Brett, what to do with him??

So we are settled and moved in and everything is put away and I am ready for Christmas..it's been a busy few days but I got it all done and I am ready to sit back and enjoy the holidays!

So random thought, I was going through some videos and I have found some funny videos and it got me thinking, I am not sure I have ever talked about Brett.

I love this kid, he smiles at me and my heart melts. Without getting into a big long story I will explain the introduction to Brett. Brett came into our lives at the worst possible time, we were living with my parents since Mitch went back to school, I had just started working again so I could help generate some income. Well I got pregnant and ended up sooooo sick I thought I was going to die, I would pray everyday that this would just go away....We did not plan him and actually we were trying to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
Well it didn't go away, and one day while sitting in the doctors office I was in tears, tears that would not stop...The Doctor left me alone for a moment to collect myself and when he left the room I sat there and all of a sudden the room got really bright, almost like the sun came blasting right into the room and I got this wonderful overwhelming feeling that it was going to be ok and that I would have great joy with this child, after that the sun left the room and I started to cry again. I had more moments like this through out my pregnancy , moments that were very special to me and helped me bond with this baby inside me, and I am sure it was kept me going so I could get through the sickness.
After Brett was born I was bursting with love for this child, I found myself crying every time I thought about it.

He was the BEST baby, he never cried unless he was Hungary, I felt like I neglected him all the time since he just sat there content all the time....Well he turned into a toddler and that was that...he was the busiest, climbed on everything, got into everything, ran everywhere kid you have ever met and he drove me insane!!!!! He was more then all my kids put together ever were, my other kids were quiet, clam and never left my side, so he was a whole new ball game for me. For awhile there I wondered when the joy would come since he had so much energy he completely exhausted me......Well Brett is now 6 and he still exhausts me, still full of energy, he goes and goes, but he is more sensitive then his sisters and about as sweet as cherrie pie and this mom is a sucker for him. I mean seriously how can you not love a face like this??

Brett always falls asleep where ever he stops...he goes all day so once he stops he is out!
can you possibly get any cuter?? I mean really??

Classic Brett pouting face....he is famous for his pouting!

Me and the Brett man.

He snuggles me everyday and I know that he is mine....he was mine before this earth and will be mine after this earth. I am not sure the connection that came with him but I know we were kindred spirits.

Brett, not sure he will ever slow down EVER, but I am sure I will always love to love him.

Here is a few video's, the 2nd video is a good example of the "Ball children" Those 2 cute girls in the pink running together are my sweet girls...the 2 kids running through the others bowling everyone over are my kids as well, this shows Brett in all his glory...running and running never stopping when he is suppose to be waiting his turn.....Yep those wild animals would be the Ball children, it can't be denied.....

Merry Christmas!!!

Insert foot in mouth...I am now a pro

So this is why you never get frustrated then complain about it, because then you eat humble pie, it happens to me every time...I am patient for as long as I can and then when I can't be anymore and I start to get frustrated and start to voice my frustrations that is when things finally decide to work out, then I get to feel stupid and regret my feelings....

So just so you know, I have eaten my pie, and now that its done I will report, we have bought the house! the deal is done, we are just waiting on the lawyers and then we move on the 15th.

The timing is not perfect right before Christmas but who cares, my tree will go up and baking can finally start and I will start to get settled. There is lot's of work ahead of us as far as painting and flooring bathrooms, kitchen and all that good stuff to do but it will be fun...kinda. I love to renovate, I just hate living through it and waiting for them to be done....But I deal.

So here is my house, it's not the best picture it was the one that was listed on the Internet, the right hand side of the house is missing in the picture. It has a big fenced in back yard on a dead end street so no traffic, just 5 more houses then no more road and a big open field for kids to play and ride bikes. 5 big bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a big open kitchen from 1978, and the best part of the house is I have a hallway in my bedroom with 2 closets on each side of the hallway and at the end of the hallway is the master bath, I think this is what sold me the house, lame I know but I did not expect that in this house so it was a lovely surprise and I loved it!.....and it is mine! Anyway, there is my update...I will be back when things are settled and Christmas is over! Peace out!

This is the life.....

Well here I am, still at my sisters house. I think we are half way through month 5?

