Camp Out. . .or In

So, we had a ward campout scheduled for Friday, September 9th. The kids were all excited about it, but it rained, and rained and flooded all week. Enough so, that they cancelled school that morning. Luckily we didn't have to make the decision to not go. The ward did that for us! They decided that it would be safer (and more enjoyable) to not camp out in the rain and floods.

We all still wanted to have campout though, so we decided to camp in! Sarah set up a small tent downstairs, and we had a hot dog roast for dinner.

Please notice the extension cord going to the tent for adequate dvd player electricity...

After dinner we watched Mighty Ducks since my siblings had NEVER seen it for some strange reason. It was so much fun and I think they liked it. After that, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores!

Sarah was the only one who decided to sleep downstairs in a tent, and then she only did that for a few hours before heading up to her bed. Being rained out turned out to not be all that bad!

P-Nats & Stephen Strasburg

As we were driving back from Kings' Dominion I got a phone call from Dallin. He (half yelling with excitement) told me that they had just announced that Stephen Strasburg was going to be the starting pitcher for our local Potomac Nationals single-A team that coming Friday, August 12. The P-Nats play just down the street, about 15 minutes away. We were SO excited! We had hoped this would happen after he started rehab assignments.

We got tickets for just about everyone in the family and planned on getting there WAY early. Darren, Dallin, Sarah and I got ready pretty early and got to the park at about 4:45pm. Just over 2 hours before first pitch. It was "Ian Desmond Bobblehead Night" so we were some of the lucky first 1000 fans to get those for free. Especially since we were in a crazy LONG line and were fan #600ish. We quickly found our general admission section, scouted out the best seats and sat down and watched the rest of batting practice and all of the warm ups.

The P-Nats mascot - Uncle Slam

Cheers erupted as they announced Stephen Strasburg as the starting pitcher for the game.

An overcapacity crowd of 8,619 was there to witness Strasburg's first pitch:

It was a gorgeous evening for a baseball game.

Seat capacity: 6,000. Standing room: 2,000. Somehow they fit 8,619...

Strasburg pitched like the ball was on fire straight from the beginning. We were all amazed when he consistently hit 97-99 mph.

Strasburg left after 3 innings of great baseball. 33 pitches, 26 strikes, 2 hits, 5 strikeouts and no runs. We all had a great time and even enjoyed ball park hot dogs for dinner.

Darren and Dallin

Me and Darren (with Sarah peeking in from the side)

King's Dominion

My brother Aaron turned 16 on the 19th, but we knew that day would be crazy busy and not really conducive to spending all day at a theme park, so we decided to go on the 9th.

Before we left, my brothers (Dallin and Justin) had an "Operation" to complete. We had a canteloupe in our kitchen that was going bad, so they decided to configure a catapult of sorts and launch it off the deck into our backyard.

In full gear. Those canteloupes sure are dangerous.

The configured catapult. Exercise bands and broom handles.

Unfortunately their first and second attempts did not go as planned. The canteloupe flew right down to the deck the first time. And then didn't even crack when it hit ground the second time.

I have attached a video for your enjoyment of the third and fourth attempts:

After the melon had been successfully destroyed and left for the deer, we got on our way. It's only about an hour drive down the 95 to get to Kings Dominion. Since Aaron invited four friends we had to take two cars. My mom had Sarah and Dallin and their friends, and Darren and I had all the teenagers. It actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.

When we got there, Dallin split off with his buddy Matthew, and Aaron went off with all of his friends, leaving me and Darren to tag along with my mom, Sarah and her friend Alyssa.

We did a couple roller coasters, but I quickly found out that I can't really handle them as well as I could when I was younger. Even the swings were a little too much for me. If you can't tell...

After lunch Darren and I decided to just sit with my mom while the younger girls had all the fun on the coasters. Which was fine by me! We did do a couple water rides and then floated the lazy river to end our afternoon. It ended up being a really fun and relaxing day. We didn't even get sunburned!

A Mustache and a Birthday Party

Once Darren got a job and knew he wouldn't have to go to anymore interviews he decided to have a little fun with his facial hair. He decided that my sister's 12th birthday, August 3rd, would be the best day to begin the fun...

Too bad his beard wasn't thicker. You'd be able to tell more that his chin is completely shaved...

On the 5th Sarah had her sleepover party with about five of her friends. She had huge plans for the basement, so we spent most of the day cleaning and going through the old boxes down there to make room. I found the dress I wore on my 13th birthday...

I was shocked that I still fit into it! Well, mostly...I had a really hard time getting it off. Haha. I told Sarah I was going to wear it for the rest of the day and even wear it to her party. She didn't like that too much.

After we finished cleaning we helped Sarah decorate:

I love that Darren helped Sarah hang her pink and purple streamers. The basement definitely looked cute and I'm pretty sure she loved her party.

Swim is Over!...for the Summer

On July 30 my three youngest siblings had their divisional swim meet. They all did great!

Sarah swimming the Butterfly leg of her 100M I.M

Dallin swimming the Breaststroke leg of his 100M I.M.

Aaron swimming the Breaststroke leg of his 100M I.M.

The Lancers came in 3rd place, but they all swam extremely hard. After the meet was over, or actually just before, Darren and I decided to go and hit Cafe Rio since we were on that side of the county anyway!

It was absolutely delicious. Darren and I were practically drooling the whole drive home, since we decided to eat at home rather than in the over capacity restaurant.

The next day the kids had their end of season awards banquet. In addition to their participation trophies/medals each of them won/earned an individual award in their age group!

Aaron got Most Improved - He dropped the most time throughout the course of the season among the 15-18 year old boys. Hard to do!

Sarah won the Coach's Award for the 11-12 year old girls

And Dallin won the High Point Award - He scored the most points for the team out of all the 13-14 year old boys!

Darren and I were so glad we got to be here for the end of the season, and support them every weekend. I think he's already planning on having our kids swim...