Not enough hours in the day

I've decided recently--not for the first time--that there just aren't enough hours in my day. I need three more hours to sleep and three more hours to get things done--things I really need to do and things I feel like I should do and things I just want to do. I suppose there's a chance I wouldn't be satisfied even with six more hours, but it sure wouldn't hurt. Dallin and I fell asleep on the couch for about a half an hour today, but my nice little nap was negated somewhat by the dreams I was having about what I should've been doing instead of sleeping. :-(

Just for the record, Adam's team lost again tonight, 11-4. So their record is now 5-2. Adam hit two singles, so he's 13 for 15 (.867 batting average, 10 singles and 3 doubles).

Blown Out

Adam's team played the Padres tonight and suffered their first loss of the season, so they are now 5-1. It was ugly. The score was 15-1. The other team hit really well and played well in the field, while Adam's team struggled at bat and had lots of fielding errors tonight. On the upside, Adam hit a nice leadoff double to start the game, and had a single as well. So he is now 11 for 13 (8 singles and 3 doubles) for a .846 batting average. It's nice though, that he cares more about his team losing than about how well he is doing individually.

Hobby #2--Yoga

Another hobby that I spend some time on is yoga. I was first introduced to it by my sweet friend, Patricia, four or five years ago when we lived in Cincinnati. She did a class on it for homemaking meeting at church once and shattered some of my preconceptions that it was a weird Eastern religion thing with chanting and all that. (Originally I'm sure it was just that, but Westerners have adapted it and many practice the physical aspects--Hatha yoga--simply as a form of exercise.) My interest was piqued, but when I checked out some classes they were more than our student budget could handle, so I didn't pursue it.

Then last spring my friend Stacie, a sister in our current ward, needed to do ten hours of volunteer yoga instruction to get her certification to teach it at a local health club. She offered to do a beginning yoga class twice a week as an Enrichment Activity. I jumped at the chance and I've really enjoyed it. She's kept going long beyond her ten hours, which has been a great service. In return, we've been lucky enough to be her guinea pigs as she's learned new things and practiced them on us before teaching them at the gym. In addition to yoga we've done some Tai Chi and some Pilates, but I still like yoga the best. I've tried to figure out how to describe what kind of yoga she teaches. She often calls it "yoga-flow," but as near as I can tell it is equivalent to Power Yoga and is encompassed by vinyasa yoga and Ashtanga yoga, which are more general terms. I enjoy the sun salutations and balance poses most, and I struggle most with the warrior poses.

I still need to find a way to work some cardiovascular activities into my life, but yoga has been great for flexibility, strength, relaxation and stress relief. I did it all through my pregnancy with Dallin, and although there were a few positions I couldn't do as I got bigger, I really believe it made for an easier pregnancy this time around. I also think one of the keys to aging gracefully, besides a good attitude, is staying active. My Grandpa Seegmiller started doing yoga several years ago and still does today as an 86-year-old. I hope I'm still doing it when I'm 86 too!

Obligatory Baseball Post

Only two baseball games to report on this week--aren't you lucky?! Ryan and Adam both played last night. Ryan's game was rather unremarkable. He got to play shortstop and left field and got no action at either position. But he was more disappointed--as most tee-ballers are--that somebody's parents forgot the after-game snack again. So I let him get Ring Pops for himself and his brother's at the concession stand. They are slowly learning they are much more likely to get a treat if they don't ask, i.e., beg.

