Vacations ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the Idaho Portion

So today is the 18th, we've been back almost a week and I'm wishing we were still gone. Isn't that just the way vacations are?

Our vacation actaully started a day earlier than anticipated. Let's just say someone was a little excited to get vacation started. We found a screamin deal on a room in Spokane, so we hustled and packed up and took off, pulling into Spokane about 10:30pm or so. Actually, by heading to Spokane we were able to make it to church Sunday morning for the dedication of Sharlene's cousins son Benjamin. So our first destination was Hope, Id. so Sharlene could visit with her aunts and uncles and her cousin that she hasn't seen in a number of years and so I could finally see this little place of Heaven that I've heard so much about. I was not disappointed at all. I mean this place is so relaxing and beautiful, it was unbelivable. Here are some pictures of what we did and saw...................

Jeff & Sam

Sammy with his Darth Mahl light sabre

Sharlene, Sammy and Darla

Matthew's trying to make a spear for Sammy

Uncle Joel and Sammy

The Family Pond

This pond has sat mostly empty for quite a while however after the huge snow they had this year, it seems to be filled back up nicely. Uncle Joel was very doubtful that there were any fish left in, well...............

The orange dot is Matthew trying his luck

Nothing Better than fishin!!!!!

One of the many perch he caught.

No Comment, Just Freakin Hilarious

Ok, so I tried to get Sharlene and Darla to act

like they were picking Uncle Joel's nose, but

they wouldn't have anything to do with it. Jeff

Came to the rescue and this is what we got. Thanks Jeff!!!

He didn't complain 1 bit about the long hike just put his water pak on and away he went. I was very proud of him

Well worth the hike. It was in the mid to upper 80's this day, but when you got down to the base of the falls the temprature dropped about 25 degrees. The beauty of what we say was unbeliveable. Sorry, pictures don't really do this justice, but it's all I have.

Looking out at Lake Pondara (sp)

Very beautiful country, I can't wait for us to return

We're Still here

I started this June 11th and still haven't posted after much crap from my Sister-In-Law, I figured I should so she can find something new to give me crap about. Gotta keep things fresh ya know. :-)

I know it's been a few weeks. It's crazy how everyday life seems to just take over and get hectic. So, to catch everyone up on our lives. Sharlene started her new job on June 2 and seems to like it. She says there's a lot of running around and very little down time, needless to say I haven't gotten so much as an email from her. :-( Oh well. There has been lots of drama at her old job, seems that the owner of the company found out that no offer was made or effort given to try and get her to stay, so they asked her what it would take for her to come back. We talked about it for a couple of days and came up with a wish list that she submitted. Stockton told her that they need to give it a little bit so make sure numbers will stay where they've been so he can justify giving her what she wants. I must admit though that I'm getting used to having her at home in the mornings when I get up and her staying up later at night since she doesn't have to get up so stinkin early. And with gas prices the way they are, we're saving about $300 a month on our gas bill. Basically, it's a win / win all the way around with her new job.

June 30th:
Ok, so here it is the Monday after a FREAKIN HOT weekend. I'm burned fairly good, so everytime I lift my arm or move around I get that painful scratchy feeling that we all love. I know, my fault should put sun screen on. However, I get one good burn a year then seem to stay kinda tan through out the summer.

So this weekend was a blast. Not only was it a Matthew weekend, but on Saturday we picked up our Nephew Jacob and brought him down to swim, then while we were swimming, Sharlene went and picked up our other Nephew Brendan to come swimming and spend the night. So we spent about 2 hours in the pool, well, actually Matthew, Jacob and Brendan spent time in the pool, I only went in for about 20 minutes, thus the begininnings of a nice burn. Jacob convienced me to spend the night well, not really convience, he asked and I said ok, he had already talked to Auntie about it before and she told him it was up to me. So with 4 boys, Sharlene was um shall we say out numbered. :-) Everyone was up late playing the Wii and eating popcorn and by 2am everyone was asleep. Bummer for those that stayed up because we were up at 8 or so, had breakfast and me and the boys headed off for a round of Disc Golf with one of my ball players and his dad. Everyone had a great time and yes I got a little more burned. When we got home we had some lunch and back to the pool where we stayed for another 2+ hours. Anyway, it was a great weekend and now I look forward to the end of this week so that we can leave on vacation.

