TMI Tuesday

I'm stealing this idea from this awesome girl. I've never met Kim, but she has one of the most entertaining blogs I've ever read. And every so often she'll do a TMI Tuesday, and it's always hilarious. Having said that, this probably won't be nearly as funny, but I'll try anyway.

So mine for today: when I'm pregnant, there are times when the only thing which I find comfortable to wear is this hideous muumuu my mom got from Hawaii in the 70's. Hawaii isn't exactly known for using tame colors for their clothing, and I'm afraid the 70's in general are replete with the ugliest fashion our country has ever seen. So when you combine the two, it's a bit scary.

But oh, so comfortable.

SO comfortable.

I love not having elastic anywhere near my tummy. Nothing pressing against me, and nothing for the baby to push back against, leaving me feeling like I'm in the middle of a tug-of-war match using my stomach as the rope. Seat belts have become the bane of my existence. (Don't worry, Mom, I still dutifully wear mine anyway.)

And especially on Sunday evenings, after I've been dressed up for church most of the day, I frequently come home and retreat to the comfort of the ugly 70's muumuu. Just to give you the idea, it's a bright sky blue and a lime green together. But not in a cool way. Trust me. (And no, I will not be including pictures of this. Sorry.)

So this last Sunday I was wearing it and it was time to do dishes. I cannot wash dishes without splashing water all over myself, so dishwashing requires an apron. But I couldn't find my usual denim apron, I could only find my apron that has cow spots all over it. It was Bentley who pointed out how funny it was that I was wearing a cow apron and a "moo moo." I'm afraid that once I begin nursing it will be terribly difficult to distinguish me from your average holstein!


Moo.

Little Chores, Big Satisfaction

There are some things that just leave me immensely satisfied. Last night, putting the kids to bed after giving them baths was one of those things. It's not like it's all that hard to bathe them, but between the many meetings Craig and I end up going to, sometimes our evenings just get too hectic to bother. But putting clean kids into clean pajamas and tucking them into bed always makes me feel like a pretty darn good mother. This was especially true last night since we'd been camping the day before and the kids were filthy. Washing away the campfire smell and putting clean pillowcases and blankets on their beds was something of an accomplishment. (Extra bonus is if I can make Craig bathe them-- all the rewards, none of the work! This happens more and more the bigger my stomach gets...)

I've decided that another thing like this is making bread. I don't know why this is the case. It's not like the bread I make is so amazing and better than the bread you could buy. (Honestly, Pillsbury's French bread might be better than the stuff I can make.) But something about kneading the dough and letting rise and smelling it baking just makes me feel like I'm doing something right. I never would have guessed this when I was in college.

I also feel the same way when I read non-fiction. I'm one of those people who sort of devours books like food, so reading definitely falls into the "pleasure" category. But fiction is my big weakness. When I can drag myself away from the fiction aisle at the library and read something that's factual, I get all the joy of reading plus the feeling that I'm learning something. It's lovely. It's also the reason I like to keep track of everything I've read on Goodreads.com. I enjoy seeing what my friends have read and getting ideas of what to read next, but even more than that, I love seeing what I've read and feeling like even a stay-at-home mom can be learning all the time.

Laundry is another chore I find satisfying. I wish the satisfaction could last longer-- I'm always shocked at how quickly it piles up when I'm pretty sure I just folded and put everything away about twelve minutes ago. But I sure like having closets and drawers full of potential clothes to wear (both for me and for my family). And now that I have my laundry room back and get to walk through our lovely downstairs (without shoes!!!), it's even better. It's also the chore I can do best with the kids around-- I put on some loud music, they bring their toys into the bedroom and play at my feet, and we're all pretty happy. It's also an especially good chore for winter time, when clothes are fresh out of the dryer and warm and cozy.

