TERRIFIC Three's

This first picture is a little dark, but I thought the look on Lindsay's face was precious! Lauren decorated her room for her birthday, June 16th.


She loved it! Happy 3rd Birthday Lindsay!


She got "Tinker" Belle and The Beast Polly Pockets from Grandma and Grandpa Clarke. I don't know why, but for some reason, Lindsay's always called Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" Tinker Belle.


Grandma Barrett came by to give some Birthday Wishes.


She also brought Lindsay a cute Little People Camper. So fun!


Lindsay told me she wanted a Baby Birthday Cake. Soo......ta-da!


Make a wish!


Lindsay has been such a fun addition to our family.





We're glad she joined us on our journey.

Coach Pitch

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, Calvin is in Coach Pitch Baseball this year. The basic rules of Coach Pitch are: the coach pitches to his team (pretty obvious, right?), everyone on the team gets to hit and run the bases, and everybody wins. This sounds pretty straight forward, but we have noticed a few phenomons that also almost always occur...For instance--unless the ball is hit really fast or far, there is always a fight for the ball. Notice Calvin with a huge grin running for the ball...


But suddenly three guys on the same team want the ball!


Luckily, Calvin is victorious! Poor number 8 looks like he wanted it!


Here is a little play-by-play of Calvin running the bases. I'm sure we'll notice a few more funny things that happen in Coach Pitch. Calvin connects with the ball!


Running to first base...


The ball is hit and off he goes...


The race is on!


Oh, it's right in his path! (Notice the group gathered around the ball!)


Is it legal for him to touch the player as he's fielding the ball? Is he out?


Luckily the fielder didn't seem to notice Calvin and is looking to 1st base for the play.


The poor 2nd baseman is begging for the ball!


The ball is hit and once again, he's off...


To third...


Look at that stride!


Another narrow escape...lucky the short-stop didn't tag him as he ran by.


Safe at 3rd base...


and on to home! Something tells me the catcher has no idea the ball is headed his way...Score Calvin!

What Do YOU Do...

Oh what do you do in the summer time when the kids are looking for stuff to do?
Do you build cool stuff out of Legos?


Or dress-up your cute little toddler like a vicious pirate?


ARGGH!


Not too scary?


Do you go on a window-shopping spree?


This is cute, Mom!


Or maybe try being Egyptian Princesses? Love the sparkle!


Do you play some good old fashioned baseball (coach pitch)?


Alli taking some practice swings (philly league).


Or lazily dream as the hot air balloons fly by?



Is that what you do? So do I!

17 Years!

It's hard to believe that on April 25th we marked 17 years of marriage! Crazy! We have so much fun together and as we look back on our journey together--we realize we have been blessed to find each other. I've always told Jeff that he's my favorite person--and he really is! I feel like the luckiest girl around. He really makes me feel like he always wants me with him. I'm glad he's not tired of me, yet!








Here's to 50 more! Love ya tons!

Spring Break 2009--Zions!

We had a great Spring Break this year. We packed up a motor home and head South to enjoy some warm spring weather! The kids thought being in a motor home was awesome--and it was (especially when the temps got pretty low at night and the rain came pouring down at the end of our day hiking!)


Who looks more tired? Lindsay or Jeff who got to carry her all day? Thanks Dad!


Here's our family at the top of the Emerald Lakes Hike.


We went with two of my sisters and their families. That made the trip exra fun for us--Calvin had lots of boys to learn from and chill with, while the girls had cousins just their age to share it with. It was great to be with seasoned professionals who had done this before. They knew to bring Go-gurt for the mid point of the hike--my granola bars and fruit snacks were passed up for her yummy snacks! They were good enough to introduce us to the beauty of our "pretty great state." We were really impressed!








All the cousins! You can imagine all the comments we got as we hiked together!


Zions is a beautiful place and the park is really well organized to make it easy to get places--they have shuttles that pick you up and drop you off at all the different hikes and sites. Very convenient and all the hikes are well marked and easy to follow. The weather turned bad on our second day so we headed to St George to see if we could find some warmth. We found a great place to hike around--Pioneer Park and stayed as long as we could stand the cold--it was actually snowing! We took the kids to In-N-Out Burger--Jeff had promised Alli that he would and ended up heading home one day early--we still had a great time and the kids got to watch movies while they camped! Yeah! We felt like we still escaped bad weather upon our return because we got about 6 inches of snow the day we came home! Crazy! Now bring on the warm!