Boats, Babies and Baseball

At long last, baseball season came to a close.  It was kind of a strange season because of several rainouts and then make-up games late in the season.  Mark coached Boston's team and next year will be able to draft Cooper to the same team so they can play together.  Both boys did great.  I love this adoring picture of Rosie and her best "Bottin".

 Boston usually played first, second, center (where Mark coached him to pull off some really fun trick plays) and sometimes outfield.  He had a great batting average.  He ended his last two games playing pretty well, actually, with a very broken collarbone, unbeknownst to us.  (He crashed his penny board, I thought he had just sprained his shoulder and in true Haynes fashion, told him to suck it up and not "embarrass the family", as Happy Jack used to tell my brothers before their football games.  And before I went into labor with my first child, wahahaha.)

We took this picture because of a notable game on Flag Day, my Grandpa Happy Jack's birthday.  (We even had Two Jack's pizza in his memory--but I recently saw that there is a Fat Jack's in Payson.  Next year, baby!)  Cooper pitched a horrible game and was very obviously emotionally dragging and stressed out--the ump's calls were all over the place--the other team was playing well--you name it.  Last inning the other coach got a little overconfident and switched out his pitcher when we had last ups.  Our team started to perk up a little and we actually got through the full lineup batting.  We crept up to within three runs, with two outs.  And up to the plate steps Cooper with the bases loaded,  (again-it was his second at bat for the inning, and he had already hit a single).  Foul ball. Ball.  Ball. Strike.  And Cooper hits the most beautiful Grand Slam of his career for the win.  All of his teammates signed a game ball for him.

 Coach Day put up with some visiting rugrats in his dugout once in awhile.

Rosie did pretty well at the games.  She liked being outside and all the excitement.  That is Boston's empty soda cup, if you are wondering.

 Here is the best Grand Slam of my career.

Other than the panic of trying to get there on time because of a freeway obstruction, graduation was pretty fun.  Rosie even liked it.

 Leslie at Senior Ball.

 Leslie and Rosie like to bond while playing with Leslie's camera on her phone.

 Leslie's Science Olympiad Team made nationals (again).  She had decided not to attend since it was big bucks to go to NYC, and she chose to go to Washington D.C. instead earlier in the year.
Also because they mostly just go for the experience of it and have slim to no chance of placing against all these bigger tech schools out of CA, etc.  At the last minute, her coach told her they'd received a grant and really wanted her to come anyway.  Unfortunately, it was a no-can-do because we had already purchased plane and cruise tickets for the whole family as a Graduation/20th Anniversary celebration trip.  So, here she is showing off her career science medals, anyway.

 Some of the crew waiting for our delayed flight.  We weren't as nearly delayed as my mom, though!  Her flight was cancelled and she drove to a different city to be able to catch a flight early the next morning.  Yuck!  We are glad she made it on time.

 First time on an airplane for all the kids but Leslie.

Dinner at a pretty fun pizza place in Long Beach.  Macy and Luke got to make their own.

 The kids loved playing on the beach while we waited for our boarding time the next morning.

Macy's first beach cartwheel.

 You can see our cruise ship there on the right.  It is the same cruise that Mark and I went on for our honeymoon (aka, the cheapest one) so that was a good fit for celebrating our 20th anniversary and Leslie's graduation.

 We killed some time in the outdoor souvenir shop on the docks.

 Handsome Sea Dog!

 Rosie and Grandma in front of the fabled ship Queen Mary.  At the last minute we found out our cruise tickets got us free access to the Queen Mary, so we dashed over, climbed onboard and looked around for a minute.  I thought it was a little dark and spooky, especially the loooong narrow hallways with the sloping floors.  Mark's Dad actually rode this ship back from his mission to England in the sixties.

 Before the cruise the kids were just aghast that I wanted to read on vacation (seriously guys?  How long have you known me?)  So they conspired to not let us sit still for more than a few minutes at a time, and we logged a lot of miles, even just on the ship.  This photo is us hiding from our kids for a couple of minutes, unsuccessfully.  Rosie roomed with us, and the rest of the bunch was split with an "adult" in each room.  Leslie posing as an "adult".

