Vacation!! Day 1

I think I can count on 1 hand the number of times we have gone on a family vacation, so we were pretty freaking excited to go to California this summer! The Raptor's decided back in the early Spring that rather than play in steamy AZ after Memorial Day that we would take a trip to Huntington Beach and play in a Southern California tournament. 

The tournament was on Saturday & Sunday and we decided to drive over on Wednesday (June 5th) and use this as a family vacation.  We had two families from the Raptor's that we went in together on a beach house with. (it wasn't really ON the beach, it was 1.5 miles away...but still awesome!!)

Welcome to California!!

 Thankfully our kids are like PRO's at travelling. We left Wednesday morning at about 9:00 (after stopping for Gas & at Target!)  and drove into Huntington at around 2:30! Yes, that's right. We made amazing time because we didn't stop once! Our kids were so chill! They played magnetic checkers & tic-tac-toe (thank you dollar spot at Target!), played their iPods, watched a couple movies, snacked & slept.

Road music, our kids, & Huntington!!!

 When we got into town we were all pretty hungry since we didn't stop for lunch so we went downtown and ate at this super cute little beach side cafe called The Sugar Shack. It was oh so yum! They serve mostly breakfast but they did have a few lunch items. I would totally recommend stopping by if your ever in town.

Then we headed over to our house and met up with our other families, the Granillo's & the Pugh's. The house was tiny but it had plenty of space for us for a little vacation. Way more room than a hotel! Plus it had a kitchen which was awesome! Between our 3 families we had that fridge more stocked than my fridge at home!

I did a little panorama shot here of our house with my phone so we could get a feel of the living areas, behind me we had 2 bathrooms & 3 bedrooms off of a hallway. The little patio off the kitchen was the best part! The weather was awesome so we would just open it up everyday and live inside and outside! For some reason there were no bugs or flying things either! It was perfect! 

That night we had a little BBQ with all the families. The kids all had so much fun being together and I am so thankful we had this opportunity! 

Top left: Ryleigh & Arianna : Top Right: Robert & Mike
Bottom: Spencer, Ethan (black shirt), Zac (with hat) & Lil' Rob playing XBOX

May Catch Up

May didn't seem to be as eventful as April (at least not according to my Photo Stream on my iPhone!) We were busy, of course, with Little League and Raptor's and the end of the school year stuff but I just didn't document it very well. 

Here is what I did get (in Chronological Order!) 

The Raptor's played their last Arizona tournament as a 12U team (before it got to be fatally hot outside!) and they won! It's always fun to compete when you are the winners! It took some effort but it was a great tournament, and a well fought win! 

Olivia came to the tournament! She has so much fun, and this was taken before she got FILTHY!

WINNERS!! Back row: Coaches Robert, Dan, Dirk, Ken
Middle Row: Clay, Spencer, Conner, Jackson, Ryan, Nate
Bottom Row: RH, Robert, Parker, Zac, Cam, Ashton

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We learned that while the jalapeno sunflower seeds are delicious they also act just like a real jalapeno when you rub your eye! ouch!!

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Spencer got "hit by pitch" at a game and it was probably one of the hardest sounding hits I have ever heard! I thought it broke some bones! Thankfully it was just a really big bruise!! We still owe him a slurpee. 

Can you see the seams of the baseball?

That's a pretty serious bruise, and this was immediately! I should have gotten a "next day" picture!

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Olivia is still on her being creative in the kitchen kick. On this particular day she opted for a Peanut Butter, Jelly & Miracle Whip Sandwhich......

.......and she liked it! 

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My Mom, Kristi & I hosted a baby shower for Nicole (Devin's fiance)! It was so fun. Since it was going to be a small group we decided to do a sit down brunch! It was so fun. I think Nicole got a bunch of good stuff for the baby and hopefully she had fun! 

Nicole

April Catch-up

I know my blog has been suffering seriously bad lately! I apologize! Life has certainly got in the way. If I thought I was busy with 4 kids when they were little I was a FOOL! I can not even believe the time consumption that these kids take! We are moving at a high rate of speed constantly!! 

So here is April in chronological order:

Ethan is playing Little League this year for the Red Sox. He has 3 other kids from his club team on this team which is awesome, plus he has the same coaches too. Their team is not bad! They ended up being the #3 seed of 8 teams. 

Ethan Pitching

 Ethan had a pretty outstanding little league season. He played Catcher, Pitcher & Shortstop and he batted cleanup! Not too shabby.

Ethan Catching

Here is a video of Ethan's triple!

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My dear friend Arianna, from the Raptor's,  became a grandma in April. Since her son and his girlfriend are pretty young, and still reliant on their parents, all the Raptor moms got together and purchased diapers and wipes for the baby. We ended up with a HUGE box for them! It was a feeling that I could never describe when the whole team came together to support one of our own. I am so grateful for the families that have become family through club baseball.

Our diaper/wipes for the new baby!! 

 Then... on April 5th she was born! Her name is Isabella and she is precious. Arianna called me and asked me to come see her at the hospital and so of course I came down! She was beautiful and snugly and pink! What is not to love about a newborn baby???

