Coach Pitch

Kyle finished his first season of coach-pitch baseball. He did a great job this year and had a lot of fun. His favorite position to play was pitcher, which means he stood next to the coach who was pitching and caught the ball if it came their way.

Mommy Makeover

Our school has a tradition of inviting the kindergartener's moms to school around Mother's Day to give them some pampering, a makeover, and some entertainment. It was so much fun getting to spend time with Hayden at school. He was so excited to be able to put makeup on me. His teacher had gone over some "techniques" with the class before we got there to make sure we were all very pretty in the end. First he gave me a hand massage with scented lotion. Then he got some foundation to even out my complexion. It was a lovely shade of light orange. Then he applied some blush to my cheeks. I wasn't lucky like the lady next to me who got it applied all over her face. Then we got eyeshadow - two shades, blue and dark gray. After that, the best part...lipstick. Pink for the bottom lip and red for the top. Then a beautiful ribbon for my hair and voila...I'm a brand new woman! Then came the entertainment. This first song was so sweet. It made me tear up a bit. It's hard to understand the words, so I'm going to include them.

Fingerprints

When you find my little fingerprints
All over your bedroom walls
And when you want to yell a bit
Cause they’re even in the halls

(Chorus)
Well I know it’s hard to believe
But once you were a kid like me
And one day I’m gonna grow up
So remember me while I am small

I get in the way a lot of the time
Though I’m only three feet tall
I make you forget what’s on your mind
And you trip over my toys and fall

(Chorus)

I heard that where your treasure is
That’s where your heart will be
I don’t know much about hearts and things
But I’m glad you treasure me

I’m gonna make great fingerprints
But I promise not on your wall
I’m gonna touch those around me
Even though I’m only three feet tall

(Chorus)

And some day I’m gonna grow up
So remember me while I am small.

In this next video, you can see Hayden unfortunately inherited my finger snapping inability and my performing skills.

Since we were having such a good time together, I decided to take Hayden to the park so that he could go on the train ride I promised him last summer for finally being able to do his seatbelt all by himself.

Trying out the Flinstone car while we wait for the train.

He really wanted the front seat, but a little girl beat us to it, so we decided the caboose was better anyway.

Thanks for a great day Hayden!

Zion's National Park

We took a trip up to Utah in April for my Aunt Ilona's funeral. She deserves a whole post of her own that I'll hopefully get to later. Miss you Ilona! After the funeral we decided to drive over to Zion's National Park, since we were so close and it was free admission week. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the afternoon.

The Making of a Back Yard

These first pictures were taken when we bought the house. I don't know what this structure was supposed to be: planter box? fancy sandbox? homemade hot tub? It had water pipes running to it for whatever reason. It wasn't anything we would ever use, so we had it removed along with the horrible mosiac block patio and had a new concrete patio poured. That's Kyle digging in the dirt, in case you were wondering.
The fence was in pretty bad shape. It fell a few times when it got windy and was being held together by rope in a couple of spots. We removed the dead grape vine and the clothes line pole that was cemented into the ground. If I remember right, we found a few more cinder blocks buried in the backyard (there were at least 15 buried in the front yard).And as beautiful as that brick pillar was, it also got ripped out.These next pictures were taken a few years later. That big pile of trash is from the re-building of our patio, which partially collapsed in a big rain storm and then we discovered wasn't build correctly in the first place. The tree was mostly dead (and ugly), so we had it cut down. This is the same photo, just a few years later. We put in a block wall and new gates (no we aren't building a separatist compound - that's they way they build fences that last here in AZ), we extended the brick patio to the back of the house and around to the cement patio, and we built a couple of garden boxes.Here are some close ups of the garden taken today. We've planted tomatoes, corn, broccoli, yellow onions, jalepenos, carrots, green onions, and watermelon. We tried lettuce and peas, but the lettuce never came up at all, and they peas did great for a couple of weeks and then died. I guess it's the wrong season for those. And thanks for a wonderful family in our ward whose kids have grown up, we got this awesome swing set for free. And we scored the table and chairs at a yard sale for $25.The next step was installing the sprinkler system which Clint did with the help of his dad and brother. Once that was complete, it was time for the sod to be delivered. Horray! While Clint and his helpers laid the sod, I finished painting the back of the house.And then it was all finished! I love my backyard!But not as much as the kids do!Okay, little side note here. That area that's still dirt will eventually be more cement patio. We decided it made more sense to connect the patio with the RV parking area, than to put grass there. And we're planning on planting a tree or two sometime in the future as well. So I guess technically the backyard isn't finished, but it's good enough for me.

One backyard...Five years in the making.