Trying to find a house has been a gong show for us and I am starting to get a little tired of the nonsense, It seems every time we find a house the weirdest things happen and we don't get it. We are working on one right now, the offer was made and it was accepted....but we are going on week 4 of trying to figure out the financing which should be a open and shut case but for some reason the banks keep wanting more...more info, more everything. It has been unbelievably frustrating! When we decided to move out of Rocky I didn't want to go, we all know that. But I prayed hard about the decision we were going to need to make, we went to the Temple, and still nothing. I then asked for a blessing, I find comfort in blessings since I often receive the answers I am looking for through them, I find for me they are a great source of communication between me and and the Lord, he tells me things that only he would know since many of my thoughts stay my thoughts, and things that no one would know but him, only he knows the depth of my heart, and I love that, it is a complete conformation that what I know is so true and that God does live and he does hear my prayers, a wonderful gift I hold dear.

During this specific blessing I was told what I needed to do and that all the things I was worried about would work out and everything would be taken care of. Well, to make a long story short...Things in Rocky did work out, all my day home kids found new day homes, I was able to get my house packed up by myself, I did it despite being left for a month since Mitch left a month before we were scheduled to move, and I was day homing up till the Friday, we moved Saturday. Anyway, that all went fine and dandy..I said good bye to my wonderful life I knew and moved with the faith of knowing that something better was on its way and a new life for me to start living was waiting.

Well, we ended up homeless due to events and that is why we ended up living with my sister, we had a house lined up but it went and sold under our noses so that was that. We have since had a run of bad luck like no other, not only is the house finding thing been a trial all in its own but Mitch took a pay cut to take this job, and not just a little one, a biggish one. We did this knowing that its a promotion for Mitch and with in a few years his income will double...its just getting there. Not only did we loose his income but we lost mine as well, it was a long road for Mitch and I to get to where we were in Rocky and we worked hard to get to where we were.

We lived with my parents for 4 years trying to get Mitch through school, we then moved into our own house just to have to move out to Rocky 6 months later, and we then had to live with Mitch's parents while we were trying to find a house in Rocky...We finally got to Rocky and we were doing good In Rocky in every aspect..things were good.

We are now, homeless and poor...and I mean really poor! we have not been this poor since I am sure the first few years of our married life, I feel like we have just gone back to where we worked so hard to get out of, living with family and pukey poor!! Sitting in limbo, not going anywhere, living 45 min outside of the town where our life is waiting to start sucks I want you to know that.

The gas for driving back and forth alone is killing us. We decided to put our kids in school in Pincher Creek because I did not have the heart to put them in school in Cardston where my sister lives, just for them to make friends and be yanked out when we move and have to start over again..But this has been hard on the kids too, they get up a hour earlier then usual and they go in with Mitch every day and they don't get home till 5 at night. They miss all the birthday parties they get invited too because of the drive, and the after school activities and Coltons sports are starting and practices and things like that are making it hard..Not to mention when it snows I have a heart attach with Mitch on those back roads with 4 of my kids. And never mind that I have gained at least 10 pounds living here, not sure if it is the lack of exercises that I have or the stress or the thinking that life is a constant party with my sister, either way, I am trying to get rid of it so I can fit in my clothes properly and its not working..I need a gym and control over what food comes into my home ;)

I just want to move and start this life that we are meant to start, I am mentally drained and soooo done and all I can think about is I just want to have my own house for Christmas...and that a house is soo close I can taste it and if it does not work out I may just loose my mind. The sad thing is we were told we were approved so we were excited but then it came back that they wanted more stuff before the final approval, seriously are you serious??? ya they were serious. SO here we still sit, waiting, and waiting, for my own life back, to have my own house to clean, my own laundry to do, my own stuff to organise and so on..not doing laundry and cooking and cleaning for 12 people anymore..... :P

Don't get me wrong, I love Dina, she has been wonderful and probably the easiest person to live with, I am not even kidding and I am sure she could not say the same about me, I am more of a I like to be in control of my life, I like things done a certain way and if things are out of sort and I don't have order I get cranky, and with 12 people living in a house it is hard to have order, it is hard to have control over how your house hold is run when it isnt your house and nothing in it belongs to you. But thank goodness Dina is a much sweeter more patient person then I am and I love her, it does not bother her when the house is a mess or the laundry is pilled up to the ceiling and there is dished to be done, she is the kind of person who thinks "I will do it when I feel like it, it will get done, no worries"...she is a good person. And really she should go straight to heaven for her wonderfulness of putting up with me. It is fun hanging with my sister but I need my own house, and my own space and my own family...and Dina and James need their house back and their own family time too.

