A new job and a trip to Moab--look at Doug!

I think I can safely speak for Doug when I say, "hallelujiah!"  He got a new job withing TIAA-CREF and couldn't be more excited!  He's moving to a whole different side of the company and will now be involved in the area that works directly with their institutional clients vs individual investors.  He'll set his own hours and eventually even work one day from home and even got a nice little raise.  Wohoo!!

Right after finding out about the job, he took off with some buddies to go mountain biking in Moab--a trip that was almost foiled by landing the new job.  Fortunately, it all worked out and he got to go.  I've never seen him so tired as he was when he got back, but he had a blast.  I could have done without the details of the steepness of some of the terrain, but he came back in one piece!  I'm also very grateful he snapped a few photos.  :)

 

Bleacher butt

Instead of our annual trip to Scottsdale, I got a severe case of bleacher butt for spring break instead.  I figured out that between two baseball games and Kaiya's state meet, I sat in the bleachers for 16 hours.  No wonder my back hurts.  I wouldn't be anywhere else, though.  Nothing is more rewarding than being a baseball mom or gym mom and soon, I will also be volleyball mom again.

The first game of the week was unbearable in terms of the weather.  It was raining throughout the entire game and by the time it was over, I couldn't feel my toes or fingers.  Cooper finished and said he never got cold once and couldn't figure out why I was freezing.  Really?  He played really well but was still due for his first hit, which he got at the very next game at a field in the middle of nowhere between our house and Greeley.  Beautiful field built by some clients of my dad's who own a turf farm.  Not only did Cooper catch well, but he had a stand up double to get the monkey off his back.

Then, over the weekend, Kaiya had her Level 7 state championships.  She competed on Saturday, but her good friend that moved to Arizona just two weeks prior to the meet flew in for the weekend and competed on Sunday.  Another friend also stayed with us to rescue her from bleacher butt watching her brothers play baseball, so that meant three heads of hair to do before the meet, plus I worked half of Friday and Saturday night.  Whew!

Miss Kaiya had a great meet.  With the exception of beam, she scored CAREER bests on the other 3 events.  Not season bests, but career bests.  She just looked amazing out there.  She started on floor and was solid earning a 9.20.  Next was vault and I've never seen her be so aggressive.  Another 9.20.  Then bars was next and she ROCKED it.  It was truly gorgeous.  Hit everything as well as she could and went 9.50.  She ended up falling off the dreaded beam, but still pulled out a 35.5 AA score.  She supressed her tears about beam and after a little convincing, she finally understood what she had accomplished. She placed 5th on bars and 8th on vault.  Just a few short months ago, she stood in her coaches' office and heard them say she just wasn't ready for level 7 yet.  Boy did she prove them wrong!  I got a very nice message from her coach saying she was so proud of Kaiya and that meant the world to Kaiya.  We now get an 8 month break before competition season again and now she begins training for level 8.  It never ends.  I will try to post some videos, but the gym was horrible for filming.

Opening Day

Opening Day in Colorado has become somewhat of a state-recognized holiday.  The home opener is always on a Friday a little after noon and turns lower downtown into a huge party.  This year, Cooper and I went just the two of us thanks to my dad and we had a great day together.  I needed a redemption after forgetting my ticket at home last year and missing most of the game.

We got there early enough to see all of the on field ceremonies, including the introduction of the players from the inaugural game 20 years ago.  I remembered a lot of them and then started to feel really old.  That actually happens to me a lot lately.

I'm so grateful that I was taught to know and love the game of baseball because it has given me a connection with my son that I might not otherwise have.  I love that we can discuss the game, the players, the strategies and the outcome and I actually sound intelligent.

Thanks for giving up your seat, Papa, and for giving us a great day together!