All-Star Game... This Time for Brianna!

We received a phone call one night last week telling us that Brianna had been selected for the All-Stars team for the Floyd Youth Softball League! The game was held tonight after the Awards Ceremony for the season. First, Brianna got a trophy for her team performance throughout the season, then she played the All-Stars game and came away with a medal for that! There were four girls from her team that were selected to All-Stars! Brianna's All-Star team did end up losing the game, but it was a really good match up of players from all the teams in the League! Brianna didn't get any home runs in this game, but she did get 2 singles and a double and scored 3 runs in the game! I have posted some pictures from the Awards Ceremony and the All-Stars game... Way to go, Brianna!!!

Here is a picture of Brianna before the All-Star Game and one with her team trophy!

The Deck Is Done!!!

As most of you already know, CJ and I (along with help from the kids!) have taken on the project of building a deck this summer. We started it on Father's Day and finally finished it this week on Monday night!! Wow!! I know it seems like it took us a long time, but it really didn't... we were only able to dedicate 3-4 full days of working on it , along with a few hours here and there each week. Most nights were impossible to work on it because of the kids' ball games, or because of our work schedules! Anyway, the project is now complete and we consider ourselves very proud to have built something all by ourselves!!!

The previous deck that was already on the house was only 4' X 20' and ran along the length of the house towards the back yard. It was rotting and falling apart and I never liked it because it was too small to do anything on and it also had no way of getting to the back yard. If you walked onto it, you had to turn around (or back up since it was so narrow!) and go back to the front of the house and around the other side just to get to the backyard. I told CJ that if we ever put another one up, I wanted it bigger and I wanted steps going down to the back yard. Well, with this deck, I got both things I wanted! The new deck is 8' X 20' and we put some steps going down the back! Since this deck is sitting over a "hill" that runs down to a retaining wall, we had to build a level platform of some sort for the steps. This is where our wonderful friends, Tom and Sara helped us out! Tom was in the landscaping business for 10+ years, so he was a real lifesaver here because we didn't have the first clue on how to go about doing this!

As you can see from the pictures, Tom did a really great job of creating a landing for our steps... and CJ, the kids and I did a great job of building this deck, if I do say so myself!! Check it out!!

Little League Baseball State Tournament

We left Friday morning and journeyed down to Des Moines for Zach's State Tournament! The first game was scheduled for 6PM on Friday evening against Johnston. We ran into rain about halfway to Des Moines and it rained the rest of the drive there -- needless to say, by 4PM the game was cancelled for the evening and the boys had a free night! Most of them went to the new Jordan Creek Mall and saw Batman -- this movie is 3 1/2 hours long, so by the time they got back to the hotel, it was almost curfew (10:30)! Zach said the movie was okay, but he did start to get bored and tired... he thought it was too long. Brianna wanted to go swimming, so CJ and I sat around the pool with all the other parents of younger children who wanted to swim also!

Later on Friday night, CJ and I went to Ames to pick up my brother, Derek, when he got off work. He wanted to come down and see Zach play, so we went and got him since Ames is only 30 minutes away. Of course, when we got back to the hotel, we stayed up way too late visiting and had a little trouble get up to the alarm when it went off at 7AM!! The hotel had a free breakfast buffet from 8AM - 9AM that was really good! Then we had to get ready and be out at the ball park by 11AM. My sister, Jenny, and her fiancee, Matt, and all the kids came down for the tournament also. They showed up just before the first game started! Zach's Morningside team played Indianola for the first game and won 4 - 1. Zach did an awesome job at 1st base, and he batted a double and a single when he went up to bat! Morningside played Dubuque for the second game and won 7-3. Zach played 1st base, then pitched during the last inning! He did a great job at both! My cousin, Amy, came to this game since she only lives about 10 minutes from the ball field! We finally got to meet her boyfriend, Joe... a really nice guy! It was so good to see them and visit while watching the game! Zach kinda remembered who Amy was, but Brianna doesn't remember... this only means we need to get together more often!!

After the game, the team went to Hooters to have a late supper. Derek really enjoyed the waitresses and the service, not to mention the view... if you know what I mean!!! While we were in there eating, it started to downpour... buckets and buckets of rain coming down! When we were leaving to go back to the hotel, the parking lot was such a "raging river" from all the rain coming down that I almost lost my flip flops trying to run!! What a mess! We thought for sure the games for Sunday were going to be cancelled, but when we got up in the morning, we were told the games were still on as scheduled! Surprising, since it rained more on Saturday night than it did all day Friday. I think they didn't want to postpone any more games and have the tournament run into Monday, when most people had to be back to work, etc.

