For the LOVE of baseball

We spent more hours then I can count over the last few months watching Simeon's baseball team playing, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Honestly! I'm pretty laid back about the kids getting dirty at games, and they came home covered in head to toe dirt and smiling. The kids made great friends they played with for hours each week at the games. This year I was able to watch Simeon play alittle more since Rebecca was older and played in the dirt with Corrine & Ammon.
After this weekend at the State tournament we get a week off before we start practicing for another tournament we are traveling too. I'm sure we'll all go through baseball withdraws this week.
Nothing says summer more to our family, then being at the ballpark watching baseball.

Girls Camp 2011

This year I was able to go to Girls Camp with the young women from our ward. We had 6 girls going. 2 were YCL's so they went up a day earlier with our camp leader Merry. Back in April we drove over to the camp (Beer Creek) after family camp to check it out. It was nice to know what the camp looked like before showing up.

Back row standing- Jessica Brown, Merry Powell, myself & Haley.
Middle row leaning over-Sister Gelder, Bishop Gelder, Mandy Brown & Kathleen Cannon
Front row sitting- Hanid Valdez, Lucy Goodman, Emma Elzinga & Kara Hartley

The theme of camp was B.O.O.T camp. Building Our Own Testimonies. Everyday they talked about a different branch of the military and how their motto or theme was relevant to us and how er could apply it to our lives.
Our wards name was the "Bling Warrior", taken from the stripling warriors. We were glittery and sparkly and very blingy.



There were the typical Girls Camp activities: making dinner at the campfire, swimming, hikes, certification, skits, testimony meeting, faith walk, Bishop's night and plenty of time to just hang out.
I started to not feel good within a few hours of getting there, and by bedtime the first night my throat was on fire and I knew I had a cold. It really knocked me down. I tried so hard to not let it effect what I could do. Friday morning I woke up and went to the leader meeting, where I was told to go back to bed. So back to bed I went. I rested then showered and then had to rest again.

On Saturday morning I left camp to go pick up Simeon. His camp was about 25 minutes north of the girls Camp. It worked out perfectly that I could go get him and bring him home with the girls. To get to camp you drive past this barn, that I just love. So today I stopped and took some pictures of it.

A day out with Ammon & Rebecca

Today I just had Ammon & Rebecca. Simeon is at camp and Corrine is spending the day with Grandma Smith. So the 3 of us headed to the Quad Cities to play at some of our favorite spots there-the Family Museum and The John Deere Pavilion.
The outdoor area of the museum was the hit of the day, besides the goop Rebecca played in for 20 minutes before we convinced her to go somewhere else.
During the summer they have different activities throughout the museum. Today they had bubbles outside. Both the kids were having a great time playing with them. Ammon somehow lost his footing and ended up sitting in the container of bubbles. We laughed about it saying that I wouldn't need to put any laundry detergent in the wash today!! He thought that was funny.



Then we went over to the water area. This is by far the funnest thing for the kids to do. Endless water for them to fill, pour, dump, and splash in. Rebecca got her pants soaked, so off they went to dry while she played some more.



We then headed over the bridge to Illinois to play on the tractors. Theses tractors hold the kids attention for a long time. They are HUGE and full of gadgets to touch, steering wheels to drive, seat belts to buckle, tires to climb in, and tractors to walk under. If Ammon loves playing here, then Rebecca is in heaven!! It was hard getting her to leave.
When we left I went in to ask for directions to another ramp, since ours was closed due to construction. Then Ammon asked the man how they got all the tractors into the building. He showed us the massive doors they open to bring them through, and how they do it.



I loved this old tractor. It was super rusted and really showed it age, but that also helped show the hard work it had done. If had run into this out at a farm, I'd had taken dozens of pictures of it!





When we left we went to the entrance ramp the guy told us about. He said it was taking him 45 minutes to get home instead of 20 at 5pm, so I thought no big deal it's 3pm we'll get on quickly. Boy was I wrong. I saw a long line of cars and thought that's the wrong lane, so I got over and ended up missing the ramp. So I decided to just make a u-turn and get on from the other directions. Miles later the line ended and I knew we had to find another route home. I knew the 80 was north of where we were and figured I could find it. My GPS kept trying to send me back where we had come from. I started going north and had a feeling that I could find my way to the 80. We ended up on a beautiful road right next to the river. There were the most beautiful parks and walking paths along the river. It made me want to stop and get out, but I was also not totally sure where we were and how long it would take to get home, so we kept going.
After driving for some time I started to recognize the area and then I saw the name of the town we were about to go through. I knew that town. I knew it because it was the town we went to for lunch after Becky's funeral. We drove right past the church where we had lunch.
Another 10 minutes and I saw what I was going towards. A ramp onto interstate 80. I knew we could find it and we did. It made me feel good knowing that my instincts were correct. It took us 40 minutes longer to get home then normal, which I'm sure was shorter then the wait at the ramp to get onto the 74.
Now I can't wait to go back on that road again to explore some of the fun things we saw, like the over look hike, the parks and the John Deere plant with a visitors center. I wonder what they have there. I'm excited to find out!