The last thing I want to mention here is gardening. Now, I have to admit-- I have completely neglected my poor little garden these last few weeks, so don't get the wrong idea about my work ethic. It hasn't helped that some thing has eaten through all the most recent produce, so I've sort of given up for now and am vowing to try harder next year. But seeing this

absolutely delighted me.

Next year I hope to really make a go of this gardening thing. My in-laws got me Square Foot Gardening for my birthday along with the Glee soundtracks. I figure between having the added knowledge and some good music to listen to while I'm planting and weeding, coupled with not being pregnant, will make for an unstoppable garden next year.

So-- what are the chores you find yourself surprised to enjoy?

Beauty

After years of searching, I think I may have found the perfect shampoo for my ridiculously thin hair.

It all started when we visited Craig's family in Houston. Thanks to all the fun airline weight limits, I hadn't brought my own shampoo along. So I used what was in their shower. And my hair looked surprisingly good (at least, on the days when I managed to steal Jeni's hairdryer). So I finally went out and bought some for myself. It's kind of embarrassing, but apparently this is what it takes to make my hair look good:


Oh, yeah. Suave Kids 2-in-1 Shampoo, with Wild Watermelon scent. THAT'S what gives my hair perfect body. I guess when you have baby-fine hair, it makes sense that the kids' shampoo would work best.

I'd be more embarrassed over this, but dang my hair is looking good!

The Rec Room! At Last!

I've been promising to do this since Thursday. Sorry I'm so late! Here are the pictures of our rec room, starting (as I always do) with the "before" shots, so you can appreciate just how far we've come...

So much ugliness: between the awful wallpaper and the weird door at the foot of the stairs, it's just one big mess of Tacky! And that's before you even enter the actual room!

Awful, dark wood paneling. Ugh. And plywood nailed over the hearth for no good reason (we're guessing they were going to tile over it, but we don't really know for sure...).

The whole dark effect. And this is during day time with a flash!

Ugly furniture that was left behind. Notice you can't quite see into the corners because it's so dark.

Why would you want this speckled pattern on the floor? I couldn't begin to tell you...

Looking into the tiny room off the rec room. Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark.

And then, my favorite: this little cave thing you had to crawl back into to reach the fuse box. Lovely.

So those were the Before Pictures. Now we move onto some of the recent processes (since I'd given you updates earlier, I won't repeat all that):

A little over a week ago, Craig finished the closets which will be used for toy storage. Which meant we had to sort out all the toys in order to put them in the closet. So this was how we spent our actual anniversary. Cheers!

(How did our kids get so many toys???)

With the final product being a closet whose insides look like this. Beautiful.
And we could fit my little freezer inside, too, which made me happy!

We had to have everything taken out of the room for the carpet to be put down, so most of it ended up in Lucky's future room. It got very crowded in there with: a changing table, a desk, a bookshelf, a glider, a la-z-boy, a dresser, two nightstands, a box spring, and a love sac. Whew! I'm just glad we weren't trying to fit a baby in there, too, or it could have been really bad!

Everything off the floor, and Craig vacuumed and mopped several times.
I love the whole "desk on the hearth" look. Nice.

This is our bedroom, minus the awful carpet that's been there since we moved in, and after Craig and I both spent hours scrubbing the floor. It seemed like such a shame to cover up such lovely hardwood flooring, but I really do prefer a soft carpet under my feet when I get up in the morning...

Craig and I slept in the living room that night. The kids thought it was great fun!

And now, the Finished Product:

We were so excited we just had to lay on the soft, clean new carpet.
Bentley's newest favorite game is to just roll across the room on it...

The kids enjoy playing on it. So soft!

A close-up of the actual carpet.

And now, with furniture!

The other side of the room, from the same angle. Notice how light it is, even with the blinds mostly down. Heaven.

Looking back towards the stairs and the crawl space.

The back room, which can now be used as a bedroom when needed, and will mostly be for storing toys.

The closets, with the door on the left opening to the fuse box (no more cave!).

