baby #7 gender reveal

My told me many years ago when I was a teenager that I would have 5 boys. As the ultrasound technician said today, "Well, it looks like Grandpa does know best." Indeed, it would appear that my dad is a prophet because this baby is a boy. Finally, I can say without any sense of guilt that this baby is the last one! We told the rest of the kids with balloons and blue food this evening. No one is very surprised but it appears that everyone is happy.

march around here

I've waited a really long time to see a picture like this:

He still listens to books all the time but has never liked the act of physical reading. He saw someone reading this at play practice and asked if we could get it. I've never been so happy to buy a book.

At 17 weeks, I had to take an early glucose test because I had gestational diabetes with Ben. I really hate drinking that drink. Disgusting. I passed. Barely. My number was 133 and the limit is 140. Methinks it is a high possibility that I will fail the next one I have to take at 28 weeks.

We took Nathan in to the podiatrist. He really has trouble walking and running as a 9 year old should. The doctor told him he looked like an old man. The doctor thought it had to do with rapid growth and gave him orthotics. He also had a wart removed. Hopefully, we will see improvement soon. He is a really active kid and it would be great if he could move more easily.

The American Heritage Youth Chorus that Emma sings with had a joint concert with the American Heritage Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a really amazing performance. Obviously very well rehearsed. I love seeing youth using their talents like that. I wish I had been able to get a better/longer recording.

Baseball season has started. I was rather silly this year and signed up both Sawyer and Nathan. I thought that soccer and baseball seasons would not overlap that much. Wrong. Because soccer started late this year, they are completely concurrent. This means 4 baseball games and at least 3 soccer games each week. ACK! Sawyer played t-ball last year and is doing machine pitch this year. As with most athletic things, he is a natural. Nathan has never played baseball before but he seems to like it despite his low skill level. Dave has been catching and hitting with the boys a lot at lunch and in the evening. I think they especially love that.

Slade has passed Emma in height. Emma knew it was coming but she isn't very happy about it.

player's showcase in las vegas

I got to take Emma to another soccer tournament this month. Instead of renting a camera lens, this time I rented a car. Interestingly enough, the car cost about the same to rent as the lens. What? We left on Thursday afternoon. Once again, I was amazed at how enjoyable a car trip can be with just a 14 year old. Certainly its a lot easier. We shared a hotel room with a teammate and her mom. The hotel was a lot nicer than the one in Mesquite and consequently a lot more expensive.

Emma and Annie show off their scraped up knees and fabulous soccer tans.

They lost 3 of their 4 games unfortunately and we think Emma probably got a concussion in one of the games. She should have stopped playing but she didn't tell anyone that she had blacked out. They also had to play their last game on Sunday which was nobody was happy about. There were a few girls who went home instead of playing so they ended up with no subs on a hot day. After the game, I made Emma and her teammate go into the first LDS church we saw so that we could take the sacrament. They were embarrassed to be in their uniforms but of course that didn't really matter. We were totally entertained by this 4 year old boy in the foyer. He said, "Mom, I'm just so happy" as he was bouncing around. We found him totally hilarious but I sure felt sorry for his mom. After that, we drove home, making it back around 8 that night.

robin hood

Another successful Deerfield Elementary School play is in the books. This year it was Robin Hood. Slade and Nathan both participated. Slade was Much the Miller's son, one of Robin Hood's Merry Men. Nathan was on the bad side as one of Guy's Guys. Again, I helped with choreography and photography.

It is a wonderful thing for our kids to participate in these plays every year. We saw Slade go from a 4th grader with major stage fright to a 6th grader who had a speaking part. I'm so thankful for awesome people who share their talents and collaborate on such a fantastic show year after year.

a night on broadway

I am our stake's cultural arts director. As part of that calling, I am responsible for two activities a year. One is the Christmas Choirside that we do in December. The other activity varies in theme but usually happens in the spring. This year I proposed doing a stake Broadway revue.

I wrangled my good friend, Lisa, into being my assistant director. She was amazing and I could not have pulled this off without her. We began with a casting call in January. Stake members either came with a specific song that they wanted to perform or sang a church hymn/Primary song so they could be included in one of the three large ensembles. We had rehearsals on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings in January and February.

The activity was on March 8. We did two shows and had a great turn out from the stake. I think we ended up with a great line up with a good mix of performers and Broadway shows. I was able to get a live band for several of the numbers with the help of the awesome and talented people in my ward.

