Grape Leaf Skeletonizer

Yesterday, I noticed we have found these things crawling out of our lawn out back. 

Oh, great, they might be killing my lawn.

Nope, not that I know of.

But, when I found them crawling out of my lawn out front today and all over my house, I had 5 kids come outside and kill about 25 a piece. didn't even make a dent.

I went to the side of the house to see how far they went around my house.

I noticed right away that my 8 ft by 10 ft of grapvines were completely dead,

 and it was crawling with these stupid caterpillars.

I had my kids come out and squish some more. They each squished about 100 and so did I. 

That's nearly 600 of these gross things, and we didn't even make a dent in what is out there!!!!!

I made a phone call to Grandpa Kay to find out what they are,

and he'll come over tomorrow and spray them.

Yay, for Grandpa Kay!!!

(He is the bonus grandpa my kids got after Hubby's mom got remarried. 

Before him, my kids had NO grandpas left.)

This is not what my vine looks like:

Mine don't have any green on them any more.

I

am so ready for them to be gone.

They killed my grapevines in just a couple of days!!!
According to a site I visited,
it says the hairs on these critters is irritating to the skin and will sting
and will cause welts.
Hubby thought one of them had bitten him, because of the big welt it left on him.

It Took One Letter!

More than one of my kids have come home from intermediate school frustrated over the school lunch procedure! 

Kinzie was so frustrated by the 2nd week, she was almost in tears.

She is upstairs for her class before lunch and she has 2nd lunch. This means that she is often at the end of the line and they often run out of what she wants for lunch. The first time they ran out of her choice, they simply grabbed pizza from the other line and put it in the line she was already in. 

The next time, she waited for 10 minutes in a line, they ran out so she had to get in another line to wait for another 10 minutes. By then, she didn't have enough time to enjoy her lunch, cause she had to hurry. she does not like to eat fast.

Four times in a week they ran out of her choice for lunch.

I wrote a little letter to the principal. :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

I thought I might just make a suggestion for your school lunch time. My kids almost always seem to be upstairs just before lunch and have to spend a good amount of time in the lunch line.

My daughter has had 2 days in a row of not getting what she wants because they have run out of her choice (she has 2nd lunch) just as she gets up to the front of the line. Yesterday, they just brought pizza up to the "hamburger line" when they ran out of hamburgers, and she didn't have to wait in a second line. Today, she had to wait in one line, and when it ran out, she had to go wait in another line. She says it was like 20 minutes waiting in lines. Then, she didn't have much time left to eat lunch (slow eater.) I'm sure she is not the only kid at the school getting frustrated with the waiting and not getting her choice. (I have had other kids come home frustrated with the lunch line in years' past.) Some kids would just like a chance to hang out with friends during lunch and don't have much time to do that when they spend most of it in a lunch line.

My suggestion is this: On odd numbered days on the calendar, let the kids upstairs get out of class 1 minute early for lunch. Or even a week at a time. This would allow for those kids to have the opportunity to get to the lunch line first and have some chances to get what they want without having to wait, wait, wait everyday. It would make these kids less frustrated knowing that they will have a fair chance to get to the front of the line sometimes.

I did this when I drove the school bus. Every other day the boys got to get on the bus first. It cut down on the frustration for the kids knowing that they would get their turn to be first.

I think my suggestion is a great one, and I hope you will consider it.

Thank you,

(signed my name)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The principal wrote me back and said they monitor the lunch process to make sure it is working and meet about it to discuss improvements. He would take my idea to the "meeting". I never heard back from him.

Kinzie informed me today that today was the 4th "even" day that the upstairs classes have gotten out 4 minutes early for lunch!

YAY!!!!

I love it when I have a good idea and other people think so too, enough so that they implement it and change the frustration level of 200 kids and just as many helpless parents.

PR... has it really almost been a year?

Something I read this morning made me mad. So, I totally took advantage of the motivation! LOL

I ran 3.5 MILES without stopping, walking, drinking, dying.....