Our newest bike rider

A few weeks back we sat down for FHE and set goals for the summer. One of Ammon's personal goals was to learn to ride his 2 wheel bike, and HE DID IT!!!




1 week into summer and he has accomplished his goal!! Way to go Ammon!!



I love the look of concentration in this picture.

My Photography Class

Last Mothers Day Johann got me a Nikon DSL camera. I love it! I've wanted to take a photography class to learn how to do use it in manual mode and learn how to take better pictures. That time finally arrived. I started a class a few weeks back and I am really enjoying everything that I am learning. It's going a little slow for me, but that means I get alot of refreshers about what we have learned.
The first week she wanted us to take pictures of anything bigger then a bread box and smaller then the Old Capital. We needed to get different angles. She wanted to see what we could do. It was the 1st time on manual focus, but auto functions otherwise.
I choose to take them of a rock sculpture at Court Hill Park. I had the 3 younger kids with me, so there weren't any pulled out pictures of the sculpture because they were eating lunch on top of it.






I love to take pictures and am so excited for the techniques and knowledge I'm getting through this class. I can't wait to see what I'll be able to do with my camera now that I am learning how to use it better.

Ammon's Pirate Party

This year for Ammon's birthday party he really wanted a pirate party complete with pirate ship cake. Since Simeon and Corrine have outgrown the fun decorated cakes, and Ammon is still into them, I was excited to make a 3D pirate ship cake. We made the cake the night before and stuck it in the fridge. This morning when we woke up I was sad to find out the it had split in half. Some extra frosting glued everything back together, but I made the mistake of NOT putting it back in the fridge while I went to the dentist and came home to a split in half cake again. Some more frosting glue and a trip in the fridge was my last hope. (It had straws inside of it to keep the pieces together already.) Time for the party and the cake wasn't going to stay together anymore no matter how much frosting "glue" I used, so we did the next best thing. We pulled out the big squid from the Pirate of the Carribean movie and put it on the cake like it had split it in half! The kids loved it and thought that was my intention!!






We started the party by getting the boys dressed in pirate gear-bandannas and eye patches. Then the boys made their own telescopes with pirate stickers and markers.


When they were done they helped make cannons by crumpling up paper. Then we had the cannon ball battle. The original plan was to get refrigerator boxes, make masts and windows and use those for the cannon ball battle. Our friend who was getting them for us, never came through, so we improvised and used couches, laundry baskets and giant lego bricks. In the end I was so glad we didn't have the boxes because then I'd have to find a way to get rid of them, and they'd still be in my house weeks later.
Think 6 year old boys throwing paper cannons at eachother and think FUN!! The boys were laughing, smiling, yelling, throwing and having a great time. We changed the team multiple times so that each boy partnered with all the boys.



Next was the treasure hunt. We started at the table where a treasure chest had the 1st clue. They went to Ammon's Hammock to find their own treasure chest to collect treasures along the way. After that they went to look out the front window at the advancing pirate ship with their new telescopes. Then they went downstairs in search of things to decorate their pirate ships (stickers), and to dig up the buried treasure (gold coins) on the island they sailed to. Then they came up stairs to find the hidden treasure chest with candy and pirate silly bands in it.


One of Ammon's friend Will is very into pirates. His mom told me that he was so excited to come to a pirate party because his life long goal is to be a pirate when he grows up!! I love this age. Thier imaginations run wild and it doesn't take much for them to go play for hours.
This was such a fun party for a very fun kiddo!

Excitement in the Neighborhood

When I got back from the dentist the 3 older kids were across the street playing. We were trying to figure out a quick lunch and trying to get last minute things ready for Ammon's birthday party when we heard a LOUD bang outside. We ran out front to find out what it was. Right then we saw the neighbors run to the kids in the neighbors garage to check on them. The kids were walking out with scared looks on their faces. They were asked what experiment they were working on that made the boom sound. They said it wasn't them. What it was was the power transformer in the backyard of the house they were playing at.
A few minutes later I look out and see everyone looking in the backyard at the power pole, then I see a orange flicker from the pole. The power transformer was now on fire. It wasn't big, but it was burning and it stunk BAD. Like something was burning with it-we thought squirrel.
The neighbors called the fire department and then all the neighbors were out talking and waiting. It took almost 15 minutes for the fire trucks to arrive and by then it was out.


The firefighters and the police officers that came got some good PR. The fire fighters asked the kids who they call for a fire, what their address was and their phone numbers. Then all the kids got stickers, pencils and magnets.
The electric company came to repair the damage. Power was back on by then and we all decided that we should have brought out the grills and had a block party!!


