WICKED

The day finally arrived for us to take the kids to see Wicked in San Francisco. We were all really excited to go. Travis and I to see it again and the kids to see it for the first time. My mom and dad decided on Tuesday morning to join us on Wednesday night. (They had gone to see it the last week, but didn't have great seats so they decided to come with us).We all piled on the BART train to ride into the city. Calissa loved riding with Grandpa. We loved her riding with Grandpa too. Not sure Grandpa enjoyed it though.
Calissa was very excited (and pretty cute)!
Here we are in front of the theater. The kids loved it!! (Travis and I did too). I did have to get Calissa to stop singing along, but they sat enthralled for the entire 3 hour show. We were sitting in the very last row of the balcony, dead center. The kids had cushions to sit on so they were perched a little bit higher. The nice thing about being in the last row (of 5 rows) was that if they wiggled, or stood up no one noticed but us.

They caught much more than I thought they would. Parker should have worn his glasses, but could see most of it. Conner asked when we could go again, but sit down in the orchestra seats. I love that he wants to see it again, but don't love the price tag. We've got cultured (and lucky) kids (if I do say so myself)!

- Don't tell Travis, but I want to see it again too!

Bye bye birdie!

We arrived home last Sunday evening from our trip to Utah. We got the car unpacked and I came in to turn on the computer (because I might be a little dependent on my email) and noticed some spots on the back of the piano. I looked at the spots, looked at the ceiling, looked back at the spots and thought, "those couldn't have been there before we left." As I was pondering what they could possibly be, the plant (pictured below) started to move. I slowly backed away and called (OK, yelled) for Trav to come. I was telling him that the plant was moving and something must be in it as the family gathered around. Calissa said she thought it was a bird because she could see the wings and all of a sudden the bird flew out of our plant and started flying around our house! As we screamed and laughed we opened up all the doors in our house and after scarring us and the poor thing to death it finally flew out the front door of our house.(notice the lovely bird poop on our plant - still need to get that one off)

I called my parents while it was flying around and asked how it got into our house. My mom suggested the fire place and sure enough there were tell tale signs that it came down the chimney. After it was gone, I walked around and noticed that it had left "presents" all around our family room, living room and kitchen. Luckily I haven't found any "presents" in the rest of the house. YUCK!!!

Monday morning was spent disinfecting every surface in those rooms to get rid of the bird cooties!! The kids thought it was pretty weird that a bird got in our house while we were gone. We thought it was weird too. Who gets a bird in their house while they are on vacation?

Evidently we do!

Utah Fun!

Well, let the fun and lack of sleep start. We arrived in Utah on Saturday evening and had dinner, got settled in and made a run to Nielsen's for some concretes. YUMMY! We woke up Sunday morning (during the night) on the ground. Our air mattress sprung a leak and we were not very comfortable. I asked Travis if the 'ox was in the mire' and could we please go buy a new one on Sunday?? He found a small hole and we patched it and hoped for the best. (We ended up on the ground again and bought a new air mattress on Monday morning). All the family came over and Sunday and we attempted to plan our week. (attempted ...)

Monday we went on the slip and slide in Grandma and Grandpa's front yard. They were brave to turn over their beautiful grass to their rambunctious grandchildren. They had a lot of fun. The slip and slide was much smaller than the box portrayed, but as I told Parker, that's how life is! Travis and I attempted to fix the grass after they were done. Trav's dad said a few days later that it looked like someone was practicing their golf shots on the lawn.

Calissa couldn't get very far since she didn't weigh enough.

She did better as the afternoon wore on.
Kaisen and Conner showing off their skills.

Eisley, Jarom, Kylee and Parker

Monday night we went to the Raptor's game in Ogden. They are the single A team for the Dodgers. Here is the view from our seats. The Ogden temple is in the background.

They ended up losing, but it was a fun game. Thanks Rob for the great seats and food vouchers!!

Conner, Parker, Eisley and Calissa

Happy Birthday Grandpa Burr! He was a sport and celebrated his birthday at the ball park.

Tuesday, after much discussion and changing our plans several times, we decided to go to Boondocks in Draper for some fun times. They had go-karts, bumper boats, miniature golf, lazer tag, video games, etc. Lots of fun things to do. Kylee and Melanee came with us.

Had to put this picture in. Conner and I are in the yellow car and Trav and Calissa are in the blue car. This is the only shot we had where I was in front of Travis. Kylee is in the first red car.

