Hobbies of The Old and The Worn-Out (previously posted on Aug 2008)

This was my first experience going backpacking. My boys/men are planning a trip soon, so I referred back to this post to remember what to pack for them. Seeing this post makes me all excited and makes me want to do it again....


Sean's wife dropped us off, wished us luck, and drove away. It was sooo cold and windy, and I didn't know whether to pray, cry, or run after her. I put on every piece of clothing I had in my pack. Still cold, but doable.

We are just off I-15, Near MM 40, Taylor Creek Trailhead.

This was the cool river we came to about 4 miles in. (La Verkin Creek)

We crossed the river several times.

Kolob Arch. It was 7.5 miles from the road (a half mile one-way off the trail.) I'm sure glad we left our backpacks behind a rock. There was "scrambling" involved getting here.

Mile 8. Our designated camp spot 1st night. It was only about 3 p.m. so we decided to go on. Behind Koby is the stream we will cross like 27 times in the next few hours and the mountain we crossed to get to this point.

Mile 10ish. Hop Valley. The easiest part of the hike.

Approx. mile 11. Hop Valley Trail. Over his left shoulder is where we have just been...way back there. We are almost to Kolob. Fifteen miles on day 1.

Camp spot night 1. We didn't mean to go all the way to the Trail Head in one day, but there was no place to put up a tent in the last 5 miles. This TH happened to have a "perma- potty", an outhouse made of bricks, and HAND SANITIZER! Our socks are hanging to dry cause: a. we crossed the river so many times. b. Koby's water bladder's lid wasn't on tight and leaked all over inside his backpack. Steve and Charlie joined us on day 2. West Rim Trailhead. This is on Kolob near Lava Point Lookout.

Mile 17 day 2.

The views were amazing! A close-up of what you can only imagine from Lava Point Lookout.

Camp spot 2nd night. Mile 22. The wind is blowing so hard up the canyons, it almost holds us up. Twenty feet away from the edge, though, and the wind was hardly blowing. It blew hard all night-sounded cool. The bottom of the canyon is 1700 feet down from here. West Rim Trail. Day 3- mile 23.I think the peaks in the distance are called "Castle Dome". Jared and Charlie, Day 3, mile 23ish. This is the only water for miles and we filled up every bottle. The water was nice and cold and felt good in the water bladders in our backpacks next to our backs.

Filtering water was a four-man job: 1 holds the filtering straw in the stream, 1 pumps the water, 1 holds the bladder, while 1 fills it up.

Mile 26. The brown trail marker was the only way to follow the trail on this ledge, otherwise hikers might go over the edge looking for it. (just above Angel's Landing)

We are almost to Angel's Landing. (Zion Nat. Park). We can see the finish line. This is about 26.5 miles and 50 hours into our hike. We have 2.5 miles to go. Hence, the smiles.

Mile 28ish. Angels Landing Trail. I was glad we were coming down this trail, instead of going up. Two miles of constant downhill to the "Grotto" (where we finished.) (Some of the people going up that hill didn't even have water bottles. ???)

My 10 tips: 1.Take way more band-aids than you think you'll need-you'll use them (blisters.) 2.Take a clean set of underwear for each day, wet wipes, and deodorant-takes up minimal space and the next best thing to a shower. 3.Two pr. of clean socks for each day. (In case you need to borrow some to your son who's socks are wet.) 4.Pack sandwiches in Gladware-they don't get smashed. 5.Chewing gum kept my mouth from getting dry. 6.Lots of Exedrine. Easier than carrying Pepsi's and your brother-in-law may develop a serious case of tendonitis in both knees by mile 20. 7.Extra padding for the straps of your 27 lb. backpack. Your shoulders will be bruised by mile 3. 8.Sunscreen and hat. 9.Invite me. 10.Enjoy!

All-star coach?

Hahahaha!

The league "voted" on the all-star coach.
Yeah, I know, right?

My assistant coach coached in this league 2 years ago, and back then, whoever coached the winning team got to automatically coach the all-stars.

I have been told that this is the same as the boys. First place coach gets to coach all-stars.

I have no idea how the all-star coach was picked last year, because I think the assistant coach of the winning team coached the girls. Some of the other coaches were coaching the younger girls' all-star team. They may have voted, or they may have just picked whoever could do it.

I went to the "all-star draft". It was held at a pizza parlor. That was weird for me. I was glad my assistant had been invited, or I would have had no friends (allies) there. He was invited also because he was the coach of an older team, which he would then be the allstar coach, since there were only two coaches, and they would both do it.

We each put names up to vote and I could tell by the end of the night which two coaches were not going to vote for my daughter to be on the team. One coach was not going to vote for her, because he was being loyal to his own player (who is decent, but NOT all-star material), and the other coach was not going to vote for her, because he was mad at her for telling his daughter about the cheated win, and he was mad at me for everything else.

(Apparently, the girls on the team had no idea that their coach cheated and lied to win that game. We thought for sure that the girls knew. We found out when Kinzie mentioned the game to the daughter of the coach that cheated us. The girl went home and told her dad Kinzie said he cheated. The cheating coach and his wife were furious and felt like it was a "bullying situation" and the President of our girls little league calls me up to have Kinzie apologize to the girl. And to tell me that stuff like this needs to stay on the field and stay between the coaches.
He cheated my 12 girls and their families out of a fair game, and he thinks it needs to stay between coaches.
Yeah, bullying situations at the intermediate school are now being handled by the little league! not the school principal!
I was furious at this phone call. The guy on the phone was a class-mate of mine. I used to respect him a ton! I yelled at him for calling me. I asked him if he had called Jerico and talked to him about swearing in front of little girls at  that one game. He hadn't. He asked me if I thought he needed to. He asked me if I had been offended by the other coach swearing and taking God's name in vain. I told him "heck yeah, and so were my players and their parents that heard him swearing.")

So, of course Kinzie didn't get those two votes for sure.

Then, "the powers" told us to vote for a coach to be the all-star coach.....

Of the 4 coaches and 4 assistant coaches, only 2 coaches and 1 assistant were available to coach the all-stars: one was me, one was the assistant that coached it last year, and the other was the coach that took 3rd place. The cheater coach could only help during the week.

There could be no announcement until June 15, so on that day we found out what I ALREADY KNEW!
Kinzie didn't get voted on and should have been and I didn't get voted on the team either.......SHOCKER!!!

So, 3rd place coach it is!

I have no idea who his assistant is.

BTW, the 3rd place coach is the one that coached Kinzie last year. the one that taught her NOTHING.
I showed him at the 3rd game last year where it says in the rule book that they can steal 1st base on a dropped third strike. He wouldn't even have them steal 2nd on a passed ball.

Put up or shut up, so I signed up to coach.

I was sitting at the registration table when 4 of his returning players came in to sign up. When they found out he was going to still be their coach, they rolled their eyes in disappointment. Another girl did not sign up altogether when she found out he was still her coach.

This is the same coach that several of us tried to get kicked out of the job, cause he was so lame about it and wouldn't teach them anything. The same coach that told me to expect a losing season since I am the new team. The same coach that had his 3rd practice of the season on the night of their first game. My team had had 8 pre-season practices.


So, my summer just freed up! It is such a relief! Kinzie really wanted to be on the team; if she was, I really wanted to coach her. But, now that we're not, WHEW!!!


Big Sigh Of Relief! Little League stresses me out! It always has!

Happy Father's Day Off Day......NOT!

Now get in here and help me battle these wars and rumors of wars!

TSUNAMI !!!!!!!!

Closing Ceremonies for our Little League was tonight.

WE WON 1st PLACE!!!!!

We beat the 2nd place team by 2 games.

Can't sleep

Oh. my. gosh.

What a game.

I didn't tell you about last night's game, cause it mostly just turned out the way it was supposed to.
We won. We played the pink team.

We played the pink team again tonight.

Tonight, sigh, sigh, sigh,

No, it was not an easy game at all. HOLY COW!!!!!

