Basketball season ends

Basketball season actually ended a while ago, but I wanted to post a few pictures anyway.
This one is the most accurate depiction of Nathaniel because being the tallest boy he spent most of the games in this position.
That was his job most of the time and was the thing he was best at.

And here we have him fouling another boy--though surprisingly he didn't get called on it.

Of course our favorite part was the redneck coaches I have previously mentioned. Specifically the main coach here in the gray (I was most disappointed he chose the day I was taking pictures to wear a clean shirt.)
He said a lot of funny things during the season but the one we liked best is when he yelled, "Come on ref! Use the whistle for somethin' other than holdin' your teeth apart!"

There was a general series of laughter from the stands at that one and Peter and I had to hold ourselves together.

Good hardworking man, our coach. Tellin' it like it is.

I did hope Nathaniel would find his hidden talent in basketball--but alas he did not. He did learn a lot, and did improve, especially because unlike the other boys he had never played before and was very lost at the beginning because he didn't speak basketball lingo yet.

Peter and I have not given up home that he will eventually get used to his height and loosen up a bit so he can achieve more fluid coordination, but for now he is doing track and we are thrilled with that. It is good for a kid to do a hard thing.

Pioneer Woman?

Yesterday Peter was supposed to be flying in from California around noon. We were going to go from the airport to an area near Bountiful to pick up a new mattress. Our last one ended up being terrible and developed two indentations so miserably fast that half the time I ended up in the guest room in the middle of the night.
Since we also have a piano to purchase this year I was determined to find a good deal on an almost new Temper-Pedic mattress. They don't come up terribly often, especially in a king, and so I was excited when a couple bought one only to find themselves a few months later moving into a house with a master 1/2 the size of their present one. Their loss--my gain!
I had already borrowed a truck when I get a call from him around nine in the morning telling me his flight has been canceled and now he won't be in until almost 7:30pm.
The one time we have had plans for the day he returns and the one time his flight has ever been canceled. Nice one Murphy.
I only have this pick-up for one day and was determined to use it for what we needed to--man or no man. So I roped Sarah into helping me drag our present mammoth mattress down the stairs and out to the truck so I could haul it out to the dump myself. I felt kind of guilty dumping this completely brand new looking mattress out there but knew I could never force the miserable thing onto anyone else. Picture April driving a truck with a giant mattress stuffed into the bed like a sad little "u," and then backing it up to the dump pile to manhandle that baby out the back.
Oy.
The other reason we needed the truck was to pick up some trees to replace the ones that died along our back fence. I had seen the ones we needed for a smokin' deal at Home Depot and they were going fast--so off I went and got the trees. Nathaniel, who finally got back from a day at the BYU Pow Wow, was then enlisted to help me get these obscenely heavy trees out.
My neighbor friend came out and said I was awfully ambitious. Peter tells me I would have made a good pioneer woman. I don't know about you, but I do this all the time. I always have. If I wasn't independent it would never do for us anyway--Peter has been gone too much for that. I take on major projects all the time when he is gone even more because he isn't around to trip over them or harass me about my nutty ideas ("Why do you have to do this now??") and though I occasionally reflect on just what others might think of it, or what I may be signing myself up for, I usually go ahead with it anyway.
I know I'm not the only woman who does this. I believe women all over the place are silently waiting for their husband's absence to start their secret projects.
Poor Nathaniel has of course wondered at my sanity as I he watches me try to reassemble a bunk bed or rip out large amounts of sod because I just couldn't wait for Peter.
"Why are you always doing this stuff without Dad? Why not just wait?"
Why? I'll tell you why. Because lets face it ladies, there are times when if we waited for the men to get around to it, it may never be done. The flame I light under his rear sometimes just fizzles out.
(Love you sweetie!)
Thanks to our school district moving our spring break back a week I take my kids solo to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. This means that I--Miss Directionally Incompetent, will be driving to Aneheim, going to the beach, staying in a hotel for a couple of days, and playing at Disneyland.
Alone.
Let's hope I'm not going to eat my personal declaration of independence.

