Dan and I had our last volunteer session at the State swimming meet. Dyllan did not swim in it, but Dan and I worked in the hospitality room. This is the room that is set up to feed all of the volunteers, officiators, and staff for the swim meet. It is really a production to provide 3 meals a day, plus snacks for all those people. Because of all our work at church, we were very prepared to help, and knew just how to handle food for crowds. It went well. We were happy to be done with that for the year. Dyllan misses swimming and is excited to be able to start back up in the Fall.
Easter Sunday was fun. The kids got Easter baskets with candy and toys in them. They each got a new outfit for Spring. We dyed eggs at a friends house. She has been a little stressed out with nursing school, and ended up getting the wrong container of eggs out of the fridge. So, the kids ended up dying some raw Easter eggs, and some hard-boiled. It was suspenseful to see which one you were going to get. For Easter dinner, we had the Murphys over and the Roundys. The Roundys are a newer family in the ward. Their daughter was asked, with Dane, to M.C. the ward talent show.
Soccer has started for Dane, Dyllan, and Deagan. They are on the rec teams and it only goes for 6 weeks. They each have a practice during the week, and then a game on Saturday. With all three of them, our Saturdays are pretty well taken up for the next month. We only have 1/2 days that we get to work on the much neglected yard. Soccer is going well. Dyllan has found that she enjoys playing goalie. Deagan and Dane are major contributors to their teams. All three of them won their first games with a score of 4-2. That was pretty fun. The second games were different. Dane won, Dyllan tied, and Deagan lost, but he was the only one to score on his team. It's fun to watch, but the spring weather seems to be a problem. We have had cancelled practices due to lightning, and games played in the pouring rain. I guess the kids don't mind too much, but I'd rather stay in the car to watch.
Speaking of which, we have spent 2 whole Saturdays (about 5 hours each) weeding, edging, and trimming the yard. In addition, Danyon and I have spent 2 Fridays out in the yard as well. It really is quite a mess. All of the beds got overgrown with grass while we were in Europe. It seems that even if you pull the grass, it grows back. It had an extensive set of roots that go through each bed. We still haven't even touched two beds. We are finding that we are running out of time to get everything ready for just the maintenance phase of summer. Our garden is almost ready to rototill. We are excited to be able to grow things again. In addition, we want to add a few shrubs to the yard. When we moved back in, someone poured grass killer in each of the beds. This proved to be fatal for some of our shrubs. The good news is, I get to choose which ones I want. We are hoping to be done before school lets out.
Danyon has decided to quit swimming. It wasn't fun for him any more. He hadn't moved up in levels for months. His teachers kept getting shuffled around, so he had different teachers every week for a month. He decided he didn't want to go any more. He still loves gymnastics. I'm not sure if it is actually the gymnastics, or his friend Ethan, that he likes going for. But he practices every once in a while, so that's good.
We took a trip to Branson, Missouri. It is about an 8 1/2 hour drive. We weren't sure what to expect, but we had a great time. Our condo was right on the lake. Dan took the kids fishing every morning. He was in heaven! He even chartered a fishing boat to take he and Dane out on the lake. Dane had his first experience with fly fishing. Dan loved that, too! During the day, we went to a fish hatchery, we went for a hike to a man-made water fall, we shopped along the "strip", went swimming, and we even went to a movie. In the afternoons, we ate ice cream. In fact, food was a major part of the trip. They had all kinds of Bar-be-que and down home cooking. We loved the food. There was even a Lamberts--home of the throwed rolls. The kids probably ate 8 rolls a piece, just because they threw them at you and you got to eat them. My favorite part of the day was the evenings, though. We went to a show every night. The first night, we got to see a magician, Rick Thomas. It was a good show. The kids loved it. He is an entertainer, for sure. The next night, Dan and I went to a gospel show. The kids didn't want to go to that one. It was a family who sang gospel songs, most of which Dan recognized. Dan loves the gospel harmonies. We went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. This was an event that was cool. We started out with some pre-show entertainment. It was a juggler. He was pretty good. Had we not seen so many jugglers before on cruise ships, we would have been very impressed. Next, we were escorted into the arena. We sat down at our tables, that surrounded the arena. The horse show started and while watching the show, we were fed a feast. Each individual received a bowl of cream of vegetable soup, a cheddar biscuit, a whole small rotisserie chicken, a pork loin steak, corn on the cob, a half of a baked potato, and an apple turnover for dessert. We took home a ton of chicken and a few turnovers as leftovers. The food was good and the show was good. That can be a hard combination sometimes. The food was better than the food that they serve at our dinner theater here in Indianapolis. We were very impressed. The next show was SIX. They are a family of 6 brothers who sing a capella. We loved their show. As an interesting side note, they are all LDS. The kids couldn't believe all of the sounds that could come out of a mouth that sounded just like guitars, drums, saxophones, etc. It was a fun show. We bought some of their CDs and even stayed after to get them to autograph them. The last show we went to was Clay Cooper. This was a country music show that was very entertaining. The kids loved it. That was saying something, as the songs were mainly old school country. Dane was taking notes at all the shows, collecting some good material, as he was asked to be a co-M.C. for our ward talent show. He was able to get enough good material to last him 2 talent shows!
On the way home, we were able to stop in St. Louis at see the Hedquists. It was just a short visit, but we really enjoyed seeing them and spending time with them. It is only a 4 1/2 hour drive, so I think that we will go back to visit sometime. We didn't get to spend any real time in the city, as we we anxious to get back to get things ready for the week ahead, but would like to spend some time there soon. They say that there are a lot of cool, must-see museums and a zoo there.
We had the Ward Talent show not long after our trip. We spent the week trying to prep Dane for his M.C. job. He also decided that he wanted to be in the talent show. He called a few friends and got a "synchronized swimming" skit put together. It was a lot of fun. He and his friends did a great job. We also learned that night, that Dane could do a mean "whip and nae nae". Dan had the hard job of keeping the two M.C.s in line and keeping the sound system working. It proved to be a hard job, as one of the amps blew a fuse right before the evening started. No one noticed, and everyone had a great time! To see Dane, go here: https://onedrive.live.com/
Dan has had a crazy travel schedule the last couple of weeks. He spent one week in Washington D.C. He got to run past the White House, War Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial every morning. It was nice for him to be so close to the sights. He came home a day early and surprised me with flowers! It was nice having him back a day early. The next week, he was not so lucky. He started on Tuesday morning. He flew to Visailia, California, had 2 meetings, then flew to Modesto, California, had two meetings. Then on to Twin Falls, Idaho. He had two meetings there, then flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They had 2 meetings there, then headed to Green Bay, Wisconsin. They had 2 meetings there, and flew to Syracuse, New York. They had a meeting there, then headed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. They had a meeting there, and then, finally, got to fly home on Friday night. It was exhausting for everyone--including the corporate jet pilots.
We are excited to have Grandma coming and to go to Charles' wedding. We have a fun-filled summer awaiting, as well. You'll all have to stay tuned to see all of the exciting happenings going on in the Baker family.
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