Mixed Nuts Softball

We've been playing softball 2 nights a week this summer. We are kind of like the Bad News Bears. We have potential, but we make ourselves look bad with all our clumsy mistakes. We have a good time though, as long as some people (Brad) don't take it to serious. Makinsi is our mascot!



So this is my buddy, Keith at the game Tuesday night.


Keith up to bat.

And the result of his foul ball!

OUCH!

Summer Update

So, I've been out of school for a couple of weeks now and people keep asking me what I have been doing. Well, basically NOTHING! I think I have gotten caught up on all my sleep. It's amazing how quickly I can change my schedule from going to bed early and getting up early to staying up until 1 or 2 and sleeping until 10 or 11. And then taking a nap in the afternoon too.


Seriously though, Brad has been working almost everyday. We go to the ballpark on Tuesday and Thursday nights to play ball and other than that that's pretty much it. I've scrapped a couple of days and finished a little book for Makinsi about her family. It is similar to the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" It's called "Makinsi, Makinsi, Who do you see?" each page has pictures of her and a family member. She really likes it. She's played with it a couple of times. I still need to order page protectors to go over it, so she doesn't tear it up to bad.


Makinsi has been spending the night with us once a week or so. We love having her here, well, Brad and I do, Bailey doesn't. She is so jealous of her. I guess Bailey doesn't get as much as our attention when Makinsi's around. Monday morning, I fixed her breakfast and she climbed up into the recliner to eat. I put the tv tray in front of her and she sat there and ate. She was too cute!
Then mom and dad picked her up that afternoon in the Mustang. Dad got this car for his 50th birthday. He really likes it and Makinsi loves to ride in it.

I've got my little flower garden growing out back in my hanging planters. I'm impressed that they have lived so long. I planted them in early May when they hadn't bloomed at all so they've spread out pretty good.


And to bring the excitment of my summer so far to a close, I have to brag on this company.



I order a pair of shoes from Zappos.com yesterday morning. They said 4 to 5 business days to ship which was fine, because shipping was free. They came today. I was shocked. Yes, they only came from Shepherdsville, but overnight at no extra charge, I was impressed. And they were a little bit cheaper than in the store.


I'm also on the 3rd book of the summer, so I have been working a little. Of course, they are middle school books, but I'm still on the 3rd book. Hopefully, I get at least one adult book read this summer. Don't forget just 37 more days until Breaking Dawn.

Kinsi Belle

She's growing up so fast. She's talking some "hello, bye-bye, etc.". She's not as innocent as she looks!

Go Baby, Go!

Yesterday was teacher appreciation day at Churchill Downs. Several of us from school went, along with some spouses and my dad! We had a great time sitting on Millionaires Row and learning how to bet and I actually won a few. I only came home with $20 less than I took so, I figure I did pretty good and bought a couple of drinks. So it was a good day.

I had fun playing with the camera and the sports setting. It lets you take a bunch of pictures real fast so you get the action. Dad and I went down to track level and I got several fun shots of a race that I actually won!

Ewww, Gross!

The guy that took Brad's picture at the ZZTop concert emailed us the picture today.

All I can say is, I'm glad we weren't up close during the concert. Seeing that onstage would have probably grossed me out!

ZZTop sings that?

Happy Birthday, Michelle! For her birthday, we all went to the ZZTop concert at Ft. Knox this past Sat. Yes, I had heard of them, but couldn't tell you anything that they sang until someone told me? But to my defense, I can tell you only a handful of songs that I know the singer of. I just don't keep up with it. Anyway, we had two carloads of people with us; Michelle and Dave, their son and new daughter in law, Mike and Samantha, David, Keith, Brad and I.

I was really excited about this and even went to the scrapbook store and got this stuff to do a layout.

Then I found out that we couldn't take cameras in and that they would be taken if you were caught with them. So I thought all would be lost for the layout.

I've still got ticket stubbs so all might not be lost and Keith took lots of pictures with his camera phone. Who knows if they will come out though.

The show started with Blackberry Smoke out of Atlanta. They were pretty good, had a couple of funny songs. Then Blind Melon came out. I had never heard of them either, until someone actually sang the song for me a couple of weeks ago at school. No Rain ended up being the only song that I knew or even understood.

While we were waiting for ZZTop to come out we ran into a girl that plays on our softball team. She was working at the Chase Credit Card booth, signing people up for free t-shirts or something. She brought all of us t-shirts and then had a something special for Brad and David. Yep, backstage passes! Brad and David were going backstage after the concert. ZZTop finally came on and were pretty impressive for old guys. The bras started flying, not mine thank you, but they seemed to be going everywhere. People are crazy. We had a ball dancing and singing though.

After the concert, Brad and David took off backstage. They apprently got a big briefing about how they could not take pictures, use cell phones, or even speak etc. They said it was like going to see the president or something. They got things signed by all three guys, but didn't talk to them at all. Someone did take Brad's picture to put in the Turret, the Ft. Knox paper, though. So hopefully, I'll at least have the picture to put in my scrapbook. And he got my t-shirt signed.

So that was our weekend. Brad's at work and I'm in my scrapbook room all alone. I might actually try to do something here scrapbook wise. Two posts in one day is pretty productive though for the first day of summer vacation! Make sure you read below too.