So here I sit, hoping that things work out and if they don't then I will have to accept the Lords will in what it is he feels is right for us.

I know that we all have trials and I feel so silly that this has been mine, the hardest thing I have ever mentally and emotionally have had to do, it has pushed my faith and my cheery attitude to its limits. I know when I think about it there are soo many worse things I could be going though, and then I feel like a spoiled brat for thinking what I think. And why this time has been so much harder then all the other trials in my life I don't know, we have spent that last 13 years struggling with speed bumps all along the road of our life, mostly financial and our living arrangements and things breaking down at very inconvenient times, or getting pregnant with my last 2 kids when were were far from trying to get pregnant, all while living with my parents so sick with these babies I was sure I was going to die.

But despite all that I know I am blessed, and I know my life is good, I have a wonderful loving husband who is so patient with everything and he loves me despite all my weaknesses, he allows me to be who I am and always supports me in what I feel is important for me to do, for me and our children, and tells me I am beautiful every day and I am so thankful for that.

I have 5 wonderful children that drive me crazy sometimes but were blessed with a loving nature like their father. I have the most amazing friends, I have many all around me that are very close to me and I love them all, I was raised in a good home with great parents who taught me to be independent and open minded, to have compassion for all walks of life. I love all my siblings, I enjoy each and everyone of them and I love being together with all of them.

I like to be happy much more then I like to be cranky, I like finding joy in things, mostly things that are fun for my kids, I like watching them have fun in things, I love watching them be kids and do kid things, finding joy makes me happy, sometimes that is hard to do.

I know this is such a small part of my life and it will pass and then I will feel bad for complaining about such trivial things....But seriously, can it end now please, can I just find a house?? That is all I ask out of life...to be happy with what I have and to not want for more then what I have, but until I have a house I have a feeling that I won't quite be fully cheerful.

So that is my rant for the day...Soon enough things will be better and I will be my old self again...."soon" being the word of the day...the word I will cling to, hold on to and keep close to my heart because this was the word that was used when I was told of my many blessing that await me...in my new life, in Pincher Creek. good luck to me!

The nightmere begins...

O.k, so I am officially a slacker, not much I can do about it....I have many blogs in my head yet I lack the motivation to site down and do them. I hate to type..I know shocker, bet you all can't see that seeing how my grammar and spelling are top notch. But right now this is not going to be the focus...right now the focus is going to be on my cleavage.. So here is how the story goes.

About a month ago now my worst fears came true, I was doing my daughters hair for school and I noticed a bunch of white things in her hair...Thinking to myself that I should go and find the dry patch she must have on her head so that I could get some stuff on it...While in my search I found a little bug, thinking I have found bugs in my kids hair before but I do not recognise this bug...Then I searched a little more and it didn't take long before another one was found. At this point I called my other daughter over and started to go through her hair as well...yep you guessed it...a bug or 2 or 10. ARRGGGHHHHHH LICE!!!! Are you serious!!!??? I then googled the images of them and yep, there they were...My heart sank and a little black cloud started to make its way right above my head. I checked every ones head after that just to find out that 8 out if 12 of us all had lice, including me!

I then went to the pharmacy to get shampoo, came home and shampooed..then started to pick. I went outside and sat them one by one on the porch just to find the bugs did not die!! SO I then went and decided that I was not messing around, I had a friend who fought it and she used Vaseline so I took out that bottle and started to gob and gob all our hair with Vaseline then put shower caps on our heads till the next day. In the morning they were dead..tiny tiny ones I would never have seen....So glad I used the Vaseline. I then googled all the home remedies I could find and did all that I could do.

So that morning we washed and washed the Vaseline out then put peanut butter in our hair for few hours and then washed that out, it was suppose to help take the Vaseline out..which it did. The I took the kids out and picked and picked one by one...Now for those of you who know my hair and my children's hair...this was a nightmare we have more hair in just my little family to start our own wig shop!! Baileys hair which is thicker then thick alone took 3 hours to pick through the first day...then 2 every day after that. I picked from 8:30 am till 6pm outside, non stop for 5 days. then after supper Dina would pick through my hair.