The game ahead of ours was the Maroon team vs the Black team. The black team's coach is the one who cheated our team out of a fair game last week.
They went down to the wire. Each team was pitching girls who have never pitched before. They were walking runs in left and right. It came down to the last inning and the Maroon team got their last at bats and WON the game! Oh, my team was thrilled about this. They went over their time by 20 minutes!

That means that if we win tonight that we are tied for 1st with the black team again.

As their team was clearing out the dugout, my starting pitcher showed up to the game. She had a choir concert and was going to miss the first inning, but since their game went long, she didn't have to miss.

We batted first. We got the 5 runs we were allowed, one of my best hitters struck out for the 3rd time in two games (to the same pitcher), then we traded sides. Their team had 3 runs and 2 outs when a girl hit a pop fly to my pitcher, the one who had just struck out again. She missed the ball and it spun out of her hand as she tried to pick it up. She touched it just as it was about to spin FOUL. The next girl walked and the girl after her struck out. But, when our catcher dropped the 3rd strike, then overthrew 1st base. they scored 6 that inning. Dang it.

Okay, we should be able to make that up.

OUR NEXT TURN AT- BAT WAS TORTUROUS!!!

My first batter up, walked. Good, but I didn't dare have her steal against this catcher.
My next batter, who is not very consistent at hitting the ball, HIT THE STINKIN' BALL!!!
Yeah, that would be good except she hit it to the 2nd baseman and my runner on 1st ran straight to 2nd base in the baseline and got called out for interference for not going behind the baseman fielding the ball. WHO EVEN KNOWS THAT RULE GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE THAT CALL?

 Oh, yeah, my brother does, and he was the base ump for my GAME!!! And, the runner he had to call out was HIS 9 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! (league age) That's right, his daughter. Nobody else would have made that call. We usually get swimmers for our base umps. UGH

My next youngster up to bat got to walk with a full count. then she stole 2nd with my other runner on 3rd. But, that youngster got off her base to practice her lead-off after the pitcher had the ball in the circle. UGH, THAT UMPIRE GOT US AGAIN!! Two outs in the same inning by rules most of our base umps have not even heard of. Then, my BEST batter STRUCK OUT!!!
Oh, man....
My little girls had to come ask me why they were out, they had no idea.
I have explained the pitching circle rule to them every game, every practice, and 5 times before today's 2nd inning. But, they just don't get it.

The score was 5-6 they were ahead and up to bat.
The 1st batter walked with a full count. Dang it.
The 2nd batter up hit a pop fly to my "non-draftable" 1st baseman, and she caught it! Then she stood there trying to decide what to do. She was going to throw it to 2nd to get the girl out for not tagging. We finally, after 5 seconds of yelling at her, convinced her to touch her base! a double play! YAY.

Pay attention:

Their next batter, walked with a full count. Dang it.
The very next pitch, her coach sent her to steal 2nd. My catcher gunned it down there and got her OUT!!!
AGAIN!!!
hahahahaha.
She was their 1st girl up to bat against us. It was like de ja vu. She walked the first time, then tried to steal 2nd and we gunned her out then, too. Same play, same girl, out twice!!! hahaha

Still 5-6 with my "big guns" up to bat. We'll show them who's boss....

My batter was mad mad. The pitcher had managed to pitch a strike past her 4 times already. She wanted to hit really bad.  Full count, again, and she nailed that ball. It bounced in the chalk right in front of 3rd, bounced over 3rd, then out to the outfield. She got a home run!!!!!

This should be easy to get ahead, I thought.....

Kinzie was up to bat. She almost always hits this pitcher. She always waits till she has 2 strikes on her before she makes her move to my dismay and heartattackedness. She hit it hard to 2nd base and the girl managed to get her glove on it to stop it, then have enough time to pick it up and get the out. dang it.

My next one, can hit the dickens out of the ball, but doesn't seem to in a game situation. She hit a pop fly to shortstop.
My next batter struck out.
Oh           My                 Gosh...!


We blew it! Oh, did we ever.
The sinking feeling was happening.

6-6 Their big guns up to bat.
Now, my catcher was pitching. I told her to walk #4. I told her to hit her with the ball if she had to, but walk her no matter what.
She walked the first and second batters, then pitched the fattest pitch in the world (that means a stike right down the middle) and #4 hit a triple over center fielder's head and got 2 rbi's. That means she hit 2 people in.

At this point, I knew that we had no shot at this game and the sickening, nervous feeling in my stomach went away. There was no chance for us left. I really can't help my team out when they don't do what I tell them to. Such as walk someone...

Kinzie caught a pop fly at 3rd base, my shortstop turned catcher, threw one out at 1st, but overthrew 2 others, so they scored 5 runs that inning.

11-6
So, here we go.

Bottom half of our lineup. (that means that we have our not-so-good hitters coming up to bat.

Their pitcher is "on".
Let's get this over with!

Ugh. I can't even watch.....

We walked, then the pitcher couldn't handle a grounder, then a walk, and a walk, then a full count strike out, dang it.

Pay attention:

Then with the bases loaded, my best batter who I have bat first position, hit 3 foul balls and had a full count on her when she HIT ONE THROUGH THE INFIELD to right field and got a HOME RUN!!!!!!!!!

TO TIE THE GAME!!!

This is not happening!...!

Then one of my home run hitters hit a foul pop fly and after it bounced in the 3rd baseman's glove 5 times, managed to catch it.
2 outs.

Kinzie's turn at bat: she, of course takes a strike, then creams one down first base line and gets a TRIPLE!!!!!
My next batter blasts the ball up the middle and gets a HOME RUN!!!!!

My next batter walks then steals 2nd.
My next batter walks, but as the runner on 2nd is still standing there with her lead as the pitcher gets the ball back in the circle, MR UMPIRE calls her out for not going immediately back to her base!! Dang it!

11-13

I showed my pitcher that they had their 3 worst batters up to bat. She agreed that she just needed to pitch strikes. By golly, she did that. She struck the first 2 batters out.
Then a full count walk. Dang it.

The girl on first base is the girl we have thrown out at 2nd base twice in this game.
 Is she gonna steal???
DOUBT IT!!! hahahahahahahahah


Strike 1, strike 2,

hold your breathe.....strike 3!!!!!

catcher dropped it!!!!! Dang it!!!!!

The throw down to 1st base......

.hold your breath.......

Kinzie reaches out and

CATCHES THE THROW FOR THE 3RD OUT !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE WON!!!!!!!


Now try to sleep .......................

I found out a little more about my game and my score keeper

The woman that told me she would keep score had been passing the score book around to her daughter to take a turn and then to her husband! One of my girls' parents saw them and thought, "Oh, boy, that is not good."
I can tell now that the grandpa was not even paying attention to the game. There were 2 passed balls on the last batter that were not marked in the book.
One of them was the one where my player was taunting the catcher, and the other one was where my runner crossed home plate, standing up, with no one trying to get her out. (The score that he missed altogether!)
I have not heard anything from the league about any repercussions of Jerico's unsportsmanlike conduct, but I sure wish I had stepped up and complained to the ump about his language at the time.

Kinzie asked Jerico's daughter at school how she felt about beating us. His daughter asked her why she would even ask that question. Kinzie asked her if she knew that they had won the game because her dad had cheated us. His daughter had NO IDEA her dad had cheated us.

Desperate People Do Rotten Things

We were ahead 12-6 after 3 innings.
You are only allowed to score 5 runs each inning until the last inning, then  you are allowed to score unlimited runs.

The black team scored 6 runs to tie it at 12.
We were home team and did not score in the last inning, so we had to go an extra inning.

OR NOT!!!

The other coach said to the umpire after the 3rd out, "So, it stands, then?"
I wondered what that meant... brushed it aside and got ready to start the next inning.

The umpire informed me that the game was over.

I asked him what he meant, the score was tied, do we end in a tie?

He told me that the score was 11-12. My mind soared. I knew that meant we were 11 since we had just gotten our last at bats. I panicked.
I told him no it was not 11-12. He said that is what my scorekeeper had down.
My scorekeeper was the "official" score of the game.
I knew there was nothing I could do.

