a full heart and a busy weekend.

mother's day was extra special this year. we spent the weekend very busy with a baseball tournament in pocatello, id and a dance recital for each of the girls. it was chaotic, stressful, windy, cold and tiring. but at the same time it was filled with love and gratitude and such joy watching the kids excel in things they love to do. plus we have another little bun in the oven {coming this november} and that adds to the overwhelming feelings of gratitude.

{warning: this novel is for me & my terrible memory}

friday: connor's team had been playing well, but we weren't sure how the tournament {their first} would go. we drove 2 cars up for the 2 games on friday. they won the first easily. it was pretty cold and very windy during the games. the other kids spent a lot of the time in the car watching movies {the girls} or taking naps {will}. we knew the second game would be tough and we were down 5-1 in the 3rd inning. we ended up rallying to win the game 9-8! it was so, so fun to see the excitement on those boys' faces and also their coaches! everyone was super excited! we had dinner and then headed back to the hotel {mabel's favorite part of the trip}. we hardly ever get to stay in a hotel, so this was a pretty cool thing! :) the kids swam for a bit. not too much, connor needed to get to bed and get ready for his early game in the morning. cory went out and bought the prettiest tulips for the dance recital girls, knowing that he'd probably miss seeing them dance. 

saturday: in the morning, we sent cory and connor off to their games. we cleaned up and started the trek back home to be able to their 10am dress rehearsals. the drive was thankfully easy, popped a movie in and the kids were content. thank heavens for the dvd player in the car! connor and his team won the first two games despite the bitter cold and wind. poor boys played so hard in less than ideal conditions. connor played catcher a ton and pitched some too. i was a pretty proud mama watching him on friday. i've never seen him play better! they had a 5 hour break between their last game and the championship game. so cory and connor drove up to the idaho falls temple to walk around the grounds. then about the time for elsie's dance recital they headed to mcd's for their free wifi to facetime and see elsie dance. i'll admit, that i got pretty choked up as her dance started and looked at cory and connor watching on the phone. they couldn't see very well {quality wasn't that great} but so touching that they wanted to be a part of it, just like i wanted to be a part of connor's big game. after elsie's dance the big game started. cory was a pretty proud papa watching his boy as the starting pitcher for the championship game! thankfully, i didn't know he was pitching or else i would have been a nervous wreck! cory made arrangements {he usually coaches first} to be able to facetime during mabel's dance. both the girl's dances were precious! they were so excited to have their big day finally come. the boys played hard, and ended up the runner-ups. could not be prouder of those boys!

it was pretty heart breaking to feel so torn at needing to be in two places at once. it's never happened to us before, but i'm sure it is just the beginning. but all ended well and cory & i were where we were supposed to be and both feeling very grateful.

cutest little dancerinas. so proud of my girls!

my little rockin robin.

ms. mary poppins.

couldn't resist snapping this one of these two. mabel is all about her dad lately. could care less about her mama! :)

cheer after the big comeback!

pitching at the championship game. he's been working so hard at getting better at pitching. he goes out just about every night and pitches to cory. so proud of my boy!

field of dreams team.

{warning} picture overload!! proud mama in the house. connor's baseball team had the incredible chance to be the field of dreams team at the sl bee's opening game last night. connor and all the boys were suuuper excited! they got to go down on the field and introduce themselves and their position. then they stayed on the field while the national anthem played. then they got to go tour the facility and see what's underneath everything. it was fun to see connor our there, so excited by it all.

the cute girls.

bumble had quite the swarm around him. connor had him sign his hat.

will was a champ the entire night. thankfully we were on the first row and he was content to sit in the stroller for hours on end. i know, he's a pretty great boy!!

fall ball for our baseball boy.

this fall connor started a comp baseball team and they played in a fall ball league. this baseball thing is new to me. i don't remember my brothers playing much organized baseball. so, from what cory and others explained, fall ball is prep for the spring season. it's less stressful and involves the boys getting used to different positions, pitching, batting against a real pitcher, stealing bases, and playing catcher, while they keep score during the game, the scores aren't recorded. connor had the best time. the first few games were pretty rough, but they began to improve every game and were quite a strong team by the end. it was so fun to watch connor try new positions. he really likes catcher. he also played right field, third base, first base and pitched some. i'll never forget his first time pitching. his warm up was pretty wild, i'm not going to lie. :) but when the batter was up, he reeled it in and pitched well. he's lucky to play on a team with 5 of his school and neighborhood buddies. 

connor loves him some baseball. can't wait for the spring!!!

a summer of baseball.

it seems like all summer we've been to baseball practices, games and back. it was so much fun for connor and the boys. so precious to see little boys so passionate about baseball! needless to say, they finished the all-star season undefeated, farmington invitational champs and state champs! connor played most the season as the second baseman. he loved playing, getting to know new teammates, being in the parade {one of his favorite parts of all-stars}, and continues to love to slide whenever he can.

with his best bud, briggs.

state champs!

at the parade, ready to throw candy.

post-game treat. don't you love the glove in the back pocket.

sliding while coming in between innings.

practicing before one of the games.

this one cracks me up. check out their faces. after the game is over, all the players run the bases. usually turns into a dog pile at home cause everyone wants to slide.

waiting patiently in line for their trophies!

best coaches ever. thanks to them for all their time and hard work.

cory teaching connor about how the pros don't step on the white lines cause it's bad luck.

state champs!!

go dodgers!

a few highlights from the season.  his last year of shetland, totally ready for pinto (machine pitch).  these days this boy lives and breathes baseball.  i'll have to post the addition to his bedroom wall, 4 of cory's old bats and connor's trophy bat.  he dented it in his first machine pitch game, which he's so proud of!

one of his loyal fans. 

number 11.

rounding 3rd as he runs the bases to finish the game.

he was a little sad we lost the semi-final game in the post-season tourney.  but, he's excited that we have lots more baseball to play!  hello all-stars!