Summer Equals Softball

It's no secret that the girls play softball, from the beginning of the school season in spring, and through the summer with travel ball. This year, some unforeseen circumstances changed our summer (ASA) travel team situation, and it ended up being the best thing that could have happened to us. After years of having the girls on different teams because of their age, we're thrilled to have both girls playing on the same team, and with a new coach. They have learned a lot this year, and have had a great softball experience. They are "playing up" at the 18U level, and have travelled for tournaments that they wouldn't otherwise have attended, including college exposure tournaments, and exposure camps.

So, here's my girls in the dugout at their first tournament of the year, with big smiles for mom and the camera:

They both did very well with taking the hitting instruction they got from their coach, and applying it in game situations. This is Darcie, with an excellent bunt:

Alyssa was thrilled to knock a powerhouse home run, also using the hitting techniques she learned from her coach. This is her with a huge smile, heading for home plate, and the team heading out to greet her:

Since this team is made up of girls who are really aiming to play collegiate softball, they also did a professional team photo for the team website. Click on this picture for a better look at it. Alyssa is second from the left in the back row. Darcie is second from the right in the front (you can't miss her hair!). Pitchers are the ones holding softballs, and catchers are wearing their gear. I LOVE this photo -- it turned out so great!

I'm also impressed with this particular group of girls. They are talented, positive, and supportive of each other. The coach has been great about being involved with Alyssa's pitching and Darcie's catching. He's measured Alyssa's stride, "gunned" her for speed (which is faster than we'd previously thought), and can really push her to do her very best. Darcie has progressed in leaps and bounds as a catcher, with the drills and instruction she has received.

Each girl on the team also has a secondary position they play. For Alyssa, when she's not pitching, she's usually at third or first base, although she made plays in the outfield, too. Darcie is usually in left or right field when she's not catching:

One of the highlights for both girls this summer, was getting to go to the week-long softball camp at BYU. Since BYU is truly Alyssa's (and Darcie's) dream college, it was a great opportunity for her to meet the coaching staff and to be seen by them as well. We gave the girls the full camp experience, which meant sleeping in the dorms, eating in the cafeteria, and the GREAT evening activities that are included: two dances, and a trip to the waterpark. Both girls want to go back again next year. They met girls from all over, and made new friends:

If I'd been a split-second earlier with the camera shutter, I would have got the ball going into the glove for Darcie's centerfield catch. Instead, I got the follow-up steps with the ball already in the glove:

Alyssa pitched her heart out, especially as she was working with her hip being in a lot of pain that week. I loved hearing the other girls on her camp team as they called out to her during her pitching. It wasn't just "hey you", it was by name.

And it's kind of a thrill to know you're throwing on the same softball field you want to play on in just 2 more years. The camp was held at BYU's Gail Miller Field, with more also happening on the baseball field (which is just on the other side of the stadium)

Softball is not over for us yet this year, and if you consider the off-season work they do, softball is never really OVER. Good thing they love to play and we love to watch them!

Please Stand By ...

Most of the time, if you don’t see a blog post from me in a while, it’s because I’m busy. Or lazy. Or having Blogger or computer issues. Or a combination. However, in this case, I haven’t blogged for a while because I was bothered by something that someone said to me. I apologized to them, but I felt bad about it, and just couldn’t bring myself to write anything on the blog.

That doesn’t mean that life hasn’t continued on at the usual frantic pace. On the contrary, this summer has been extremely full. And while I won’t put in all the details I might have otherwise done, I’d still like to bring you up to date with life at the Haven. So, as Paul Harvey would say, “Stand by for NEWS!”

One Returned, Another Departing

I wasn't kidding when I said life has been super-busy lately. Really.

And even though we've had some great days amongst all the busy-ness, I have to say that yesterday topped all the recent great days, going back to Brandon's homecoming. Because in the mail yesterday, was Cameron's mission call!! One returns, another departs.