Update: A week later a transformer blew on our side of the street just a house or so away. This time the kids were at our house in the basement and went into total darkness.

Last Day of School

Well today was THE DAY. Today was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.

Corrine had a field trip planned to Kent Park for today, but it rained, ALL DAY. So no field trip for her. I was up at the school getting some final meetings for Simeon's IEP done and I heard "I feel bad for those 1st and 2nd graders today" numerous times. What do you do when you have everything cleaned and packed in 5 classrooms and your field trip gets cancelled for the last day of school. And to top it off, Corrine's teacher got sick this morning and wasn't at school and the sub wasn't able to get there for an hour. Thankfully the other 2nd grade class has team teachers and one of them popped over to help out.
Despite the cancelled field trip, the rain outside, her teacher getting sick and not having a teacher for an hour, Corrine had a fun last day of school. They got to have a movie party and eat a picnic lunch in their classroom. Since Corrine's teacher wasn't there today I didn't get a picture of her with Corrine.

Ammon's teacher has been gone all week. We knew at the beginning of the year this would happen. She's at her son's wedding. So they did lots of packing and finishing up of things last week. This week they got to watch a movie during quiet time in the afternoons. This was our 3rd time having Mrs. Christanson and all the kids have just loved her. She's been a part of our family for almost 5 years now and were so grateful for all the love she's given our kids. She's seen us at our lowest and most stressed times and has celebrated with us during the good times.


I've kicked myself more then once that I don't have a picture with Simeon and his teacher Mrs. Johnsen. (I will be taking one during the ice cream social in August with her-NO MATTER WHAT!) He's had her for the last 2 years and she is AWESOME, AMAZING, SO HELPFUL!! We are hoping Corrine gets her. The last 6 months we have known that Simeon needed some serious catch up with reading and writing. She has implemented new things time and time again to help him. She knows Simeon and what he is comfortable doing. One thing he was doing was bringing him almost to tears, and she told him to finish it this one time and he was done. She knew it was doing more harm then good, so she found something else for him to do to help him. She got him into a reading program that after just a few months he has shown so much improvement in reading. She has been the biggest advocate for Simeon, and has gone to so many meetings with me this year.

Ammon's 6th birthday

Today has been a great day to celebrate our sweet, full of life Ammon's 6th birthday!! Last night the 3 big kids had a sleepover in the basement. This morning when he woke up he stayed downstairs to watch Simeon play the Wii. When we asked him if he wanted to see his presents, he came running up stairs, looked at them and then something more interesting caught his eye.


The electricians working in the kids bathroom. He stood in the hallway watching them for 10 minutes before he even came back to the table to look at his presents. He saw his new bike helmet that he had needed and wanted for months. He also got a Zhu Zhu pet DS game and a 1,000+ piece army lego set.
For breakfast he wanted very berry muffins. I had to get up and get them going quickly because the electricians were also going to be working in the kitchen and turning off the electricity for a while.


We played at home in the morning, then for lunch we headed to Hu Hot. After lunch we went to the Coralville Aquatic center to swim. Today was hot and sunny, so it was the perfect day to swim. He had such a great time swimming under the water with his goggles and playing with dad who took the day off to spend it celebrating with us.
After we dropped Simeon & dad off at their game and went to Wendy's for a frosty and dinner. While Ammon was eating his hamburger with pickles, he noticed that he had a gap on the bottom row of teeth.


His loose tooth had fallen out while he was eating. He was so super excited that he ran to dad in the dugout to show the gap to dad. What a neat thing to have happen on your birthday!! Since he was eating when it fell out, he probably swallowed the tooth because we never did find it.

It was such a fun day celebrating this special day with Ammon. He puts so much of himself into everything he does. He has such a strong spirit within him. He is wildness and sweetness wrapped up with love. He loves to be going, but then will sit for hours playing with legos or action figures. He has an amazing imagination and loves to play knights, dragons, army or house. He strongly states he doesn't like girly things, but will sit next to Corrine and watch a princess movie with her, or play Littlest Petshop with the girls. He has an amazing memory and loves to learn about new things. He is such a wonderful full of life kiddo that I am so excited to have the privilege of being the mother to. I love you Ammon Eli. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Simeon the Baseball Player

This year Simeon is playing for The Little Hawks 9U baseball team through City high school. It costs way more then the rec league, but they practice alot more and play different teams from the area.
This is the 1st year that Simeon has been old enough to have kid pitchers and right at the beginning he told us he was going to pitch. After I picked my heart back up and watched him pitch, I decided I could watch him without holding my breath the entire time!
His favorite positions are 2nd base, short stop and pitcher.





While Simeon plays on the field, Corrine and Ammon play with all the kids at the fields. At this game I had a dozen kids around me and a puppy. Our kids love all the friends to play with.