One Hot Corner

Steve was voted to coach the 5A all-star North team last weekend. He was voted in by all the other high school coaches which speaks words of it's own. For those not too baseball savvy, the hot corner is known as 3rd base, but as you can see, it's even hotter when my husband's the one coaching it!

The North won with an unbelievable comeback in the last innings. All coaching if you ask me.

Steven discussing plans to score with Dirk Barber. Dirk is a great kid who eats, drinks, and sleeps baseball. I hope I get to talk to his fiance (who he hasn't yet met) before they marry. I want her to understand what her future holds before she commits.
Below is a picture of the same two gents in action. When Dirk found out about "T", he bought livestrong bands for all the players and extras to sell. He gave the profits to T's family. He always wore his band and was wearing it this day as well. He covered it with tape so the umpires wouldn't make him take it off. Great baseball player but also a class act!

Steve, Dirk, Ricky, and Chad Smout who is the asst coach

Move over crackerjacks because Dippin' Dots are the new baseball snack. Gav and Coop came to the game with us. They are so fun to bring along because they love the game as much as we do, and they are really great kids to boot.

Steve's sophomore baseball picture. This is the Steven I first fell in love with, babyface and all. I met him when he was a junior. He was taller but his face was exactly the same. We went to different schools and met at work. Looking back now, it's no wonder I could never get him out of my mind.

Below is Steven's all-star baseball photo in 1990. The arrow points to him. He's so humble that he won't like me telling, but his batting average was an amazing .420. He was a hard worker and I think there's something to be said for that.

Next picture is Steve as the all-star coach 18 years later. You've come a long way Baby!

I know Steve will dearly miss coaching H.S. baseball, but lucky for my sluggers, they will continue to get the best:

Then and Later pics of Steve at the plate. I love his swing. After he took the head coach job, he didn't have time to coach and play so he gave up Fastpitch and has only gone to tourneys here and there. Now that Emma and Brooks are older, and he announced his recent retirement as head skipper for an administrative intern job, I hope him and his brothers start playing again. I know Steven would like nothing better than to share the lineup with "T" and Chad for a few more years. The sooner "T" recovers, the better!

I showed him this picture and told him I was going to put the caption as "Just a man and his dog". He threatened to divorce me if I did. If I thought he could ever really leave me, I wouldn't have added it, but we all know he can't live without me either. He'll never admit that he loves Tug, but I know he does simply because I do, and that's only one in a thousand reasons why Steven is the love of my life.

Tagged

Kim got me with 4 things:
Four places I visit over and over
- Disneyland
- The Big Apple
- Ballparks
- Whatever city Matchbox is in

Four people who email me
- Book club bums: Lyn, Carrie, Les, Bren, Dani, Amanda
- Karianne
- ok so technically thats more than 4

Four of my favorite foods
- Gram's beans & tortillas
- Carrie's peanut butter bars
- Carrie's homemade salsa
- Cashew chicken from cheesecake factory

Four places I'd rather be
- In a new house
- With my book club
- MB20 concert
- Playing games/cards with Jeff & Lyn or John & Lisa

Four movies I'd watch over and over
- Ever After
- Sweet Home Alabama
- Count of Monte Cristo
- The Sandlot

Four bands/groups I love to listen to
- The obvious band mentioned #E3,#A4
- Three Doors Down
- Def Leppard
- Lifehouse

Four people I'm tagging
- Lyndee
- Karianne
- Carrie
- Stacie K.

Easy Math

+

=

One Trav home, one to go. Thanks and keep 'em coming friends!

