My sister-in-law, Holly, and her kids came to visit us this summer and we had so much fun. We took them down to Bass Lake for a little swimming and I got both Holly and Crystal to have a cannonball contest with me. 
Here we are getting ready for the big jump...you can see how excited Crystal was. :0)
One, Two, Three....ready....GO!
Who says moms don't know how to have fun???
Unfortunately, Haylee didn't get to play at all in this first game, but it was fun to watch the girls work so good together out on the court. They won the game with no problems and were set to play the next night. 
We took them back to the hotel for some swimming as that was Landon't main requirement for the trip. :0) Litte Paige had never been swimming before and couldn't get enough of the water. She was so funny splashing around in the kids pool, too. 
The hotel we stay at has a little 1 foot deep pool for little kids to play in, which we enjoy as Kenzee can play freely. Crystal and I didn't suit up, and figured we could just watch the kids enjoy themselves in the water. Well, little Paige had a different idea. 
She got a little overzealous and fell face first in to the middle of the kiddie pool. Now, she can stand up on her own, and she knows how to walk....but I think the whole shock of her face being underwater stalled her a bit too long. Crystal ended up having to jump into the kiddie pool to save little Paige. Of course, since the pool was only a foot deep, only her feet and bottoms of her pants got wet, but still! 
And Paige....yeah...she couldn't wait to jump back in. That little girl is busy! Besides that little snafu, all went well and the kids had a great time. 
The game was a tough one. I think I yelled and screamed more than I have in a long time. Haylee got in a bit of playing time and it was so fun to watch her play. She is such a good player, and with only being a freshman, I can only imagine how good she will be as a senior. 
It was really close all the way through, and in the end, we thought we would come out victorious. We were up by one point with seconds left, and we ended up fouling one of the girls on the other team. She made both of her foul shots...and well....we lost by those two foul shots. 
I felt so badly for the girls, and especially Haylee because I have seen how hard she is on herself. They still had one game left the next afternoon to try to make a slight comeback. They wouldn't be able to take first, but they could come close. Crystal decided to come back with her kids for that game as well. 
We were all pumped and ready to cheer on the girls. Jaysen even got Kenzee a state t-shirt with Haylee's number on it. :0) 
Haylee played quite a bit during this game and showed off her wicked awesome basketball skills. :0) 
Yes, she totally made the shot here. :0) 
At the end, the girls beat out the other team and took 3rd place in the 4A Idaho State Girls Basketball Tournaments!
It was a bittersweet win for them, though, as they lost out on a higher ranking by a one point loss. No matter what, we are so proud of you Haylee! You played well and Mackenzee told Jaysen she wanted to be a basketball player like you when she was bigger. :0) 
And, not only that...but I think Landon got a few pointers from watching Haylee play as well. We hurried back home after the last game so that Landon could still play in his game. We made it just in time too. But, Landon was far more defensively aggressive than he ever has been. I mean...hey...if girls can do it so can he. Right?
And then on Tuesday they were gone all morning shopping for things they needed for a project my mom was working on. So, I didn't get to go out and visit until 2:30ish. But then I had to leave at 5:00 because of Landon's scout meeting, so it wasn't for very long. And yesterday, my dear son decided he needed to be sick and stay home from school. I didn't want to get new baby sick, so there was no way we were going out to visit with my sicko. Miraculously, he felt better around dinner time so we were able to go out around 5:30ish. But, it just wasn't long enough! :0) 
The short time we did get to spend with her was nice though. I know my mom LOVED having them stay with her so she could be a grandma to them all. We miss them so much since they moved away last summer. I enjoyed holding Paige immensely as well. :0) She loves me. Seriously...I'm her favorite. :0) Landon was quite taken with her as well. 
