Emily

Emily is a cute baby and will grace us with a smile every now and then. The rest of the time she is grunting and squeaking and sticking out her tongue. We're glad she's here.

Church Basketball

Michael here. Our church basketball tournament was yesterday. Our ward was the last seed. We'd only won one game during the season. We were supposed to play to the top seed, but they didn't even show up. So we moved on to the next round by forfeit. Then we lost by 30 or so in the second round. It was frustrating to play, not because we lost the game, but because the way the other team was playing. But as I reflect on my time playing basketball, much of it has been in playing the Church league. I would much rather play pick up ball, JPI, or just play one-on-one with dad. Still there are a few things that I have learned in my many seasons of Church ball:


1)As you get older you still feel like you can play like the 17 year olds. I watched 17 yesterday. It was quick, and agile, fresh, and never seemed to tire. I'll bet that 17 year old didn't look like an old man getting out of bed this morning.

2)Old injuries always seem to come back and haunt you. My knee, which I sprained when I was 16 gives me grief now when I play a lot of ball. And I don't recover quite like I used to.

3)You can't play one game once a week and expect to run all day without tiring. The Word of Wisdom says you will run and not faint. It's true, despite my pain yesterday I didn't faint, but I did pass out last night as my head hit pillow.

4)Score and Referee seem to bring out the beast in even the most mild mannered priesthood holder. Why is it? When you have refs, and keep score, and have a tournament, guys seem to tap into some primeval source. Angers flare, tempers rage, and words are spoken that normally we would suppress and control. Maybe that's why not many wives and children attend these games; it could get ugly.

5)There are decent and honest players. Yesterday I almost fell over when the guy who was guarding me fouled me and then told the ref he did it (the ref didn't see it). I admire him and his integrity. It made me enjoy playing that much more. Granted, most are like this, but for some reason the bad ones always stick in your mind.

6)Playing Church Basketball somehow gives you the chance for glory that you missed when you were in High School. There are a lot of guys in my experience that I feel want that second chance to prove they could have been something great. I admit that I feel that way sometimes, only because I think my skill level now is what it could have been back in high school. I'm a slow learner I guess. Still, there are guys who just love to play the game.

7)You can love the game, and not have to worry about winning. Especially when your team is 1-6 for the season. I think our ward was supposed to learn humility and the importance of losing gracefully. Or something like that.

Well, I know it's not much but those are my thoughts about church ball. Excuse me while I go ice my knee.

Easter Egg hunts

What would Easter be without an egg hunt, or two. We planned on having one with our neighbors, since they have two little girls. We thought they were going to do it in the morning, but they weren't home. So we did our own in front of our house. Natalie had a lot of fun looking for those candy-filled plastic spheres. Then Dad and Natalie got home from church, the neighbors came over and wanted Natalie to come out and do their egg hunt as well. We were a little hesitant to go out since we had no more eggs to contribute. They said it was no problem and we looked outside. There were so many eggs it was insane. There was an egg about every foot, in this 30' square grassy area in front of our house. And there were only three little girls to collect, so they went nuts. their baskets were over flowing with eggs. The video show it best when the eggs keep falling out of the girls baskets. Natalie just ends up leaving a little pile she can't fit in her basket. It was very kind of our neighbors to invite Natalie to participate. We are very blessed to live around such good people.

Easters!

What a great Easter Sunday it was last Sunday. We got up and ate candy the bunny had left, died some eggs, and had an easter egg hunt. Mom cooked a great dinner. It was a really great day.

Chocolate and Ice Cream

Natalie has but two loves in life: chocolate and ice cream. If it was up to her she would eat those everyday, all day. It was just heaven to watch her enjoy her dove ice cream bar, of which she had eaten all the chocolate off of first. Reminds us what it's really like to enjoy food.

