Goin' Duck Huntin'

This is Jeremy.  Sarah is taking the week off since we are on vacation.  But, on Saturday, Merrick and I went to the ASU v Oregon football game.  It was a great game, and Sarah thought it would be a great idea for me to write about that game.  The game was fantastic!  We splurged and bought tickets on the 15 yard line, sixth row, since the tickets were a birthday present for Merrick and I.  Oregon jumped out with the lead, and ASU came back with a 57 yard throw to tie them and then kicked a field goal in the second quarter to go up 10-7.  With that, we went into halftime.  Merrick and I made friends with the three guys sitting next to us, and at halftime, the guy sitting next to us said, "If we win, we should jump the wall and storm the field."  I just laughed because, as much as I hoped we would win, we were only up by three, Oregon was ranked sixth in the nation, and ASU had lost their last four games in a row.  Needless to say, I was not holding onto hope and was just hoping the game would be enjoyable.

In the third quarter, ASU scored another field goal, making it 13-7.  But, the more exciting part was that Merrick made his way onto the jumbo tron.  They were doing a "Jersey Cam" and looking for people with sports jerseys on.  Merrick had his sweatshirt on, and I told him to take it off and see if he could get on, as he was wearing his Pat Tillman jersey.  He was wearing Grandpa's sweatshirt, because he forgot his at home in Oregon.  As he was hastily taking off the sweatshirt, I could see the camera guy by our section was looking for someone.  So, as soon as Merrick got the sweatshirt off, I helped him stand on the bleachers and he started waving.  I saw that the camera man was pointing his camera at us, so I knew it was only a matter of time before they showed Merrick.  So, I trained my phone on the jumbo tron and waited, and he popped up.  It was really cool.  Before we left for the game, Lollie told Merrick to make it onto the jumbo tron, and the mission was accomplished.

   

At the start of the fourth quarter you could tell that the crowd was starting to get anxious.  ASU had a lead, but not a large one.  With a 26 yard touchdown pass and a field goal, ASU went up 24-7.  The stadium was rocking, and the Oregon fans we were sitting by were dejected as they saw their hopes of a College Football Playoff spot going down the drain.  Then, in the course of about 4 minutes of game play, Oregon scored two touchdowns, making the score 24-21.  The Oregon fans were excited and ASU fans were thinking, "This is where we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."  Then, on our side of the field, ASU's quarterback threw an absolute bomb to hit Brandon Aiyuk, #2, for an 81 yard score.  Oregon came back and scored another touchdown, but it was to little to late.  As ASU went into victory formation, the guys sitting next to us started reiterating that we should hop the fence.  Then we saw the student section starting to jump the fence, and saw that security was not stopping them, so Merrick, the other guys, and I made our way to the fence and hopped over.  We ran onto the field, with the rest of the fans, and were jumping up and down and chanting ASU! ASU!  We were able to get some pictures with two players, including Brandon Aiyuk, who caught the game winner, and with the mascot Sparky.  It was great experience, and worth every penny.  I never thought I would be at a game where people would hop the fence, but when you upset the #6 team in the nation, it is expected.  It was great to break the rules of the stadium and hop the fence with my 10 year old.

Merrick was on cloud nine after the game and could not stop talking about how cool the game was.  As we were leaving the parking garage he saw the sign below and said, "Nuvernight parking."  I just laughed and asked if he wanted to try that again.  Again, he said, "Nuvernight parking."  I asked him what he thought Nuvernight meant, and he said maybe it meant that you "could never, ever park there."  I told him to try one last time, we were in the parking garage for a while since there were a lot of people trying to leave at the same time.  That is when he finally saw the spacing and said, "Oh, it is 'No overnight parking.'"  All in all it was a great game and a great experience for Merrick and I.  Hopefully, it is the first of many ASU games for us.

Take My Picture

As I got ready to write today's blog I looked back over my pictures from the week.  My camera was flooded with wedding related pictures.  I had pictures of shoes, ribbons, guestbooks, favor ideas, and tons and tons of flowers.  I had very few pictures of anything else which goes to show just how all encompassing the wedding prep has become.  The wedding is two weeks from today and I am trying to get as much done to help before I leave for AZ as I can.  I told Jeremy this weekend that I feel more stressed for Emily's wedding than I was for my own.

Because most every free moment is wedding, we haven't done a lot else.  Thankfully my two girls, but especially Elsie, are really good at saying "take my picture".  This has caused me to stop and be present in the moment and capture what was going on.  I am grateful that this reminder has led to at least a few non-wedding pictures and moments this week.

