Baseball

Braden played baseball again this year. The season is almost over, just one game left. He is on the Mariners. This year they held a draft where the kids had to try out and the coaches selected them. That was fun, but it made it so that the neighborhood kids couldn't be on the same team.

This season it was machine pitch, no tees, and they played on a real field. They got 3 pitches to hit the ball. Every pitch is a strike. That encouraged them to hit the ball. I think that made it much more fun for the kids. They also played real rules - 3 outs and the innings over. Last year every kid bat every inning. This year was much more fun to watch.

It's amazing how much the kids improve each year. Braden got a hit and made it on base nearly every at bat. Next year they start with kid pitch. That could get very interesting.

Once again, his favorite part of baseball is the treats after the game. Here are a few photos from this season:

Spiders and Bats

I haven't posted for quite a while. We've been pretty busy. I had surgery to have my gall-bladder removed a couple months ago. Then as soon as I recovered, I was in a little car accident. It wasn't too serious, the car was damaged pretty bad but wasn't totaled. I burnt my wrist from the airbag explosion (I'll spare you the disgusting photo) and hurt my neck. Braden and his friend were in the car with me and were both fine, thank goodness. They were in shock for a few seconds after the accident, but then they thought it was pretty cool. They were asking if they were going to be on the news.

Julie was released from the stake Relief Society and called into the ward Relief Society presidency. She's been pretty nervous about that. She is already worried about the first time she has to teach in July.

We are headed out to Disneyland/Universal Studios/Seaworld in a few weeks so I'll update the blog with our adventures when we return.

By the way, the photo above was of a black widow in our garage on the steps in front of our door a couple days ago. It was just hanging in it's web upside down waiting for it's next meal. Julie wasn't too happy about it. Immediately after it's photo shoot, it was accidentally squished by my shoe.

Then today we discovered a bat on our front porch. It was hanging upside-down taking a nap. It stayed all day and finally took off after dark. Hopefully it was just a quick stop for the day and it doesn't plan on making our porch it's new home. I took this photo below while it was snoozing. It was only about 3 or 4 inches long. I did a little research and this bat is called a "little brown bat" or "Myotis lucifugus." They are very common in the U.S. and Canada apparently.

All we need now is a snake to complete the trifecta of things Julie is terrified of. It's like Halloween around here.

Why I woke up early

I'm not normally a morning person, but it was worth it yesterday morning. I decided to get up early and go for a walk before work. Looking East I could tell it was going to be a beautiful sunrise. There were a lot of clouds but it was clear to the East of them. So I walked back home to get my camera and tripod and drove a couple blocks up the neighborhood where I had a good view of Mt. Timp (my favorite mountain). Here are a couple photos I took.



I should probably get up early more often. It is peaceful, quiet and there are sometimes great views.

What are they teaching these kids?!

The first graders at Braden's school have had a "100" theme going on for a few weeks. He recently had an assignment where they were given a paper with 100 squares and they were to look around the classroom and write down 100 words they saw. Julie and I did a double take when we saw his paper. At first I thought, "What is he looking at in class and what are they teaching them?" Then we noticed that he took up 2 squares with his first word. Look at the high-lighted box. It is hilarious!

Science is cool

The past couple months Braden has been really into experimenting and making "potions" with things around the house. Because we don't let him use any chemicals or cleaners, his potions usually consist of water, food coloring, and whatever leftover food or candy is lying around.

So I decided a couple weeks ago to do some real science experiments with him. We made some silly putty and a volcano made of clay that spewed red lava. We also did the mentos and diet coke experiment. It's pretty cool. If you've never tried it, you should. Just open up a 2 liter bottle of diet coke and add 1 or 2 Mentos mints and stand back. I don't know exactly what the chemical reaction is that causes it, but the diet coke shoots a fountain of foam about 7-10 feet in the air.

Here are some photos of Braden and his friend Bridger doing the experiment. Braden is the one that quickly backs away after he adds the Mentos.