Rockies vs. Cubs

We took the greatest road trip over the weekend. We went to Denver to see the Rockies play the Cubs. We especially wanted to take Porter to a real major-league game. He loves the Rockies and there is nothing like a night at the ball park. We were lucky enough to get tickets to the game against the Cubs. Allen just happens to be a huge Cubs fan, but he was kind enough to root for the Rockies that night.
Coors Field is beautiful! We had great seats pretty close to left field, and what a night it was!

We went in early to the game to watch batting practice. The kids got to go down close to the field and wait for foul balls. We never caught any though.

The game was amazing. It was tied at 5-5 in the bottom of the 9th when Carlos Gonzalez hit a homerun to the upper deck to win the game. The stadium went nuts and it was such a great moment.

Pioneer Day Fun!

I really, really love living in Kaysville! There are lots of great things that happen in Kaysville. I also really, really, love our ward. With an activity rate at church hovering somewhere around 99.99%, I guess it isn't such a rare sight to see a primary handcart company marching itself down the road. This was the sight of our primary activity celebrating the 24th of July. Porter was chosen to pull the handcart and is kind of hidden behind our bishop. Tate was lucky enough to be able to ride in the handcart and Hannah had to walk behind. The handcart company walked a few blocks to the park for some good old pioneer fun.

I don't own much in the line of pioneer clothing, and we all know that I don't even know how to sew a button on, let alone whip up a pioneer dress for Hannah. We did the best we could with what we had, and I think the kids ended up looking okay. Definitely not authentic pioneers, but close enough.

Tate is best buddies with our next door neighbor, Josh. They rode in the handcart for awhile and then I pulled them in the wagon. I feel sorry for all of those pioneer women who had to coax their three-year olds to walk on the plains. It may have been cheating, but I called Allen and had him pick us up at the park so we wouldn't have to walk home. I guess there's a reason I wasn't born a pioneer.

Ragnar 2010

I did it! I can now say that I ran Ragnar! It was questionable at times, but I actually did it. That had to have been the craziest weekend of my life. It was wonderful and hellish, all at the same time, and I can't wait to do it again. For those of you that don't know what Ragnar is, it is a relay from Logan to Park City through the back country. 188 miles! I ran with a team of 12 incredible women and we did awesome! We finished in 31 hours and came in 32nd out of 127 all women's teams.Here I am finishing my 1st leg. It was a 4-miler through Eden and Huntsville. It was also my easiest leg. The grueling runs were saved for later when you're utterly exhausted and feel like you can't move another muscle. Here is our team at the finish line. I was so inspired by these women. They are all incredible runners, but also incredible women! I'm so happy I could meet all of them.

My cousin Amy was the most incredible of them all. She did all of her runs, which were not easy, and also did an extra run for one of our teammates that had to go home because of the stomach flu. She ran a total of about 24 miles throughout the 31 hours. And her last run was titled "You Gotta be Kidding Me", and it was named that for a reason. It was straight uphill for 4 miles. It was insane and I still don't know how she managed to finish it. Amy, you're an inspiration to me! Maybe someday I can run like you!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

As most of you know, we are huge baseball fans in this household. Between all of us, we now have baseball/softball games or practices, four nights of the week. It may be busy, but there's no other way I'd rather spend my time. Tate doesn't fully understand our deep love of baseball yet though. He just knows he gets hauled off to the ballpark every night of the week to watch somebody play. Anyways, Allen thought it would be fun to teach him "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Well Allen was right, it was fun teaching it to him, and now he sings it all the time. And of course, the song just isn't right without saying you'll "root, root, root for the Cubbies." They may never make it to the postseason again, but we will forever be fans!

March Fun

Someday I will stay current on my blog, but for now, this will have to do. We've had an eventful first few months of the year so far. For those of you that didn't know, Allen tore his ACL early in January and just had knee reconstruction surgery in February. March was spent nursing him back to health, but all is well now, and we're trying to move on with normal life. Below are a few photos of the few things we've actually been able to do.

Tate playing at the Treehouse Museum.

Hannah played Concerto in A Minor at her piano recital and it was amazing! I'm amazed at how good she is and how beautiful she looked!


Porter played a very intense version of The Imperial March and the Star Wars Theme. He practiced for this recital probably 5000 times. Every time he'd walk by the piano, he'd stop and play his pieces. Sometimes he would stand, and sometimes he would play them with his eyes closed. All his practice paid off and he played his songs perfectly.

I love these three angels!

Allen managed to hobble around the ESA on his crutches in order to attend the Jazz game. It was a little scary going up and down the steep stairs, but he made it without any further injury, and they even won!

Porter had to make a diorama (spelling?) of an animal habitat. He chose the anaconda as his animal and the rain forest as the habitat. His diorama was voted as the best by his fellow classmates. I may have helped him just a little bit on this project.

Hannah just finished up her first season of girls basketball and it was so much fun to watch her. She scored consistently in every game and her team finished the season as the undefeated champions. With her height, she may have a real future in basketball.

I'M the next American Idol!

I'll be the first to admit that we are HUGE American Idol fans, so what better way to celebrate the new season than with our own family tryouts. Each person would pick their own song and tryout for the other three judges. After long and careful deliberation, we picked our songs and began our tryouts. Allen rapped "Pants on the Ground" (an original composition from this season). I sang the smash hit from a few years ago called "I am Your Brother". Hannah was going to sing a Taylor Swift song but cracked under the pressure and couldn't finish (we still put her through to Hollywood though). But, the surprise audition of the evening came from Porter who blew us away with his version of "Pump up the Jam" complete with dancing. He took the audition very seriously and was well prepared. He, of course, got his golden ticket, along with three others from the Kaysville, UT auditions.

Dancing the night away...

Our friends Rich and Lara really know how to throw a New Year's Eve party. I thought we were having a lot of fun, but I didn't know what fun was until we started playing "Just Dance" on the Wii. It is by far the funnest game I have ever played. You have to do the dance moves along with the dancer on the screen. I was a little nervous at first, considering how terrible a dancer I am, but it was so much fun! Before we even knew it, it was almost midnight. I can't believe we made it until then. Thanks to the Nye's for a fabulous night!

The men danced to "I Like to Move It", from Madagascar. They were so hilarious to watch!



The great thing about this game is that kids and grown-ups can play. It is easy enough for the kids, but still a ton of fun! Hannah was so dang good at this game. She won every round she played. I'm glad she didn't end up with my dancing genes.

Tate didn't do much dancing, but he sure had a good time!