Spring Training Trip 2012 Part 1- The Baseball....

We had such a memorable trip to Arizona this month.  Jason is a lifelong Angles fan and has been able to go see them in spring training for two seasons now.  Last year he took Austin and Jerrett and they talked about that trip all year.  This year we all went and it was a blast.  We are so lucky that not only do we get to go to see the Angels but we get to stay with our good friends Zak and Brynn, their little boy Jet.  We thought we'd get a hotel this time since all of us were going but they wouldn't hear of it.  They slid right over and made our family feel so at home.  They are so fun, laid-back, happy, pleasant people.....it's so easy to feel really comfortable with them.  

Here's pictures from the baseball part of our trip.....

 Watching the Royals warm up.... They were so cool and one of the players threw baseballs to Austin and Jerrett and nobody else!  LOVED IT!

 Enjoying 5 dollar snow cones to beat the heat :)

 The Royals pitcher Danny Duffy warming up right in front of us....pretty cool to watch!

 We got lucky because we got to see a lineup of starters....it was exciting to hear them announce who'd be playing.  You never know who you are going to be watching at spring training.

Here's starting pitcher Jered Weaver pitching.

 Bobby Abreu in left field.  We talked a lot about Bobby during our trip. He was really close for us to watch plus he hit a foul ball that Grady wound up with.  Zak hates him so there were plenty of Bobby Abreu jokes flying around during the week!  It was pretty funny....but thanks to Bobby our boys now have a MLB game-hit baseball on their shelf.

 It was really fun to see the Angels new big name, Albert Pujols, playing too.

 **CRACK!!**

 This guy was so awesome to us.  He's the official/usher who scooped up Bobby Abreu's foul ball and walked past tons of screaming people to plop it in Grady's hand....it was so fun.  We thanked him so much and he told us about his grandkids.....great guy!

 The Angels have a beautiful spring training stadium in Tempe.  I think it was about 35-40 minutes to drive there from Glendale where Zak and Brynn live.

 The boys taking a rest on the steps.

 The sun felt so good, the bright red flowers blooming everywhere smelled awesome and palm trees all around.....I have some MAJOR appreciation for palm trees.  They just intensify the vacation state-of-mind for me.

 Austin watching batting practice.  We went a couple hours early so we could watch.

 Jason watching batting practice.

 We got into the stadium early and got a primo spot by the fence in the outfield.  We thought about buying seats but they were already sold out and even the grass admission was ten bucks each so we were content to be able to be right next to the field.  Austin has grown right into Jason's old little league jersey now.

 By game time, people were packed in all around us and we were glad we got there early to get our good spot.

 I love these guys so much and hope they never forget these trips with their awesome daddy.

 Grady made this face whenever his mouth got cold....it was so cute.  He was so cute in his gear and ran around gushing about "De ANGELS!" so he got lots of admiring attention from the other fans.

 Abreu

 Pujols

 Jason and the boys favorite, Torii Hunter.  They didn't get to see him play last year so it was pretty exciting for them!  Torii has a presence in our home in the Fathead form. :)

 RUN TORII!!! (He got out, darn it)

The boys holding up their new MLB baseballs....excited as can be....I can't really think of a picture that I love more.

More Drawer Love....

 Continuing in my recent pursuit of organization I decided to do a little project that might help me out with the clean laundry.  I can give the boys clothes to help put away but they end up scattered throughout all the drawers or in the bottom of the closet.  I made these labels with pictures to help the boys see what goes where.

Here's a look at one of the finished drawers.  Another big part of this little project was paring down.  When I decided to really look at our needs I realized that we had way too many of these items.  Just 3-4 pj's for each boy and got rid of about 1/4 of our total socks and undies.  I think for me, having all the surplus just contributes to letting me wait too long to do laundry.  I'm loving how uncluttered the drawers look.  I'm loving the shrunken laundry pile too!  And yeah, I don't match up socks...never have.  It takes two seconds to pull out two matching socks so matching socks feels like a huge waste of time to me.  Admittedly, it's probably way easier to do it that way with boys though!

Still having fun being in an organizing mood.....heck, I've got to take advantage of it for as long as the motivation sticks around!

Spring Happiness Project......

To say I've been "following" some organization blogs lately (in my blog list on the side) would be a huge understatement.  I have been DEVOURING organization blogs lately.  These little projects totally make me smile and perhaps it's just a phase but it's so fun right now!

My linen closet before.....

 AFTER.....I'm smiling so much!  Makes putting away clean linen kinda exciting!

 I would sure love some really snazzy baskets from Pottery Barn but these are dollar store baskets and they serve the purpose.  Maybe one day when I run out of things to spend money on (HA!) then I'll upgrade them. 

I made these cute sunny labels using my trusty digital scrapbooking program....I've been using said program for years now on a weekly basis.  Printed them out and just used self-laminating sheets to help them last longer.  

I have so many additional projects in the planning stages....it's gonna be a happy spring!!

Inkling of Spring and Irish Luck.....

Jac and Mel's family was able to come to Utah for Spring Break and we had a fun get-together to spend some time with them.  Sure the skies were gray and threatening rain.  There were not tulips creeping from the ground, sun, bees, or butterflies.  But we could venture outside without coats and the ground was not covered in snow so therefore.....break out the BBQ!  Even the smallest inkling of the coming spring is a reason to celebrate, right?

The kids broke loose in Grandpa's pasture to climb, run, laugh, and yell.

 My dad's rear neighbor has an array of fun animals that live along the fence so it's always fun for the kids to run back there and visit them.

 This is the same old swing set that I played on when I was little....it's been modified too many times to count, is creaky and covered with chipped and bubbled paint but it kinda fits the environment and the kids don't mind a bit.  

 Riker, Jerrett, Maddie, Jackson, Austin, & Luke

 Three year old buddies Halle and Grady

 We had an awesome Carne Asada dinner....it's one of the fav's my mom makes that has the whole group of us licking our chops with anticipation.

 Austin and Jackson pouring over the Lego Star Wars Encyclopedia

 I made a St. Patty's cupcake bar for everyone to decorate their own cupcake

 I don't think the kids even noticed the names I came up with but I didn't mind as I had fun doing it!

 Jeff giving me some mock enthusiasm

 Jerrett and the twins Mel and Maddie ;)

 All 13 grandkids trying to sit still is hilarious.  Some smiling, some grumpy, some squirming, some bored....but all so stinkin cute!

 Grandpa and the newest little grandchild, Reagan

Here's hoping we got some Irish Luck along with our great family time!