Life with the Ball's
The Adventures of Randy, Mel, and the Boys
Friday, April 26, 2024
Ethan’s a Man Now
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Family Temple Trip
This event deserved a post of its own. We went to the temple with everyone (except Marcus) during spring break. I'm sad to admit we've never gotten all of us together to do this yet. Someone is always missing! But this time we felt complete, or at least as complete as we can be while Marcus is in on his mission. Marcus saw this picture and actually felt bad because we all looked so happy without him. I told him we still miss him terribly :)
I couldn't get us an appointment until 8pm but we decided to see if there was room for us before dinner time. Unfortunately there was a huge group from Seattle gathered in the waiting room so I quickly rushed my family down to the baptistry to get in before the crowd descended. It worked! Landon and Parker were baptized by Ethan while Henry and I explored the beautiful temple grounds. If you'd like to know more about what happens inside the temple, go HERE.
Since Henry isn't old enough for a temple recommend to do temple work, he and I explored the gardens and had way too much fun together. I died laughing at all the faces he pulled as he pretended to hate the beautiful flowers.After we explored all there was to see, we went into the visitors waiting room. It was so quiet and peaceful inside and we had about twenty minutes to kill so I read Book of Mormon stories to him. Henry loved the illustrations of stories we talk about frequently, especially the pictures of battles. He asked questions and listened so intently. I know I will never forget this experience with him and look forward to doing this again after Marcus comes home this summer when we really will ALL be together. Personally, I love going to the temple and attend every week. The peace I feel while I'm there extends into the rest of my life and I find myself looking forward to going back again and again. Heaven feels so close in the House of the Lord.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
We Survived Spring Break
Landon was a good sport through the whole thing. I keep forgetting he's almost in high school. I still think of him as one of my three littles.
Tuesday we had a whole lot of funnish adventures. I dragged the boys to the Kraken practice facility to see the professional hockey team practice. It was free, the facility is super fancy, we got free stuff, and I had fun watching while talking to my friends. It was also really loud as pucks were flying everywhere. I didn't realize how loud hockey is.
I invited some other bored friends to join us before they went out of town.
Friday night I got a break while Randy took the boys to Top Golf. I like Top Golf but staying home was even better. I read a book and felt so blessed.
On Saturday, Henry and Parker woke up early and squeezed in about five hours of screens/Fortnite with friends. By the time I got home from my stuff they were losing their minds but they didn't know it. Henry was seriously a disaster. So I did what any desperate mother does. I drove all the way into Seattle to take Henry to the science museum. I hate museums but the science one isn't terrible. Plus, every kid needs to see the naked mole rats. Luckily, we never made it past the huge play ground. Henry doesn't even remember ever going there and he was in heaven as he climbed all over the place. He even bribed me to buy him shave ice. Which he took one bite of and then ran off to play. We lasted a couple hours and wore him out enough that he fell asleep on the drive home. Hooray for a screen free afternoon.
Watching Henry play at the park by himself is going to be my future for the next five years of my life. Hooray for caboose babies that don't have siblings close to their age to play with. I tell myself Henry and I will become best friends. I'll let you know when that happens :) He is pretty good at reminding me multiple times a day that "I'm the worst mom in the world."Thursday, March 28, 2024
Mexico - Part 3
Mexico Part 2 --Isla de Mujeres
We decided to explore Isla de Mujeres, and tiny island off the coast of Cancun. Our GPS took us to the wrong ferry parking lot but that ended up being a blessing. A guy approached us in the parking lot to give us directions and when Randy told him we were looking for a ferry boat, he said he'd take us over in his own boat for the just a little more than the ferry tickets. It took half the time, we didn't have to wait in line with hundreds of other people trying to catch the next ferry, and he brought us back to Cancun after our day of adventuring. It was a major win!
We rented a couple golf carts to explore the tiny island. It took me about three minutes before I quickly let Ethan take the wheel.
We drove through the crowded streets to see all the shops and restaurants and then went in search of a less-crowded place for lunch. We scored again! We ended up eating at a beach resort where we sat at a table on the beach and a watched as a chef made us fresh guacamole at our table. It was heaven! And all the boys tried the guacamole too so clearly they understood just how amazing the whole experience was.
One side of the bar had swings to sit on and the other side behind the bartender was the pool with stools to sit on in the water. After we finished eating lunch, we had the pool pretty much to ourselves.
We should've spent more time at the resort because after we left, there wasn't much left to explore while we waited for our boat to come back. But we saw some Mayan ruins and beautiful overlooks.