There's now a hallway that leads to the laundry area and the back room. This is a change from before-- you used to have to walk through the back room to get to the laundry room, which was inconvenient for doing laundry AND for having people stay there. And just kind of stupid all around. No more.
And I love the curved carpet that leads into the other room.

So that's our downstairs now! I love it. So very much. Everything about it makes me happy.

But it's really much better in person-- you should come over and see for yourself! If you're coming from out of town, we now have a nice, private room where you can sleep!

Frogs

I am dying to blog about the downstairs, but I haven't uploaded pictures from Craig's phone yet. So instead, I'm just going to post this random picture:


This is Bentley sitting on a miniature version of Frog Rock. The real Frog Rock is taller than I am, and situated off the road near my home. It's completely weird and I don't think anyone knows why it's there. But it's become a local landmark, so they created a smaller version at a nearby park, too. I love weird stuff like this. (And notice how accurate the little one is-- they included the little Ladybug Rock next to the frog!)



And speaking of frogs. Just now, as I was emptying the kitchen garbage (I lead an exciting life!), I discovered this little guy clinging to my sliding door:

That's my finger on the inside of the glass, just so you can see how tiny he is. I SO want to keep him as a pet. Isn't he the cutest little thing ever?

And now I need to go and get something of a life.

Pictures of the rec room to follow! I promise!

Food Memories

In the four years that Craig and I have been absent from Provo, the thing I have missed the most has been the food. This surprised me, because I never felt that Provo was exactly a mecca for good food, but I've been slightly disappointed by what Manassas has had to offer. (Maybe I'm just not trying the right places-- any suggestions from my fellow Manassians?) If you want really good food around here, you usually have to head somewhere a bit ritzier, like Tyson's Corner.

My favorite places in Provo, in no particular order, were:

Cafe Rio: Pork Salad. 'Nuff said. The only restaurant I've ever been in where waiting in a half-hour long, twisting amusement park-style long was totally worth. Unequivocally.

Burgers Supreme: Great burger, wonderful chocolate-y milkshakes, really good fries and the BEST fry sauce ever. Not to mention the place where Craig and I had our first date and many subsequent dates as well. One of my requirements for heaven.

La Vecchia Roma: great Italian food and the nicest owner ever. This one closed before I left Provo, and it always made me sad. Curse you, Olive Garden!

Ottavio's: Another good Italian place. What they lacked in atmosphere, they made up for by having an accordion player. How can you not enjoy some good accordion music? Sadly, my sister informs me that this place has also gone out of business. Curse you, Olive Garden!

Buona Vita: of all the Italian places, my absolute favorite. They had the lousiest service every time we went, but wow, that food. Their pink sauce alone made up for the time we asked for more bread and watched as our waiter brought more bread for the table next to us, realized his mistake, and then snatched the bread away from those people and put it on our table. Classic. But oh, their four-cheese ravioli in a tomato and cream sauce! Oh! And this one also went out of business. Am I just bad luck, or can I keep blaming the Olive Garden? No, I'll definitely blame the Olive Garden.

Bombay House: still the best Indian food I've ever had. Still. And the palette cleanser stuff they'd give you at the end of your meal? I don't know what was in it and I suspect if I did know that I'd hate half the ingredients, but it was always the perfect end to a wonderful meal.

And an honorable mention: the trixy sticks at Pizza Pipeline (complete with cream cheese dipping sauce). It's a wonder I didn't leave BYU weighing 200 lbs! (Oh, wait-- I left when I was 8 months pregnant. I think I did weigh 200 lbs!)

So, yes, occasionally I miss the food. Fortunately between the kids and being poor, Craig and I don't eat out that often anyway. So it's not something I miss all the time. But occasionally, I get to dreaming...