My last 5K on my treadmill was almost a year ago?

Even when I was 110 lbs running a 7:12 mile at age 12, running has always been hard for me.

I have always wished I loved it, cause people that LOVE it are

SKINNY!!!!!

lol

oh, well. at least I ran today.

Watch for it... 34.5 days...

LARYNGOSPASM--A near-death experience!

(Author's note: I wrote this in March 2012, but forgot to publish it.)

The scariest word I have encountered is one I just learned.
The first time I had one was when I was 8 months pregnant with my first child almost 18 years ago.
I was eating lunch with the co-workers and something went down the wrong pipe.
I could tell I was choking, so to avoid embarrassment, I took off to the restroom.
Everytime I coughed, air would go out, but I could not suck air back in.
I still had the sensation of "down the wrond tube" so the desire to cough was still strong.
I had no idea what was going on.
I was squeaking, almost like a wheezing sound, while I tried to suck in enough air to cough out the sensation in the airway.
I tried bending over, didn't help.
I leaned over the sink, didn't help.
I tried breathing slowly, didn't help.
Not just a little squeaking, but a panicky, holy cow, are you dying, type of a sound with every breath.
Well, "every breath" takes about 30 seconds of wheezing in order to get enough air to make a 1/10 cough effort. Then, after I coughed a little bit, my throat would shut down even more.
Then repeat the cycle, 10 more times on my first occasion within 5-10 minutes.
It seems nearly impossible to relax in this situation, since I feel like I am suffocating to death.
Scary is putting it mildly. Especially since at 8 months pregnant, it's hard enough to breath anyway.

I think I finally realized that if I quit trying to breathe, then breathed in as slowly as I could, it was barely easier to get air in.
I suppressed the need to cough, since that started the episode all over again.

Funny thing, when I finally finished with my episode and wandered back to where my co-workers were, they wondered why I had run off to choke. Ha, they knew I was choking and none of them had even come to check and see if I was okay.

It is impossible to explain to a doctor what happened in order for him to figure it out. "I am choking on saliva?"

It has happened to me while I drank water and swallowed down the wrong tube. Almost every time.
It has happened while I dozed off in a recliner chair in a mostly sitting position. This one is common for me.
It has happened at the lake after I have crashed while kneeboarding.
It has happened to me while taking the sacrament. That one about scared two bishopric members to death as I ducked into their office to avoid the stares of everyone in the halls and foyer. Mind you, the gasping for air sounds are NOT quiet. Loud screechy, squeaky, asthma attack sounds.
It has happened while I tried to laugh at a joke. I have to suck in air quickly to release a laugh which sends mist off my saliva into my throat triggering an attack.
It has happened while eating a cookie covered in powdered sugar.
It has happened when I have eaten grapes or watermelon since biting them will send juice squirting down my throat before I am ready for it to.
It has happened at the pool while I try to swim laps. You see, even the smallest of particles of mist will trigger an episode, and when you take a breath while swimming, every breath has mist in it. I have since stopped trying to swim; maybe I could use a snorkel, but definitely have to swim in one of the end lanes in case I need to jump out to get air. Can you imagine the lifeguards trying to rescue me when my throat is clamped shut from the inside? And they have no idea that I am not even choking on water?

The last time it happened to me was the worst so far. It was only 2 weeks ago. My spasm was so strong that I couldn't even get a squeak through. It was shut as if with a clamp. I couldn't even cough out. A particle of saliva got misted into my throat, and I coughed hard, as anyone would, to get it out. But by doing so, as in every other time this has happened, I coughed with all my might to get it out of my throat. Thus, releasing every bit of air that I needed to sustain me through an episode. I know that I have to relax in order for the spasm to stop, but it is hard to relax when I can't hold my breath any longer, and I know the spasm is not even close to releasing. Hubby was sitting right there when it happened, so I knew he would revive me if I pass out, but this time it was so spasmed shut that he had a hard time convincing me to stop panicking.

