For the LOVE of the game!!

For the last 6 weeks our lives have been consumed with softball/T-ball!  Madison just finished up the season tonight.  I helped coach her team and loved every minute of it!  I love "ball season"!  It roots back to my childhood.  I love the "game time" feeling.  I love the the excitment after a good hit.  I love the competition!  I love that hot tired feeling after a good game.  I could go on and on...  

I decided to include a few pictures from the past in this post.  I enjoy looking back and recalling memories.  Softball/baseball  has been a part of my life since I can remember.  It is rewarding and fun to watch my own kids participate in the sport.  We want them to find a love for the game.  

I feel like Madison has come a long way this year.    She started to feel the "fire" inside!!  Although her batting helmet is still 2 sizes too big, the bat is as tall as her, and her strike zone is the smallest on the team....she is still a fighter and always plays her best.  She has developed some good skills and we look forward to next season!  Go Manti!

These pictures jump back and forth from the present to the past.  

Above... Madison with bat in hand.  

Below... Myself (with bat in hand) and my sister Kristeen back in the 1980's.

Above... Madison waiting for a ground ball on second base.

Below... myself going for a ground ball.  (I look like a boy, but that's OK.  I kind of was a Tom Boy!)

Above.... Madison's softball team 2009.  She is on the front row, second from the left.

Below... My softball team (year? close to 1982)  These pictures crack me up!  They really take me back.  Some of my best friends that I have to this day are right here in this picture. I am on the front row, last one on the right. We were the STARS!  (Nice brown uniforms!)

A few more memories....

My Grandpa Lloyd was always involved with my softball playing.  He helped with practices and was one of my most loyal fans.  That is him below hitting grounders to our team.

As I  mentioned before... my love for the game roots way back.  No one loves baseball more than my Dad!  He was dressing us in MLB uniforms and taking us to games before we could walk.   

He was my #1 coach!  Really!  He lead my team to a #1 position more than once!

I have the trophies to prove it!

He took his coaching job serious!  You could often find him on the third base line throwing his hat in the dirt, kicking it, and then stomping on it.  Sometimes he was on the ground in a sliding position yelling at us to "slide, slide, slide!"  I'll tell you what, every girl loved him as a coach.  We could throw a double play, end a run-down, steel bases, and slide like the pros!   
One of my last years in City League ball, Dad lead us to a State Championship. It is one of the happiest days of my life.  Those kinds of events are BIG in the life of a teen-age girl!  Here we are riding the fire engine through Manti City!!  Those were the days!
Now that I have reminisced...back to the present.  

Wish I had some old pictures of Andy playing baseball to post here with AJ's.  Maybe next year.  This was AJ's last year of T-ball--thank goodness.  It gets a little old after 3 years.    


He  had a fun time hitting, running, and socializing.  His most favorite part was the treat that he got at the end of each game!  

So, ball season is over for us this year.  Thank goodness we can still cheer for the Red Sox on  TV!