CHAMPIONS!!

Our softball team went undefeated this season! Yahooooooo! Here we are with our super-cool monster trophy! :)Eric and I play on an adult coed softball league in SLC every year...it is a blast! The team pretty much consists of both of our families which makes it extra fun! My siblings Mindy, Griff and Matt (Amy opted out this year) play as well as Eric's sibs Caitlynn, Jesse, and Bryan...which makes up most of the team! Other players include close friends so it is so much fun. Eric and I both have been playing on the city leagues for years - even before we met. We both want to continue playing every year as long as we can. Last year I couldn't play since Gabe was born mid-season. (I actually went into labor on a game night so I think we forfeited since pretty much the whole team was at the hospital waiting for his arrival! We have the best family!) So anyway, I was excited to be playing this year again. Honestly, I'm nothing to brag about but Eric is another matter....he is our heavy hitter! When he hits it out (which is often), that ball is gone! All the guys are awesome hitters though... wow... and every single person is great in the field too... those other teams didn't stand a chance! Ha ha, I'm just kidding - we actually had a run for our money last week! :) We pulled through at the end though and it ended up being one of the funnest games since it was so intense. Matt gets nasty rash burns almost every game from sliding and Griff even dislocated his shoulder this season! Then waited, with it hanging there, for Mindy to bat so we wouldn't take an out!! Now that is dedication! (Although he deeply regretted that decision by the time they got the hospital and he was in such agony - what a guy, though!) Honestly, this is one of our favorite things to do and we look forward to it every spring. Now we are all ready for the super tournament in Magrath (Canada where my grandparents live) this summer - it's next week and we are all revved about it! In case your wondering about our team name...that was our manager Josh's doing (Eric's good friend) - he has a very unique sense of humor...:)Some shots of Eric and Matt in action... Our fans...:) They come every week to support us and are one of the reasons softball is so fun! I was bummed to realize I didn't have a picture of Eric's dad Don with his dog Max - they come to every game too!

TJ, Mom and Dad

Cheryl with the 2 babies Wesley and Gabe

Amy and Wesley (with Matt)

Timpooneke

Last Thursday through Saturday we spent camping at Timpooneke with almost my whole family. Not everyone could get out of work on Friday but the evenings and Saturday were a blast with everyone there. Lucky for Gabe and I, we got to spend every day up in the mountains with my parents and Mel's older boys. The nights were a different matter...after our nightmarish experience with Gabe screaming all night last weekend, we opted out of the sleeping part of camping and drove home each night. Luckily it's only a 20 minute drive home - perfect! (Eric actually chose to sleep over with Denali on Friday night - what a diehard camper!) Mom came home with us to sleep each night too since she is recovering from yet another surgery. She is such a FUN mom and such a good sport to want to camp after all she's been through! Dad set up a screen tent for a shady, relatively clean spot for the babies to play and the adults to read and hang out...it was great!

*Here is a pic of the girls relaxing in the screen "playground"! Then Mel, Cannon, Gabe and Bridger. Then two of just the little guys: Wesley, Gabe and Cannon - the second pic in their smaller, yet even cleaner "playground"! :) The last is Mom relaxing in the tent trailer with Gabe and Bridger.

Timpooneke equestrian campground is awesome. Matt brought the four horses again and we had so much fun riding...I had forgotten how much I love the feeling of riding through the mountains horseback. It's exhilarating! I hadn't been for over a year since being pregnant and having a newborn aren't very conducive to horseback riding! I'm happy to be back in the saddle this year! :) The trails there are breathtaking...literally! One ride was along the ridge back of a mountain so you are pretty much riding along this narrow trail that feels like you are on top of the world! There were extremely steep, wooded slopes on either side and the views were gorgeous... Mount Timp towering over you and mountains as far as you can see in every direction. It is impossible to explain how beautiful it was...and how nerve racking to be up so high! As long as I didn't look down the slopes on each side, I was fine though!

Gabe loves the horses too...he points as soon as he sees them (pic with Connor) and wants to go pet them. He was doing great as we went down the row letting him point and pet each horse until we went past Chief... Chief is very affectionate and kept nuzzling the back of Gabe's head as he was trying to see Coal Train and Rio. Or maybe he just loves Gabe because when Gabe would move on, he would strain his neck as far as he could to get to Gabe! Either way, Gabe did not appreciate it! :)

...and here are two more cute pictures of our weekend adventures...

