The Sweat of Church Ball

So this year was probably the biggest for Church Ball. Unknown to everyone our ward was scheduled to play an earlier game in tournament play. Luckily Alan went early that night to referee and found out, so we were both on the phone frantically calling the guys of the ward to show up. You wouldn't believe how many "really" and "are you sure" remarks I got from people. It was pretty funny actually. :)
Well they won that night, then returned the next night to play. They also won that one and had only 11 hours till the Tournament game the next morning. These are very high tech games. They even have High School Referees come to ref them. As usual they call fouls and the crowd complains. Sad really, but I even started complaining at the refs. Poor fellows.
Tournament game came and all of the wives were there to cheer and chat. Even our high council man and his wife showed up to watch. Oh fun times, fun times. I wish I could give you more of a play by play of the game, because it was intense. We were up by at least 15 for a really good portion of the first half, then the other team started catching up. In the last 3 minutes it was close and us wives could hardly take it anymore. We all were wondering if we should just go out in the hall, we couldn't take the suspense.
The last minute was crazy. They got close, then tied (wow I feel like I'm analyzing a March Madness game). Well they were ahead by 3 with one second left. The other team demanded that they get their 1 second. The girls at the scoreboard let the time run (we were wives, we didn't know how to run a b-ball score board/time). Finally the other team got their 1 second, nothing. Intense, intense. Oh the joys of ward ball!

Green Gallor

So once again I made St. Patty's day different by turning food in the house green. I couldn't really pull that off with the sweet & spicy chicken for dinner, but everything....yummmm. Alan doesn't get the greatest kick out of it, but wow I sure do! I turned the whole carton of milk green and the whole bottle of ranch, so we enjoyed our St. Patty's colors for a little while after the holiday. :) Poor Alan, how he puts up with me???? Love I guess! :)

His Mac and Cheese looked pretty nasty, I'll admit it, but it was really fun to see his face of disgust when he got a look at it. I don't think he will ever think of Mac & Cheese the same again. Cassi even joined in the fun (really no choice since I dress her) and had her green stripped one-zie on. If it wasn't for Aunt Rachel and her generosity with letting us borrow her baby clothes, Cassi wouldn't have been green this year! Thanks Rach!

Play Friends

Cassi has some play friends in our ward. One of them is Scarlet! Scarlet is eleven days younger than Cassi. She has two teeth now. One day she came over to play while her mom went to class. They actually played more with their toys than with eachother (meaning they didn't grab each other's faces like usual).

This is Roger. He is the son of one of our friends in the old ward up by campus. He was born in October, so eventhough Cassi is older, they still liked eachother. Well, I guess he had no choice, Cassi malled him and he just layed there because he couldn't get away.
She did hold his hand however, so that must mean there is a spark! :) He is just as big as her, so if they got together later on, no one would notice there was an age difference. He already wears 6 month clothes. Cute boy!

It was 60 here, why'd we go home to 2ft. of snow?

Here is our most lovely and quick Cali vacation! Oh it was so nice there on Lagoona beach. We still regret never putting our swimming suits on. At least I got some sun, starting my farmer's tan off early I guess.

This place was beautiful! It was so nice to get to see the ocean in a state of mind in which I could appreciate its beauty and creation (the first and only other time I've been at the beach was as a toddler on a cold and rainy day). Alan was such a sweetheart our whole trip! We held hands and walked up and down the beach, traversing rock and the sea shells Alan told me I couldn't take home. :(

We chased waves and wrote in the sand. The tide went out after we were there, so I think our writings stuck around a while. Alan took me back later that night so I could watch the sun disappear over the horizon. That is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Wow, what a trip!

Just to prove that Alan has been to Hollywood, he wanted a picture of the HOLLYWOOD sign on the hill. Traffic was fast and slow along the way and when he asked for a picture we were on the freeway with trees and overpasses blocking our view. If your squint you can see the WOOD part of the sign right next to the overpass. If we were to do it all over again we would have swam in the freezing ocean water rather than putt along in LA traffic for 3+ hours. YUCK!

Last and certainly not least for this posting anyways.......

POOP ROCK as Alan calls it. This is a little island-type rock close to the beach. I thought, and still like to think, that this rock is covered in salt. Alan, on the other hand, says it is bird poop. Tons of birds perch themselves here, so I guess he could be right. But that's just gross!

The Wonderful Block Around Disney

So we took a trip to Cali and went around Disney Land. We oohed and awed a little here and there. Since we didn't bring back any souvenirs we had to take pictures that proved we were around there :). No, Disney Land was not the focus of this trip, we had something much better in store for just Alan and I.

Cassi's Picts

Okay, so I can't possibly post ALL of Cassi's cute pictures, but this was a fun one! She is crawling out of her "underwater" tunnel towards me and the camera, only because she wanted the camera. She was only in the tunnel in the first place because I tried to get her to play in it. When she sits up in it, sadly, her head is touching the top. She's got her daddy's height that's for sure. Her little Sunday dresses almost are too short to call dresses and her pajamas that have enclosed footies are getting rather stretched.

So this next one is cute not only for the pose, but for the fact that this was Cassi's first experience trying to eat a Cheerio. Yes, that is most definitely a Cheerio stuck by slobber on the very bottom of her chin. Alan thought it was great, so we had to snap a shot. She will pick up every Cheerio and Corn Flake piece she sees on her high chair and grab it in a fist and then seem to open her fist and get it in her mouth. Now I don't know if she thinks she is getting full on them or what, but most all of them end up under her chin between her neck and her bib. Some lucky few make it in her mouth. Those are my favorite because they are the ones I don't have to try to pull off her slobber soaked bib :).

Cassi loves to watch her dad play Nintendo. If I could have gotten the camera out a little sooner I would have gotten a picture of her resting her head on his leg to watch him play. This last week at my mom's house she would just stare at a black television set until my mom would turn it on. She missed watching sports with her daddy I think.