it's all in the name

We had our first women's city league softball games this week! And when I say "we" I mean Jill Emerson's team (which consists of Jill's relatives and a few of Jill's lucky friends). This year we are "Banasky Insurance" but we change from year to year depending on whatever poor sucker Jill can talk into paying our registration fee. Thanks Jill. Oh and thanks Ryan Banasky...no offense intended. None of our team names have been too intimidating - past team names have been "Murdock Motors" and "Loveless Ash Vacuums". Next year I am vying for a tougher sponser name, maybe we could hit up some steroid manufacturers or teamster unions? Just a thought. You might not think the team name means much but whenever we play a "Preschool" or "Day spa" team, I just know we are going to kill them. And I am right.

Ask anyone who knows and they will tell you, the scariest name in Carbon women's softball for years has been "Taco Time". Why "Taco Time" hires masculine, athletic, scary women I do not know. Maybe these ladies make delicious bean burritos, but they definitely make one heck of a softball team. They have been place hitting and winning tournaments since before most of my team was born! However, the last few years things have been changing for Taco Time. Now, fortunately for us, the "Taco Time" ladies are getting progressively older and drunker and they are not such a hard team to beat. We won both times we played them last year, and it's like winning the World Series to beat "Taco Time".

Although we didn't play "Taco Time" this week, we did win our first two games, so we are off to a good start. As you can see, I took a horrible beating. My husband gave me no sympathy, but instead suggested I stop spazzing out and diving for hits and sliding into bases, especially when it is rarely helpful. Oh, and then there was that ball that bounced off my mitt and hit me in the face. Oops. Hopefully, I won't look like this every Tuesday night for the next seven weeks. Go Banasky!?!

PS: Hope you all enjoy looking up my nose.

fuzz heads

So, I finally did it. I got so sick of chasing Jacob around the house with a squirt bottle, and trying to clean squished bananas and maple syrup out of Eddie's hair that my boys had to get new haircuts. Dave was even on board this time. My sincere apologies to the grandmas, aunts and some of the old ladies at church who will be mad at me, and ask me where all Jacob's beautiful curls have gone (to the landfill). I think they look adorable and the first morning we got dressed and left the house without the hair combing fiasco, I thought they looked even cuter.

esto perpetua

We just returned from a fun weekend in Idaho, yes I said Idaho... yes,I said fun. Merrilyn flew in from Seattle for a quick visit and a bunch of the Nelson's headed to Idaho Falls to watch our little Sarah's last ballet performance before heading to college and to harrass Griffen (her breakdancing date to the graduation formal dance). Both events were equally entertaining and enjoyable.

But, lets not start with that. I must recap the car ride to Idaho Falls, because we impressively crammed 8 people and their crap in our Tahoe for the 3 hour drive (which was more like 5 hours as we had to stop for caffienated beverages 2 or three times and for food at Cafe Rio and for Mrs. Cavannah's chocolates, of course, and to check the air pressure in the tires, and then to pee). Why we stopped for Mexican food before a long drive with a car load of Nelsons I will never know. Needless to say, I was glad to be stuck far away from everyone in the back seat with the toddlers even though my knees were smushed aganist my face. You can imagine why. Merri and Annie giggled, texted boys and picked each other's split ends like they had never been separated. It was sweet.

At Uncle Lee's, we said hello and then ran for the local Zoo, which is awesome because it is cheap and little. And who wants to be at the Zoo more than a few hours anyway. The kids had fun but seemed to enjoy looking for animal poop more than actual animals. I blame the Nelson genes. One highlight...the camels were behind a fence with a sign that said to avoid injury, not to stick your hands or faces inside the camel enclosure. Right below the sign, were cute little red boxed openings, at all different heights so that kids of all sizes could easily reach inside the enclosure. What? Whoever, goes back to the Tautphaus Zoo next, has to take a picture of this for me. I realize I might be waiting several years. If we were lucky enough to have a Zoo in Price, I'm sure we would have some similarly confusing directions.

At the Coppelia performance, Sarah wowed us all and made us feel like the clumsy oafs that we indeed are. She is awesome and looks much better in a tutu than her Aunt Merri (sorry Merri but you know why that didn't work and it's not because your hot bod can't pull it off). A lady in a Zebra coat shushed Jacob really rudely which made me mad. I knew if I told a few Nelsons about the shushing they would take revenge and I was right. Let's just say, she left the theatre with a little more spit in her purse than was there when she arrived. We are classy ballet folk. Also, Jacob informed me that he wanted to dance too. I told him, go ahead, but he said "No..up there" and pointed to the stage. Maybe all of his athleticism is being wasted on baseball and soccer. Only time will tell.

Dave and Lee celebrated their upcoming 36th and 44th birthdays (wow). Mom and Dad let Lee pick the place to eat out again this year so they had a nice dinner at McDonalds. Elaine was busy and flitted in and out of the house leaving meals and bedding for the invading army in her wake. She was an awesome hostess. Jeremy and Mikey ventured from the basement and Warcraft games a few times for food, they have to hurry back downstairs because sunlight could kill them. And Camilla kept us all laughing with her satirical outlook on the weekend and her eye rolling and sassy outbursts. She reminds me of a young me, only with cuter hair.