As my spasm started releasing, my kids came running from every room in the house to see if I was dying. They all stood there watching me struggle for a breath. How scary for them!

Try this as an example for relaxing. I mean it, you have to try this. Let out all your breath, all of it, wait 10 seconds. How do you feel? Like you will die if you don't take in air immediately? Now think of it as: you know that you can't take in air till the spasm stops which might not be for 10-20 more seconds. Now, try to RELAX!

At the very slightest of relaxation in my throat, my body will insist on sucking in the air which then produces the loud squeaking noise, much like letting the air out of a balloon when the end is squeazed shut.

After getting so curious as to look it up on google, I finally found a name for it. Everyone who has these is just as baffled as I am.

Some doctors think it is related to acid reflux. I have acid reflux only after eating a combination of a big greasy meal followed by a high fat dessert. ie: a hamburger with grilled onions and a milkshake or D.O. potatoes and homemade ice cream. (Which I don't do anymore, now that I know what triggers it, since that is more intense PAIN than any meds can touch (unless it is a leftover narco pill from a dental visit)which is another story for another day.) So, my spasms don't have anything to do with acid.

Laryngospasm is also common for patients as they are coming out of anesthesia.
Which isn't me either.
But, that would be a good name for a humorous, barbershop-type of
singing group made up of CRN Anesthetists. :) HaHa it IS a group. You'll have to google them. Try Laryngospasms. With an s. Maybe even try youtube if you have time. I especially like the song about hemorrhoids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xavluTezTnU&feature=related

I actually like most of their songs, as I can relate to Breathe quite well.

          CO2 is high, I think you're going to DIE
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP2OuZ_vI_s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrjcLJ2IE0&feature=related

I have heard laryngospasm referred to in a magazine article as "dry drowning." I think they are pretty much the same thing. But laryngospasm is more descriptive of what is happening. So, laryngospasm it is.

Hopefully, you'll never have to experience this near-death experience, but at least now you know what it is.

rio Chicken tacos

For my record, so I can make it again:
Frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts, as many as will fit in the crock pot.
A cup or so of picante sauce.
A large can of green chili enchilada sauce.
Half teaspoon of cumin and one teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
I cooked it on high till church was over. 3-4 hours.

We put it on "cook it yourself" tortillas.
I added lime juice and cilantro to mine, cause weird people in my family don't like cilantro.
Cheese
Shredded lettuce
Ranch dressing
Olives
Tomatoes

Make enough tortillas for seconds.

Oops, I forgot to add salt....
okay, so it tastes good with salty tortilla chips, too.

cafe rio pork

I am putting this on here for my own record, so I remember how to make it later.
I didn't use chicken broth or coke, and I didn't soak it overnight, and it turned out pretty darn good.
I usually just use 1 cup of salsa and 1 cup of brown sugar and put it all in a crock pot. This time it seemed a lot sweet, so I searched for a recipe to offset the sweetness and found this one.
It needed the cayenne pepper for sure and the cumin was a good touch as well....

Cafe Rio Pulled Pork

Submitted by: GOLEAN@38

Minutes to Prepare: 10

Number of Servings: 12

Ingredients

31/2-4 lb pork roast
2 Tb brown sugar
1 tsp red cayenne pepper
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 can coke
1 cup chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 small onions, chopped

 SAVE NOW

1 cup brown sugar

 

 Save Now

Directions

Night before: Mix together brown sugar, cayenne, cumin, and salt. Rub on roast. Put in crock pot on LOW all night.
Next morning: Add coke, chicken broth, garlic and onions. Keep on LOW until ready to serve. About 1 hour before serving, shred roast and add 1 cup brown sugar. Use in salads, tacos, or burritos.
Serves 12

Mini Malls!

I guarantee there will be NO ONE 
out there that can guess what this post will be about 
by reading that title!


