Heritage Softball

    What a tremendous softball season Spring 2021 was!!!  Between her school team and her Chandler recreation team, there was not a better coached girl out there!!!  Tatum is so fortunate to have Coaches:

Vega, April, Scott, and her dad.

    I have to admit that things were really intense for a couple months as Tatum had practices 5 nights and up to 4 games in a week.  But she is a TROOPER and saw both teams through.  Her school team finished with an 8-2 record and 3rd in the state--which was a much higher finish than we expected with this young team.  Her rec team was undefeated up until being knocked out in the first tournament round--finishing much lower than we expected😒. 

3rd in the State!!!

    I was somehow appointed to "Softball Booster President" this year for the school team and had THE BEST TIME working with the other moms.  We were able to get funds for t-shirts/hoodies, meals after away games, and an AWESOME end of the year banquet with super cute girl and coach gifts.  Seriously cannot wait to plan next year--weird...I know.  

Brandi, Coach Vega, Kristy, and me:)

    Coach Vega called Tatum the "team nucleus."  As an 8th grader, she showed such confidence, grace, and poise--she shows this on BOTH teams.  She had a great time making great life-long friends and lasting memories.  Tatum was sad that the season was over but is definitely looking forward to a little time off--before heading up to BYU softball camp and team fund-raising for new uniforms this summer.  Can't wait to watch this girl grow over her next 4 years.

Funny Lola...

    It seems like there's a lot of "funny Lola" pics on my phone.  Apparently, there can NOT be TOO many pics of this squishy/cute dog of ours: 

She's sooooo FANCY!

Two broken ears + a crooked tongue=
SOPHISTICATION👑

COOLEST AUNTIE EVER!!!

Max Goes to Prom 2021!

    Super proud of this boy!!!  He's been everyone's "Wing-Man" all year helping his friends get asked/be asked to dances all year.  It was finally HIS turn!  So he used his current job at "Popeyes" as his Promposal:  "I'ma Stop Being Chicken and Ask You to Prom."  His friend Jackson G. was his "Wing-Man" this time.

    The day of Prom was a little crazy--as it was planned by boys😂. After picking up everyone, locking his keys in his car,  helping his friend get the ink tag (that wasn't properly removed when bought) off his suit, and THEN helping that same friend get a last minute corsage for his date...Chris and I were EXHAUSTED.  Thank goodness these pics done by a old ward friend turned out FANTASTIC.  Made the craziness all worth it.

 

Chloe is such a good sport😂

This only had to be explained to me:
"Ice in the veins"
Means:  nothing gets to them
(I was worried it was a heroine reference😬)

It was a great night with great friends.  Nicely done boys💗

Shrek & Fiona--Foster Pups

     More foster pups from the Rez.  I got a call from another lady wanting to help up these two pups on the Rez who had just lost their momma to Animal Control.  I had the missionaries pick them up for me.  Seriously got these two in the nick of time.  They were a little older than the ones I usually get--they were closer to 6 months old--and the little girl was EXTREMELY sick.  She was throwing up everything--could not even hold water down.  But I could see she was a fighter.  So I dug into my medicine cabinet and found a bottle of powdered penicillin--the kind you add water to for children--and I mixed it up and started her on it immediately while I waited for the shelter to be able to fit her in for her shots/deworming.  Immediate improvement within 24 hours.  It's been awhile since I've had to pull a pup back from death's door but so glad that I got her when I did and that I had the medicine on hand.  (Gonna hit Mexico up again soon so I can have that stuff on hand all the time!). These two pups were so dang cute, they were adopted within the weekend that they went in.  

Shrek--male

Fiona--female

Carlie is HOME/Ethan's 19th Birthday!!!

The day had FINALLY come!!!  I've waited 18 AND A HALF months for this girl to get home--YES!  Those extra 17 days were the LONGEST!!!  And of course there was record-breaking snow in Dallas, TX the day before she got home--her flight route went from Vancouver, BC to Dallas, TX, then on to Phoenix, AZ.  The snow caused 90% of the flights the day before (Tuesday, Feb. 16th) to be cancelled so I was kinda freaking out.  Chris was just sure she would have to be re-routed.  But MANY prayers were answered and she was able to arrive home through Dallas as planned (and only 10 minutes late!).  I think Heavenly Father knew that ONE MORE day would have made me BURST!!!

We could HARDLY wait.  We kicked ideas around for months about how we would pick her up.  Because heaven forbid, we just pick her up like normal people--Max was NOT having that!  So we all had a part to play.  We did have normal sign:

So here we are in all our glory:

Me: Pregnant

Chris:  Crazy tourist guy--with black socks and sandals

Max:  SUPER Prep

Tatum:  Goth

Papa Frank:  Full head of hair

Of course with her FaceTiming weekly with us made her not believe any of it!  She just laughed at us and asked, "WHAT are you wearing???"  The flight attendant she was talking to was LDS also and he was asking her if she wanted him to record it--he was super excited for her to be home.  He had a good laugh at us as well and told me a very funny joke:

"What is the difference between a Catholic and a Mormon wedding?  At a Catholic wedding, the bride is pregnant.  At a Mormon wedding, the mother of the bride is pregnant."

So this first video is from my phone and the second one is from my dad's android phone (sucky quality but has better content:)

Tatum is ALMOST as tall!!!

We then headed straight over to the Stake Center to meet with President Hansen.  We talked with him for about an hour and she was "released."  We grabbed Panda Express--her favorite restaurant that she hadn't had in 18+ months--and headed home for surprise #2:  Her best friends, Kayleah & Tatye, were at our house decorating it with Post-Its and hiding with bubble guns.  (And I'm KICKING myself for NOT getting a pic with her and the two of them!!!)

We all finally got to bed around Midnight.  What a great day!!!

There wasn't a flight out of Idaho Falls until Thursday night--which was great because Ethan didn't miss any classes--so we flew Ethan home.  First time my kids were all under ONE roof in 18+ months:

It was a WHIRLWIND of a weekend as we had Carlie home AND we celebrated Ethan's 19th Birthday little early pizza/ice cream cake and a movie at Take One Cinema (the newly remolded theatre room at my husband's work which seats 15 people).  We watched JoJo Rabbit--a family favorite and one Carlie had not yet seen.  

Then on Sunday, Carlie gave an AMAZING talk--which was watched by about 200 people all over AZ, NM, and Canada.  Can't even believe that that is my child!!!  She's accomplished more than most 20 year olds her age.  Just CRAZY proud of her!

Right after church, we had a quick lunch, Come Follow Me lesson, and then my dad had to leave for NM.  We then had a missionaries over for dinner--ALWAYS a party when they're here.  Then we had to take Ethan back to the airport to catch his flight back to snowy ID.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC weekend.  Everything fell into place perfectly and it was just a great parent "payday" for both Chris and myself.  Not sure what we ever did to deserve such amazing kids.