Boys will be boys....

We were very lucky to have someone from church give us some cupcakes (6 of them).  Really, we got lucky because I had keys to the church building to go "save" the cupcakes, so we were given 6 out of kindness for my efforts on the rescue of the cupcakes!  They were Cherry Limeade cupcakes and the girls seemed to love them.  Anyway, last night there were 3 left and Mikayla decided on the one she wanted (the prettiest one, of course).  She wrote her name on a paper plate with a sharpie and put the cupcake on it for the morning after breakfast. 
Jacob is up before the girls.  He thought it would be funny to switch the prettiest cupcake on the plate with one of the others from the island.  So he did the evil switch and then left for school.  A few minutes later, Erica came down, took a bite out of one of the cupcakes on the island and proceeded to fix her breakfast.  When Mikayla came downstairs, the first thing she noticed was that the cupcakes had been switched.  The one on the plate was no longer the prettiest one AND there were two rings on the plate proving her theory.  Then she went over to the island to find hers, and low and behold, the one Erica had taken a bite of was the prettiest one!!!  So the tears began to roll.  Bless my baby's heart!  Her brother meanly switched them, her sister innocently took a bite of one, and now she didn't get to eat the prettiest cupcake any longer.  She had to settle for one of the "ugly" ones!! LOL...  Keep in mind these were white cupcakes with pink frosting and a cherry on top of each.  They were all pretty! 
Luckily Daddy was home to help dry the tears and while each girl enjoyed their cupcake, Daddy enjoyed the third one!

Play Ball!!

It's all of their first years to play ball!! They are all loving it!

Time must fly!

Time must fly by because I didn't realize I hadn't typed anything for about a month!  With all 3 kids in baseball/softball life has been a little crazy!  The first week of April we went to Arkansas and had a great visit with my mom for a few days.  She also threw a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese for Mikayla while we were there.  Mikayla turned 7 (speaking of time flying)!  Then we traveled a little north to see Isaac's sister, Aria and family.  We had a fabulous time seeing them for just a short time (long enough for dinner), and went to a rib place that had the largest ribs we've ever seen.  Their little boy is so full of energy.  My mother-in-law says he's just like Isaac was when he was little.  That same evening we drove to Isaac's mom's house.  We had a wonderful visit there as well.  Isaac's stepsister brought her little girls up to play with our girls for an afternoon, and one of my best friend's from college brought up her little girls to visit with us for an evening.  It was just great to visit with everyone.
The rest of April is somewhat of a blur of baseball/softball, Isaac's drill weekends, roadshow practices for Jacob, me still being Primary president.....wow life is crazy busy. 
I find myself missing Maureen a lot.  Our lives are pretty busy and we dont' get to talk as frequently as we used to.  I told Isaac that I need a friend, a girl friend in him...LOL!  It's easier to talk to her during a commute, however, with gas prices, Isaac and I have been carpooling together.  So I really enjoy visiting with him, which results in not talking with Maureen.  It's somewhat of a double-edged sword!
Anyway, yesterday was Erica's birthday.  We made it very special for her.  I can't remember the last time we broke the Sabbath day and purchased something on a Sunday....but we did yesterday.  With bowling, baseball, softball, roadshow practice, roadshow performance, roadshow cast party....Saturday was a little full.  So Sunday, we did our traditional donuts for breakfast.  Then we went to church, but left early.  We took the family to see Chimpanzee (a Disney documentary), then to Bugaboo Creek for dinner (Erica's choice).  we got home about 8:30 and the kids headed to bed!
We tried to postpone birthday celebrating to this week, however, we have 4 nights of baseball/softball practices and games and church on the 5th night. 
So.... off to be busy!  I know I will miss it when the kids grow up!

Stay tuned....

With softball and baseball starting up, I realized I have some new things to blog about.  Then I realized that I have not ever blogged about the kids bowling either.  My kids bowl on leagues every Saturday morning.  They are getting better and better.  This is something that I did as a child (from 5 yo - 18 yo).  I loved it.  A few years back we had contemplated starting the kids in bowling, but didn't.  Then last year we started the girls.  Jacob wasn't really interested at the time, but we took him with us every Saturday morning.  After about 2.5 months of him just sitting and watching, he decided it couldn't hurt anything for him to give it a shot.  He had an amazing coach, Coach Jonie.  I don't know if she knew how great she was for Jacob or not, but his confidence grew.  All of his fears of others making fun of him for not being the best, were laid to rest, as that behavior was not permitted, with or without Jonie around, the kids just didn't act like that.  With all 3 of them bowling now, and on their second year, it's fun to watch them try to beat their average, or try to beat their coach like they got to do a few weeks ago.  Two of the kids were invited to a tournament this year, but we declined as the tournament would happen on a Sunday.  So the next time everyone is at bowling, I will have to take a few pictures so we will have them here.

Niagara Falls

Sometimes I really have to step back and thank my Heavenly Father over and over again for leading me to such a marvelous man.  Isaac is truly remarkable.  He completely surprised me with a trip to Niagara Falls.  It was so amazingly beautiful.  Our room at the Embassy Suites was overlooking the falls as well.  We took a tour to go down beside and behind the falls and then toured around on the American side as well.

