Emma's Birthday Party

Myah and the birthday girl Emma!
Blowing out the candles!
Myah loved baby Avery!

Dayton loves Vipers and Gary works for Chrysler and this is one of the perks, getting to drive a Viper convertible home!

This past weekend we spent up north at my parents house swimming and boating on the lake. It was a blast! This was the first time that my whole family has been together in a long time. Unfortunately, I took no pictures, just video! My kiddos just love being at the lake, Dayton has grown up fishing off of my parents dock and he is always begging us to go get some "crawlers" when we get into town. Myah is like a little fish in the water, she loves swimming off of the boat and is always the last one to come out!

We had to leave early in order to make it to Emma's 3rd birthday party. Emma and her parents Gary and Candy were in our travel group when we went to China. She and Myah are from the same orphanage. It is always a treat to see anyone from our group. Emma's exciting news is that she is a big sister now! Gary and Candy were surprised to find out that they were pregnant after many years of infertility issues, Emma was their first child and now they welcome little Avery Rose. She was born just a few weeks after we had our Gotcha Reunion, she arrived about a month early but is doing wonderful. Emma is doing wonderful as a big sister. She is the first big sister in our group! Candy was up north at her parents when she went into labor, she didn't have her regular doctor or anything familiar but her family was with her, and Gary made it in plenty of time. He said that inside the hospital was a statue of a mother and a child that was very similar to the statue in the courtyard at the orphanage where our girls lived, he said it was like a red thread moment to see the similarities. Congratulations to their sweet little family!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately but we have been finally enjoying our summer now that baseball is over.

Last Wednesday was my birthday and I had a busy day but it was still special. We went out to Outback for dinner, my favorite, and we came home and had cake and ice cream with our neighbors. Mark had bought me a dozen white roses and arranged them himself, I actually thought he purchased them in a vase, that is how good they looked! He had got off at 3 am that night and said he was arranging them at 4 am, so that I would see them when I woke up, what a guy. He always buys me white because that is what I carried in my wedding bouquet, so sweet that he still remembers the details. He had bought me my new zoom lens before we went to New York and I also ordered this necklace at an art fair with both Myah and Dayton's names on it. I have seen these and really like them and this woman was charging a third of the price that I have seen so I ordered one for my birthday and she had it to me in 2 days! I also received some birthday money so I went out yesterday and did a bit of shopping and chose a new label maker, someone broke my old one and I label everything so this was a necessity! I also bought a laminating machine, Costco had both of these items for under $30 and I was so excited. My family loves to laminate things so I figured it was about time I had my own. I also bought a nice book for my camera to help me learn how to use all the features! My favorite purchase was the new Colin Cowie book, I saw him on Oprah and I loved that episode, this is pretty much everything he talked about on there, I have wanted this for a while so I figured my birthday was a big enough occasion to splurge on it. Thank you everyone for your sweet bday wishes, I laughed that some of you couldn't believe that I am 38, you are all way to kind!!!! I feel every bit of it!

38 Candles

It is midnight and I can hear the clock chiming 12 times. That means I am a year older today. My goodness, time is sure flying! I can never go to bed before midnight on birthday eve, so I am off to bed now, I have a busy day ahead of me, Dayton's golf lessons in the morning and my own physical therapy appointment, then we can celebrate! I really don't like my own birthdays, I have a hard time deciding what to do, Mark always lets me plan my day and I get all jumbled up trying to figure out the best way to spend my day. Hopefully it will be low key and we can get caught up around here, being away on vacation is still catching up with me! Happy Birthday to my little buddy Nick too, we share the same date! I can't wait to eat some cake tomorrow!! P.S. I had to put my new favorite song on for today!

Happy Birthday Mom, a week late!

I missed my mom's birthday post last week because we were on vacation with the horrible internet service, so I wanted to wish her a happy belated birthday a week late! We love you mom and Grandma! Tomorrow is my birthday and I always feel like we share it as well, she did all of the work to bring me into this world! Hopefully we can celebrate both of our big days this weekend!

We're Baaaack!

In front of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown New York
The Hall of Fame full of bronze plaques of honorees like Babe Ruth, Cal Ripken, George Brett, and tomorrow Goose Gossage.

Hall of Famer George Shuba with Dayton

Goose Gossage patting Yogi Berra on the back, they were both signing autographs.
The Goose!
Dayton being called out on to the field during the Youth Hall of Fame ceremony.
Dayton with his Hall of Fame ring.

