BATTER-UP

Saturday was Johnny's first game of tee-ball. The team (The Red Sox, even though they wear blue) have already played three games so he is coming into the season a little bit late, but we thought it would help him get ready for next year. After this game we have realized that we may need to go over the rules a bit. When he played 1st base he would fight the runner to be the one to stand on the base. When he was in the outfield he went for a ball that two other players had already gone for, but when he got there he jumped on the pile and was not getting up till he got the ball. It was more like a fumbled football. So we need to cover the fact that they are all on the same team and working together. It was fun to see him throw the ball he really does have a pretty good arm. Everyone standing on the side lines were amazed at how far he could throw it. They also kept saying they needed to get a clock on that arm. Overall it was a good experience and so cute to watch.

My favorite picture

Johnny is baseball ready, with a cute little bum .

This is him and another player a bit side-tracked


Batter-up

Going home

Cute new uniform

Island Adventure

Two weeks ago we took a little trip out to Calleva's island which is in the middle of the Potomac river for those who don't know. As we paddled down we noticed these beautiful bluebells smothering the island and every where else. We did not have our camera's with us but decided that we would come back for pictures this past Saturday the 19th. It was a great time and the scenery was breathtaking (this time of year it always is). The kids had a blast gathering bluebells and climbing up and down the treehouses that Calleva has built on the island. Between Jen and our family we took tons of pics and we narrowed our's down to these. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

One small incident happened while paddling home. Big John steered us right into a rock and we ended up sideways against it. The boat slowly started to turn backwards and before we knew it we went over a rapid backwards and flipped. Yep, you said it. John, me, Johnny, George and James dumped out of the boat and into the cold Potomac. John was able to save Johnny and James rather quickly but when we went to rescue George (who was in front of the canoe) it took him under. We were both a little nervous and sort of laughing at the sight. George was the only one who didn't cry, yet he probably had the most tramatic experience amongst us all. After that little episode we think Johnny and James are done with canoes. Jennifer and Nick were kicking themselves for not videoing the ordeal but did manage to take some pics after the fact. We will post those later.

Moral of the story:
Don't take a rapid backwards or sideways unless you want to get DUMPED!!

Just being goofy

I love his blue eyes

Cute smile


Best Kiss



Love this





Bluebells


The wiggly bridge






The island we canoed to was covered with these beautiful bluebells.










We made it across the wiggly bridge.

So picturesque!










Handsome

Cute

Best buds

Am I done

I'LL TAKE A STAB...