                                          This is the view from our room!

                                       The horse shoe falls were so amazing!

             This is my favorite view.  And can you believe this is not zoomed in at all?

Needless to say, we had a wonderful time.  Might I suggest Niagara for your next getaway weekend, or week day trip (Wed - Fri ) like we did!!

My Valentine's Date

Isaac and I had a phenomenal time at the Armed Forces ball!!

Freezer Cooking...

It's probably called something else, but I've seen lots and lots of info recently about having a big cooking day and freezing meals!  Have you ever tried this?  Likes, Dislikes?  It just seems that with mine and my family's busy lives, this would help ensure we didn't stop to have artery clogging fast food.  Help....

Basketball

Watching Mikayla at basketball practice is hilarious!! She could be the very best out there, but really wants to just play around!! At least she will rebound!

Snow Skiing!!!

We put it on the calander in early January that some friends of ours were going snow skiing on the 23 (a day of no school)!  So Isaac and I prepared on Saturday to go on Monday.  We rose early to get there early, they're only open from 9-5.  We got there about 9:30, signed all the waivers, got all of our equipment, and arrived for our group lesson.  Since there are 5 of us, there were only 2 people in our group that were not a Ralston! 
The lesson went well.  Jacob, Erica, and I all listened and worked hard to follow instructions.  Poor Isaac spent most of his lesson helping Mikayla who did not take to skiing very well!  I think she was the most excited about skiing before we got there.  At the end of the lesson, our instructor told Isaac and i that we should go far away from Mikayla.  To completely leave her alone on the bunny hill slopes.  He wasn't kidding either.

Mikayla during the trip --- So like i stated earlier, Mikayla struggled a bit in the beginning.  She wasn't sure she liked this at all.  I actually saw her at one point sitting and playing in the snow.  So during our lunch break, she watched a movie with a friend.  She decided that she wanted to go back out and ski.  No one went with her.  By the time I met back up with her, the place was closing in about 15 minutes and she was smiling from ear to ear and having a blast.  She was sad it was almost time to go.  She was skiing really well.  She would pop off her skiis and walk back up the mountain (using her skis as canes, of course) then ski down! 

Erica during the trip --- Erica never ceases to amaze me.  She is such a dear and never gives up on anything.  Erica started the day falling A LOT.  I think she spent more time trying to roll over and get back up, than she did on her skis.  However, we left her alone as well.  By mid day she was ready to go to the larger bunny hills, then she even made it to the green slopes (the easiest, but still had to ride the chair lift to get there)!  Amazing, right?!

Jacob during the trip --- Jacob is very quick to give up on anything and everything that might be a little difficult for him.  I guess he is afraid to fail, so would rather sit out than not try at all.  So he went through the lesson, tried a couple more bunny hills, then did the escalator lift with Isaac and fell.  he quickly decided he was done.  He went inside and Isaac was pretty sure he cried a little.  Lucky for us, one of his Young Men leaders from church came by and asked about Jacob.  Brother Harmon went to find him.  Before we knew it, it was lunch time and Jacob was having a blast.  Jacob conquered all the green slopes and even went down 2 of the blues.  LIKE WOW!!!!  Isaac and I were so incredibly proud of him.  I'm so glad he decided to go back out with his friends and Bro Harmon.

Isaac during the trip --- you probably remember that Isaac didn't get to participate much in the lesson.  He must've heard a few things, because before i knew it, Isaac was a pro!!  He was encouraging the rest of us.  Isaac seemed to have a blast.  I'm not sure if skiing was what he was most excited about, or just getting to be with us, but he was super happy all day!

Me during the trip --- you can imagine that I was excited for everyone to get to go.  The time together would be priceless, but there was a pretty big part of me that was scared.  After my year of injuries (being in the hospital in May, hurting my ankle shortly after that, breaking my knee cap shortly after that), and knowing that I blew my knee snow skiing when I was a senior in high school, i was scared!  The instructor during our lesson thought I was doing great.  Isaac was also very encouraging.  I just knew in my heart that there are no "take backs" if you get hurt!  LOL!  So i had a lot of fun playing around on the bunny slopes.  I then worked up enough gumption to go up on the escalator lift and go down that bunny slope!  I did that with Erica and Isaac!  Lots of fun.

I hope we have enough money to go back on the Feb 20 for President's Day...the next Monday that we are off work and there's no school!!!  Thank you Wisp Resort for having cheap Mondays!!!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

So, during our crazy day this past Saturday (I posted about it in the Asking for Help post), you may recall that I handed off Mikayla to a fellow teammate's mom for transportation between basketball pictures and basketball game.  Well, when I returned to her game to watch, I sat beside this particular mom.  She caught me up on the game happenings, then started talking about the car ride.  She said that Mikayla got in her vehicle and said "Wow! Why is your car so messy?" As I started to apologize, she stopped me and said, "no, it really is messy in there".  Anyway, she explained to Mikayla that it would seem that they have one of everything in their minivan.  Very cleverly, Mikayla resonded with, "Then why are there three basketballs?"!!
Needless to say, I was very glad to see her laughing as she recalled the situation.  Mikayla doesn't really miss a beat!!  I guess that's why we adore her so!

Happy Tuesday!!