My girls were sooo up set about the whole thing so I would try soo hard to make them laugh and find humor in the situation, I would tell them that they are just bugs and we will get them gone and we just have to so our best, work hard, and try to make our minds strong so we don't cry. That we will get through it and its not big deal so not to worry. It worked, but at night when the kids went to bed, the black cloud would hang over my head, I hated that feeling. I am pretty sure I have never felt like that before in my life and it was awful!!! I felt like I had no control and that it was never going to go away and we would never be normal again.

All this while Mitch was in Europe, for the record things like this always happen when he is gone so I get to deal with it on my own.

But I did it, I was a machine, I had to get it gone!! So I did not stop till Ihad it gone...SO for a week, I was washing, freezing, boiling, bagging all the stuffies, vacuuming 3 times a day..washing bedding, pillows, vacuuming mattresses, washing towels after every use, picking, changing clothes 4 times a day. I then confined all the kids to one bed so when they woke up I could rip off the bedding and vacuum one mattress. Every night after I picked hair I would take a straightener to it because frankly those things are hot and I could burn those little eggs, I then gooped hair with gel and shaving cream pulled it up and that was that for the day...Just to start again tomorrow. It was the craziest 2 weeks of my life and I hope I never have to do that again!!! IT was horrid, and I am the type of person who when there is something to get done, just do it, do what you got to do and get it done no matter what...SO I went and went for a week straight...I think I drove Dina a little crazy..My OCD took over a little, but I think it was helpful in this situation...My friend who's daughter had lice too, fought hers for 2 months..I was not going to play that game!! SO after the 7 days I went and got some Mayo, which a few had told me that it worked..so day 7,8,9,10 we gobbed our heads and put bags on them and went to bed....It was the barfiest thing I have ever done and was pretty much gagging the whole time..IF I ever smell Mayo again I just may puke. But after day 14 I went to the pharmacy and asked for shampoo that actually worked, and I got some and did a final shampoo on everyone...total lice shampoo cost..$150.00.

Anyway, its over now and thank goodness....so here are some pictures of what we call "the dark lice days" enjoy the album.

This was me trying to make the situation funny for my girls...and give my husband a little somthin somthin when I sent him the picks when he was in Europe for 3 weeks with out me..but not really on purpose, he just lucked out it all....So you get a little "peak" (no pun intended) at the girls....If you look closely you can see madi and Dina in the back ground with their caps as well.

Me and Dina one night with mayo in our hair and laughing at the whole situation..
This is me telling her, her head really stinks..
hmmm....???
This is us washing the crap out of our hair....Caution, object(s) in picture may seem larger then they really appear ( mostly my bum) And as you can see our house work was a little neglected for a few days...I was outside picking hair...dishes came last people.
Madi all gooped up.
Showing off a little peanut butter in the hair....makes it nice and soft.
Dina looking lovely. She kinda of looks like a "who" here, she should look out for the Grinch.
Brett with his mayo and shaving cream.
The picking experience was soooo relaxing madi fell asleep...Please ignore the undies..I am slightly inappropriate at times.
I took pity on her and layed her down. I am a nice Aunty.
This is Coltons head...he was super excited for the whole experience.
O.k..here comes the monstrous laundry....Pillows, and blankets, and sheets..oh my!
Macey had to be in every picture, and bathing suits were worn by all allll week long. Pile of blankets by the piano..These ones are clean and ready for bagging..
This is baileys clothes from her dresser... I took out all the clothes and washed them and vacuumed out dressers too.
Just a peek into the laundry room.
Another view.
And yet another....I can hardly look at without feeling completely exhausted.
So there you have, the week from you know where!!! we survived, we conquered.. now if you ever get it, you have a pro here to help you along the way......But we did not come out un scarred, we still a month later when our children are on our laps go through their hair...I will never be then same, constant paranoia!..Oh well, life goes on and we just keep on going with smiles and giggles, because this is going to be one day be "mom remember when we had lice"? then we will all laugh...or not.

A fairy tale of 2 sisters....