Deja Vu has never bothered me in my life. 
Physically that is.
I have had deja vu regularly throughout my life.
About 4-5 years ago, a weird thing started happening.
(I still remember the day of the first one, I was exercising on my treadmill and all of a sudden, I felt like I had the flu. I got very light headed and thought I would barf out my whole insides. My visiting teachers were supposed to be coming in half an hour, so I had to call them and tell them I thought I was sick. My vt.s were Dickerson and Mayfield at the time, that's how I remember how long ago it was. Kauri would have been around 2. I didn't barf, and half an hour later I felt fine.)


I get a feeling of DeJa Vu followed by a host of other feelings.
A second of euphoria, followed by
a second of nothing, followed by
a 10 to 20 second feeling of nausea and burning in my chest,
( I have never thrown up although the 
feeling to need to is very strong.)
accompanied with strong dizziness.
Followed by up to 30 minutes of memory loss and confusion.


When I say memory loss, I mean seriously, I can't remember what my hubby or my children look like!
I can't remember their names, I can't remember why I am standing in the shower. I can't remember where I need to be.


Some episodes are worse than others. some episodes are very mild.


I can sometimes distract myself, my brain, when I feel a deja vu coming on, and then I don't go through these symptoms. I "change the subject" in my brain, look away from something familiar, or glance and focus on other objects quickly.


I have looked online for other people that have had these symptoms, and there are more than I thought. The ones who seem to have researched it the most have found that it has to do with epilepsy. They say the "episodes" could be petit mal seizures. Pronounced: puh T  mall.


Assuming they are smaller than grand malls, hence my blog title mini malls! haha


Probably 90% of these episodes happen while I am exercising.
I can usually divert 25% of them by tricking my brain into thinking about something else
All this info is for my personal history, so that if I die,
I can tell you, "I told you I was sick!" 


I have recently found someone online that has been diagnosed as having "temporal lobe seizures." The symptoms sound the closest I've found to anything else I've read about it. Except, there was no mention about the nausea, which is the biggest symptom for me.


Sometimes I can go months without having an episode, sometimes I can have a couple in one week. When I mentioned this to my doctor, his eyes got as big as baseballs, thought they might be mini strokes, and referred me to a neurologist. :)


Ha, I saved myself a $100 appointment and visited Dr. Mayo's sight online instead! 


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/temporal-lobe-seizure/DS00266/DSECTION=symptoms 

I actually have been laughing at my symptoms, cause after all, it's not everyday you forget the names and faces of all your kids. 


At least not at my age...

I hate it when I lose stuff!

Especially when it’s a wheel. 

Off my camp trailer.

In the dark.

At midnight.

100 miles from home.

I don't mean just the tire,

I mean the WHOLE wheel fell off.

As we pulled into Mile-and-a-half campground, 

something started scraping the ground big time.

 We checked to make sure our back trailer jack was still on there. 

(We had dragged it over several bumps and tweeked it.)

 It was fine.

 But one of the dual wheels was gone. 

We parked our trailer as soon as we could and put the kids to bed.

Then Hubby and I drove back up the road to see if we could find it.

We couldn't, so we drove back to our tilty trailer.

Our bed tilted really badly towards our pillows,

 so we slept in our bed backwards so our heads could be uphill.

Earlier in the evening,

we had driven up the right road, but thought it was the wrong one

 when nothing looked familiar.

Then, we drove up the wrong road for 5 miles before we realized it,

then had to turn around with a 26 ft. trailer.

We went back to a familiar spot to start over looking for

"the spot." 

We got back to the same right road, and still nothing looked familiar,

but we decided to stay there anyway, 

cause it was late.

I had a flashlight 

and was scanning the area for a place to park the trailer,

when my light picked up two shiny objects close together. 

The objects didn't move for several seconds. I thought it must be two shiny pop cans. 

Hubby threw some rocks in their direction, and then the spots moved a little. 

