Softball

Our baseball season has come to a close which means all the dollars won't be disappearing out of my wallet to buy snocones for the boys.  It also means that Kallie can go back to having nothing in her schedule just how she likes it! This girl is an interesting one that is for sure.  We haven't found her "love" yet.  She doesn't really like to be bothered with a schedule or places to be.  She enjoys just doing her own thing. 

This was Kallie's third year playing baseball but her first year playing kid pitch softball.  I have a rule in our home that the kids have to play a sport or dance or whatever it is for a few years until they are good enough to know whether they like it or not.  Kallie is not much of a sports girl (which maybe kills me a little) but she sure does have fun with her friends.  Every ball game came with tears on the way because she didn't want to go, the ride home was always full of excited chatter though.  She enjoyed softball once she got there, it was just getting there that she hated. 

Being one of the youngest on the team, Kallie struggled a bit.  That girl can hit every ball I pitch to her at home, but she continuously struck out during the games.  I was frustrated, she was frustrated, yet that girl continued to smile.  (Let me insert now that I had a competative edge that I don't see in Kallie at all.  I was a bat throwing, cry baby when I struck out as a kid) I am certainly glad Kallie is a good sport!

 

 

Kallie's team had a lot of fun and did pretty good considering that their team was really young.  During the last inning of the last game, Kallie finally got a hit! She was running as fast as her little legs could run to first base, unfortunately the shortstop could actually throw the ball and more unfortunate was that the first baseman actually caught the ball.  Both things that don't happen real often in this league.  Even though this isn't her love, Kallie had enough fun that she will be back next year.  She told me that she wants to be the pitcher and is going to practice in the basement all winter, I hope she does!

She is Usually a Good Babysitter??

Kallie is getting to where she is a great babysitter.  She takes such good care of Hagen while I exercise or mow the lawn.  She takes him outside to play and I don't worry a bit.  Leaving the kids with a sitter is easy these days because I know that Kallie can pretty much take care of Hagen herself.  She is great!

Well great except for this day... My sister Chelsey and I were excerising in the basement the other morning.  Kallie was supposed to be watching the babies.  When we got done we came upstairs to find the babies locked in the crib with Kallie in the other room watching T.V.  She said they were bugging her and she just wanted to watch her show.  Wow, Okay well at least they were happy in there!

 

Father's Day

I have been blessed with some truly great men in my life.  They are the best of the best when it comes to the "dad department". 

First of all is Weston, he is such a great dad to my kids.  They adore him, and have a level of respect for him that I only wish they had for me.  Weston can get them to do anything with the point of a finger or the twitch of an eye.  Okay maybe they are just a little scared of him, but I see nothing wrong with that.  They know he loves them, and they have great fun together but they also know what he expects of them and they know he has a deep testimony of Jesus Christ.  He does a great job with these kids.

 

 

See that eyebrow raise? That is my warning to get the camera out of his face! He doesn't even have to use words!

Next is my dad! This guy is the greatest! He is so easy to be around, the kids all love him and we never doubt that he loves us.  I love when he randomly calls for a 30 second hello, or when he tells me I am pretty out of the blue.  I have always been certain that I am his favorite, but I know my sisters think the same. A quality that I am envious of for sure! My dad always has the best advice and I can count on him to support me in anything. 
(Actually I just remembered some really bad advice he gave me and must insert it here for posterity sake.)
When I was in High School there was a girl on my basketball team that was beyond obnoxious.  She was younger than me but so dang mean! She found great pleasure in spitting on me while running down the court.  Yes you read that right, spitting!  The advice my dad gave me on how to deal with this problem was as follows: "Oh no big deal all you need to do is grab her by both ears and jam her nose into your knee as hard as you can, I really don't think she will spit on you again!"

If you know my dad, you really can't help but love him! All of my people skills come from him, good and bad!

Lastly but certainly not least is my father in law.  This is a great, wise man I tell you.  I have felt a special connection to him since Weston and I started dating.  I may be completely naive to how he really feels about me, but I feel that he has always been respectful of me and the decisions I have made in the past while everyone else was severly critical and judgemental. Even if I am fooled as to how he really feels about me, he has always made me feel loved and important.  I know he loves his kids and grandkids deeply and I know that he would go to then ends of the earth for each of them.  I am so grateful for the relationship that Weston has with him.  His advice is gold to Wes and there isn't a day go by that they don't converse with each other. 

Father's Day is one of my favorite days.  We bounced from one family to the next and enjoyed our day together.  I sure love these men and am grateful for the example that they are to me and my kids.

Baby Number 4 is a....

BOY!!! No mistaking this shot people! Wow! He wasn't shy at all and the second the ultrasound was on he was showing off his goods! I think Weston and I were both pretty shocked.  The first ultrasound we had was at 13 weeks and while that is still pretty early to tell, the tech said she thought it was a girl.  I think we both kind of figured we would get two of each.  We were surprised for sure.  As soon as the tech left the room we both looked at each other and said, "how are we going to soften the blow for Kallie?"

