Go Diamondbacks!

This year we were lucky to get tickets to the AZ Diamondbacks spring training game against the Texas Rangers. All the Partridges were able to come. It was so much fun! Our seats were amazing. They were just a few rows up by 3rd base.

Adam is happy to be any place where there is a ball.

Katelyn with one of her favorite cousin's, Bryson. 

Me and Megan sporting our sunglasses.

Kaley, Chase, Scott, and Cheryl were on the first row. They were able to say hi to the players when they went to their lockers.

Note: When Adam comes down to sit with you, don't let him throw his ball onto the field, 
even if Grandpa is telling Adam to do it. It might make the security people mad. :)

Adam trying to pretend he's not tired and needs his nap.

When I took that picture of Adam laying on the ground, I obviously was paying attention to him and not the game. Seconds later, a foul ball came flying towards us and hit the seats in front of us. No one was hurt, but I'd have to say it was a little scary. By the sound of the ball hitting, I could tell it came at us fast.

All in all, good game. We even won thanks to the cheering of all the kiddos!

Mayhem mixed in with a little bowling

Chris and I had a coupon for free bowling that we wanted to use. We thought it would be fun to share with our cousins, so we invited them to come. Bradley was sick, so we decided to go ahead and take Bryson and Blake even though neither Amy nor Scott could come with us. Looking back, this was a little bit of craziness, but the kids all had fun and no one was hurt. That's about all we could ask for. We even ended the night taking them all the McDonald's for dinner. Here are some fun pics of the evening.

Blake and Megan were constantly at the "controls."  Ahh, the excitement of many buttons.

Megan up to bat with Blake standing by.

Katelyn fancying the granny style throw.

Bryson getting the hang of it.

Adam, who was sadly stuck in the stroller the whole time, looking cute as always.

Go Devils!

Ok, so I'm BYU Cougar blue and white through and through, but I've got ASU Sun Devil maroon and gold in my blood. And thanks to Grandpa Ed, I got to go to the ASU vs. University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM). Grandpa usually offers my Dad and I to pick a couple games to go to and use his season tickets. This year, he went even another step further - my schedule looked good for this game, so my name got put on a list sent to ASU by Frank Kush (former ASU coach - the field is named after him) for a pair of tickets. Dad was going to go with me, but his call schedule got scrambled at the last minute and he couldn't come with.

Going to the game with Grandpa is always fun, but definitely has some perks too. First you usually meet one of Grandpa's friends (today was Tom, who played with Grandpa at ASU back when they were the Cougars). Since Dad wasn't there, I volunteered to drive. Here is the second perk. It's been a while since the Devils became the Devils, so Grandpa has a parking pass for the structure adjacent to the stadium, so that was a piece of cake.

ASU vs. ULM wasn't a wildly popular game, but that wasn't why I went. I had great tickets - 26th row at about the 20 yard line. The weather was perfect, it was all awesome. Next perk, for about the first half, I had almost the whole 26th (and some of the 25th and 27th) rows to myself. I was showered and clean so I don't think that was the reason. :) My seat was particularly good for the kickoff touchdown return by ASU! Kaley and Chase had some magic tickets too and made it there after the game was underway. They found me, and then at halftime we found Grandpa and Tom and sat with them for the rest of the game, which ASU won 38-14. One kinda interesting thing that happened during the game was that from one of the eaves around the stadium, a few hundred bats flew out and around for a while. I didn't hear that they caused any problems, but it was kinda cool to see them flying around, and so many of them.

The only complaint I could make of the night was that the AT&T 3G coverage inside the stadium (which the inside cover of the game program was a full-page, full color add of AT&T 3G and ASU Stadium) was horrible. That minor inconvenience aside, I'm grateful to Grandpa Ed for always thinking of me when there's and ASU game going on.

My view from the field:

Swim lessons

We spent 6 weeks of our summer (in 3 sessions of 2 weeks each) doing swim lessons for the girls. We coordinated with my sister in law so that they could take lessons the same time as their cousins and so that we could help each other watch the kids in and out of the pool. Adam and I survived the heat of not being able to get in the pool! The girls really loved it, and I loved that it took up their time and we could be busy. (No chance of hearing "mom, I'm bored!")

Katelyn spent the first 2 weeks in one class and did so well and completed all of the requirements that they moved her up for the next sessions. She can now swim 25 yards freestyle and backstroke without having to stop and hold on! She is also starting to work on her breast stoke and butterfly stroke (legs only). We are so proud of her.(Katelyn is making a funny face in this picture, but I realized it was the only swim lesson picture I had! Chris came their second to last day of class and took quite a bit of video.)

Megan also did an amazing job this summer. She enjoys playing in the water, but when asked at the beginning of the summer to "do a bob" and go under the water she wouldn't do it. By the end of the 3 sessions she was a lot more comfortable in the water and would go under when asked to do it. This is a big accomplishment for her. It's still not her favorite thing to do, but she is getting better. She will also do a back float and put her head level with her body instead of trying to keep it up out of the water, which is also another great achievement for her. Yea Megan!