Baby Got His Baby Back

To say we have been through alot of vacuums would be a lofty understatement. Brown brick has seen more dirt pluckers than the wives of Warren Jeffs combined. One could probably blame my protein-deficient hair loss coupled with dust from cheap windows, candy wrappers, ancient cracker bits, and remnants of popcorn bestrewed about the house.
Last July we decided to bell the cat and buy an expensive vacuum, namely, a Dyson. Everyone told us that this was the mother of all brushers. Now I have a secret to divulge - my husband loves a good vacuum so he was elated at our savings and finally our purchase of this non-spacesaving eyesore. He was so astonished by the amount of dust and crap it picked up that he vacuumed well into the night the day we bought it.
I don't have to tell you how broken he was when the Dyson stopped working two months ago. He cleaned, dehair-balled and what not to bring her back to life, but no avail. He took her to the vacuum shop in hopes of a good fixing, but was shot down. The repairman told him that Dyson is the vacuum he fixes the most and is now refusing any more. Steven manifested to him how we researched, scrimped, starved so we could get this vacuum and the gentleman said he understood and he himself didn't understand how it rated so good on paper. Steve phoned me at work to give me the bad news.
"I'm sorry," I said sympathetically.
"But what are we gonna do now? Is there a warranty and where is it?" he cried.
"Babes, I registered for the warranty, but I'm currently removing six layers of coffee stain on some not-so-pearly whites at the moment," I reply, "Can we talk about this later?"
He agrees and says with gloom, "Ok, I guess I'll just borrow Dad's vacuum while you take an eternity to find the warranty."

I know I should feel lucky that he likes a clean carpet so much, but his attachment to the Dyson gets more disturbing by the week. I once pulled the vacuum out of the closet and Brooks yelled at me, "No Mom, that's Daddy's and you can't play with it." So it had come to this, my son would grow up knowing the true man's duty. Believe it or not, I found the warranty on Monday which, by the way, does not match the criteria of "eternity" at all. Steve called the company and an agent walked him through the minor repair. He started his Dysie-baby up and you'd a thought they just signed him to the majors. "T" started eating that day and the vacuum had returned suction. Damn life is good, aint it?

*Happy Birthday Emma Jade*

Nine, niner, ninest - anyway I say it, it doesn't seem possible. I can remember the day she was born like it was last week. I guess that's what a 16 hour labor and the world's most beautiful baby will do to ya. She came to us like Cinderella at exactly the stroke of midnight, and man did she have alot of hair. My Grandma said she took so long to get here because she paid a trip to the beauty shop before birth. Her hair was black with light highlights on top for a few days.

I'm a germfreak so I didn't take her out alot when she was a baby, but when I did, people would stop me and tell me how pretty she was. Once there was a lady at the mall who tapped my shoulder and said, "I passed you and your baby about five minutes ago and can't get her out of my head so I had to turn around to come tell you that she's the most breathtaking baby I've ever seen." We also had a couple at church tell us that they were pregnant and they hoped/wanted their baby to look just like Emma.

Emma could sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' in its entirety when she was just over two years old. I remember being so surprised that she sang the words perilous and ramparts perfectly. Her favorite story is of a time when she was about 2.5 years old and her Dad kept telling her that if she didn't take her toys to her room, he would throw them away. She kept talking and ignoring him until he stood up and went to grab one of her purses. She quickly snatched it from the floor, turned and began walking with an attitude and said, "Stupid Daddy."

Emma has gotten me in trouble a few times in my life as well. I was with my friends in New York when she was three and Steven took her to the store. She grabbed a toy and asked him if she could have it, he kindly said no, so she put it back and replied, "That's ok, Mom will get it for me when she gets back." I did spoil her with all things girly when she was younger but it didn't take long before I realized that she just likes MY stuff. She likes my office supplies, hair stuff, camera stuff, so I buy her her own, and she suddenly doesn't like it anymore (insert don't-ask-me shrug here.) At least there's one exception and that is to Matchbox Twenty stuff. She will listen to the cd's I make her, wear the shirts I buy her and can sing most Robbie lyrics word for word. Yep, fairly sure she's mine. A smart girl knows a good thing when she hears it.

The girl can also shop, ain't no droppin' about it. She'd go til her legs were numb if I let her. I've been known to wear a few partners out at the stores, but E.J. can hang with me any time, any day. She has given us nine years of pleasure and pure fun. Easy baby, easy child, ok not so easy to teach fractions to. If you see Steve walking around without any skin on his forehead this fall, it's because he's been tutoring her in the studies of geometric ratios. It's quite hard to keep from laughing while he sits at the table with her and rubs his brow holder as if it's an even trade for his patience.

Emma is a lady of multiple talents as well. After years of practice and frustration, she can now hit the ball as a lefty while being naturally right-handed. It's still unclear to me whether her father has taught her perserverance or the "I'll just be a Daddy's girl my whole life" theory. I pity the fool who tries to date her.

