While the Cat is away....

I mentioned in my last post that Brooks had gone out of town for a while, but I never said why..... well here he is, with his three brothers who all surprised their dad (for his 70th birthday) with a big ol' golf trip to Alabama. Casey (his brother) really and truly had the best idea ever to get this all together.

While there, they also went to visit the home where his dad was raised. (yes, those are all of them in their Sunday clothes.....some forgot to pack clothes for church. haha)

We would get texts from Brooks on the updates of the golf game (whoever lost had to sleep on the floor in the hotel that night) and also any animals he saw while golfing. This guy Brooks got to come within 5 feet of him feeding him some beef jerky.

And you CAN'T send a picture of a TURTLE to the kids and then not bring it home!!!! They were so sad. haha

And nothing says, "Happy 70th Dad" then hitting him in the head with a golf ball. RA drove ahead in the golf cart and Brooks' ball acted like it had a tracking device for his dad's head because it went straight for him and got him in the back of the head with a HUGE CRACK.

So to the ER they went to get it scanned to make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding..... but how many sons get to say they get to put a staple in their dad's head?!?! I mean really......

 We got a lot of pictures of them eating out

 And of which seafood they were eating that day....this was the crawfish night. (glad he got it out of his system since I will never be making that)

The scenery was beautiful, Brooks said. Not surprising though because everything here in the green ol' south is breathtaking to me. 

 Only my husband can rock stripes with plaid shorts and not care.....

Gabe and Brooks won overall so here are the winners getting their handshakes from the losers.

The two winners congratulating each other. All these Smith boys crack me up.

But BESIDES getting an allergic reaction all over the body, when the cat's away the mice here..... PLAYED. Baseball that is......

It turned out the Championship game was while Brooks was gone. The whole tournament was exciting and Bronson's Majors team made it to the final game. (he's the top right)

We all loaded up and went over to watch Papi play with our boiled peanuts and gatorades in tow.

Because I was a little too into watching the game and then texting Brooks all the updates I don't have any pictures from the actual championship game!! How sad. It was intense and emotions were high (the coaches and fans) but his team ended up losing. So sad. I've had a kid in this league's championship game each year we've lived here and none of them have ever come out with the win.

Anyway, here's pics of Bronson from the rest of the season where usually started as pitcher. The rest of the game played catcher. 

He always had so many little voices yelling "GO PAPI!" when he went up to bat that some of the fans started calling him Papi for the season. haha

With baseball season over we just look at each other thinking, "what? a free night?" We miss it,(I LOVE baseball season) but are also enjoying all the laid back impromtu fun we can now have.

GO TO CHURCH

Please. Just do it. 

Because if you DON'T go to church, then you will pay DEARLY.

THIS, was the lesson I learned yesterday.

Let me back up..... my throat had started bothering me Wednesday/Thursday. Brooks went out of town Friday and my Saturday I was convinced it was strep. I felt awful and knowing church was the next day I needed to get some pills called in and enough in my system so I was feeling better and no long contagious. I got my pills, thankfully. That night we had a nice relaxing movie night watching "Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No good, Very bad Day".

By Sunday morning my throat DID feel better but I had a horrible stomach ache with cramping so I laid down a bit in the morning. I wasn't sure if it was not eating hardly anything the day before (not wanting to swallow) or medicine making me sick or what. Regardless, the "serpent" beguiled me and I decided I didn't have it in me to sit up straight and handle all 8 kids during the first hour of church. 

I would just show up when it was time for them all to go to class and time for me to do the music for the Primary kids. 

As I mentioned before, GO TO CHURCH. If not, bad things happen.

Well during the time the kids would've been loading up in the Yeti to get to church on time, Emerson was climbing in the magnolia tree outside. Screamed bloody murder and told me he got stung by a black bee. He's been stung before and never yelled that loud. Apparently this bee packs quite the sting.

Next thing I know, CAMDEN comes in with three stings from the same kind of bee. Two on his belly and one in his hair. They puffed up a little but nothing different. I told Camden to hop in the shower before church.

Meanwhile I got the younger kids all ready for church. I came in to tell Camden we were all ready and waiting on him and he hopped out of the shower and said, "Mom, I just itch everywhere!"

I took one look at his back (where he did NOT get stung) and I knew we had a problem.

He said it felt like his lips were swollen and it was hard to swallow. I don't panic much, but this is when I obviously started to worry. I looked at his face and he had small bumps and I could see things swelling but I was mostly concerned about his airway.

I quickly called Brooks (who is out of town) and while on the phone with him Bronson comes into the bathroom with blood DRAINING out of his mouth. Apparently his molar fell out and wouldn't stop bleeding. I was just glad it didn't get on his Sunday clothes. 

