Easter Ball Babies

It's just Payton and me tonight.  The girls and Bill have gone to play like they are homeless about 1.5 hours away.  (AKA Camping)  Blechy.Yucky.No-thank-you-very-much.  Oh, well, Pate and I weren't invited anyway since this camp out was only for fathers and daughters.  


Typical for Payton and me when we are by ourselves, we head on over to The Sizzler and grab us up some overpriced grub.  He: the steak and unlimited, deep fried, minuscule, baby shrimp complete with fries, his beloved cheese toast, and a frosty Dr. Pepper.  Me: the salad bar of course.  Tonight I was definitely tempted to snag an avocado or two and plant them in my purse for future guac, but I resisted and just went with my three platefuls of salad.  Yep, 3 I tell you.  Surprisingly delicious, this trip with minimum Nascar loving, plaid flannel shirt wearing, tattoo commenting, lumberjack looking patrons.


Aaaaanyway, on with the updating.  Heaven knows I'm doing this for my family's benefit so I need to keep documenting and writing my rememberings down for future Ball's!


Easter this year was a vast improvement from previous years. I actually went to the store, bought a variety of candy, purchased small gifts for each child, and put everything out for display on the kitchen table Easter morning.  What?  I know that's what your typical Easter entails, but for some reason, Easter always creeps up on me and before I know it, there are only circus peanuts and peachy rings as the candies of choice.  And, hey, at least I didn't just buy each kid a bag of candy and call it good like in 2009.  (Still trying to forget that year...)

I always feel guilty taking pictures without Lyss.  I hate to be Lyss-less!

Haha, not sure what we're doing in this one, but my fingers usually smell really good.

Putting your hand above the subject in a photo is a an old photography trick. 

 Um, yeah, it really isn't.

Kourtni and Padre.

Lindsay and Daddy.

Payton and Dad.

It was a beautiful spring morning on which to remember the atonement of, and worship our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

Still Catching Up

What's up with all the chairs you might wonder?  Well, Bill was out of town for the week so I naturally had to do my nightly routine which included 4 kitchen chairs and most of the doors in our home.  

Ain't no big thang.

Nervous at night much?

Yep, that'd be me.

What's New With The Ball Babies

It's been awhile since this busy momma has posted any goings on around here.  Not much has happened but I guess what has happened should be documented even if I am the only one who writes and reads it. Hah.  

So get ready for some plain old, hum drum, normal activities that encompass our plain old lives! 

This good looking kid has a mouthful of trouble.  *sigh*

He's missing 6 permanent teeth and this brings a whole set of problems to his little old mouth.  

First line of business:  get braces on those chompers.  

Second line of business:  move his jaw forward so the little baby teeth that are still hanging on by a thread, can have less wear and tear on them.

Third line of business:  Well, right now we're still on the second line.  Flippers, implants, etc. will have to come later.  

Another *sigh*.

Pretty cute still, huh? 

This picture is minus the robotic arms that the ortho used to bring the lower jaw forward. Oy.

A milkshake always makes things feel better.  Especially one from the Big Bun.  Creamy deliciousness.  I told myself I couldn't have one until I get braces!

Something else that's new:  

We have a 17 year old in the house.  A silly, sweet, sunny, second daughter who livens our lives and makes us smile on a daily basis.  

In the words of Kourtni, 

"Monkey!"

Chowing down for some birthday grub at Carino's.

We left fat and happy!

Even though Alyssa was busy being a college student and couldn't join us in person, I wore her amazing scarf she made for me so she could be in the picture in spirit. Isn't it adorable?  Can't believe she has my genes in her somewhere...

Something else that's new:  

We went to Utah for Spring Break.  

"Hey, that's not new!",

 you might be saying,

 "You've bored us with your Spring Break posts for the past couple of years!"

To which I reply, 

"But the kids have all gotten gigantic! That's new!"

Weak sauce.

Oh, well!

See what I mean about gigantic?  It takes two teen agers to hold Bryton!

But only one Payton to hold him.  

Looks of awe and amazement at the birthday cake before them!

Grandma's house filled with cousins is THE BEST!

My little buddy!

And all my "new" wrinkles!  Joy.

Hadley taking after her talented mother!

My mother stranded on the side of the road with a huge spike lodged in her tire.  Yikes.  Thank goodness for the promptness of the Utah Department of Transportation!

That's it for part one.  

Stay tuned for more plain old ordinary happenings in our life.

*Smile*

Out of the mouths of first grade babes...

"Mrs. Ball, you look like you've been in jail for a couple of days."

Um, yeah, that's what I get for wearing stripes to school. And FYI, my little first grade babe, prisoners wear ORANGE jumpsuits, not stripes anymore. So there.