Sawyer and Nathan were in the children's ensemble. They keep asking me when we are going to do it again. Emma felt forced into performing but I think had fun in the end. Dave loved the whole thing and spent lots of time singing his songs until all the kids knew them too.

More pictures here.
Videos of the shows here.

It was a crazy amount of work but I think it was a positive experience for all involved from performers to audience. I had never really been in the director position before. I thought it would be hard to watch and not feel sad that I wasn't performing myself. In reality though, it was awesome to sit back and feel great satisfaction at what I (with lots of help) was able to pull together.

birthday girl

Anne turned five! This girl loves birthdays and talks about her plans throughout the year. We began the birthday celebrations on Sunday when we hosted Daniel Dessert. We had a pink spread with angel food cake, berries, cookies, cupcakes, jello, rice krispy treats and marshmallows.

We had her "Yes Day" and presents on Wednesday instead of Thursday (her actual birthday). Thursday was full of other commitments.

She got to keep Buddy Bear from preschool during the weekend. She thought that was really wonderful. On Sunday, when I was completely wiped out from the stake activity I directed, Anne begged for a cake so she could blow out the candles. I couldn't refuse that request. We went to Aunt Keri's house for dinner and brought along a really delicious cake (yellow cake, peach jello and whip cream) so that she could finally blow out some candles.

Annie is full of personality. She loves to sing and dance. She has a great talent for remembering the words to songs. She quit taking ballet lessons for now but she still can be seen twirling and dancing through the house. She loves to play with friends and asks immediately after lunch if she can go to a friend's house for the afternoon. She only likes to wear dresses and leggings. No jeans. She loves many things girly like dresses, makeup, and fancy shoes but hates to have her hair done.

president's cup

Emma and I journeyed down to Mesquite, NV, during the President's Day weekend for a soccer tournament. This was Emma's first out-of-state tournament experience. It was full of fun, triumph, fatigue, sadness, friends, food, and beautiful weather.

We left around noon on Thursday, taking Emma's good friend, Annie, with us. I was listening to Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now while driving. It was interesting to hear the girls' becoming slowly enthralled with the book. Annie stayed in the same hotel room as us for the weekend and we listened to the rest of the book at night. They loved it, "And I'm not lying."

They played their first game at 7:00 Thursday night against Joga. They won 4-0. I rented a 70-200mm lens and had a great time taking pictures all weekend.

We went to St. George on Friday because they had no games that day. First we went to the temple where the girls did baptisms for the dead. I was able to go and do initiatories. Then we went to lunch and did a little shopping, which was really just wandering the stores that were there on that street--Dick's, Old Navy, Target, Ross. They were hoping they could find modest swimming suits but had no luck. We headed back to Mesquite and got there just in time for a glorious sunset so I took the four girls I had in my car to do a little photo session.

My Valentine's Day was not anything romantic. I had about 7-10 girls in the hotel room at any given time, making noise, taking pictures, watching the Olympics, eating snacks and making their own fun.

Saturday morning at 8:00, they played USA and won 1-0. This team was really physical and liked to talk smack but Forza won in a hard-fought game.

We went back to the hotel to ice legs and try and relax before the quarter-final game at 5:00. They played their main rival, Celtic, in a serious battle of skill and endurance. It was scoreless in regulation and in overtime, leaving penalty kicks to finally decide the outcome. After the first five girls shot their penalty kicks, the score was 2-2. We then scored the final and winning penalty kick, making the score 3-2. The girls were elated. It was like winning the championship. Emma was completely physically and emotionally exhausted after this game. We went to dinner at a buffet and she could hardly stand up. After much cajoling, I convinced her to eat something and she did perk up a little with the help of her friends.

We had Sunday off, thankfully, so we went to church in little Bunkerville, NV, and then headed up to St. George. We went to the tabernacle, ate lunch at Red Robin, wandered the temple grounds and visitor's center and then went back to Mesquite. The team met up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

The girls played another Forza team in the semi-final game on Monday morning. Their hearts just didn't seem to be in it. I think after the emotional high of winning against Celtic, they had already checked out mentally. They lost 1-2 against a team they really should have beaten. It was frustrating for Emma who was really playing hard and trying to rally the rest of the team. You just can't do it alone though.

After eating a late lunch at Brick Oven in St. George, we drove home, arriving around 7:30 that night. The weekend was really great overall. I enjoyed being with just Emma, reading books, and taking pictures. It was a nice break for me. Emma learned a lot about tournament play, dealing with people, and working through set-backs. She also had a lot fun being her friends and playing the game she loves.

The full gallery of photos are here.