Girls Softball in Grantsville

Well I have finally made it to some of Maddie's softball games and have some pictures. Grantsville softball seems to get great support out here. There are twice as many softball teams in Maddies age groups as there are in little league baseball, which is awesome and it seems to pay off. The high school softball team has been doing quite well since we moved out here.

Maddie seems to really like playing softball so far and they have won there first 2 games and tied in her 3rd game. Yes they keep score, play 3 outs, and play by all the other normal softball rules. It is so fun to watch them, there are tiny little girls out there playing and all dressed up in there uniforms.

Maddie after she hit one up the middle and then the ball got by the first baseman.

Maddie's hit up the middle!!!

Spring Break and "BALL"

Last week was spring break for our kids, they were out of school for a week. They were plenty busy with softball and baseball going on every night for one of them. Laurie is helping coach Maddie softball team and I am helping coach Braydens Outlaw team and the coach of his city league team. Yes that's right Maddie got talked into playing softball by Laurie's boss Chad. He told her he would buy her and Oreo shake if she would sign up for softball, and she took the deal. So they have been having practices twice a week for a couple of weeks now, and after the first practice she did not want it to end. Maddie was suppose to have games this week but with this lovely Utah weather they have been rained/snowed out.
Brayden played in another baseball tournament with his TC Outlaw team in Spanish Fork. The boys played pretty well and made it into the semi final game of that tournament before being eliminated. Thursday and Friday of the tournament were nice weather but then it rained all day Saturday. Brayden again played pretty good, as did all of the boys. As a coach and dad it is nerve racking sometimes, but has been fun to see all the boys progressing and getting better each time we play. Brayden was happy to have both sides of the family come out and watch his games. I have not gotten any pictures of Maddie playing yet but I will post some as soon as she has a game.

A drive to the right center fence for a double!!!!

Picture of Brayden pitching, Laurie thinks that he looks just like me in this picture.

Ready to make the play at first.

"Dancing Machine"

The big event for the first week of April was Bryaden's school program. They were celebrating Utah as a State. They had county reports that they had to turn in, a creative building of popular things in there selected county, and of course the program, which Brayden was a Western Square Dancer.(Yes he had to touch a girls hand, that was rough!!) They sang all sorts of songs about the state and songs that had something to do with every county in Utah.

Brayden chose San Juan County. After Jim and Nat moved down there he has been interested in that part of the state. It was fun for him to search the internet for interesting facts about San Juan County and he is excited to go camping this summer down there.

Western Square Dance

This was during one of the county songs.

Brayden's San Juan County project was Lake Powell with Rainbow Bridge.

"LAS VEGAS"

After we had soaked up all the sun we could handle for one day we decided that we would take a trip to Las Vegas so that the kids could see the BRIGHT LIGHTS of VEGAS(they have never been before). As we got into Las Vegas the kids wanted to go on all the rides that they could see. Brayden was taking pictures with his camera about as fast as he could. We only intended on going to the M&M store and having dinner at Toby Keith's Restaurant, and driving down the Las Vegas Strip. We did go into the MGM and see the LION SHOW ( that was pretty cool!!!) Then to the M&M store. Called to eat at Toby Keiths and it was a 2 hour waiting list so we drove down the STRIP and then ate dinner at IN-AND-OUT BURGER.

When we pulled into the parking lot near the MGM, Brayden notice the HOOTERS hotel and asked what that was. Laurie tells him that it is named after women that do not wear very many clothes. So after we are leaving Las Vegas we ask the kids what they remember about Vegas and Brayden says this town has HOOTERS all over the place, on almost every sign. This was not the answer that we were looking for of course!!!!

Maddie at the M&M store!!!! Lots of stuff to choose from.

Picture of the Lions at the MGM.

Fun in the Sun

After the baseball tournament was over we stayed in St.George for a couple of day just to enjoy the weather and have some fun. We took the kid hike up on the DIXIE rock and through the red rock narrows, chased lizards and soaked up some sunshine. It was a nice relaxing weekend!!!

