Our First T-Ball Game

We had our first game this week. It was so cute. In our league, they don't keep score or really do outs. All the kids bat and run the bases. When your team all bats then you play the field. You just switch back and forth until the time runs out. I think its great. All the kids had fun and think they did awesome, which is how it should be.
The other team batted first. When one of the first batters got to second base there was a hit that went past him into the field and he started chasing it to field the ball instead of running to third. It was really cute. Stockton played between second and third. He actually got a kid out by fielding the ball and touching second base. (Of course the kid wasn't really out since they didn't do that, but anyway Andy was excited about it.) Andy stayed busy trying to keep all the kids involved. Most of the hits went right to the pitcher or up to the first baseman.
All in all, they did pretty well and most importantly all had fun! We love T-Ball!

Memorial Day

I lost these pics for a few days or I would have posted this sooner. We ususally go to the cemetary with Andy's family for Memorial Day. His mom has tried to make it a happy thing for us and not a sad day. She told the grandkids that one thing she really liked to do as a kid was put flowers on the graves that didn't get any. So she brought some extra lilacs this year for the kids to do that. The three older kids were running from grave to grave to find some with no flowers when they came upon this headstone. Suddenly they all got upset and started yelling "Oh no... Mickey and Minnie died!!!!" They were really worried. My sis-in-law Ashley was right by them and told them that it was just a neice and nephew of Mickey and Minnie. Stockton acted like he had just uncovered a big conspiracty theory and started yelling "Mickey and Minnie don't have a neice or nephew!" All of us grown-ups were cracking up. So I had to get a picture. I hope the other people there didn't think we were too disrepctful.
Here we are putting flowers on and cleaning headstones for Amy and Andy's grandma and grandpa Haskell.

For Those We've Loved and Lost

Andy and I have both lost close family members in our lives. I know it has been hard for both of us when we think about how much we miss them. Ultimately, we are blessed by the faith that someday we will see them again. We know that part of dealing with those losses has made us who we are today. We were just at the cemetary yesterday putting flowers on the graves and I felt sad that I am not always able to make it down to Torrey to see my dad's grave and put things on it as much as I would like. Then I thought maybe this would be an even better tribute to him. Especially since so many of my family and friends from my life now never knew him and don't know much about his story. And a lot of my family don't know much about Amy. So this one is for you guys..........

Amy Haskell

January 1978- December 1993

Amy was diagnosed with a brain tumor after suffering from a migrane and then passing out at home. They lifefllighted her to Salt Lake and gave her emergency treatments. She was eventually able to come to the rehab unit at Utah Valley Regional. She underwent massive therapy to learn how to do almost everything all over again (and sparked a career for Andy in Occupational Therapy) and had lost a lot of her short term memory.




She was eventually able to come home and have 16 more months to spend with her family. Andy remembers teasing her a lot and having lots of fun. They all remember her being willing to help out a lot with all her little brothers. I missed meeting her by a few days. She actually died the day Andy and I were supposed to have our first date. (hopefully not a bad omen for our relationship) I was so sad that I missed knowing her and the friend that I would have had in her. I look forward to meeting her someday.

Max Jay Chesnut

June 1957- August 1982

This is my dad in high school. I can see so much of him in my kids. Abby even has that same gap in her teeth and smirky smile. ( I had the gap too, but luckily it grew together by the time I got to high school.)

My dad was a logger. He worked with his dad and brothers doing the family logging business. I know he loved every minute of it. His favorite place to be was the mountains. Eventhough, I was only 7 when he died, I even remember him saying once that when he died he wanted it to be in the mountains. He was granted the blessing of going the way he wanted, in a logging accident. I truely know from the cicumstances of his death that it was meant to happen at that time.



My next sister wasn't born until I was 5, so there are lots of pictures of just me and my parents. These are a couple of my favorites. He left me with a rich heritage of love for Boulder Mountain and spending time just being outside.
My dad was only 25 when he died. When I turned 25 and then 26 and had actually outlived his life, it made me realize how young that really was. Stockton will be the same age I was when he died next year and that also makes me realize how young I was. I am so thankful for the time I had to spend with him. And I am grateful for my beliefs that I will be able to see and talk to him again some day!

