Food Storage

My idea of food storage!

Bountiful High School Basketball Banquet 2012

The Bountiful High School Basketball Banquet was held at the Wight House.  There was fine dining, great company, and a fabulous program.

I love the senior boys this year, and am really going to miss them. There are a few boys that particularly tug on my heart strings.

Brock and Brandon Yates are twins. Their father passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack, one year after Steve. I loved watching these boys rally and watch out for each other throughout the season. One of my favorite plays was watching one assist the other for a score.

Dain Murdock, or the intimidator, was also one of my favs. Dain was one of the leading defenders in the state. His very large family always was there supporting him.

Brit Harding, was one of the leading scorers. His dad was called as a mission president in Atlanta. They leave in June, and Brit leaves for his mission in Washington shortly thereafter. What a great family.

Tommy Lalli, our center, was a big presence.  Sadly, he broke his wrist in the game against Cyprus.  The boys were devastated with the loss of Tommy for several weeks, but Tommy came back to finish off a great season.

The senior boys conducted the program. Each senior passed on a basketball given to them by Coach Maxwell at the beginning of the season, to another younger player that they admired. The senior wrote a message on the ball to the player. Five balls were given out, and Mike happened to be one of the recipients. Dain Murdock gave his ball to Mike.

Awards were received, and each coach talked and gave great advice. Some of the advice was to “pay it forward” so to speak. To be a great mentor to a younger teammate. Another message was about helping others, and being a team player. All inspiring messages.

What a great group of boys, and wonderful coaches! The Braves were undefeated in region, and went to play in the final four at State. Congratulations!

Dain and Mike

Our table, and the coaches.

The Return of the Boat

Friday, Mike and I got the boat out of storage. I feel a little - manly - when I pick up the boat. I have NEVER seen a woman fulfilling that responsibility. I suppose there are many “manly” duties that I now own.

A gentleman picking up his boat at the same time asked for my assistance. Wow - I must have looked like I really knew what I was doing. Hopefully, I won’t be growing facial hair any time soon:).

We forgot the plugs for the boat brake lights, and signals. Mike insisted we go home and get them, but I refused. “I’ll drive REALLY slow and stay in the outer lane,” I insisted. He washed his hands of anything bad that could occur while I was driving home.

 We made it!  If you saw a young (well maybe not-so-young) woman, towing a boat with a red truck, with no brake lights or signal lights, well I may or may not know something about that.

Dancing and Baseball all in gorgeous Saturday!

Creative Arts Academy presented their Spring recital-  Inspiration.  I LOVE watching the girls from their studio dance.  They are fabulous dancers.

Lizzy danced in Warrior Soul and Blooming.  The pictures of her actually dancing were all blurry, so I only have team pictures.  Great job Lizzy! .

Ben had a double header this afternoon at Grant's Park with his accelerated baseball team. They played Murray and Tooele, and came home with two wins. Great job boys!

 

Spring Cleaning

Monday, Ben’s school teacher e-mailed me a LIST of library books that he has not returned.  Stunned, and annoyed, I began searching the house for these books.  My house isn’t really messy, but many drawers, closets, and lockers, need to be organized and cleaned. 

I have been procrastinating Spring Cleaning.  I love opening drawers and closets and admiring them when they are clean and organized, but doing the actual work, not-so-much.

Searching for Ben’s library books forced me into starting my Spring Cleaning.  It is certainly an overwhelming project, but taken in bits and pieces (baby steps I call it), it’s not-so-bad.

Day one I found 2 library books; day 2, two more books; and day 3, I found library books not returned by my older children to the elementary and junior high school.

I e-mailed Ben’s teacher informing her that she prompted a Spring Cleaning frenzy.  When I peeked my head in the classroom with another arm full of books, his teacher smiled, and said to Ben, “Your mom must still be “Spring Cleaning.”

The Boot

Crutches for one more week, was the verdict at the doctor’s office today. Yay! Every time I hear Mike hop down the stairs, faster than I run them, I hold my breath waiting to hear a crash and a tumble. After falling down the stairs at Bountiful High with his crutches, and having to ice his other ankle for the day, I am more than ready to get rid of these pesty aids.

The bandages, splint, and stitches were removed, revealing the surgical wound left on Mike’s ankle. You know you are a seasoned mom, when you find disgusting wounds "cool". In my earlier parenting year’s I would have to put my head between my knees to avoid passing out at the sight of blood. My, things have changed a bit.

Mike is now wearing a boot that extends almost to the knee. One week without weight on his ankle and then he can start trying to walk on his ankle with the boot. After, he wears the boot for 4 weeks, he begins physical therapy.

He is well on his way to recovery! Yay!

Easter

We were spirituality fed in church today with many uplifting Easter messages. We were privileged to end our Sacrament meeting with a message from President Eyring. We feel so blessed to have him in our ward.

Upon returning from church, I gathered my children and watched a wonderful Easter message with them on the church web-site, here. I am grateful for the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to know that our family will be together again someday.

We visited Steve’s grave today. It always makes me a little sad, well maybe a lot sad, but I believe and have faith that we are only separated for but a short time here on earth. I am thankful for that knowledge.

The blossoms are beautiful! We enjoyed a lovely evening at Grandma and Grandpa Brown’s feasting on a fabulous meal, and enjoying the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

We are blessed!

The Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Brown's.

Beautiful blossoms; visiting the grave; and always a game of basketball.

The colors of Easter

I love the vibrant colors of Easter! Bright yellows, pinks, purples, oranges, blues, and reds. They make me feel cheerful and happy inside!

We are ready for Easter. Eggs are colored; baskets filled; married children gifts given; and new Easter clothes to wear.

Tomorrow, hopefully, we can focus on the true meaning of Easter, our Savior Jesus Christ!

Coloring Eggs

The kid's Easter Baskets.

Gifts for the married couples!

A Bit of a Whirlwind

Spring Break has not turned out the way I anticipated. Having a “stay-cation”, I envisioned, many trips to the rec center; movies; shopping; and much more.

Monday morning I took Mike to the Orthopedic specialist to review the status of his ankle. During the basketball season, he sprained his right ankle multiple times. Some of the sprains looked like he had a baseball attached to his ankle. We had been advised during the season that ankle surgery may be imminent.

Within a couple minutes the doctor had determined Mike’s problem and said he needed reconstructive ankle surgery. Surgery was scheduled for the next day.

Surgery was in the afternoon, and this morning when I couldn’t find him, I opened the garage and found him cleaning the garage. He warms my heart with his quite kindness.

Surgery went well. He was a little “agitated” after surgery so the anesthesiologist gave him more meds. To say the least, he has slept a lot, which is good. On the way home he was acting very strange. He started singing very loudly in the back seat and then would all of a sudden fall asleep again. I was laughing so hard, I wanted to video it, but thought driving was more important.

The recovery is 3 weeks on crutches, 3 weeks in a boot, and 5 months until he can play a game of basketball. He can run, shoot, bike, whatever, just not play in a game of basketball for 5 months.

He’s not a sit-around-the-house kind of guy, so this could be challenging for the next little while.

Fortunately, the older kids have been filling in for me with entertaining Ben and Lizzy. Sarah took them both to City Creek today for lunch and shopping. Lizzy got tons of cute clothes (thank you Forever 21 for making that possible), and Ben got a Bull’s hat. Happy kids, not all is lost.