In Full SWING

Bulldog Baseball is IN FULL SWING!

Like that little play on words there?  Yep, even I'M surprising myself with my focus this early on a Saturday morning.  But I DO have a beautiful cup of coffee sitting in front of me at the moment so that could explain my creativity.

I’m playing catch-up this morning with blog posts, so forgive me for multiple posts today…or post, depending on how long I can focus.  So far so good!

But yes, we are enjoying watching both our boys in their Spring Baseball season.  They started about a week ago and are getting all the kinks worked out and the dust blown off the bats.  Both Jr. High (Zachary) and High School (Tyler) teams are looking good and are ready for good seasons. 

Today (Saturday 3-31) is day 5 of baseball for the week as we played Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and now Today.  Needless to say the home cooked meals have been few and far between and the gas pumps have been humming for all the away games.  Did I mention that it cost me over $100 to fill up the other day?!  I almost choked, and cried a little when I swiped my debit card.  Ugh.

BUT, the purpose of this post is to show my handsome guys playing some baseball!  So here ya go!!

TYLER:

 

ZACHARY:

 

 

Ok, the focus is dimming…and I’m getting ready to go watch some more baseball! 

Oh- and the Final Four is starts tonight!!  Who are you rooting for??  My bracket was all jacked up a week or so ago with all the upsets AND my Lady Vols got beat (BOO!!!!!) so I’m just a spectator without a dog in the fight, really.  So good luck to all!

Love y’all!

xoxo

Our Family Project–Part IV

So last time I wrote about our “family project,” I revealed that

we are putting in a POOL!!! 

We are beyond excited and many, many changes have taken place since then (probably so many that this should be more than one update, but oh well ). 

Here’s the other posts:
Our Family Project – Part I
Our Family Project – Part II
Our Family Project – Part III

Check out this progress!

 

Wow!!  The first time my hubs got to get in the pool and enjoy it (other than when he was finishing concrete, haha) was last night.  Last night I texted the picture of him going down the slide to both Moms with a caption that read, “Finally getting to enjoy the fruits of his labor!” 

Indeed.

He has worked so hard and did the most amazing job to build this little piece of paradise for our family and we are so thankful.  Our boys have also given up their weekends to help work on the pool house (aka-workout room!!!), and Katie and I have helped keeping them all fed and hydrated during this process.  What?!  There’s only so much we can do, so we did our best with moral support!  (and maybe a few cheers )

There is still a little bit of finish work to be done such as handrails on the pool deck, and putting carpet, doors, and windows in the workout room, but the pool is f.i.n.i.s.h.e.d.  And we are LOVING it!  We can’t wait for all the fun times ahead with family and friends.

xoxo

Sore Foot and A Full Schedule

Ever notice how fast a week goes by? 

It seems that I blink my eyes and here we are…Monday again.  But no time to ponder on that today, it’s the start of another busy week and we are hitting the ground running!  With five days of baseball this week (for both boys), Katie’s first softball practice, the hubby’s birthday, and whatever else gets thrown in there, we have no time to think about ANYTHING 

Sometimes that’s not a bad thing.

At this very second I’m thinking about my right foot.  Mmm hmm.  It’s been giving me trouble for a couple of weeks now and while I can see a little improvement, it’s not a lot better.  I ran twice last week, and on Friday it felt so good for the first 1-2 miles then the pain started.  Pain in the ball of my foot…ughhhh.  So low-impact/weights/rest it is.  Sigh.  I really just want to run without anything hurting, and it’s been sooooo long since that has been the case. 

AND to top it off, I am feeling a little under pressure here, too. I have 3 events coming up in April:

On the 7th is our 3rd Annual Lending A Hand River Run 5K

 

We already have close to 100 people registered for the 5k, 1 mile walk, and 1 mile run!  And it’s not even the day of the event yet!!!  Yippee!!!  This has proved to be such a great fundraiser for us the past two years and we are praying and BELIEVING for beautiful weather and a big crowd!

Then I have backed that up with two, yes I said TWO, half marathons…ahem. 

Ok, so the Go! St. Louis Marathon and Half is Sunday, April 15.  I did the full marathon last year and loved it, and since I am attending a Gala for Siteman the night before on the 14th, Siteman volunteered to pay my entry fee for the marathon!  Um yes, please!! 

 

And THEN, the second half is with my sister, Jessica, in NASHVILLE!!!!  The Country Music Marathon sponsored by the Rock ‘N Roll Series has been on my list to-do for quite a while.  So this year when Jessica decided to start training for it, my mom and dad bought me the registration for my birthday (back in Feb.) and an all-girls’ weekend was in the making!  So my mom, myself, Katie, Jessica, my sis-in-law Kristy, and Jessica’s sis-in-law Laura are all going to Nashville to run the CMM half on Saturday April 28!!!!! 

Here we come, Nashville!  (and I know this post has been heavy on the exclamation points, but seriously, I’m that excited!!!!)

So I’ve really got to buckle down and get to healing.  I’ve been doing my weights and a some DVDs, but subbing out the more high-impact jumping and such with all low-impact.  Today I picked up some new insoles for my shoes that I’m hoping will help.  And yesterday, believe it or not, in the month of MARCH, I went swimming.  In our pool.  That isn’t completely finished.  Ha!  I was so sweaty after my kickboxing session that I went outside and bailed in. 

OH.MY.WORD. was it cold.  I mean, like, can’t hardly catch your breath cold.  But at the same time it felt good, and was probably the best ice bath I could ask for!  It all worked out good, though, and I went completely numb after about 2 minutes so I swam for about 20 minutes before coming in to get ready for church, then swam (did some aqua running) for an hour in the afternoon. 

Love love love it.  You just need to be really hot and sweaty first.

I’m off to watch some Bulldog Baseball!  Bring it, boys!

xoxo

Traditions

Traditions.

 

 

Traditions is the name of the program that every year at the high school state basketball championships in Missouri, honors teams that made it to the final four 20 years prior.

TWENTY YEARS.

It’s a little unbelievable for me to say that we traveled to Columbia to participate in Traditions this past weekend.  Does that mean it’s been TWENTY YEARS since Van Buren has won the state title??  Umm yes, old timers, that’s right.  Even though it really only seems like yesterday, we can now honestly use the words “back in the day…”  Well, not me.  I can’t use them…I was just a baby in the eighth grade at the time.  My hubs is the old timer around here.  Haha, I kid, I kid.

So Saturday was championship day for classes 1-3A.  At halftime of each game, the champions, second, third, and fourth place teams were brought onto the floor one at a time and honored for their achievements twenty years ago.  The announcer talked about the high points of each team’s run in the Final Four and mentioned a few players names such as high scorers and such.  It was a great little “glimpse back in time” moment.

 

One of the neatest things about our guys, though, is that they all brought their kids out onto the floor when they were announced as the 1992 Class 1A Boys Basketball State Champions.  Eight of the fifteen players showed up, as well as both coaches.  It was quite a group!

 

 

You want to know what Bulldog Pride looks like?  Right here, baby.  Right here. 

Oh- and I totally think we had the cutest kids there.  Just sayin’.

And the reminiscing that went on that night…

It was legen- wait for it- dary.  (please tell me you’ve seen How I Met Your Mother so I don’t look like an idiot here)

It was such an exciting weekend for our guys to be honored.  It brought back a lot of memories and we had a great time!

Go Bulldogs!

xoxo