But this week, which is after all, the Week of Dreams (the rec room will have carpet tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow!), I decided to do something about this. I finally looked closely at a recipe in our ward cookbook for Cafe Rio's pork and realized that it didn't look very difficult. I could get over my fear of cooking any meat other than chicken or beef to try to recreate Cafe Rio's pork. And then when I discovered, in the same cookbook, a recipe for their cilantro-rice, I figured that since I'm very adept at using my rice cooker, I could probably swing this recipe, too.

And then I began looking on-line, where I found recipes for Cafe Rio's house dressing. And their pico de gallo. And their black beans. And suddenly I had no good reason why I couldn't enjoy a little Cafe Rio right here in Virginia.

So I did. And I'm pretty darn pleased with it all, if I may say so myself.

There are oodles of slightly different recipes you can try out there. But I'm going to give you the ones I used. For all you also missing your pork salad, be sad no longer! If I can do this, I'm sure you can, too!

Pork Barbacoa (thanks to Delilas for this)(I halved this, but if you plan to have company...)
6 lbs. pork
16-oz. bottle of salsa
1 can Coke
2 cups brown sugar

Place pork in crock pot and fill it half way up with water. Cook on high for five hours. Drain off water. Cut pork in thirds. Mix together sauce ingredients and pour on top of pork. Cook an additional 3 hours on high. Shred pork with forks, leave on low until read to serve.


Lime-Cilantro Rice (also thanks to Delilas)
2 1/4 cups rice
1 bunch of cilantro
Juice from 2 limes
4 cloves of garlic

Chop garlic and cilantro. Heat 2 tbs of oil in a skillet. Add rice and all chopped ingredients. Saute for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Put 4 cups of water and lime juice in a rice cooker. Add rice mixture and cook according to rice cooker's directions. (This one turned out a touch watery, but I think that's because I used Japanese rice instead of regular long-grained rice. Next time I'll just put less water in...)


House Dressing (thanks to Erica!)
1 packet Ranch Dressing (traditional kind, not the buttermilk kind)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, dice (no, I had to google these to know what they were)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 garlic clove
juice from 1 lime

Blend in a blender. (This recipe also called for a jalapeno pepper, but I left it out. In hindsight, I think I would only use half a lime... But it was really easy and really good!)


Pico de Gallo (thanks to Heidi!)
3 tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch of cilantro, minced
1/2 sweet onion, minced
1 section of green pepper, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
about 1/3-1/2 cup vinegar (use your best judgement)
salt and pepper

Mix it up really well and refrigerate.

Um, I LOVE pico de gallo. I never knew it was so easy to make. This could be the beginning of something wonderful...


I also made these black beans, although I have to admit that they didn't thrill me as much as everything else did. But they were still good and went great with the salad.

Black Beans (also from Erica)
2 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 cup tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs fresh chopped cilantro
And for kicks, she recommended adding some drained, canned corn and a dash of cumin and chili powder, which I did.

Cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving, stir in the cilantro.

Put all this stuff into a heated tortilla, along with lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and maybe some chips just for good measure and you've got yourself a night back in Provo, but minus all those other BYU students making the line so long! A day in the kitchen WELL SPENT. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if I'd painted our chairs to all be mismatched and colorful. But I don't think I would have had the energy for that, too, today...


Itadakemasu! (<-- That's sort of the Japanese equivalent of bon appetit. I may be proud of my blossoming cooking abilities, but I'm certainly not ready to try channeling Julia Child just yet!)

Excited

We just got the call.

Our carpet is in.

It will be installed Thursday morning (the one day this week that I don't have plans--yay!).

Anyone want to volunteer their husbands for an hour Wednesday and/or Thursday night to help Craig move furniture back and forth?

Breaks

Recently I seem to be having a lot of Mommy breaks. I'm getting really spoiled. And I'll admit-- I do enjoy them. But I'm always very happy to see my kids again when they're done, so I figure I can't be too bad of a mother, right? In addition to all the napping I do (gotta take advantage of Craig being home for the summer!), I also spent a few hours in the temple while Rachael went through for the first time. We couldn't find a babysitter, so Craig stayed outside with the kids and took a bunch of pictures (the best of which will be at the end of this post).

