Little League Opening Day

Baseball season is here.

Our family dedicates the months of March, April & May to baseball each year. This year, Spencer and Andrew are on the same team, the D'Backs in the Rookie division and Ty is on the Cubs in the Farm division.

The boys participated in Opening Day ceremonies by marching on the field in front of the spectators.

The D'Backs played their first game on the afternoon of Opening Day.

Andrew is one of the catchers on the team.

. . . and the future of Little League baseball.

Chiricahua Mountains

During Spring Break we snuck away camping to the Chiricahua Mountains with

the Farnsworths and Goeckeritzs.

After visiting just about every gas station between Phoenix & southern Arizona to fill up Lafe's tank, we arrived at the mountain range and located a fairly quiet, secluded campsite that was only occupied by two other parties upon our arrival. No sooner did we park our vehicles that 14 little kids went a scurrying around the campsite, kicking up dust and causing ruckus. We caused such a nuisance that one of the parties at the campsite packed up and moved to another campsite as soon as the sun came up the next morning.

We had a blast shooting arrows, playing with fire, riding bikes, and enjoying the beautiful country and weather.

We hike several trails that took us along some of the unique rock formations that have made the Chiricahuas famous.

Pinewood Derby 2009

This year's Pinewood Derby was one to remember. Both Spencer and Andrew participated. Hours were spent designing, cutting, machining, lubricating and polishing every part possible to maximize the speed of the car. This was Spencer's final race and he was hungry for VICTORY!

Spencer decided on a sleek design for minimal wind resistance.

Andrew opted for a car with a little more character.

On the 2nd race of the night and the first race for each of the boys, the luck of the draw paired Spencer and Andrew head to head (someone should have known better than to do that to poor old Dad).

The cars had a photo finish.

Andrew's car is on the outside lane, and Spencer's was in the middle lane. I figured Spencer's car would be somewhat speedy; however, I was pleasantly surprised that Andrew's showed some heart.

In the end, out of a field of 36 race cars, Spencer's finished runner-up to Zack Farnsworth (Spencer's cousin). Zack's dad, Dan Farnsworth, was a new comer to the race track and since I felt sorry for him, I took him under my wing and taught him several of the speed tricks. A classic case of the apprentice outdoing the master.

Andrew's car finished a respectable 6th place.

Happy 12th Anniversary

Every year that Amy agrees to stay married, she earns another flower. This year marks our 12th anniversary (February 22) and she received a beautiful bouquet of a dozen different colored roses.

Valentine's Day in the Snow

For Valentine's Day, we took a family trip to the snow just north of Stawberry with the Judds and the Brewsters. The snow was as thick as I had ever seen it and we had a blast.

Cardinals Rock

So the Cardinals didn't win the Super Bowl. We still took advantage of creating the memory of watching the team get off the airplane at Sky Harbor airport when they arrived home.