Tales from Huffaker Haven: June 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Mother-Daughter Moments

You may have noticed that there aren't a whole lot of Marilyn pictures on the blog. That's what happens when you're the one behind the camera instead of in front of it. Alyssa changed things up a bit when she took the camera this weekend and snapped a few shots. Two of the softball fields we played at had quite a pretty park area, so we took advantage of it with Emma:

I like this next one, although it does have a bit of an escapist look. As in, Emma would run off if she weren't anchored on the spot by her mom!

Being up high in the tree branches was fun for her. Tree comes out as "twee" for her!

Momma & her girl:

Then Alys got creative with the settings on the camera, and came up with this shot:

Pretty creative of her! Considering that it was a long two days, it was still fun and even somewhat relaxing for those of us who don't play softball!

Sideline Entertainment

You're a kid. You're at a softball tournament. You're NOT the one playing softball. What to do?? Well, we've found that the softball siblings seem to improvise pretty well. Emma is along with us for most of the games, and she's managed to make a few friends here and there, as well as playing with us.

This last weekend, she played with a couple of other softball siblings during the games. Rolling the baseball back and forth is always fun ...

So is Ring-Around-the-Rosy with Alyssa:

All Fall Down!!

Emma is a huge copycat:

Who is that under the umbrella?

So it was a little windy that day, and she almost pulled a Mary Poppins on us! Emma was really entranced by the umbrellla.

But my favorite picture is this next one, and I may enter it in the photography department at this year's county fair. I think it's adorable! And it was totally spontaneous on Emma's part, so K. was surprised by it:

TOO CUTE!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Soggy Softballs

A belated Happy Father's Day to Todd and the other dads out there. Although I'm guessing there aren't a lot of dads reading this besides Todd! For the last few years, we have spent Father's Day weekend on the road at some softball tournament, and this year was no exception. Alyssa's team did not play, but Darcie's team went to Walla Walla for the tournament there. We brought the camper and dry-camped at the fields, a very handy option to the usual hotel stay.

There is some sort of softball rain curse on us this year. Our games sure seem colder than usual and rainier than usual. This time we had 2 games rained out on Day One. They played those 2 games on Day 2, before bracket play, so Darcie had 5 games that day. With warmups starting at 7:00 am, and the Championship game ending at about 8:30 pm, it made for a really long day and an exhausted team.

Her team ended up with 2nd place in the Gold Bracket at the tournament, which might have turned out differently if they weren't so exhausted by the championship game. But they played well. Darcie played catcher and first base, and is really maturing into those positions. We're sure proud of her hard work. Here are a few shots of her, first -- batting:

(That's the ball, right in front of the bat. Normally she doesn't dip that low to take a swing.) Next, in her ready position at first base:

At a different game, fielding at first base. Again, that's the ball coming in on the left side of the picture.

This photo is the championship game, which Darcie played catcher for that whole game. You can tell the sun is going down & it's getting darker.

She did agree to pose with the team's trophy... it was the only way to get her mom to leave her alone!

Congratulations to Darcie & her team..... (and see? I told you you'd get an exclusive on the blog the next time!) LOVE YOU!!

Friday, June 18, 2010

The Dresden Plate

When I was a kid, my mom always made our beds with the same blankets on them, in the same order, no matter what season it was. Granted, this was in the Bay Area of California, so there was not a huge difference in summer weather and winter weather.

We always had white sheets. Mom said that was Dad's preference, but I wonder if she secretly didn't agree with him. I think it made it easy, since all the sheets always matched! So to add a bit of color to them, my mom would embroider on the edges of the pillowcases. I LOVE those old pillowcases now!! Plus, she would starch them, so I remember laying on the the stiff pillowcase on Saturday nights. I'd like to make Emma a little sundress out of one of the old pillowcases.

After sheets, it was always a "sheet blanket" -- a very thin, usually cotton blanket that Mom would use "just as an extra layer". I never understood layering as a child... it took being a mom to really get it! Then, there was a quilt. A homemade quilt, usually one made by one of my grandmothers. Bedspread on top of that.