I Love My Sistas

I had a lot of fun getting pics of Mandy yesterday. It was a good reminder of how much I love my sisters. I am really sad that we can't get together more often, but when we do we always end up laughing hysterically the whole time. Usually talking about funny pics of us or memories of things we did. These are just a few memories we have pics of....

I remembered this as the first halloween after dad died, but looking at Mandy tells me it must have been two years later.

This was my favorite nightgown from third grade. So i must be 8 or 9 in this one.

I don't know when this was, only that it was Lake Powell.
This was my my 9th birthday (i think). Mom made me this princess cake. I think we saw it in a magazine or something. I thought it was so cool.
This is me and Riah in the fake fur bear coats our Grandma Knowles made us.
Someone's birthday. Don't know who or when.
This was a Thanksgiving in Wyoming. Notice Myriah's Cabbage Patch shirt. Back when they were cool the first time.

At Haskell's cabin 2006

Happy Birhday Aunt Meeee

My life is crazy right now and I didn't get a card or anything in the mail for my cute baby sis's birthday. I was going through a bunch of old pictures today and thought maybe I would do a birthday post instead. She is going to love me for putting all of these pictures on, but they all look cute and its fun for people to see the faces of Mandy through the years.

I think this picture could be from a birthday long past. I know it was taken at Hickman's Bridge at the park.
Mandy was a notorious finger sucker. But it was never her thumb. It was always those two middle fingers. I think we were all big blanky kids.

Happy Birthday Mandy-O!! We love you.

I also need to send a happy birthday to my sister-in-law Stacy. She shares the same birthday with Mandy. I hope you guys have a super fun and wonderful birthday!!!!

Sand Dunes

We went to the Little Sahara sand dunes this past weekend as a little family camping trip. We had such a fun time! Each time that we take the kids camping though, I realize how much work it takes to go, especially for just overnight like we usually do. I know it is totally worth it though for all the fun memories the kids will make. This is the part where I say thank you to my mom for all the fun camping we did as kids. And to my in laws for all the fun trips they have taken us and our kids on. And for letting us use their trailer.

We don't rough it quite as much as I did as a kid. In fact, on this trip, Ryan brought a generator and his TV and satellite from home so we could all watch the Jazz game around the campfire. I have put tons of pictures on from our trip. I know that is the part I enjoy most on other blogs, so bear with me. I was really sad though. About an hour before we were coming home I let Stockton use the camera to take a few pictures. The next thing I knew, he handed the camera back and it said that all the images were erased. What a bummer!!!!! Luckily my sister in laws had taken some pictures that they shared with me. And I snapped a few more before we left.

This is Justin's girlfriend Leslie. She is doing an internship in SLC through BYU Hawaii. We are having fun getting to know her and she is super nice and fun. Everyone took turns helping us with Peyton. We had to keep him in the shade since he is still too young for sunscreen.
This is a giant hill that Andy kept putting the kids on his back and running up and down. He was showing off how in shape he is. Nobody else could make it as many times as he did. Abby loved running down full speed and kept wanting to do it again.
Taking it easy while the grown up packed up our stuff. It's a hard life being a kid.
Having some lunch with our cousins, Alydia and Aiden. Stockton had some grapes, some chips, and a bun. I don't know how that child survives.
Abby playing dollies in the trailer.
Abby totally loved the dunes. She couldn't get enough of rolling down the sandy hills.
Unfortunately, that left her with a face and eyes full of sand. But she didn't let that slow her down!
The uncles dug this sand fort and even made special seats for all the kids. They thought it was pretty cool.
Afterward, Abby turned her seat into a slide. Can you say pants full of sand?

Roasting marshmallows. Abby has picked up her little head poses from watching her cousin Alydia. They are both little princesses.
Waiting for lunch to be served.
Having fun on the dunes. I was really worried about having Peyton out in the hot sun and the wind. But believe it or not, this was our best trip to the sand dunes for wind. There was just a nice cool breeze. This umbrella worked well for keeping Peyton out of the sun. Andy and I took turns sitting on a lawn chair in the shade with him.

