Here We Go Again!

Well, it looks like summer is going out with a bang and a very long catch-up  post at the Smith house.  I probably could have waited until at least the second day of school except that we are so excited that Grandma Smith is finally online that we had to update the blog right away on the off chance that she looks today to see what's shakin'  Go Grandma Smith!

We had so much fun this summer with friends and family.  Here we are with the delightful Dahls at Temple Square.  We haven't seen them in years and I will never go that long again.  We swam, we barbequed we went to Training Table.  Mostly we just talked and laughed.  Good times!

 Here we are in the Fabulous Phippen's bat cave, where the cousins retreat to compete in all things Wii.

Miranda and Becca.  Sweetest girls you will ever meet.

We have a lot of girl cousins and boy do they have a good time together.  Here are Bethany, Miranda, Amber, Susan, Anna, Sophia, Emery & Clara enjoying a yummy ice cream treat.

 
We have three new cousins this year and this is the oldest of them.  Lucy is darling, as are Rex and Athena who, for some reason, I did not get pictures of.

Lounging on the Phippen's front lawn before the long trek home.  We accidentally left without Aaron and got a whole block away before Uncle Chris called to bring us back.  We thought it was hilarious.  Aaron didn't think it was all that funny. :)

Meanwhile, on the home front, we celebrated the one year anniversary of the opening of our community center with games, food and rock climbing.  Amber was ready to go!

Look at that girl climb.  She actually got almost to the top, further than any of the other kids her age.  She is a beast!

And now we reach the baseball portion of our post.  (Of Course you knew it was coming!)  Aaron & Chad both played legion ball for La Cueva this summer.  Aaron's lasted a month and  Chad's lasted all summer.  He literally just flew home yesterday afternoon from California after their last regional game there.  He also played on the Eastdale senior all-stars team.  Both his legion and all-star team won state so they got to go to Texas and California for two different regional tournaments.  Fun!  Here are Alek, Chad & Justin at the Big Texan in Amarillo on our way to Seguin, just outside of San Antonio.  They were great travellers and even helped me drive.  We stayed with Aunt Jane and Uncle Carl on the way down and with Uncle Ben & Aunt Stephanie in San Antonio.  It was so much fun.  Uncle Dennis and Aunt Betsy were there too and Chad (and Aaron who was a sub for the tournament and even got to play right field for two innings) had the best fan club you have ever seen.

This was the field before the boys' final game.  They were undefeated but had to withdraw from the tournament before the final game because half of the team had to be back in Albuquerque by last Wednesday in order to hop a plane to California.  It was kind of a bummer because the team that they beat at this game ended up winning the regional tournament and going to the little league world series in Bangor, Maine.  Still, those boys played their heart out and they had a really great time.

 Isabelle, Grace, Abby and Bethany - the best cheerleaders a baseball player could ever have!

Chad celebrating in Ben & Steph's kitchen after their final game.  He was totally on fire this tournament.  Hitting is not usually his forte but he was batting something like .700 for the tournament and actually drove in the winning two runs of the game.  To set the scene, the score was 2-1 East Texas, top of the seventh, bases loaded and two outs.  Chad says that he decided right then and there that he would just try to smash the first fast ball that the pitcher threw to him and he did.  First pitch, he hit a line drive into center field, got a double and two RBI's.  He was so excited that he was literally shaking in the dugout afterwards when his cousin Gabe went in to get his autograph.  Now Uncle Dennis calls him "Thunder Bat".  Probably we should have ended the summer baseball season on that note but unfortunately he had to face some very good (like MLB prospect, apparently)  batters at the California regional tournament and he got a tad shelled.  He did get four strike outs in two innings however, so it wasn't a total loss. And as I told him, pitching to older more experienced hitters is really good practice for what is to come if he ever makes Varsity.

After the East Texas game, Bethany talked the boys into spending the following day at Six Flags so that she could get in some more cousin time.  Here are Gabe, Bethany and Isabelle in a tree at the park.

 And now, the fun is over.  Here are the elementary school girls getting ready for their first day.

And here is Amber in Mrs. Harris's class.  Let's hope she can keep that cute bum in a chair for 6 hours today.

Since Bethany is our only middle schooler this year, she has a little extra time in the mornings to get ready.  So, she and Dad are the breakfast crew in charge of getting the boys and the little girls to school on time.  After she is done, Bethany gets dressed, collects her things, meets her friends Taran and Alia and walks to Desert Ridge.  The boys left without pictures or breakfast this morning so I may go and take a picture of them in Sam's classroom after school today where they cannot escape until their homework is completely finished.  That is the new plan so that we can hopefully avoid any grade catastrophes like we had last year.  Look out 2012-2-2013 here we come!