Declo Softball 2012

Mikayla played softball for the Declo Hornets again this year and I am amazed at how awesome she played. I'm not just being the proud mother, either! She actually won several games by batting in the winning run. Several games, she hit EVERY time she batted. She was on fire!

The lady Hornets posing for a team picture after winning districts.

To help cheer Mikayla on and give her all of our support at state, we all decorated our car windows. They came in 4th at state, but we are so proud of how hard these girls fought. The teams that took 1st and 2nd were really good! It's hard to lose your first game and come back and take 4th! No easy thing!

Mikayla was trying to steal home here, but about halfway, she knew she wasn't going to make it! She slid anyway! Points for guts, sis!

One of the coaches, Krissy Darrington, passing out medals for winning districts.

At the "D" Club awards, Mikayla won Best Offensive Player for her excellent betting average this year! The coach said that somewhere in the 300 range is good, but Mikayla had a 612! She has decided not to play next year and it breaks my heart to see her give up a sport that she loves so much! However, I have her back and will support her in whatever decision she makes. Love you, Mikayla (aka #4)!

Pine Wood Derby

Treven turned eight last summer and got to start doing the Boy Scout program. He was so excited! He was a little disappointed when he found out the first year scouts really don't get to do much! One thing they do, is the pine wood derby. Treven worked so hard to do his car; and he pretty much did everything but the cutting of the wood by himself. He designed it and painted it and really, really wanted to add bullets to the car. When we weighed it in, it weighed a bit too much so we had to do some redesigning! Finally, it came in just under weight so we ended up adding a few pennies to the bottom.

He was so proud of his car! Then, they let the kids start practicing test runs with their cars. I watched his happy little face turn sad when his car lost EVERY SINGLE practice run! It was like watching a balloon slowly lose it's helium!

Treven watched the races and low and behold, by the time the real races started, his car took off and started getting faster and faster! He moved on round after round and finally ended up 5th out of 13 scouts!

Gary says the only thing he can think of that made the car go faster was that he put some graphite on the wheels and all the practice runs helped work it in. Treven was so happy when his car took off!

Prom 2012

Mikayla went to Prom this year with Mathew Marin. He didn't really ask in a unique way since they've been going together for awhile. Just assumed, I guess!

This is the corsage that Mathew bought her. It was really beautiful!

Mikayla looked forever at dresses on line. She found this dress and fell in love with it; especially the back! She saved her money (almost three hundred dollars!) and ordered the dress. A few days later, she was looking online and found things out about the company she ordered from and we started getting nervous that we wouldn't get the dress and her money was gone. We started to make other arrangements just in case. We went to Gooding and borrowed my niece's dress and altered it a bit to have as a back up. The dress was supposed to arrive the Monday before prom. No dress. No dress on Tuesday...finally it came on Wednesday. She tried it on and it needed a few alterations, but she was so relieved!

Pinning the flowers on the tux is never easy! This is one of my favorite pictures of the night! Mathew's smile is so cute!

For their day date, they were supposed to go to the movies, but Mathew has some cows and that was the day that helped could come to brand them! So, that's what they did! Mikayla came home with her back and shoulders sunburned. They had only planned the branding to be about an hour, but it ended up taking most of the day!

For dinner, they went to Maury's. After the prom, they watched some movies at Mathew's house.

Mikayla had her hair and nails done at the salon in Albion. I loved all the curls and Jaralee even put red sparkles in her hair!

Easer 2012

One of Ellie's favorite parts of Easter is dying eggs. I bought 5 dozen eggs and I'll bet she did 3 1/2 dozen by herself! While the other kids took their time and made their eggs pretty, she just scribbled on them and threw them in the dye. They had a hard time keeping up with her! Ellie got a themed Hello Kitty basket from the Easter Bunny. She had a swim suit, sidewalk chalk, jump rope, stickers, etc along with her candy and some sunglasses. I had to work the morning of our town Easter egg hunt so Chelsey got up and took Treven and Ellie to the campus. I was so proud of her that she would do that for her brother and sister. She even took my camera and got a few pics for me! Treven got a water basket from the Easter Bunny. He got a nerf water gun, some water balloons, and some soaker balls along with his candy. Here is Treven waiting for the start of the campus egg hunt! Treven's water basket. Mikayla got a new beach bag, some summer shorts and tank top, and some new sunglasses and flip flops along with her candy. She had been working almost seven days a week plus going to school, so she didn't get to really participate with all of the Easter prep this year. It's a bummer getting older! Treven and Chelsey each did such a good job on their eggs. They drew pictures and funny faces on theirs. It was almost a shame to crack them and eat them! Chelsey got a glitter-filled basket this year. She got a shirt and cami, some glittery flip flops, some bracelets, and some new perfume in her basket.

Reserve your retreat spot now!

The October retreat for 4 Girls and a Dream is filling up fast! Registration opened today and we already have 7-8 spots reserved! Registration is $105 for early birds and $120 for non-early birds. The fee includes three days/two nights lodging, all of your meals for those days, a fun project, and an amazing welcome bag! I haven't seen any retreats for a better price anywhere! The best part, is the friendships we've developed over the last few years with some of the most wonderful, talented ladies around! Don't come if you are expecting to sleep a lot! There is too much laughter and giggling for that!

Easter Egg Hunt Invitations

I haven't had much time to really get crafty lately, but I always try to do hand made Easter Egg Hunt invitations. (Mostly so I can show Gary that I DO use some of my stamps!) This is the ones that I made this year; not my favorite, but I did like the colors! I love the bakers twine bow on the card. It kind of jazzed up a rather plain front! More Easter pictures coming soon!

Vegas!

Starting our Vegas Adventure! We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel and had a great time! So many adventures that we'll never forget! Like getting lost in the WORST part of town and seeing gang members; trying not to look but not run either! Walking forever! The loser van driver that told us he would pick us up on Fremont Street whenever we called and when I called, he texted me back that he was off duty. Getting on a city bus that was WAY overcrowded and then it broke down halfway home! All in all, we needed a few days away and that's what we got! It was so much fun and hopefully we can do it again soon!