Adam's team won another squeaker, 2-1. It turned out to be a pitcher's duel, if you can call it that in a pitching machine league. :-) Hopefully both team's coaches learned that putting their weaker hitters all together in the lineup instead of mixing them in with the stronger hitters isn't very effective if you want to score runs. (Actually, I think Adam's coach is usually careful about that, but he wasn't there and the assistant coach in charge of the lineup appeared to be less experienced with that kind of thing.) Anyway, Adam hit a single past the shortstop into the outfield and also got on base with a fielder's choice. I've loved baseball since I was a little kid and think I know quite a bit about the game, but I didn't know until last night that a fielder's choice counts as an out when calculating batting average. So Adam is now 9 for 11 (.818 batting average). His team is 5-0 for the season. The league doesn't actually keep track of standings because they consider it a "learning league," but you just ask the 1st and 2nd grade Little Leaguers at Adam's elementary school and they will tell you that the Tigers and the Padres are undefeated, so if the Tigers (Adam's team) beats the Padres next week, they will be in first place.

Photographer Frustration

Grrrr. Does anyone else get frustrated when trying to get pictures taken professionally? I won't even start on the unpleasantness of taking family pictures or how they get more complicated the more kids you have. I pick the time and the frequency of our family photos very carefully to minimize the stress and grief as much as possible. Kids' photos though, I try to make happen more often, usually at least once a year. It's slightly easier once they get in school, unless their school pictures turn out lousy, like Ryan's did this year.

So I've been trying for over two months to get Dallin in for a photo while he's still a little baby. And Jared hasn't had a successful photo since he was 18 months old. We tried last summer, but the photographer at Wal-Mart literally scared him so much that all we got was tantrums and tears. So this time I've been debating between Sears and Wal-Mart, both of which are relatively convenient for us without being ridiculously exorbitant in price. The last time we tried Sears, the pictures turned out okay, but weren't really worth the price we ended up paying for the package, and the customer service was poor. I hadn't seen the guy who scared Jared at Wal-Mart for awhile, so I went ahead and made an appointment there for this morning, reasoning that even if the pictures didn't turn out perfect, at least I didn't have to invest $60 or more to keep them. I got the boys dressed in their respective outfits and got over there on time, a feat in and of itself. Dallin was fed and rested and happy, and Jared was even acting like he was going to cooperate. The photographer seemed a little harried, but was nice enough. And then she started snapping pictures of Dallin's cute little smile and realized the camera wasn't working properly. Arrgh!!! We hung out for a little while and even did some shopping while she tried to get it working, but no luck.

I did get a coupon out of Wal-Mart for a free advertised package, but I'm back to the same dilemma. Do I reschedule and go for inexpensive because the kids are so unpredictable at any given time that the photos might not turn out that great anyway? Or do I go with Sears again, pay more, and still not have any guarantee that the kids will cooperate. Or do I try an independent photo studio here in town that will cost me an arm and a leg, but probably give me much better service (and I still risk the kids not cooperating).

I honestly think with a few photography lessons and the right equipment, I could do the pictures myself as well or better than most photographers we've tried over the years. Maybe someday. In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions for resolving my dilemma? I'll probably go back to Wal-mart and use my coupon this time, but I'd like a better solution for the future.

County counting

Since I've been married, and particularly since I've had kids, I've had a difficult time answering the question, "What are your hobbies?" It's not that I don't have any. It's just that the time I have to spend on them has pretty much disappeared. I can tell you a whole lot more about hobbies that I've enjoyed in the past or interests I'd like to pursue in the future than I can about hobbies I'm involved in right now. There are a few things outside of raising kids and household chores that I do spend a little time on. I thought I'd write a blog about each of them, as I get time.

"County counting" may not seem like much of a hobby, but I've been having fun with it. Our friend, Dan Miller, from Cincinnati introduced me to this one through his blog, Every Whatever. He's a fun-loving guy with many hobbies, some of them pretty off-the-wall. He found this website, www.mob-rule.com/counties/, that allows you to keep track of every county that you've visited. Did you know that there are 3141 counties (or county equivalents--parishes, etc.) in the United States? So far I've visited 625 of them (19.90%). Here's my map. Thanks and credit mostly go to my parents and Jeff for moving me to several states in various places across the U.S. Most of my counties I got without even trying. I do have plans to get a few more counties in Texas before we move back to Utah this summer. Then when we move we'll alter our normal Texas to Utah route just a little to get some new ones as well. Here's an interesting map of the U.S. showing which counties have been visited most frequently by "county-counters" on the website. You can have fun checking out the county-counting website to see where people have visited, or you too can be a county-counter by starting your own account following the simple instructions here.