I keep a score sheet in my hand during the game and keep the score for myself, so I know how many runs we have left to score in an inning and how many outs we have, etc.
I had checked with the scorekeeper at the end of each inning to make sure she didn't score the black team's run that came across on the 3rd forced out.

During the 3rd inning, the scorekeeper passed the book on to her husband and walked away.
He was doing a fine job, but missed a girl scoring on a passed ball. There was nothing going on except for this girl crossing the plate. There was not even a play at the plate, and the girl scored and didn't even slide. The next two batters got out, and it didn't even don on me to check on the score.
I usually have Lennette keep the book for me and she gets so much detail on the book that I can almost tell what color of underwear the girl is wearing. but, Lennette was across town at Jessie's game.

I grabbed the book and checked the score to mine, and pleaded with the umpire to believe me. I knew he did believe me. He said there was nothing he could do, and I knew he was right.

I told the umpire that I already knew how Jerico, the other coach, would react if i asked him to be fair. He acted EXACTLY how I figured he would:

I said," You're not really going to go with this, are you?"
He said, "Absolutely, I am!"
I pointed to the score sheet in his hand that I know he keeps during the game, and reminded him,"I know you've got this score on your sheet..." pointing to the one on my paper.
He pulled his score sheet away from my view and said, "No I don't, that's the official book!"
I threw in his face that, "You've been complaining about ME the whole year...and you're going to do this?"
As he cuts me off and says, "you're darn right I have." about complaining about me.
(He is the coach that called me and my assistant "bush leaguers" for sending a walked girl to 2nd base on a passed ball.    Like every other league does at every level.)

I haven't posted about the last time we played them, we lost. So both of our teams were tied for 1st place.

It made sense to me, now. When Jerico asked the umpire if the score stands as written in the "official' score book. He knew the score keeper had missed that run.
You don't say, "does it stand" if the score is tied. So, he knew he was cheating to take the win. There were at least 5 of his players standing around him while all this was taking place, so now they know they cheated to win this game.
I can't help but wonder how the girls feel about their cheated win. I'm not sure I would be proud of my win and the trophy knowing I had cheated to get it.

On the flip side, my girls are DEVASTATED!

I had to walk back to them and tell them we had lost the game, because of a score keeper's error. They don't understand, and I can't expect them to. My one girl is so upset at her grandpa for losing our game that she won't even talk to him, now.

I was so in shock that I didn't go slap hands. I was too busy paying attention to the fact that the cheater coach did not go slap hands either. (Remember, I got talked to by the LL Board for not doing it on the first game when I didn't realize I was supposed to until too late?)

The umpire came off the field with me to talk to me, and I pointed out a few things to him: Jericho had not slapped hands (which the ump was flabbergasted to hear), and the little rant Jerico had had at a "ball" call. Jerico also got on my case when my base runner on 3rd was challenging his catcher to throw the ball at her.

That one went something like this: "Danette, are we going to do this all NIGHT?!"
I pointed out that this was the FIRST time this had happened (3rd inning) this game, and I had NOT even told the girl to do it...                HA TOUCHE!

The little rant went something like this: umpire called it a "ball".
J. then starts yelling at the ump that he "needs to give us the strikes!!!
Then J. turns around, tucks in his garments, and for the full length of the dugout starts praying to the Gods....
HA HA NOT!
But they were both in his conversation that I clearly heard from my base coaching box.
Gosh Darn it! Jeepers Creepers! and that is NOT what he said!!!

There were 3 little girls sitting in the dugout that DID NOT NEED TO HEAR THAT!!!
and that was all because of a BALL. It was not even an out call, or a missed run call. It was over a "BALL" call.......

Hubby is still convinced that J. hates me, because I am a woman and I beat him the first game.

If the shoe fits.....    

  He has NO other reason to be so mad at me all the time. Other than I teach my girls how to steal the bases against his daughter, the catcher.

I had what felt like a Bishop's interview with the LL Softball president whom I had gone to school with. I told him everything from my point of view. He listened to me like he was a bishop or something. He is so mellow and nice that I don't think he will do much about J.
J. will get a talking to though. The umpire had also talked to the softball pres.
That was until a girl warming up for the next game got hit in the mouth with a ball and got 3 of her top front teeth knocked backwards.

Highlights from my game!!!!:
Kinzie, the little stinker, was playing 3rd base. The pop fly went over the short stop's head. She ran over to the short stop's position and caught that pop fly! Then she threw the ball to first base for a double play, but the first baseman jumped to catch it and didn't need to jump, so she missed it.

My brand new girl, whose dad played pro ball, was playing 2nd base. A pop fly came to her and she CAUGHT IT!!! I was so excited for her! Last game, she even hit the ball and got on base for the first time in 9 games.

The girl, who Jerico announced during "the drafts" was undraftable, picked up a grounder at 1st base to get a girl out. Then had some crucial catches at 1st base. Ha, in your face, Jerico! This girl DOES have potential!  I love it so much every time this girl has proven him WRONG!

Okee dokee, that about does it for tonight.

I am soooo glad I am not the one who cheated to win that game! I would have a hard time with that one. I would have an even harder time wondering what my softball girls think of me teaching them that it is okay.

I blog these things hoping I can get to sleep easier. Not sure it's gonna work this time.

Got a doosey of a softball story coming

stay tuned. I gotta write it after i put a 2 yr old to bed

Taking Advantage of the Rule Book?!

All the other coaches (men) in my girls fast pitch softball league have had freak-outs at the ball games but me.
The most mellow coach of all had a freak-out session on the young base ump at my last game. They were down by 12 points, with 2 outs, no real chance of coming back, and the ump made a call of the girl leaving early. The coach just lost it. He had had a very emotional day sending his son on the plane on a mission.... (long story)

The head umpire who is my friend, told me he's had nothing but problems with the coaches in my particular league. I reminded him that I have not freaked out yet, so how is he having problems with me?
He told me that more than one person has complained to him about me using tactics that are not necessarily okay to be doing at this level.....

Did you hear me??!!!!!       AT THIS LEVEL!!!   SINCE THEY ARE GIRLS!!!  

He said they are complaining that I am taking advantage of the rule book!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA
Should I be laughing? I don't know, he wouldn't discuss it with me.

O M Gosh!

They say I am using the rules to my advantage, and there is no rule against what I am teaching these girls!!!

For example, their catcher can peg the center fielder in the forehead with the ball if she wanted to. Am I gonna steal third with her catching? Probably very cautiously.

So, instead, I tell the girls to get a good lead off of 2nd base, and as soon as the catcher throws the ball to the pitcher, THEN steal 3rd. (a runner must immediately go back to the base or go to the next base as soon as the pitcher has the ball inside the pitcher's circle)

So far,(twice) it has been easy. Apparently, it is above the level of play for 11-12 year old girls. If they were boys, not a chance.   (I just realized that one of the complainers was the one ump I was telling you about the other day.)

The head umpire says he thinks it's kind of funny that they are complaining that I am using the rules that I know pretty well that were made for a reason to my advantage.

This whole subject just tickles Hubby's funny bone. He keeps saying that I got these other men coaches running scared!

I am not trying to cheat anybody here. I just want to give these girls every opportunity to learn tactics that other coaches (say like at all-stars) will be using against them so our league does not look so stupid when we face them. For reals, do they think these girls can't learn to play?

What I am teaching these girls about base running is EXACTLY what I used to do when I played Little League baseball when I was 12.

AND IT MADE IT FUN!!!!!  Isn't this all about having fun?

I still have not heard of any parents of my girls complaining about me. They all get to play infield, they all get to sit out, and they never bat last every time. Can't say that about ANY OTHER coach in my league.

I cannot take credit for our wins, however, I got lucky to have 2 pitchers who do a good job. Without them, winning is not possible.

"To Steal Or Not To Steal?"

That is the question.

College graduation!!!!!!

for Hubby and for Kyson!!!

