Birthday Buddies

We celebrated Landon and Parker's birthdays this year in style!  Their Utah buddies were staying with us for a couple days so the celebrating felt like it lasted a few days.   Randy took the morning off work to take the boys and their friends boating.  Naturally it was the one morning when the sun didn't shine but oh well.  We bought a ton of breakfast food from McDonald's so the boys pigged out while they surfed and tubed.

Battle Tubes--no one died and only one injury!

Forced fun with their RC cars since I made them turn off screens

Landon eating his steak dinner on the road so they could make it to their golf session while Parker hosted a huge party.

Parker invited 13 boys over to watch Kpop Demon Hunters and didn't realize when he planned the event that it was his birthday so he didn't tell anyone!  The bonus room smelled like stinky boys.

After everyone left, Parker had Marcus shave his head.  Best idea ever!  This kid hates doing his hair and now he doesn't have to.  It's a win!

Key lime pie for Parker.  Happy 13th Parker!

Donut for Landon.  Happy 16th Landon!

And the day after his birthday, Landon got his license.  Hooray!

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.

January Little Things

January was pretty uneventful.  We didn't have a lot of rain which I appreciated because I'm training for a half-marathon and the weather determines how pleasant/unpleasant the training experience is.  Every once in awhile on a pretty day, I take a picture to send to my college boys to remind them how beautiful WA is and how ugly Utah is so maybe one day they will want to move back home.  Temporarily, of course.

The daily grind of piano practicing is back in full swing.  Henry is actually really good!  Parker is too but he loathes the piano.  Marcus and Henry will probably be my only piano players.  So sad.

Landon is so good about putting in the daily grind of practicing lacrosse and one time Henry decided to go with him.  These brothers are so cute!

We still can't get over all the fallen trees when we go on mandatory Sunday walks.

Randy spent a couple weekends buying tools/supplies to build a temple in the garage.  

The seminary kids will fill in the walls with popsicle sticks that they earn by reading their scriptures.

I've been influenced!  I bought a weighted vest and Parker was having fun with it.  I think it's supposed to help with perimenopause stuff but I just liked the idea of wearing it around when as I do laundry and clean the house or for going on walks with friends.  I haven't noticed any benefits but do I like it?  Yes!!

Parker is playing rec basketball and he's actually pretty good!  We go to the church a couple times a week to work on his shots so he can be an actual weapon on the court.

I signed Henry up for lacrosse.  None of my boys have started this young but Henry needs stuff to do since he doesn't have a neighborhood full of kids to play with.  He's actually pretty good!

I went skiing and that's Parker in the red coat

That's Henry in the green trying to block Parker from being in the picture.  Oh Henry! 

I love my pink goggles!  And skiing with these two was pretty fun!

Marcus played on an intramural inner tube water polo team with his girlfriend.  I got all kinds of excited remembering when I played at BYU.

WE won!  And I still have the championship t-shirt to prove it.  Also, back then if you wanted to swim in the BYU pools you had to wear one of their standard issue swimsuits.  They were always baggy so we'd often wear our own swimsuits underneath them.  Kids have it so easy these days!

Henry is such a good reader!  He's actually way above his grade level and it's so cute seeing him read at Parker's basketball games.  We both bring books to read when Parker isn't on the court.

All the Fall Things

All the fall things happened pretty uneventfully.  Henry played soccer with his best friend Jack and Randy helped coach.  Parker finished his cross country season with only one rainy race.  Landon went to homecoming and has become a sometimes-grumpy teenager.  Landon started shaving and insisted on specific instruction from Randy.  The other boys just figured it out on their own after I told them the basics.  Landon also finished his drivers ed course.  Now he just needs to learn how to drive without killing anymore deer.  Yes, you read that right.  He hit a deer in Randy's new Audi.  You might be wondering how many Audi's the Ball family will continue to wreck before getting a different car.  I wonder the same thing!  You might also be wondering how much we pay for car insurance for four cars and five drivers.  It's a lot and makes me question why I had five kids.  I'm not kidding.  And in case you didn't know, deer actually make noise.  I wouldn't call it talking but it turns out in the split second when you hit a deer with your car, it makes a crying sound that will haunt you for the rest of your life before the impact takes its life.  

Henry and Jack with all their donuts and end-of-season treats.  

When bribed with donuts, this team scores goal after goal.  Otherwise, they really don't care and it's hilarious to watch.

Henry's tongue!!

Ethan came home for a weekend and cheered Henry on, then carried him off the field on his shoulders as they headed to Panda Express--Henry's favorite place to eat. Brothers are the best!

Parker's first meet

finishing strong

I've been watching cross country finals for years!  So glad it wasn't in the rain this time.

Landon confidently asked this cute girl to homecoming during one of the football games.  He was hoping his freshman friends would follow his lead but they were too chicken.  Things got pretty stressful the week before the dance when there wasn't much of a plan but it all worked out.

New suit courtesy of Amazon

Landon doing big boy things is still weird to me

Pictures and dinner at the Plateau Club.  All the kids ordered salads for dinner since it was the cheapest thing on the menu :)

Clean shaven...luckily he has super blond facial hair so shaving every couple weeks is probably enough

Cute little Henry playing the piano.  I finally got him a teacher because the battle was not something I could handle with him.  He loves it and is actually really good.  Also, I love that he stands at the keyboard.  

Happy Fall Y'all!