Easter

We made it back from Seabrook in time for Randy and I to attend a concert by Jenny Oaks Baker, an incredible violinist.  She performed with the Ensign Choir, a local choir made up of LDS singers in our area.  The performance was so good!  It was a great way to get into the Easter spirit.

We took the boys to the temple to do baptisms.  Henry hangs out with me in the waiting room and then we go out to dinner afterwards and we've been doing this almost every month.  I love it!

Easter means spring and the views outside the kitchen windows are stunning!

The boys have learned a lot about the events during Holy Week.

The 2nd Annual Easter Egg Decorating competition.  

Ethan picked the winner who was pre-selected to be Henry :) This was the first year I can remember that we didn't do an egg hunt on Easter.  It was raining and one of the families canceled because they were all sick so we just had a delicious Easter dinner instead.  A few days later the sun was out so Henry and some friends hunted for eggs.  It was actually a great idea to postpone the hunt and prolong our Easter fun a little bit.  And I never got a picture of the boys on Easter.  Oh well.  Who cares about dingy white shirts and mismatched ties?

Seabrook 2025

We went to Seabrook for a few days over spring break.  We've been there once before and didn't love it but this time was pure magic.  Now I know why people rave about this place and want to go back again and again.  Seabrook is the tiny little tourist town with quaint little beach houses that are mostly privately owned and rented out.  The whole place looks like you've stepped onto a movie set and feels surreal.  I found us a small AirBnB that wasn't crazy expensive and the weather was sunny, which made all the difference.  Randy was still recovering from the flu so he slept a lot while the boys and I played on the beach and swam in the new, heated pool.

This is just under three hours from our house.

I always get a laugh of the awkward photos Randy takes of Landon :)

Our place came with beach cruisers.  Parker and I had so much fun riding them around while Henry scootered.  We were right by the beach, the town center that had shops, restaurants, and an arcade so it was fun to just send the boy there when they wanted.  Last time we stayed farther away and had to drive every time we wanted to go do something. Location made a huge difference.

We struggled to get our kite in the air 

Randy didn't struggle.  I think the wind changed :)

We are really getting used to having three boys around.  I no longer feel like a traveling circus act.

Over priced ice cream at it's finest

You know you're the youngest/spoiled when your dad takes you to the arcade and actually pays so you can play the games.  I usually just make my kids watch.  The arcade is actually a genius idea for those rainy beach days.  But the sun was out for us so I was just annoyed Henry managed to get more screen time!

We slept in and they didn't. Notice the bag of chips in bed.

Our impressive sand dollar collection

The new pool and giant heated hot tub were so much fun.  There was also a gym and Landon showed me how to use all the machines.  We had fun working out together while everyone else was sleeping. 

The Little Things

I'm back!! Life is moving full steam ahead as we are limping along to the finish line of the last day of school.  It's definitely the calm before the storm when summer chaos/boredom hits so I'll be blogging a bit over the next few days.

Henry and Parker are still taking piano lessons.  Parker HATES it with a passion but is so close to being able to play the hymns that we are persisting and trying to be loving to each other.  It's not really working.  Henry won't admit he loves the piano but he practices every day without a struggle and he's flying through the books.  It's actually really impressive.

Henry also did something normal and age appropriate for once by ordering (and eating!) a Happy Meal.  Parker is a super picky eater and Henry is learning he doesn't have to be and actually likes hamburgers now.  Hooray for normalcy!  Henry was a little disappointed with the toy that came in the meal.   I think he was expecting something much bigger and better so that was funny.

Randy had the flu.  It was bad.  He actually had to cancel patients at the office for two days, which has never happened.   He was home in bed for about four days but was still sleeping a ton and taking it easy for more than a week.  Get your flu shot, people!

We replaced our cheap Costco hot tub that we've had for ten years and bought a nicer one that better last twenty years.  The guys installed it but didn't hook up the electrical so I took it upon myself to figure it out.  I needed Randy to do some drilling and then once he saw my much less than perfect plan, he did the work and hooked it up like a real electrician would. Go Randy!  I assisted by making two trips to Home Depot.

We got a new boat!  We sold the other one and got this one that's HUGE!  It's only a foot bigger (23') but it feels enormous, especially if it's just our little family of five in it.  We still share this with two other families and we lost the compromise on the exterior colors so sparkly blue it is.  Yay.

Parker is my only son who kind of knows how to cook.  He can make spaghetti by himself.  Here he is learning how to make a chocolate bundt cake and it was delicious!

Landon is THE MAN

Landon made the Varisty lacrosse team as a freshman!  This is a HUGE deal! It doesn't happen every year so we were thrilled when we found out.  Landon has been putting in work for years to achieve this goal.  He practices every day and has even had me drive him to the junior high late on Friday/Saturday nights so he can "hit the wall" (lax lingo for throwing the ball at a brick wall and catching it on the rebound).  His teammates all love him and are so proud of their Freshman Phenom which is what the announcer calls him every time he scores a goal.  

Here's a true story/mom fail:  I was driving Landon to his first game and I was surprised he seems to calm and not nervous.  I asked him to tell me what guy he'd be going in for and he said no one.  I got a little annoyed and told him "I know how this works.  Some other player runs out on the field at the start of the game and when he gets tired and comes off the field then you get to run on.  Who is that player so I can watch for him to run off?"  Landon got annoyed and a little mad as he responded, "Mom, there is no other guy!  I'm starting!  I'm the guy who goes on the field first!"

