Josh's 2017 Baseball Season

Josh and his team had an amazing season! It was so neat to watch them really work on their skills and show visible improvement over time. They had a really rough start to the season - really rough. Add all those losses to all the rainouts, and things looked pretty bleak. Josh started really resisting going to practice and such. But about halfway though the season things turned around and they started winning - a lot! All the games, in fact! It was like a light clicked and they just got it.

They entered the league tournament ranked second - AND WON IT ALL! It was so exciting! The last game was especially exciting because it was against the team they played against in their very first game of the season - and lost to, 20-2. Ouch. So winning was especially sweet. Josh also batted in the winning run, which was great. He's become a pretty consistent batter.

There was lots of applause during the awarding of the trophies.

Coach Bob took the opportunity to give another pep talk - as he was wont to do all season. (He and Miss Paula really were great coaches.)

The mighty and triumphant Breakfast Optimist team!

This team was down a player pretty much most of the season, making their wins all the better! (You're supposed to play with 10 players - 4 in the outfield - but they usually only had 9. Two players quit coming at the beginning of the season, and sometimes people just couldn't make it to games due to prior obligations.)

Number one!!

This boy was so happy! But cool as a cucumber about it.

Waiting to get victory snow cones and to listen to one more pep talk from coach.

Coach Bob really did a great job with these boys. I really wish he were coaching Bronco league next year, but he's moving down to Pinto. Dang.

I really, really wish we could have ended the season there. But this weekend the county tournament started. The boys did great and won the first two games on Saturday. Josh even got injured during the first game, getting hit in the chest pretty hard by a ball he was trying to catch. He toughed it out and even helped get the last two outs of the game! And the second game was just as exciting, with Josh getting a great triple and helping with lots of defense.

Unfortunately, the next game was today - Sunday. And we just don't do sports on Sunday. We believe and try to keep the Sabbath day holy. This was really, really hard on Josh. He wanted to play in that game so bad! He cried, and was pretty grouchy on the way home, but to his credit he never asked to play. I tried on a couple of occasions to talk to him about it and why I know he'll be blessed through this sacrifice, but he wasn't that interested. (Mostly just mopey about the whole thing.) But that's just how he coped, and that's okay. Other stuff has been going on, and if he needs to cope this way, that's okay. I prayed all morning that he would be able to realize the blessings of this some time soon, or at least remember this day when he's older and see how keeping this commandment is a good thing. But I have to admit there were times today when I just wanted to say "Suit up and get in the car - we're going to the game!" Just because it made me sad to see him so sad.

Where am I going with this? I can't remember, mainly because it's bedtime and my kids are running around and interrupting me. I guess what I want to say is that sometimes it's just as hard to be the parent as it is to be the kid. But that I know if we do what we should we'll be blessed.

**Update: his team lost their first game on Sunday, making them come in 3rd place in the county. Not too shabby! Josh, of course, was upset and certain that they lost because he wasn't there. Ever humble, that Josh.**

Father's Day/Grandparents Roper Visit

We were lucky enough to have Dad and Susie come visit for Cole's baptism. It being Father's Day weekend made it all the better!

Cole was supposed to have a game on Friday night, but it got rained out. REALLY rained out - it was pouring buckets, and not just for a few minutes like I had thought it would. So we did the natural thing and went to Hu Hot instead! I tried to get a good picture of these two with Grandma, but as seems to be the theme of this trip, there was always one kid making a face or something.

Father's Day was good. In Primary our chorister did a game where 4 dads came in disguise (wrapped in sheets with paper bags over their heads, and crazy faces drawn on the bags) and the kids had to ask questions and guess who the dads were. The dads were told to disguise their voices, but this backfired in junior primary because some of those kids FREAKED OUT. One little sunbeam was so scared she had to leave the room!! This was hysterical and sad... but mostly hysterical. Tess finally guessed that one of them was Lance, and she was right, but Lance scared her so bad when he took off the paper bag that she started to cry and had to sit on my lap for the rest of the game while I played piano. Good times.

At home we had steak for dinner, per Lance's request. Can't go wrong with that! I tried to get some good Father's Day pictures, but as per usual not everyone complied. Josh was hiding behind the couch and generally misbehaving.

And then Cole decided to hide.

I probably took 30 of these pictures, and these 2 were the best. *sigh*

On Monday we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and go back to the art garden in Indy. It was a GORGEOUS day - low humidity, mid-70's, a lovely breeze.

But despite the great weather, Josh was In. A. Mood. It started with me making him sit with Tess and Cole in the back seat of the van so Grandma could have a captains chair and not be squished in the back. THE HORROR. How dared I??!?! You'd have thought we were torturing him. Perhaps we were. Still, he didn't need to be such a pill. (10 year old boys = very emotionally unstable)

Despite Josh's grouchiness, we still had a nice time. Yet another group picture with Josh hiding in the background - if you look reeeeaaalllly close you can see a glimpse of his orange shirt in the upper right. He was ducking so he wouldn't be in the picture. Stinker.