And then, for our anniversary, Craig and I sent the kids off for a night with Grandma and Grandpa while we enjoyed a short vacation from being parents. We had our day all planned out, but of course, things changed-- some for better, some for worse-- but it still made for a fun day! We started by going to see Inception, which was both awesome and made even better by the fact that we got in for free! Yay for kids in the ward working at the movie theater (and yes, he had permission from his manager to do that-- it was totally legit)! As far as the movie goes-- it's awfully nice when all the hype turns out to not be exaggerated! Although it was pretty hilarious right as the end credits began and an older woman sitting behind us blurted out, "I didn't get that at all!" and her friends all agreed that the move made no sense and they needed a drink. I guess the movie isn't for everyone!

Anyway, we headed for dinner next. Normally we do a pretty fancy dinner for our anniversary, but we both felt like we'd had a lot of eating out this last month, so we opted to go cheap instead and headed to Chipotle, which I'd been craving. I love that place. I was even good and saved half of my burrito for lunch today.

Our next stop was supposed to be the water park near our house, but it had been raining off and on all day, so we weren't very surprised to learn that the park was closed. That was too bad, but part of me was just as glad that it was closed so we didn't have to decide if we wanted to stick to the plan even though it was a bit chilly. Sometimes it's nice to just have the decision made for you! So instead we went for a walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed the cool weather and not having to fight each other for stroller space on the sidewalk. It was really nice. We so rarely get to walk and hold hands any more-- even when we let the kids walk rather than pushing them in strollers, usually they want to hold our hands!

Then we headed to the bookstore. I like browsing the aisles and getting ideas about what to read next. This time I took advantage of Craig's iPhone to look up what books were already available at the library. Time well spent. Then we hit Coldstone (where I was NOT good, but it sure was yummy!) and finally headed home and watched another movie-- this time something a little lighter: Bride and Prejudice!

The best part of all this was going to bed not worrying about what time the kids would wake us up in the morning. When I did wake up, I lounged around in bed reading my book until Craig woke up, too. I can't remember the last time I did that, but I suspect it was before Bentley was born.

Tom and Donna brought back our kids around 2:00 and I was so happy to see them again! I love vacation. But I love real life even more. And I think that's a good thing!


Here are the pictures from Craig watching the kids while I was at the temple. He found a park nearby and they had fun:

Kendra got really dizzy spinning around in this thing. There's a video at the very end...

Can you see the Angel Moroni through the trees?

This spot is sort of hidden away on the temple grounds. A lot of our wedding pictures were taken there, so Craig took the kids there to see it.

I like that Kendra is trying to hold the statue's hand.

This is my favorite picture from the whole day.
Only on the temple grounds would Craig trust a stranger with his iphone!

Once we were done at the temple, most of my family went to a baseball game, but we went and visited my Grandma Bentley. Unfortunatley, Kendra wasn't cooperating for the camera, but you get the idea...

On the ferry, returning home-- nice and windy!

And here's the video of Kendra getting so dizzy. It's hard to see, because Craig kept changing the camera angle, but it still cracks me up!

Kendra-ism

I've said before that Craig and I worry about Kendra's advanced flirting skills. Well, she's getting worse.

One of her newest things is to suddenly announce that she has "a idea," and then usually she'll proclaim somewhere we should go: the park, Target, church, some other park, etc. So this morning she was playing this game and this time her idea was, "BYU!" Well, I certainly couldn't argue with that one. Then she said she had another idea. This time it was... "Boy-Y-U!"

Oh, dear.

Please don't let her be one of those freshman brides...