My jaw was on the floor.  I said, "You made varsity and you're STARTING?!?!"  I had no idea.   All this time I'd been celebrating he made varsity and would probably be a bench warmer.  I'm the worst sporty mom there ever was. Landon started in his first game and scored a HAT TRICK!  That's 3 goals which is no small feat.  I literally jumped for joy and my friend next to me said, "I'm crying for you Mel! I have tears!"  It was a great night to be Landon's biggest fan.

Trying on his new pickle suit

Celebrating our newest varsity player with dinner from Habit Burger

Landon's seminary teachers (and some of my favorite friends) came to cheer him on

Fist bumps after his first varsity game

Landon with his BFF Cooper who is the Freshman goalie.  These two are so happy to have each other and the boys are so good to them because they really are sweet little Freshman babies.

Spring break trip to Texas where the hazing was minimal

It's always easy to spot a Ball Brother in a lineup.  They are not tall!

Landon in the white, walking off the field after a win that he contributed to.   The team was losing when Landon got a tough goal that changed the momentum of the game.  We quickly scored a couple goals in succession, and another goal by Landon, to put us in the lead and lock in the win. 

Landon sets goals and knows that hard work pays off.  He wrote in marker on his mirror to make the varsity team.  He also wrote a favorite scripture next to it "I can do all things through Christ".  This boy knows how to get things done and Who to trust to get him there.

Henry the Newest Lacrosse Player

Henry started playing lacrosse this season on a team with kindergarten-2nd graders.  He was skeptical and nervous but I told him all he would have to do was go to one practice and then he could quit.  I knew he'd fall in love with the sport, just like his brothers did and I was right.  He is loving it!   He is also the cutest little bobble head lacrosse player on the team.  Don't underestimate this little guy.  He's fast and he want's to score more than anyone.

His teeth have finally started falling out!  He's lost three teeth since we started daily growth hormone shots, or as we call them "butt shots."

Henry is also obsessed with all things Panda.  He wrote a couple books about pandas and loved reading them to his college brothers over FaceTime.

Here is Henry's beloved Panda collection--a Panda pen that he bought with his own money, panda erasers, and panda fidget toys.  He makes sure they're all lined up and in their proper place every night before bed.  

Henry watches a lot of lacrosse games

He even got me to buy him popcorn to eat while we watched Landon's game.  I'm such a sucker for cuteness.  

The Champion

Parker managed to do what no Ball brother could do that has gone before.   Parker's team won the championship basketball game for rec basketball!  No one could be more surprised than we were.  His team was not great.  At all.  But it's rec and that's fine.  They lost about half their games.  But none of that mattered because all that counts is winning games in the single-elimination playoffs and you're good to go.  And that's exactly what happened.  They came.  They played.  They won.

Parker is also in the middle of another fun lacrosse season.  Pictured above was when Parker was in the penalty box for two penalties.  Another first for the Ball Brothers.  Parker is sporting the number 45 because he's the 4th out of 5 brothers.  Get it?  

His team wins about half their games and Parker gets about half his shots in the goal.  He's really good at dodging and telling the coaches when he ready to sub out :)  It's hard to believe my sweet little Parker is almost a teenager.  In my mind he's still a sweet 7 year old obsessed with Legos.

I Ran and I Ran Fast-ish

 

I ran the fastest half-marathon of my life!!  I still can't stop smiling about this.   I've been running for a long time so to get a PR is not something I ever thought I could do.  But I beat my fastest time from twenty years ago and it felt awesome!  

I've been training hard and stacked up the miles on my long runs pretty early so I've had a few extra weeks to really feel prepared.  I've done all my runs on trails/roads around Sammamish which means a ton of steep hills so my pace has always been slower than what I'd like so I decided for my last long run I'd run along the race course which is a paved trail around Lake Sammamish and it's super flat.  I ran the ten miles almost a minute faster per mile than what I'd been doing on my previous runs and still felt great.  That's what gave me the crazy idea to go for a PR and not just try to run the race.

The night before the race I sat down and calculated that if I ran an 8:38 minute mile I could break my record half-marathon time of 1 hour and 53 minutes.  I've gotten a 1:53 in two races but those were literally twenty years ago!  Yes, those race courses weren't as flat as this one but who cares!  Like a true pro, I wrote the times on my arm so I could do my best to stay consistent.  I woke up feeling great and loved having a friend with me so I wasn't lonely at the starting line.  

 I wore an old race shirt to keep warm until the race was about to start, then tossed it in the trash before I started running.

I started strong and I finished strong.   The weather wasn't terrible although it rained on us most of the race.  At each mile marker I was within a few seconds of my predicted pace, which was so awesome to be that consistent.  I stayed with the same group of runners until about mile 10 and then people started to drag.  Right about then, my friend surprised me by showing up to cheer me on and took the photo above.  It was just the motivation I needed so I cranked up my music, prayed, and picked up my pace.  I felt Lindsey right beside me.  She was always my favorite running partner.

My much younger friend Tami, finished about a minute in front of me and here's her cute family cheering on the runners.  

At the finish and I was still feeling good but so glad I was done!  I'd been following that girl behind me the entire race but she started to drag when I dug deep and passed her.  Boy did that feel good :)

I got to ring the bell!!

Here's me at Target a couple hours later, sporting my race medal.  Yes, I was that proud that I wore it all day!  I wasn't even sore the next day and that felt like a huge win too.  Hip, hip, hooray for old ladies doing hard things!