(I love him anyway.)

Just.Can't.Delete.

Why is it that I cannot bring myself to delete certain pictures off my camera? Sheesh. I go to take a picture and my crappy little camera tells me "not enough memory space".

Well, that's a new one. Duh.

There would be way more space if I'd take off my pictures of Hawaii, (especially the first class picture of Bill and me on the plane...I look so tan. Wow.) or those pics of Lindsay's birthday way back in August. Maybe if I'd download our Christmas pictures or the traditional midnight picture on New Year's Eve. Maybe if I'd get rid of all those photos of my cute little firsties from school. Hmmmm. Kourtni's birthday is next and, yep, you guessed it, still in the camera.

I know, I'm a mess. A lazy yet busy mess. Too busy with school and church; then when I have some downtime I'm too lazy to do anything tech-ie but stalk some blogs and check out some statuses. I guess that could account for the lack of posting and pictur"ing" on this little blog. *sigh*

For now, you can enjoy the few pictures that are actually downloaded to my computer but still enjoyed by myself when I turn on my camera.

Nope, can't let that one go to cyber heaven.

What is it about a family of feet that I just cannot get rid of?

Oh, yeah, and then there's Vegas. Definitely keeping-in-the-camera-worthy.

Any time I can be reminded of a beach, I'm all over it.

Too cute to get rid of.

See, there's proof my daughters have amazing cherry stem-tying abilities!

Nope, can't let this one go.

Just look at those lashes, and that profile, and those earrings, and...

She won that pie. Proud mama moment that I have to remember.

OK, so I did download a couple of Christmas pictures. That's because I only took a couple of Christmas pictures...

Told you it was my fave...

"Moostaches" and a small snippet of Christmas

This was probably the most fun gift of the day... Too bad we had to share it!

But I can't forget these hand knitted beauties. They were one of the faves as well!

Knitted by none other than Lyssie Lou herself. Wish I could say I taught her those fierce knitting skills...I'll leave that to YouTube.

...More Christmas updates to come. I know you're super excited.

Mama Bear at the Movies

This holiday season has been one of shopping, eating, and movie seeing. We took the kids to a couple of movies and I really enjoyed adoring Robert Downey, Jr.'s hair, quirky personality, and wit. I also admired Tom Cruise's Ray Banned face, stunts, and smarts. Studs, I tell ya. Both of them, pure studs.

Our family enjoys a good movie complete with stadium seating, gifted movie tickets, and crowds galore.

What I don't enjoy is the occasional doofus who sits in front of one of my children and turns around to tell my child to quit kicking his chair.

Doofus: (Turning around) "Quit kicking my chair."

Me: (leaning over to Payton who is 3 seats away) "Did you kick his chair?"

Payton: Shaking his head "no".

Me: Settling back in to enjoy Tom and his chiseledness - is that a word?

Ten minutes later...

Doofus: (Turning around) "Quit kicking my chair!"

Me: (Leaning over to Payton who is three seats away) "Payton, are you kicking this guy's chair?"

Payton: Looking shocked and shaking his head "no".

Me: (to the doofus in a loud whisper) "He's not kicking your chair. His legs aren't long enough to reach your chair. Leave him alone and turn around and watch the movie!"

Doofus: Turned around and watched the movie for the rest of the evening.

Me: (Heart pounding out of my chest leaning over to Kourtni): "Keep your legs very still, I don't want to pick another fight!"

Yeah, I'm a grizzly mama bear when it comes to defending my children. Don't mess with me, especially in a dark movie theater cuz I will. take. you. on.

Tom Cruise has definitely worn off on me. Sheesh.

"Don't you be messin' wit our momma."

Houston, we have a concussion...

A couple of weeks ago, I picked Payton and a couple of his buddies up from a jumpy-bouncy-flippy-how-can-insurance-companies-let-this-happen-place. He and I made eye contact when I walked in the door and I could tell something was wrong with his face. As I got closer to him, I realized his nose was the shape of a 'J' and his eyes were red from tears. Um, what the &*$# happened, only son with a perfect nose of mine??? Long story short, he had done a double flip (it was a double flip, Mom.) and his knee made contact with his little perky nose. I'm not one to remain calm when it comes to accidents happening to my kids. Nope. I scurried him to the car, got on the phone with Bill who told me to call Jeff - our brother/brother-in-law Physician Assistant. I was prepared and ready to hyperventilate as I drove toward the hospital to have his little sniffer checked out when Jeff told me not to. He would check him the next day at Thanksgiving dinner. Needless to say, I was a mess the rest of the night and kept telling Payton to come look at me. Yeah, I know, I'm a little obsessive about this only boy child of mine. He couldn't breathe very well for the next week but the swelling went down and now his little schnoz is the shape of a mild lower case 'j'... Pretty sure he didn't break it after all, but it sure got me worked up and I still ask him to come and look at me so I can determine if there is any "movement".