Remember this post?


TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012
C'est La Vie
This time Hubby is the star of my blog.
Two years ago, he realized that he needs an Associates Degree to apply to certain jobs that he wanted to try for, which included substitute teacher (or so they told him).
He went to school for that semester (nothing else to do), and finished up the requirements (like 3 credits) he hadn't finished 22 years ago. However, the rules had changed and now he had to take 10 credits to finish up. So he finished those credits for the degree.
Then, work picked up for him and he didn't need the Degree any more, so he didn't apply for it.
Now, he is out of work again. With promises of work coming up (that didn't pan out),  he didn't register for classes this semester. So, he went to the college to square up his Degree.
The local college has changed the rules again. He no longer qualifies for the Degree. Now he is short 7 credits to get it. If he had applied for it when he earned it, he would have it.
I told him I think God is trying to tell him to stay in school and GET IT FINISHED, and to get the heck out of the concrete (beat the crap out of your body till you can no longer move if you are ever able to retire) business.
C'est La Vie

Welllll.....


I wrote a little letter:


Hi, My name is "Hubby". I was born and raised and have lived my whole life in "this area". I attended "the local college" 20 or so years ago.  I was a few credits short of having enough for an Associates Degree when I left to pursue money making opportunities.

When the economy took a dive a few years ago, I could not find work in my field of concrete contracting any longer. I found that most places I wanted to apply for a job required an Associates Degree. I returned to "the local college" in the Winter/Spring of 2010 to finish up my Associates Degree. As soon as I completed the requirements, work picked up, and I went back to work to provide for my family. Applying for the Degree just slipped my mind as it was no longer at the top of my priority list.

I have been out of work for over a month with no real prospects of finding any soon. As I approached the college about my Associates Degree, I was informed of the new requirements for graduation. I am now 7 credits short of achieving this goal. I would really like to be grandfathered in for an Associates Degree since I finished the requirements in 2010, but I just failed to apply for it then.

I have 7 kids living at home from the ages of 17-2.  I need to find work ASAP to provide for them. I need my Associates Degree to apply for certain jobs I want to try for. I don't have time to wait for the Fall Semester to take more classes to finish up the new requirements that took effect less than a year ago. I would really like to get my Degree and graduate with my 17 year old son. (He is in Success Academy and will get his Assoc. Degree this Spring.)

I don't know who to turn to to plead my case. I am hoping that this letter will find the right authority for consideration.

Thank you so much for your time.
"My Hubby's Name".

Annnd...

they are giving him his Associate's Degree!!!!!!!!


In a few hours, Hubby AND Kyson will get to walk through the "D" together!

YAY           and alphabetically, Hubby will get his before Kyson!!!  whew.

Kyson just turned 18 and has been doing an early college high school for 3 years.
Basically, a LOT of hard work and sacrifice for a nearly free Associate's Degree 2 years early!

Pretty sure I'm gonna cry.

Oh, for CUTE!

Abigail

Kyla and Abigail

 Abigail already has casts on her legs.

Brain Farts. Brain Attacks: a stoppage in the brain.

I met someone I already knew last night.
The Activity Days mother daughter dinner was a success.
"Does everyone already know each other?"
I spoke up and said that I did not know one mother, and she spoke up and said, "you're joking, right?"
Then she realized I didn't recognize her and she said, "you're serious?"
Hahahaha
Then I realized who she was after I heard her voice and saw her personality. I used to work with her at sky west.
Hahaha That is the weirdest feeling to have that mind fart happen.
It happened a couple of months ago to me, too. I asked a girl what her maiden name was to see if I knew some of her family.
She always acted like we were friends, and I wanted to know how she might know me.
She told me her maiden name like I was an idiot for not knowing it.
Hahaha. I am an idiot!
Ha. She used to play softball on my team with her sister!
That almost blew me away. She used to be a tomboy, have straggly hair, and dress and act like she didn't care!
This new woman is even a mormon!
She joined the church after our softball team dissolved, she has a cute hairstyle, makeup, and a happy persona.
That was a weird feeling brain fart!
Last night's was, too.
The lady I re met last night had changed her hair color and had gained 50 lbs. I had no idea who she was by looking at her. And I had no idea she even lived by me; nor would I have ever guessed I had her daughter in my Act Days. Not in a million years.

I found a Kauri's funnies.

She found the dishwasher looking like this and said the bowls are

"braided."

Two years ago this month. Age almost 5.

People are clueless,

and I get that. I do.
But, my assistant coach , no less??!!!

I spend usually 3 hours working up a lineup for my team.
I try to make sure the same person is not sitting the first inning every game, or batting last every game, not playing outfield the whole game, etc.

I worked and reworked this lineup to finally get it to my standard of fairness for the girls.

I showed up at the game, and my assistant coach (who, mind you, coaches another team right now and has coached several teams throughout the years) informs me that his daughter got hurt by a dog the day before, doesn't feel good, so she won't be playing in the game.
What?!
He knew this for how long, and waits till I get there to tell me? RUDE!!!

I frantically sit down on the grass while my team warms up and rewrite my whole lineup and positions.

As I get it done, the girls tell me two more players are not here yet with 10 minutes before the game.

Cross that one out and start over! Then one girl shows up and I only have to rewrite the lineup minus that 1.

The game started before I had it finished. I had to finish it while my team played. I didn't even get to watch them.

At the end of the inning, one mother came over and told me that the one girl that wasn't here would not be coming; she had forgotten to tell me. U G H!

We won the game with not too much drama. Some funny things were that some of my new girls would run all the way home from 3rd base, get scared or confused and run all the way back to 3rd base.

I did discover that the girl that tagged my girl so hard a week ago that she pushed her off the base, did so on purpose. Pushed her off the base, I mean.
She did it again last night. My girl was standing solidly on the base, and the girl shoved her off with the ball in her mitt. Luckily, the umpire saw it and was ready for it, cause he yelled, "No, you can't push her off the base." ( I had talked to my friend, the head umpire, about it the last time it had happened.) So, yeah, I will be ready for her antics next game.

Kinzie hit a hard grounder to 3rd base that the girl couldn't field, so Kinzie felt good about her game.

It makes a WORLD of difference when two of your less tough players don't play! My big guns didn't have to take a turn sitting out and they were able to play short stop for one inning each. They usually take turns catching and sitting, and don't get to play short stop. And, we get our big hitters up to bat more often.

Yeah, for GP! she is my "undraftable" cause no one would pick her. She played 1st and made several outs for us. She picked up several grounders and touched her base like a pro! THEN, she hit the ball down 3rd base line and got an RBI!

One of my girls that never hits the ball, hit it hard up the middle for a double.

My teeny tiny niece finally unleashed her bat during a game on her 3rd time up to bat. I think it was because her dad could finally make it to a game and had just shown up.
She swung at all strikes and missed all 3, but when the catcher didn't catch the 3rd strike, she ran to 1st base and got there SAFELY and got an RBI in the process.

Vegas trip

Can I be rotten for a minute?

We were hoping to not to run into Christopher's mom in the hospital. But, we did.
I was only hoping for one thing... to be smaller than her. Dumb, huh?

Well, I was smaller. She has at least 40 pounds on me. She greeted Hubby like they were best friends. He didn't want to see her, because he doesn't like being reminded about that part of his life.
Her sister, that Hubby refers to as a little crazy, hugged him, THEN SHE HUGGED ME! I have never met her before. I didn't even know who she was. The only thing I know of her personally is that I remember being in high school and she came up to me and threatened to beat me up concerning a girl that was on my basketball team.???? So, apparently, her name is no longer Lynn, and Hubby shouldn't call her that. She had it legally changed. Hahaha. sounds crazy to me...

Christopher's step dad was at the hospital, also. Greeted Hubby like they were good friends......NOT.
Hubby was happy to see that the guy weighs 60 or so pounds heavier than him. He was also wearing a WIFE BEATER TO THE HOSPITAL to see NEW babies!!!
Slob!
At least put on some sleeves.
Yuck!
No one wants you holding their brand new baby in your hairy armpit!

