I Love My Bboys

Cute little Peanut from the Red Sox


This was his at bat picture when he hit the home run


Handsome Yankee boy


JP the left fielder on the Giants

Baseball season officially kicked off on Sat. It was a great day. We were there from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. We had pictures at certain times and then games. Peanut didn't have a game because he's still in 6 yr. old t-ball (although B said there are two groups on his team-Peanut and then everyone else. I guess that's what happens when you have older brothers that play). JP had his game first and I think they lost 2-1, but they were just exhibition games that lasted an hour. He did great and said it was his goal to hit at least once each game.
Bubba's game was more exciting. His buddy who is the coach's son hit a home run and then as if that weren't exciting enough, Bubba hit one right after him! I've never seen him that happy in his life. I wish I would've gotten a picture of him coming across home plate, but I was jumping up and down screaming so I didn't think about it.
Tues. night JP had his first official game and due to the fact that we have an awesome pitcher we won 8-1. JP was excited to hit again.
Bubba's game last night was crazy. First of all it wouldn't be baseball season if you weren't playing in a torrential downpour. Those poor boys out there got soaked, muddy, and cold. Plus, B (who's an assistant coach) said that the ball weighed at least 3 oz. heavier because it was so water logged. Hello, there's a reason they don't play in the rain in major league. But they were troopers and so were the parents that didn't even have umbrellas. Well we started out and scored 1, then they scored 1 and the next inning they scored again. So it was 2-1. We scored again so we were all tied up. Then they scored FIVE runs in one inning (they stop the inning at that point at this age). So we were all thinking 'that's it game's over,' but our amazing boys came out and scored FIVE runs in the top of the 5th inning (we only play 5). So they were up and all we had to do was stop them from scoring so that we would at least come out with the tie. We did it! Thanks to my amazing son! So earlier in the game he hit a single, then a double and got an RBI, then walked once. He ended up sliding on one of those and I thought, 'oh great I'm going to have to wash those'. Anyway, in the final inning we went through two pitchers that we were afraid weren't going to stop the other guys because they were walking them. So coach decides to put Bubba in (he was only a back-up). He starts warming up and is throwing them wild all over the place and B and I are both cringing thinking that we would have to deal with the aftermath of him being bummed that he blew it. We couldn't have been more wrong. I've never seen a kid that age throw that fast. I was standing by the dugout and coach says, "I didn't even see that!" And you really couldn't! Needless to say, he struck everyone out and we got the tie. If you don't know Mariano Rivera is the name of the closing pitcher for the Yankees because he's really good and keeps the other team from scoring at the end of the game. Well coach turned to B and said, "I guess we brought in Mariano Rivera." That boy was beaming all night. I don't even know how many times I told him how proud I was. Last season was a bummer for him. He would hit in practice, but got nauseous in the game and would blow it every time. So he has gained so much confidence and grown so much this season. He's an amazing short stop and apparently a great pitcher as well. And he hits every time he gets up there. I see Major League in his future. ;)

I Love Writing

Have you noticed the theme of the last three posts yet? I love lots of things and I don't think I recognize them enough. I've been working on my book a lot lately. The ideas keep flowing. I've been doing research for it too and that's really time consuming, but also fun learning new things. I finally decided that it was time to organize all of my handwritten notes that were strewn about on different pieces of paper. It was taking me so much time to look through them to find the topic I was looking for. I got a folder and labeled dividers with the topics of-food, history, local attractions, slang and plot notes. I typed it all up and now if I have more ideas I can just write them in underneath. It's so much easier now! Why didn't I think of this before?
So it takes place a lot in Ireland, but also in the US later in the story. It's a young adult book, and yes it's so called 'vampire' story. I was telling a few women about it at our RS retreat this past weekend and they asked if it was a vampire story very sarcastically. I was a little offended and thought, 'Well you don't have to read it then!' You write what you know about and I've been reading stories like this since high school, so there you go.

