Mariner's Game(s)

Our family loves to go to Mariner's Games.  We don't go that often and wish we could go more!
We have some fun memories from Mariner's games.

When I was in middle school the Mariners were doing really badly!  They would give a set of 2 tickets if you got good grades.  I got 3 sets of them.  I think we went 2 times.  (I can't really remember)  I know my mom wasn't too happy with me because I fell asleep during the game... Our last set of tickets we didn't go and we couldn't even give them away!

Ray & I got to go last year, someone from work gave us some amazing tickets.  You could see everything without being on the monitor.  Even I was glued to the game. (I like to people watch sometimes more than the game..)

This is the pictures from last time we went as a family.  It was sunny that day & Keagan was tired! (And I didn't get upset with him that he fell asleep.:)  We got to see one of our favorites.. Ken Griffey Jr. I think this was the last year he played. Melissa even had on her pink Mariner's jacket.

Melissa has been raised to love the Mariners and baseball.  She makes her dad proud and really does love it!!  Ray & Melissa are comparing stats and players quite often.  I like baseball.  But I guess I am a fair-weathered fan.  I would also like it if it were only once a week or so.. not every day from March to September or October is you're lucky!

We took Melissa on a special mommy & daddy date when she was little and left Keagan with a babysitter.  I love how you can see her sitting on the edge in her flowered jacket watching the game, even when she was little.

 When Aunt Laura and Uncle John came we went to a Mariner's game with her.  She almost looks like a boy dressed in her Mariner's gear!

We even took her to a game when she was very little, 5 months I think.  This game was in the kingdome.  My sister, Cindy, was nice enough to leave early with me because it scared me to death and I had nightmares about it for the next few days.  Ray & I got cheap tickets in the 300 level and happened to get the first row.  Melissa was at a stage where she moved around a lot.  I could just see her wiggling free and falling down, the long long way down to the field.  It really freaked me out!!  My mom, Cindy, and Adam had good seats.  Cindy didn't really care too much about baseball, so she gave Ray her seat and came home early with me.

For Father's Day this year (2013) Melissa had just gotten her first paycheck and wanted to get Ray something special.  She found Mariner tickets for a pretty good deal and it was LDS night.  We would get free t-shirts with our tickets!  She bought them and was prob. more excited than Ray to give them to him.  She said that she would buy them for all of us and call it a Mother's day/Father's Day gift.  And then Keagan paid for our parking!  What a nice gift!  We had such a wonderful time.  We sat in the 300 level & they lost, but it didn't matter!  Luckily at Safeco field, there really isn't a bad seat and it isn't scary sitting way up high like it was in the kingdome! It was fun to see all the LDS people there and a few we knew.

 Before the game started.. The Stringfellows were sitting a few rows in front of us.

Kimmie, Melissa, & Katie with their free LDS Mariner shirts.

 One of Melissa's favorite (current) players is Felix.

Troubles sleeping

Luckily, I fall asleep pretty easily.  But most nights (mornings) I wake up between 2 and 4 a.m. to have to go to the bathroom.  A few times a week  I have trouble going back to sleep.  When this happens, I'm usually awake for a couple of hours.  I lay there tossing and turning, squeezing my eyes shut tight and trying to go back to sleep.  I think of all the things I need to do the next day and whatever problems I am having.  Sometimes I keep my ipod handy and write myself notes or emails, so hopefully I can get to sleep faster.

 I usually give myself an hour to try to get to sleep myself because most nights I can, but when I can't, I find my headphones & ipod and listen to a story, General Conference talks or Stories from General Conference.  There are lots of good choices!

As I was pondering this the other night in one of my sleepless states, I had this thought.. I think sometimes we laugh as we say things like,  reading scriptures & General Conference talks puts us to sleep.. but then I thought, maybe it is a good thing that they put me to sleep, because when I listen to those things they bring me peace and put my mind to rest.. no wonder they can help put me to sleep!  I like the idea that reading/listening to scriptures & General conference calms me down and helps me relax.. even enough to fall asleep when I am having troubles falling asleep.  Another blessing of reading/listening!  :)  (For the record, I usually hear at least one conference talk all the way through and then the 2nd one, I can't stay awake)

Here is a link to one of my favorite things to listen to. Mormon channel (I have the app. on my ipod)  Also another one of my favorite things to listen to is another app on my ipod -podcasts -Stories from General Conference, History of the Hymns, and Conversations.  Stories from General Conference you can get on the Mormon Channel, too. It is one of my favorites!!

First "real" day of Summer Break

We weren't even planning on doing anything.. but it was suppose to be sunny and the rest of the week rainy so we decided to skip chores (they can be done on a rainy day!) and go to one of our favorite beaches.  We love going to Owen beach in Tacoma.  It is the beach by Pt. Defiance.  It is so beautiful & peaceful.  We let the kids rent kayaks.  They had a great time.  They said they saw a lot of jellyfish. The ferry going by is the going to Vashon Island.

The only "downer" of the trip was seeing a woman who had taken her shirt off, going around the beach in her bra... REALLY?!!  It wasn't even that hot.. 75ish.  I guess hot for WA!

I hope we can go back a few more times this summer!