Okay, I feel better now.

It's a strange world. Chris's wife's family are mormons. Chris's dad's family are mormons. Chris's mom's family are Vegasian's through and through.

Scouts is up and running

in my new ward apparently.
We have been in this ward for almost 9 months, and they have a court of honor every 3 months!
Yeah, me, the scouter woman, JUST FOUND THAT OUT!!!

They also have a board of review every 3rd Sunday after church. NONE OF MY BOYS KNEW THAT!
I asked several other parents and boys if they knew about it, and none of them did either.
They think they are doing such a wonderful job. How do you do your job if the people you are serving don't know anything about what you are offering???!!!!!!!

So, apparently, my boys didn't get awarded all their merit badges  and awards that they had earned in the previous ward, so they were going to get them tonight at the court of honor.

Oh, yeah, by the way, we are having a court of honor tonight... We found this out at 12:30 pm.
The same parents I quizzed about the other info knew nothing about the court of honor tonight as well.

AND, by the way..... I WAS THE ONE IN CHARGE OF GETTING THEM THEIR AWARDS IN THE PREVIOUS WARD, SO I AM PRETTY DANG SURE THEY RECEIVED ALL THEIR AWARDS!

Ugh, our previous ward was envied by other wards for running such a good scout program, and now the ward that was known to not have enough adult leaders' or parents' support that they couldn't even go on scout camp outs was telling me that I had somehow not done my job. Oh, the things I could say right here... besides the fact that we have been in your ward for 9 months and you have failed to inform even the scoutiest of scout families about these meetings that were taking place.

The scoutmaster had come up to us a week ago asking for ideas. He said some parents were thinking he wasn't doing his job right, since their boys were not advancing. They thought that by sending them to scouts, it was all magically getting done, kind of like cub scouts. They have no idea that boy scouts requires so much parental involvement. And, to top it off, the parents are not even being informed.

I felt all powerful by boycotting their court of honor. We didn't have a choice. We had other plans. :)

I'm not ready to grow up!

It is his last high school formal.
I didn't even get to see him all dressed up before his date.

We were playing soccer all day, then I had practice for my softball team.

It was pretty fun. Some of the girls wanted to try hitting off the pitching machine at its fastest speed. That was 61 mph. Some of them were crankin' them out there. ( That means hitting them well for my 3 readers who don't know.)
Then I taught them how to properly execute a pickle situation.
Oh, boy, don't tell the umpire. He would have a fit about that one! haha
(in order for that last statement to make sense, you have to read my last post.)

So, Kyson had a full day. He reffed soccer for $10 hour from 8-12, then he went on  his day date from 12-3. Then, he reffed more soccer 3-5. then home to get ready for pictures by 5:30.

I'm not ready for my family to start splitting up, but God gave Kyson an attitude and a temper to help ME  let him go.   :)

I can't SLEEP!!!

I am too excited and HAPPY!

We had the most unbelievably good game tonight.

WE WON!! By 3 points.

24 Hours Earlier.....
The pink team played the maroon team and beat them by 16 points.
We struggled with that maroon team both times. we only beat them by a couple of points.

I knew we were going to lose to the pink team tonight. I just knew it!!
They are 4-1 and so are we. They have creamed all the other teams, and we just barely squeak by them.
I knew we were going to lose.

Tonight...
We were first up to bat. Our league has a safety net that a team can only score 5 runs in one inning. That is unless the play is still going on, then  you count all the runs that scored.

We had scored 4 runs already and we had runners on 2nd and 3rd. The catcher overthrew the ball to pitcher and we scored both runners on that play!
They got up and scored their 5 runs. Then they got us 4-up-3 down two innings in a row.
I knew we would lose, so I wasn't fretting too badly.

They scored a few each inning, so we had our last up-to-bats down 7-10.
We scored 3, then my pitcher and her sister the catcher were amazing.
It was tied at the end of 4 innings. So we had to go an extra inning.
Their pitcher, who is crazy fast and sometimes crazy wild but her catcher is 5' 9'' (and 12 years old) and stops everything walked a lot of my bottom-of-the-line-up batters, and we scored 5 runs the last inning. They were at the top of their line-up, and we held them to 2!!!

They have a batter that hits best with bases loaded. She hit two grand slams the previous night.
We had a signal for tonight, and we intentionally walked her without her knowing it was intentional!!!
Twice.
The one time our pitcher gave her a strike was in the last inning and she hit it to right field. My right fielder was one of my more solid fielders for this inning on purpose! She picked that ball right up and fired it to 1st base.
Fortunately, her throw beat the all-star catcher/batter to the base.
Unfortunately, her throw went over the first baseman's head.
INSTINCTIVELY, I took a couple of steps toward the ball to back up the  play and retrieve the ball. I even stuck out my hand to stop the ball!
Fortunately, my mind clicked back to reality before I touched the ball.

Hubby saw the whole thing, knew exactly what had happened to my brain, and turned around to laugh his head off!!!

Anyway, the play ended up that the catcher got to the ball quickly and fired it to 3rd base to get the girl who was stealing. Kinzie caught the ball, applied the tag, and we were happy.

Two dropped third strikes later, and tag-outs before they knew what hit them, and we were out of that overtime inning with a WIN!!  ( at 10:15 pm no less)

HOLLA!

My highlight of the evening was when Kinzie was up to bat with two strikes on her and 1 runner on base, and she hit that ball down first base line!
I mean, it followed the chalk line right down to 1st base. Then it bounced off the base and kept going.
She got a straight up triple!!! and an RBI!!

(The girl on base hit the ball right up the middle where no one was and had gotten a triple herself.) Kinzie earned her an In n Out burger for that hit.
Then Hunter Alld. gets up, more than 120 lbs lighter than the pitcher, scared to death of her pitches and SWINGS THE BAT at two of them. She struck out, catcher dropped the ball, Hunter ran to first, almost beat the throw, and scored an RBI for taking the attention off Kinzie so she could score! Yippee!

This was the team I kyped Kinzie off of to make my team. So her hitting against them is such sweetness.
Kinzie almost caught a pop fly that was over her head at 3rd base while running away from the infield. It was just barely out of her reach or she would have caught it. She LOVES pop flies.

More highlights include our new cheers that I made up spur of the moment.

We are the Tidal Waves:
 HIT 'EM HARD...tsuuuuuuuuuNAMI!!!  Ha Ha get it? and we all throw our hands from the middle of the circle straight up.

and FLOOD 'EM, TsuuuuuuuuuuNAMI!     (when we were up to bat.)

The Umpire...Hates me!
Hates the fact that I know the rule book better than he does!
Hates that I question him when he knows he's wrong:

He called a strike on one of my little girls for swinging the bat. Picture this: the bat went from her shoulder and stopped somewhere by her back/right knee, sort of like a golf swing. The bat never penetrated the strike zone. She clearly changed her mind about swinging and stopped the bat. But, no, mr. umpire didn't want to hear about it; he yells back at me, "I CALLED IT A SWING!"

Next example: the umpire didn't know that if the pitcher fake throws it at a runner while the pitcher has the ball in the "circle" she is not automatically out.
THEN: he tells me that these girls are only 11! And that he is not going to have an 11 year old catcher throwing out her arm throwing to 3rd base!

Yeah, I didn't completely understand that one either, and I stood there staring at him like he was from Mars.

I think he was referring to another of my games when the catcher kept throwing the ball to 3rd to stop my runners from stealing from 2nd.

Here's my issues with the first half of his comment:
If these were boys, you would never hear anyone complaining that you are teaching them too much too soon!!!
 No one would ever say, "Oh, poor boy, he is going to throw out his arm, cause the other team keeps trying to steal the bases...."
These girls are in the Major League. They need to learn the game before they get up to the Junior League(13-15 yr olds). Junior League will eat you alive if you don't know how to play.

The boys in the Major league are OOOBER competitive.
So are their coaches. But Heaven forbid you teach these girls too much too soon!
Cause, for sure, they don't want to know how to play!!!