They were eyes!

 I got the chills. 

Hubby got nervous.

We hurried back to the car.

 We turned around and headed back to familiar territory elsewhere. 

Just as we pulled into the familiar campground,

we started scraping the ground.

The next morning Hubby left at 730 and went looking for the wheel. 

Kash went with him since he had slept in the car. 

They went all the way up to where we had been lost the day before. 

They found nothing. 

Hubby came and unloaded the car and put the trailer's 

spare in the back to take to town to get a new tire put on it.

(Our spare tire was shredded.)

  I asked if we could just spend 10 minutes looking with a few more eyes and legs. 

We went immediately to the ravine that I had suspected earlier. 

Kinzie and I looked from the top of the ravine for about 50 yards

 before Kyson got out and helped look.

 He grumbled at me,

"Why are we looking right here since we could see all this from the car."

 I thought he was being non-helpful, 

but I asked him facetiously if he wanted us

 to go look in the bottom of the ravine, and he did. 

Kort got out of the car, and I had an idea to have him look on the edge

 of the road to see if he could find any of the lug bolts that had been lost.

By now we had covered 100 yards. 

After a minute Kort had found a lug bolt, and it had been sheared off. 

He took it to show Hubby and sure enough, it was ours. 

That was a huge clue, 

since the wheel could not have come off before the lug nut and bolt did,

 so we knew it had to be in the ravine. 

All the kids got out, and we scampered down the ravine to look around. 

The ravine was about 50 yards down at about a 30 degree angle. 

 Not too steep but slippery in some spots and had trees and fallen logs 

to break the fall of a wayward tire. 

We had looked for less than 5 minutes when Kyson spotted the wheel. 

We had missed it from the top.

 It was almost right below where Kyson had suggested going to the bottom of the ravine. 

The wheel was about 50 feet from the road.  

Hubby loaded the lost wheel that had a shredded hub and took the spare shredded tire 

and went to Kanab to have them combined.

 At least we didn’t have to buy a new tire. 

The one we lost and then found was pretty newish. 

Hubby was gone about 2 hours, and it cost about $40 to have the wheel fixed

 instead of $120 if we had not found that tire.

Kyson grilled us some hot dogs

since Hubby was gone.

I had forgot to bring ketchup, so we used a lot of mustard.

Kash got out the bows, arrows, and the target.

Someone got really angry with him and took it away- only to find out later that

 the stuff wasn't his to be taking away.

I started a puzzle while Hubby

was gone. I got bored before it got finished, so

I took a nap. I guess my two oldest boys got into quite a fight

over the last piece. I slept through it.

(When Kyson was little, he used to take a piece of a puzzle

and hide it in his pocket so that he could put the last piece together.)

Dinner time, 

I cut up 4 pounds of chicken before anyone told me that it stunk.

 I have the most sensitive nose in the house, 

and I stuck my nose right in the chicken to see if it was still good,

 and it didn’t stink to me. 

But it did to a few others. 

When I got to the last piece it could smell it. 

So, Hubby took it away and buried it. 

I forgot

 to bring a big pan,

so I had to cook corn for 9 in 3 small pans.

I had thrown a case of soup in at the last minute, 

so we had corn on the cob, soup, bread and butter, hash browns, 

cottage cheese Jell-O, and slushy root beer.

We happened to bring a Cuttco demonstrater with is, 

so we sat through a practice round.

After the demo, after the sun went down, we got out the 

ice cream.

It got cold eating ice cream, so we went inside the trailer and had hot chocolate.

Hubby had spent several hours earlier trying to fix the generator with no luck, 

so he had to hook the trailer up to the car battery so we could take a shower.

During the night, Kort's sleeping bag fell of the top bunk; how do you lose a bag you are sleeping in?

I found it, cause I had to go potty.

It turned out to be a good thing 

that I had to turn on the light to help him, 

cause I found Kamarie completely uncovered and freezing.

