Ahh...home

There are some days when I miss being home and there are other days when I'm glad I'm hearing the news from far away.

Emily just called me. She was babysitting the kids when Alex runs into the room and says somebody's at the door. Emily asked, "Well, why didn't you answer it?" Alex said he didn't answer it because he didn't know who the guy was. Legitimate.

Emily went downstairs to answer the door. By this time the person was pounding quite loudly. Imagine her surprise when she opened the door to find the sheriff there. Emily immediately began trying to recall what she could have possibly done to get in trouble. Then the man said he had gotten a 911 call. After that statement the boys were trying to scream over each other "He did it! He did it!"

Evidentally one of the boys dialed 911 and the other pushed "talk." Emily put them both in time out and called their dad. He laughed but I can imagine why. Emily is on the phone explaining to Jose what had happened and the boys are screaming and crying in the background trying to plead their case as loudly as they can. HAHAHHAHA! My brothers and sisters are awesome.

Ohio-Part 4

Cornhole. It is a classic Ohio pastime. At the Souza house, though, it is much more than that. It is a serious competition. No room for sissies. We take no prisoners. Not too many people westward seem to have heard of it but it is a simple enough game to understand. It is sort of a cross between horseshoes and a beanbag toss. There are 2 boxes with holes in the centers placed across from each other, as shown in the picture below. You need 2 teams with 2 players on each team. Both teams have one player at each box. Each team has 4 beanbags and the first two opponents take turns tossing their beanbag in the hole and trying to knock the other's off of the box. You get 3 points for putting your bag through the hole and 1 point for getting it to land on the box. When one side has finished, their team members from the other side take their turns. First to 15 wins.

This is Chris, thinking he stands a chance against Dad and I (Team Fat Boys). Dad is very serious about this game. He built and painted his own boxes.
Me with my game face on. Just getting the job done.
Team Fat Boys has prevailed. We actually beat all of the teams who dared to challenge us. Yes, we are that good.

Team Buttfaces (Adam and Chris) were sore sports.

Ohio-Part 3

We had a lot of parties at Mom and Jose's house. This was my favorite. I don't know why I only ended up with 3 stupid pictures. It was for my Abuela's birthday and I can't even find any pictures of her and I! We had a lot of fun and Chris ate VERY well. There was soooo much food. The whole family played kickball. We had all the old people against the younger people. It was hysterical to see my parents and uncles and aunts run after they managed to kick the ball.

This is my cousin Lis and I. She is due a month before I am. We kept each other company and guarded the food table and consoled each other when our insensitive family made fat jokes:)
This was just funny to watch. The kids got their fancy frizbee thing stuck in the tree. My brother stood on the hood of the truck and watched Cecilia's progress as she attempted to knock the frizbee out of the tree.

Don't know what this picture is but I THINK it is a picture of Jose waiting for people to leave his house:)

Ohio-Part 2

On July 4th Chris and I went to see the Defiance fireworks with my Dad and Karen.

This is Dad and Karen chilling out. We got there really early in order to get a good spot:)
Emily, Shiloh, and I having fun and eating chips and cookies! Yum! Actually...it looks like I was the only one eating. Far from the truth.

Shiloh and Chris spent their time catching firebugs. You can't see them but they are in the Dr. Pepper bottle. Chris likes to shake up the bottle to make them glow. They were at it for quite a while trying to catch them by the river. I could have mentioned to them that there were a lot by where I was sitting, but why ruin their fun. I think they ended up with 6 bugs.

Here are some fireworks. Bad picture but you get the idea.

Ohio-Part 1

Doing one blog takes me at LEAST one hour. So this will be done in steps since I don't have 6 hours to do it all at once.

Chris and I just got home yesterday from an amazing trip to Ohio. The camera wouldn't cooperate for some of the more important things...like Adam's wedding and Andy's baptism. Here are some other highlights though.

We arrived in Ohio on Thursday, June 25th. Friday morning Olivia decided that we needed to take her to the pool. Chris, the kids, and I had so much fun! The pastey Utahns got sunburns, though.This was before anybody had a chance to get in the water.

Here is the group. Aunt Kathy even came to join us!

Chris and Alex LOVED the diving board. Chris was also a big fan of the water slide.

Manti, Home, Alex, Primary

I already typed this once. Then, as I was about to post it, it froze. AGH! So here is the condensed version.

Chris and I got to go to Manti Friday to see the pageant. We stayed the night in a camping area with his parents in their trailor. Saturday we were ablt to go to the temple. The Manti temple is the most beautiful temple, inside and out, that I have ever seen. The whole area was beautiful and we had so much fun. I would post pictures but somebody didn't bring their camera like I told him to. Pictures or no pictures, we still had a ton of fun. Chris and I rarely have a day off together so the trip was a special treat for us. Speaking of days off together.......

WE ARE GOING TO OHIO IN 2 DAYS! I could not be more excited. Almost 2 work-free weeks to spend together. I cannot wait to see my brothers and sisters. They are the coolest kids ever. Speaking of which........

My little brother, Alex, won the Charlie Hustle Award for most improved player on his baseball team. I do have a picture of that.

He's awesome. Speaking of awesome kids.......

Chris and I teach a primary class and it is such a riot. Last Sunday one little boy asked, "Brother Bingham, how old do you have to be to get the mechanic Pristhood? And when you get it, do they take the ironic Priesthood away?" Isn't that cute?

Peyton's Quilt

I love Mondays. Why? Because Monday is the day I get to spend with my friend, Melissa and her boys. This Monday was, in my opinion, very productive. First, we (okay, she did most of the work) made this blog. Nice, eh? Then we worked on Peyton's quilt. That' right! She is teaching me how to do girly things like make quilts.

We didn't get all the quilting done, mostly because I was awful at it and I could not stay focused. You know how it is when you do a project with a child and the kid does small parts but isn't all that helpful because they mostly just get in the way? That is how this project is. Melissa does the hard parts. I help a little, but mostly just waste time. Hooray for thrifty, patient friends!
Here is a closer picture. I love the fabric. The brown is fuzzy and bumpy. The blue is flannel. The back is silky and pink. Believe it or not, I did manage to choose the fabric with....ALMOST no help at all.

Okay. Now I'm going to post this and see what my first blog looks like.