Hanging up the Spikes, Looking for a Job

The title of this post pretty much tells the story. After another attempt at pitching and having my legs shake so bad the entire time that I couldn't throw strikes, I have decided that my awesome nerve disease is forcing me to retire once again from real baseball. It felt good to get back on the mound again, but the legs just can't take it. It's the weirdest feeling in the world to not be able to feel your feet or legs (Mom, I know I can get an "Amen" to that, right?). Sad day again to have to stop playing the game I love.

With Pennsylvania being one of the top paying states in the nation for teachers, it is extremely saturated and difficult to find a teaching job. Especially for brand new Social Studies teachers. I have now applied to every district within about an hour drive of where I live. We're praying someone will give me a chance. Like everything, though, it seems like it is more about who you know than how qualified you are.

In the Exciting News front, Ashley and I are continuing to work on our "Things to do" checklist and have planned our summer vacation in a couple weeks. We will be going to New York, but not the city. Our first stop will be Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame. After that we will be going to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant and the Sacred Grove, etc. After that, we will be going up to Niagara Falls. Sounds like a pretty good trip, huh? We will definitely put pics up when we do that.

One more thing, how cool was it to see my favorite all-time baseball player back in Seattle tonight? Junior is the best. I wish the M's never traded him.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I'm not sure if the card I sent made it there in time, but we wanted to say Happy Father's Day to everyone. Ash and I were given a speaking assignment for church on a Father's role in the Gospel. This topic made me think of all the great lessons my dad has taught me about the gospel. I decided to make a list of them to use in my talk. This is just an outline of my talk because I obviously didn't write out every word. It is kind of a "top 10" List:

1. Eternal Marriage: Loving Marriage to my Mother: LA Temple on May 5^th, 1979- Happily Married and very much in love. PARTNERS.

• D & C 131 – New and everlasting covenant of Marriage required to reach highest degree of Celestial Kingdom
• Strong Marriages, even in the church, increasingly rare- James E Faust says,

Speaking in general conference some years ago, President Stephen L. Richards (1879–1959), First Counselor in the First Presidency, quoted from an article, written by a veteran criminal court judge, titled “Nine

President Richards continued: “For generations we as a Church have been endeavoring to do just what the judge advocates—to put and keep Father at the head of the family, and with all our might we have been trying to make him fit for that high and heavy responsibility.”1 Since the primary purpose of the Church is to help the family and its members, how well the father functions in his responsibility is of utmost importance.

More recently I read in the paper: “Social scientists across the political spectrum tell us that father absence is a stronger predictor of criminal behavior than family income, education, or … race.

• “And while individual youngsters can manage life without father reasonably well in many cases, few are able to come unscathed through fatherless communities.”

2. Testimony of the Gospel- Not afraid to bear his testimony to his children

3. Gospel Basics- Scripture Study/ Family Prayer/Family Meetings/FHE- Every Morning before school / (Powwows) - Everyone left spiritually uplifted, planned, things went a lot smoother.

4. Priesthood Blessings- At least every beginning of the school year or when needed. (Difficulty with my vision).

- Brigham Young said that all priesthood holders should live their lives so that they are worthy to give a priesthood blessing at all times.

5. Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy- Became Little League Baseball President, scheduled no games on Sunday for my teams.

- Travels all around the world and always tells us about going to Church in new places. (Church is always the same).

6. Importance of quietness/ Meditation/Patience- Never seemed angry, always calm, no matter what happens.

- Always had radio turned off, always thinking.
- Always made us turn off the TV, Nintendo, etc.

7. Family Fun- Games, Swimming, trips, etc.

- Famous Quote by Harmon Killebrew “My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."

- Dad used to mow base path in backyard for wiffleball games.

8. Importance of Free Agency- Dad always let us decide what we wanted to do. Never forced us to do anything. Always asked "Do you really want to play baseball? Told us to pray about things."

- Also, a father should guide his family with humility and kindness rather than with force or cruelty. The scriptures teach that those who hold the priesthood should lead others by persuasion, gentleness, love, and kindness. M. Russell Ballard

- In giving time to his children, a father should be able to demonstrate that he has enough love for them to command as well as discipline them. Children want and need discipline. As they approach some dangers, they are silently pleading, “Don’t let me do it.” President David O. McKay (1873–1970) said that if we do not adequately discipline our children, society will discipline them in a way we may not like.4 Wise discipline reinforces the dimensions of eternal love. This reinforcement will bring great security and stability into their lives.

9. Importance of going on a Mission- Possible opportunity to get drafted out of high school, Knew I wanted to serve a mission.

(Went to BYU and met my wife)

-Dad is great example of being a missionary today. Everyone knows he is Mormon, always is a good example of what a member of the church is. Lots of non-member friends, acquaintances.

10. Importance of Service- White Envelope, Generosity to children

I'd love to hear any other good things we learned from Dad about being a Father in the Gospel. Let me know what you think. Dad, Thanks for being so great! Love you. Happy Father's Day!

This is why we moved out of our old apartment and into our condo!

If you can actually believe it...bugs like this lived in our old apartment last year, except they were even bigger than the size you are actually seeing! I saw this bug on one of our friend's blog and had to share it with all of you because I used to complain about them last year and now you know why! I have had a smoosh mark of about 5 inches on my wall from one of these critters. Supposedly they eat spiders, but we had those in our apartment as well so who knows if that is really true. Anyway, these bugs are actually pretty smart because one day, I turned away from the bug (like when you used to play red-light, green-light when you were a kid) and he scurried across the wall (and they are the fastest bugs you have ever seen!) until I turned and faced him; then he froze. I repeated this until he disappeared into a crack. The only problem is that when you go to squash them, they unfreeze and run a billion miles per hour. I have only successfully killed one. So luckily we haven't seen one of these in our Condo yet. I hope it stays that way.-Ashley

Casey in the New Pool

Casey Going down the Water Slide

Casey jumping off the Rock

Casey's Second Birthday

We got to have a party down here in Arizona on Monday to celebrate Casey's Birthday. He got a new slide. I took a bunch of video of him sliding. Click HERE for a good one of him going down backwards. He was awesome at it. The second video (HERE) is Casey on his slide with the Birthday card Ashley and I bought him. He says "Big Tractor" because that was on the card. It was a lot of fun.