Memorial Weekend

May, Oh May...Wherefore Art Thou O Month of May?

The beginning of baseball

Story time with Daddy

Soccer.

Soccer.

And still more soccer.

Greg and another officer did a police presentation in Cannon's class.

Enjoying the fresh air while waiting for Brynnley to get off the bus.
(So glad to finally open the windows.)

First round of mulch for the yard. Not sure if round two will happen or not.

Finally -- a much needed haircut!

Short-lived blossoms -- but oh, so beautiful in the front yard.

Not pictured:
*Choir concerts
*Presidency meetings
*Activity Days
*Cub Scouts
*Ward Talent Show (pictures and video to come later)
*Scout Spaghetti Dinner
*42,000 field trips
*Field Day(s)
*8 Birthday parties
*PTA Volunteer Luncheon
*Rental property showings
*G's golf outings

So busy. And so grateful for a very full life.

Gotta document a birthday -- even if it was a month ago.

Vanity (and sanity) blown away...quite literally.

I'm no fashionista.

It's no secret that I will never be a J. Crew model.

I'm fine with that.

I do, however, sometimes like to pretend that my clothes match. Sometimes. (And no, for you friends who see me at the gum, I never match my workout attire either...)

I've even been known to be embarrassed once or twice by my kids outfits (that was about 3 kids ago.) On occasion, I even insist on color or pattern coordination with their attire.

Today, however, all hopes of matching...matching of any kind mind you....blew out the window.

(Well, at least that is what would have happened if the windows had been open.)

I would have had one of the kids take a picture of my lovely looking outfit if my camera was in town -- but it is in Chicago with Greg.

So -- you'll just have to use your imagination as I describe the lovely get-up I wore while parading back and forth at the soccer fields in rain and 50 degrees. Oh...and did I mention we are under a severe wind advisory? Something to do with the 50-60 mile per hour gales we've got going on outside.

While two of my children played their games in shorts, I sat on the sidelines in navy sweats, brown knee-high snow boots, red winter coat, brown and white gloves, black hoodie -- pulled over my head -- and black sunglasses.

Yes, it was raining in spurts. And dark. And gray. But the sunglasses kept the wind from making my eyes water.

I had enough of that from my nasal passages.

The only thing better was Cambrie -- in her winter coat and hat, wrapped in a blanket, strapped in her stroller with the wind guard on top...She had an additional blanket over the top of the stroller -- and a lawn chair on top of that.

Hey -- I had to do something to keep the blanket from blowing off.

I just dare one of my kids to call me unsupportive.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
As a sidenote:
Someone asked why I only blog about the weather at my kids sporting events - -and not the actual sporting events. Let me just say that I experience the weather a lot more than the actual games. Rarely, do circumstances permit me to simply watch the game.

Today, for example, Addysen and Cannon played on opposite fields at the same time....8:15. So, I parked our 'outfit' in the middle of both fields and alternately watched both games. (Unfortunately, the were both in at the same times -- I should have asked their coaches beforehand if they could coordinate playing times so that I could watch both kids at my leisure.)

Keep in mind that while Addysen was scoring (5 goals today) and Cannon was defending (he's getting to be a pretty good goalie), I was also rocking Cambrie in her stroller and continually securing the blanket and lawn chair back on top. Additionally, my head repetitively swiveled to the right as I made sure that Kenzie and Brynnley were still on "THE HILL," or at the concession stand buying hot chocolate, or on their way back from the car after running for the umbrellas.

Is it any wonder we forgot to turn in our money from the candy fundraiser? Despite the fact that I had it in the back of the stroller.

And people wonder why I don't bother to bring the camera to the games.

A fishing trip to remember

Kenzie's morbid fascination watching Captain Tucker clean the fish.

Holding the Bonita.

Kenzie and the King Fish -- about 35" long.

Greg thinking, "that is the most expensive fish I have ever eaten."

It's hard to believe that we left for our trip to Florida one month ago today. I guess it's good that I am finally getting the rest of the pictures posted.

Greg fantasized about a fishing trip for months prior to leaving. He scoured Craig's List and made contacts with several people who were willing to rent us their boats while down there. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, all of those contacts fell through once we arrived.

Now, although I don't fancy myself a "fisherman," I've always thought it would be fun to "catch the big one." Somehow, however, my dreams of a charter fishing trip didn't include 5 kids and vomiting. I only envisioned the big fish.

I got a little more than I bargained for.

The day dawned beautiful -- and early. We were scheduled to depart the marina at 7am. Although I didn't express it to the kids, I knew I must have been really nervous as I had to go to the bathroom about 10 times prior to leaving.

Things started out ok...except for the fact that the boat was late and then, in our rush, we left our bag with some snacks , Greg's sunglasses, and more importantly, our sunscreen in the car.

Can you say tourists?

Long story short...the experience was not what we anticipated. Bottom line: it was an expensive way to throw up -- and yet, that is exactly what three out of the seven of us did. Setting an example for my kids (so they would know it was ok), I went first. Enough said about that.

It took about an hour to get to where the big fish were supposed to be. It was an hour of me thinking, "Can we just turn around, please?" "Should I strap a life-jacket to Cambrie's carseat?" "Wow, those waves seem really big," and, "When will this be over?" If I had felt better, I would have taken more pictures...and asked more questions. (For example, how do those "huge" waves compare to "real" waves on a day when the weather isn't perfect and the ocean isn't relatively calm.")

They say that when you are nervous you should sing a church hymn. I'm still not sure if the constant "I Am A Child of God," "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," and so many more was to calm the kids...or to try and calm myself. At one point, Greg the kids were in various stages of sleep and misery and Greg looked at me with an, "I'm sorry, this isn't what I expected either," look. I weakly smiled and said, "The good news is that I am trying to distract myself by blogging about this in my head."

I'll stop there. Suffice it to say that we caught a couple of big fish (notice the picture of Kenzie...the tail of the King Fish comes to her shoulders - -or about 35"), and once we found some calmer waters -- we had fun. We took our catch to a local restaurant called Crabby Bill's and they cooked it up for lunch.

Thankfully, by that time, we had our appetites back.

Would I do it again? Not without taking something for nausea first.
But hey, all's well that ends well, right?

Disney

Our Disney "give a day, get a day" redemption process was amazingly smooth. Our only regret is that we couldn't have stayed longer. We didn't even begin to touch all there was to do. Overall though, the whole day was tons of fun and some great memories were made.