One of the fun parts was making everyone try lots of new and exotic foods.  Here is Cooper with his first escargot.  I think everyone liked it.  We also tried alligator, lobster tail, street tacos in Mexico, and ate too much in general.  Cooper weighed himself before and after the trip (as did I, but I'm not sharing that information) and gained a whopping seven pounds.  When we asked him how he did it, he told us it was the ice cream.  Okay.  And that his record day was seventeen.  ??  As in, seventeen ice cream cones.  Which explains why it seemed to take him so long to finish that one or two cones we thought he'd had.

 One stop was Ensenada Mexico.  We were braver than when we were here twenty years ago and loaded everyone on a bus to go see La Bufadora the natural ocean blowhole.  It was pretty fun to watch, and the kids loved the open market almost as much as Grandma.  Especially all the free churro and virgin pina colada samples.  The adventurous part was when our bus broke down about 40 minutes drive away from the cruise ship.  Yikes!  Plus I was bugged because we were already pushing it on Rosie's naptime.  Luckily we only had to sit there about ten minutes before they brought an alternate bus.

 The biggest chile rellono we'd ever seen.

 Luckily, one day was warm enough to enjoy the waterslides.

 I was one proud mama showing up with my handsome brood of six, (yes, count 'em, six) on formal dinner night.  No sweat.  We get this dressed up every week.  My men even tie their own ties.  Don't know why we didn't do a picture with everyone.

 I took a minute to make use of Long Beach's soapbox.  I was advocating for the drastic reduction of User Names and Passwords for every blooming thing under the sun.

 Rosie and Grandma were so happy to be Besties again.

 On Catalina Island we split into two groups because we couldn't all fit onto one six seat golf cart and took turns touring the island.

 I found this little beauty.  I didn't know the harbor was keeping my namesake all this time.

 Leslie laughing at her windswept (albeit on a golf cart) hair.

 Twenty years goes by fast.

 Everyone on the boat wanted to talk to Rosie.  She honed her stink eye.  But she did love the yogurt and hot dogs.

 Probably "Uptown Funk".  Yes, there were lots of other people dancing (although I may have been one of the few non-drinkers).  I just needed a little more of the good kind of "boogie" in my life.  Too bad we don't have a picture of Cooper--Mark said he won the award for best moves of the week.  Although I gave him a run for his money, obviously.

Rosie loved this puppy dog towel.

 Luke loved watching the giant bubbles at Catalina.

Rosie loved the sports deck--trying out all the fun chairs and running around on the track and mini golf astro turf and getting in everyone's game.

Vacation success!  Not that we rested on our laurels very long. 

Boston had been preparing for the pioneer reenactment (trek) by wearing in his hiking shoes, outfitting in pioneer clothes including the hat we bought in Mexico, and learning about some brave pioneer ancestors.

 The gorgeous Spanish Fork River Trail.  I feel silly that we've never gone on it before since it's only a couple minutes from our house, and our big family picture even includes it in the backdrop.  It was gorgeous, peaceful (away from traffic, houses, etc.) and felt like Montana.  Even smelled like it and sounded like it.  We took one evening and hiked it--Mark doubled back with Rosie in the stroller to drive to the other end and pick us up at the other end--five miles?  Boss and I walked and the other kids rode bikes and scooters.

Mark had picked up an enormous box of these lovelies (hey, we do have eight people in our family.  And we usually cut these puppies into quarters so we can sample more than one) and was waiting for us at the end of the trail, although I don't think the pioneers had Crumbl.  Or muddy buddies.  Or smores.  Or nutella. Or *gasp* chocolate.

 I don't think he had any fun at all.  

 Here are some other fun June things.

I'm sure our neighbors were anxiously waiting for an explanation for the odd pink display on our front lawn.  And wondering how soon it would disappear.  It was for a corporate event that the Utah Realtors' Association put on--the theme was all the holidays (like Christmas in July).  Remarkable was invited and got assigned Valentine's Day and the cornhole game.

 One of Mark's friends has a plane.  And a house with a dinosaur gallery. 

