What do Wiffle Ball, a Fly Massacre and family have in common? Probably not what you would think...And no the massacre was not caused by a wiffle ball

Well it's been a little over a week since I last wrote on my blog and I kept telling myself that not much happened but thinking back that's not entirely accurate. I've been able to hang out with Kevin, Nicole and Noah the past week and it's been a lot of fun. Last Monday Jason and I travelled down to Provo at 7:30 am to help keep the Stephenson grandbabies occupied while they take their family portraits. That was a lot of fun actually, and it didn't take that long. It was nice that Kevin and Nicole got to meet Jason and I think they like him so that's a plus. We felt pretty good about our work there so Jason and I decided to treat ourselves to IHOP.

On Tuesday I made my way down to Provo again to invite myself to lunch with Brittany, Clay, Kevin, Nicole and Noah at Maria Bonita's. It's Brittany's favorite Mexican Food restaurants down there in Provo. They give you tons of food with your meal, like chips and salsa, and this soup that was really good that had chicken and rice and some kind of broth. I got the taquitos and those were really good.

Then on Wednesday night we went out again with Brittany, Clay, Kevin, Nicole, Noah, Jason and Eden...we went to Red Robin this time and it was nice to be there with friends and family...even though we were still missing a few members of the Smith clan children (THAT MEANS YOU JORDAN AND CHRISTINA AND GIRLS). We were thinking of going to play wiffle ball after that but everyone was too full to move and run around so we decided to skip that and go another day.
On Thursday I went to lunch with the Stephenson family to Applebees and then we went to the South Towne Mall in Sandy for a little bit and I ended up buying myself a shirt at Maurices (you didn't need to know that but I thought that I would add it in anyway) and it was fun going into a store with Nicole and looking around (you can be my shopping buddy anytime).

Then on the 4th of July I didn't really have any plans until later in the evening with Jason so basically I was just trying to pass the time shopping at Barnes & Noble and checking out some other stores. It was during that time that I got bored and called Brittany up who was going to the Stephenson Family Barbeque at 3:00...so basically I invited myself to that too but then I felt bad and said that I wouldn't go and then I got a call from Kevin who told me that Kara Lee would be offended if I didn't come. So I went to the BBQ and it felt like old times actually, I think I've spent the past two July 4th's with the Stephensons in Medford so it was nice to keep up tradition (Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys!). Then I made my way back up to Salt Lake so that I could be there when Jason came to pick me up for the fireworks. He got off work and we took off to Sugarhouse Park and had to go some odd routes to get there due to street closures and everything. We found one place in the park next to a duck pond so we sat there for a few minutes before we realized all of the smokers in the vacinity. So we made our way to another part of the park where there were a lot of people but we still weren't exactly sure where they were going to be launching the fireworks from so we kind of just decided to try that area anyway since that was where everyone seemed to be congregating. We had to wait around for about an hour and a half but the fireworks that followed was excellent, they were so pretty to watch.

On Sunday I invited Kevin, Nicole, Noah, Brittany, Clay and Jason over for roast and baked potatoes. Of course, I delegated to others different food items to bring. I took care of the roast and Kool-Aid, Brittany and Clay made baked potatoes and Kevin and Nicole brought a Marie Callendars pie so we were fed well. While waiting for Brittany and Clay to come we noticed that we had probably about 20 flies in the upstairs family room alone and they seemed to multiply by the second. We didn't have a fly swatter and we couldn't figure out where they were coming from but luckily I remembered while growing up Kevin and Jordan and Dad even killing fruit flies with rubber bands so I gave Kevin a rubber band and he went to work. He actually took out quite a few, and it was impressive work; however, he still left marks on the glass which I'm sure you all wanted to know but it was impressive nonetheless. After the great fly massacre started by Kevin and Jason we finished making dinner and sat down to eat. Everything was so delicious and clean up was a breeze. We were planning on playing wiffle ball afterwards but Noah was getting grumpy so Kevin and Nicole took off back to Provo to put him to bed so Brittany, Clay, Jason and I took off to Murray Park to play a quick game. I had all of the equipment, even bases and we found a nice place and laid everything out...remember not to play wiffle ball near any streams or anything because it can carry your ball away. I think after dinner Brittany and I were having trouble running the bases but it was still fun. Clay and Jason hit a few homeruns and Clay hit one under a car that was passsing by and amazingly it came out unscathed...but we did lose one ball to that stream...oh well.

On Tuesday evening I went down to Provo again to be with Kevin, Nicole and Noah one last time before they took off to Logan. We went to El Azteca and they have really good Mexican food there, even Noah seemed to enjoy it. We then went to Orem park to play some more wiffle ball. This team it was Kevin and I against Brittany and Clay. Yep, we were winning thanks to Kevin but then the last inning I couldn't catch a thing and Brittany and Clay kept hitting the ball and scoring runs so we ended up losing, oh well, it was a fun game anyway. Noah kept running onto the field and taking some of the balls away, he even got up to bat with daddy's help. He is so cute! After we finished playing our game Nicole wanted to help a few so I sat with Noah on a park bench while she hit. He was standing next to the bench and he would sign please so I lifted him up and put him on the bench with me, he'd walk around on it and then he leaned in to give the bench a kiss...and I'd pull him back and say dirty and he'd start laughing and he'd try it again and I'd pull him back and would tell him dirty and he'd start laughing again. I think this was our time of bonding...he actually let me give him a hug and a kiss before they took off for the hotel this time. After taking Brittany and Clay home I went to Krispy Kreme donut and picked up a few before heading home...they just sounded so good. Well, I don't think I really have anything else to report but I think Jason and I are going to go back to Lagoon tomorrow for a few hours and this time I'm definately coating myself in sunscreen. I'll tell you how it goes!