Brayden and Maddie on DIXIE rock with St.George in the background.

Brayden climbing the redrocks in St.George......


Maddie posing for a picture in the redrocks, she loves to climb and is not scared at all.

Chasing lizards!!! Of course the kids want to catch one and bring it home.

Maddie sqeezing through the narrows. She was happy as could be climbing all over the place.

"OUTLAW BASEBALL"

As some of you know Brayden is playing baseball on an super league team. They play games on weekends and travel to tournament where they play teams from all over the state as well as from other states. Brandon is also helping coach this team so they are constantly on the go. Last weekend the Outlaws had their first tournament in St.George. It was great weather and the boys played awesome for being a new team and playing in a tournament for the first time. The boys had a great time. The Outlaws went 2-2 in the tournament and lost one of their games 2-1 to a team from St.George that ended up in the championship round on saturday. Brayden played great!!!! He had a .500 batting average, pitched in 2 games, played first base and threw a runner out at 3rd base from center field.

Brayden ready to hit in there first game, he got an RBI with his first at bat!!!

Playing center field, he had a couple of catches and threw a runner out at 3rd base.

Brayden was put in to pitch with bases loaded both times, he threw strikes and got the outs.

Gymnastics

As many of you may know Maddie is in gymnastic out here in Grantsville and she loves it. A common siting or noise around the house is Maddie doing cartwheels or round offs throughout the house. If it is not one of those two options she is walking around the house on her hands rather than her feet. Hand stand and head stands are not uncommon. She just has to pass off one more move and she can move to a more advanced class.

Maddie doing gymnastics in the house is very common!!!

Basketball in Grantsville

This year basketball was much better that last. Brayden had a coach that held practices every week, taught the kids the fundamentals of basketball and even had set offensive plays for the kids to run. The plays involved all the kids having a responsibility to make the plays work effectively. This was much better than the mass chaos of every kid running around or 10 kids huddled around the ball. They do not have referees or really keep score, but the kids keep pretty good track of who is winning and losing. I think that they probably only lost one game this year. It was a fun year to watch!!!

Fast break points!!!

Brayden running one of the set plays.

What More Could You Ask For

This has become one of Maddie's favorite things to pass the time. Laurie got the movie "Mama Mia" for Christmas, and watched it with the kids. It has become Maddie's favorite movie, watching it almost daily. I have down loaded all of the songs from the movie and put them on a CD, so if the movie is not on the music is playing. Then she started combining the music with playing Wii baseball. So now she dances around the house singing ABBA songs from the movie and will stop to play the game, then start singing again. I think sometimes it all is a little overwhelming for her because she will let out a scream of frustration when she is not hitting the ball like she wants to in the game. It is quite intertaining to watch.......

Christmas/Winter Break Comes to a Close

Oh what a sweet weekend to end on. We spent it in Sanpete County (this is sounding vaguely familiar to last year at this time) Brayden went hunting with Brandon on Friday and shot a goose all by himself with a 12 gauge shotgun with 3 1/2 inch shotgun shells(the normal is 2 3/4).WTH? I shot that thing like 12-15 times and was complaining of a sore shoulder. My 10 year old is shooting the same gun. Maybe the shells were loaded a little lighter for him. I'll just keep thinking that... otherwise I will have to think about the alternative, which is how wimpy I have become in my old age. Brandon and Brayden went hunting with Redneck and his son. Redneck is one of Brandon's co-workers that has chosen to end his employment at Salt Lake County to take up post at Utah County.... What's up with that? You get paid more, and you have more days off with Utah County, but still... come on.. working with Brandon and playing pranks all day.... you can't beat it. I hear more about how those two (Brandon and Redneck) put silly pictures on their captains' screen saver and locked him out of his own office then I do about how they took down a lethal felon or at least talked a psycho inmate out of shooting up the place because booking gave him back the wrong bag of personal items. Good times are over for Petey. He will have to find a new co-worker to help him in his practical joke scheming.