Photos of Christine

Christine did not want me to buy the pictures we had taken by the photographer the school used for senior portraits. She felt they were a rip off and I have to agree! We went out to the local park and did our own photo shoot! Thank God for digital cameras! We took about 50 photos and got about 7 good ones!

Home Run!!

Kirby's First Home Run!

Kirby's AAU coach called Wednesday morning and said he had an picked up a brand new composite bat for someone but it was the wrong length, so he was selling it. I looked at Tim and said, "Does he REALLY need another bat?" (He had gotten two for Christmas and a big barrel a month prior!) We didn't talk about it again, but that evening Coach Berdine shows up to watch Kirby's game. His son Conner let Kirby borrow his bat, which is the same, and OF COURSE, Kirby hits his first home run. I turned to Coach Berdine, and said, "Now, I really do need that bat!" Kirby played another game this week and hit all the way to the fence two more times. One hit the top of the fence and decided to roll back into the field! ALMOST! Coach Berdine says we aren't allowed to use the bat against his Babe Ruth Team, which lead him to sneak into Kirby's bag and steal it before last nights game! Of course he was only kidding and Kirby did use it! As for Kirby, he is loving his bat, the length, and speed of his hits. He wants his lucky streak to continue so mom's not allowed to wash the uniform (it's been four games now), he's not taking off his lucky baseball underwear, showering, or washing his hair! He does not want his lucky streak to end!

My advice to you... stay far away from him until this tournament is over! The team greeting after the run!

A Fisherman's Tale?

A Fisherman's Tale?
We all know the ol' fisherman's tale. When dad said he went fishing with his ol' pal Tony and caught four huge fish, I didn't quite believe him. But then, mom showed me the pics, and holy moley--- they were huge! Nothing tops the last time they went fishing though. They reeled in a baracuda, but before they could bash it's head in, it started thrashing all over the boat. In a panic, someone threw a tackle box across the boat to kill the darn thing, but missed the fish entirely. Instead it landed on Tony's foot, and slashed his toe open.After they came ashore with their catch this last weekend, mom and kirby drove out to the beach for a cookout. I hear it was delicious!

Racing

As you may already know, my family is broke. We have no cash to even send me to college (if you'd rather me not work for minimum wage for the rest of my life at a Wendy's, you can send cash donations to our home address.) The reason for said brokery is due largely to my brothers racing "career" and my mother scrapbooking obsession, but sadly, only the former actually brings in cash and awards.

Shaughn recently received $600 for his latest racing accomplishments, which included not placing in last overall for the season (whooptidoo). Just kidding of course, I believe he came in second, or fourth, or eleventh, or twenty-third or something.
He also got another trophy for being able to drive up walls. WHOAMYGOD.

Just kidding, I was actually just too darn lazy to flip the picture.
I have no idea who this other random kid is, but whatever. Mom wants pictures on this blog, she's gonna get them.

Shaughn is currently preparing for the Winter Nationals, which means he's going to spend months working on a car that he's going to crash into a wall and my dad is going to moan and whine for a month. Wish us luck!

The family's latest project?

Last week, I (Christine, the new updater of this blog) decided that it was time to build a fully-functioning fire pit in our backyard. One of mom's millions of scrapbooking friends had just recently dug up 700 pavers in her backyard, and after hearing of our newest escapade, donated two truckloads of bricks.



We later learned that having a firepit in a residential backyard broke safety codes, so if anyone asks, our firepit is for religious purposes. I can now sacrifice goats to the gods!



In order to begin laying the bricks we had to find a way to level the ground. Dad came up with a complicated, inefficient, and rather idiotic way of attempting to smooth out the ground using string and thumbtacks. Against my protests, he was insistent that it would work. It wasn't until mom pulled out the home-improvement books that he abandoned his futile attempt in place of a screed--- a long 2x4 that we pushed through the dirt.



The firepit still isn't done, but once it is, feel free to stop by with any small animals you wish to give up to the gods.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I have done a great job keeping up with my Stampin' Up! blog but have really neglected my family one! My new years resolution is to keep this one up! We will see! This is Kirby and I toasting in the New Year! We lit some fireworks and shared some bubbly grape juice at midnight! Tim was on his way to London, Shaughn on his computer and Christine was celebrating with friends!

Yellowstone

The Grizzly Bears

After our bison sighting, we came upon three cars stopped on the road. A mother grizzly with her two cubs was walking along the road not 50 ft in front of us!! This was as close to them as we got because as soon as I took the picture they went up the hill!

The Bison

On our second day in Yellowstone National Park we had our first encounter with a bison! It came walking down the road ever so nonchalantly and holding up all the traffic! Dad rolled down his window a started clicking away with the camera, while mom and the kids were screaming,
"Roll up the windows!"

A mile down the road we found about thirty bison just hanging out at the Yellowstone River. It was neat to see them eating and drinking.

By the end of our trip we had conquered our fear of the bison... That is pretty easy when you see the Park Ranger in the middle of the road with tons of bison all over! Hey, there are only three recorded deaths due to bison at Yellowstone. Our chances weren't that great! With Tim at the wheel, we had a better chance of driving off the mountain!

Fishing!