Fast forward 3 weeks, new situation, new sport, different child:

Bill, Pate, and I walked in to the gym to see Kourtni's basketball game, but she wasn't on the court. She had gotten a head to her nose within the first 13 seconds of the varsity game and was on the sideline with an ice pack ON HER NOSE. Sheesh. What is it with these kids of mine and their noses??

Engage freak out mode for this momma. Great, just great. Another possible broken nose in the Ball household. But it was worse. Much worse than a broken nose. Poor Kourt had to be escorted out of the gym by the trainer because there was evidence that she had suffered a concussion from the rock hard noggin of the player who head butted my daughter. I waited for her to come back to the gym. I waited and waited and asked Bill if I should go to her rescue...he said no. Wait, just wait. Pretty soon the Athletic Director climbed the bleachers to where we were sitting and told us I needed to come with him because our daughter had suffered a concussion. Serious stuff. Especially in the state of Idaho. Within the past couple of years there have been major steps taken to protect young athletes who have had concussions. Kourtni was put through a battery of cognitive tests while she was laying on the training table. Her pupils were tracked, questions about months of the year and scores of previous games were asked along with a myriad of other questions to test her cognition. Two weeks minimum away from playing her favorite sport. No running allowed, no "thinking" recommended, no driving, no sports watching on TV, no high school basketball game attending. All in all - a mellow weekend was prescribed for our Kourt. This was all very concerning and I was a little afraid for her well being until I heard Kourtni say, "I just want to punch the girl who did this in the face." That's my girl. I knew she was ok.

She still isn't practicing with the team; instead doing 30 minutes of monotonous stationary bike riding until she gets the clear from our local hospital. It's been a pain for Kourtni. She wants to play. Her team has been plagued with injuries, and she wants to get in some "ballin' time"!

Better safe than sorry though. Even though she really likes the black eye she's sporting, we want Kourtni to leave high school with as many brain cells as she had when she entered! Oh, and her nose is just as button-like as ever, by the way.

My Yearly Addiction

It happens once a year. I make my nemesis.
My "crack".
My addiction for a day.
My buttery, corn syrupy, brown sugary, molassesy (is that a word?) confection.

Ah, yes, it is my love. It is what makes my legs squish out more when I sit down. It is what makes my belly hang over my belt with more abandon. It is what makes my face look like Alvin the Chipmunk. It is what makes the butt part of my jeans fit a little bit tighter. It is...

the dreaded

C A R M E L C O R N!

I look forward to this treat all year. I throw all my health food crazed notions to the wind on this day, and I indulge with a capital "I". Yes, people, I am an addict of crunchy carmel crazed goodness.

I have a great recipe and I'm not afraid to use it. At any other time of the year I would laugh hysterically if you asked me to consume even a fourth of what I ate today. I would scoff at the notion that corn syrup - alas, even the high fructose variety - would enter my body. And the butter, oh, the butter. I am not afraid of the vast amounts of butter on carmel corn day. I laugh at it in the face as I unpeel four cubes of the greasy stuff to put on the stove to melt into oblivion in my delicious concoction.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh batch. I've eaten almost the whole pan with the green spoon in it...
I'm good like that - er, actually BAD like that.

I'll pay for it tomorrow, and the next day, and when I want to wear my skinny jeans, and especially when I get the courage to step on to the bathroom scales. BUT...I'll run harder, longer, I'll work out with more gusto, and I'll have amazing memories knowing that I had a day full of bliss with my beloved carmel corn confection.

Payton was in his happy place while I was in mine.

I did share some of it.

Awwwww...

Bill on the phone to Payton: "It's time to come home, Payton, we're going to the Christmas party."

Payton: "I really don't want to go."

Friends in the background: "Don't go, we're not going, don't go!"

Payton: "Do I have to go?"

Bill: "Well, we're eating dinner there, what will you eat if you don't go?"

Payton: "I don't know, I'll find something."

Bill: "OK, you don't have to, you can stay home."

Payton: "Does Mom want me to go?"

Bill: "She'd like you to come with us."

Payton: "OK, I'll be right there then. I'll go. Be right home."

Isn't that the cutest, sweetest thing you've ever heard a son say to/about his mother? I'm so glad I have a boy - a great kid who still kisses me good-bye when I drop him off at school, in front of the jr. high, where 7th, 8th, and 9th graders are walking into the building acting all cool and whatnot. Yep, that's my Patey and I'll take as many loves as this boy is willing to shell out to his mother!