Knight Family Christmas Card

The Giants Win the World Series!!!!

In my last post I mentioned that one of my favorite things about Fall is all the baseball frenzy!  Well, for once the final team standing was OUR TEAM!  THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!   I am happy to say, we are not bandwagon fans!  We have rooted for them since we moved to the Bay area.  My husband trades off taking the kids to games, or we watch them together at home!  It was so fun to watch and cheer!  I almost don't know what to do with myself now that it is over.

Yesterday the city held a parade in celebration of the win.  Since my husband is currently working/schooling in DC, he called and asked that I take the kids to the parade.  It killed him to not be here.  I had a few things planned that couldn't be changed, so I hired a good friend to take the kids.  She was a real sport!

We decided that taking BART was the best option.  This picture was taken on the way home.  Apparently, on the way there, the train was packed and no one could move.  Poor ID got claustrophobic and somewhat upset.

It was quite crowded on the streets of the city and they had a

difficult time at first finding a place to see the parade.  The papers 

say that over a million people attended and 30,000 more people

 than a normal work day road BART.  JC (my awesome friend/babysitter for the day!) got creative and saved the day!  

They were able to see all the players 

and all was well!

I am so happy they got to experience this little piece of history!  They will remember it the rest of their lives!  But just in case the memory fades, here are a few pieces of it!

I am sure KJ has her eyes out for "Timmy!"  Maybe he will wave at her again!

Getting a good view!

GR didn't even complain about having to ride "disgusting, gross BART," 

or having to go into the "dirty city!"

Feeling the love!  Baseball always brings our family together!!

Why I Love Fall

I don't think that I really love one time of the year over another, there are things about each Season that I love. Currently, I am in love with Fall! Here are some of the reasons;

Fall Baseball! For some reason it isn't quite as stressful as Spring Ball! No matter what time of year though, I love watching my kids play!

ID is playing soccer and baseball right now. I don't love soccer, but I do love watching my kids play any sport that they enjoy!

If you haven't heard, the Giants are in the World Series! Now one of the reasons that I love Fall is for the baseball frenzy, but it is even better when it is your home team! And, we are not bandwagon fans, we have been on board since April!

Dressing up! I seem to always take the pictures, but I did dress up. I was a giants player too.

Brian Wilson (Fear the Beard) Tinkerbell, Tim Lincecum

I don't really LOVE carving pumpkins, but I do love the tradition of the activity! I love that baseball is on in the background, hot chocolate is warming on the

stove, and sugar cookies are in the oven!

A few more things I love about Fall;

It rains a little where we live, which means the hills will soon be green!

The changing of the leaves.

Wearing Jeans and sweat shirts.

New Fall TV episodes.

Turning on the fireplace.

and much, much more......

Here's to Good Health

I am grateful for good health. You don't realize how lucky you are sometimes until it is taken away. While brief for me, it did give me perspective!

A couple of weeks ago while wrapping up our vacation at the Lake, I came down with a bit of a bug. I started getting the flu on Saturday night, throwing up Sunday, achy and tired Monday. By Tuesday while driving back from the cabin, I felt like someone was sitting on my chest and just couldn't get a deep breath. I went to the doctor and she thought that I just had the flu and possibly could end up with Bronchitis. She did though take some blood test because I had been having a few weird abdominal pain for a period of months. By Wednesday night that pressure in my chest had turned into stabbing pain in my upper back whenever I took a breath. I called the doctor Thursday morning because I was really short of breath. She had blood work back and was very concerned about the back pain but also my blood work showed that my liver enzymes were up.

Anyway, after getting to the emergency room, they did an x-ray which looked normal. So they decided to do a CAT Scan next. This went a bit south when I had a reaction the the Dye they inject and it put me into Anaphlyatic Shock. Suddenly my throat and nasal passage totally constricted. I couldn't get a breath and it was killing me to even try with the pain in my back. I could feel my lips swell and then my entire face. My body turned totally red and I felt like I was on fire. It was like a scene out of ER as the wheeled me back into the ER yelling for nurses and doctors and everyone was surrounding me giving me shots and oxygen. I caught Rick's face for a moment and I could tell I looked scary! Anyway, it took about 45 minutes to get my breathing back on track etc. It was probably one of the freakiest moments in my life! At that point I had bought myself a few nights in the hospital!

They determined that I had Pleurisy (inflammation around the lungs) and treated me for that with breathing treatments and steroids. But still had to figure out what the story was with my liver enzymes. Test after test and still no real answer for that. 3 days in the hospital and I insisted it was time to go home!

My mom had flown in because Rick was scheduled to leave for Washington DC (I will talk about that in another post!) It was a good things she had come, because my body had taken a beating, mainly from the Anaphylactic Shock episode. It took a good 2 weeks to get my strength back and feel like myself!