More to come later

I can't believe it's almost over

Well, after a very short (in my opinion) season, baseball is winding down. We had our final practice of the 2008 season last night and I find myself saddened. Why can't we baseball all year around? Ok, we can't cause if we did Sharlene would probably kill me. My guys have done such a tremendous job this year and have all grown and developed as I knew they would. Out of 13 players I have only a couple that should do 1 more year in Instructional A.

Ok, I'll get back to baseball in a little bit. Ok, so within the last couple of months, Matthew has taken a huge interest in cooking and baking. He is always wanting to cook something, he wasn't so keen on having to try everthing that he cooks, but like a little trooper, he is. He has however learned that to cook things that he may like. If there's any question, he won't cook it. So we were up at Uwajamia and they had Kobe Beef New Yorks on sale. Well, Matthew was adiment about grilling the steaks. Ok, these steaks are normally $20.00 a pound. No way in hell am I letting a 7 year old cook them. :-) He was pretty bummed about it so I told him that we would get normal steaks and he could cook his own. Long story short, the steak he cooked turned out PERFECT and the one I cooked turned into a piece of charcol. So Sharlene suggests that we have a throw down like Bobby Flay (sp). Matthew was all over that, talking smack for two weeks I however took the high road encouraging and promoting my childs abilities. Ok, Yea I didn't do that are you kidding me? It's grilling, this 7 year old is going to be analiated. So the stage was set for last sunday (05/18/2008) We picked our steaks, 10 of them cut in half so that everyone got to try one of each. We were scored on Presentation, Flavor, Doneness, AppErance. Final results Matthew 109, Dad 108. That's right, I was schooled by a 7 year old. Matthew crushed me on Flavor, marinating his steaks in a Mesquite sauce seemed to hit the palettes of the judges however my traditional seasoning and a seafood, cream cheese topping seemed to fall short. Hey, if you gotta be beat at a grill of by anyone, it's best if it's your son, cause everyone knows that I taught him everything he knows. :-) So I guess I won anyway didn't I?

Ok, so today is Friday and we had our final practice of the season lastnight with one last game to be played tomorrow at 2pm at GSA #2. I have one parent that has kinda been a thorn in my side the majority of the season, well their player shows up to practice last night just as proud as he can be. He has a new equipment bag (he's been using a large duffle bag through out the season) and in his new equipment bag he has a brand new bat. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME. This kid has been one of our most consistant hitters all season long with an on base precentage of 95% and he shows up with a new freakin bat. What does that matter one might ask. Generally it means nothing except it's about 4 inches longer and 4 ounces heavier than his previous one. So any guess on how he did during batting practice last night? 1 for 20. I'm sure his parents had the best of intentions, but seriously, different bat? I asked his mom to get him swinging that thing from now until the game tomorrow. Guess the soft toss net will go up tomorrow for lots of practice for him.

Ok, hopefully this should satisfy for atleast the next couple of days. As always, please feel free to leave comments, it's nice to know people are actually reading this.

NO MORE LONG COMMUTES

Well, even though it seems like the season just started we are winding down to the completion of another fun and successful season. The Sharks have 4 more games to the season, counting the one tonight and well, now the freakin weather starts to cooperate. After playing 90% of the season in the wind, rain, SNOW, hail the sun finally decides to appear. Currently it is about 70 degrees our there and blue sky. Saturday's game is supposed to be like 80 somethin. That's ok, we're still playing the greatest game in the world.

Ok, leaving baseball for a bit. So I was working on Monday and Sharlene calls me to tell me that a company in Tukwilia has offered her a job. She interviewed there about 2 months ago and was a finalist for the position, however she was beat out by someone who had more accounting experiance, not a big deal because she hates accounting side of Admin work. Well they told her that if something else came up that suit her qualifications they would give her a call. Well they had one and they called her. Long story short, My Beautiful wife now works a heck of a lot closer to home so I'll get to see that much more of her. Not to mention, she doesn't have to spend so stinkin much time driving back and forth anymore. It may even work out that she can take the train if she wanted to. I'm so happy for her. The Company is called Fatigue Technologies, Inc and have been around for since 1969 and do fatigue testing for airplane parts along with a host of other things I'm sure.

Anywho, I've been very busy at work and haven't had a chance to post, so I thought I would do a quick on.

I'm as bad as Penny

Ok, so since I've been getting so much crap about blogging and I have a clean desk (caught up at work for the moment) I thought I would try and catch everyone up a little.