We just arrived late tonight and I cannot express how thankful I am to be home. We had a great time, the experience was something we will never forget. It poured rain for most of the time, we were miserable and had many rain delays. It finally cleared up yesterday and we were able to enjoy the area, closing ceremonies and fireworks. The 10 hour ride home was brutal but better than the trip out. For those of you wondering where we were, we were in Cooperstown New York, the birthplace of baseball. Each year 12 year olds from around the country are invited to attend a week long tournament, at the end of the tournament the boys are all inducted into the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. This happens every week for 13 weeks. Our week ended up being very special because it is the same week as the National Baseball Hall of Fame inducts its new honorees. So we were in town with many of the Hall of Famers. One of the highlights of our trip occured yesterday when we were able to get pictures of Yogi Berra and Goose Gossage. Goose is the only pro player being inducted this weekend. It was so cool! That little town got into my heart this week. I like baseball but this really made me fall in love with it. Cooperstown is adorable and we had a memorable time. Dayton played at a beautiful baseball facility in the mountains called the Cooperstown Dream Park. It is huge and family run. Each day we drove down our mountain to attend the games and then afterwards Dayton would go back with his team. It was kind of hard to not get to talk to him very much this week but the last few days he was able to stay with us so we could do some sightseeing. Their team didn't do too bad and actually won a few games. We beat the team from Hawaii the other day and their boys handed our boys necklaces that their mother's had made. It was very touching, our boys were exposed to so many different cultures and personalities this week.. Dayton said it best yesterday when he said he didn't want it to end. Our families and friends were able to watch a live web cam of a few of his games and that made it even more special. It was worth standing in the pouring rain, 5 hour rain delays, sleeping in a 2 room cabin on a mountain top, no tv for a week and living in a remote little town for a week.

It is getting late and I have more to post but I wanted to put up a few pictures at least tonight. Tomorrow is the Hall of Fame Inductions and Goose Gossage will be there so I thought it would be appropriate to honor both of our Hall of Famers!

Opening Ceremonies and First Game

There were 98 teams around the field

It is like Where's Waldo!

Our old team was cheering for Dayton as he walked by with our team

Dayton's team walking into the stadium.

Last night we attended the opening ceremonies for this tournament and it was a night I am sure none of us will ever forget. There are actually 98 teams here. The teams were all paraded in and I was so touched when our old team (from our hometown) cheered for Dayton as he walked by. It was such a neat experience for the kids. He is doing great in the dorms, even eating foods that he would never even try for me. My parents and friends were able watch on the internet his first game broadcasted live, you gotta love technology! His second game was called because of a bad storm and now will be made up at 8 am on Wednesday for those who are wondering. It is very strange having virtually no contact with him at all and only getting to visit with him during his game and while he is walking back to the dorms. He gave us a bit of good news when we saw him today, his one tooth finally poked through that was pulled over spring break, so that means no surgery to bring it down! Yeah! The orthodontist will be happy about that!

Here are a few pictures from the past day and a half, I hope you enjoy them! Little Myah is loving it here and won't take the baseball jersey off, she wore it again today! She is missing Dayton though! Tomorrow night we can check him out and he will stay with us. Did I tell you that we are staying in a campground on the top of a mountain. In a little cabin in the woods. When we came home tonight, there was no power due to the storm. Uh oh, we might have to rough it!!!!! Yikes!! It did eventually come on Thankfully!!!!

Well, it is getting late, just wanted to quickly post some pics for you all.

***this was yesterdays post, the internet is very slow up here on the mountain!

We Made It!

That's my "brudda" she says!
Dayton's home away from home for the week! There are several rows of these.
Pin trading with other teams.
Go Bulldogs!
Doesn't he look thrilled to have mom taking his picture! Everyone here is issued 2 uniforms, a red and a blue. It is hard to figure our who is who!

Oh my goodness what a drive! 10 hours in our new little car with all of our junk was no picnic! Especially through the mountains and hills. It is beautiful out here though! We are in the mountains and the place is pretty amazing. So quaint but it is all about baseball here! Dayton has gotten settled into his "dorms" and we are in our cozy cabin at the campground. It was funny when we pulled into the campground our friends from our old team (and schoolmates of Dayton) were all by the pool, it was like driving into home, so funny! Dayton has been trading pins and he has collected them from all over the US. There are 96 teams here this week! Such an experience for him. There are 3 teams just from Hawaii! The internet is really slow here so I am not sure how many pics will upload but I wanted our family and friends to see where we are. We leave in half an hour to watch opening ceremonies and the skills competitions. Myah had to have a matching jersey today, she actually begged for the baseball pants too, she said "mommy, I want the little tiny pants!" After this week full of baseball I pray that I can convince her to take dance class, I might not get my wish!