Happy Together

Craig's parents took us to Red Robin the other day (thanks again, Tom and Donna!). I ordered the Pub Burger, which came with onions fried in ale (is that bad for a pregnant woman?), cheddar and Swiss cheese and was served on an onion bun. It sounded splendid to me, but I have to admit, I found it a little disappointing. Craig ordered the guacamole bacon burger. And like we often do, we decided to trade bites. And his burger was so good, I was immediately even more disappointed in my own choice. As I was savoring that swapped bite, Craig commented, "Actually, I kind of like yours better."

"I like yours better!" I exclaimed, and then paused. "You want to just switch burgers?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

So we did. And we both smiled in delight at each other through our stuffed mouths and our delicious burgers. I don't usually even like guacamole that much, but wow that hit the spot.

The funny thing is, the more I think about this dinner, the more it seems to sum up these last five years. It's not so much that things always go perfectly in our life together, but that together, we always find the way that makes us both so happy.

I don't think I've ever posted pictures from my own wedding here before. Do you mind indulging me for a minute here?

Photo by Tom Smith, exiting the temple

Photo by Janine Hogan. Perfect Seattle sunshine.

Photo by Bob Hansen. I love how the temple looms large in this one.

Cutting the cake. Also by Bob Hansen.

Happy 5th Anniversary, Craig. Thanks for always keeping me smiling.
I love you.

Affirmation

I kept coming across articles on-line today that felt like they were attacking my faith, both from the inside and outside. These things don't shake my testimony, but they are upsetting to me. It's hard seeing people (both members and non-members) misunderstand things that are so important to me.

Over lunch, then, I was reading through the BYU Alumni magazine (which I adore and which I highly recommend to all you BYU grads out there), and found this quote that was perfect for me this day. It's from Dr. Henry Eyring, a well-known LDS chemist in his day and also the father of President Henry B. Eyring, and was quoted in a devotional given by BYU professor Ross Spencer.

"So this, then, is sort of the picture that I would give you and end on the note that I can't see any difference between the kinds of arguments that you make to support religion and the arguments that you make to support science. I understand, of course, that there are contradictions of all kinds in science, and there are contradictions between science and religion, and there are contradictions between various parts of religion in every human mind (but not in God's mind; in a billion years you'll have all your problems solved, if you can wait)."

That summed up an aspect of my own beliefs so well. Yes, I understand there are contradictions everywhere we look in the world today; it seems that you can't read one scientific article without finding its opposite somewhere else (even on issues not as politicized as global warming!). And yes, I know that people-- Mormons and everyone else-- are far from perfect. But more importantly, I understand that none of us know all there is to know yet. And I trust that all problems can and will be solved and resolved some day. I think it will be wonderful when we can understand everything: how the earth works and the meaning of life in all its intricacies. But these things will be done according to God's timetable, and probably not a moment sooner. And that's enough for me for now.

Really?

Craig and I were looking at baby names on-line the other day and one of the names listed was Tarzan.

Who would actually name their kid that?

I dare you to.

Dreams

I should be asking someone their permission for using this cartoon. My apologies to Ron Morgan for being too lazy. I like his cartoon, for what it's worth.

I'm not using this cartoon in reference to any of my beliefs-- political, religious, or environmental. No. Nothing like that. I'm using this in reference to the seemingly never-ending project that is our basement. (And I'm praying that I'm not jinxing our luck by even writing about it this early.) But I think the end is indeed near.

We've got people coming to measure for carpet today. (True to form, the guy was supposed to be here two hours ago but I'm going to bite my tongue and not rant about how frustrated I am about that. In true passive-aggressive form I'm trying to decide between forcing the poor sap to listen to Glee or opera the entire time he's here, if he ever shows up...)

