We had so much fun celebrating Natalie turning 11 years old. Since her birthday was on a school day this year, we opted to have cake and presents on the Sunday before. Natalie helped me bake the cake and she finished off the decorating all by herself. I think her polar bear turned out great! Below you will see my attempt to capture the moment of us playing the game Michelle picked out as a present for Natalie: Hues and Cues. It’s pretty fun and brought all of us together. Kate’s “Oldies” playlist really added too. I had to laugh because some of her oldies are from Brittany Spears and Avril Lavigne but that actually tracks because those songs came out over 20 years ago. Now I know how my parents must of felt when I listened to songs from their lifetime as “Oldies” when I was in high school.
The day after Natalie’s birthday found her playing in her first regular season game. She did great playing center and shortstop. She’s still holding back at the plate but having lots of fun and I love seeing her enjoy playing.
The next day I got to cheer on my baseball player instead for a double header at home. First I took Michelle to the orthodontist to get springs put on (looks like a torture device), dropped her and H at school after the state testing window, went to Sprouts and Target, fed my high schoolers sushi and blackberries for lunch, took Danny to get his hair cut, did laundry and dishes and walked the dog. On days like these I am so grateful I only work 3 days a week so I can take care of my family!
Danny played really well and it was great to see him having so much fun. I was still in the middle of reading the nonfiction book Never Enough and it made me happy to be reminded that I wanted him playing high school baseball to give him something fun to do in association with school. By the way, that is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to anyone raising or working with tweens & teens. Michelle’s friend V’s mom picked it for her new book club she’s starting and I can’t wait to discuss it.
On Friday Kate took Michelle to her tennis lesson & my mom brought her home so that I could host Natalie’s birthday party while Hubby came home early from work to take Danny to his Friday night basketball games. Natalie invited a small number of friends and they had fun eating red velvet cupcakes for an after school snack, trading Taylor Swift tickets, creating TS sidewalk art together, eating hamburgers and raw veggies for dinner, watching Zombies 2 in the basement, singing along to music, opening presents, and roasting s’mores and telling scary stories around a campfire. I am so grateful they seemed to have fun while celebrating my baby.
Originally Natalie wanted a slumber party but when I found out we would need to leave the house at 6:15am the next morning for the first of her softball games that weekend, I was very glad I had told her we couldn’t. It was definitely a struggle to get ready after that 5:30am alarm after having a 5 hour long birthday party but we made it to Eaton! I must say, I am so impressed with the softball coaches, players, and parents on this team. Even though we are driving at least half an hour to be with them, I feel lucky that Natalie gets to be a part of this program. Let’s just say they just keep trying after being shut out for two full games. When we got home and Michelle asked her how softball went and Natalie simply responded something like, “We didn’t make a run the entire two games.” I love that Natalie and her teammate could remain upbeat while playing against teams, the second of which, I swear never made a single mistake the entire game. The next morning she was happy to be getting ready for her dad’s turn to drive her an hour to play another two softball games.
Sunday found me putting away piles of clean laundry while listening to General Conference recaps and talks. Yes, I have found that it is healthier for me to hear what trusted members of my communities say before I decide who to listen to. This conference’s recommendation winners were Elders Uchtdorf and Kearon. I can recommend them to you too! But I also loved the statistics and background sharing by Nemo the Mormon ahead of time and getting a very long recap with his help on Mormon Stories. I find it helpful to put things into context and see things from all sides after hearing a traditional recap and before listening for myself. One thing I certainly agreed with that they pointed out was how strange it felt to see that picture of Presidents Nelson, Eyring, and Holland all using wheelchairs due to their ages and circumstances. I can remember when Elder Eyring was called to the Quorum of the 12 and to realize he is now 90 years old (with the Prophet being 99 and Elder Holland now age 83) is an eye opener. I have literally been listening to these men for almost my entire life, seeking to hear and apply their words to my life. Crazy. Also a couple of interesting things to point out is that we have our first African member of the presidency of the 70, and statistics show that is mostly were the Quorum of the 12 are pulling from so that’s exciting but only 9% of the speakers and 20% of the people who said prayers were female. I cannot wait for the day when 50% of the speakers are women. Put your money where your mouth is when you extol us on Mother’s Day by actually having us speak to the entire population of the Church. Yes, call me a progressive but honestly I think more representation would gladden the hearts of so many and I know that God delights in the happiness of His children. And when one of those three speakers you picked months in advance creates a firestorm online a few weeks before Conference, maybe you just need to have Emily Belle Freeman substitute instead. Just saying, she is right there and amazing.
I was grateful to have a quiet morning at home after taking Danny to his Saturday night basketball games. They were such a joy to watch. The first game the two teams were very closely matched. There was this short little kid that had the most amazing three point shots. Just absolutely beautiful and I had to remind myself not to cheer but sometimes I couldn’t help it. But good shooting is only part of basketball and Danny’s team came out on top. The second game started out much like the first but then in the 3rd quarter Danny’s team really turned up the heat and ended up winning by enough that the refs called the game over when there were still two minutes left. It was great to see Danny seeming to enjoy being around these basketball players and working hard with a smile on his face.
Hubby was concerned about me driving that late at night after driving to softball early in the morning but a trip to In N Out from 10:01-10:22 prevented me from falling asleep at the wheel. Yes, Danny and I were timing how long the drive through took because I thought it would be 15 minutes and he thought it would be half an hour. So technically, by one minute, my son was closer to being right than I was. lol.
The first game Sunday morning was a completely different story than the day before. I got to get texts like this, “Natalie just rocked a triple to deep center field” and then found out they mercy ruled that team. So they got to play in the championship game for the consolation bracket — and got mercy ruled — but got to celebrate making it to that game!
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