Thursday, April 29, 2010

The 3 Graduates - 2010

Here they are!
We are so very proud.
I have about 61 more, if you care to look. Follow this link:

Once Just a Stick

This plant was once a bare root plant sitting at Home Depot.
It is a Raspberry plant! I bought it a couple of months ago. It really was just a tiny stick. I am shocked that it looks like a real plant already! We'll see if we get any raspberries this summer.

Now that I've got your attention. I have downloaded 125 pictures from and about our 3 new graduates! Hmm...it would take me 3 days just to get them up on this blog. I will try to put them up somewhere else. Sadly, I think Picasa is full; I would have to make another account. I will see what I can do. They are GREAT pictures!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

2 Things I've Learned TODAY & One Request




1. At Red Box, your time begins the MINUTE you reserve your DVD. It does not work to wait until after 9:00pm to pick up your reservation. Glad I can share this.







2. Whether the curb is painted RED or not, you CANNOT park within 15 feet of a fire hydrant! EVEN if the curb is painted red, then stops before the 15 feet are up; you can still get a ticket. NOW, before you jump to conclusions, I did NOT get a ticket; I just witnessed this tragedy happening to someone else. I quizzed the police officer relentlessly. He was gracious.







BIG REQUEST:

We are driving today with GREAT regret at missing the NFL draft which starts at 4:30pm CA time today. Zak would VERY much appreciate ANY updates ANY of you would/could provide. Please text me with any news. That will make for happy people in the car.

Thank you in advance!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Done!


Things crossed off my to do list:

run 3.4 miles (all running, no walking, NO knee pain!!)
take boys (Q & Z) to school
take Christopher's server to by recycled
(it served its purpose)
swim 1 mile in 40 minutes!
recycle $7.43 worth of cans and plastic
get a new Pasadena library card

I STILL MUST:
clean out car
figure out what's for dinner!







For your PICTURE delight:
here are my "swimming coins"






Now I'm off to do more stuff!

Monday, April 19, 2010

I'd Rather Exercise than Clean

But sometimes you have to clean.

So, before I began, I remembered we had received a coupon magazine in the mail and often there are some good deals. So, I looked through the book for some motivational coupons. I found some! Several were from frozen yogurt places. The one I picked was in Sierra Madre. It was for 3 oz FREE! Just my price.

I did some fantastic cleaning (hopefully someone will notice; I'll bet Griffin does, he always does, what a good boy!). I got my coupon and went.

(But first I drove over to our neighbor's house, Maxine Birch. We (us and other neighbors) haven't seen her for awhile. I saw her son's, Peter, truck there, so I knew he was home. I rang the doorbell. Waited for a very long time. No answer. I am guessing no good news for Maxine. But I can't make Peter talk. More investigation needed. Now, back to the real story:

I drive out to Sierra Madre and SHOCKING! I found that the yogurt place was the old Cold Stones!! hmm...interesting. I find a parking spot. Walk in, find out that they have been there for 2 months. I ask the (seemingly) nice Asian girl/woman for SOME taster cups so I would know what flavors I liked. She handed over ONE! (Points taken away!!) I don't let that stop me, I tried every single one of those flavors!! I ended up getting Vanilla and Strawberry. Both VERY delicious.

Yogurt: very good
Ambiance: ok
People skills of the server: very poor
Will I return: if I get another 3 oz free coupon

Sunday, April 18, 2010

10 Walks - 1 or 2 Strike Outs


On Saturday we went down to the Elementary school and had the Pitching Competition!
Zak WAS better than I thought he would be....just not as good as he thought he would be.

In the end he walked 10 and struck out 1 or 2...I think 2 Zak thinks only 1. Dad was the official umpire.
It turned out to be a very fun activity. We played baseball for about 1 1/2 hours. We were all sweaty and in need of a shower. The only camera I had was my cell phone and it has NO zoom!! So, sadly, these are the best pictures I could get. We all (except Dad) got a chance to bat the ball, we had fielders. Dad was a great pitcher. We played a drill where Dad pitched, Kylie batted, I was first and Zak was the fielder. It was the goal to get her out at first. Sometimes we did, sometimes she got herself a home run.
We should do it again. It was fun.
**Quinn opted out**

Saturday, April 17, 2010

I Just Need a Little Time to Practice

Zak feels that he can go out in our backyard and consistently throw strikes.

He just needs a little time to practice. At first he thought he needed 12 hours, but now, in his confidence, he feels that he only needs a little time. (What exactly is a "little time"...less than 12 hours I guess.)

We are going to measure off the exact distance between the major league pitcher and home plate. Measure out exactly how big home plate is. I will be the "batter".

Zak will have to strike me out 3 times without "walking" me for his hypothesis to be correct.

Do you think he can do it??

Friday, April 16, 2010

4 Pennies and a Nickle


That's how I counted my laps....
I brought 16 coins with me to the pool.
I put the pile at the end of the pool on a tile.
At the end of every lap, I just moved one coin over to another tile. I used a nickle for my 5th lap, a dime for my 10th lap.
I think I should patent my idea.
I really thought I would only be able to swim 6 laps. I was shocked when I felt just fine.
At the end of 16 laps I felt so good, I thought I would swim one more victory lap. Then I just swam another, then another. Then I thought I would just swim 24 laps - so I would just return 8 of my coins back to the original pile. After 8 more laps, I thought of the conversation with Christopher where he told me as a boy scout he did the mile swim in 40 minutes. If Christopher could swim a mile, I might as well! So, I just kept swimming. Shockingly, I did the whole mile.
Dad thinks I will be very sore tomorrow, and almost unable to walk by Sunday. I'll let you know. Currently, I feel it a little in my shoulders and my hip flexors.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

We All Scream For ICE CREAM!

Just so you all know how great CALIFORNIA IS:
I can buy this 5 quart container of ice cream for $5.99 normally, but today, it was on sale for $4.77. In UTAH, I saw a 4 quart container for sale for $7.?? SHOCKING! I saw that price in a couple of different grocery stores!! I guess I can't keep myself out of grocery stores no matter what state I'm in.

It's a good thing I can buy it cheap, because we go through it.....
braces and all....

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

SPORTS!

First we'll have pictures of Steven and Christopher's BYU soccer game:

Well...here's Kylie at the game






Kylie at her Softball game...
She is a GREAT catcher!
Whatever with the PICTURES!!
Out of order again....
Back to the BYU Soccer game!
Game over; C & S won; shaking hands

Who took this picture? It's the indoor field anyway.

Griffin running around Kylie
There you go!
Hope you enjoyed!

Monday, April 12, 2010

The Great Easter Egg Hunt 2010

Pictures from hunting Easter Eggs at Nana and Bumpa's! We also got to hunt with Christopher! First time in many years! It was all fun.




Look in the holder there...do you see a yellow egg; a purple egg....
The yellow one is the most coveted; it is the largest; most filled.




Everyone is looking at their "haul".



Oh, out of order...notice some eggs on the wall...aways so funny

Quinn got the largest egg!


It was a fun time. We are grateful for our tradition. We are also very grateful for the Atonement; the true meaning and joy of the holiday.