Ok, you know it's coming, so let me just get it out of the way now. My boys over the last 3 or so games have shown tremendous growth and are meshing like an actual baseball team. Offering encouraging words to teammates that strike out, talking to each other about getting the ball and thank goodness, no more digging holes in the infield (knock on wood). Now if I can just get them to not drag their feet through the dry infield thus creating one heck of a dust storm. Every single one of them has been hitting the ball, getting on base and for the first time in Sharks baseball, we 5 runned a team, Oh yea baby. Tomorrows going to be the real test as we are playing the MOST dominating team in our division. Just so long as we keep hitting and working together, I will consider it a win. Well, we don't keep standings in our division so it's not about winning a loosing right now.

What a Week

I know that's what you are all thinking. It's been almost two weeks since my last post and a lot has gone on since then. Saturday was absolutely PERFECT baseball weather. Scattered clouds, Sunny and 65 degrees. The only thing that could have made it better is if we had been competative. Once everyone was greased with sun screen, we took the field. Finally we were playing the Mariners and the boys were stoked. REPEAT after me "we are an instructional division, it's not about winning or loosing right now, it's about having fun and learning the fundamentals of baseball" In other words they handed us our butts. That being said, like I mentioned before it was Sunny and 65 so that makes it better. They started to rally at towards the end of the game and given some more time, I think we could've gotten a few more runs.
In the game on 04/19, Matthew got a hold of one for a solid double, all though in his excitement, he was a little slow getting back to 2nd base and was nearly tagged out. The way he was hoping around, you woulda thought he hit a homerun. It was awsome, as a Coach I expected it, as a Dad, I was very Proud of him.

Gotta love pictures

Great Times

So this last week was spring break for Auburn. They plan it right because it is the break before the storm. This week is WASL testing, although no one pictures here will have to take this year.

Ok, so if you couldn't tell, this is Dylan, Me, Matthew and Jacob all getting ready to head down to the water park after dinner. We joined up with the Kludy Family at the Great Wolf Lodge, it's an indoor waterpark resort they opened here in Washington. It's really a great place for creating fun memories. Besides the indoor waterpark, they also have a huge arcade, a teen club, a bar for the grown-ups a spa and a couple of different giftshops. Really a fun place. So needless to say it was a great time. They have this ride called the Howlin Tornato that accomodates four people (Kinda like Zooma Falls at Wild Waves) Anyway you wind around the tubes a bit before in sends you down a 25-30 foot drop into this huge funnel thing that sends you up one side and then back and forth until it finally spits you out. Tons of fun, a little freaky but lots of fun. This is what it looks like on the outside, picture is taken from the window in our room. Note the semi trailer in the bottom right, kinda gives you a scale for how big this thing really is.

Hope all is well with you and yours, take care everyone, more to come later.

My Beautiful Wife

As most of you know I have been married to this wonderful woman for the last year and almost a half. Loving me isn't an easy thing to do, she seems to do it day in and day out. For those of you that don't know the story: My sister called me up one day and said "I have a friend who has a sister that you just have to meet, so you have to come to Brendan's Pinewood Derby race" "Well" I said, "What is she like?" "Just come and see for yourself"

Ok, so I get there and am there for just a little bit when I notice this blonde looking at me and smiling, continuing to smile she starts walking over to me, and I'm thinking this is Sharlene, she approaches me, sticks out her hand and says "Hi, I'm Jenel, I'm Sharlene's sister" Ooopps wrong girl. I introduce myself and am told that Sharlene will be there shortly. Well, Sharlene show's up and when I see her, instantly, there is a warmth and spirit about this woman that I had never felt before, and I'm an old guy. I knew that there was something very special about this one. So Jenel introduces us, we talk for only a second and then take our seats for the race, me in the front row and her sitting behind and off to the side. (OK, so there is some discrepancies as to how and when we actually exchanged phone numbers) Wait, Wait, Wait, I think I remember. Not long after the derby, our nephews had their Blue and Gold Banquet at Round Table Pizza. Penny called me and asked me if I was coming. I was SICK, I mean really really sick. I had a tempurature, my body ached, I hadn't gone to work that day and I just wanted to stay home in bed. Penny said "Sharlene will be there" I thought for a second, because I really wanted to see her again, but I WAS SICK. Fine, I went and met my future brother-in-law for the first time. Yea, didn't know who he was, but he knew who I was cause when I got to the door he stuck his hand out and introduced himself and invited me in. First impression of Jay...........GREAT GUY!! So I find a seat in the corner and am miserable, although my eyes are darting around the room looking for this angel that I had previously met. She showed up at the resturaunt ordered a mini pizza and sat at a table outside of the room everyone else was in. Jay went and got her and brought her in and she sat at the same table as me, my sister was between us but we still managed to actually talk a little. Well, despite the fact I was on my death bed I still enjoyed her company. So after that I was talking to my sister and asked if she could get me Sharlene's number or at least pass mine on to her so that I could explain that I was pretty sick and apologize if I didn't seem very sociable. So after getting her number I tried to call and got voicemail, so I left a message. She didn't call me back so I called again and left another voicemail, then she left me a message and I left her another one, then FINALLY, we connected. After a dinner date at Taco Del Mar, we talked all the time, hours and hours and hours at night. One night we talked so long that we drained the batteries on three phones, we were up until about 3:30am I think. Actually we did that quite frequently, the one thing she neglected to tell me and I didn't stop long enough to figure it out was that she had to get up at like 4:30 in the morning to get ready and go to work. ;-)

