My Boys Have More Than JUST Heart....They Have Talent!

Okay, so this is obviously all about the boys! =) Opening Day was on Saturday for Taylor and he and Austyn both played their first games. The ceremony were great and I think it really made the kids feel special. They definitely out did last year's ceremony! After their pancake breakfast, they marched in a parade with police, ambulance and a firetruck escort complete with sirens and lights. I will say that we skipped out on the breakfast because last year's pancakes weren't very tasty. lol. We stopped at McDonald's and grabbed some hotcakes. Much better. Once the ceremony was over with, we headed over to the neighboring field for Austyn's game. I didn't think we were going to make it to his game, but they were running behind. Anyhow, Austyn did awesome! He always does. He shows so much promise and talent and best of all, he loves the game. One of the dads said he was going to start calling him Barry Bonds. He is only in t-ball and he hits the ball into the outfield on a little league field! I told Mark this, and he said, well, without the steroids of course. I jokingly said, well actually, he did have some steroids before he was born, so maybe that's it! Anyway, I crack myself up. So, the kid is seriously talented, and everyone that has seen him play has told me, so I know that its not just me being a proud mom. =) He throws so hard and has amazing accuracy. Oh, and did I mention that he is a lefty? I know, Mark's practically peeing in his pants at the thought of an MLB player for a son. haha. He hits both right and left as does Taylor. Mark insists that they learn to hit both ways. Taylor also helped out with Austyn's team, as he always does. He is such a great encourager! He was first base coach and cheered for the kids and guided them. He also made sure he gave everyone a high five! What a great big brother he is! Later that afternoon, Taylor had his game. His team won 4-0. He struck out twice out of four at bats. He was bummed, and blamed it on a lack of batting practice. He's probably right, so I think we'll head to the batting cages this weekend. He played 'pitcher', short stop and first base. He's a pretty good infielder. Oh, and I say 'pitcher' because he doesn't actually pitch. For now, its machine pitch, but half way through the season they will have the kids start pitching.

That brings us all the way up to today. He had a game at 5 this afternoon. It was a fun and intense game to watch. They played the Astros. I don't think he struck out once. He played pitcher the entire game and made some pretty awesome plays too! He caught a pop fly, tagged a runner out at home and made countless plays first! Amidst all of his baseball greatness, he took a line drive to the forehead. He hit the ground, and laid there. It took a while for the coach to get to him and see if he was okay. I did his hardest not to cry and sat in the dugout for the remainder of the inning. The dad inside the dugout said, well the good thing is that you are okay, but the awesome part is that you have the seam of the baseball imprinted on your forehead! I totally thought that he was kidding, but yeah, he wasn't!! I took a picture once we got home since I forgot the camera. Oops. But, all in all, it was an awesome game (even though they lost) and I think that is the best he has ever played!! Enjoy the pictures!

Can you tell that it was super hot out today?

Closer look without the hat.

And an even closer look.

HaPpY eAsTeR!