Daniels Canyon

This past weekend we went camping up Daniels Canyon - it was absolutely beautiful! Matt, Amy and little Wesley joined us...we had a blast! Matt brought their horses as well, which made the entire trip 100 times better too. We all LOVE horseback riding...including Gabe! He got his first ride last weekend - yahoo! Matt has Missouri Foxtrotters, which are gaited horses so riding them is smooth. (Not like riding a quarter horse that is so bouncy you feel like your insides are shaken loose. :)) We took the horses up into the mountains without even a trail so they had to pick their way over deadfall and rocks but the country was gorgeous. It felt so good to be up in the mountains with all that fresh air, surrounded by forests of quaking aspen and pine trees. It was a wonderful break from the scorching, dry heat around here. Scott and Cami, friends from our neighborhood, joined us on Saturday with their two little girls. We had a lot of fun riding (albeit poor Scott was violently allergic to the horses), shooting clay pigeons and having a target contest with Matt's trusty, old .22 rifle! Everyone there were really good shots, although no one beats Matt...he's a real gun slinger! (no seriously, it's scary how good he is!) Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the shooting contests - they were a lot of fun.

Denali was having the time of her life! She absolutely LOVES the horses. As soon as she gets around them, she gets so excited she jumps up at their faces and won't leave their sides for the duration! Luckily for her, they tolerate her and a few even seem to enjoy her company. When we aren't riding, Nali will even lay down under where they are tethered. Once I looked over and one horse was leaning down and nipping (with lips, not teeth) Denali's ear as she lay below him - it was pretty funny. Denali's even been stepped on (by accident of course) while we were riding but she still sticks to those horses like glue. They are her pals for sure!The night before we went camping, we went up the canyon for a campfire and hotdog roast with Matt, Amy, Mindy, and Griff. We had planned on going camping that night but couldn't find a spot so we decided to have a campfire anyway. Here are some cute pictures from that night. We were sad Mindy and Griff couldn't join us camping but Mindy had to work and poor Griff was recovering from a dislocated shoulder. (He dislocated it at our softball game the previous Wednesday - what a dedicated player, sacrificing his body for the team!)
And here are our cute boys... loving every minute outside in the mountains!

Lake Powell!!

Like they say, a picture says a thousand words! :) Does that look like one happy baby or what?! Gabe looked a little hot on the boat so I soaked his hair and let the wind have it's way with it...and he loved it! :)

Eric and Gabe both got to experience Lake Powell for the first time! Yahooooo! We had such a blast! Mindy and Griff invited us to join Griff's family on one of their many trips to Lake Powell every summer...what a great family Griff has! We had SO much fun playing, playing and playing some more! There was so much to do...hanging out on the house boat, flying off the slide, playing games, boating, swimming, the Launch Pod, the water weenie, tubing, the air-chair, knee board, skiing, and of course, most importantly...wakeboarding! :) And no, we didn't actually have the time or energy to participate in every one of those things ourselves in our 3 short days there- but believe me, we did most of it and every one of my screaming muscles can attest to that!

Go Eric!! He had so much fun showing us some leg while he ripped up the wake! :) What a jokester! The water weenie was Eric's favorite but I never got a picture of that, dangit!

Gabe was such a good sport. He didn't look too comfortable in his life vest but he didn't complain about it - what a sweet baby!

It was Mindy and Griff's baby's first time at Lake Powell too! You are so cute pregnant, Mindy!!

I brought this floating crab for Gabe thinking he would love it and never want to get out...well that's not exactly how he felt about it! As you can see he hung on to me for dear life screaming like I was going to push him out into the lake as fish bait! Needless to say, that poor crab got about 1 minute of lake time!

And here is Gabe sleeping with his fat little tummy hanging out if his jammies! Since it was still hot when he went to bed, I would unzip his jammies then zip them up later when it cooled off. Gabe slept on top the house boat with everyone and for the most part did great. It took some adjustment to be able to fall asleep with all the talking and noise going on but our little man is a trooper!