Opening day

Yesterday was opening day of baseball for our county. Couldn't have asked for better weather (sunshine and blue skies ALL day long) Tob and I are coaching the boys minor league team again this year with the help of our dear friend Amy and loving every moment of it. We have a great group of kids including our own of course and can't complain at all.

Yes, you heard me correctly, I said coaching "the boys minor league" team and yet you may be wondering why Lex is dressed up in the picture too? Due to living in a small county, the good ole boys running the little league program and rules they say we can't change, the girls have not and will not (ever) have a minor league team meaning they play tee-ball from the age of 5 to 9 and then skip minors to play in Majors. I get really upset about this because I feel minors is such an important stepping stone, where they learn the fundamentals and figure out if baseball is really for them in a non-threatening environment. In the program we have they go from tee-ball to 12 year olds pitching at them, making it scary and intimidating sport for most of them. Not to mention they also do not have a seniors age group so they have a 1-2 year break before they can even play highschool. Anyway, I could go on and on about it but I won't. I am just an equal opportunity girl and I feel like in our small community our girls don't get that... Ok really, I am done now... Alexyss didn't play tee-ball last year because she thought it would be boring and to be quite honest I was glad to be done coaching that age group, but this year she REALLY wanted to play so due to her age (and little league CANNOT tell a girl she can't play on a boys team) and the fact that they are able to have 5 boys minor league teams she joined ours.

as did Belle, who's older sister played on our team last year. These 2 little girls add a little sugar and spice to the team and are really stepping up to the part.

Yesterday our first game went really well, with all but one kid getting hits and the smiles on their faces was priceless. The second game was a bit rough but they all still hit well and had fun. It's only the beginning of the season and we are excited to watch these kids grow! Thanks to Grandma's and Grandpa's and uncles and friends who came to support our little orioles. It was a good day.

Simply Amazing

This past week I got off of work at 3:30am and was in the car with these girls by 5:00am headed to southern Utah for a girls mountain biking adventure. We drove straight through and had camp set up and in bed by 8pm that night and then woke up each morning at 6 to go out and ride some amazing trails. The weather was incredible 70's to 80's with blue skies and sunshine. We came home with sore tummy muscles from laughing, sore butts from riding, bruises, scrapes and cacti embedded in us and memories that will last forever. What an awesome trip.
Love these girls!

WARNING: Lots of Pictures below......

The crew......(Me, Korrie, Maryellen, Sandy, and Erin)

Our first day we rode the sovereign trail system and put in about 5 hours and 22 or 23 miles of riding with lots of hills and then day 2 came and I hurt. This photo is after a technical 2 mile climb up Porcupine Rim (amazing views everywhere) and I was ready for the next 19 miles of downhill with fun scary drop offs. I had only rode my bike once with Sandy and twice with my kids since last fall due to trips and weather so it was a bit of a struggle to keep up with this bunch at times but it all turned out ok and making me crave more!

The third day my body was screaming no don't go so I went solo that day, exploring the canyons and riding around 18 miles on the road trying to find petroglyphs, dinosaur tracks and hiking the portal trail above the Colorado. The views were amazing and the legs recovered nicely (even after 4 hours of playing) for the next days adventure.

Here's a native of southern Utah. Some of his friends and I had a few encounters I could have lived without but for the most part we kept our distance.

Overlooking the Colorado river. Watched Jeeps climbing the rocks on the other side on the ledges which was pretty crazy.

Speaking of Crazy......This is jpennington62@hotmail.com. We were having lunch and encouraged him to take the crazy way off the rock. After about three chicken outs he did it. I captured a picture, sent it to his email and he's in seventh heaven, proud of his accomplishment in Moab. We met some pretty cool people along the way.

On the downhill portion of Porcupine Rim we were stopped fixing Erins flat as well as another random girls flat and I took this shot of Korrie up the trail. Last time she rode this section a couple years ago it didn't go well, so it was kind of a memorable spot for her. Something about handlebars not fitting through the rocks, crash, anyway something to that effect.

Amazing views all around us all the time.

Crazy scary rocky trails with BIG drop offs and loved "almost" every moment of it.

After one of our rides we drove out to Arches and hiked up to Delicate Arch in the late afternoon. Pretty amazing I must say.

Then the last day we got up before it was light out, got ready, and rode the infamous slick rock trail in 2 1/2 hours, packed up camp, and drove 12 hours to home.

The slick rock trail is pretty cool. Just rock with little white lines to show you the way. Big ups and downs. This loop was 9 or 13 miles?? of just rock (and a little sand).

Anyway, this trip was SUPER FUN and I am looking forward to more riding in the near future! Snow snow, rain rain, wind wind go away and don't come back until next year.
It's time to RiDe!

Family and Friends please meet Flo....

Last week we introduced you to our new chicks and this week I would like to introduce you to another member of our family, a temporary member that is. We are sharing this little piglet with the Plew family, another family of 4 who happens to have the pig living at their house :-) We have been waiting a month for this little piglet to be ready to leave her family. Originally we thought we were getting a boy and the kids had their hearts set on the name bacon. When we found out we were getting a girl the name had to change. After watching her for only a short time she gave herself her name and we now call her flo. We are in the market for an old bowling ball for a toy so if you have one you want to get rid of or know where to get one for cheap let us know! We'll keep you updated on all our new farm animals and upcoming garden projects. Speaking of farm animals and projects Tob's out working on the coop right now.
However last I checked things didn't appear to be going so well.

Lucky for me he couldn't move just then. Made for a great picture and no repercussions on my part.

and it had been awhile since we have had pictures together so I had Nojah take a few since the moment was right. :-)