In the end I learned a few lessons! A few of which are that I make a terrible patient and I will never take my good health for granted!

Baseball Camp

Once again, our life revolves around BASEBALL! We took a second trip to Utah so the boys could attend BYU Baseball Camp.


I took G and I and a friend. They had to load up on the gear before camp, so we hit the bookstore first!





Then we had to load them up on some good old Brick Oven. It is my boys' favorite and they cannot leave Utah without a trip
without some All You Can Eat Pasta Bar!







Then it was check in time!




Oh the memories of those brick walls and fabulous mattresses!






They didn't waste anytime hitting the field!









"I" won the grounder and hitting competition!



The boys team won the tournament for their age group!!




It was a fun week and they boys learned a ton and had a ton of fun!!!! They will be back next year!!

Family Vacation

We just returned from a Family Vacation. I think I now need a vacation from my vacation.

Don't get me wrong, we had a blast. But, if you know me, you know that I will tell it how it is, no messing around. For those of you who have perfect children who never fight and do what you ask the first time you ask (or the tenth time for the matter) either you live on Fantasy Island, or you are a LIAR!

The kids were fighting by the time we got to the airport! Luckily when we got to the gate we saw some friends and figured out we were all on the same flight as far as Chicago. The one good thing about Southwest, we were able to all sit together. This allowed the kids to spread out and not have to sit by their siblings for a whole 4 hours!

We arrived in NYC around midnight. We were staying in a hotel in Time Square and since it was only 9pm for us, we decided to go walk around and find something to eat. It is true, NY is the "city that never sleeps!" (Thinking about it, with 5 of us in a tiny hotel room, we didn't sleep much either!)

Son #1 was not so excited to be walking around a big, crowded, stinky city at midnight. He doesn't really like to be out of his comfort zone. It made him even more uncomfortable that guys were hitting on his sister! Of course it freaked me out a little too, but I know it is only a sign of things to come!

After our late night in Time Square, we slept in, and the time difference didn't help! We did some more walking around the city. Hit the Empire State Building, St. Mary's, and of course....

The Yankees Clubhouse Store!

Then we headed to Central Park. Played some baseball and then rented bikes and road about 8 miles through the park!

2 nights in this hotel room was more than enough bonding for us!

Luckily the TWIN air mattress I packed fit barely between the 2 DOUBLE beds that we pushed against the walls! After the first night we had to go purchase the fan you see because my family is addicted to the sound and can't sleep without a little white noise!

If you are wondering what that rag is laying on the air mattress, it is "Froggy" #2's baby blanket that has seen it's better days.

Most people would plan a trip to NY to see the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, and a Broadway play, and then maybe hit a ball game since they were already there. Oh no, not us! It was the opposite! We were there to see the Yankees! Love them or hate them, the new stadium is beautiful!

We stocked up on the Yankee gear.

We also had dessert at Ella's Stardust Diner.

2 days in the city was enough. We left and headed Upstate. We first went to Hyde Park, home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I am not sure why we don't have any pictures of that. It was way cooler than I thought it was going to be. We visited his family home on the Hudson and the Presidential Library. The kids liked it too, although they thought the Quality Inn we stayed in didn't weigh so heavy on the "Quality" side!

We left Hyde Park and headed to Utica, NY to see Rick's parents who are serving a mission for the LDS Church. We haven't seen them almost 2 years and we were so excited to get to be with them for a few days! The Tunneys drove from Ohio and met us there.

We went to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Of course, why would we not!)

After a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa, it was time to let them get back to work and for us to head to Ohio with the Tunney Clan. We kind of just happened to end up at Niagara Falls for the 4th of July Fireworks!

It was definitely worth the drive and the hungry stomachs. We hadn't had dinner and thought we could find food there. Note to self, not enough food at Niagara Falls to feed the million and a half people that show up for fireworks. After a bit of crankiness, we ended up at Taco Bell around 11:30pm. We should have just gone hungry. Grosses food ever!! Lesson learned; pack a picnic!

There were a lot of "bugs" out. They were trying to keep themselves covered. I think G Tunney had had enough family because he departed from Buffalo to China (or so he says) and the rest of us continued on to Columbus, via some religious history sights.

We were able to see many wonderful places along the way and enjoy the
Spirit of the Restoration.

I guess the cameras were put away when we got to Columbus because I haven't one picture! If I did I would post one of the Tunney's beautiful home, their puppies, Katelin in her flannel while 98 degrees and like 100% humidity, and Rick mowing the lawn (yes it is true!)

It was super hot in Columbus, so we spent a lot of time enjoying the Tunney's home! We watched movies, ate good food, and enjoyed time together. We feel lucky to be part of such a wonderful family, and wish we could get together more often!