We met Oct (I think) 2005 were engaged in Oct of 2006 and married Nov of the same year. I'm the luckiest man in the world.

More Later

1 Game = 1 Win

Finally, our first game and we walk away with a win, well, kinda. We played the girls Pee-Wee softball team and got 1 run and the win. What do I say though, "A Win is a Win". I was proud of all my boys, they did a great job and despite a few comments about playing girls in the beginning, they did great. Matthew caught the whole game (all 3 innings of it) and was phenomenal. Still gotta work on him staying squatted down until the batter completes the swing though, he's going to catch one in the back of the head one of these times and that won't be fun. He'll get there though, just gotta keep telling my self that he's only 7 and has never played catcher like this before. We had to end the game early because the Pink Panthers were starting to loose their focus. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!!!!!!!! IT'S BASEBALL, THERE'S NO PICKING DAISIES.

Have to admit, the girls were pretty cute with their pink uniforms, batting helmets and bats. Ok, so the girl in this picture didn't have an all pink bat, but it did have pink in it. Just look at that little stud catcher. Not only were our players great, our parents and family were awesome, I mean we are a well polished machine all the way around. We had at least 40 family / friends come out to support our Sharks. Every single one of the cheering, clapping and encouraging both teams. It's going to be a great season, especially when the rains go away. Looking outside, I would say our game tomorrow is HIGHLY doubtful. :-(

My stint as Divisional Director for Auburn Little League has gotten off to a great start. Ok, so as

Divisional Director I'm basically in charge of how the Single A division runs, tracking and reporting scores, standings, rules clarification, coaching or parental complaints and pitch counts. Little League international is very tuned into player safety and making sure these kids don't blow out their arms before they really have a chance to experience this lovely gift of a game we know as baseball. So pitch counts are very VERY important. Let me just say that if the first to games of pitch counts is indicative of what the rest of the season is going to be, then AAAGGGHHH!!!!!!!!

Ok, so enough about baseball, I've been told this is more of a baseball blog than a family blog, even though this time of year seems to revolve soley around baseball. Well, contrary to popular belief our lives don't revolve around baseball, so let me tell you what else has been happening in our family...............Oh, the other day while I was cleaning my baseball.......wait, that was about baseball. Um........On Monday after practice................oh yea, that was baseball too. Ok, so maybe the majority is baseball. And you know, Sharlene is so wonderful and supportive this time of year. Thank you SWEETHEART

I promise, my next post won't have anything to do with baseball! ;-)

What a Weekend

Well, our weekend started bright early with a trip to the ballfield for opening day cerimonies. It was freezing, but at least it wasn't raining. The kids had a great time although were very disappointed when they were told that ALL games had been cancelled for the day. This is a picture of the Sharks announcement and entrance onto the field. The picture came from the Auburn Reporter photographer that was there. Do you think Matthew is having fun?

It was cold, but it was fun. Because there were no games, Sharlene and I were able to catch Cassy's soccer game. That was cold too. Then Saturday night we meet up with Jay & Jenel, Larry & Coleen, Kelly & Susan, Tony & Sue, Brent & Kristi and Coleen's Teaching Partner Kath at the Milton Tavern. Kath is Australian and here for a year. Um, over over indulged, had a great time and spent all of Sunday with my butt firmly attached to the couch with a hell of a hang-over. Sunday wasn't so fun. Anyway, that was our weekend. Talk to ya soon

Some Pictures from Easter