We eventually had a picnic lunch and then everyone seemed to mellow out for a bit. Maybe 20 minutes? Then Cole started to complain that he wanted to go home. Oh well, it was a lovely 20 minutes.

They all seemed to have a grand time scampering around this giant skeleton art piece.

There was also a little maze that led to this bench. Cole FREAKED out because we wouldn't cheat to get to it! Also, Tess and Spencer decided to scowl.

Then just Tess.

We walked for a bit through the forest and even ran into a couple of elders who we stopped to chat with. (One was leaving for home in 2 days!) We had time to take this picture and then it started thundering and raining and Cole got his wish to go home!

That night we had THREE little league games to sit through enjoy. Cole was in a tournament, and I have to admit we were kinda hoping he'd lose his first game so he wouldn't have a 2nd game. But wouldn't you know it, they won!

I honestly don't think he would have been that sad to lose. Baseball did not quite become a passion for the boy.

We enjoyed Costco hot dogs and some local root beer between games. Perfect ballpark food.

The boys lost their second game, which ended their season. I think they were all okay with that. They got to get their medals while being cheered on by parents.

Cole was so thrilled to get a medal! I'm pretty sure getting a medal was one of the reasons he decided to play this year!

His coaches were so patient with him. He is not an easy child to teach or coach. (Don't I know it!)

One last team cheer for Earl McCoy Law!

Right after this was Josh's game. It was an exciting game, way faster than Cole's. Josh did great and the team won, even after a rain storm that lasted a good 20 minutes in the middle of the game! I was thankful I had listened to the promptings of the spirit and had not taken the umbrellas out of the car as I had originally thought about doing right before leaving for the ball park! We all huddled under umbrellas and shivered while cheering Josh on. Dad and Susie were pretty good sports about it. (Dad lurves baseball in all shapes and forms and Susie loves Dad and her grandkids. It's a good combination that worked out well during this trip!)

Cole's Baptism

Cole's baptism was on Saturday and it went so very well! I couldn't have been more pleased. Unfortunately, that day was super busy with birthday parties, stake primary activities, and some craziness in the ward (which meant both Lance and the bishop were pretty stressed out), but everything turned out fine and it was a good evening.

A few weeks before the baptism I sent out this invitation/announcement. Good thing we had family and individual portraits taken recently, because Cole is not one to hold still for pictures lately.

Here is what the program looked like. We had to change it several times, and even print it twice. Even after all my careful editing, I still made one mistake - Lance didn't have to do the closing remarks. (Although I'm pretty sure the bishop would have gladly handed that responsibility over to him!)

Cole texted Dad and Susie to ask them to give the talks. (There was no way I was gonna get him to call them!) He also chose the rest of the people to help with the baptism. Since his brothers were giving the prayers, we had Tess hand out the programs. She was hard core about it and FORCED people to take them! (This was pretty cute!)

We took all of the usual baptism pictures and poses, per the request of my Grandma Roper. (I would have done this anyway, but her email was a great reminder of some of the groupings!)

Cole was pretty excited. However, I realized/remembered during the evening that he does NOT like to be the center of attention! (Pretty sure I was like that as a kid, too.)

Look at this cute brood of mine! They make a momma proud.

Lance is becoming an old pro at this! (Three down, one to go!)

I don't know what it is, but someone is always making an odd face or not smiling in our pictures lately. More often than not it's Tess. Oh well! For the rest of time her goofy faces will be on the interwebs! (And in Great Grandma Reva's family photo albums!)

We were so happy to have Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie with us! I really appreciate the time and effort it takes them to come out for things like this. I know Indiana is not exactly a vacation destination...

Their third grandson. (Or, as we like to call them, The Heir, The Spare, and Cole. Poor Cole.)

The baptism went really well, and Lance's confirmation was beautiful. After the baptism service we had lots of homemade cookies and milk. And I completely forgot to take any pictures of any of it! I was too busy chatting with my friends! But I did remember to snap a picture of the polar bear cookies I had made the day before.

Remember how I made shrimp-shaped cookies for Josh's baptism? Cole decided he needed personalized cookies as well, and polar bear cookies were the natural choice since my favorite nickname for Cole is Coler Bear.

I'm so pleased and happy and proud that Cole chose to be baptized. The bishop mentioned that when Cole had his interview he was really excited about it and ready to get things done. This doesn't surprise me. Cole has his moods, of course, but when he's ready and into it, he's all about getting stuff done and doing what's right. He is a really good kid and I love him so much!