(By Johnny Miller)
1. Song that always makes you sad? Lucille by Kenny Rogers
2. Last thing you bought? We just bought the boys their summer pair of crocs. They love the things.
3. Last person you argued with? Kelley. Dumb stuff
4. One of your stuffed animals' names as a kid? I did not have one but defer that question to Billy, Jody McCords gay roommate who had 300 stuffed animals on his double sized bed. puke!!
5. Did you ever own at one time own a Michael Jackson Cd? CD no.. Record yes.. To this day I think that is Jill's and mines biggest fight. Dad bought it at Kmart and we both wanted it. I lost that fight and it stayed in the bad breath room of Jennifer and Jill.
6. Favorite day of the week? Friday
7. Did you take Piano lessons? Yes.. Some lady by mountain view theatres and Sister Sullivan. I think she asked me once if Jennifer could swim well.
8. Most frequent song played? Right now? Probably, "It ain't me babe" by Joaquin Phoenix. Sorry Johnny Cash, Joaquin is better.
9. T.V. show you secretly enjoy? Saved by the Bell.
10. Favorite scents? James' head after a shower. Kelley's perfume, yummy.
11. Date someone older or younger? Married someone younger. I don't date, salvation is to important.
12. One place you could travel right now? Anywhere with a beach
13 Favorite time of the day? Purchase order time, that means I am making money.
14. Do you know all the words to the national anthem? Sure
15. Something you're wearing right now? Hot garms and bball shorts
16. Job you've had? Keuken, Keuken UP, (you just yelled that in your head if you know what it is, didn't you), busboy, Abercrombie guy, heavy machinery operator, MADD satellite manager
17. Did you go to your high school prom? Not Senior prom just Junior prom with Mary Coons.
18. Perfect time to wake up? 8:00am
19. Perfect time to go to bed? 1am
20. Favorite soda? Pepsi (no diet)
21. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, with dad and Jek around the corner from the Belhaven house.
22. Closer to mom or dad...or neither? Come on!! dumb question
23. Who would you want on a deserted island with you? Whole family, Sadie included.
24. Have you been bungee jumping? Nope, but would love to but only in New Zealand
25. Favorite ice cream flavor? Usually anything raspberry. (Ben and Jerry's Doonesberry)
26. Do you have an article of clothing you have had since you were in high school? Yes. Its actually Doug's sadie Hawkins striped Polo that he wore when he dated the blonde girl. Still have it and where it on occasion.
27. Did you play high school sports? Tennis, Baseball, Volleyball. Got kicked off of Basketball.
28. Were you ever in a school talent show? Nah!
29. What are you allergic to? Outside in the springtime.
30. Have you watched sex and the city? The clean version a couple of times. not bad
31. Fun place you lived? LV, Maryland, Cedar City and Provo
32. Do you shampoo first in the shower or soap? Shampoo then soap while shampoo does its job.
33. Wet the toothbrush or brush dry with the toothpaste? wet, apply, wet again.
34. Blue or black ink? Blue ball point
35. Have you ever gambled at a casino? Yes, and on a cruise ship. The last cruise I went on Eric gave me $5 and I walked with $160 on craps.
36. Have you thrown up on a plane? Nope.
37. Have you thrown up in a car? Nope.
38. Favorite cartoon as a kid? Xmen,Voltron and HeMan.
39. favorite childhood tv show? Full house, saved by the bell, Eyewitness news 8 with Paula Francis and Gary Wadell.
40. Who was your first roommate? Travis Howey, Buddy Stoddard, Adam Clark
41. What alcoholic beverage did you drink when you got drunk for the first time? Virgin Pina Colada. VP baby!!
42. What was your first car? 81 Honda Prelude.
43. What was the last movie you saw? Cool Runnings
44. How old were you when you first moved away from your hometown? 19 for the mish.
45. Who was your first grade teacher? My Grandma
46. Where did you go on your first airplane ride? Phoenix for a Suns game with Dad, Jeremy and both Jeff Coopers. Scared to death to go cause I thought the plane would be hijacked and end up in Israel. Don't believe me, ask mom.
47. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was it with? Probably, Jeremy
Cooper, Loren Jolley, Chad Kennedy, Bronson Mack, Justin Vaden, Jesse Moffett, Abe McCormick, Ronnie Venucci, Clay Bloxham and maybe Clayton Scrivner. I probably missed a few others.
48. Who was your first Best Friend and are you still friends with them? Jeremy Cooper and yes
49. Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day? Kelley, Jen and Jill. Mom and Dad on occasion. My psychic hotline.
50. Who's wedding were you in the first time you were a bridesmaid or a groomsman? Was I a groomsman at Jen's? I hope you said no to that Jen when you saw my hair. Go look at old pics if you're confused.
51. What is the first thing you do in the morning? Push snooze four times.
52. What were some concerts you have attended? Garth Brooks, U2, Lollapalooza, The Specials, Neds Atomic Dustbin, Live, Morrissey, The Killers, anything else at the Huntridge.
53. First tattoo or piercing? Thank goodness for Bruce at Valley Mill. if he would have given me the day off back in 93' i would have gone with Matt Markoff and gotten Blanka from Street fighter on my hip. Phew!! Glad I didn't make that mistake.
54. First celebrity crush? Elizabeth Shue, Karate Kid.
55. Question from Johnny... Dad? Do you want to hear a joke? I hope that ends real soon.

I tag Kelley, Rob, Nick , Doug and Rebecca, The Whitakers and Howey's if they ever check the blog, Mitch and Pope Benedict the 16th. He recently made a stop in DC and now I feel close to him.

COMING SOON TO A BACKYARD NEAR YOU...

This view has been a long time coming!! I just love when spring and summer are upon us and the view out my back door returns. It is so fun to watch the cardinals, yellow finches, woodpeckers and bluejays come and feast at our birdfeeder. The squirrels love it too but they destroy the birdfeeder and knock a lot of food to the ground. Got to fix that this year. The greenery is wonderful and refreshing and someday I hope I can have a nicer deck so I can enjoy it even more and find some time to sunbathe..lol. I am definitely a spring summer and fall kind of girl.

