Last Game of the Season

This past Saturday was Zachary's last baseball game of the season. This season we saw him make huge strides as a player and loved watching him excel at every game. His team was the best in their league and only lost one game at the very beginning of the season. One game they played their Coach finally stopped counting at 30 runs. Zach was blessed to have a wonderful Coach who put his hard work and pride into every practice and game. Zachary completed the season with two home runs, several double and triples (each time bringing home at least two players) and several outs. Because Zach hits so strongly and consistently, his Coach continually requested that he be the last batter, so he could bring the other players home. Zach is dying for the fall season to start and can't wait to be in the dugout again!

I LOVE this picture of Zach. I can see him in ten years in the exact same pose watching a game that he loves!

Getting ready to bat in the dugout.

Zach and Braylon (another soon to be pro ball player)

And one of Zachary's favorite parts of the game, getting his game snack from the Snack Shack!

Connor..

So, I just couldn't help posting these photos of Connor. While they are not the type of photo that I would place on a Christmas card or the type I would have blown up to hang on my wall, they are what can I say....our true Connor. Yes, these silly photos have completely captured our little comedian of a child to a tee!! You would think that a five year old could be trusted with simple side walk chalk right? I mean trusted like they won't eat it (he did not eat it..thankfully...or I would be worried), draw on the car, or down right roll in it right?? Oh no, not our boy. From the picture it looks like we left him outside unattended for hours and our of shear bordom he decided to attempt to become a smurf. Uh..no, this is after five minutes of playing with chalk. And even though this grimy, blue, dirty boy made my heart skip a beat when I thought about attempting to clean him up, he was in heaven and happy as a clam. This is our Connor, always messy, always happy, and always up for anything remotely that will give me a run for my money. And yes, this is usually what he looks like after a day of play...everyday!!

 

Patagonia Lake

As I sat down to quickly type this post and upload the pictures, my little Zachary wandered in and decided he needed to help me with the post. His narration is below and captured every aspect of our trip. I love his precise descriptions and no nonsense babble...he does not get this gift from his Dad, and when it comes to writing, he doesn't get it from his Mom as I tend to drone on and on when I post sometimes. As Zach mentions below, we headed to Patagona Lake this weekend for some fishing, camping, roasting marshmallows and the highlight for Connor, worms and building "Ant World". It was just what we needed, well, ok, the worms and "Ant World" were not at the top of my list for this weekend, but who wouldn't love watching their boys dig in the dirt and have a blast screaming, "I got one, hurry and put him in the bucket", or listening as Connor continually describes "how cute" the worms were. No matter how much the poor boy tried to convince me, I didn't want anything to do with his "little pets". The weekend was awesome and even Howie enjoyed splashing in the lake and chasing the birds. And on the very last night, just before we headed back to camp, Zachary caught his first fish! It was the perfect night for the end of our trip...dirty boys, tired dog, happy and proud husband, and a beautiful starry night. Who could ask for more?

When we were going camping, we went fishing and I caught a fish. It was called a Bass!! It was my first fish. It tried to swim away and hid under a boat and it pulled my fishing pole to the side!! We went fishing by the water!! We couldn't go hiking when I wanted to because we didn't have enough time. I was so excited that we went camping. We couldn't bring toys because they would get lost in the water. -Zach

The highlight of camping...Zachary caught his first fish!!

What would camping be without a little bit of watermelon?!?

Fishing...Connor style!

Every chance I get, I try to get a picture of the boys standing on the beach together. I have a few over the years now and can't believe how big they get every year!

Zach & Baseball

Not surprisingly, Zach begged us to put him into little league again when we moved down to Vail. So, we looked up the closest league and registered him as soon as we could. He had to wait patiently for two months for the Spring season to start. He plays on a machine pitch team called the Dodgers and loves it! It is amazing how much his skills improve each season. He frequently gets other players out and has never struck out! His goal is to get a home run and he gets closer to that goal every game! We spend a lot of time at the baseball fields, but love every minute of it! 

Jared prepping Zach for the game!! I love this picture of them!

 Zach loves to play catcher! It is one of his favorite positions to play and he frequently asks his Coach if he can catch.

Zachary all ready to knock another ball into the park. He may be little, but our Zach can whack a ball in to the outfield like it is nothing!

Pima County Fair!!

Just this past Friday, we ventured out to the fair with two good friends of mine and their families!! Since the fair is literally just down the road around the corner from our house, we had no excuse not to go!! Plus after driving by all the bright flashing lights and seeing the Ferris wheel and other rides daily as we drove past, my boys would not have let us skip it! Had we not gone, they would have tried to walk their themselves! The weather was beautiful when we all headed out and it proved to be a great night! The kiddos enjoyed several rides, a corn maze, a petting zoo, and of course some good old fair food! Yes, even with Celiac disease, we were able to find something for Zach and I to enjoy too!!

The gang at the fair, Connor, McKenna, Addie, Zach and Elenna!! Not pictured, cute Adam and little Brenna.

Ok, so I know this photo is awful because it is so blurry, but I couldn't help but post it because if you look close, Zach is screaming with laughter and Connor has his arms up like a little stud!! It was too cute not to post! You can totally see how much fun they were having!!



Zach and Elenna as they eagerly wait their turn in line for the log ride! This is the only ride they talked about and wanted to do so badly, they willingly stood in line for 30 minutes!

Fun at the petting zoo!!