By the way, I've not had one parent complain to me that I am teaching them too much too soon.

Sorry, this is long and all my audience of 3 will quit reading my posts, cause softball isn't your thing. It's a mental thing, it helps me sleep after such an exciting night.

My assistant coach, that always gets in yelling matches at these games, was out of town, so I had Hubby help me base coach. Funny thing, he knows the umpire. Hubby works with his brother!

I was bouncing more than Kinzie was all the way to In n Out! Bouncing the whole time we were eating! Bouncing the whole way home!
It was a good game even if we had lost, which I knew we were going to.


Okay, I tired enough to sleep. Yay!

WHEW!!! That was a close one!!

Not talking about my game per se. We lost that by 1 point.

After my game, I had to take Kinzie home to babysit during Koby's and Kashton's game.
Cause Kyson was freaking out and yelling at me on the phone.
Again.
What else is new?
Kyson was babysitting, and had no plans. but then I am 10 minutes late with Kinzie and all Hell breaks lose. (It's a place, people. An accurate description of of Kyson's stress tantrums also.)
On my way back to watch Koby's game, I was in the middle of chewing Kyson out on the phone for his lack of babysitting skills and patience with the younger kids, and I didn't notice I was going 12 miles

 OVER THE SPEED LIMIT!!!

The cop did.

Dang it!!
I have no idea why he didn't give me a ticket OR a warning.
Well, he did give me a verbal warning, "slow down."
So, whew, that was a close one!!!

Koby knocked a double over center fielder's head, and got 2 RBI's.
Of course, that was BEFORE I got back. Three innings of batters I watched, and I didn't even get to see Koby or Kash bat.

My game was pretty close as well. We lost by 1 point or 2 points, my scorekeeper counted a run that scored on a 3rd forced out.

My kids did the same dumb little errors, and some would've, could've, should'ves later, we lost by 2. (Really 1)
The umpire called the game after 3 innings, and I had to remind them all that we had to go 4 innings. AND we have to know that it IS THE last inning, so that we can score more than 5 runs if need be!!!
Dang it.

We had a runner, that was walked on a passed ball, run to 2nd with a person on 3rd.
We were very surprised to have the other coaches calling us "bush league".
I looked it up when I got home. It means amateur or unprofessional, inferior, or second-rate, and not belonging in the major league.
That is the first time we have heard of stealing a base on an opportunity as a bad thing.....
I think the other coaches were totally out of line.
When these kids get to the All-stars, you can bet the other teams
are going to take every chance they can get to advance.

But, to end a "dang it" night on a good note:

I DIDN'T GET A TICKET!!!!!

Too close for comfort.

Wow! That was a close one last night!!
We won by 1 point.
Their pitcher was sick and not there, but their shortstop was a better pitcher, I think.
This was the last team we played that gave us such a good game.
They are the ones that the 3rd baseman only plays 3rd base, the 1st baseman only plays 1st base.
That's okay until you consider the little tiny right fielder
only plays right field, and bats last every single game!!
These girls ALL want to play infield.
No one at this age wants to get stuck in right field every game.

Not only was this team missing one of their better players, they were also missing two of their worst players. That makes a big difference in the game when you consider that those 2 weaker batters didn't have a turn at bat on the two occasions that they would have, and we faced their better batters more often since they were gone.

Wow, we made some bad errors. Easy to catch balls, not caught.....

Two of my best batters struck out TWICE each.

One inning they got us 3 up 3 down. I knew we would lose at that point.

But, my girls can hit the ball, and they did in the end.
We scored 5 runs in the last inning, and the other team scored 4.
The other team's tying run was on base, and my
stinkin' good pitcher struck out the top of the lineup batter!

I just need to add for my peace of mind (again) that if my first string players played the same position for the whole game and never took a turn to play outfield or to sit out, the outcome of these games might not BE SO CLOSE.

Dang it! I just want those other coaches to realize how hurtful it is to these girls' self esteem to be labeled bench-warmers so early in their life. They just want to  play.

I think my girls are having fun, I hope.

Kauri isn't going to school on Monday!

She found out that her school got a new principal, and she started bawling.

Some at our elementary school will be thrilled that she is gone, but not Kauri.
She told me she is not going to school on Monday, cause her principal won't be there.

Never mind, that my boys are all thrilled. They won't even get Mr. Staheli as their principal, but they are still thrilled about it.

I am pretty stinkin' excited. It's been a long time coming, and we are finally getting the principal we deserve!

Cheers for Burke! and Welcome to your neighborhood's school.

AGGIE!

The goal: to get as far away from his family as possible
yet stay in Utah to qualify for his Utah Scholarship.
How about LOGAN!!!

UGH!

He is still 17, but drove himself to Logan to tryout for the Aggie cheer team.

He discovered that an old swim teammate is going to school up there, so he stayed in his dorm on the couch.

He got there in time to take a nap before going to a stunt clinic put on by the school.
The next morning, he took a tour of the school campus.
That afternoon, he went to the cheer leader tryouts.
There were 40 girls and 12 guys trying for 8 spots each.
None of the guys got cut the first day, but they cut the girls down to 15 for Saturday.
Tryouts started at 10 am for Saturday.
By 12 noon, I was a nervous wreck.
"No news" is not good news! I figured he was mad about the outcome,
and was letting off steam and was delaying his call to me. By 1:51 pm, he called me.

HE MADE IT!

I was about sick to my stomach at this point, and I almost couldn't believe him.
He told me a little about it, but we were on our way to a Easter picnic, and I lost signal.

They didn't allow anyone in to watch the tryouts,
so it wouldn't have done any good for me to go up there with him.
It would be easier and cheaper for him to find a place to stay for just him.
It would also be a good experience for him to go by himself.
Hubby kept saying we sent off our boy, and he was coming back a man!
That "manness" only lasted for 30 minutes, and he was sick of us again.

Friday night just happened to be a Full moon.
The tradition of becoming a "True Aggie" is that you have to kiss a "true Aggie" on Aggie Rock after midnight of a full moon.
Check that one off his list! His swim buddy became a "true Aggie" that night also.
They don't even know the girl. "Her name is Katelyn."

I'm not convinced that you can become a "True Aggie" before you make the cheer team, but I will not mention it out loud to him...

If he didn't make the team, he wouldn't have enough money to go to USU.
He would have stayed here and cheered for our local college.
But, he already has an Associates from this college and he is sick of being here, and there is not a lot of classes left in his major to take here.
I really wanted him to stay close to home, so that I could watch him cheer, but I also wanted him to follow his dream.

10 seconds? No Problem...

Kyson is solid with his "lib".

But, a lot of the other guys trying out can do twist-ups with the girls.
His chances are not looking as good as we thought they would be.
Dang it.

One more win and it always feels good!

We have beat each team once, which was my goal. I would like to take any of the credit for my teams wins, but heck, if you have two girls that can pitch like my two players can pitch, then you probably don't get to take much credit.

It was a close one tonight. We made just enough errors to make it close. The other team made the same errors, just not as many of them.

Holy cow, if the base umpire was blind he could have made better calls than he did tonight. My first baseman dropped the thrown ball and picked it up with her mitt, and the umpire says she was bobbling the ball.
HOW DO YOU BOBBLE THE BALL WHILE YOU ARE HOLDING IT IN YOUR MITT?

The runner had to go around my 1st baseman, who was  holding the ball in her mitt while standing on the base, in order to get to the base. It was so "not close" that you can't even call it a judgment call.

I told my assistant that you can't argue a judgement call and he responded loudly, "There has to be judgement in order for there to be a judgement call!"  hahaha

The other team played the same infield player at the same position for the whole 4 innings. They were all strong players, and were placed in their positions well.

My team: every player has gotten a chance to play infield in every game. I don't like to put my lesser players in the outfield and forget them. If I had just my strong players playing infield every game, it would be interesting as to the outcome. And everyone takes a turn sitting, even my all-stars.