We only lasted for a couple of hours on the dunes before the kids got hungry, tired, and grouchy. But they had a blast. We brought all of Stockton's sand box toys. So they played diggers, took some 4 wheeler rides, and wallered in the sand. We all had a great time and made some fun memories.

'Tis the Season

These are the matching father/son cleats we got for ball season. Stockton is starting T-ball for the first time and Andy is the coach. I think since we had Stockton he has looked forward to the day when he could coach ball games. He went to get some new cleats for himself a while ago (which I have to admit he needed. the old ones had holes in the toes) He called me from the store so excited to tell me he had found these cleats for Stockton. He was so excited that Stockton would finally have the "it" thing when it comes to sports apparel. (I sensed some vicarious childhood desires being fulfilled there). I was really excited too, but told him not to be disappointed if Stockton didn't appreciate how special his new cleats were.

For those of you who have known Andy for a long time, yes, Under armour is the new Nike for him. Anyway, we had the first practice for the T-ball team today. We are the Elk Ridge Angels. The team is Co-Ed with 3 girls and 7 or 8 boys. The practice went better than we thought. I think we will all have lots of fun. We still don't have a schedule yet, but games could start as early as next week. We'll keep you posted.

Mother's Day

I hope all you moms out there had a great mother's day! I really enjoyed mine this year. One of my favorite presents was this one from Stockton. The whole kindergarten class each made a page like this and bound it into a cute book for the moms. Stockton's teacher had each mom turn in a cookie recipe in February. Then they asked the kids some questions about their moms and how to make cookies. I think you can read Stockton's answers. They were all so cute!!!
I have had a few comments on the picture Stockton drew of me. No its not a pregnant belly, a big hairy butt, or a train or airplane that I am riding in. I just have really big arms with lots of fingers. I think its pricelesss. Before I had kids, I thought that deep inside all moms must be disappointed when they got homemade presents from the kids. But now that I have my own, getting things like this or the flower pot with a handprint on it really are awesome gifts that I love!!

Whats New?

Peyton has been trying to sit up all the time. So I got out our walker. This is a hand me down we've had since Stockton was a baby. NONE of my kids has been able to touch the floor in it. Even on the lowest setting. They all have short Haskell legs. They don't seem to like their legs just hanging there, so I have to put a pillow under there to give them something to stand on.
We have been working with Stockton on numbers and letters. One trick that Andy uses a lot with OT and Stockton's teacher actually suggested too is to write them in shaving cream on the table. His preschool teacher used to let them play with toys in shaving cream as a sensory thing. So we compromised. He used the tires to "drive" the letters and numbers in the shaving cream. It is a little messy, but is smells good and the table is really clean when its all done.

Abby's Dance Recital

My little peanut had her first dance recital last week. I never realized how small she really is until I saw her dancing with all those other girls. She is the youngest in her class, but is also the smallest by at least a head. People are always telling us how petite she is and one day I thought about it and realized that I was always one of the smallest in all my elementary school classes too. It brought back scary memories of "the Chicken Man." A select few of you will know who that is. For the rest of you, he was the school picture taker. He had this rubber chicken and would bop it on his leg and say "don't hit me chicken." For those poor shorties in the class who had to always be on the front row, sometimes he would bop one of us and say "don't hit her chicken." I was always terrified he was going to bop me. I never wanted to be on the end of the row!!!

We kept our expectations for the recital pretty low. When she went to get her dance class pictures taken, she cried the whole time and it was a struggle. So I was afraid at the recital she might burst into tears and run off the stage. Honestly, I thought it would be pretty good if she just stood frozen in her place and bobbed up and down.
She totally surprised us all!!!! She got jiggy with it, got down with her bad self, and got her groove on, to say the least. She totally danced the whole time. She didn't even wait for the music to start. Too bad it wasn't anything like what she learned in class. She was just doing her own thing while some of the other kids actually did the dance they learned. We got the whole thing of video and its just about 10 minutes or so. If you're ever in the neighborhood, you should stop by to watch it. It is great comic relief.
She had a great time and thinks she is the world's best dancer. And who can blame her. We all loved it and told her so!