I remember 2 of those quilts. One was thin and quite old, wearing through in places. I don't remember what pattern it was. The other quilt had more loft, and the most unique "fan" pattern I'd ever seen. It had a solid turquoise background, and blocks of pieced "fan" shapes. I'd never seen a pattern like it.

Fast forward to a few nights ago, when I was surfing the 'net. I was looking at some beginning quilt patterns after listening to a Sunday lesson that made some comparisons with a Log Cabin quilt. Most of what I saw were patterns that consisted of squares, rectangles and triangles. This is what I've seen for YEARS when I've looked at quilts. And then.... I saw it.

Oh. My. Gosh. THAT is IT!! It's Grandma's old quilt! Well, the pictures I saw online were all complete circles. Grandma's quilt had utilized one-fourth of a circle, in the corner of a square block to create the fan pattern, but THIS was definitely the same pattern.

And the name? (Because all quilt patterns have names!) It's a Dresden Plate. There is even a wonderful YouTube video (search Dresden Plate quilt if you're interested) on how to make one. All you need (and I just may have to pick up one of these) is a template that has the wedge shape, and a circle template for the center.

This almost makes me want to take up quilting (Todd is cringing right now as he reads this, rolling his eyes, and shaking his head.). Ok. ALMOST. A lot of other stuff will have to happen first before I could even begin to think about quilting anything. Starting with the craft room makeover. (Future post on this one!!) But it would be SO cool to re-create Grandma's quilt -- but in better colors.

Some day.

Man at Work

Job searching for a teenager can be pretty daunting. Cameron knew that he would have to supplement the weekly paper route with a regular job, so when school let out, the job search began in earnest. Of course, he also knew his mother would not give him any peace until he had secured a job, so that was another incentive.

We are pleased to announce he has joined the workforce in the wonderful food service industry. Cameron is on Day 3 of his new job, and after Day 2, he came home (smelling of fry oil) saying that he was sure he wasn't going to eat any fast food for at least a month. Hmmm, what is that telling me about fast food????

Of course, the low man on the totem pole gets the grunt work, and Cameron got to clean out the fryers. He still has more training to go, but he is on his way!

We figured this hourly work was a better option for him than the one job he'd applied for which promised a high pay rate, based on appointments and sales made. There's no way something like that would be a good fit for Cam. It reminds me too much of those old elementary school fundraisers where they lure these kids with huge prizes they can win if they sell more stuff. Then the reality of sales hits and they realize they only qualify for the stupid little slingshot prize, instead of the bike or iPod.

Hey, Cameron -- how do you feel about your new job?

(Maybe you needed a video for this one -- the camera shot perhaps didn't quite catch the moment like I thought!) Good luck in the new job, Cameron!!!!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Emma-nator

Emma has become quite the imitator. When it comes to learning words, that's a good thing, and she's picking up more than ever. Her vocabulary is still limited, and sometimes you just have to be one of the family to understand what she's trying to say. (And sometimes, we don't even get it, either!)

Here are some examples of EmmaSpeak:

"Deese" is Please. That's combined with a rub on her chest, which is sign language for please. "Moke" is milk. "EEEE" with her finger pointing at her mouth means eat. Hot dog is "Hot Dog". Can you tell her favorite food?

As for people, "Daw-see" is Darcie, who is probably her favorite person these days. She tries really hard to say Alyssa, but three syllables is a bit beyond her. So Alyssa comes out as, "aLLLLee" Darcie has been teaching her to say Brandon, who she recognizes in photos, and she calls him "Banda". Apparently Cameron isn't very easy to say either, so Emma calls him, "Ham."

"Mom" is Mom, and "Da-eee" is Daddy.

She has her favorite things. I confess she does watch Barney videos. As in VHS cassettes. We're lucky we still have a machine or two to play them on. When she wants to watch, she asks for "Bawww." Which is actually quite close to her word for ball: "baw." Recently she's also taken to the one Raffi video we have, who she calls "Faffi".

