march madness

Took a little trip down to St. George last weekend. It was a vacation of sorts except it was freezing and there was no time to even think to lay out by the pool. Liam and I did, however, have a great time watching Nick play baseball.

Andrew and Luke were super sad they couldn't come and I was super sad that I didn't want them to come but I was thinking that keeping 3 kids entertained for hours on end during the games would be torturous for me. And super expensive since keeping my boys entertained equals lots of treats and food. They also would want to do St. Georgie things which was not possible. Justin and I promised them a fun trip to St. George over spring break when we would have more time to play before we attended another tournament that same week. Luckily, they took the bait. And they ended up having a fantastic weekend themselves. Andrew slept over at a friend's house, Justin took Luke to a movie, and they got to see honest to goodness bear cubs at the Outdoorsman Show.

We were fortunate enough to stay in Justin's aunt and uncle's home while we were there. They were very hospitable and went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable. Liam loved hanging out with "Grandpa Bob" and playing with their dog Sam.

Nick had his first two games on Thursday afternoon. It was very cold and blustery and I didn't come as prepared as I would have liked but luckily I had a coat for Liam and a sleeping bag that I unzipped. During the game I put it in between the bleacher seats and put Liam inside and had him pretend that he was on Venus. He stayed in there playing his Leapster for quite a while.

We lost both games that day but the Scrappers put up a good fight. Nick had two hits, an RBI, pitched okay, and played well at first.





I thought it was cute that they were both number 9.





nick.chance.

chance.aaron.bridger.zac.cooper.tyler. I put this picture on here to prove that there are other boys on Nick's team. I just take a ton of my favorite player :).

liam and his buddy austin causing trouble.


Later that night we had a team party in Mesquite at the Virgin River where most of the team was staying. We were planning to go bowling but it was league night so the boys played in the arcade for a while. They each wanted to win over sized, colored tennis balls so they worked hard to get tickets. One boy one the ticket jackpot 7 times and Nick won twice. Between the 6 boys that wanted the balls they had over 4500tickets. They even "bought" one for Liam which I thought was super sweet. Liam did pretty well on his own though. He made out like a bandit with the tickets that he won. The prize selection was pretty sweet but what do you expect from an arcade inside a casino? He chose a pinwheel, a tube of bubbles, a slap bracelet, 3 packs of stickers, and a tootsie roll. He also drank my chocolate whipped cream concoction from Starbucks. I would say that he did pretty well for himself.

After the arcade they all went swimming and acted like goofy preteens.




The next day we didn't have games until 5:30 pm. We had a lazy morning, went to Red Robin for lunch, watched a teammates' brother play a game of ball, and then headed over to the fields. It was in the upper 60s and sunny--perfect weather to hang out in all day.

Nick really stepped it up for these two games. He had two hits, a triple, snagged every ball that was thrown to him at first, and did awesome in the outfield.

I love how everyone looks confused in this picture.

Some super nice lady leaving from the game before ours gave Liam some bubbles. Totally made his day. I need to be more spontaneously nice like that.


I love watching Nick play baseball. He loves it. He works hard and his skill is improving. He does not settle for mediocrity-he expects the best from himself and his team. He has quite an intense personality on the field which makes me smile because he is such a goofball at home. I am so proud of this young man.






We lost the first game and won the second. It is good to end on a winning note. Some of Justin's family was driving home from California that weekend and stopped in St. George to spend the night and came to watch Nick play. Then we all went out to dinner, my second visit to Red Robin for the day, and then tumbled into bed.

This is a fun time of year. It was so great to be back with our Scrapper "family". We have such great boys on the team because there are even greater parents. We are lucky to be a part of such a supportive, close-knit group.

Here's to a fabulous year.