A Spring re-cap

We have had some beautiful mornings.  Look at that lovely pinkish cast on the  hills of the canyon.

 I love how the sun is illuminating part of the distant hills, and the trees in our yard.

Trev received his Star Scout rank at the last Court of Honor.  I love the tradition of the  saluting the mom with a kiss.  You can tell Trev loves it as well!  ;)

John celebrated his birthday last week.  Here he blows out the candles on his Sour Cream Blueberry Pie.

I finally caught Amber and her partner, Garrett, before their match.  They won!!

Trev talks strategy with his buddy, Sam, before their soccer game.  Whatever they talked about worked.  Trev scored 3 goals and they won, 6 - 0.

Decorating Easter Eggs, big kid style.  Trev and Kristin both tried their hands at blowing  out their eggs.
A big kid note, Amber declined to participate.  :(

Here is one of a couple of penguin eggs Kristin decorated.  She had a theme going.

And now we see the demo of Trev's homemade slingshot in action.  That is an egg in the  launch area.  Not seen - the egg ending up on the deck, Humpty Dumpty style.  Sometimes, your experiments just don't pan out.

He is here!!!

Please join with me in welcoming the newest member of the family.

Benson Graham Peay made his way into the world, two weeks early, but weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs 15 oz.  This little cutie was 20 inches long and was born on March 26, 2013 at 11:11 pm, just 49 minutes shy of being his Grandpa Rietz's birthday buddy!

Benson seems quite satisfied to be here!

His big brothers, Talmage and Tanner, will take good care of him, for sure!   Soon enough,  Benson will be wrestling with his brothers and dad, but for now, he is content to just be held and adored.

This Grandma is headed south tomorrow to be one of the willing adorers, and hopefully give Brandon a little break and Ashley a chance to rest and recuperate.

FINALLY!!!

Homecoming 2012 - Princess Amber

Homecoming 2012 - Princess Amber and her escort, Trevor

Homecoming 2012 - Crowning Princess Amber with her escort, Trevor, looking on

These pictures are long in coming!  Decent pictures of Trevor escorting Amber during the LHS Homecoming Game halftime.  Pictures that I couldn't get myself, but in the effort of trying, missed seeing it happen!!  Lesson learned!  Ask someone else to take pictures of the big events.  Its more important to be in the moment!!  A thousand thanks to Jesse for getting these to me!!!

Tennis anyone???

 Another sure sign of Spring is the advent of Tennis season.

Amber and Kristin are both playing Varsity and this weekend was the Lewiston Invitational.  Many schools come from around the region to participate.  The weather for the most part was good, which isn't always the case with the Lewiston Invite.  The matches the girls were involved in were all able to be completed, with only one each having a slight rain delay.

Amber and her partner, Garrett, won one match and lost two on Friday.  That put them in the Consolation Bracket.  They fought hard, but couldn't get the match on Saturday.  Amber only hit Garrett in the head once during her serves.  (That's two for the season so far, and the first match was just Tuesday.  ;)  Garrett is keeping track!

Amber and Garrett working out a strategy for the game

Amber showing her hard work to rehab her shoulder is paying off.

Kristin and her partner, Kaitlyn, won two matches Friday, lost one and found themselves in the Championshop Bracket.  They fought hard in their match on Saturday.  They lost the first set, and took the second set 6-0, but lost in the tie breaker. Not bad for a Freshman and Sophomore.

Kristin serving on the Gold and Green courts at Sac Jr. High.  Not the greatest choice for a court color!!!

Kristin and Kaitlyn - I told Kaitlyn's dad one of them needs to dye their hair because with their hair pulled back, and their backs to me, I am sure to call one the wrong name.  (History has a good record of this!)


My score?   Love (it) all!!!

Is it Spring when???

Is it Spring when....

Trev is shooting hoops as much as he can?

the robins start showing up?

 

the trees start budding out?

the sky looks like this one day...

and this the next???

the daffodils start coming up?

These are all signs of Spring to be sure, but there's really only one sure way to know around this house...

Yep, when John pulls out the fertilizer spreader!  Then we know Spring is here!

Costco Conversation

Overheard at Costco the other day...

John - "Those are some nice dishes."
Me - "What do you have against our dishes?"
John - "They don't match.  We are at a point where we don't break as many."  Implied - We should get new dishes (stoneware-ish aka, breakable) since our children are getting older and less likely to break dishes.
Me - (pointing to myself) "Remember, I still live in our house?"

Moral of the story - As long as I am chief cook and bottle washer, or even just living in our house, there is no point in buying breakable dishes worth any money.  My reputation for accidents in the kitchen precedes me!   If you don't believe me, pull up a chair, and I will tell you all about them...

I got a good chuckle out of this conversation the rest of the day!!

Cuz when you're 15...

A bonus present!!  When Mimi found out Kristin loves Cool Whip, she happily donated this tub to brighten Kristin's night.

Yesterday, Kristin turned 15!  I tried singing the Taylor Swift song to her, but I either did a really bad job or she really, truly doesn't like that song, because she asked me to stop singing.  The celebration went on nonetheless.  

Aloha Grilled Chicken Quesedillas (thank you Ashley and Brandon), baked potatoes(??), and green pie (fresh lime pie, officially) was her dinner choice.  Trev and I grilled them on the new bbq and they worked up much faster and turned out pretty great.  YUM!!! Good choice!

Speaking with a well-wisher (Alli) while unrolling her present.

All Kristin wanted for her birthday, was money!  So that is exactly what she got.  She was thrilled and I can't remember when I've had an easier time shopping for an at-home birthday celebration!!  Win-win!!






I'm not sure why, but Kristin was very excited for this birthday!  For several days before, she made sure we knew how many days until the big day, maybe she was afraid we would forget!!  :)

Hopefully, it was a birthday SHE won't soon forget!!