He was dying to hold her on Tuesday, so we got him all set and he just stared at her for a while with a big goofy grin on his face. Kenzee held Paige a few times as well and "helped" Nana rock her to sleep last night. She couldn't get enough of her. Crystal got Kenzee to tell me that she wanted a baby sister...but just so you all know...this is still not going to happen! I will enjoy holding my new neice and soon to be new nephew {Jaysen's brother is expecting a new addition to his family in a few weeks as well.} and be content.
Anyway...it was great to have you here Crystal! Sorry we couldn't visit more! But I'll see you in a couple of days!
It all started Thursday night with the long drive to American Falls.
Landon: "Mom! It's not here! I forgot iiiiittttt! {tears are flowing}
Me: "Well, dump everything out of your case and see if you just missed it in there."
Landon: "I already did! It's not here and my batteries are going to die!"
Me: "I'm sorry. I told you to check EVERYTHING before we left and you said you did. You'll have to do without this weekend."
For those of you that know my son, you know EXACTLY what this is about. I'll clue in the rest of you though {just because I'm so nice}. Landon only gets to play his Nintendo DS when it's his weekend with his Dad Jeff. As it just so happened to be one of THOSE weekends, he was excited to get to play. {Not that he hadn't been playing for two hours already that day because he had no school and I needed him to be quiet while Kenzee napped}
ANYWAY...the poor guy's WHOLE night was ruined. Hug, kiss, be good...call me if you need me! I promise to bring the cord with me when I come get you on Monday! His tears have quieted to just sniffles now. What can you do?
I get home in time to hear the last part of our neice, Jordan's, first game at the Idaho State Basketball Tournaments up in Boise. Rough game that was. We had to listen on the radio again and you could barely make out even the important details. In the end, along with a headache from straining to hear the announcer, we get the final score. The Tigers lost by one point in overtime. We were devastated for poor Jordan. The state title would not be theirs. BUT! Silver lining...if they won their next game at 3:00 on Friday then they could play for the Consolation prize on Saturday morning. Our plan was to leave the next day at noon so we could make it to that next game to cheer on our Tiger.
For those of you that know ME, I don't do well when I'm rushed. I like to plan things out, check and double check my checklists. I can't help it. So, even though we knew we were going up on Friday to watch the game, I had just figured that they would win their first game and play at night on Friday. Which would leave me plenty of time of Friday to get everything done before we had to leave. Now that we had to leave at noon I knew I'd be running around with my head chopped off Friday morning. I hate that. We ended up making it through the door on time, but not without Jaysen wondering if I was "ok" and going to make it. :0) Between rushing to the bank to get cash for the games {and finding I had left my ATM card at home GRRRR!}, running to clean the car out at the car wash {that took a while....my car wasn't pretty}, going to get the oil changed, filling up the car with gas, packing the bags, packing the car....Whew! Done!
Off we go! We made it to the game just in time to watch them warm up.
Gage, Jesse, and Kaden...all mesmerized by the flamage. Note the sunglasses that Kaden brought to shield his eyes with. :0)
Here is my dear Mackenzee AFTER the chefs were gone. Notice the red cheeks. She made me cover her eyes while she buried her face in my neck the WHOLE time. She is sitting with Whitney and Breanna.
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Here are Haylee and Meghan attempting to figure out the fine art of eating with chopsticks. :0)
Just some of the "grown ups" that came...Dennis and Janie {Jaysen's aunt and uncle}, Kevin and Jamie {Kevin is Jaysen's cousin AND Jamie's going to have a baby in June!}, Steve and Beckie {Steve is Jaysen's brother and Beckie's going to have a baby in April!}, and Rita and Perry {Jaysen's parents}
This is for Jaysen's dad, who felt VERY STRONGLY that we needed to have someone take a picture of the two of us {this is my and the hubby}. Apparently, I'm BEHIND the camera too much and not IN the pictures enough. {According to Perry} :0)
The next game was at 9:15 Saturday morning {groan!} but we made it in plenty of time. And we were all EXTREMELY pumped to watch the Tigers play. Kenzee got her pom poms out again and did a little booty shaking, and we all settled in. The Tigers started out ON FIRE and were up by ten at the end of the 1st quarter. They were given a standing ovation by the Jerome crowd as that buzzer ended. Kudos girls! Let me tell you why....