She's a dancing pro but especially in Disneyland where she danced in '05 also. I know I showed other pics of this event before but I ordered more and had to show them off.

She's good on the ivories- Emma loves going to BYU football games with her Dad. This was a little hard to swallow at first but now I just look at it like, hey at least its football. She will watch Denver games with me but fortunately for my own forehead, I have instructed her not to ask questions whilst I'm watching the game. I'm confident she will be an avid Broncos fan, but it's so sad that she will only know the greatness of our legendary Elway from recorded highlights. Lyn & I will teach her as much we possibly can before her first trip to Mile High though.
Emma has had a big friend b-day party and a family party every year of her life. I decided not to do that this year so we just took her and two friends galactic golfing, Olive Gardening (her fave), and had the latino side over for cake. Oh, and the all-white Gr. Reed too. When I told Lyndee that we were actually celebrating this all in one day, she chuckled and said, "what, you finally got sick of the week-long birthday celebrations?" This birthday thing was seriously getting out of hand. Friend party one day, my family the next, then Steve's family the next. I gotta be honest, life as a Jehovah's Witness was starting to sound like not such a bad idea after all.
I realize some of you are thinking that Emma is my favorite because she gets an unusual amount of post time, but she got tagged, bought a goldfish, and then turned 9. It's simply coincidental. I don't play favorites because I love both my babies the same, and Tug too. I'll post about him sometime too (hush Steven.)

Anyway, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART! You are very loved and most special to your Mom and Dad. You have a face of beauty, the sweetness of apple pie, and the heart of Elphaba and if you can't tell, I couldn't be a prouder mom. My cup overfloweth ~ I love you!

As always, E.J. would want me to remind you to keep the Travis' in your prayers and/or send your positive thoughts their way, thank you.

For Trav and Kari...

One day, two burly men were looking down a long, narrow hole. They were trying to decide how one of them could get down to the bottom so they could reach the cave full of crystals. As they began figuring there was no possible way either of them would fit, a young boy approached.

"What ya doin?" the boy asked.

The two men looked at each other smugly and one replied, "We know that there is a cave full of fine crystals down this opening, but we are too big to fit through it. If you agree to let us lower you down there on a rope while both of us are holding it from up here, we promise that you can take half of all the crystals which you will be able to trade for more food than your family ever dreamed of."

The boy looked hesitant so the one man continued, "Sure it is a long and dark hole, but you need not be scared for we are strong men and can assure you that we will not let go of the rope."

The boy darted and ran off as quick as his feet would take him. The two men were disappointed this opportunity had slipped by. However, they once again started mulling over other possibilites for reaching the bottom when they noticed the same boy walking toward them from a distance, only now he was being followed by another person. As the boy neared, the two men could see the person he was leading was an older, frail gentleman. His hands were so tattered and cracked that anybody could recognize this man had seen many years of hard labor.

The boy asked, "Is the offer still available?"

"Of course, " the men answered.

"Then I'll do it," stated the boy as he pointed his finger to the tired-looking man he'd brought along, "but you have to let my father hold the rope."

I heard this story at Women's conference and thought it perfect for the situation at hand. Your faith has carried you this far, and though I know you will not give up, I wanted to remind you that our father won't let go of that rope so you can't either. Hang on with all you've got, it will work out. We love you!

...................................................................................................

Here's to no longer weighing on the side of superstitious blogging - Please pray for Travis B.

Let's plead, beg, borrow and not steal that he will come home and get better so he can get on with his life as a family man.

And please, add "T" onto the that as well.

GUPPY the GOLDFISH May 2008 ~ May 2008

We are sorry to announce that Guppy made his exit from this world at 8:30 this morn. Emma was very sad with tears and learned a tough lesson about why we don't own fish, or cats, or other animals/creatures that don't have a long life expectancy. We don't do well with early passings in the brownstone. I even wanted to cry at seeing her sorrow, but had to stay strong with hugs for my Sweetheart. I assured her that Grandma Poll would take good care of the Gupster, to which Brooks replied that Guppy shouldn't have went to Grandma's house yet. How sweet they are indeed. Goodbye Gups, we tried our best.