I Love My Church

I love the Gospel. I have truly been feeling the calm and peace the Spirit lately. I loved every single talk in General Conference last weekend. I felt the spirit during their talks. I gained a message that I need to have faith that the challenge I am facing right now will all turn out fine. I feel much comfort. The Spirit makes me happy and I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
We had a missionary homecoming today in sacrament meeting. I pretty much cried the whole time because of how strong the prescence of the Spirit was. Two of his little sisters played the violin and flute accompanied by their mom on piano. They played "We Have Been Taught" from the Primary Children's songbook. That's when the emotions started. Then when they were done, they both hugged him before he spoke. More tears. Then he got up to the pulpit and immediately grabbed a Kleenex and started wiping his eyes. He said that he didn't even know they could play because they learned while he was gone. He gave the most wonderful talk. He started by saying that the worst day of his mission was the day he was released. That really made me cry. He had such a strong testimony and told a wonderful conversion story of a woman. In short, her friend was being taught and asked if they could give blessings of healing. They answered that they could and she sent them off to her friend's house to heal her from her great depression that she suffers from. They asked if she believed that they could heal her and she nodded 'yes' so they put their hands on her head and said, "Be healed" and when they opened their eyes the room was full of people that were all crying. There hadn't been anyone there when they started. She later became baptized after they gave her another blessing that she would no longer desire to drink coffee. She was baptized in a river where storm clouds and rain surrounded the spot on either side, but not over them. The bank was covered with thousands of yellow butterflies that swirled around them as they entered the water. The water was freezing, but they found a pocket of warmth. And when she came up out of the water she looked just like his younger sister who he baptized before he left (and this woman was 40). He also said that a huge beam of light shone down on them and he felt like he knew exactly how Joseph felt in the grove when he saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. What an extraordinary missionary.
I love this church!

I Love 3 yr. Old Language

Yesterday in the car Coconut randomly says, "Hey Mom, fireworks can go higher than parachutes." I have no idea how he knows what a parachute is, but after I said, "Uh-huh" (my usual response) he said, "And then they hide behind houses." To a 3 yr. old I imagine it would seem that way since the fireworks fall towards the ground and behind buildings.
Another favorite is the way he says 'brothers.' He pronounces it 'bludders'. Love it!

Rest of Spring Break

On Thurs. last week we went to the zoo. It ended up being a beautiful sunny day. B met us and we went for a few hours before leaving to go home and get Bubba's hunting license from last year so we could get him a new one. Uncle AJ wanted to pick him up and take him hunting for whistle pigs (varmits kind of like groundhogs). Later that evening Aunt Alicia came and picked up the other boys-even Coconut-for a sleepover at their house. They live out in the boonies in a home that they are renting from a couple that is on a mission. They have horses, rabbits, turkeys running wild. So they've been asking to go. We went to Baskin Robbins and to a late movie! Yay for dates! I wish we could have one every weekend.

Friday I had the morning to myself to sleep in. I did laundry and watched one of my favorite tv shows at the same time. There was a show on in the early 90s called "Northern Exposure" about a small town in Alaska. It was one of my favorites in high school and I have the first three seasons on DVD. A few weeks ago I decided to start watching them. I haven't been all the way through them since I bought them years ago. I just finished the last episode of season 3 today so now I have 4-6 on Netflix. Anyway, B and I went to lunch at Jimmy Johns, which if you don't have one where you live, you're missing out on the best subs ever. They're way better than Subway. Their homemade bread is to die for. After that I went to the mall because I wanted this lipstick from the Bare Minerals store. I got a text from my sister while I was there letting me know that they were on their way to our house. Bubba was hunting again with AJ. They were here when I got home playing outside in the gorgeous warm weather again. I decided to put on my grubbys and trim the front hedges and clean out some of the dead stuff in the flowers since there's a little green starting to appear. The kids all went down to the neighbor's to help put dirt in their garden and prep it for planting. Peanut was very excited about helping them.

Today I took Coconut to Albertsons to get some cereal and milk because they have a sale going on (I got 6 boxes of cereal and 2 gallons of milk for $10). Anyway, on the way in, I was carrying him and he said very excitedly, "Mom I can carry you now. You're not heavy for me anymore." I think he meant it the other way around because most of the time I tell him that I can't carry him anymore because he's too heavy for me. Gotta love that cute boy. He always says, "Mom I wanna hold you," when he wants me to pick him up.