Here is Parker in the grey and the rest of us. Calissa told Travis that he was going too fast the first two or three times around the track. Then, she said, "Go faster dad!" Conner just held on as we cruised around the corners and said, "Mom, you're going a little fast." We had a lot of fun on the go-karts. Wish we could have gone a second time, but the line got pretty long.

Parker and Kylee on the bumper boats (blue and white). Conner ducking on the red one towards the back of the picture.

Trav shooting Calissa and I. He was getting us good!!

A great miniature golf course.

Calissa, Parker, Kylee and Conner

Smile!

Wednesday we went bowling and swimming at the Bountiful Rec Center.

Cheese!!

We left the rec center and headed up to Kevin and Kellie's house in Layton. We went to dinner at Kobe Steak House in Ogden. What fun for us and the kids and what yummy food! Calissa was a little scared by the fire, but we had a great time. After dinner we went back to their house to visit and let the kids play.

Sam took Parker for a ride in his new car.

Conner watching as Sam backed them up.

Calissa and Abby going for a drive.

The funniest part of the night was when Sam decided to squirt Travis with his squirt gun. He kept getting closer and closer and was shooting the side of Trav's face while he just sat there. He was laughing and then he said, "Uncle Travis is crying." So funny!! Then, Uncle Kevin made us Reese's Peanut Butter Cup milkshakes. They were good, but not as good as Grandpa Romer's. We told Kevin that he could be the milkshake prince, but Grandpa was still the milkshake king.

Thursday we went to Jami and Tey's to play in the water in their backyard. Fun times. Then, the ladies went for pedicures and manicures.

Thursday night we went to the canyon for some dutch oven cooking and exploring. We always have yummy, yummy food!

All the cousins in one picture!

Maddie, Jarom, Kylee, Conner, Parker, Logan, Calissa, Eisley, Kennedy and Kaisen.

Friday, we went to see "Up" in Salt Lake. Grandma and Grandpa were having a sleepover on Friday night and we had Travis' 20 year reunion in Park City on Friday night. I threw out the idea that maybe we stay in Park City that night and enjoy a night away from the kids. Travis (and more importantly) and his mom agreed so we headed off to Park City for the reunion .

The reunion was at the Canyon's Resort in Park City. That's where we stayed too. We had a rocky stay in our room (didn't deliver an iron before we had to leave for the reunion, door going to outside was broken and once we finally got it open, had a really hard time getting it closed again, and our room was like 600 degrees - air conditioning broke the night before in the whole hotel), but we had a fun time.

The blue gondola going up the mountain is what we rode up to the reunion. It was beautiful up there. Travis enjoyed catching up with some old friends and I enjoyed meeting new people. We had a good dinner, watched a program that they had prepared and visited with people. After it was over we tried to rent a DVD, but of course, our room only had a VHS player, so we decided to head out to the movie theater at 10 PM. We saw The Proposal and had a great time.

The next morning, we went out to breakfast, and on to play at Park City. Travis had a gift certificate there from Christmas (Thanks Kellie!) and we decided to go on the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster. The coaster was new since the last time we had been there and it went fast!! Travis definitely beat me on the slide, but I think if we were racing I might have beat him on the coaster.

Once we got back into Bountiful we met up with everyone at the park for some baseball. Then, back to the house for a BBQ and homemade ice cream.

Lots of fun memories of the trip. We love spending time with Trav's family in Utah. Too bad it's only twice a year, but we make the most of it when we're there. They'd probably get sick of us if we were there any more than that, or if we moved there!!

Is Williamsport Calling?

Is Williamsport calling? Well, no. At least not this year. Parker was on the International All-Star Team which means that his team is the team that could go all the way to the Little League World Series. It was a great experience, but it just wasn't going to happen this year.He played with a great group of boys. Here they are before the 1st game, just hanging out.

They played their first game in Lafayette against the Walnut Creek All-Stars. They lost 15-5. Parker only got to play two innings and have one at bat. He made a great catch for an out in foul territory and almost beat out a throw to 1st on a hit. He did a great job. I was disappointed that he only played two innings.
Here they are at the start of game two at Continental Little League fields playing the Continental Team on Trav and my anniversary. (We had yummy tri-tip sandwiches for our anniversary dinner) Parker was a starter for this game and did a great job!

Here he is playing 2nd base. He's a ball magnet!

Up to bat.