Morningside played their "makeup" game at 10AM Sunday morning against Johnston. We started out really well, keeping them from scoring the first 3 innings and the score was 2-0. It was really hot and humid out there with no breeze whatsoever. By the 4th inning, we started making errors in the outfield and Johnston just took over the game. We ended up losing 11-4. We still made it into the Championship game since we only had one loss! We ended up playing Johnston again for the Championship -- needless to say, Morningside lost 8-4, but it was a really good game! Zach played awesome at 1st base, got a double and finally got his homerun his last time up to bat!! He brought 2 runs in with this homerun! Way to go, Zach!!! Nothing like waiting till the last minute!!! Johnston has a very good ball team... their high school team is ranked #1 in the state and are undefeated this season! So Zach's team didn't feel so bad losing to them! Now baseball season is over for Zach and we were on our way back home while Johnston is on their way to Regionals in Fort Wayne, Indiana!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Saw some really good ball games and spent time with family! Who could ask for more, right??!

Iowa District 6 Champions!

Zach had the All-Star District Championship game last night! What a game!! Both teams were "neck and neck" up to the 6th inning! The score was 1-1 at the end of the 1st inning; 2-2 at the 2nd inning; 3-2 at the bottom of the 3rd, with Morningside (Zach's team!) taking the lead. I had to leave the game when the 4th inning started because I had to take Brianna to her swim lessons. She couldn't miss this night because they were testing over everything she has learned. She had to be there to see if she could pass the class or not. While sitting at swim lessons, my sister Jenny kept me updated with texts and phone calls! The score became 5-4 in the 5th inning, with Morningside still in the lead. Morningside then ran away in the 6th inning with 4 more runs, making the score 9-4. We had "last at bat" so once Headid went up to bat at the top of the 7th inning and didn't score any runs, we had the game won! Zach played really well and got a lot of doubles when he went to bat! I got back to the ball field right after the game was over and we had a meeting about the State Tournament, which starts this Friday in Des Moines! Wish Zach and his team well!! We will update this blog again with the results of the State tournament when we get back!State Bound, Baby!!!!

All-Stars...

Zach's team beat Lawton-Bronson on Sunday night! The final score was 16-4... still no home run from Zach. He did get a single and a double and brought several runs in, though! Since Morningside remained undefeated during this tournament, they will be playing in the Championship game tonight! Three other teams ended up in a 3-way tie for 2nd place (their tournament records were 3-2) so 2nd place was determined by which of these teams gave up the least amount of runs. We will be playing Headid (from Sioux City's northside) for the Championship! Go Morningside!!!

All-Stars Update...

Zach has played two more games since the last All-Stars posting. On Friday night, Morningside (Zach's team) played against Headid (a Sioux City team) and beat them 12-5. Zach struck out once at bat, mostly because the other pitcher was a lot slower than what Zach is used to. He did manage to get a double and a single his next few times at bat. Two of Zach's friends on the team got home runs during this game, but we are still waiting for one from Zach!

Today, Morningside played Northwest (another Sioux City team) and this game was just miserable! We had them 10-runned by the time the 3rd inning started, but we had to play out the whole 5 innings... the final score ended up being 22 - 1. Zach got a single, a walk, and a double -- this last hit looked like it was going to be a home run, but it dropped just inside the fence out in center field! Darn it!!!

Morningside has one game left in this district tournament. Tomorrow night they will play against Lawton-Bronson. Since Morningside is the only team in this tournament that is still undefeated, there is a pretty good chance they will be playing in the Championship game on Wednesday night. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Let's Play Ball!

All-Stars Baseball has finally started for Zach! It was supposed to start last Sunday, July 6th but there was a rain delay due to severe thunderstorms coming through the area. We had a tornado touch down on the north side of Sioux City that afternoon in the Stone State Park area. Rain continued on Monday morning, so all games scheduled for Monday night had to be postponed because the fields were too wet...


Zach had two games last night. The first game was against Hinton... Zach's Morningside team won the game 14 - 2! I don't have any "stats" or details since I didn't get to go to the games. Brianna was home sick with the flu so I stayed home with her! Morningside played their second game against Westside (another Sioux City team) and won this game 18 - 2! Way to go Morningside! Still no home run for Zach, but he did get a triple with two runs batted in!! If this keeps up, we could be looking at a trip to State! Woo-hoo!!!!