Well it has been awhile since I blogged, I guess busy summer. I have not done too much but have been here and there with family and friends... Kids started school yesterday and I only cried a little, it was heart breaking to send them on their way. Halle who is usually my independent one grabbed onto my shirt for dear life as I took her into her class room, it was sooo sweet. I am pretty sure all these moments are always harder on the mom then they are on the children but they are making friends slowly but surely.

The kids went out to ride bikes yesterday...I went out to check on them and this is what I found..This is Macey in a Buzz light year costume, she had just biffed it and so I didn't catch her on her bike....

Brett and Jared..or Caterpillar and batman! seriously sooo cute.
Anyway, to get to the point at hand...Steph and I used to talk about how wonderful it would be if woman lived together, how much we would get done. Well My sister an I have put the theory to test this summer and here are the results...Keep in mind, I am pretty anal about my house and kinda a clean freak.. but just a little.....we started out good, got stuff done, but pretty soon sitting and talking and enjoying the weather got in the way..we soon found ourselves talking more then doing...I took a picture to give you a good idea of our day, we do laundry for 12 people right now...we started 2 days ago...baskets still on the floor.

here is a picture of the livingroom of the house.....Now in our defence its not everyday, we just are not on top of things like we should be....it does get clean eventually... ;)

So the theory has failed...Having men around is way more productive, they aren't there most the day so we get things done...... Sisters just make me lazy.....

Can you here the swooshing when she blinks??

So the other day I had my cute little niece on my lap and I was looking at her and noticed her eye lashes..I have never seen such long lashes in my life(except on me of course) ;) ..so I had to experiment...I sent Bailey for my make up and proceeded to put on the mascara....Here are the results...Seriously, could her lashes be any longer??? People pay good money for those eyes lashes!!!

They go past her eyebrows for heavens sakes!!!
Don't you hate her??? Its a good thing she is adorable, makes it hard to dislike the girl....
I decided to add this picture as well. People have always said since Halle was little that she looked like her aunt Dina..I agree. well when Aunty Dina had a little girl of her own, I noticed right away that she looked lots like Halle's baby pics..So here are the results, Give Halle some blue eyes and Mady some darker skin and you got twinneres!! what do you think?? They look more like sisters then my daughters do!
Well, short and sweet, that's what I am all about....having a Happy Busy Summer!!

Man I am a slacker...

WOW, its been awhile since I blogged. I have been trying to get settled, which has been a easy going process since we really aren't settled but at my sisters with about 1/10 of our stuff, the rest in storage.

It been fun with my sister, I don't even want to kill her yet.........just kidding Dina.

We are starting to look at houses next week which I am excited about, even though its like one house maybe 2. And who knows if it will work, past experience tell me that something weird will happen and it won't work out..If that is so, I have decided I am going to sit tight and just let life take me where it takes me. Something will come up for us I am sure.

This move has had me in a funny place I have never really been before. I have made it no secret that I did not want to move, but I think I have never shared a few intimate details about it. I know that this move is what we were suppose to do, I have no doubt in my mind. Many hours of prayers and tears were put into this one and I had to dig deep down to stay strong and be faithful, something I don't usually need to do. I have always done what I have been asked to do without question, I have always counseled with the Lord before making all my decisions, this time I didn't want to, but IT was confirmed to me what Mitch and I were suppose to do, I could not deny it. With saying that.. it has seemed NOTHING is working out for us or falling into place, and if anything it just seems accomplishing the simple things we need to get done are harder then it really should be and I feel my heart breaking still everyday. I still miss Rocky soo much it hurts, not sure where such a strong connection for that place came from but I just can't seem to let it go, I go to church here and I feel like everything is soo impersonal and BIG, too many people to swim though the halls with...and soo much hair and make up everywhere, its funny (Rocky was a little bow hunky, a little less fashion going on). Anyway, I miss my little town, but I know there has got to be great things at the end of this, and if there isn't, I have Mitch, and my children and my family, my sisters and some pretty awesome friends that I am soooo blessed to have..You know who you are!! and I really can't ask for anything more then that, since this is the plan the Lord has for me and I have to accept that, there are worse things I could be burdened with in my life. I am patient and know that its OK and whatever will be will be, but some days I am not sure how much more patient I can be. So here I sit, talking to myself about something I had no intention to talk about but it just kinda fell out...Sorry I have been such a downer lately, I feel like I have lost a little bit of my "haha" Not that I can't laugh or crack a joke or two, just I think my mind is too occupied to think of creative funny things to say....mojo is lost, if found..please return to whatever my address is, just a sec I will ask Dina...... Umm I was just kidding I guess because she isn't here to tell me what it is, soo if found just send it general delivery....it should get here no problem, it's a small town. Thank you.

