Ball Family Reunion

In July, we had the Hendrick family reunion at Mom Ball's house in Rexburg! Talk about a good time!

Summer= Family Reunions!

Brandon having a blast in the ford that our nephews made!

That weekend my Mother-in-law flood irrigated the water... (one of our favorite activities in the summer!) We played water volleyball, kayaked with the kids, and played in the canal. We had a blast!

I love Ethan's hair in this! It is the funniest thing ever!

My Sister-in-law attacking her husband! Haha. She got him good! I love Andrea's face in the other picture!

One of myy favorite thing about going to Mom's in the summer is her raspberries... they are way bigger than ours, they are so delicious, and she has SO many of them! I could eat them all day! So tasty!

I love getting to spend time with all of my darling neices and nephews! Most of them love a ways a way... so we don't get to see them a whole lot...

I am SO grateful to have such amazing in-laws! They are so sweet and are so kind. I am one lucky girl!

Aren't all of my neices and nephews the cutest things you have ever seen? I had a blast with all of them!

Preston Arenacross 2010

On August 14, 2010 we headed up to Preston, Idaho for the annual Preston Arenacross. We go every year to sell and race. It is always a good time up there. The support we receive in Preston for Ballz Racing is unreal! We stayed really busy when we were selling and after all the races we were swarmed with people! We are so grateful for all of the support that we receive from our awesome racing friends. We were able to go and throw some of our products into the crowd... that was really fun... but for everyone who knows me... it was really embarrassing! Haha.

Taiya ran the show while Ethan was racing and while we were throwing products into the crowd. She sold one thing while we were gone and she was very proud! She is going to be a business woman...

Here are some of Eth's pictures... He is 3rd from the right on the starting gate!
Ethan did awesome! He got 3rd place in his heat race and he got 4th for the main event!! He would have got 2nd place... but he crashed! We are so proud of how well he did! He has beautiful style and a good head on him. I think that he will go far. He has made huge improvements over last year... he was coming in second to last or last in all the races last year... but this year he sure has picked it up! I am so excited for him and what he will achieve in the future!

I am so grateful that we had a safe and successful weekend! I am grateful to everyone who supports Ballz Racing and our family! We have some great friends out there! I hope that everyone else had an awesome weekend!

Adversity!

I know a few people who are really struggling in life right now, whether it be marriage... kids... jobs... and/or health problems. I read this talk from President Uchtdorf and was very touched by it. I hope that it brings as much comfort to those who read it as it did to me!

"How beloved you are of your Heavenly Father. Though it may seem that you are alone, angels attend you. Though you may feel that no one can understand the depth of your despair, our Savior, Jesus Christ, understands. He suffered more than we can possible imagine, and He did it for us, He did it for you. You are not alone."

"In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy."

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has sent us modern Prophets and Apostles to guide, direct, and comfort us. I feel so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so grateful to have the Book of Mormon in my life. We live in troubled times and I am so grateful to know that we can have the Prophets to give us advice, love, and hope.

Our Garden!

This spring we decided that we would try our hand with gardening! We own an acre and a half... so we have plenty of room for one. On Memorial Day we spent 10 hours prepping our garden and planting! It was a nightmare! The kids thought it was a blast to put the seeds in. We planted corn, green beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, watermelon, and cantoloupe! It is very time consuming to have a garden! Weeding and watering takes forever! At first, I spent most of my days off weeding... but now I am sad to admit that the weeds have won this battle.

Having a garden has taught me a lot about patience (which I am still working on). We have had problems with mice in our garden... which means problems with Luna in our garden trying to get the mice (which means she has dug up most of our peas). The wind has knocked down most of our corn... and the grasshoppers... oh the grasshoppers. I have so much respect for the pioneers. At least I know that if my garden does not make it, I can just go to the store. They did not have this option... if their gardens died, it meant they didn't have food! Even though it is a pain to have a garden, I am so grateful that we have had one this year. It is so fun going out there and picking fresh vegetables!

Here are some pictures of our garden and some extras from this summer!

This is some of our fresh loot... this is just one picking... we still have a lot of green beans to pick!

Family Weekend!

One week ago today, my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and their kids came up from Elko, Nevada to stay with us for the weekend! I was so excited because we didn't get to see them very much when they lived in Montana... but now they are only 3 hours away! On Friday, I introduced Jess to my favorite store... Hobby Lobby! She dropped a pretty dollar there! Haha. Then they stayed overnight at a hotel and went and saw a friend cage fight... so we had their kids overnight! It was so much fun to have them! They are the cutest kids ever!

On Saturday after they got home from the cage fights we went to the Aquatic Center and went swimming! The kids were having the biggest blast on the slides and playing with their cousins. Brandon and Damon were loving the slides as well. Brandon figured out how to skip across the water when he went down and he had to stop himself so he didn't hit the steps! Everyone around the slide area was watching him and talking about it! Haha.

Kaidyn!

Brylie!

Braxton!

The boys and their slide!


Damon! (above)

Brandon! (above)

Uncle Damon was squirting water at Ethan through the noodle! They all thought that was pretty funny!

After we went swimming we took them to our favorite place to eat.... Fire House! Yummy! Our sister-in-law, Didgette, came too! So much fun and delicious food!

What my husband will look like when he is old! Haha

So tonight Brandon decided he wanted to buzz his head for summer. So my Sister-in-law Didgette started on the project. We decided to try out some "new" hairstyles on him!

Ethan is making sure Daddy holds still so his head doesn't get cut off!!

His side profile! Haha haha haha rofl! Isn't he hot ladies?

We all tried talking him into leaving it!


Me seducing my sexy beast!

It worked!!

So this is how the Ball family spends our Saturday nights! I don't remember the last time we all laughed that hard! Tears were rolling and stomaches were hurting from all the laughter! (Bring out the depends!) It was a night to remember!

P.S- I am not posting pictures of his new hair do yet... I want the image to last a LONG time!