Back to paragraph one. Thank Heavens for these sisters that pitch. They moved here from out of town just in time for me to get to coach. They have been getting better at each game, and one of them is only 11! What I realized tonight is that the one is an awesome catcher! Wow! Every passed ball, got turned into an out at home.
What really stinks is that they live in another high school's boundaries, so if there is not a change in boundary alignment before they get there, then my kids' high school is gonna have some problems.

We won by 3,  but I thought the tying run was on 3rd base at the top of their lineup with one out. Whew, it would have put them down by two had she scored.

Hubby coached my other two boys in their Pony League game at the same time again. Dang It!
And Kortie had a game at the same time as us also. I missed all three of my boys playing tonight. I hate that!

We did it again.

We won another softball game.
This one was not dramatic at all.

Except for the time I had to set the umpire straight,
when he said my runner could not steal home since the pitcher had the ball inside the circle.
Which she had not gotten back into the circle at the time my runner started running.
There is no way for the umpire to know anyway, he wasn't watching for that. The other coach was the one to yell that she wasn't in the circle. My runner got to score.

My highlights include the play made by the daughter of the pro player,
who scooped up a batted ball to 2nd like she did it everyday,
and without even thinking, threw a perfect ball to 1st base
for the third out with bases loaded.
It was her second game of her life. Her first time playing second.
She is trying hard not to shot put it every throw.
Her dad was in the crowd and got to see it.

Also included were plays made by Kinzie.  She had just scooped up a grounder at 1st base and tagged her base, then the next batter hit a pop fly, and Kinzie quickly put herself in line with the ball, and easily caught it for the 3rd out. Later, a grounder to Kinzie at 3rd, where she scooped it up and threw it to 1st for the out. She also got hit by a pitch and got on base by a dropped third strike. Which she claims to have done on purpose. She had 2 strikes on her and 0 balls, and she decided that she would swing at the next ball that was uncatchable, so that she could steal 1st. Where in the world would she learn something like that?
Well, actually, I taught her that.  :)

I really had expected more of a fight from this team. They were the first place team last year.
We won 12-8. We did not get our last at bats, or it could have been more. That's what I hate about being home team. Either you are stressed that you HAVE to score, or you don't even get to have your turn at bat.

The worst part of my night was when I found out that Kashton had played 3rd base, 2nd base, and pitched 2 innings and I had to miss ALL of it, cause I was coaching Kinzie's team at the same time.

A highlight of his game was when the ball was hit to him, he scooped it up, didn't know it was in his mitt and spent the whole time looking for where the ball had gone. So did everyone else. When there was no ball to be found, he finally looked in his mitt, and THERE IT WAS!!! hahaha

I also missed Kort's game cause I had to go to a cheer parents' meeting to hear the rules of the squad that I already knew.   :(

Koby didn't get to play in his game, since he jammed his fingers warming up for cheer tryouts.

Kyson declared himself an adult today.

Until I asked if he was old enough to VOTE.

He is counting down

the days he has left

to 

live at home,

do chores,

have a phone curfew,

turn in his phone at night,

have access to mostly free transportation,

have free food,

have younger siblings to keep him company,

play with and/or torture Kamarie,

be in high school,

have his own room,

have a clean room,

free laundry facilities, etc.

First track meet of the year was at PV.

In order to try out for most college cheer squads, the boys need to have a "lib".

Here is what it looks like!

He just learned it.

Now, he just needs a place to sleep at night,

April 5, 6, while he tries out for the Utah State team.

 so it doesn't cost us an extra $160 for hotels.

Does anyone live by Logan that can offer him a room? 

He can shower at the school's gym and he will feed himself.

We WON one!

HOLY DRAMA!

We had fun, I think.
Everyone got up to bat 3 TIMES!
That's kind of a lot for only 4 innings.

We had 41 stolen bases! Woo who!

But, we also had DRAMA! YES!

There was a shouting match between coaches!
There was arguing -big time- with the ref!
There was insubordination of a coach to the umpire!

AND I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT NONE OF IT INVOLVED ME!

WOO WHO!!!

But, I was very close to losing my assistant coach...

The other coach told his catcher to throw the passed ball
at my batter who was still standing in the batter's box,
so they could get an interference call,
and the runner stealing home would be called out.

Then my assistant came unglued...

He could not believe that a coach of a girls softball team
would be teaching his players to throw the ball at another player.
Then the shouting match.

And that was the 1st inning......
But that set the mood for my assistant, a couple of "set you straights",
and a few bad calls later, he was uncooperative with the umpire.

After 3 innings, the umpire called the game.
I had no idea who was ahead, but
I was playing by the rule book, and had just gotten my 3 bench sitters
into the game for the 3rd inning.
The rule book says you have to play 4 innings minimum.
But he called the game after time was up after the 3rd.
I quickly got in his face pleading for one more inning,
since there was not a game after ours
and it was only 7:30
and some of my players didn't get to play very much,
cause I was playing by the rule book,
and the rule book clearly states that it is not considered
a complete game unless we complete 4 innings.

I think playing the "rule book" card was the clincher.
He groaned as he relented and let us play another inning.

That last inning, the other team's pitcher, hit 2 of my batters,
walked 7, and one of my girls hit her crazy, fast pitch.

At this point, I had 2 of my best players taking their turn on the bench!
One of my players that all the other coaches deemed undraftable
during the draft, caught 4 stressful balls
at 1st base in those last 2 innings!
( They had their last at-bats.The bases would have been loaded,
with 2 outs, bottom of the 4th, with their best batter up to bat,
who had already hit a bases-loaded
home run over our center fielder's head, and a double
over right fielder's head.
But, my first baseman caught a thrown ball
that had been a dropped 3rd strike for the 3rd out.
This was the batter just ahead of the home run hitter.)

Don't worry, I would have given  the hitter an intentional walk.

I found out later that if the game had ended after 3 innings,
we would have lost by 1 point!
But since Kinzie's coach from last year won't pull
his daughter off the pitcher's mound
even after she has walked 7 in a row, we won by 5!

Kinzie mentioned the game to one of the player's from the other team
that she has been talking to every day about softball.
She said, "That was a good game, don't you think?"
The girl turned around and walked away!

That is even more funny and awesome when you know
that that same girl prank-called Kinzie 8-9 times last
softball season to say mean things like,
"You need to learn how to catch a ball!" while she was on her team.

This coach was the one that at the draft insisted that I accept the fact
that I have the new team. And as the new team, we should
expect to have a losing season. He was, as he pointed out, the new team last year,
and they had to accept a losing season.

Okay, so that win felt GREAT in every which way!!!!

Tidal Waves

I need some creatively, cute cheers to yell between innings for my softball team.

Our assigned color is teal, so we chose our mascot to be Tidal Waves.

"Make a Wave!"  stuff like that.

I sure hope we don't look like idiots tonight. 

We look pretty good during the practices, 

but add pressure and first game jitters to the mix,

 and it's a whole new ball game.

Besides the fact that my best hitter has never played 

an organized game before, just family games on the beach.

 (I got the first 3 picks remember, and she wasn't them. 

But, it turns out she hits better than my first pick!)

Besides the fact that one girl's father played pro baseball, 

her mother was a ballerina, and the girl has never put a mitt on before.

One of my other players only played coach pitch 3 years ago, so she knew nothing about anything at the first practice.

That's okay, she fits right in with me. 

I have never played fast pitch before, 

and here I am trying to teach them how to hit a fast pitch ball?

Nor have I coached before, so tonight will be a first for a lot of us.

We play the team I stole Kinzie off of. 

Of the 40 ish teams in the LL this year, 

I may be only one of two women coaching.

How's that for staying under the radar?

Coaching!

I am COACHING!

Like I have time.

But, Kinzie was begging me to coach her Little League softball team.

I had to kype her from her other team, though.

There were enough girls to make 4 Majors teams this year instead of only 3.

Yay! that's good news because, 

now we don't have to travel to Santa Clara 

or Hurricane to play games with them!

