Party! Party! Party!

This last weekend was lots of fun. We had one party after another. It started on Thursday with A mother/daughter dinner with Emily. It was nice to get to spend an evening focusing on her. With two busy brothers it does not happen as much as it should........Thank you to her Activity Day Leaders for putting it all together. During the evening they had the girls say something that they like about their mothers. Emily said that she thinks I am a great scrapbooker and that she likes to scrapbook with me. I love scrapbooking with Emily. She is such a nice girl and always tries to help me around the house. I am so grateful to have a daughter like her.

Grandma and Grandpa Lay arrived that night and the party's continued. I was excited for them to come. My mom has been battling cancer and has not been well enough to travel for a while. She is still really tired but was able to make it to the important events. It was also a good visit for Joseph.....My Grandma Lay passed away at the beginning of April and ever since then when I would talk about my mom Joseph would say "Your mom died." I had him talk to her on the phone a few times but he was not convinced that she was alive until he saw her this weekend.

We spent the next two days celebrating my brother Jon's Graduation from the U of U. (the reason for my parents visit) Congratulations Jon!

In between the graduation festivities we hung around the house playing games. The kids had a great time playing Wii with Grandpa and it was fun to see that I can still beat my dad at Big Brain Academy. Even when he tries to set the game up in his favor.


We ended our Party Weekend with a Quatro De Mayo Party (named that because we had it on the 4th instead of the 5th) In San Diego Cinco De Mayo is a big holiday so we would usually get together with some friends for Mexican food. I have been wanting to have a Cinco de Mayo party since we moved but it has not ever worked out. So even though we already had a party filled weekend I continued with my Party.

We had Grandma & Grandpa Bolander, Kevin & Alisa and Jon & Jenny over for a Mexican meal, a Pinata and ended the night playing Guitar Hero on the Wii (not really part of the holiday but thanks for bringing it Jon). We also introduced Ryan's Family to the game Mexican Horse Races. If you don't know what that is you didn't go to scout camp enough. (or have brothers who went)

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Also Congratulations to my brother-in-law, Gavin on his Graduation from the U of U!

Red Butte Plant Sale

Going to the Red Butte Plant sale is something I look forward to every May. Ryan's Dad gives us all memberships to the garden for Christmas and this is one of the perks. It is fun to see some of the plants that I can't grow in my shaded front yard, and find a few that will.




They have everything laid out in a way that if you need a plant that grows well in the shade you just go to that section. I also appreciate the many volunteers who know a lot more about what will grow in my yard than I do.

This year I got vegetables for my garden. I have had great success in the past with the tomatoes and peppers. I think that they are so well grown at Red Butte that I can't mess them up too bad. I love having a vegetable garden in the summer. It is one of the things I miss when the snow is on the ground.

Every year at the sale we have tried to find Lamb's Ear. They have a patch growing at Red Butte so we have always been surprised that they didn't have it at the sale. This is Emily's favorite plant and this year we found it.
While the kids were walking around with Grandma they found a butterfly (moth) on one of the plants. Joseph was so excited and wanted to buy the plant just because it had the butterfly on it. (I think Grandpa bought it for his yard.)

Now it is time to get busy planting. Let's hope for good weather.

Nicer Days

I took this picture two days ago when it was 80 degrees outside.

The boys love being outside and even had a picnic in the yard for dinner.

Today I woke up to a snow covered yard.

Please don't cheer

Last night was Joseph's first t-ball game. I was at Emily's game so I did not get to see it, but I got many great reports and pictures from the fan club that did attend.

They said that one of the most entertaining parts was when they placed the batting helmet on Joseph's head.......... he fell back off the bench.
In t-ball they play by different rules. The way you know it is the next teams turn to bat is when all of the players on the first team have a chance to bat. So the last batter gets a home run.


Since the batters could not hit the ball past the pitchers mound Joseph's coach lined the players up and had them take turns getting the ball and throwing it to first base. Joseph was able to get the ball and throw it 4 times

After the game Grandma and I asked Joe about the game. He said he liked hitting the ball and running the basses but he did not like everyone cheering for him.

He said "When you yell my name and words to me that is cheering. I don't like it when you cheer because it makes me nervous" (neeervousss)



Grandma asked Joe if he did not want so many people to come to his games. Joseph said he likes everyone to come to his games, he just doesn't like people to cheer.

