Update

Lisa – First game in All-Stars at Centerville Invitational.  Practices have all been in the morning so most parents do not know the individual players and how good they are. Bottom of the first inning, Lisa gets up with two outs, no runs scored, runner on second and third.  Lisa has two strikes.  Everyone is a little discouraged because Lisa has two strikes.  The next pitch Lisa blasts a line drive over the left fielder's head for a home run.  The crowd reaction was funny because as Lisa stepped to the plate they were thinking “great, a girl hitter.” Then when she hit the ball hard it made a big "ping" noise and you could hear a big gasp from the crowd like everyone was shocked at how hard the ball was hit, and then finally everyone went bonkers as the runners cleared the bases.  It was a lot of fun.

 Eric- I thought Eric was the best hitter on his team. He really worked hard and stepped up his game.

Eric played his first flag-football game.  He played quarterback and for the first time in his life that I have observed, he got nervous and didn’t know what to do.  He had to have a little help from the coach and then he got it.  The highlight of the game was when he ripped off a 50 yard run.

 

David- It seems everyone knows who David is. People will come up to me and say we saw David do.....

Wendy- Wendy is amazing.  She really cares about the kids' school, and our community. Last week she was fighting a group popular with the City, County, and the media.  At church she was getting a lot of attention from people telling her she should run for city council.  This week a committee asked her to meet with them to give her views on a particular subject; the group really just wants her support.  She definitely has become well connected. 

Scott- Rambling about parenting-  Thinking back during my childhood, I always wanted to be seen with my Dad.  Even during high school.  If my Dad thought it was cool, then I usually thought it was cool, and didn't care what anyone else thought.  I need to figure out how to gain (or keep) that Rasmussen coolness.  Right now my kids think I'm cool,  but I don't know how long that will last.   At the same time, as a teenager, I didn't want my parents to be a best friend.  I wanted a parent.  I thought my Dad was cool yet at the same time there was no question he was the boss.  Both Eric and David are stubborn, have alpha male type personalities,  or whatever you want to call their personality.  Often the only thing they respond to is force or the threat of force.  David and Eric are both just completly different than Lisa. 

Wendy gets after both Lisa and Eric for playing the piano.  Lisa will take a 15 minute practice session and turn it into an hour just messing around.  She might play other songs, she might be reading other books, who knows what she does.  Eric will make a 15 minute practice session into an hour by trying to negotiate with Wendy why he only needs to play the song four times instead of five...

End of Season

Both Wendy and I were involved with Eric and Lisa's baseball team. We really like the parents and the kids.  I had fun running around with the kids.  Maybe I like it so much because it takes me back to my youth.  Most importantly, Eric and Lisa had a great time this season2.  This last year might be the only time they will play together on the same team.  It was a regular occurrence at the plate to have Eric hit Lisa home (when they  were not blasting home runs.)  It was fun to watch.   I made a lot of new friends and was able to keep in touch with friends from last year.  Both Bryan and Bobby were saying after one of the games about how much Eric’s hitting had improved this year.  I really like those guys.  The kids have made a lot of new friends too.  Lisa is a celebrity. It is fun watching both Lisa and Eric interacting with teammates.

  

David's new girl friend

 Lisa after the tournament.

Eric taking a swing

Eric Lisa Dad next to house in the shade.

Ryan rented the Farmington swimming pool for the team.  The kids had an awards ceremony and there was a lot of pizza.

Eric and Lisa on the same team. 

- Eric playing third base, catches ground ball and holds it up to the base runner daring him to run with the meanest look. 

               - One of the coaches think Eric runs his mouth  too much. Once the coach was telling him to get down on the ball and Eric started waiving his fist at him. 

Today's Thoughts...