 Cooper's youth group got to go work on this property up the canyon and then play on the zipline.

 My black hollyhocks grew like crazy.  Way tall.  Maybe ten feet?  I spent a lot of time hiding from the kids on my shady front porch with my kindle.

 Rosie discovers shoes.

 Macy takes to baking like a Heagy and finds her way to the kitchen when she starts to get bored.  She called these her "Sunny Day" cupcakes and usually needs little to no supervision.  Sigh, I see lots of extra "L.B's" in my future.

This has been the first summer break in quite a while that I was actually excited for.  Usually I love the school year and thrive on my routine (feed kids, kick kids out the door, get a lot done, read or write, welcome kids back home feeling rested and refreshed, feed kids, chase kids to bed), but this year I was really looking forward to have my schoolkids home with Rosie.  They have all played together well and the bigger kids have been enthusiastically very helpful with her while I get things done.  They even protect her naptimes from their friends, haha.

 For our much anticipated trip to Montana (we missed it completely last year) Uncle Jake came through with a last minute reservation at the Lake Mary Ronan cabin.  Rach did a ton of work organizing the meals and shopping for all. that. food.

 We also enjoyed our time at Grandma's house.  Mark took the boys driving for the first time.  Notice the helmet.  Cooper was a bit nervous.

 Boss thought he was pretty big stuff and kept asking if he was a better driver than Leslie, etc, etc.

 Macy and Addy were making up dances and passing out "tickets".

 I think this was the moment I laughed the hardest.  Grandma was studying her scriptures outside prepping for our bedtime devotional and got dive bombed by a berry-eating bird.  Red berry bird poop all down her coat, her scriptures, her lap and chair.  I think she almost cried she was so grossed out. (We called it a Satan Bird.)

 Rosie's first visit to Grandma's house was a big hit.  Yeehaw!

 We went up to the mountains one foggy day.  It looked like this rockslide went up to infinity.

 Wood Lake.   A little too cold for catching frogs, but we did manage one ride in the canoe.

 The Pack Bridge.

 Oh Deer.  See the baby behind her?

 Luke was having a great time until he ran into one of Boston's sparklers and singed his hair.  Lucky it wasn't an eye!

 Mark was not having a great time.  It was so humid that the punks wouldn't light and grandma didn't have a lighter.  He went through about half a box of matches.  We missed Uncle Duke, our in house pyro.

 Rosie has been liking the song "Baby shark", so I thought my nephew Jett looked extra cute in this getup.

 This one.  I want a ride.

 Rosie did enjoy throwing her Jingle Baby and Woody off the deck.

 These boys did so well together.  I told them they should have some kind of Boat Club, and Cooper came up with the name, "the Seaweed Gang".

 Rosie loved the boat but it made her a bit drowsy.

 Luke LOVED fishing.  Except the 8 times or so that he declared that he was NEVER going to fish EVER EVER AGAIN.  Here he is with the sole Pumpkin fish of the trip (out of the hundred? that the kids caught)

 Utah wasn't about to be outdone by my home state.  One gorgeous night my friend Kerri and I (and we brought our hubbies) took their 4 wheelers up behind the mountains I can see out my back window, clear to one of the summits at Camel Pass and the trail I can actually see from my house that traverses Corral Mtn.  It has been on my bucket list to do that, and the whole experience did not disappoint--in fact it felt a little symbolic of celebrating my abundant, newly extended life.  And yes I did drive my own machine, although I was too chicken to turn a U on that steep mountainside and made Dustin do it.

 Our neighborhood is about two inches from the windmills on the left.

 The sunset was also gorgeous.  Just a few days later there was a forest fire down below this angle.  "We Didn't Start the Fire" was actually playing in my van as we watched the planes doing their drops.

 Rosie discovers underwear.  These are not hers.

 Mark took the girls to Lagoon one day and those of us with fainter hearts went to Seven Peaks on the free passes Macy won from her orthodontist.

 Macy and Luke walked in the Fiesta Days parade one morning.  Here Rosie checks out her personal flower at the Rose Gardens at the end of the parade.  It didn't go so well.  See sneeze below.