I know, this is SO last week, but in case you haven’t seen this yet, I’m posting a link to the BYU library commerical put out by the school a few weeks ago. The “hyahh!” at the end makes me laugh every time.

The other week when Devon and I were on vacation we visited both of our families and got to see both of our home baseball teams play the Rays. Yep, we just happened to catch the Rays at both places. Anyway, that also meant that within the span of four days we got to see games at the oldest and newest ballparks in the majors: Fenway Park and Target Field. They are both great places to watch baseball games and I’m not going to say which one was the best because I think both Devon and I would differ in opinion on that one. I think it’s safe to say that we love both of them, despite the fact that they are as opposite as could be. Fenway is everything historic and old fashioned, and Target Field is completely modern and high-tech. I put together some pictures I took of Fenway (some of these are from the past couple years because I didn’t know I was going to do this when we were there a few weeks ago) with pictures of Target Field to show just how different the two parks feel.

Fenway panorama. Ryan took a much nicer one but I could get it to work for some reason so you’re stuck with my own pictures.

Target Field panorama. We all got there a couple hours early to eat and walk around the park and were suprised to see that lots of other people had the same idea. That certainly didn’t ever happen at the Dome.

Outside Fenway on the left and outside Target Field on the right.

Concourses of Fenway (left) and Target Field (right).

Models of Fenway (lego; left) and Target Field (right).

Stairs to upper levels in Fenway and escalator in Target Field.

Wally the Green Monster and TC the Bear.

Manual scoreboard in Fenway and huge scoreboard in Target Field.

You can’t go wrong watching a game at either place. We were lucky enough to have perfect weather for both games, our home teams won each time, and we got to enjoy watchin them with our families. We couldn’t have asked for a couple more perfect evenings.

Rhett got a little fishing pole for his birthday because he’s wanted one for a while. Because of that, now Ryan, Devon and Cody (Rhett’s uncle on Aubrey’s side) have also gotten fishing poles so they can go fishing with him. They really didn’t need much of an excuse. Anyway, the boys have gone fishing a couple times this weekend. The first trip was to a reservoir near Ryan and Aubrey’s house. It was probably the most manmade looking reservoir I’ve ever seen. The whole thing was a cement pit with sloped sides. It is supposedly stocked with trout every week but no one had much luck catching anything.

We were planning on camping there with Ryan and Aubrey’s family until Devon discovered that the cement covered by water is actually pretty slippery and steep. I’d say he fell in, but a more accurate description would be that he slid in, since he never actually fell and really just stepped into a slippery spot where it was impossible to get back up. Still, we all watched him go down in slow motion until we realized he couldn’t stop and then I ran down to the edge of the water like a crazy woman to help him up because in my mind he was going straight for the bottom and wouldn’t ever return. We certainly weren’t boy scout campers because we were not prepared for an event of that sort and went back home because we didn’t have extra dry clothes for Devon.

Today the boys went fishing again (Devon found it fitting to wear his Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food t-shirt today) at a little pond near our house. Cody caught a couple fish and let Rhett reel one in which made his day. He was a little bit energetic with it on the hook and the poor fish probably has a headache from being whacked into some rocks a couple times but is was alive enough to swim away at least.

It’s baseball season again, and time for more Bees games. We went to a game last night with some friends from Neumont on the perfect summer night – about 60 degrees with a sharp breeze and intermittent rain. Yeah, so maybe it wasn’t the best of conditions, but we already had the tickets and fortunately we have a tough group of friends. Luckily we got a cozy(ish) spot under the upper deck and stayed dry, and $1 hot dogs helped keep us warm.

Rhett really liked watching the video of the robot pushing the cans around, so we brought the actual robot over to Ryan and Aubrey’s today to show him it in real life. Devon programmed it to just drive around and turn if it saw something within a foot or so in front of it, so Rhett was entertained for a good half and hour following it around and putting his hand in front of the sensors to make it turn for him. He was pretty sad to see it go, and afterward this is what he told Ryan:

I personally like that he not only wanted a robot, but wanted a black computer like Devon’s to control it. The kid’s pretty smart.

How do you celebrate the Twins home opener (against the Red Sox, no less. The one time in the season when Devon and I can agree what baseball game to watch.) when you live in Utah?

You grill hot dogs.

You eat ballpark food.

You log in to the game on your computer, plug it into the TV and enjoy.

Have you ever played fantasy baseball before and been burned by a slumping player that ruined your stats for the week? Or do you not follow baseball and couldn’t tell A-Rod from K-Rod? Join us in Ryan’s reverse fantasy baseball league! Ryan has changed the scoring so that bad stats are good and good stats are bad. You actually search out players that you hope will strike out, make errors and get caught stealing. If you see an emergency call-up pitcher from Triple A going against the Yankees at home, you pick him up! If you want to join the league and test your skills at picking the worst players in baseball, just let us know before Friday and we’ll have Ryan send you an invitation.

For those who couldn’t make it to free cone day the other week, try going here. It’s a one day offer, though.

It’s Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day today! If you are lucky enough to live near a Ben and Jerry’s scoop shop, head over between 12 and 8 PM and get a free cone. Awesome, huh? It’s like a holiday! 

 PS – Thank you Ben, for reminding that it was today. No thank you, Marla, (she-who-works-at-the-main-Ben-and-Jerry’s-factory) for trying to keep it a secret.

These little yellow mangos are one of my new favorite fruits. They are sold under several different names, such as champagne mangos or honey mangos, and they only seem to be around during the spring and fall. I first noticed them right after we moved here, but it could be that I had overlooked them in Minnesota since they’re no more native here than they would be there.  They are slightly smaller than regular mangos and a deep yellow color when ripe. They are sweeter than regular mangos and less stringy. In fact, I think they’ve ruined me for regular mangos now. The big ones just seem bland in comparison. I saw them for the first time this year when I was grocery shopping on Saturday and bought six. I’ve already eaten three by myself. Devon loves them, too, but I think the idea of chopping one up deters him. I should be a nicer wife and chop one up for him, but I’m also a little selfish and they really are delicious.

For people that have always wanted to try mango but aren’t sure how to cut it up, here’s a nice tutorial on how to do it. The sides of the ataulfo mangos are a little smaller than the regular mango they show, but the rest is the same.