So, wanting to practice photography some more, I took these pictures of her at the softball tournament. I love the idea of Darcie and Emma snoozing together on the blanket:

Except, the real story behind it is that, being the Emma-tator, she saw Darcie laying down "sleeping" on the blanket, and had to copy. And Darcie couldn't hold a straight face:

I was using the take-the-photo-with-the-subject-in-the-shade method, which worked pretty well, but I was still using the automatic camera settings. I love the pictures with Em & the sunglasses:

That last one shows her doing the "beautiful" move that the girls taught her: stroking the right cheek with a look over the shoulder. What a little flirt!!

Photography & Summer Softball

I am not a photographer. (Duh -- have you SEEN these blog pictures?) Todd took a photography class in college, but that was so long ago, it was with film. Yes, really. So for our June Relief Society Activity, we asked a sister who is a very good amateur photographer (she regularly does senior photos) to come and do a class on how to take better pictures.

This was right up my alley. Isn't it amazing how I can plan RS activities on things that I'm interested in? So I sat through the class, asked a few questions, took a TON of notes, and came away with the best advice of all: read your camera manual.

I thought it would be a good thing to do in the Suburban, as we were leaving on a 2-hour drive for last weekend's softball tournament. The one kink in the plan: I couldn't FIND the camera manual. I found every other camera manual we own, including the old film camera from 20 years ago, but not the one I needed. Wouldn't you know it!

In the mean time, I took some photos this weekend, and of course, the majority were softball photos. I've still got to find the camera manual, but in the mean time, here are a few photos from our weekend.

(Alyssa doing pre-game infield at first base)

While both girls played in the tournament, they were in different ballparks. I did not get photos of Darcie playing, because they were eliminated after their 5th game, and before I pulled the camera out. Whoops. So Darcie has my apologies, and she will get exclusive shots next time.

Another thing I got from the photography evening was that you should share your photos. So instead of taking 200 pictures of Alyssa, I only took 100 of her, and took a lot of photos of her teammates.

I thought it was very interesting to hear the different comments from the parents as I showed them the camera's playback photo of their daughters. They ranged from the extremely positive: "I love it! I don't have any pictures of my daughter playing softball -- will you send me a copy of it?" And then there was the non-committal: "Mmmm. Nice picture." And then there was the parent who didn't care at all about the photo itself, but what it recorded: " She's way out in front of the ball again!"

I understand there's different levels of competetiveness. But if you were looking at a photo of your kid playing ball (any kind of ball), would you appreciate the photo for what it is: a photo of your child doing something they enjoy, or would you pick apart the child's faults & mistakes?

Anyway. Alyssa's team got knocked down into the Silver Bracket after their first 3 games, but they came back to win their bracket and earned their trophy & t-shirts. It was kind of a sweet victory, since the other team in the championship game is one that beat us 3 weeks ago (score was 1-0, that they scored on our fielding errors). Coming back to win that game 6-4 was a nice retaliatory win for us. Alyssa pitched the entire championship game, even after she got nailed in the ankle by a hard line drive. We're pretty proud of her.

There is plenty more softball to come this summer. Life is good!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

And in other news....

And in case you were wondering what Cam the Man is up to these days.....

No, it's not baking. Although, I want to get him going on some cooking skills that he can use in the future. Actually, he's been helping out a lot at the Haven, since we've got a number of projects going on right now. While we were off to softball games yesterday, he did some catch-up work in the yard. He also helped Todd planting the garden, and has been continuing to help with other stuff around the house: including little stuff like putting the muffins in a container for his mom.

This coming week, he will be continuing on the job search, as he looks for some additional income.

P.S. (I was lucky to get a shot where he's not cross-eyed or sticking his tongue out!)

Camera Hog

This is one baby that sees the camera a lot. And it's starting to show. Because now......... she's posing!!

Makes you wonder if she gets into mischief on purpose -- just so we'll pull out the camera and take a picture!

She almost seems to KNOW she's cute. I once took a picture of Brandon like this one:

When I stooped down to get a picture on her level..... she stooped down to copy me. (The photo of Brandon like this -- I entered in the Fair, and got a blue ribbon on it!!)

I'm looking forward to our ward Relief Society activity this Thursday, where we're going to learn about photo composition and how to take good shots of family and children. Maybe my photos will improve!!