Scrapbook Expo or Bust

Twice a year I desert my family for an entire day and head to the scrapbook expo. (Thanks Ryan) This last Friday Tracy and I went to our 5th Expo and it was fabulous. This year we were joined by my friend Jenny and My sister-in-law Jenny. That made it even more fun.

We arrived a little after 6:00am and waited in line for 3 hours visiting and planning our day. When the doors opened we hurried to our regular spot and got it. (that's why we go so early)


Then we started shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I love scrapbooking and a great deal. The Expo is like heaven to me because I can always find the things I need for a great deal. This time I was looking for paper in the primary colors and little flowers for my stash. I was able to find both.......plus a few other things. Around 3:30pm we had spent most of our money and finally sat down to scrapbook.




Both Jenny's had to leave early but Tracy and I stayed until midnight. I finished 6 layouts (a record for me at the Expo), but Tracy was on fire and I think she finished at least 10 pages.

The next Expo is on September 19th and I am already making plans. Tracy will not be able to come so I am on the look out for another crazy person like me, who will stay the entire day. Anyone up for the challenge?

The Bummies

After the Spider Pig Post, Ryan told me that I should explain why we call our boys "The Bummies" I am sure that everyone can come up with their own reasons why we probably do this, but there is actually a funny story behind it. (no pun intended)

To really understand it we need to go back a few years...

The first Christmas Ryan and I spent together he introduced me to "The Twisted Christmas" CD, and to the song "The Buttcracker Suite," done to the tune of "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Ferries."

Joseph does not have much of a bum or hips so when he wears pants they always end up sliding down and giving him a plumbers bum. So to make light of it we would sing this to him as we would walk over and pull his pants up....

"See the plumber. What a bummer. Slippy slip, slippy slip, slippy slippy slip. Say it isn't so."

(A line from the song mentioned above.)

I don't think the words are in the right order for the song but that is how we would sing it. (We usually didn't sing it in public.)

As Joseph got older he could pull his own pants up when they slipped down, but we usually had to mention something to him (we still do.) Sometimes I would just simply sing "What a bummer" and Joseph would pull his pants up while he finished singing the song. I new this was kind of silly but it got the point across while making it fun right? (I know we scarred him for life.)

On Valentine's Day 2007. Grandma and Grandpa Bolander had stopped by to drop off Valentines and visit. After a while they had to leave, and as usual the kids followed them to the door to say good bye. Joseph likes to yell goodbye as loud as he can after them until they drive away. During this exchange of goodbyes Joseph suddenly called out "Goodbye Bummies!"

I was a little shocked and instantly told him that it was not a nice thing to call someone , the whole time wondering where this word might have come from. (I later decided that he concocted the word Bummie from the word bummer in the song.)

Grandma tried really hard not to laugh but Joseph caught on and knew that it was funny. So the next time he saw Grandma he yelled out "Hello Bummie!", and she yelled back "Hello Bummie."

The name Bummie has stuck, and because Josh is Joseph's Partner in Crime he has adopted the name too. So when we refer to the Bummies just know it is a term of endearment.

Keeping Busy In The Outfield

For the last couple of years Emily has been playing soccer. She likes it all right but she really only likes being the goalie. She does not think it is very fun running up and down the field all of the time. Emily is a great goalie and is not afraid to get in the way of a ball even if a foot is coming with it. One of her coaches nick named her the octopus because she did such a good job blocking the ball.


She also has a good time playing catch with her Grandpa and does a pretty good job throwing and catching the ball. So when It came time to sign up for spring sports we suggested that she might like to try baseball instead of soccer. I told her that if she is not afraid of a ball coming at her and she likes to run, just not all of the time, softball might be just the thing. With the game and practice schedules there is not enough time to do both so I told her to choose and let me know.

She ended up choosing Softball and last night was her first game.

When she went up to bat she hit the ball and got to first base. She was tagged out with the next hit, but the ball was hit straight to second base.

When the other team was up to bat Emily was positioned in the left field (between 2nd and 3rd base.) Not many balls made it her way, but she watched every hit to make sure she didn't need to go after it.
So when you have nothing better to do and you have to stay in one place you might as well find something to entertain yourself. I shot this video of Emily making the best of it. (Sorry the camera moves so much I was trying to watch what the boys were up to at the same time)