Then, I couldn't sleep.

I had little league running through my head.

(that's another story)

One of my kids woke up in a bad mood and had PMS big time all day. 

When he gets these pms episodes, (which is often)

I am not allowed to breathe, eat, be alive, talk, or anything else 

that would distinguish me from a corpse.

Someone assured me that going away to school

for a year will make a big difference.

All I can do is hope. 




Some random cute pics of my kids.

Around 10:30 it rained. The kids took down the hammocks. 

We went to this place where we usually take pictures then we came back and loaded up.

On the way to what we call the "family tree," we found a campsite with a swing, 

We are SO gonna stay at that site next time.

We pulled our trailer to a camp spot close to the family tree, ate sandwiches,

 and took pictures of us at the tree.

The tree in the center is the tree that broke off due to the cable choking it for so long.

The tree swing is just not 
as fun anymore since the cable fell off a few years ago.

Someone has turned this meadow into a road, but they have no idea of the history they are passing on their way past the "tree."

Some random pic I found on my camera after Hubby
 got a hold of it.
silly hubby.

Cute pants, huh? I found them in my closet. 

I don't remember buying them.

FINALLY !!!!!

                 It was like pulling teeth, but we got me to the lake!

Two years ago, we didn't have much work, and the reverse gear shift cable quit working on our boat, so we parked the boat in the garage.

Last year, we still hadn't caught up to what 2008-2010 did to our finances, so we didn't fix the boat or take it out.

This year, we got estimates to fix our boat, and the old man that does it in his front yard, and back yard, and side yard gave us a better rate than the boat fix-it shops, so we had him order our part.

He said it would take a week or two to get it in. When we called back in a couple of weeks to check on the part, he said he was now super busy with lots of boats ahead of us and gave us another date to bring in our boat 3 more weeks away.

Three + weeks later, we called him to find out why he hadn't called us to tell us when to bring in our boat, he was confused about who we were and thought he had already fixed our boat.

It turns out that the part for the boat came in, and he put it on another boat thinking it was our boat.

So he ordered another part, and we could bring our boat to him in a week and a half!

As he took my boat to his yard he told me that this part might not work right in my boat, cause the company that makes my part had been bought out by another company and it no longer makes parts for our motor....

We finally got our boat back, and tried to register it online so we could take it to the lake that weekend. then we found out that since it hadn't been registered for two years that we had to do it in person. By now it was too late to go to the DMV.

Then, for the next few weeks, we had one or more kids missing at things such as cheer camp, scout camp, girl's camp, job training, car washes, etc. So, one day we decided that we would just go to the lake with who we had at home. Hubby had said that he would register the boat on his way home from work since he was working out by the lake. He forgot to do it and thought that I would take care of it. I thought that he would do it the next day since he spends mostly every day out by the lake doing concrete.

It didn't get registered, so we weren't able to go to the lake while we had all of the cousins in town!
It would have been fun. It just did not work out.

The forecast was for scattered thundershowers for the next 7 days,
but I was gonna go no matter what till the lightning kicked us off!

Well, guess what.

The lightning kicked us off!!!

but, not till 4:30 p.m.

A call in to Uncle Jeffrey as told by Lisa Terry Hardy

I had called my Uncle Jeff not knowing he would be home, so I was prepared for an answering machine- but he answered the telephone.
I had said, "Uncle Jeff, this is Lisa-your niece."

He said, "Well Lisa, it wasn't too long ago we just seen you."

I replied, "I know, and I'm sorry to bother you, because I know you are so busy."

He said, "No problem-what's on your mind?"

I mentioned that a very good friend of ours is sick and I wondered if you could put his name in the temple for all the apostles.

He said, "Sure, there's a special prayer circle that we read the names individually. I'd be happy to. What's the name?"

"Danny Alldredge."

He said, "Danny Alldredge from St. George? That went to school with my brother? He's about 50-60?"