Put on Your Game Face

I am the classic softball mom. I wear the softball mom t-shirt, I do the fancy braided hairstyles, I bring sunscreen everywhere I go, I sit at the fence, I cheer for not only my own daughters, but for their teammates, ........ and I'm always packin' a camera.

I even came up with my own cheer for Alyssa. Well, it's not a cheer, exactly. Just a reminder from her mom. I asked her once, "Are you a good pitcher?" ("yes.") "Are you a REALLY good pitcher? ("yes.") "Best one around?" ("yes.")

Then, Throw It Like You Know It.

So now, whenever I say that to her, she knows what I mean.

Having taken dozens of photos of Alys pitching, my favorite shot is always this one of her in the "K" or "X" position:

I probably like it because it shows her in full power mode. If you get an up close look at her game face, it looks like this:

I know. Pretty intimidating, huh! Who, knowing our Alyssa, would think she could look so intense as this?

When she's in the dugout, her favorite seat is this one:

She rarely sits back on the bench... she wants to be right at the dugout doorway, with nothing blocking her view of the game.

With our batting cage STILL down, she hasn't gotten in as many practice swings as usual. That didn't stop her from still hitting a hard high ball to the fence in the last game of the day:

(If you look closely in the upper left corner of the photo, you can see the ball on its way.)

It was a beautiful hit, and she had a nice slide-in at 3rd base: one of those that you bounce right up to a stand. She scored on the next hit.

The only downer of the day, was discovering that hit had broken her bat:

Yep, it's cracked. It's her Mikken "Rain" bat. Last year, her "Halo" bat had cracked, and we were able to get it replaced under warranty. Now it's looking like she'll go back to the Halo bat, with the Rain being finished. Watch for upcoming photos of her with a pink bat instead of this green one.

After going through over a week of REAL rain for our weather, this sunny Saturday was a welcome change. We're looking forward to our next weekend tourney in Coeur d'Alene, which both Alyssa and Darcie will play in. WE LOVE SOFTBALL!!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

It's for the Birds - Part II

So the Robins came back and rebuilt once more in the same location. And Todd evicted them once more. No word yet on newer construction.

But the really interesting thing is that the Doves, who we thought had been nesting in the evergreen bushes, actually rebuilt for themselves. This time, they are at the other end of the east deck:

They didn't learn much from the Robins, unless you could say they learned not to build where the landlord doesn't approve. (Actually, it's where the landlord didn't really notice right away.) Mrs. Dove is her usual calm self, and lets me come close whenever I want. Perhaps the Doves aren't totally the idiotic intellectuals I'd labelled them.

The Haven Characters

TODD - Our patriarch, Todd, stays busy with our hearth products store and Haven maintenance and improvement. The latest Haven project has been new edging under the back oak tree, and the new stone garden bench there. Todd also serves as building representative for our church building, and in the stake young men's presidency. He and I are both dreaming of retirement! MARILYN - I am working at our hearth store most of the time lately, with occasional days (or just hours!) off to drive the teenager around. I still love hand lettering envelopes, and I'm always looking for new designs to try. I am currently serving as a music coordinator/chorister. BRANDON - is working for the engineering laboratory here in town, and Cecilia, Giselle, Darius, Myra, Harlee & Xavier are at home. The four oldest are in school, with just the X-man at home. Cecilia holds down the fort and still does her sewing business on the side. CAMERON - has done well working for our engineering laboratory in town (same place as Brandon) and is at Welenco some mornings and helps his dad with installations on Saturdays. ALYSSA - She and Andrew live in Boise; she is working as a radiology/CT tech, and Andrew works at Micron, and they have been adapting their food truck business -- more to come on that. Blake is a rip-roaring three years old and keeps them on their toes. DARCIE - She and Nate are both working: Darcie is teaching, and Nate is doing programming. They are finished their masters degrees, and added Kuzco, the emperor of poodle puppies to their home. EMMA - is sixteen years old, and is busy with school drama productions (Wizard of Oz this spring) and this summer will be traveling to Washington, D.C. with the marching band. Also, the kid is on the cusp of getting her driver's license, so here we go!

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