It was great to see all our family, especially Merri who is not around much anymore. We came home tired but still managed to squeeze in a little shopping and a Cinci De Mayo party with all the cousins and aunts and uncles before heading home. If you want to know how much fun the party was, just take a look at this picture...

In the end, it turns out we really needed to hang out with our family and get out of Price, and sadly, Idaho Falls offered all the excitement and culture we needed to feel normal again. Let it be perpetual.

easter

What kind of Mom would I be without a few pictures from Easter (if only a few weeks late). Is it bad that I was more quickly pursuaded to blog about "Must see TV" than a holiday with my family? I decided to include this picture where my boys prove they actually love each other rather than one where Jacob is hitting Eddie in the head with his plastic carrot baseball bat (the most loved gift from the Easter Bunny last year).

This year I learned that Jacob is a savvy little easter egg hunter. He figured out that he could get much more accomplished by leaving his basket in the same place and running around getting candy with both hands . He would run back to his basket to empty his hands when he couldn't carry any more. It reminded me a little bit of "Supermarket Sweep". I was so proud. He did waste a little time doing excited dances, diving unnecessarily and stopping to say "Yes!" when he found something particularly good, but we can weed out those bad habits by next year. The Nelson family does a crazy Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house where we don't really hide the candy so much as "throw" it across the lawn. All of the grandkids clean up! Eddie pretty much stopped by the first candy he spotted to shove it in his mouth (wrapper and all). He has done this so much now that he actually gets mad at me for removing the wrapper, I guess he associates the taste of tinfoil and wet paper with a treat. We had a great holiday and although we didn't get around to decorating eggs this year, we did have a lot of fun four wheeling with friends- which definitely beats out egg dyeing as an Easter tradition. Our boys loved camping in Dabinki, especially the being filthy and eating dirt part. Here's a few pictures from our Easter holiday.

PS: Drop us an e-mail if anybody has more pictures from Dabinki to share.

Easter Slide Show

blerg....yes blerg

Even though the writers guild strike was suppossedly over a while ago, it finally feels over to me because my beloved "30 Rock" and "The Office" and "Desperate Housewives" and too many other shows I am embarassed to mention are finally back on. Hooray! Even my TV-numbed brain couldn't handle another "My Dad is better than your Dad" or other atrocity of entertainment. I have even resorted to reading, which I actually enjoy but which frequently loses out to the oh-so-convenient and reasonably priced DVR. So tonight, I will get my kids to bed in a hurry so I can relax with some snacks and forget my troubles with a little dose of Liz Lemon and Dwight Schrute. Happy awkward watching everyone!

Day of rest

My son Jacob turned three at the end of December, just in time to graduate to the Sunbeam Class for kids at church. Yes you heard me right, I said "class" like, with an actual teacher and an actual lesson...for three year olds. And in his case, a just barely three year old. Well, the first week went about like I expected. Jacob spent his time drawing on the chalkboard, jumping off his chair, twirling his head up in the curtains and helping the pianist with the accompanment. Everytime the music leader looked around to call on a child for help, he was yelling "Pick Jackie!" And he wandered around the room whenever he was bored to sit on a different teachers lap or sit by one of the kids he recognized from the neighbornhood. I'm sure he was wondering where the slide and the basketball hoop had gone (yes, we have them in our nursery), and "Where are my snacks?" and "Where are those couple kids I'm bigger than?". It was a tough week, but everyone kept telling me he would get better. So a few months have gone by and a month or so ago I asked Jacob about it on the way home from church.

Mom - "What did you learn about in Primary today?"

Jacob - No response. I tried a different approach.

Mom - "What did your teacher tell you in class?"

Jacob - "Get down".

Exactly what he was climbing on I don't know.

And then, there is Eddie. Who oddly enough, gets possessed the second we step in the chapel doors. He gives everyone at church who smiles or talks to him some kind of sad, crusty expression - usually like this. And even though he wants Mom and Dad, he doesn't cooperate for us too well. It must be funny, to sit behind us and watch Eddie dive, wiggle, wrestle, bite and scratch his way out of our arms, only to be put down and immediately do the go limp baby trick where they pretend they have no muscle control and could not possibly stand, sit or even lay down without parental assistance. It's a not so enjoyable game of...So you want me to hold you... So you want down... OK I'll hold you...Ouch, I'm putting you down...Well you spazzed out and hit your head, now you need hugs...Fine I'll let you run around the chapel...Anything if you just stop freaking out...OK you can sit on my lap...Here's some honeycombs...You want to lay on the floor?...Lets go out in the hall...No, that's not working...Go to Daddy...Stop ripping the hymn book pages...etc.etc.etc. for three hours! I don't know how I could do it without Dave. He ends up with Eddie most of the time because of my primary calling and I do not envy him. The best thing about the day is that both of my kids are so tired when we get home that we all get to take a much needed, lengthy Sunday nap. All that spiritual nourishment is tiring.