Weddings, Weddings

I've been working on this photography business a little this last month. I posted pictures before of the engagement pictures of took of Mike and Sam and they got married May 17th. This was the first larger wedding I have done. I had a great time and I think they turned out pretty good. I'm still working on posing and remembering poses when everyone is ready to move on to something else. But this is what developed...

Then Brad's sister, Lindsay, got married on the 24th. There wedding was at Camp Carlson near Ft. Knox. They have a beautiful building up there that over looks the lake. They actually hired a photographer, but Lindsay wanted me to take pictures also. So I got some, but most of them they are looking at the other photographer so there eyes are a little off. Lindsay and Brandon did a sand ceremony instead of the unity candle. It was pretty and different.

This is our favorite "Uncle Mike". We even got to take a picture together.

I didn't a take my big zoom lens in so I didn't get many of Hunter as the ring bearer. Funny story though, as he came down the isle with the flower girl, a lizard ran across the sidewalk in front of him. Of course, he took off after it hollering "A bug, A Bug, it's a wizard!" He got a big laugh from everyone!

Been Tagged!

Kristen tagged me..... I'm just a little slow.

Ten years ago, I was ... finishing up my second year at ECC and planning on transfer in Aug to CU. Funny thing I remembered this when I thought about this summer 10 years ago, but it was the summer I got my first kiss. I was working at a day care in E-town and met this guy that worked with me. We hung out a lot that summer and kissed a couple of times. Why in the world did I remember that, that incident was that summer?

Three things I'm going to do today ... I'll do tomorrow because I'm about done with today. Go to work and run the book fair, interview potential middle school teachers for our staff next year, and then we have a softball game at 8:30 tomorrow night.

If I were a billionaire, I would ... buy a house, buy Brad a new van, travel with Makinsi and pay off all the debts!

Five places I have lived ... I have to do KY too..Flaherty, Campbellsville, E-town, Radcliff and back to E-town.


On my resume, you'd find these five jobs ... Baby sitter, day care worker, server at O'Charley's, Elementary teacher, Media Specialist.

Tag: Jen

Special Moments

I have a very special Aunt and Uncle that mean the world to me. They have introduced me to many things throughout our travels together, one of those things being baseball! The first game they took me to was during the week of their wedding 15 or so years ago.

Uncle Hil and I have always talked about the moment of "AWWW" when you walk into a ballpark for the first time. There's just something about walking into a huge stadium and hearing the sounds, smelling the grass and the hot dogs, seeing the players that you always see on tv, finding the best seats, and realizing that you are about to watch something that can take your breath away. We love to take someone with us that has never been before just to get to see that moment "AWWW". I remember the first time that we took Brad to Turner Field in Atlanta and getting to see his face. There is also nothing like stepping onto the corner of Addison and Clark in Chicago and seeing the outside of Wrigley Field for the first time and then walking through the gates to see the ivy growing along the back wall. What a rush!

Well, Brad and I followed in Uncle Hil and Aunt Cece's footsteps and got to take our niece to her first Major League Baseball game last week. Of course, we got to see the Cubs, but in Cincinnati at Great American Ballpark. We had her all dressed up in her Cubs outfit that we borrowed from Bethany's girls.

She was so cute! She had a blast clapping, cheering and dancing to the noise.

I think I even caught her moment of "AWWW". At least, that's what I'm calling it. She was saying, "Ohhhh!"

Seeing the game through her eyes was amazing. I wish I knew what she was really thinking.

After getting settled and having our hot dogs, it really hit me what a special moment this was, at least to me. I'm sure most people don't understand, but I knew one person that would appreciate the fact that this whole experience was bringing a tear to my eye. So I called Uncle Hil and told him where we were and what we were doing and thanked him for being so special and taking me to that first game so long ago. Thanked him for helping me realize what a special game baseball is and thanked him for giving me the understanding of such a complex game. I hope he understands what great role models he and Cece are for Brad and I and that I am very thankful that I now have a niece to share with, ALL the things that he has taught me.

May 7, 2008
Cubs vs. Reds
Great American Ballpark
Cincinnati, Ohio

I Getting Bad at This!

I really getting bad about going weeks without posting. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, I just can't find five minutes to sit down.

So, I turned 30. No big deal, but I had a great day and weekend, though. My friend Michelle picked me up early on the 3rd and we went to Louisville to play bingo. You get to play free at some places on your birthday, might want to keep that in mind. I called "Bingo" on a $500 game, my first win ever! Another lady got it at the same time though and we had to split it. $250 isn't bad though. So since we won, we went and got pedicures.

We came home and Brad and Dave had decorated the whole house and my car. They had a balloon full of confetti over the door that they popped when I opened the door.

We ended up with a house full of people and had a great party.

The next Monday, the 5th, I only had to work half a day, so I met up with Teaque and we headed to Louisville to meet Bethany and Traci for another birthday dinner. Of course, we had to meet at Olive Garden. Yum!

For Brad's birthday we headed to Cincinnati to see the Cubs and Reds play. We took our friends Dave and Shell, as well as Makinsi. I was so excited to get to take Makinsi to her first Cubs game, but I'll have to make that another post.