All the drywall is up. All the drywall we care about for this project is spackled and sanded, three times over. The big room is all painted. Both new windows are in. Trim still needs to be added to the smaller of the two. One of the two closets is assembled, and it didn't take Craig very long to do, so the second should be even faster. The plan is to order carpet today, and then we should be able to finish up all these other things before the carpet is ready to be laid. Our house will be turned upside down once more while we move everything out of the rooms-to-be-carpeted, but that should just be for a couple days. Three at the most. And since Craig always helps everyone move, I'm hopeful that it shouldn't be too hard to get a few men in the ward to help him move the heavy stuff. I did manage to help him carry our couch upstairs back in February, but I wasn't pregnant then. I think this time around I'm justified in playing the pregnancy card and leaving that work to the men. Right? I'll do my part and order a pizza for them.

I'm beginning to really savor the idea of having it finished: Not having to wear shoes just to go downstairs. Having carpet (and NEW carpet! of my own choosing! imagine such luxuries!) underfoot, rather than cement flooring that is littered with nails, spackle, dust, and pieces of drywall and 2x4s. Being able to do laundry without having to first move all of Craig's tools off the washer and dryer. Same thing for getting into my freezer. Putting my big bathmat back on the floor of the laundry area so that if I happen to drop something on the ground, it will stay clean, rather than being sent right back to the laundry hamper in worse shape than it was to begin with. Not having all of the kids' toys stored in my living room. Not having dusty footprints all over the rest of the house because I'm the only one who knows to leave her shoes on the stairs (I guess Japan trained me well for stuff like that).

Actually, the idea of a living room that stays somewhat clean is looming larger and larger in my mind. It sounds so incredibly wonderful. Putting the TV back downstairs where it belongs. Taking all the extra furniture out of the extra bedroom and scattering it around to the rest of the house. Getting to cuddle with Craig in the love sac while we watch TV again. Not having a couch in my kitchen, which would ALSO mean that I can open all my cupboards again (only one has been blocked, and it's not one I use very often. But still).

I'm getting really, really excited for this project to be over.

The end is near.

And the carpet guy just showed up. Time to put on some Aida!

Seattle Mariners

On a Monday evening, we went to a Mariner's game with my parents. It was family night, so the tickets were fairly cheap. And based on this, I can only surmise that the Mariners are secretly a Mormon team, right? Anyway, both of my kids have been to baseball games before (poor Bentley's first baseball experience was at Yankee Stadium when he was about 8 months old, but we won't hold that against him!), but this was the first time going that they were old enough to have much of a concept of what was happening, which meant it was a lot more fun for all of us! I loved holding Bentley on my lap and pointing out Ichiro to him and explaining that the guys in white were the good guys and we cheer when they run around the bases. So much easier than trying to keep him from chucking binkies at the people sitting in front of us, which mostly what I remember doing during his first ball game (for Yankees fans, everyone was very gracious about that; it was after we left that people began throwing beer bottles and my whole family decided to call it quits, too. Boo on the Yankees).

It was also Craig's first time to get to go to Safeco Field, so I was excited to show it all off to him, too! (Random bit of trivia: when Safeco Field was built and named, my Dad was working for Safeco! I still think that's cool.) Craig also got to experience garlic fries for the first time. Wow.

Here's me (obviously) on the ferry ride over. Behind me is Bainbridge Island, my home.
Don't you love those trees towering over all the houses?

And the same shot, but with Craig.
If you zoom in, you can barely make out Seattle peaking out behind Bainbridge.

Love this picture. Perfect summary of what I love about baseball.

Kendra pulling one of her many silly faces. This girl is becoming quite the clown.

Kendra was as amused by Bentley as by the game. But it's a start!

Partway through the game, Craig decided to find out if the kids could meet the Mariner Moose (who they kept referring to as the Deer. Oh, well). I never would have thought of this, but it turned out they had a Moose's Den just for this purpose! So we dashed around the stadium and made it there just in time for the last meeting, during the top of the seventh inning! And we even made it back to our seats in time for the seventh inning stretch!

I wish I could tell you about the awesome win the Mariners pulled off, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. So instead, I'll share this video of Ichiro so you, too, can appreciate how great he is.



You gotta love these guys!