Got a hit!!!

Parker played three innings of this game (probably would have played four, but the kid who came in hadn't had his at bat yet and couldn't go out until he had). Out of the 9 possible outs while he was in he made 5 of them. He showed why he deserved to be an all star. They lost 11-4. It was a really close game for most of it, but they just didn't have enough to come back. While the season ended on a tough note, we were so proud of Parker and the way he played. He should have no regrets because he did his best!

Maybe the Dodgers will be calling soon? Who needs Williamsport?

4th of July

We started out our 4th of July at baseball practice (where else did you think we'd be?) After Parker's practice we went to Todo Santos Park for Concord's 4th of July parade. If you say, "What 4th of July parade?" don't feel too bad, because we didn't know they had one either. Calissa's former primary teacher was going to be in the parade with the Blue Star Mom's and invited Calissa to ride along on their float. Calissa was very excited to be participating, so we decided we'd better go watch. Sitting on the sidewalk getting ready for it to start.
Wells Fargo

Calissa with Lady Liberty

Calissa with Fran Kelly (and her son - poster)
I promise she did have red on under her PINK jacket!

Red, White and Blue Corvette's

After the parade, we hung out at home, went grocery shopping (crowded), washed our cars and then went to some friends' house for a get together. We had BBQ Kabobs, fruit salad, pasta salad and chips. The kids swam in their beautiful pool and we relaxed in their gorgeous backyard.

Wish I had some pictures. I took my camera, but forgot to take pictures.

We watched the fireworks from the Singing Flag and some the neighbors did as well. Those were the biggest illegal fireworks I've even seen so close up. You could feel them as they shot off. Cool as long as they go their intented way!

We took off about 10 PM to head home since we had church bright and early the next day. Calissa asked if she could go right to bed. She was pretty tired. We had a great 4th of July!! Thanks Schmidt family for inviting us over!!

A Quick Trip

I love going to Pismo Beach ... it was even worth going for one day, but it was a lot of driving for less than 24 hours there! BJ and Chrystal and family went on their way home to Arizona at the end of their California vacation. We decided to head down with them and my mom. Unfortunately Travis and Parker didn't come with us, but Conner, Calissa and I had a great time! It is soooo beautiful! It was 68 degrees while we were there ... perfect weather!

We got there on Wednesday afternoon, checked in and then went down to the beach. Calissa had to change her clothes before dinner since she decided to get a little wet in the ocean. After dinner, we went to the Melodrama in Oceana. What a fun show and vaudeville!!
The next morning after breakfast we headed down to the beach again to play in the sand and water. (Kaylie, Chrystal, Calissa, Nathan and Maddie)

Conner and Calissa

Calissa loved the water. She'll love it even more on our cruise this November when it's actually warm!!

Conner in the hot tub.


I was thinking we'd head back down for a couple of days at the end of the month with Kevin/Kellie and Drew/Tina, but Parker and Travis will be at Scout Camp and would miss out again. That wouldn't be very nice, huh? Maybe we should wait and go in August when we can go as a family. Or, maybe I'll just go twice :)

Hey Now, You're an Allstar!!

Conner's all star season started last Saturday, June 27th in Pittsburg. They played a team from Oakland. We went in expecting that they would get killed (Conner and his coaches thought differently). We were just going with the past results from other 9-10 B teams. The 'A' team consists of 10 year olds from the Majors division. The 'B' team has mostly 9 year olds from the minor division. All-Stars is a fun experience. They get to travel to other fields, they get a special uniform and they get special all-star pins for participating.

Lining up for the national anthem, little league pledge and introduction of players.

Conner - Concord American Allstar # 54!

The first game they had an hour long first inning. The other team scored 19 runs in the top of the first. At the rate they were going, we were afraid we'd be there for four hours! They scored one in the bottom of the first and then held them to only six runs in the next three innings. There is a 10 run mercy rule, but only goes into effect after they've completed four innings.

Conner played left field the first game and got one at bat. He hit the ball into play, but got thrown out at first.

His second game went much better. They played a team from Walnut Creek and came back to 8-6, but ended up loosing 15-6. A victory in spirit, if not in reality. They were able to play the entire six innings!! Conner played 3rd base in this game and got a double down the first base line to score one or two runs. (I'm sure Conner could tell you for sure!)

All-Star season is over for this year, but I'll bet he'll be an all-star again next year too!

Great job Conner!!