Four more games

I think--I hope--this is the last week we have baseball games on four out of the seven days. Adam played Tuesday and Friday. Last night he struck out once and hit a single in a 7-6 win (4-0 record for the season). He's up to six singles, two doubles, and a strikeout for an .889 batting average. He also stopped four balls at third base. On one of them he got the force at third and threw the ball to home, nearly turning the double play. It would have been awesome if he'd gotten it, but I'm just proud that he's picked up enough of the game to know to try for it.

Ryan played Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon. He was happy to get to play catcher for an inning today. It's a little harder to keep stats for him, however. In this league, every teeball player bats every inning and everyone scores unless they get thrown out at first, which happens only occasionally. He's having fun though, and has improved a lot since last season. By the way, have you ever noticed how little kids look so cute in uniforms?

A Squeaker

Adam's game last night was a close one, but they pulled it out, 9-8. He got one double and two singles and scored twice. He also got to play catcher for two innings, which he was excited about--I'm not sure why. But he did a good job of it. Here are a couple pictures.

Dallin also enjoyed the baseball game. Well, he fell asleep in his carseat, which I assume means he was enjoying himself. Before he fell asleep we got this picture. By the time Jared and Dallin are old enough to play baseball themselves, they are either going to be really good, or really sick of it. If you're reading this blog, you might be sick of it too. Please forgive the game-by-game description and just be grateful it's not play-by-play. :-)

Cold Texas Easter

We had a cold front blow into Texas yesterday. At Ryan's teeball game last night it was about 50 degrees, but the wind made it feel much colder (although not quite cold enough to send the players to the coach's motor home between at-bats). They actually called the game after two innings and let us all go home to get warm. On the way to the car 3-year-old Jared said, "Mommy, I'm frozen." Anyway, Ryan got to play in the pitcher's position the first inning and was so excited when he threw two runners out at first. Wish I could have caught the grin on his face and shared it with you.

Today was even colder. I'm not sure it got above freezing. We had freezing rain and then snow too, which actually accumulated maybe an inch on the ground. In this part of Texas that is fairly rare, especially in April. So far they haven't canceled church tomorrow, but if the roads are icy enough, they might. We did Easter baskets and an (indoor) Easter egg hunt today so we can hopefully focus on Christ and His resurrection tomorrow. That might be a bit trickier to do with the kids if there is no church. We'll see. It'll be a cold Texas Easter, but fortunately the weather is supposed to be back up in the 70's in time for the next round of ball games next week.

Still batting 1.000

Adam played his second game tonight. I took our camera this time, but still didn't get any pictures of him. My multi-tasking capabilities seem to decrease in direct proportion to how sleep-deprived I am. Anyway, Adam got a double and a single, respectively, in his two at-bats, and his team won 9-7. The only bad thing was the mosquitoes have started coming out. I really don't like mosquito repellant, but it's better than the alternative.

Random stuff and catching up with Jared

I'm open to suggestions for a better blog title. My current one is accurate but not too creative.

Yesterday Jeff was telling me how impressed he is with my one-handed typing skills. It's one of those bonuses you get with childbirth I guess.

Jared's verbal skills continue to grow by leaps and bounds. My favorite lately is how he answers most questions with the word "kepuz"--for example: "Kepuz I don't want it!" or "Kepuz I don't know." He's very expressive and it's very cute, even when he's being a stinker. The cute while being a stinker part won't last I'm sure.