My stroke of genius

The other day I went to the store and couldn't find my ATM card. Weird because for years I have always keep it in the same place--a little black cigarette case I use for my cards.
I really didn't worry too much about it because I was pretty sure the last time I used it was to order something online.
But still. I wanted to find it.
Looking under/around the computer I had no luck. It just didn't make sense to me that I would have just left the card sitting there anyway.
You know that feeling of stupor you have when there just isn't any other place to look?
When I told Peter he kept trying to talk me into retracing my tracks, which was very frustrating.
"I know exactly where it was! I don't need to retrace!"
He wasn't listening. I swear sometimes he thinks I have just lost my mind.
So there was only one other alternative-- and that of course was John--
but when I asked him he didn't seem to know what I was talking about and I really believed him until I started to walk away and he mumbled, "Maybe Venom took it."
What I did not know about this Venom fellow is that he is a kind of alter-ego for Spiderman.
Hmmmmm...
Suddenly it was like the fog in my mind cleared and I knew exactly what he had done with it.
A few days before I had let him do some of Peter's shredding and we came across a card. I showed John he couldn't put it through the paper slot, but had to put it in the other one.
He must have felt the need to do that again. Which means he had to have taken it out of my purse, reclosed the case, and put things exactly as they were before he slipped down to the basement, turned on the shredder and put it through.
I just have to say I thought it was awfully clever of me to figure this out.

Thank heaven it wasn't my driver's license.

My son is funny (the other one)

John has taken to a bear he calls Spencer.
"Mom, Spencer needs a raincoat. Make him one."
"Mom, Spencer is cold at night. You need to make him pajamas."
Bummer that mom doesn't sew clothes.
Well this was cute and I thought it was very sweet of John to care for his bear so lovingly until I found it blindfolded and hogtied the other night.
"What the heck John?"
"We were playing."
Very weird we all thought and so Nathaniel took the opportunity to tell John that it would be a good idea if he didn't feed the bear because then it would become real, like on the Velveteen Rabbit. Except the bear would be ostracized by society as a freak of nature and come back to want to kill his creator like in Frankenstein.
Not so very long ago I had to read Frankenstein for my British Literature class and not only did I think this was a very interesting application, but I found it hilarious.

Sometimes Nathaniel can be the typical annoying one-word answer teen that we are all familiar with, but a good deal of the time he is very talkative (to the point of demanding my attention NOW) and nice to be around. And the best thing is that he absolutely kills me with his sense of humor.
Of course, you know how I do love to laugh.
Here is a typical drawing of Nathaniel's I find lying around the house:

"Attack of the Giant Ape People"

I find these a lot. At least this one is not gory or anything.
The other night Peter was in town and we went out for dinner and a movie, which is something we very rarely do as a whole family, but it was really fun. We saw "Alice in Wonderland" (which was awesome, I thought--love you Johnny--amazing as usual) and then out for dinner where the conversation somehow turned into kid jokes. Sarah asked what has four legs and flies. The answer was a horse. Har har.
Nathaniel thought of a new punchline. So here goes.
What has four legs and flies?
A poop with legs.
I may be juvenile, but I laughed a good long time.

Stitching

This is my latest excuse for staying up late. Started a project last year during Woman's Conference and have done several more recently. With the tax season in full swing I can finally afford to frame them!
Unfortunately so much cuter in person, but the pics will have to do.

My humanitarian day

We had my favorite Relief Society activity this Saturday--Springville Stake Humanitarian Day! This is an interfaith activity so there are women from different churches around the community and tons of projects going on. I'm sure there were over 200 women there.

For 4 1/2 hrs. I sewed like a mad woman on my gloriously fast Juki on cute stuff like these t-shirt dresses. (Take t-shirt. Sew material onto bottom. Done! Who knew I could sew clothes?)

After we sewed the dresses other people took them and painted decals on the t-shirts.
It was so funny to hear this one woman yell, "Heh! I just learned to decal a shirt!"
The little decoration added just the right touch and will make some little girl in Haiti or Chile feel very pretty.

Which brings me to the very best part of Humanitarian Day, when a random older woman, whom I've never seen before in my life, glances down at my name tag as she passes by and whispers, "A pretty name for a pretty girl."

Let's discuss this shall we?
First of all, she thinks my name is pretty.
Don't get me wrong, I like my name. But still.
Second, she thinks I am pretty.
Isn't that the greatest thing to hear?
It has been way too long for me I think.
Third, she called me "girl."
Which is awesome. Because this year I turned 35.
My son is 14 and I'll be married 16 yrs. in June.
(Not to mention that my memory must already be going because I thought we had been married 16 years last year. Peter is constantly reminding me that my medication affects my memory.)

But to someone, somewhere, I looked like a girl.

And then she just smiled and walked away. It happened so fast I'd probably never be able to recognize her again.

Good food for thought, says I.
What a difference something so small can make!
That will keep me going at least a week or more.

I think good things about people all the time! Why don't I tell them?
No time like the present, I guess.