The Orchard Team Huddle

Summer 2009 A season of birthday firsts... and birthday ninths. A season of sun-kissed cheeks... cooling off... and just being cool. A season of great plays... and wanting more than anything to play. A season of popsicles... lollipops... and picnics. A season of rock throwing... high soaring... never-too-old-to-dig-in-a-sandbox fun. A season of family.. . closeness... and togetherness . Farewell, Summer. Thanks for all of the wonderful memories.

World Series week. Something our family has looked forward to for a long time now. We first heard about it in 2006 when we hosted some California boys for the regional 14-yr.-old Babe Ruth tournament held in Murray. How perfect it was that Douglas would just happen to be 13 the year Murray was to host the World Series. "We want to be playing in that," we all said. That is when the dream began. 10 teams qualified to play in the WS. Leominster, Massachusetts*Harris Township, Indiana*Williamsport, Pennsylvania*Kennewick, Washington*Taylorsville, Utah*Murray, Utah*Tri-Valley, California*Tallahassee, Florida*Sikeston, Missouri*McComb, Mississippi. These are the only 10 teams in the entire nation, age 13 Babe Ruth, that are still playing baseball. This was a big deal! As you are all very much aware of by now, Douglas did not get to have the experience he had dreamed of, nor did we. This baseball thing is a family affair and we are all in it together. We possibly were as dis...

It was a mundane task at our house. Something I never thought would turn into the episode it did. But, such is life sometimes. We had a chirping smoke alarm. Russell was certain he had changed the battery only a short time ago so he took it out of the alarm and stuck it to his tongue. Sure enough, no shock. The boys were curious about his testing methods. He pulled a new battery out of the drawer and tested that one. He told the boys to give it a try. Neither was brave enough. I took the battery and told them I would try it so they could see it didn't really hurt, it was just a little startling. They still were not convinced. We used the "I thought you were the brave son" on Stockton. After a few minutes he went to the drawer, grabbed the battery and put it to his tongue. He was surprised but proud of himself for living up to his reputation. We could not get Douglas to test the battery. Stockton even did it again to show him that it wasn't really that bad. We could ha...

As the World Series gets closer and closer there is such an excitement in our family we can hardly stand it. Just the other day I was SO excited and almost sat down to Facebook to declare to the world that there were only 10 days left until the big day and I could not wait. I decided to spare everyone my overzealous baseball enthusiasm. I still think about the World Series all of the time but now in a little different way. August 12 th will remain a day that Douglas will forever want to forget but most likely never will. He slept in a nice part of the morning, mowed the lawn and then headed out the door for a last chance trip to Raging Waters. He has had a season pass and with school and the World Series approaching it was his final hurrah of the year. An hour after he left I received a phone call from his cell phone. I had asked him to check in periodically throughout the day and was surprised that he was calling so soon. A female voice on the other end informed me that she had Doug...

I don't really consider 14 months a "real" baby milestone but I couldn't let another day go by without recording some of the way cute things Mason has learned. Besides, I got his should-have-been-1-yr.-old-but-was-more-like-14-mo.-old pictures back and I just had to show my little cutie off! Mason will try to say ANYTHING! His newest favorite words are "lawn mow, schwim shoot (swim suit), jink (drink), beebee ( binky ), shoes, sweep, git (get it), bubble and eight. He really is a chatterbox and we are often surprised by the things he can tell us. He is FASCINATED with lawn mowers. We pass them on the trail each Monday morning. We watch the neighbor's yard get mowed each Friday morning, we go to Grandpa's to mow each Thursday morning and he talks about them every other day of the week. A "lawn mow" is any outdoor piece of equipment that makes noise, a blower, edger, 4 wheeler. He just can't get enough. He is a BINKY boy. When he wa...

First year of Babe Ruth, 1st year back with some of his old 8-yr-old team mates, one big goal in mind, the World Series. This year posed a unique prospect for the Taylorsville 13 allstar team that has won State the past 4 years. Murray is hosting the 13's World Series and not only do they get to play for hosting but our State Champion gets to play as well. Normally, upon winning State, the team travels to wherever Regionals are being held (this year, Eureka, CA. Where the heck is that?). Regionals are fun and tough and you must win that to advance further. Well, not this year! It was imperative that our little team, who should have been a shoe in, win State and guarantee themselves that awesome World Series experience. Word got out and other teams around the state decided to give it all they had to take advantage of the same opportunity. We started preparing last Fall. Douglas gave up football for baseball and started training with his new coach. Last year he played ...

I have never been a runner. I have grown up around runners. My dad has run 7 or 8 marathons. My mom has run 2. My husband ran one 7 years ago. I have always cheered from the sidelines and wondered why in the world anyone would EVER do something like that. It is just plain ridiculous. In my quest to get rid of the after math of 2 pregnancies in a years time I decided to step my workouts up a bit. I am a really good walker. I would much rather walk 4 miles than run 1 but I needed to burn more calories. So, running it was. I decided if I mostly walked with some intermittent running that would help. I started out running the downhill portions of my 2 mile loop. Pretty soon I would walk my 2 miles, put Mason down for a nap and run a few loops in the park. About a month ago, Russell challenged me to run the full 2 miles. He pushed the baby stroller while we ran. I was not very conversational , but I did it! I was so proud of myself. I incorporated that 2 mile run into my wor...