Jared celebrated his third birthday a couple weeks ago. For several weeks leading up to his birthday he kept talking about his Larryboy "happy-birthday-to-you cake" or his Lightning McQueen "happy-birthday-to-you cake." Jeff can draw Larryboy (of Veggietale fame), so we picked that one and were up until 2 am decorating it. It turned out pretty well and Jared loved it, so burning the candle at both ends paid off this time. Here are a couple of pictures of the masterpiece with creator and recipient:



















The mark on Jared's forehead is a burn he received when he bumped into the propane lantern while we were camping at Carlsbad Caverns during Spring Break a few weeks ago. It's mostly healed now, but we're waiting a bit to see if the scar fades more before we try to get his 3-year-old photographs taken.

$143 sock and Ryan's first game

I think it's a good idea to try to learn at least one new thing every day. I just hate learning things the hard way. Last Wednesday our washing machine broke down with two loads to go. Jeff volunteered to look at it and try to fix it, but when it wasn't even obvious how to open it up we decided to call a repairman. Sears sent out a really nice guy who popped open the washer, pulled one of Dallin's little socks out of the pump, kindly advised me to wash little socks in a mesh bag so they can't escape the tub, and then charged me $143. What a pain. I even have one of those mesh bags, but hadn't thought to use it. Guess I will now. Live and learn.



As mentioned in yesterday's post, Ryan's first teeball game of the season was tonight. He's one of the older, bigger kids in teeball now too, which I think he's pretty happy about. Last year he wanted so bad to play in the infield. Tonight he played third base the whole game. Here he is in his Pirates uniform. (Maybe it's a genetic thing with third base. That was usually my position in Little League too, unless I was pitching.) He got three hits in each of the three innings. They don't keep score in teeball, so there was no winning team. Jeff and I have always thought they should declare the team who gets the most defensive outs as the winner, since getting a runner out is quite the accomplishment for those little kids who are just beginning to figure out how the game works. And believe me, although Ryan knows more than he does last year, this team has a lot of young kids and a LOT of room for improvement. If one of them weren't my kid, it would be painful to watch them.

The elation we felt when Jeff was offered a position at UVSC a few weeks ago is beginning to take a back seat to the stress that comes with the whole moving process. We are still happy about these changes, but not looking forward to the transition period. Ugh.

April Fool's and Batting 1.000

So for my first official entry in the blogosphere, let me tell you what Jeff did to celebrate April Fool's Day with the kids yesterday. They wanted aebleskivers for breakfast, better known as "footballs" at our house, since that's the shape they usually take when we cook them. Jeff was game to make them, as he usually is on weekends, but he decided to add a few surprises for the sake of the holiday. After a little thought he first tried marbles. Now, it didn't occur to me until afterward that this might pose a choking hazard, but luckily it had occured to Jeff, so he was very careful to not give a marble-filled aebleskiver to Jared, and to carefully watch Adam and Ryan as they bit into theirs. They thought it was a great April Fool's joke and also enjoyed the blue milk, and the aebleskivers filled with other assorted things found in our kitchen--breakfast cereal, peanuts, pretzels, toffee chips, and especially, Spiderman fruit snacks. Only problem was, Jeff made a double batch, which almost caused us to be late to the Sunday morning session of General Conference, which we usually go to the church to watch so the kids know it is still the Sabbath day.

Adam came up with something interesting yesterday that I had never thought of. Jared's name includes the first letters of the names of most of the rest of our family:

J--Jeff
A--Adam
R--Ryan
E--well, maybe the next kid, if there is one
D--Dallin

That leaves me out, but since I'm the odd one out anyway, and since I was impressed that Adam thought of this in the first place, I'm not in the least offended.

Adam played his first baseball game of the season tonight. (Ryan's first game is tomorrow night--stay tuned.) For the second year in a row, Adam is on the Tigers in the Peewee (machine-pitch) division of our local Little League. This year he is one of the older, and therefore, better players. He's even grown a few inches and looks like a big kid. He played third base for the whole game and got up to bat twice, getting singles both times. That means he's batting 1.000 for the year. Not bad at all. And his team, which struggled last year, was very excited to win their first game tonight by a score of 3-2.