To good to be true

They're back!! Talk about an answer to prayers. I prayed that the best case scenario would happen, and truly I don't think it gets better than this. The cars were found not more than a minute away in a neighborhood I have never been in. Miraculously, nothing was stolen not even the GPS that was sitting right on the dash. Nor was my wallet, cash or goods that were in the cars. They sat there for three days with windows down and unlocked and still nothing was stolen. The thieves did however run the cars bone dry. We had to get a gas can to fill one up so we could get it to a gas station. The other amazing thing is that the police officer did not follow protocol which means that we got them back much sooner and we did not have to pay $500.00 to get them from the police impound. We feel we were very blessed and lucky to have them both back with no harm done.

Surprise

This is the view I had this morning looking out my window. Do you see what is missing. Well if you guessed our cars you would be right. John took out the trash this morning and came back up to the room and said "The cars are gone." "What!!!" I said. Then I went to the window and surprise they were gone. At first I was thinking what day is it, April fools, NOPE. This was unfortunately no joke. We went to bed with cars parked in front of the house and we woke up with none. Couldn't they at least have left us one car? It stinks when any ones car gets broken into, it really stinks when someones car gets stolen, but it is down right awful when both your cars get broken into and stolen. Note to self don't leave wallet, cash, or valuables in the car. I have learned a valuable lesson, or should I say expensive. Hopefully, they will turn up and with not to much damage. The heart breaker was when we told the boys and little J said "I guess we can ride our bikes." Sorry honey your bike was in the car. That was one sad boy. It was a really good bike. So for anyone out their be CAREFUL.

Happy Valentines Day to Me.

This was my great suprise on Valentines from my cute husband. Talk about a shocker. I could hardly believe it. My jaw dropped wide open. I thought it was beautiful, but it was the very last thing I expected. I think I asked, "Is it real?" Mostly because I have had a beautiful ring for the past eight years but have not worn it much because it had some diamonds on the inside that poked through. I must have gained weight in my fingers,(who knows) but I would get indents on my fingers when I took it off. I hated not having a ring so I ordered myself some fake rings that I could rotate depending on my mood. I guess he had had enough of the fake rings. So he surprised me with a brand spanking new ring with a eternity band to go with it. I have always loved those and wanted one. He totally surprised me with these two cute kissing dogs, with the ring inside the heart. I feel like I just got engaged because I keep looking at it and watching it sparkle. What a wonderful husband I have, and what a good job he did (so proud). The reason I am posting this in March is because I just got it tonight after having to be sized two times. I am so excited to wear it and love my husband so very much. What a thoughtful sweet guy I got hitched to.

Aahhh, so sweet.

The picture does not do it justice. I had know idea it was hard to take a picture of diamonds. Maybe they are just to sparkly. This is the only one I could get somewhat in focus. If anyone has any tricks or know how, I would love to know.

I love Spider Man!

Some highlights

Happy 4th Birthday!!!

George had a very spidey day.

It was so fun to see George and all his friends dressed up as superheros. To celebrate the big 4th birthday we did all the traditional games. Duck duck spider man, pin the web on the bad guy, spider man pinata, a web fight with string cans, and a good book to keep them entertained while waiting for the pizza. He had so much fun opening his presents. He is really good at receiving gifts. Everyone he opened he would say, "Oh I LOVE this." "I've always wanted this, THANKS." Or, "Awesome this is GREAT!" It was so cute. I am glad however that we only do a big friend party every other year (phew). George is getting so big and so smart. He is fun to hang out with. He is quite the artist, and is good at writing his name and others. He gives lots a hugs and kisses, and is my little snuggle bug. I hope he doesn't grow up to fast, and I sure love him.

Superhero Christmas

I went a bit themed this year. The boys all got superhero piggy banks, pj's, and quilts. They absolutely loved it all though. It took a lot of really late night hours and hard work from Me, my Mom, my sister Kenna and especially my sister Corrie to finish these in time for Christmas. I would like to tell you all that helped thank you so so so much. I owe Natalie a big thanks for stiching around the emblems they look great. Also sorry I brought such a big project home for Christmas I had no idea how hard and intensive making quilts would be. (Lesson learned) They turned out very cute though. The backs are made of this minky material that is so soft, and the sides are lined with the satin edge which also feels so good. (great idea Mom) These were definitly not the cheapest blankests but it was worth it. The boys absolutely love them and sleep with them every night. When George opened his he gave me the double pump with his arm and yelled spider man blanket awesome, thanks so much mom I love it. They carry them all around and use them when they want to get cozy. I am really glad we all stuck with it. As for the pj's George has worn his pretty much every night since he got them, and the other two have got plenty of use as well.