Arianna & Bella 

Isabelle

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Olivia has been creative with her food choices! She is stating to ask to make her own food and requests combinations that I would not normally make. As long as it isn't toxic I allow it. She has loved it every time! This particular day she requested "beans on toast" for dinner! I think she got this idea from Peppa Pig.

Olivia & her Beans on Toast!

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Spencer is in his last season of Little League and is playing for the A's. His coaches are wonderful and I really like all the boys on the team. They are a good team too! They finished #4 of 13 teams. Unfortunately for Spencer he has had a rough season. He is an amazingly talented athlete and right now he has no drive. He just wants to sit and blob out on the couch all day. I am hoping and praying that it is just his stage in life (pre-teen problems!) and not a new Spencer coming through. It kills me to watch this happening and feel to helpless in helping him. I am hoping that the summer break from baseball will be everything he needs to get excited for the sport to start up again. PLEASE! Even though he struggled with his drive his coach still saw the amazing athlete within and had him play shortstop nearly the entire season. He pitched at the beginning of the season but he developed a pretty gnarly and painful knot in his throwing elbow and so it just became too painful for him for a while, and by the time it was feeling better the team was in a good flow for pitchers.

Spencer pitching. 

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Grandma Suey is always such a wonderful gramma! Every time she comes over she brings a little something special for Olivia. It's not anything major, just something from the dollar section of Target. But it means the world to Olivia and the best part is: she takes the time to play with her! I love that about her. What is more important than loving your grand kids??

Gramma Suey blowing bubbles with Olivia

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My grandpa got honored in April for being the Mesa Public Schools Teacher of the Year through the Chamber of Commerce. I was so excited for him that I invited myself along to the ceremony! I had no idea that it would be such a fantastic evening. I am so proud of him!

I think what made this award extra special was that it was based on a student nomination. Students could write in and explain what makes their teacher the best! Then the teacher of the year was selected from the essays. When I was a student the last thing I ever wanted to do was write an essay about any of my teachers!

The caption about him from the program

Gramma Suey & Grandpa Ken

Bridgette (the Student that wrote in), My mom & Me

Our food! The salad was by far my favorite part of the meal!

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We had our monthly girls lunch at Amalie's house in April and I got to meet my newest cousin! Nikaela had her fourth baby, a boy! His name is Hyrum. He was absolutely adorable.

Me & Hyrum

 My mommy was sick at this girls lunch but it was my Aunt Cori's FIRST girls lunch as an official girls lunch participant since she moved back to Arizona! We, of course, needed a picture of all of us to celebrate!

Nikaela, Me, Amalie, Cori, Suey

Cory's in town

Dan's brother Cory moved up to Oregon last fall so it has been a few months since we have seen him. Well this week he has been in town and apparently we all feel the need to make up for lost time. (we were up until 2:00 am on Wednesday night!) It has been so much fun to have him around and see the boys again. The boys live here in the valley with their mom so Cory asked me to take some pictures of them together for him to have. Of course I told him I would, but I had a disclaimer. I know not of what I am doing. My mom just happens to have a nice camera and it takes great pictures.

For the  most part I thought they turned out great. I think Cory wanted a little more direction from me because he kept asking me what I wanted him to do... but I didn't know! Just be yourself! I think themselves turned out pretty cute! 

Easter Hunt

The hunters

Dan's older sister Nicole is always so good about coordinating family activities. This year she tried her hardest to get the family together for a little Easter BBQ and egg hunt. We were all able to get together but unfortunately it was quick. Garrett had a game that he had to get too and we were late because we had to drop Spencer off at practice and in the middle of it I took Cory and the boys down to take some pictures of them. The kids had so much fun though and I am always appreciative to Nicole for trying so hard to keep us all connected. 

Addy was being hysterical. She was giving me the funnies face, until she licked that chocolate... then she was all smiles... until the chocolate wore off - then she was CRAZY!!!

Most pictures were a blur of kids running! Thankfully this one seemed to capture the ginger pretty well! She was having a blast this year!

Kingsley 

 Kings was hilarious because some of the eggs had $1 bills in them, ya he thought those eggs were crap! He kept throwing the money and was all annoyed! haha!

Garrett

Jayda 

 The bigger kids (Jayda, Ryleigh & Ammon) played a little badminton

Garrett & Daniella

Ethan & Joel

 Next year Liam will get to hunt!! 

Ammon's Game

Today I was fortunate enough to not have a single little league game or practice so we packed it up and went to Ammon's game! Apparently we don't know how to handle a day without baseball, so we just add it in. 

Ammon is playing for Highland High School now, and he is on the JV team. He plays 2nd base and bats lead off. He is a really good player and we always enjoy watching him. It is amazing to see how big he has gotten. 

Ammon, up to bat

Is it over yet!?

Can Spring Break please be over??? I just want my house to stay clean for longer than 20 minutes and I really really (More than anything) would like to go more than 15 minutes without hearing tattling....

...24 more hours....

enjoy these days.................