I could see Camden's whole body starting to get the rash before my eyes. I jumped in the car to go buy some Benedryl at the pharmacy down the road. Turns out my battery was dead so I took the Yeti. I came home loaded him with Benadryl and stayed close to Camden so he could keep me posted on his mouth and throat. Got everyone in the van and we headed to church.

I was just going to be out in the van with Camden to keep an eye on him until I had to go in and teach. When I took the kids to their classes Royce said he had to go to the bathroom. While he was IN the bathroom his aim got a little off and ended up getting his pants, underwear and shoes all wet. 

I was LUCKY that someone had just given me a bag of girls clothes in the van. I went through it and found some heart/navy blue shorts and turned them inside out and found his Spiderman rainboots too. Score. Here I am taking him BACK inside dressed like this.

Camden said he could swallow normal now (what a relief) but it was crazy watching his rash go to a raised/spotty thing.

(in the van during church)

I guess our tire was going awfully flat and had a hole in it. A man in the ward (church congregation) saw it and INSISTED on me stopping by his house to patch it. It was Brother Leckie (70 years old) who has come to my aid MANY times and most often when Brooks is out of town.

While he did that my kids got to play with his son's goats and turtle named Salvador. They really were having a blast.

I ended up leaving there with eggs (from their chickens), goats milk (my kids LOVE it), zuccchini, squash and a private serving of Sherbet made from goats milk. SO tasty!!! My day was starting to turn around. :)

It was nice everyone was so worn out (or doped up on Benadryl) that the little ones napped and a few of the older ones, enough that I could rest when we got home. 

During dinner Emerson said, "We're like that family on the movie last night. All these terrible things happen during the day but we still end up having fun and laughing at night".  

It was sweet. We were having a nice evening playing in the rain, having game night and eating but I think we were just all more entertained with Camden's changing skin. He call him the "Red Dalmatian"

 #owningit

 Had we just gone to church when we were supposed to then I probably wouldn't have ended up with a spotted child. Poor kid had to suffer the consequences of my choices.

The moral of the story is..... GO TO CHURCH

Update: I had a friend tell me that after reading this post it reminded her of this scripture and I can't TELL you how hard I laughed at it and thought how perfect and "spot on" it was:

Doctrine and Covenants 59:9

 9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

Outside Family

It's no secret my family is happier when we are outside, so here's a bunch of outside things from last week. I had gotten a $15 pool from Walmart and has been the BEST idea in this 80/90 degree weather. Emerson comes home and just maxes and relaxes in it........like it owns it.

Everly LOOOOOOOVES it and screams (SO SO SO loud) when you try to get her out. This day I happened to have her in her regular diaper and ONLY coaxed her out of the pool for this riding toy.

I couldn't stop laughing at her full-to-the-brim diaper.

Seriously, she KILLS me. I love this picture so much.

We also have two mulberry trees in our backyard that I'm obsessed with. Well, the whole family is. 

Anyway, Aleeya, EVERY day when she gets home picks me a whole cup of mulberries and comes inside with purple-mulberry-picking hands.

And since she's out there for basically a hour everyday her legs, face and everywhere get painted too.

The sweetest thing is she LOOOOOVES mulberries but she picks more for me and Brooks to eat. She says it feels better to give them to us then eat them herself.

And that says a LOT because her top three favorite things (she told me) are:

1)Jelly Bellies

2) Oreos

3) Mulberries.

She's naturally such a giver and service-oreiented.

We also had time for a family walk through the woods to catch frogs and Camden actually caught a little snake too, which of course he let Kellyn hold.

Get used to the whole frog thing Everly......it's how we roll.

And while they were (unsucessfully) catching tadpoles I became the appointed frog-holder.

What has become of me?......

14 years

WHO WANTS TWO SAPPY POSTS IN A ROW?!?!? So I will TRY to keep this light. 

But on May 18th, Brooks and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary!!!

It's crazy, and fun, and it doesn't feel like we are old enough, yet I can't remember life without him very well. He's just too easy to be with and lean on and apparently I need him.

*shoot, it's getting sappy, must. change. focus.*

Our kids knew it was our anniversary, so they assumed we were going out that night. But after we had Family Home Evening and the kids were like, "Um, we haven't even had dinner yet" that's when we told them we were going out to eat as a family for our Anniversary (what I wanted was to have my house all clean and KEEP it clean by not having to cook. Win-win)

We went to Stevie-B's which is a pizza/pasta/salad buffet place that actually has my favorite Loaded Baked Potato Pizza. It's pretty amazing.

Well, it WAS until the DARN TV showed this commercial.....