I am excited to be getting away soon, I am excited for the wedding, and maybe the most excited to get a little rest from the crazy.

I do also have to mention that this week was Jeremy's birthday.  We got to get away for a quick dinner and evening out, but it was a pretty low key birthday for him that involved sleeping in and a nap.  I neglected to get any pictures of the birthday boy because he doesn't remind me to "take his picture", but I sure do love him and am so grateful he was born.

Em's Shower and Catching up

This week has been a whirlwind of crazy as we prepped for Emily's bridal shower and wedding (my mom is altering 5 dresses, including Emily's and we are helping any way we can).  In every spare moment I have been prepping shower games, making treats, shopping for supplies, unpicking dresses, removing lace, unpicking beading... It has been a busy week.  Friday finally rolled around and the shower was a big success.  Check one thing off the list.  Now we can focus our attention more fully on the dresses and flowers.

With all the craziness of late there are a few things I have neglected to get in here.  So here are a few random tidbits to get caught up.  One of Elsie's new favorite things is to be doing something and then stop and say "Mom, take a picture ."  I guess she is used to me having my camera in her face and now she is keeping me in check when I forget.

I am sure that nobody remembers but many years ago I made a book for Merrick of all his artwork from kindergarten and preschool so that we could get rid of the mounds of art but still have the memories.  A few weeks ago I finally got around to making one for Carrigan.  It came a week or so ago and I couldn't be happier with it.  She was so proud when her book came and she really wanted to sign it like a real author.  Unfortunately, she didn't know how to sign her name in cursive.  She asked me to help her and I showed her how to do it.  She practiced until she was prepared to sign.  I think she did a great job!

Last week we went to Emily and Tala's for dinner to celebrate Kalani's birthday.  Carrigan asked Emily to paint her nails and while she was working on the first hand, Tala decided to help with the other hand.  She has got that guy wrapped around her finger.

 
A few last funny things from the week...  One morning I was getting ready in my bathroom.  Merrick came in and said "Mom, can you smell the milk?  I think it's gone bad."

We have had some unusually beautiful weather this week and the kids have taken advantage by spending as much time outside as they can.  One day this week the kids were playing with the neighbors  and somehow got a soccer ball stuck in a tree.  They tried for an hour to get is down by throwing other balls at it.  This is a terrible picture, but at this point they managed to have two soccer balls, a football, and a basketball all stuck.  Eventually I got a ladder and broom and rescued ALL the balls.  I somehow feel like this is a right of passage of childhood.

I think that does it for today.  I'm sure by next week I will have a lot more craziness to share as we head into the final countdown to AZ and the wedding.

Halloween 2019

This week was halloween, but we have already been celebrating for a while.  Last weekend we had our ward trunk or treat.  I neglected to take any pictures, but it was above and beyond so I will steal a couple from Facebook to give you an idea.  Really they don't do it justice.  We had a chili contest and games in the gym, trunk or treating in the classrooms, and a spook alley.

Also last week we went to our friend's halloween party at their church.  They had games, candy, and bounce houses and again I neglected to take pictures.

Finally actual Halloween rolled around.  We started the afternoon with trick or treating at the businesses in downtown West Linn.  We came home and at that point, between that and the parties the week before, our BIG candy bowl was already full.  I was really tempted to cancel the night's activities, but the kids wouldn't hear of it. Instead we went to dinner at our friends, the Estimada's, house.  We then met the cousins for the usual trick or treating route.  This was Emily's family's first year here so we were a big group.  The big kids ran from house to house.  Lincoln and Carrigan did a pretty good job of keeping up but Isabel and Elsie lagged behind and were more selective about the houses they went to and eventually both ended up in the stroller.

We ended up with WAY too much candy.  I don't remember ever getting so much before. I think there were a couple of things that contributed to that.  Our first stop on the night out was at Merrick's old teacher's house.  She was so happy to see him that she told the kids to take handfuls of candy and they were happy to oblige.  Then, later in the night, Carrigan's bowl got too heavy for her so we emptied it.  At the next house they noticed it was empty so they helped her fill it with two big handfuls.  I repeat.  WAY TOO MUCH CANDY!

My favorite part of this halloween was Elsie telling people she was a "blue hummingbird".  I wish I had some way of recording her sweet little voice on here.  She must have thought that blue hummingbird was what we called our costumes though because when she saw me dressed up as a sunflower she said "that's Mommy's blue hummingbird".

It was a great year for our zombie baseball player, little devil, and blue hummingbird!