I got the first 3 "picks", cause I am coaching the new team.

They may regret that decision. One of my players is probably better than I am.

I just found out she was on Kinzie's boy's baseball team when she was 7. 

She was good even then.

I am hoping I can make this a fun enough experience to win over my players

that are set on playing other sports.

 I have to work a practice schedule around 

a swimmer, 2 volleyball players, 4-5 soccer players, and a gymnast.

(Not to mention my own kids soccer games, soccer practices, baseball practices,

 and my assistant coaches kid's high school softball schedule!)

I had to "trade" for Kinzie with a very aggressive 10-yr-old 

that also pitches that I had picked for my team.

I also have my teeny tiny niece, Hunter A, on my team.

We've had one practice, and so far, I am impressed with my youngish team.

If you have any ideas of how to make it more fun, 

let me have them!

Kamarie

wears a diaper to bed, but wakes me up at 

3:30 in the morning to "pee in the toyett".

She has been potty training for 2 weeks

and has been doing a pretty good job.

She will wet herself every time she goes out back to play,

but if we go to the soccer games and the potty is a half a block away,

she will hold it and make me take her every hour.

Every hour meaning: 11:00-6:00.
We were at the soccer field for Kort's game,
then,
I watched LLSoftball tryouts cause I'm coaching,
then Kinzie's game,
Kash's game,
then Kauri's game.

BTW
Koby got to ref soccer for the first time. 4 hours =$32.

And,
it was our 22nd wedding anniversary.
WHAT?

:'-(

Last night, Kamarie, who is almost 2.5,
gets out of bed around midnight and
makes me take her to the toilet so she can poop.
No, she has never worn panties a day in her life.
No, I have not tried to potty train her yet.
Yes, she has done #1 and #2 in the toilet before.
But, last night was just such an oddity.
she has never demanded to go sit on the toilet to do #2 before.
Panties were going to start a couple of days ago,
until we both got so sick.
I am so not ready to be diaperless yet.
:'-(

Pneumonia!!

Kamarie has pneumonia!
She started coughing the same day I did. Last Wednesday.
We have coughed the same each day since then.
We have both felt yucky the same, taken medicine the same, been lethargic the same.
It has been very comforting to Kams for me to say,"you're sick, I'm sick, we're both sick, together!"
And she'll say, "yeeaahh..." as she wimpers closer in my arms.

Until last night, then she started coughing different. It sounded like a useless cough. Like it was very annoying, but not being very productive at all. she would cough and cough and cough, then repeat.
Cough meds didn't seem to help. Then during the night and this morning, more useless coughing.
Supposedly, someone at the Int. School has Whooping Cough so I was worried about her having that.
(Until I gooogled it and listened to what a "whoop" cough sounds like, then I knew it wasn't. Cause a "whoop" sounding cough sounds like a laryngospasm!!!! not a "whoop").
I took her to the pediatrician, and besides the ear infection, she has a popping sound in her lungs! the pediatrician handed me the stethescope so I could hear the "pop." I couldn't believe it! Pneumonia.

I asked him to listen to my lungs to see if I had the same thing, so he did.
I also have an ear infection, but I have bronchitis.
He wrote me out a Rx also. Cool. Saved me the trouble of getting an appt.

Kams is way more miserable than I am today.
I was super yucky sick Sun and Mon. but had to chase Hubby around town with errands today.

The incubation period for bronchitis could be 4 days for certain ones, 2 to 4 weeks for others.
So, YES, Hubby! We are blaming YOU!
You are the only one we have both slept with this past month.

BTW, hubby, next time you are sick like that, you are NOT NOT NOT sleeping in our room!

They make it seem so IMPORTANT!

Stake Assistant Women's Sports Director.

They sent a high councilor to our ward to announce just me.

They turned the time over to him and everything.

To announce: just me.

Every ward in the stake was announcing it as well.


It felt really weird, like it was supposed to be all important or something.

Honestly, how many of  you out there even remember the Stake sports directors?
Especially in a stake that doesn't seem to have a lot of interest in this area.

Anywho, assist I shall do. The girl I assist is a sports nut, so this should be easy. Knock on wood!

Got a new calling today.

BUT, I can't tell you yet.
Here's a clue: I had to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency!
But in the meantime, here is the exciting news I found out about while I was visiting with Bro. Wilstead.


http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/61916/New-mission-presidents.html

The Wilstead's are the 7th couple down.

Until I got kicked out of their ward 4-5 months ago, I was Denise's visiting teacher for a few years!

They aren't allowed to announce where they will be going yet, but they will have to learn a foreign language.
They only get 4 days in the MTC for training. YIKES!

They have a huge piece of property out here by me, and a horse corral out back and she has horses and dogs. They put their house up for sale, (houses aren't selling super well right now around here) and got a cash offer in 7 days. The buyers are letting them rent it back till they leave in 4 months. Unbelievable!

Super, super neat people! She was always easy to talk to.

The church announced it 3 weeks ago, but my new ward didn't! But, I was glad to hear it from him. It made the whole ordeal more real to hear his prospective. They will be gone 3 years.

Last time someone from my stake got called to be a mission pres, was about 5 years ago. It was our Stake Pres. and he had to move with 2-3 sons to a S. American country.

I told Bro. Wilstead that he needed to drink more Diet Cokes to prevent scary callings like this one!

My bad!

I fed my boys beans for dinner just in time for them to be on an enclosed bus with the swim team for several hours today.

My sincerest apologies to the swim team and their chaperones.

Hehe...

I just learned to cook dried beans!

Either it's good news
that I love my husband so much to be sympathetic to his cause
that I have never learned to cook them before now,
or it's bad news
that I no longer care that he HATES them.

Anyhow, beans have been a staple in my life till I got married.
I like them best with ketchup.
There's really nothing you can do to ruin them.

Hubby spent days,
maybe even weeks,
sitting at the kitchen table unable to leave
till he ate those beans on his plate.

So, I have some dry beans sitting in the cupboard that I have had for a long, long, long time from being on WIC. Probably from when Kort was a baby.

Looking for something to eat that is high in fiber and protein, I decided to experiment with some free beans.

Apparently beans cook slower if you add salt or tomatoes at the beginning.

So, I soaked the beans overnight. rinsed them and put them back in a big pot with 14-16 cups of water.
I used a bag of pinto beans
and a bag of small red beans.
I simmered them till they became tender, since they were so old it took longer, about 4 hours.
I put in 2 bay leaves. I have no idea why, I have just heard that you put them in. I would have put them in at the beginning if I had remembered to.
I added about 2- 3 teaspoons of salt, 1 teas. of pepper.
I added 1 teas of baking soda, and it about foamed over the top of my pot. I would have added 3 teas of soda, but I ran out. (How do you run out of baking soda?! It is almost as cheap as salt!) Anyway, I think you add soda so you won't have so much gas build up in your intestines. (Where's the fun in that?)
I sauteed 2 yellow onions in about 2 Tbls of butter and added them to the pot.
I added a diced green pepper. I added one, cause that's all I had. I would have used 3 if I had them.
I added a can of diced tomatoes. Only one, cause that's all I had.
I added a can of tomato paste to make up for the diced tomatoes I thought I had, but didn't.
Then, I found some cans of Italian stewed tomatoes. I didn't want to add them, cause I wasn't looking for the Italian flavor today, but I was desperate for canned tomatoes.
Then I used my immersion blender and pureed gently the Italian stewed tomatoes while they were in the can. Gently- so it would be a little chunky. 4 cans of those. I was craving tomatoes.
I added a little parsley, like 2 Tbls
and a teas. of garlic powder.
I dumped in about 2 Tbls of olive oil cause I heard that was good in beans.
oh, yeah, and about 1/4 cup of shortening because my mom said my grandma always added that for flavor.

It simmered the whole time I was adding stuff, so it was about 6 hours total for the beans.

I can't figure out if there's something wrong with the beans or with me, I am on my 5th bowl!
The best is when I get to wash it down with a Diet Mountain Dew.

Yum