Baseball has started.  Eric and Lisa are on the same team and it’s a lot of fun.  The team right now has great chemistry.  The coach is awesome. We have four assistant coaches.  I’m one of them.  The coach gave Wendy a copy of the rules and told her to memorize them today.  I’m not sure why Wendy was picked--maybe she looks smart.  Today after practice we were all just BSing about little league-- it was fun.  I like getting out there and playing with the kids.  One thing that is becoming apparent though is that Lisa and Eric are starting to go in different directions.  Last year I wanted Eric to play because I thought he was wimpy.  Now, he is tough, and he can more than hold his own with all the older kids he is playing with. But this is not in his blood.  Eric likes to socialize with the kids.  After he bats, if you watch him make his way around the bases, he gabs with all the different players at each base.  He likes to act silly and he acts up because everyone thinks he’s funny.  I want him playing so he knows how to work.  Both Wendy and I take pride that we worked hard to earn nice things without help from parents or anyone.  And we try to talk care of our stuff because we worked hard for it. I want my kids to understand the pride that comes from hard work.  Anyway, the kids do a lot of church stuff and I think those principles are important, but baseball teaches good worldly lessons.

Anyway, it was funny watching all the kids and what they wanted to do after practice:
 

Eric- He went inside to play the piano for a half hour and then asked if he could play a game with the periodic elements on the internet.

Lisa- She wanted to hit off the tee for a while in the backyard. 

David wanted to ride his bike.  (By the way, David was very excited to go to his first birthday party at the karate dojo today)

-Coach showing movie of Quin Buckner. 

-Giving the kids big league chew for answering questions correctly. Of course Eric tries to answer every question.  So does Lisa, she’s just not as obnoxious. 

Misc

New Years- David doubled over laughing. 

David celebrating.

David so tired he was sleeping standing up.  He was like that for at least an hour.

FHE activity- Lisa and Dad making cookies.

No pictures of Eric but he gave a great FHE lesson last week.  He has us all dress up and we acted out the story with Ammon protecting the King's sheep.

Ward Christmas Party 2013

 

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New Family Member

Meet our newest member of the family: Brown. 

His hobbies include playing the piano, looking up girls in the first grade year book, and word searches. He also begs for math homework on his days off.

He is rumored to be the 2nd cousin of Tom Selleck.

  Get some rest Brown.

Sour on Baseball

Eric is practicing with the 8u travel team right now.  The coach is so nice to us and so inclusive.  He even lets Lisa practice and makes a big fuss over her (make no mistake Lisa is good though).  Although it sounds fun as a parent playing games in St. George, Reno, and Las Vegas, I’m about to pull the plug on this whole thing.  Six year olds don’t need to be playing travel baseball.  Baseball has become ridiculous.  I only want my kids to be well rounded.  I’m not really sure what the end game is because I don't care if they high school baseball- I want them to play high school golf.  I wish I would have played golf in high school.  Golf goes with my world view of herding these cats into becoming engineers.  Anyway,  the kids are all having fun right now with all of the playing and practicing.  I'm having fun too.  I'm doing my best to keep it that way.  I love baseball and I don't want the kids burned out by age 10.

Lisa- Lisa is playing softball for the first time.  She likes it a lot.  She is making a lot of new friends and she is very good.  We should have played her up at 10u, but being the first time we did not know the level of competition.

David- is participating in the primary program this Sunday for the first time.  When I asked him what his part is he said: “The prophet has commanded us to pay his tithing.”

Wendy- has been busy canning salsa.  I love canned salsa!  We have three recipes we use that are all different. I can’t touch salsa sold in the store anymore.  Wendy has also been involved with some Farmington City issues.  I think she should run for City Council.

Dad- I feel lucky I have a job that requires no stress and only 40 hours a week.  

Also- another thing that makes me happy- I’m getting feedback that Lisa and Eric are very well behaved in school.  I expect this from Lisa, but I’m pleasantly surprised with Eric.

Biking Rant 

I was out on the Legacy Trail the other day when a group of 4 men on their bicycle started yelling at this woman on her bicycle as they passed her, I think, because she broke bicycle etiquette somehow.  Let’s get one thing straight. Biking takes zero athletic ability.  It’s something old people like me do to stay in shape.  It’s like bicycling is turning into the new church basketball.  They all think they are athletes. 

OK, yes I feel better now.