There must be something in the water in Bonneville. They had two GINORMOUS girls on their team. Over 6 feet tall each and they had freakishly long arms. I'm not kidding. You didn't catch them dribbling around with the ball much. :0) But, under the basket, they seemed unstoppable. So, to have Jerome still be able to one up them in such a short period of time was great!
Unfortunately, this is where the good news ends. Bonneville came back from the 1st half ready for whatever Jerome had for them. It was very frustrating as we watched helplessly from the bleachers. The girl who had gotten injured in the previous game tried to get in on this one as well, but she got knocked down again, and it was over for her. As one of the key players, it was hard to have her on the bench. The ginormous posts kept Jerome's posts from being able to rebound the ball well and as hard as they tried, they just couldn't seem to keep Bonneville from overtaking their lead and then taking a 10 point lead of their own. It didn't get any better and they ended up with a loss. :0( If I could have, I would've given Jordan a big hug because I felt so badly for her. As it's her senior year, this was it for her. And I'm sure she's feeling pretty crappy right now. So, Jordan, just pretend I gave you one ok? :0) I hope you feel better now!
So, all through this entire LONG story of a weekend, my little sister {who lives in the Boise area} was in labor. YES! In LABOR! Crazy! That baby knew we were coming up and decided to make her grand entrance in time for us to see her. I beleive it's because she wanted to see her favorite aunt. :0) She loves me already I'm sure. Anyway...for those of you that know my little sister and having babies, it's usually stressful. My mom was in Utah and so she wasn't able to rush up to help her. So, I was worried all day Friday and Saturday for her. {I think I called her 10 times!} Thankfully, she was able to have an epidural {normally she can't} and so it made the whole process a lot easier for her. Jaysen and I went to see her in the hospital around 4:30 to take her a baby gift and say "Hey!" before we had to head back home. At that point she wasn't even quite halfway there, though her water had broken. Knowing she could have quite a long night left to go I didn't feel that prolonging our inevitable drive was worth it. But, lo and behold..as soon as I told Crystal we wouldn't be able to stay, my mom showed up and baby decided it was time. Like the snap of your fingers. It was crazy. So I ushered the boys and Mackenzee out of the room with me, and we waited. For like 15 minutes. That's all. I'm telling you...my neice REALLY wanted to see me before I had to leave.
Isn't she adorable? She looks just like her sister. And look at her eyes! Already alert and ready to go! Get ready Crystal!
Kenzee fell in love with the new baby as soon as she saw her. She wasn't allowed to touch any part of her except for the little hat on her head. :0) But she rubbed and petted and kissed the babies' little head as much as she could. And when the nurse came to take babies' temperature she was truly concerned that the nurse was hurting her {Kenzee doesn't like doctors OR nurses. She seen them already too much in her day}. Even today she said, "baby sad mom. But I make her happy!" And, she really thinks the baby is hers. "mine mom, mine!" As a side note here: She has been playing with her dolly's ALL day today and talking about HER new baby. :0) It's great.
And here is the happy Nana holding her newest grandchild. This is grandkid number 15 for her.
She is adorable Crystal, and I am so excited and happy for you! I still need stats on length and weight and what you guys FINALLY decided on for her name. So, I will await the baby announcements that I'm sure you already have done. Because you are so on the ball like that. Which I love. :0)
Didn't I tell you it was a whirlwind of a weekend? And that was just from Thursday night to Saturday night! Holy cow! BTW....thanks Zach and Holly for feeding our dog while we were gone. Jaysen was sure he was going to starve to death in the 24 hour period we weren't home. :0)
I hope all of you had a great weekend as well!