So....I hope to find a house soon so that I can get settled and move on and get my groove back..Being at my sisters just feels like a vacation and I am waiting to go home...which I don't really have one. I mean seriously, I already did a stint in my parents basement and Mitchs parents basement...how is it I am now in my sisters?? How is it we can't ever find a house??? drives me a bit crazy, but I always survive and its always a good experience. And maybe I just need to be kept humble..........hmmm, maybe we won't go there... ;)

So ends the pitty party blog...pretty soon, I will be back to my old self and will again have lots of witty things to say, even if you think I am a bit lame, that's o.k...Sticks and stones people.....sticks and stones.... That one is mostly for Dina since she says I am the only one who thinks I am funny..Maybe Mitch tells me that too, although I let him know that he thinks I really am too just he forgets all the time, he should write it down in his day planner...then he would not forget.

Peace out.....

And so a new chapter begins.

Well I have been busy packing up my life as I know it, and in 3 days we will be pulling out of our drive way and onto another chapter to our lives.
This past 10 weeks have flown by, 10 weeks of putting off the inevitable....But its here and I must face it head on! I have to say this had been the hardest move I have ever had to make and as each day goes by I get sadder and sadder as the reality of it gets closer and closer. Now that my house is packed up and empty and not feeling like a house at all I walk around it looking it over having thoughts of how I will miss it. When we first moved out to Rocky 2 years ago I was not in love with my new pad, Mitch had found it for us and I had not seen it before I got there. Mitch was living in Rocky Mountain for 2 months before I got here and it was during the big house price boom, So there were very few houses for sale and they were prices ridiculously high, so after about 2 months of living apart we found this one and took it just so we could at least be together and get on with things.
I was less then impressed when I walked in it, knowing full well that is was only temporary and we would move as soon as possible. Well we never did, we just stayed since the housing prices are crazy and we found nothing we wanted to pay for....we just stayed in our humble little house. It eventually grew on me and now I am finding myself sad to leave it behind. We have had many life changes in this house, we learned to live on our own for the first time and created our very own life out here....A life I absolutely have grown to love! I will miss it...I will miss walking out my door and seeing green grass and green trees all around me, smelling the smell of camping in the mountains all around me, the crazy loud thunder storms, the rain, and most important..no wind!! ....and the lakes and of course the many friends we have made out here. I am just sad...and I am OK with that.
I know things will be fine, I know I will make new friends, I know I will create a new life for us......But I will still miss this life and I really am not interested in making a new one when I find nothing wrong with this one...But life is what it is and the big man upstairs has a different agenda for us, so I must go. I am thankful for the things I have had to opportunity to be a part of out here and to meet the people I have met... My ward is amazing, its a small ward and I have never met more humble, kind, loving, helpful, serving people in all my life. Everyone is here to help, to love and to appreciate the church and live it with soo much conviction. I am soo glad I got to be a part of that and to know that there are people out there who love the church and live it like it is something to cling to and cherish to appreciate and to never take for granted....the adults and the youth all of them are here for the same cause and treat everyone like family.

I will always love it here....

Anyway, That is that, my life needs to move on and so I go, excited to see what is in store for us, to meet new people and watch Mitch blossom even more. And hopefully find a place to live so my time in my sisters basement is short lived....Love you Dina, but seriously...my sisters basement??? she will kill us all soon if we aren't gone..Those Ball kids are a tad bit wild.... ;)

Anyway, one of the things we liked to do as a family here was the fish pond..it is a little pond here that is made for kids and we loved to take the kids and go for a evening or afternoon. Our last trip I noticed something different...I sat on our log and watched Mitch help the kids get their rods ready...When he was done they took their rods and went on their way. I sat there and watched them spread out and find a place to fish and they all started fishing....I sat, and heard nothing, not a "mom I need help" not a "mom, Macey is running off" not a "mom I can't do this" not a "mom don't leave me" They were all on their own, not needing me or Mitch. Just another realisation that my kids are growing up...getting older and independent. I love it....sad a little to see them grow but love this stage. I got to sit with Mitch and chat and relax and enjoy watching them enjoy themselves without worrying if one will fall in the water or run off somewhere in the trees and get hurt...I didn't need to follow any of them for their safety. IT was great....SO there I was, peacefully sitting with Mitch, watching my children...I will miss this pond. Here is a few pictures of our last trip. Funny thing is I took these pictures to capture this moment so I could blog about it......sad but true.