"Yes, more than likely, that's him. He's been diagnosed with kidney cancer, and it's spread to his lungs. He has less than 3 months- maybe even weeks to live."

He said, "Oh, shoot! Oh, no! I'm sorry to hear."

"Can you also bless their children on missions-they have 2 (on missions), and the whole family?

He said, "You bet! I'd be glad to. Be glad to. I'll take care of that right now."

Sometime between April 15th and July 1996.

Danette's really good friend from college, Val Hardy, married Lisa Terry from Enterprise. 

Lisa's mother's sister is married to Jeffrey Holland.

Democratic Platform

Saw this on faceb00k: enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwzm8dquCk8

Oh, the politics of LittleLeague...

I have heard that the all-star coach plans on pitching his own daughter 

at the tournament and no one else.

That's what I hear from a mother on the team.

There was a contest to see who could pitch the most strikes and that person would pitch at the tournament.

When my player from my team pitched the ball, the catcher would intentionally drop her pitched balls and call them balls when they were strikes. Then the catcher's friend (coaches daughter) was pitching and they were all strikes even though the catcher was all over the place trying to get to the pitches.

So, according to the coach, since his daughter pitched the most strikes, she was the one that was going to pitch in the tournament.

The mom of the pitchers on my team says every time she shows up to practice, her girls are running the bases. All the other girls are in their playing spots and her girls are just running bases. She thought it looked as though the coach would bench her girls.

The mom is mad. She feels like her girls won the league with their pitching and now the coach won't even let them pitch in the tournament, and it looks as if they will just sit the bench.

I feel the same about the winning the league. If those girls had not pitched for my team, we would not have won ANY games. The girls did not win by themselves, cause we had to have hitters as well, but we would not have won if it weren't for them. So, I agree with the mom.

The mom also told me that every coach in the league is at most every practice except for me.

She had called to find out why I wasn't the coach-to see if it was my choice that I wasn't. She thinks it is so wrong that I am not the coach. (I am the only coach that does not have a daughter on the team.)

The catcher is another issue. She is the best player in the league. She is the one that can peg the center-fielder in the forehead if she wants to. She pulled my best player J aside in front of the all-star coaches and all the players and told her she wanted to teach her how to run the bases. Besides the fact that she intentionally dropped the pitches from T, she is always bossy and snotty to them both. (J and T are sisters.) She is a bully and yells at and puts down anyone she wants to that is not her friend.

I told the mom to keep track of the games herself, because I didn't think the coach would play the girls fairly. The mandatory play rule says that each player needs to play 2 defensive innings and bat at least once. 

The team had a game last night. J only got to play defensively for the 4th inning. It was clearly a violation and the consequence is that the coach gets suspended for two games. (The mom kept track in her own score book.) Well, the coaches are adamant that J got to play 2 innings. (I've been talking a lot with the mom on the phone and this is what we think happened: the coach made the change and either forgot to tell the girls of the change or they didn't hear him tell them.) It is written in the score books that J went in in the 3rd inning, so no one will believe her. The mom called the Wash. LL pres and told him. I knew he would not take it further, so I did. I called the district guy and he had someone check it out. They determined that it was in the score book as being subbed, therefore she played it. They lost the game anyway, so the only thing that mattered was getting the coach his just consequence.

As it turns out, they had a game today also. Since they wanted to pitch the coaches daughter both days, they could only pitch her 2 innings yesterday. So T got to pitch 2 innings yesterday. She didn't do very well, and the catcher was yelling and yelling at her to pitch strikes. Then the catcher would turn to the coach with her hands up after every pitch and roll her eyes. Softball is mostly mental. How can she pitch strikes to a big ol bully like McKenzie is? Especially when she is yelling at her so bad. No, the coaches didn't stop her from yelling at he pitcher. 

I haven't heard about the game tonight except they played Parowan and beat them by 13 runs.

And J hit one of her specialty home runs with two girls on base.