Conference, Birthdays, and more....

A Photo Essay from the last couple of weeks:

No More Tee-Ball:

Brent's birthday was on a Thursday this year.  And it was going into the Conference weekend.  Which meant many in the family were not available to celebrate on Thursday so we postponed the family celebration until Monday, which meant we were able to have a dinner together in SLC (with Heather) followed by a visit to Jack's baseball opener.

This year he's graduated up to real ball.  No more tee for these guys.  They did get a pitching machine the first half, but the next half was live pitch - not coach pitch even - live pitch as in watch out!  That pitch is wild! pitch from co-players.  They are also playing late games - as in under the lights games.  Which I'm not sure I like because it is definitely harder to get decent photos - especially when the baseball diamond is encased in thick mesh fencing.   But, even with my cheap point-and-shoot, fit-in-my-purse camera, I was able to get a few photos of him on the field.  Is he cute or what in his Cubs jacket and hat, shown here playing first?:

I got sidetracked with the cheering section on the sidelines, however.  

Big sister Lexi making sure Lilly has plenty of chocolate to keep her happy.

 

Lilly:  "Seriously, it was yummy.  I like Jack's game - I get CANDY!!!!!"

Maddy's at the age that when I say "Smile" this is what I get.  Love your blue eyes cutie!

  Sealing and Old Friends

 

Jordan River Temple

 Friday, April 5, a high school friend of mine was sealed to her husband in the Jordan River Temple.  I was excited to see her again.  Though she moved to Salt Lake City a couple of years ago to marry this wonderful man, we haven't got together other than on Facebook.  So I was very happy and honored to be invited to the sealing.  It turned out to be a picture perfect spring day, kind of a rarity around here, especially around Conference time.  

Connie and her family moved to Lewiston while we lived there and though I didn't know her younger sister very well, I did remember other family members including her parents and it was fun to see them again.  Connie's nephew Casey married my niece Sylvia, too.  So we're more than old friends now, we share great nieces.  I can't think of anyone I'd rather share that honor with.

Connie (Marlatt) and Guy Bacon, April 5, 2013

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Important but didn't make it into the photo pile:

Leo's sister Lorna passed away and her funeral was Saturday, April 6th.  We drove Leo and Edna up to Brigham City for the funeral and enjoyed some time with them on our way there and back.  This was Leo's last living sibling and she was exactly three years younger than him (born on his third birthday), and there is something rather lonely when I think of life without brothers or sisters around.  She had a stroke that put her in a rest home, and then another stroke about a week before she died that left her in kind of a coma.   So we know she's happier now, but it is always sad to lose a family member.

 

Farm Country During Priesthood:

Saturday night I got to play with Stephanie and the girls during the Priesthood Session.  We tried to get others to join us, but it just ended up being us and we went to Farm Country and we got to do all the things we always get to do, but really, with animals and baby animals and ducks and peacocks and other animals ... it is never the same twice.  And the weather was wonderful!  Making it a fun evening for our "Girl's Night Out."

Chicks are soft.  So tiny.

Ashlyn didn't last long on the pony ride this day.  Stephanie said the day before she stayed on the entire time.  But on this day, it was a no go.

The rides are never long enough for this rodeo queen, however.  She always picks the tallest ones to ride.

Silly.

And Karsyn loved the ride as well.

You may think this is a lousy photo of horses' backs as they eat at the trough.  But in reality it is a photo of some fun signs.

Kamryn's ready as can be for the wagon ride.

Smiling for Grandma's camera!

Hand sanitizer and mud.  Great combo!

Yep, Grandma has her camera pointed my direction again.  Seriously?

Something about this old ram reminds me of a cartoon.  I expected it to start speaking in an old crackly voice any minute.

 After Farm Country, we returned to meet up with the guys and have ice cream with Hard Shell fudge topping (per Kamryn's request).  We had a great time.  Next time we've got to plan ahead and get all of us together, though.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Celebration for Brent's Big One:

 Family gathered Sunday night (April 7)  to celebrate Brent's birthday.  I didn't get many pictures, but I did catch these little rug rats waiting for flame  (watch Karsyn - lower right in front):

(What do YOU think she was thinking about in all the previous photos????)

One candle for every 6.5 years.  You can do the math.   Brent has now reached the official Senior
Citizen age - still not quite old enough to retire yet, and a lot of places have been offering senior discounts since we were as young as 55, but he's at that official magical age where he had to at least register with Medicare and sign up for the hospital part of the plan - that's the free part.  We've been doing a whole lot of learning the past little while.

With 65 years you just gotta have help, right?  Well, not really, but the grandkids loved helping blow them out.

Cousins.  Ashlyn's scurrying to her Mom.  Why?  Well, see the horse hind legs on the left side of the photo?  A few seconds before that horse was right by the girls.  It walks.  All by itself.  And Ashlyn is scared to death of it.  Lilly was a little concerned, too.  For the rest of us, it was just plain funny to watch them.

Ashlyn is pulling herself into a standing position from the floor and starting to take a few steps - well, probably more than a few by now.  This was over a week ago.

And Lilly, who's a few months older than Ashlyn, is now tottering around on her own.  Love the glasses!

It was so fun to get with the crew for Brent's birthday.  Thanks everyone!

Stone Soup:

Then on Thursday, Maddy's Second Grade class put on a very short musical play called "Stone Soup."  If you missed it this year, you can try for next year when Jack will be in it.  It is "the" play for Second Grader's apparently.

At the start of the play, all the towns people were supposed to be grumpy and hungry and sad.  (Maddy is center in the colorful vest with the white headscarf)

Then at the end of the play they were all happy because someone figured out how to feed them.

Lilly was busy reporting her take on the play to someone... not sure who.

Our little starlet after the show.

 Initially there was no way I was going to be able to make it up to this early afternoon production, but I ended up putting in a lot of extra hours Mon - Wed, and my boss took pity on me and let me have Thursday afternoon off.  It was fun to get a chance to be there.   Maddy did a great job with her parts and made a darling towns person!

Addendum:

I'm taking piano lessons, now, from Tonya.  Learning skills is not easy at my age, but it is not impossible.  How fun to finally be able to make my fingers hit the notes (though not always the right ones) in time with a metronome.

Also, my favorite color of spring is GREEN which has been showing up lately.

Not white, like we woke up to this morning.

Also, wish I had a photo of Linzy to share with you.  Regardless, she had her birthday on Friday last week and I just want the world to know she is a really special daughter-in-law.  Wish we could have been there to celebrate in person.  I'd like to think if we lived closer, we would have been, but knowing how our life has been lately, that probably is not a guarantee, either.  Happy Birthday, though, Linzy.  We hope it was wonderful!