Garage Sale booty

We went out last week looking for bargains at some garage sales. Mom won't let Dad go out on his own for some reason so we all headed out with Emily and Natalie in tow. First off it was a little disappointing. The ones we went to were advertised as HUGE multi family garage sales (30+ families! today only! Come early!) Yeah right. Both places we went to had maybe 3-4 four families participating. It was very disappointing. And it was crazy go nuts! There were so many people milling about these places it was like someone was giving out free chimichangas! Anyway, despite all that, we managed to enjoy ourselves and spend $21 on some great garage sale booty. We got some lincoln logs and doll house for Natalie, a lamp for the piano, some pants for mom, some good books for Natalie, a bag for dad, some toy cars and some other misc stuff. Dad tried to talk Mom into getting a HUUGE box of hot wheels track and road pieces (you know those kind you can link together and make all sorts of cool race tracks? For only $15! It was a steal!) But Mom said nay, and we settled on the lincoln log train track set, which Natalie loves. It's kind of like our DI fix since we don't have one out here.

Fun

Just some video of Emily chillin' on the floor. She is spending more time awake these days so we grabbed an opportunity to take a quick video of her.

Early Easter Egg hunt

Natalie got to go on an early Easter egg hunt at a nearby park with the Primary of our ward. All the kids came with eggs and baskets. It was a great day for it; it was just dad and Natalie since mom had to take Emily for her two week check-up. Natalie was so excited about having the egg hunt that she didn't want to play on the playground at all. Eventually all the moms and kids showed up and we hid the eggs int he grass. Then the kids went to town and got all the eggs and sugar buzz they needed for a whole week. It was kind of funny, they told the kids they could only pick up eight eggs then had to wait until everyone had eight eggs. Shee-ya right, that's not going to happen. Natalie went and got her eight and then kept on truckin' until she couldn't find anymore eggs. We ended up sharing some with the smaller kids. It was great fun, and you can tell by the game face on Natalie in these pictures.

Natalie's trike

We've been meaning to get Natalie a trike for some time now. We were going to get her one for Christmas but decided to wait until Emily came so as to provide Natalie with something that was all hers and not have to share it with the baby. Dad went and got the trike (it was on sale of course) , put it together and set it in the garage. Then we planned a treasure hunt with picture clues for Natalie to follow that would lead her to the garage and her new trike. Well she was great at playing the treasure hunt game and loved it so much, that when she got to the garage, she looked at the trike, and then kept looking for more clues. Even after we told her that the trike was the prize, she wanted to play the treasure hunt game more than try out her new trike. With a little coaxing, and a promise of playing the game again sometime, she took her trike out for a spin. It's fun to see her out and about on her shiny new trike. Pretty soon we won't be able to keep up. We keep it on the porch where she goes out to try it out every so often during the day. Here are a few pictures of her figuring out her clues, and a video of her in the garage trying out the hot rod.

The girls

Just some recent pics this week of our two princesses. Natalie loves to hold her sister, and Emily loves being held. Natalie also likes to climb into the clothes hamper (after it's been emptied that is).

Dad's Spring Break

In an effort to promote health and wisdom, my school had spring break all this week. Needless to say it came at a great time. I was able to be at home with mom and baby, as well as give Natalie some well deserved attention. We had a great time this week, and got some much needed rest as well. Funny, a lot of the students here take off for spring break; which cracks me up because everyone else wants to come here. It's all relative. So I thought I could get some painting done so I set up my stuff in the garage. I set up a little easel and palette with kids paints for Natalie to come out and paint with me (thus giving mother a much needed rest). It worked for a few hours, though the neighborhood kids showed up and were fascinated with me painting and of course wanted to paint with Natalie. So paint they did, and it was a site to behold; me painting with a gaggle of children sitting and painting around me. I wasn't able to get a picture of that, but I did get some of Natalie painting her heart out. She's one of us now.

I had to throw in this cool doodle she did of an elephant. Pretty soon we'll be able to harness the power of her talent and make mucho dinero. Oh yeah, it's all coming together now...