As soon as I told her she melted into a heap on the floor and cried.  She cried on and off the rest of the evening and honestly I had to cry a little bit with her.  Not that I am not thrilled to be getting another boy, boys are great! I was just so heartbroken to see the disappointment she was feeling.  I have to agree with her in the fact that it stings a little that we won't ever get to comb little girl hair, buy bows and accessories, and doll up a little girl again.  Not to mention no more baby dolls on Christmas morning! And someone is going to be hitting the jackpot with my baby girl bedding, it's adorable and in perfect condition! I better stop before I talk myself into trying one more time for a girl!

In between her tears, Kallie and I made some cookies frosted with blue icing to take to her grandmas to share the big news.  She had no desire to call any of her cousins or friends to tell them, and melted into another puddle of tears at my mom's house.  The kid was killing me I tell ya! Later we went to Grandma Crapo's and she took Kallie on a ride in Grandpa's newly restored '57 Chevy! She thought she was pretty hot stuff without the boys.  The next morning she insisted on choosing what was for breakfast, "cuz I am the only girl so I get to pick" is what she told the boys.  She is figuring out a coping mechanism for her disappointment quickly! I think she just may decide she likes being the only girl in the family. 

10 Year Anniversary

We just celebrated our ten year anniversary.  We are old! For years Weston has wanted to visit New York City where he served his mission speaking Cantonese.  We have always been way too practical, had too many babies, and lots of other obligations keeping us home.  We just aren't vacationers; plain and simple! A little trip to Utah or Jackson keeps us happy and truthfully we would rather spend a spare minute or day just around here. 

We finally just splurged, and bought the tickets.  I initially agreed to four days as that was already more than I wanted to leave the kids.  The way the tickets worked out we ended up being gone six.  That was plenty long for me and by the last day I was pretty anxious to get home. 

After a day and a half of delayed flights, and lost lugguge, we finally found our way to the city.  We spent a day and a half at Times Square.  We saw the Broadway show "Wicked" and loved it, ate at some great places, window shopped, visited a couple of hot spots such as Top of the Rock, and ate some more!  Let me insert now that this trip was NOT good for my pregnancy diet.  I have been working so hard not to overeat and gain too much weight, but that all went out the window for this trip!
The second day that we were there it poured rain, all day.  Literally! We would walk one block, with an umbrella mind you, and we were soaking wet. For lack of anything better to do we spent the entire day in a movie theatre and actually really enjoyed ourselves.  We aren't big movie goers and have probably seen less than five movies in a theatre in the last ten years.  We quite enjoyed the relaxing day.

 

In Times Square I made Weston go into the American Girl store so we could take a few pictures for Kallie.  We ended up spending a decent chunk of time in that place.  It was so cool! They have a hospital for damaged dolls, a hair salon that litterally restored "five year old beauticians messes" into brand new looking dolls.  We watched in awe as those girls would smooth a mangled mess of hair into a sleek braid giving the doll a fresh from the box look!

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday was my favorite day; we rented bikes and Weston's friend that lives in the city gave us a great tour.  We pedaled all day long! We were beat! We rode over a couple of bridges, through Central Park which I could've spent a whole day in, ate at some great hole in the wall places, and enjoyed the city the way locals do. (I was happy to get some exercise in and burn off some of the food I had been inhaling!) Brent made us wear helmets, we looked ridiculous and it really did a number to my hair, but after riding down 6th avenue during rush hour I realized it was probably a good idea.  That was literally a rush I tell ya! I was scared out of my mind weaving through traffic, going fast with horns blaring everywhere!

 

 

 

 

Sunday we visited the Chinese ward.  Weston was in heaven and thrilled to see a couple of familiar faces.  They didn't recognize him at first and laughed at him being old and bald.  It was fun to hear him speak the language, he rarely gets an opportunity to use it here.  He has a real talent though.  These ladies told me that he had the best Chinese of all the missionaries when he was there and even though he is a bit rusty they could still communicate really well with him.  It was very rewarding for him to get to see how the work has progressed in that area.  When he left 11 years ago, they were just making it a branch, now it is a ward that is thriving!

After church we went to the Museum of Natural History where the movie "Night at the Museum" was filmed.  Our kids love that show and loved seeing the pictures of all their favorite characters.  It was pretty interesting to walk through and we later found out that we missed the best floor, bypassing the whales and dinosaurs.  Whoops!

The rest of the day Sunday we spent doing some "people watching" in Central Park.  That place is gorgeous and sarene.  There were calories being burned all over the place.  The people were hilarious to watch and like I said before, I could've spent a whole day there. 

 

Our trip came to an end and we were pretty anxious to get home to our little rugrats who really didn't miss us too much.  They were thrilled with their gummy kabobs and cheap souveniours!

Happy ten years to us, hopefully the next ten will bring as much joy as the first.  With three healthy kids growing like weeds and a new one on the way, I suspect it will be full of adventure and craziness but I can't wait!

Baseball

 

This was Cole's fist year playing baseball.  He did great and had a lot of fun with his buddies on the team! After the first couple of games, Cole started to figure out just how the game worked.  He was able to get a couple of outs and hit the ball at every at bat!  I was pretty proud of him and thrilled that he enjoyed the experience!

 

 

Favorite Toys

As I'm sure everyone does, our family has a favorite toy.  I can always hear the kids giggling while they bounce around the house on these balls.  It really is quite hilarious and it never gets old to see one of the kids turf it on these things.  They have been down the stairs, on the trampoline and used as boxing gloves.  Thank you Grammy for the great Christmas gift! It was definately a winner!