Superhero piggy banks

All the way from N.Y.C.

Superheros!

James as Batman and his quilt.

George starring as spiderman and his spiderman quilt.

Johnny starring as Superman

and his superman quilt.

New Hair Cut

Here you go mom. I tried to get some different angles but I think it looks better in person. Its hard to take a picture of the back of your own head. It is really weird not being able to put my hair in a ponytail. I think I have had the same hair for 10+ years so it is fun to have a change. I am recording this hair cut so if I ever want it again I will have pictures of what it looks like and how I want it. Johns sister Jessica in Las Vegas cut my hair and I don't think I have ever had so many compliments in my life on a hair cut. I am pretty sure she could have a big clientele if she moved out here. She did a good job because I can sleep all over it and wake up in the morning and have it look the same. I don't even own any hairspray.

The first snow

Yesterday was the first snow we had this season, and the boys could hardy wait to get out in it. We dug through our winter stuff and actually found enough to keep us warm. We went over to this big hill and the boys had a lot of fun going down, but it was a bit rough getting them back up. They slept really good last night. Johnny and his cousin Mitchell went down the hill standing up on the sleds and I have to say they did really good. I think their ready to try snowboarding. They had no fear and they even had some hard crashes.(especially Mitchell) They got back up and kept going. We had a good snowball fight, which isn't really fair since John can hit about anything he aims at.(it doesn't matter if you're 5 feet or 35 feet away) It was a fun time which made it very hard to get the boys to pack up and leave. Attempting to build something

Mitchell


Johnny

George

James

Wicked Awesome New York

I LOVE NEW YORK! All the girls
Me, Niki, Jill, Jennifer, Chris, Natalie

Right after Wicked, which was the BEST!

New York at a Glance

I just had the best time in New York with 5 awesome ladies. We stayed in the Burkdorf hotel which was very nice and on the far outskirts of time square, much to Natalies chagrin. Let me just say that Natalie you are the BEST, and Matt also. This was a magical trip for me and long over due. We started out on the Vamoose bus which is the best way to get to New York form here. It was only 25 bucks and it only took 4 hours, and those pass fast when your talking with friends. Then we hopped into a cab with our driver Napoleon who ripped us off and got his thrills out of trying see how close he could come to almost hitting people.

We checked in to the wonderful hotel and then headed off to shop on canal street where I got suckered into buying a bit of perfume and a purse. I just have a hard time saying no. Then we went back to the hotel after some grub and got into our flannel pj's and socks that Natalie surprised everyone with. We all crashed hard and didn't wake up till 9 which was nice for a change. Today we took an awesome bus tour of New York and had a really good tour guide that was smitten with my sister-in-law Jennifer. He kept taking pictures with his really big camera. It would be really fun to see them, especially since he is a fashion photographer. This is one thing I love about New York everyone does more than one thing. By the end of our touring we were freezing. We hopped off the bus and went to see Wicked which was so so good. I can't wait to see it again. The actors were amazing. Then we went to the highly recommended Ellen's diner, from the bus guide. I am so glad we listened because it was so much stinking fun. I recommend this as a must to anyone going to NY. The waiters and waitresses sing and dance. They are all trying to make it on Broadway so they are really good and really entertaining. We stayed there till they closed at one, and where practically the last ones out. This really fun waiter at the end even dedicated and sang a song just for us girls, but I think Jill enjoyed it the best. I think she has a wild streak in her, and if she had any alcohol in her she would have jumped up there and started dancing and singing. This was my favorite day on our trip. The rest was great also. We saw lot of neat window displays that just blew me away with the neat little details. We went to top of the rock which had a good view of NY and was fun to see at night. We stopped by the Rockefeller Christmas tree to see it all lit up. We saw Mary Poppins (cute). We had good food and lots more fun. I was in the best of company and had the best of times. I LOVE NEW YORK!
Till next time.

Entertainment Straight from New York

Johnny's invention

Johnny is very into inventing and building things. He worked really hard making this contraption. He found all the different pieces of wood and did all the hammering by himself. Then him and George brought it in to paint, and add the finishing touches. It was a lovely present they gave me when they were done. (aren't they sweet) Johnny acts tough and is strong but he is the biggest sweetheart. He is the one who will make sure to give me a hug if I am sad or hurt, and he is the first to cry and miss me when I am gone.(maybe the only one to miss me) He really thinks of others and has a fun personality. You never know what he is going to say. I just love him. Not sure what it does, but it sure is pretty.