Happenings - April 2013

Cannon went to a knight themed birthday party on Saturday and came home with this fantastic shield, armor and knife.  When Clark picked him up from the party, Clark told him he like that his knife looked like it was bloody.  Cannon insisted that it wasn't bloody, rather he had just painted it red. 
I suppose it doesn't say much for me as a mother but I kind of liked the idea of a bloody looking knife.

Oh, happy day!  Softball season is here again.  There will be many more pictures to come because there are many more games to come.  Elinor and Faith are on two different teams this year so we have twice the number of games.  They've been practicing for about a month and have both their opening games.  So far Faith's season is off to a more winning season than Elinor's but hopefully Elinor's team will have some better luck.
Faith's coach is serious business.  She has had practice 3 days a week for the last month and he's in it to win it!  Which is great by me because for whatever reasons, some of which I'm sure have been our children's faults, we have been a part of some seriously losing teams.  The teams and coaches have all be very nice, but let's just admit it: It's way more fun to win.

I enjoy softball season so much.  Here's why.

1.  The sunshine.  After the long, dark, bleak, depressing winter, the spring sunshine does wonders for my spirit.  Even on chilly days like the one pictured above, the fresh air does my body good.

2.  When I go to the games I just sit and watch.  I don't do dishes or laundry.  I don't check math assignments or research homeschool curriculum.  I don't tell anyone to practice a piano song.  I don't cook dinner.  I just sit and watch a relatively slow paced game and cheer like crazy when a 10 year-old girl hits the ball and runs to base.  It's glorious.  My brain and body slow down and I sit still.

3.  I absolutely LOVE the smell of the ball park.  The hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill smell so good.  I am not really tempted to eat them.  I just love the smell.  Why can I not buy a candle named "Ball Park in Spring".  I'm telling you, someone could make a killing!

Sunday afternoon we took a family outing to the cemetery to visit my mom's and Tessa's graves.  It was lovely to be together as a family and we felt so grateful for the peace the gospel brings.

On the recommendation of a friend, I got several John Bytheway talks on CD from the library for us to listen to while we drive all over tarnation in our car.  They've been so fantastic! The older kids are getting quite a kick out of them and they beat the heck out of radio commercials.

 General Conference was a couple of weeks ago and we were so happy to get to see Abe's brother-in-law, Mike and his daughter Addy for a few hours.  They were down for conference from Spokane.