A party

Natalie had the pleasure of being invited to her friend's party yesterday. It was at the park and was, as Pooh would put it, "A rather blustery day." (you just did the voice didn't you?) Despite the rather chilly conditions, the kids enjoyed themselves. Natalie played for a while on the park and then was intent on getting the party started. She kept saying "I want to go to the party." I told her that she was at the party. Apparently she thought a party meant eating food and cake. I don't blame her. Eventually they got the food part of the party going and she was happy. They had cupcakes which Natalie loved very much. She sat and ate all the frosting off the top, relishing every bite as if it were her last. She was the last one at the table with dear old dad, enjoying their sweets.

The one you've been waiting for

Mom took some time this week and took some photos of Emily. Natalie got in on the action too. Emily's such a cutie patootie and makes all the greatest grunting and squeaking noises you'd ever want to hear. She sleeps a lot and eats a lot and well...you know what a lot. Despite the gloomy forecast about how hard it is to have number 2, it's been really good; both the girls have been a delight. We can't imagine not having these two special people in our lives.

Natalie

Natalie loves to be with her little sister. If it was up to her she would get in her crib to be with her always. Natalie continues to be the cutest girl this side of the Pecos. She has a grand imagination and a great sens of humor. She learned some new tunes with Grandma this past week and has been singing them nonstop. She also loves Veggie Tales, and the songs get stuck in your head but good. "Oh Barbara Manatee! You are the one for meeee..."

Granny Nanny

We are indebted to Grandma Pratt for making the long trek out to "Honeymoon paradise" (that's what she called it) and helped take care of us during this time of nativity. She was great helping out with the cooking and cleaning and spending lots of time with Natalie. It just eased the burden greatly during this first week. Unfortunately she took ill during her stay and had to leave us early. But it was wisdom that she went when she did because then she was able to see the doctor, get the diagnoses, and take on the beast. She will be rested and recovered just in time to granny-sit for Brayden. How she has the energy to do all this I know not, but I think that her secret lies in a simple product known to us mortals as Listerine. Thanks for coming Grandma!

Two Babies

We thought it would be fun to put up a picture of Natalie when she was a few days old with a picture of Emily of equitable age. Only thing was Emily kept sleeping and closing her eyes when we tried to take the picture. Still, there is the family resemblance. We'll have to do this again when Emily is more awake.

Coming Home

This photo is late in coming (by a week) but here is our little family. It's hard to believe there are four of us running around now. Kind of scary isn't it? Mary had a good experience at the hospital that was far better than at the other place when we had Natalie. The nurses were very kind and the treatment was top notch by all, especially the doctor. It was such an emotional moment for Dad when Emily came that he couldn't cut the cord. We may never be able to cut that cord with these girls. Thanks to everyone for their love, support, prayers, and kindness during this time.

Little sisters

It has been a new experience for Natalie to wrap her mind around this whole "baby sister" thing. She has done well and it's helped that Grandma is here to play with Natalie. On the day Emily was to be born, we asked her what day it was and she excitedly said it was the day she was going to make popsicles with Grandma. But when she finally got to see her sister she has turned into Big Sister. Dad asked her to look in the cribs for a stuffed animal to take to the hospital for Emily. She told him that she wanted to give her one of hers instead. Natalie loves to hold Emily and tickle her toes. She's always so concerned when Emily cries and asks if everything is okay with her. She loves to help feed Emily the bottle and give her her binky. Natalie sure has the makings of a great big sister. Emily is one lucky little sister.

A video

Emily in her first hours. When watching this video with female counterparts, be prepared for a resounding "awwwww". And who can blame them.

She's here!

Well she's here. Our little Emily. She was born at 3:54 and weighed in at a hefty 8 lbs. 7 oz. and was 19.5" long. She's got a good set of lungs and is quite the curious girl. She has strawberry blond hair, a little lighter than her mother. Both mom and baby are well and resting. Here are some pictures, with more to come as well as some video.

Go Team! Our wonderful nurse, RC, Dr. Kim, Mom and a sad Emily.