We hope that everyone had a great Easter holiday. We had a fabulous one! Mark was able to make it home this weekend to celebrate with us. We were so happy and excited to see him, as well as thankful that he made it home safely. He got in around 10, Friday night and the next day we dyed our boiled eggs with the kids. We did it in the driveway because we knew they were bound to make a mess of it all. Ryleigh was probably the messiest of all. She opted to drop her eggs into the cups rather than dip them gently into the water. After that we, had lunch, took naps and headed out to the mall. I was in dire need of a haircut so I got one. We also needed to buy Taylor some baseball pants, socks and a belt for the baseball season. For whatever reason, his coach decided that it would be best for everyone to just buy their own things. Last year our coaches ordered from the catalog supplied by the little league and it came out to $16/player. This year it cost us $45 for the same amount of items. Not to mention the coach must not have any fashion sense at all because the uniforms are going to look ridiculous. The shirts are navy blue, the hats are navy blue, the pants are grey, the belts are navy blue and the socks are white. WHITE. White socks. It just throws the entire uniform off. Oh well. We bought Taylor long pants so you probably won't even see his socks. Okay, anyway, so after the kids went to bed, Mark and I got to work setting up all of their Easter goodies. They all had their own basket with their own personal things in it and then there was a bunch of stuff on the coffee table that was for everyone. They got Bedtime Stories (Mark and I really liked this movie!), The Secrets of the Furious Five, and The Tale of Despereaux, along with new play-doh, a dart board that the boys have been asking for, and some little toy guns that came along with the dart board. They also got 45 feet of drawing paper (each). Its basically like a 45 foot roll of a coloring book. They loved those. They each got new markers to go along with it. They also got new birdhouses to paint. I don't know why, but they really love painting birdhouses! Taylor got a set of practical jokes that he thought were hilarious. He got me with a fly on the toilet paper roll. I will say that he got me good on that one. Austyn got a miniature version of the "Gone Fishing" game where you have little magnetic fishing poles to catch the fish with. The boys also had these sling-shot airplane things that were a pretty big hit. Ryleigh got dress up jewelry and a cute bag. And then there were the hidden eggs. They each found a golden egg with a ribbon around it and they all had a $5 bill and a ring pop in it. The contents of the filled plastic eggs varied. Some had coins, while others had jelly beans or Reese's pieces in them. Overall the kids had a blast and really enjoyed themselves. Mark and I really enjoyed seeing them so excited over such little things. It was a great day and we were lucky to have him home with us. He did have to leave soon after. It won't be much longer before he'll be home again for a short week. Then he heads out to interview with the Blue Angels for a week, and then its off to the ship again. Wish him luck with the Blues!!! He's looking forward to it and I think he'll do a great job. He's pretty amazing at what he does anyhow, so I doubt that he won't do well! Enjoy the pictures. They are also posted on our Facebook.

Anger is Unhealthy, & I Can't Help But to be Angry!