So it's hard to see, but while I was eating, it was NOT hard to see. It was a 1/2 hour long infomercial on this machine that gets all the chappy stuff off people's heels. I stared at feet being "shaved", basically, and then stared at my pizza and couldn't eat another thing. Oh well, the kids ate plenty.

And outside there was a full arc rainbow. I love rainbows because they remind me of God's promises (Noah-story) and I smiled thinking of Brooks and I being married in the temple and how we were promised to be sealed for all eternity. 

Next we surprised the kids by pulling up to Gravitopia (trampoline place) because that's really where we wanted to go. Where ELSE would we be celebrating our Anniversary?!?!!? 

But don't think for a SECOND that picture was easy to get. It was kinda like marriage. Some moments are perfect and other times of marriage and life go like this.....

Or you are off rhythm .....

But overall still having fun regardless.....

Oh wait.......not ALL of us were having fun. Royce got stuck in the foam pit and had a hard time getting over it. hahaha

I LOVE watching the kids have fun though, plus I enjoy playing WITH them. (parents against kids won in dodgeball.....we killed them....and I was even the last one standing)

Aleeya is pretty talented on the ribbons too.

Mostly I just followed this man around and watched him.

I'm kinda lucky and plus, wherever he goes,  that's where the party is anyway.

A Treasure

I recently received a treasured picture to me.

You see, Brooks is the head coach of Camden and Emerson's minor league baseball team this spring (don't ask about their record). He FINALLY has a schedule that he is able to do that and he really has been so excited to do this for YEARS!!!!! We actually never order the overpriced sports pictures, but I guess the coaches get a free 5x7.

Here it is:

Did you notice anything unusal about this picture?

Yea, I know, Brooks, nor Camden NOR Emerson are even in the picture.

So why is it a visual treasure for me that I plan on keeping forever?

Because of what it stands for.

Commitment. Obedience. Priorites.

This picture is from Opening Day of the season (hence the pants that are still white). Opening day in this league is a HUGE deal. There's games being played because EVERY team plays that day, free things being handed out, booths set up, balloons, team pictures, etc. 

The boys were all looking forward to it since it was on a Saturday last March. Well, a huge rain storm came the Friday before and was supposed to continue that Saturday of Opening Day (which it did), so all the games were moved to Sunday.

I was touched that when the boys heard the games were moved that they just had comments like, "Guess we can't go",  "Too bad", "I don't think they can win without me, but they'll have to try" (Camden said that of course), etc. 

They. just. knew.

I find no fault in other people who participated in those games that day because they haven't made the covenants and promises my boys (and husband) made when they were baptized: to keep His commandments (including keeping the Sabbath Day holy), and always strive to live righteously to keep the Spirit with them.  

So when I look at this picture for many years to come, I will get teary-eyed (as I am now) knowing I'm pretty lucky to be married to a man and have awesome sons that try to put Heavenly Father first and that are PRACTICING being obedient to the commandments so when harder things are asked of them later in life that they will have the habit and the spirit of obedience already in practice. That's the best gift a mom could ask for.

Oh, and if you were wondering...... they lost by 2. When Camden heard that he said, "They would've won if I were there."

Aaaaaaaaaand, guess we need to start working on humilty next.........

Scout Camp

It's hard for me to believe I have a 12 year old who is old enough to go to overnight scout camps.....and it is even MORE hard for me to believe that my husband (who works with the youth young men in our church) actually GOES camping with them. Hilarious if you ask me.

But it IS nice because I have someone who can take pictures for me so I can get a sneak peek at all the fun he has.

These 12-14 year old boys were all given some cardboard and plastic things along with tape and were assigned to build a raft. Then were were going to race against the other 7 groups/wards from our church there. 

Here are the four boys with their raft.

And an upclose of the raft. If you are anything like me, then you would be thinking, "ummmmm, not sure if I could see that floating long enough to race!"

 They came up with a plan to have the two lightest boys (Bronson and Liam) be the ones to race it, so here they are putting it into the water (you can see another group's raft behind). They came in all shapes and sizes!

And they are off!!!!! (apparently it had rained the night before and through the night so it was a murky day)

They had to go over to the island thing and back and here they are coming back........neck and neck with one other raft (that looks more like a canoe!)

AND THEY WOOOOOOOON!!!!!!

Bronson's smile in this picture is PRICELESS!!!!

And what do you do to celebrate your group's win? Well you push the rower in the water, of course!!!!

Testosterone.......sheesh.

Aaaaaaand there he goes.

Is this bad that I giggle whenever I look at the picture Brooks took of the other group's boat that didn't make it ?.... hahaha

Aaaaaaaaaaand they are going camping again this weekend. They go once or twice a month so Bronson is in heaven, obviously.