The Number Five

So, I’m an aunt.  21 times.  And I love it more than anything else in the world.  Bar none.  As part of my auntly duties, I get to go to a lot of ball games, concerts, and recitals.  One of my biggest regrets is that I haven’t been able to go to all of them, for every one of the kids (especially HS football games, and winter-gaurd shows).   But luckily, right now, I’m actually living in the same town as some family while one of the kids is in high school.

My niece Tone-dog (as I call her), is a freshman at one of the basketball power-houses here in the SLC.  She’s thrown her heart in the game the last few years, and after a lot of sweat, and hard work, she made the varsity team.  You can only imagine how proud this makes me.  Actually, no you can’t… it’s way more than you can imagine.

Needless to say, I have spent nearly every Tuesday and Thursday evening of the last few months in high school gyms all over this state.  I’ve made friends with the moms, the grandmas, and done more than my fair share of yelling at awful refs.  No…like, real yelling.  I’ve lost my voice at least 3 times, and feared for my life at least twice that.  My sister and I?  We hate us some bad refs… and if you call crap fouls on our baby girl, you best watch yo’ self. Fo real.  Mad-dog sisters have what you may call, tempers.  Just sayin.

All this is to say, I think I am already mourning the off season.  I have loved her games even more than I thought I would.  It’s so cool to watch not just her, but a whole team of girls doing something that they love.  And to top it off, they have a coach that runs a program based on team work, discipline, and pride.  It’s very cool to watch.  Every kid should get that chance.  I know I’m grateful I did.

I headed north Sunday night to spend some time with my folks.  Our goals for Labor day included 2 things:

1. Going out to breakfast.

2. Rasberry Milkshakes.

We knocked off our goals quickly, then started looking for something to fill our day.  When my Dad threw out heading to the remote control airplane show, none of took him seriously…. but then somehow we ended up there.  For two hours.  And I might have liked. it.  A lot.  And it took me by suprise.  But I don’t think that I would go again.  Just sayin.

Don’t judge.

I spent this afternoon in a small town in Happy Valley (yes, think Provo), about 60 miles south of where I live.  The occasion being my 9 year old nephew’s baseball tournament.  Between games my sister and I decided to take her kids for a treat.  Her 4 year old daughter, is one of the best humans, and manages to crack me up almost daily.

After searching for a shake place, we finally found one in a painfully small town, in an even smaller “shopping center.” My niece, with all of our her infinite wisdom after surveying the area, looked at her mom and asked, “Do we live in this world?”

I about died laughing.  Someday, she will know how funny her question really was….

I’m an aunt 21 times over, and I couldn’t love it more.  I saw this picture from this past Christmas, and it made me smile.

This isn’t even half of the brood.

It’s Saturday morning at 6:30 and I’m ready and headed out the door to hit garage sales with my sister.

I’m officially old.

Internet, I haven’t been able to catch my breathe for months, but I think I finally will.  I’m sitting home alone doing nothing for the first time in many, many moons.  Weird.  

I know I’ve neglected this blog a lot this year, but the same could be said of my sanity.  Everything has been pushed aside for a while why I did some growing up (don’t worry, not too much).  You see, I bought a house. It’s the coolest purchase I’ve ever made…but crap it’s taking a lot of time to get together. A LOT of time.  In fact tonight alone, my sister’s darling family came over and gave me 2 hours of their time in my yard.  I think it may be the best gift ever.

I’m loving the house and have learned a lot about it in the last few weeks.  Turns out it’s 60 years old, but I’m only the second owner.  Something about learning that has thrilled me, but didn’t surprise me.  I could tell from the moment I first walked in, that these walls had been loved.  There are little handmade details in the closets, the garage, the yard.  It’s perfect.  Turns out Charlie lived here for 59 years and spent most of his time fixing up and putzing around the place taking care of it.  I love it.

So, there’s that.  I love the place, and I’m doing my best to make it my home.  I still have a lot of work to do, but I also have a lot more time on my hands these days so there’s hope.

If you have a kid, and that kid grows up to be a little league all-star, please don’t let him play on a douche bag coach’s team. Lucky for me, my sister understands this rule… sad for me, is that every other coach in the tournament needs to be slapped.

During the game tonight I got a bit heated at a particularly obnoxious beer-bellied coach. As he completed his tantrum I heard myself yell, “Hey coach! ‘97 called and wants their Nike ankle socks back!” My sister turned to me and in total honesty said, “half the fun of these games is ripping on the stupid coaches.”

Truer words may never have been spoken.

“Hi Emmy!”
“Hi Annabelle….what are you doing?”
“I pyaying with my toys.”
“You are? That sound so fun…”
“Yeah. Wanna play pwincess wif me?”
“I can’t right now, I’m at my house and you’re at you’re house.”
“Oh yeah… Inna play princess wif Mikey.”
“Ok, have fun!”
“Ok….Inna be Gabwiella and he be Twoy….”
“Oh, that sounds fun!”
“Yeah, we wove each other.”

IMG_3511.JPG, originally uploaded by numberfive.

There’s a reason I call her Princess Head.

IMG_3524.JPG, originally uploaded by numberfive.

My nephew Steven turned 8 last week and was allowed to decorate his own cake. This is what he came up with… Yes, that’s blood.