So, there I was in our truck with Taylor, Austyn, Ryleigh, a huge suitcase, a bag loaded with Easter goodies, Mark's bike, blankets, games and snacks. We were driving to Fallon to visit with Mark. They are doing work-ups and I hate them. Basically it means that we get to see him 2 weeks at a time with runs months in between where we don't see him at all. Sometimes we aren't able to talk and have to settle for emails to communicate. Well, he's been gone for about 2 weeks now and we wanted to visit with him since Easter is coming up. We were to drive about 6 1/2 hours northeast to see our favorite man in the world. We traveled along the 99N until we hit the 80E. We already hit traffic twice before, so I was a little thankful that traffic was at a minimum. We were just trucking along (no pun intended), when we literally just hit a traffic jam. It was bumper to bumper and there were no signs of budging. We didn't move for at least an hour! We at least had a good time and cranked up the tunes and goofed around until my migraine would no longer allow me to listen to music at a deafening volume. I read somewhere that banana peels help to relieve headaches, and it just so happened that I had bananas in the car! I peeled one and stuck a piece of peel to my forehead. Taylor was embarrassed and amused and Austyn and Ryleigh thought I had finally lost it. I don't know how long you are supposed to leave the peel on your forehead, but it didn't help at all. During that time, a swat truck, about 10 or 15 highway patrol cars and sheriff cars and an ambulance all drove by. At first I thought maybe it was a very bad accident, but then realized; that many police cars and a swat truck don't exactly spell out fatal accident. One of the digital output signs was flashing saying "Turning all traffic 1 mile ahead." This wasn't good news for me. We only knew of a single way to get from point a to point b. We finally started moving along and were quickly detoured onto a road which led nowhere. Actually, it lead us back onto the 80...WEST. The complete wrong direction that we needed to go. After finding an AM traffic radio station, I finally figured out what all the hub-bub was about. Some lunatic con decided to hold his entire family hostage. I posted the article I found about it below. So, thanks to this "Jason" guy, I would be lost and forced to head the opposite direction of my destination. Mark didn't have the slightest clue as to where to go, nor did any of his friends. His suggestion was to find a gas station and ask someone for directions. That didn't sound like a plan or even a good idea at that point. It was cold and raining, the only gas station was a hole in the wall that had port a potties for restrooms and it seemed like everyone was in the same predicament as I was. Oh yeah, not to mention that I would have to drag my 3 kids around with me while I tried to rely on a complete stranger for sound traveling advice. I don't think so. So, I decided to utilize our OnStar services and called them for directions. I clearly stated that we were heading to Nevada and not California. They quickly had me back on the road with turn by turn navigation. What a life saver, right? That's what I thought. Well, the genius who helped me out must have accidentally set my directions to our account address instead of to NAS Fallon. I was heading south and didn't think much of it, because I knew I'd have to head south a ways in order to cut over to a sufficient route. Well, a couple of hours later, I am instructed to turn onto the 99S....this road takes me HOME! So, then I thought, okay, well maybe they are like really taking me a roundabout way. I called Mark and told him I was half tempted to just go home. He said he wouldn't blame me if I did at that point. Then I called my good friend Jessica and asked her how far Lodi was from Lemoore. Yes, I was a mere 2 hours from home. Are you kidding me? At this point, the kids were all sound asleep, I was irritated, aggravated, stressed, angry; anything negative, you name it. This was not turning out to be my day. The OnStar navigation told me that I had left my route and said it would come back on when I neared my route. Low and behold, it tells me to take the 41S, which again is straight towards home, and then it tells me to take the 198W, which heads straight for the base. Once on base, it tells me that I have now arrived at my destination. Are you serious?!?!?! Oh I was livid. That genius man who set up my directions deserves to be fired for sending me home instead of to my husband. I was beyond angry. So, I slept on it for the night and tried to recover from my migraine. Which, by the way was so horrible that I had to pull over to vomit. Appetizing, huh. When it rains it pours. So, this morning I called OnStar and their quick band aid fix is to give me two months free of service. Honestly I feel like I deserve a hell of a lot more than just two months of free service. A trip to Fallon, NV which should have taken me 6 hours took me 10 1/2 hours and the only place I went was home. So, do you see why I can't help but to be angry? All I wanted was to spend some time with my husband, but apparently the universe didn't want that to happen yesterday, so hopefully he can make it home to us for the weekend and for Easter. We miss him terribly.

I-80 Standoff Suspect Surrenders to Authorities

FOX40 News

April 9, 2009

NORDEN, Calif. (AP) - A man who had been holding his wife and three children hostage on a freeway near the Sierra summit has released them to safety before eventually surrendering himself, officials said Wednesday night.

The tense standoff with an armed man with a shotgun lasted with about eight hours and shut down the main northern artery linking California and Nevada near the summit.

Andrew Jason Rosas, 32, of Sacramento, released his family members first before finally surrendering peacefully to authorities, said Stan Perez, chief of the California Highway Patrol Valley Division.

"There were several heroes tonight," Perez said. "The SWAT team negotiators saved five lives, including the bad guy's. I've been doing this job for 32 years and to see the baby coming out in a blanket in the arms of a highway patrol man is what this job is all about."

Sacramento County Sheriff's Capt. Scott Jones said Rosas fled as deputies tried to arrest him on a warrant after his $70,000 bond was revoked. Rosas was scheduled for sentencing Thursday and faced more than 15 years in prison, Jones said.

After deputies spotted the man in his vehicle at a fast food restaurant, he led them and CHP officers on a chase that reached speeds of 80 mph, said Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. R.L. Davis.

A spike strip stopped his sedan on Interstate 80 near Norden, about 90 miles northeast of Sacramento.

Officers brought a relative from Sacramento to help in negotiations and Rosas released his wife and children, ages 14, 9, and 11 months, into the hands of CHP officers. Rosas surrendered about two hours later and the freeway reopened shortly after.

"They were feet away from a man with in shotgun and willing to risk their lives to save the children," Perez said. "It was a great day for the highway patrol."