To all my loyal readers, yes both of you, things have been crazy around here. Between baseball, music, yard work, etc. I have had very little time to sit and type some words down on my blog. Spring is crazy!!



I bring these next thoughts to you with permission from my teenager. At first he did not agree for me to blog about this subject. I proposed an arm wrestling match and if I won then I could blog at my free will. My first greatest feat of the week is that I am still stronger than said teenager. Hooray!!! My second greatest feat of the week is this...



I taught my teenager to shave!



Now you may ask, what kind of mustache can a 13 year old actually have. Not quite like the one pictured above, but enough to see the fuzz and tell a difference when it was gone. Now he may not need to shave for several weeks but that is ok he is only thirteen.



So here is Casey, 13 years, four months and 26 days old but who's counting. How time does pass quickly. T0 all you moms wishing those little ones older, take a moment and appreciate the NOW. Before you know it your little ones will be shaving daily and will THINK that they are all grown up.

It is baseball season. Today we watched four games, yes four games. It started at 10am with Dylan's T-Ball game. He played great and even got one out. At 1pm Austin had a game. They, however, did not win. He was bummed about that. Next was Zachary's game at 3:30. He actually had to leave a little early to experience his first 15 minutes of fame. We headed straight for Citizens Bank Field, where the Phillies play, for game four.

Phillies+Phriends=Phun

When was your 15 minutes of fame?

How old were you when you had your 15 minutes of fame. Well, actually I am still waiting for mine but Zach and Austin got to experience their "once in a lifetime" 15 minutes of fame today, Saturday, at the Philadelphia Phillies game. Thanks to Daddio's job the boys got to participate in a history making moment.

Austin, 10, was invited to hand Jimmy Rollins his hard earned and well deserved 2007 NL MVP trophy. He held the trophy for a two or three minute accomplishment read, and then presented J.R. the large trophy. When Austin stepped forward to hand the trophy over he extended the trophy and almost dropped it. Jimmy's response was "whoa". Kind of funny to hear Austin tell the story.

Zach, 7 was invited to throw the first pitch at the game. He went out on the field exuding confidence and excitement. He winds up, and the pitch, STIIIIIRRRIIIKKKEEE. Zachary gets this cute little smile when he is excited about what he is doing or has done. He came walking off the field sporting that very smile.

"COUNT OFF"

"Count off".....ONE......TWO........ THREE................................ FOUR, FIVE!!!

If you ever have the opportunity to ride in the Bringhurst's car the above sentence is the first thing you will probably hear. It is mostly a joke because generally we know if all kids are accounted for. I yell "Count Off", and then the boys respond. Casey is always ONE, Austin, TWO, Zachary THREE, Dylan FOUR and then all the kiddios yell FIVE, it is a rule that they cannot yell five unless they are looking at Jackson.

"YOU HAVE FIVE?"

AWE, YES, Nearly everywhere we go we get the attention of those around us. We have five kids; not only do we have five kids but they are ALL boys. The most common responses are...





"You have how many?" (My favorite answer is "only five")


"Oh, still trying for that girl" (almost in a sad voice)


"Are you going to try again for a girl" (whatever)


" Do you wish you had a girl" (You know, I do have this boy thing down pretty good by now, a girl could complicate things. That being said, should it ever happen, I would be up for the task).


Now, I do think some people (especially on the east coast) wonder why anyone in their right mind would ever choose to have such a large family. Well, I have a very good reason. BASEBALL; baseball, you say? Yes baseball, how could brothers go out into the backyard and have a game of baseball if they don't have any brothers to have a game of baseball with. Yesterday I looked into the backyard and I see our catcher, Dylan giving the pitcher Austin a sign, or in other words calling the pitch. We have our batter and then of course a fielder. Jackson needs to grow a bit more before he can go out and play.

I love this picture of Dylan catching, he did a decent job at it too.

Our baby is ONE!!!

Where does the time go. Last week we celebrated Jackson Bruce's 1st birthday. The day we got home from Hawaii we unpacked the luggage, hung a few streamers and had a little partay. Thankfully I have the most wonderful friend in the whole world. She purchased some necessary 1st birthday plates, napkins and streamers. You can't celebrate a 1st without these things. She also baked both his cakes (one for him and one for the rest of us).

First we opened a few gifts. Jackson enjoyed the paper.

Here is Jackson's cute little cake

Now it is time to dive right in. This will be the only time you will be allowed to eat cake this way.

How quickly they do go from Here to...

Here

How much does a gallon of milk cost in Hawaii?

Well, after two days in S. Cal. we have successfully and finally made it to our beautiful state of Hawaii. The family is adjusting well to the time zone difference. We are six hours after our beloved east coast. I think the stop in California was a great plan to help everyone adjust better.

"I must memorize this map of Disneyland"

"I knew I could do it"

While in Cal. we spent a day and a half in the great Land of Disney. We had a blast. Here are a few pictures of us at Disney. Jackson was able to go on Pirates, Peter Pan, Snow White and Pinocchio. Pinocchio was his least favorite.



This is what a man in need of a vacation looks like on vacation.

Look how well behaved my kids are on these sacred temple grounds.

Today, Saturday, we headed over to the other side of the island. Our plan was to visit the temple grounds and then go the the Polynesian Cultural Center. As we arrived at the temple we reminded our boys of the reverence they should show and the nature of the sacred grounds. They were a little warm and the wind was blowing the water from the water fountain onto the sidewalk, so I told them they could stand in the misty water and cool off for a moment. Blaine and I began to visit with a sister missionary, as I turned to check on my children Zach had the whole top of his head in the water and Dylan was on his way in. I even think that Austin's judgement was impaired on this one. So much for our little talk just moments before.


We later headed for the Polynesian Cultural Center, we enjoyed a canoe ride, They also enjoyed a ride on this floating plywood. Just like a bunch of boys tormenting girls, they were rocking back and forth and nearly tipped this makeshift boat over. I was on edge the entire time.

I love this picture of Dylan. He turns to me and says "Mom, I'm just like the man on this picture". I think he makes a great imitator.

Sunday we made our way to Maui, we checked into the condo and relaxed the rest on the evening. Today, Monday, we played in the pool. Then we headed to a nice bay to snorkel a bit and to get a few rays. We are having a great time here. We miss all of our wonderful friends. We also bumped into a friend of Casey's from school. There family was seated at the table next to us at dinner tonight. It sure is a small world.

By the way, a gallon of milk costs $9.19. We only bought one.

Creating My Own Sweet Escape

To all of you that I could not fit into my luggage...I will think of you when I'm not sunbathing or riding the rides at Disney, or surfing, or eating, or sleeping, or relaxing (maybe we could say relazing), or eating, or playing or eating fresh pineapple, or snorkeling, did I mention anything about eating good food.

WHAT AM I???

"My baker had great intentions, but I didn't quite turn out the way I was suppose to. So, what do you think I am." First person to guess me correctly just might get a prize. Here are a few clues to help you out. I might be a dessert. I might have blueberries baked inside. I might be thick and substantial. I might have a beautiful crumb topping. I might be a main course at your last Sunday dinner.

For those of you interested, when I photo shopped this picture I used...

J/K- that would really be bad if this was a photo shopped picture.