Anyway farewell Rocky, it was a good ride.........

Here is my little house....cute and functioning...and the greatest location possible!

Here is the fish pond....you can see the log that we sit on just down to the left there...left of the bench. I carved "M.B +J.B forever " in the log.....very romantic.

Here are 2 of my kids fishing away all on their own, not needing their mom.

here are the other 3, I did a zoom in on this one, they are actually farther then they appear. Brett was picking up something that got caught on his hook.

Here is how far they actually were from me....3 little dots fishing away.

SO there you have it, the end of a legacy......till we meet again.

good 'ol ball game.

I can not figure out how to delete the pictures when loaded or switching the order that they came it...So if anyone can inform me on how to do this that would be grrrreat!!

This picture of Halle which is my number 3 child, was loaded by accident, can't figure out how to get rid of it so now you just get to see her cute face....Funny story, she asked me to take this picture of her and I asked her why and she says "because I am pretty" And that was it..good enough reason for me. Hope she is still saying that when she is 16!!!


I added this one because as you will see there were no pictures of Macey in the "to come further down" pictures so I added one...Easter morning....bed head and chocolate faced..best look for 9 am if you ask me! Sporting her princess bling..she even got "pierced ears" (clip on earrings) with the set..she was super excited...mostly because she is a princess and believe me she has the princess role down 100%

OK, now to get to the topic at hand. I was loading pictures a while ago and found these pictures and I got a good chuckle out of them..

My son Colton took the kids outside a few weeks ago to play baseball.....My kids are funny and I am pretty sure the moment played out like this.

OK guys now before we play we must take our photo shoot......Colton's list of things for the shoot....Get camera - check .... get baseball glove - check.....lay on ground - check....take picture of it - check. Of course we can not go without the baseball glove, here it is in all its glory ready for a mean game of baseball.

Get bat - check....lay on ground - check....take picture of it - check.......


Get the cleats we won't really wear but still a part of b-ball - check...lay on dirty old carpet - check - line up together sooo nicely - check .....take picture - check.

Ok now that those pictures are done lets get down to business.....Halle go get the catchers gear on that is really dads umpire equipment and get ready....... er ....please. They always say please, my kids are always VERY polite to each other and use only the kindest of words.
Look at her very focused, deep in thought and concentration. She knows how to work that gear!!

Brett get the ball and pretend to throw it....please.....See again with the kind words, gosh are They are soo wonderful. Look at Bretts face sooo fierce, starring the enemy down....or just starring, he is ready to get the job done...he is going to make Colton proud for sure!! Oh wait, I think he sees a lady bug, he likes bugs.

O.k so lets not forget the self portrait.....look serious - check.....extra cool - check......cross arms in a "you 'da man" pose and then not get that part in the picture - check......

Colton, always getting done what he sets out to do....if its on the list, it will be done!

Bailey, the star pitcher. Get the Ball and start to throw at the phantom hitter.... look mysterious..pitchers are always mysterious so remember to play the part. Just make sure you don't throw the ball for real, that's danger and you can poke someones eyes out.

I tell ya just Look at that pose, very precise and lookin good. That's Bailey always doing it just way its suppose to be done. You can ALWAYS count on her to get the job done right!

O.k guys make it look good....Lets show them what we got..this is the team....

We call ourselves..."TEAM BALL" Just look at those kids, don't mess with them they mean business people!! PRetty sure they are growling...except for Halle...she always stays true to form and makes her best Halle face, that's right, keeping it real that's what she is all about. And P.S ..Bailey please (there it is again..really so proud of their manners) make sure your shoes don't match.

SO there you have it....Not sure there was a actual game played in the yard that day but a picture speaks a thousand words.
You can come to your own conclusion......