieties. Sunday we did a brunch and Sunday night we did Mexican. YUM! At night we'd usually gather around a fire pit and cook up S'mores. With all the good food and plenty of snacks we didn't go hungry and ended up packing on a few pounds. I tried to stay active but lounging in a comfy chair was so much more appealing!

Since Brady is headed to Kindergarten we won't have to pay for preschool anymore, which leaves us money to buy a camper. We're thinking seriously about it and I'm hopin' we'll get something for next year. WAHOO!

Elise's Last Day of School

Thursday, May 27th--Actually, the last day of school is tomorrow but we'll be camping. I sent Elise off to school with a gift for Mrs. Simpson. Just as with Brady's teacher, I got her a Willow Tree figurine. Elise picked it out and I think it was perfect for Mrs. Simpson. I forgot to bring my camera for the last day of school pic so the pic you see if of the first day of school. Mrs. Simpson has been an amazing teacher! She's patient, genuinely kind and just an all-around nice person. I volunteered quite a bit this year and found that every time I came in to the classroom she had the kids under control and listening attentively. I could tell the kids truly respected and loved her. Elise did so well this year. I am really proud of her! Every week there was a spelling test--there were 20 words in all, 5 of the words were difficult and counted as extra credit. She missed a total of 3 words the entire year! Needless to say, she's a great speller! She also did well in math (no surprise there since her dad is an accountant!) and just about every subject. Way to go, Elise! Next is 3rd grade!

Farewell Learning Dynamics Preschool

Monday, May 24th--Today was Brady's last day of preschool----ever! And it was snowing at the end of May! He just completed his 2nd year at Learning Dynamics Preschool. I absolutely love this preschool and it's program. It's been so wonderful and Brady has learned so much. His teachers (Mrs. Petersen, last year, and Mrs. Smart, this year) have been so amazing and learned about Type 1 Diabetes so they could be aware of any changes in him, if ever. Luckily, in these two years, we have never had any problems with his diabetes during his 2-hour classes, 3 times a week. We are blessed! When we first enrolled him we learned that the director and some of the teachers had taken some classes on Type 1 Diabetes and there is a manual on-hand at the front desk, issued by Primary Childrens Hospital. We have the same manual at home and consider it the "bible" for how to manage diabetes. We will miss Learning Dynamics very much!

Brady's first days of preschool: L-August, 2008 with Mrs. Petersen. R-August, 2009 with Mrs. Smart.

Next, Brady is enrolled and ready to go for Kindergarten. Another very nervous milestone for this always-overly-worried mom. However, there is validity to my emotions with Brady going to Kindergarten. For the first time ever, he'll be testing himself and managing his disease on his own--and he's only 5! Kindergarten is only a little over 3 hours long but it's too long to not test his glucose level. I've been assured there are plenty of staff that know how to help him, if necessary. I have some peace of mind in knowing the librarian is also Type 1 Diabetic and keeps an eye on the other 4 children enrolled at Pony Express with Type 1 Diabetes. This summer will be busy with getting Brady comfortable with testing himself and helping him to identify what his glucose numbers mean so he can act upon them. At this point, Brady can do everything to test himself but squeeze the blood out of his finger. After 3+ years of testing 4-6 (or more) times a day, the skin on his fingers is starting to get a little tough so getting the blood out isn't so easy for a little 5-year-old. I'm confident he'll get the hang of it by August. I'll still worry but that's just part of being a mom and dealing with a disease no young child should have to manage on their own.

Could It Be?

Tuesday, May 11th--We were at Brady's endocrinologist appointment today and one of the nurses made a comment about his new glasses. That got me thinking.......Could it really be?

Yes, it could really be. Brady use to look like Hermie the Elf, from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Now he looks like Ralphie. Guess what you're getting for Christmas, Brady?!? Anyone got some pink fleece I can sew?! he he he