Look What My Girl Can Do

I love determination. Q has been asking all summer long if I'd take off her training wheels. I told her she had to keep practicing going up hills and over the drive-way bumps before we'd try two wheels. Well, I finally decided that I needed to get rid of the extra security and see how she would do. I think she did just fine, don't you?

Where Has The Time Gone?

I swear summer just started, and here we are getting ready to head back to school. Life has been crazy at our house...who has time for blogging? So now, because of my slacking, is one major long blog, with picture over-load. If you spit on pictures of my kids and recounts of their daily life, stop reading now.

All-Stars
Treyson made the 9-10 year old all-star team again this year! He absolutely loves the game of baseball and was excited to extend his season. His team played great! They easily won their first three games: 17-3 over Snow Canyon, 15-6 over Washington, and 10-0 over Dixie. They went into the championship game as the #1 seed, but really struggled that day. They ended up losing twice that day, to finish in 2nd, behind Washington. I'm proud of their team; second place in state is not too shabby!

*On another baseball related note-Treyson (and Tanner) played in a tournament with their travel teams at the end of July. Treyson hit a GRAND-SLAM!!! Pretty exciting day for him!

Park City

The Esplin family reunion was in Park City this year. We stayed at a nice cabin in the mountains above the city. We had a smashing game of wiffle ball (Quincy has quite the little swing! She amazed us all!), particiapted in family olympics, attended a (cancelled) Utah Beez game, and spent a day at the Winter Sports Park. The kids loved riding the alpine slide and the zip line. Nate and two of his brothers even were brave enough to do the bobsled! They were quite proud of their finish time and spent the rest of the night analyzing how they could have done better. The Beez game got cancelled due to illness, but we were able to watch a home-run derby that was led by up-and-coming player Bryce Harper (he was on the cover of SI and is only 16 years old). Bryce even signed a ball for each of the boys and gave Tanner one of his batting gloves. A few years from now, that glove will be worth some money. Bryce is being called the Michael Jordan of baseball, so Tanner is cherishing that glove.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I HATE mice. Is it any surprise that it was me that was trapped in a bathroom with one while at the cabin? I was just gettting ready to go to bed and went in to use the bathroom. While locking the door, I thought, "no one is going to come in, why lock it?", but did it anyway. Maybe this is too much info, but while I was doing what needed to be done, a mouse appears from under the cupboard. I immediately screamed (not caring that it was 12:30 am and that I might wake up someone), and had three brother-in-laws race to my rescue (Nate was outside sleeping with some of the kids). I quickly got my pants up and stood on the bathtub. The mouse kept trying to get out of the door, but was stuck in with me. I finally had to climb over the toilet (which I somehow remembered to flush), and over the sink to open the door for the guys. Once it was open, they proceeded to attack the mouse with two brooms. I stared up at the ceiling not wanting to see what was happening. Apparently there was a lot of blood and insides on the floor and wall. Luckily I had a dreamless night that night. I still get the shivers thinking about it. Yuck.

We also celebrated cutie-patootie Parker's first birthday and had family pictures taken. We had a great time and are so grateful that we can get together each year.

Kissin' cousins (Max and Jane)

Girls Camp

I love working with the young women! I'm sure I'll be released sooner than later (I got called to be the cubmaster-yuck!-about three months ago), so I'm so grateful for any opportunity to hang out with these cute girls. We rocked it hard at the dance, laughed lots, ate lots, and just had a lot of fun together. Love these girls.

Fun at the Cabin

While Teri was here with the kids, we were able to go spend the night at the cabin. You would think that since it's only a twenty minute drive, that we'd be up there multiple nights a week, but no, something called baseball tends to take every waking moment. Thankfully, there was a night with no practice and we got to party with the cousins. The kids had a great time fishing, riding the four-wheelers and roasting marshmallows. I loved just getting away for a minute and just vegging. Hopefully once all-stars is done we can return, but I won't hold my breath. There's always another tournament to practice for, right?

Slip Sliddin' Fun

While Alayna and Tim have been off cruisin' the Alaskan waters, we've been able to play, play, play with her cute kiddos. The kids have been wanting to do the slip and slide all week and we finally got it out today. I think Dawson was in heaven-his smile was priceless!

Future Hall of Famer

Being the baby, Max tends to go to a lot of ball games that don't include him being in the line-up. That hasn't stopped him this season-he has spent ample time hanging out in the dug-out trying on everyone's helmets and carrying around their bats. One game, while we weren't watching, he even tried to walk up to the batter's box; helmet on, bat on the shoulder! We think this little slugger is pretty dang cute and can't wait to watch him when he finally gets a turn.

We Love the Red, White, and Blue!

We hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July! We had a great day being together-parading, barbequing, and fireworking. I love my little firecrackers and love creating memories and traditions with them. We were even lucky enough to have cute Dawson and Madelyn here with us while Alayna and Tim are cruising in Alaska. Quincy's been counting down the days.

We are the Champions! (Insert singing here)

After going 12-2 in the regular season, Treyson's little league team tied for first place! By coin flip they received the first place spot for the tournament round, and after three games of intense play, they came away the champions! The final game was kind of ugly (our #1 and #2 pitchers had used up their pitches in the Wednesday game and were unavailable to pitch in the final game). Luckily, the pulled it out. The boys were pretty excited. Each of the kids improved tremendously. They had great coaches that made it fun. Trey had a great season, ending with two home-runs and many triples. He spent most of his time at either pitcher or shortstop and is now just hoping to get a phone call from the all-star coach tonight. We love spending our nights at the fields and don't know what we're going to do with all of our free time. I just might have to start cooking again.

This is what Max found to entertain himself this week.