Guess how old Claire is? Yep, Jane the genius is telling you! My baby girl is five. She has truly been a joy to me since the day she was born. We celebrated her special day last week by going to IHOP for a funny face (family tradition) and then getting her nails painted. She is such a girl! She is also such a flirt. She has been one since the day she was born. When she was only two months old, the physical therapist made us promise to bring her back when she was five. She said she was the most social baby she had ever met and she wanted to see what she was like when she got older. Well, she is just what the Dr. expected. Making friends and flirting with absolutely everyone. When she was a baby and I would take her places, she would just wait and look around until someone made eye contact and then she would start gooing and smiling and waving and today she does the same. Except now she starts talking to them and gives them her life story! I wonder where she could have picked that up? I started worrying today that her flirting is at a whole new level. She has a little buddy that she rides the bus to Kindergarten with each day and she just loves him. The bus is the highlight of her day and when they see eachother they run together and embrace and then sit on the bus and wave goodbye to their mommies. Well, today when she came home she said, "Mom, what if I accidently kissed Dane". I told her it is hard to kiss by accident. Then she spent about an hour preparing a wedding in her room for Polly Pocket and Diego, who were then kissing. I am scared. I think I am in for it! Here are a couple of pictures of her day and a picture of us waiting at the bus stop.
I regret to post that I can not apologize for the rude remarks I made in an earlier Post about Bakersfield. We really didn't have the best experience. We should have realized we were doomed when while driving to Bakersfield from St. George we checked the time for the first game and realized that it started in four hours and we were six hours away. WHOOPS! Luckily Scotty left with some friends the day before. Can you say, "flaky parents". We arrived at the end of our six hour drive just in time to perfectly miss his first game. It may not have made a difference but Steve's driving did not help the situation. Anyone who has ever driven with Steve or followed Steve in a car, can back me up when I say he drives just a little under the speed limit. People often think he may be just a few years older than he really is. :) The team members were walking out of the baseball park just as we pulled into the parking lot. They lost their first game and everyone was depressed. The next day we played again and lost but it was a close game. 3 to 4 and our boys rallied and almost beat them in the last inning. We were excited to get home and even more excited to learn that the game would be featured on the news that night. I was mortified when the only one on the team that made the news was ME, doing the YMCA no less. I guess I got a little pumped up watching the game! I am just glad it was Bakersfield news! The worst thing that happened was our friends walked out of the game to find that their car had been stolen. It took the police two hours to come after they had been called. It is scary to think what else they were busy doing in that town. I have really enjoyed baseball, but I am relieved it is over for the season. We start football for both of our boys tomorrow. Brock is so excited and Scotty has been teaching him moves all afternoon. They started in the hall in church and I had to quickly move them outside. Steve is helping to coach Brock's team and I am helping to coach Claire's soccer team. We realized we are setting ourselves up for a busy fall but we must thrive on chaos. Ready or not, here we go!
O.K. I stand corrected. Beaver really is mountains of fun! My deepest apologies go out to all former, current, and future residents of Beaver. I just spent four days at Scott's baseball tournament there and I must admit, I had a pretty good time. Considering the fact that I was there without Steve and in a hotel room with my four kids, and I still enjoyed myself, I think that Beaver must be a pretty great place. The State tournament was at a beautiful baseball park with covered bleachers, a great concession stand, and a park for the kids. There were three things that made the trip. First the hotel had a fun little pool. Second, Beaver does have a McDonalds and extra large drinks are only 99 cents. Woohoo! Lastly, I LOVE watching my son play baseball! He is on a team with 12 great kids with really fun families. 
I asked my kids on the way home what the highlight of the trip was and they said it was the tour of Cove Fort. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it. It was "neat" but I was surprised that was their favorite activity. They get it from their dad, he is always up for a good tour of a monument, museum, etc. The good news is that the team won and they are the number one 10 year old team in the state. The bad news is that now we are on to the next tournament in Bakersfield, CA. I just hope that next week I will be writing an apology to all the people in beautiful and 110 degree Bakersfield.
