Bethany's 10!

Bethany celebrated her birthday by playing in her first softball game.  Is she cute or what?  We were a little worried when she first started practicing that she would never be able to catch a ball or make a throw from one base to the next, but she gets better all the time.  She didn't get any hits this time around, but she sure did swing!  I hope she will eventually score a run so she can do the coming home chant.  It goes like this.  "Bethany, how do you feel?"  "I feel special.  I feel great.  I just stepped on home plate."  "And you let her have it, and that's a bad habit.  Neener, neener, neener.  Oscar Meyer Weiner."  I asked Chad & Connor if they would sing that song at their big La Cueva/Eldorado game today but they both declined. :)

And later that day, it was time for the Ramona and Beezus birthday party which of course had to start with trampoline jumping.

 Here is the official birthday table just before the girls came in.

I don't know how I got these two pictures so blurry.  I think it might be time for a photography class.  Call me Amber.  Anyhoo, here are the guests making their pre-movie suncatcher craft.  What a bunch of darling girls.

And here is the grand finale.  The movie was a tad longer than I remembered (not to mention that there were technical difficulties getting it started in the first place) so we ran about a half an hour over and a lot of parents got to see candle blowing ceremony.  Sorry parents!  Bethany got a great haul and I think a good time was had by all.  One decade down.  Several more to go, hopefully!

Spring Break!

This week was the time for our semi-traditional road trip to southeastern Utah with my sister Emily and the two most obnoxious boys this side of the Rio Grande.  Last year we were dying to try out this roadside diner between Farmington and Ship Rock.  We thought it looked very "divey".  It turns out it was actually all that "divey" at all.  The hostess was nice enough to take our picture in front of the marquis.

 We decorated Poppy's grave on the third anniversary of his death :(.  The boys were being somewhat irreverent with their poses, but seeing that Poppy was fairly irreverent himself, we think he would approve.

After we took pictures, we headed up to Monticello, where Aunt Elizaboo spoiled us with her hospitality as always.  It's always fun to see Uncle Dan, Aunt Sheila, Brandi and the kids too.  Journey kicked our trash at Gin Rummy, but what else is new?

Here are the boys on our way out of town.  This bell stands in front of the first church built in Blanding.  It was actually the tabernacle for the whole southeast corner of Utah for a long time.  It is where both my dad and I were baptized.

 And here we are at Bluff Fort.  We were there a couple of years ago but they have been working hard on the site since then.  They now have a visitor's center, several replicated cabins, tee-pees, hogans, etc.  Our tour guide (and my dad's best friend growing up) said they had gotten over a thousand visitors this last year.  Apparently people from Europe are all into touring the old west.

The inside of a hogan. It is actually quite awesome.

 Steve Bronson (aforemetioned friend and tour guide extraordinaire) and Emily posing in the "Butt" cabin.  The Butt family recently changed their name to "Blake" but we had to keep the original name on the cabin for historical purposes. Apparently when the cabin was finished, the family all took a picture with their rear ends pointed at the camera.  That picture does not appear in the cabin, however. :)

 Emily teaching the boys a lesson at the old Relief Society Building.

The Goosenecks, where my dad used to take his old girlfriends to "talk" - yeah, right!

Aw Spring!

Well, it's almost spring in New Mexico and the joys of the season have definitely begun.  Above is a picture to document our post baseball game trip to Walgreens.  Our main purpose for this shopping expedition was, of course, to stock up on icy hot cream and heat wraps for Chad's pitching shoulder which has never completely recovered from the injury he got two years ago.  We're hoping this current shoulder pain is just a temporary, getting back into the swing of things kind of pain, but who knows?  Chad threw some pretty nasty pitches Thursday, but you have to wonder if it's all worth it. 

Another way you know it's spring is the condition of the person behind the camera.  If you could see me, you would know that my hair looked like Medusa's after ten miles of bad road because I forgot to tie it back and the wind was whipping it around somethin' fierce, my mascara was running because allergy season has officially arrived and I had grit and dirt stuck to my teeth,  face and scalp.  Delightful.  Incidentally, since I'm feeling so positive right now ( :) ),  I'd like to call your attention to Amber picking out a drink in the background of the picture.  I'm sorry to report that she puked up that very drink less than six hours from the time this picture was taken.  Bummer!

On a less negative note, look at these awesome outfits I got for the girls at the WalMart spring sales.  $7 apiece, Baby!  Score!