Cameron's been working ever since high school, and through the winter he was holding down two jobs plus the paper route. I have to hand it to Cameron -- he does know how to work hard. As a result, he's earned almost all of his mission money. So kudos to him!

Anyway -- the girls and I had a two-hour drive to softball practice last night, so it was 10:30 when we finally made it home, and gathered everyone together for the "opening of the call". We did the same thing with Brandon's call when it came. It's kind of fun to let everyone take a guess on where they think he will end up going. (I was way off: Virginia? NOT!)

Cameron was pretty excited to open it:

Slicing open the envelope:

And then the big smile as he reads out loud to us:

He is going to the California San Fernando Mission, English-speaking!! He reports to the Missionary Training Center in Provo on August 3rd. Two months from today -- after all the waiting, he'll be TOTALLY official!! We are soooo excited for him!

It's interesting that his packet sounds similar to Brandon's for clothing needs. Only one suit, and mostly short-sleeved shirts. Southern California and Jamaica are not that different in temperatures! He was also kind of stoked to discover his mission is not that far from where his best friend is now serving. Perhaps if they have another combined mission conference, he may get to see his friend again -- on their missions.

Now we have the remaining preparations to do...... on MY list is another family portrait. My last one with all 7 of us is, coincidentally, two years old....

If I had a Summer House ...

... it would look like this:

What a view!!!

I'm taking a quick break from the family adventures to tell you about my new best friend. She is truly a-mazing. And maybe one day she'll find out what good friends we are -- after I introduce myself!

She's Sarah Richardson. She's a designer, and in addition to her own design firm, she does a show on HGTV called, "Sarah's House". She's done a couple of variations of Sarah's House, and I am IN LOVE with her latest one: "Sarah's Summer House".

If you were visiting a friend on an island, wouldn't you love to wake up in this guest bedroom?

Better yet, if you owned your own summer house on an island, off the grid, accessible only by boat and your husband's private seaplane...... wouldn't this be a great master bedroom?

And the kids could invite their friends to join them.... since their bed is a trundle bed that gives you sleeping space for that lucky friend:

I have yet to see the episode that features this sitting area.... and I can't wait:

My dream of an island getaway is pretty far-fetched.... considering how far inland we live. In the mean time, I'll drool over Sarah's. My dream job would be Tommy's job -- her assistant. Then I could glean ideas and maybe figure out how to use them in my own house.

Now, THAT would be amazing!!

Vote for Darcie!

When your kids have a goal, and they want to go for it, your job as a parent is to support and help, and to do what you can to help them achieve it.

When Darcie came to us with the permission slip to give her the ok to run for student body officer, I took a deep breath, and said ok.

Both Brandon and Alyssa had run for student body officer when they were in Junior High. Although they had good campaigns, neither of them won their election. So here we were in the same spot now, with Darcie.

First came the posters, which she wanted photos to put on them. So one afternoon, after track practice, she quickly changed clothes and we snapped a hundred pictures in the dying sunlight in our yard. If they look a little dark, then you know why!

Darcie's hair looks a bit redder, because she hasn't yet blonded out in the summer sunlight.

This was actually taken after the tree photos, but the tree ones look darker. She's sure cute!

After the pictures, came the campaign video. The candidates have one minute ONLY for their video. Anything longer that a minute will get cut off. I hope these videos load ok. The first one (on the left) is the actual campaign video. The second one (on the right) is the bloopers we got while filming. The bloopers video is more than twice as long. What does that tell you? Oh, and be sure to turn up your speakers to hear the comments from the "suicidal jumper."

Then, after a week of posters, the videos are all shown and the kids vote. They get the results that afternoon. And -------------

GOOD NEWS!! Darcie won!!!

We're so proud of her! I hope she has a great experience next year doing all the activities and responsibilities she'll have.

WAY TO GO, Darcie!!!

Prom Night

Life has been crazily, insanely, wildly busy in the last few weeks. The blog kind of went by the wayside. So this is me getting caught up on blog entries..

Even though our boys have both graduated high school, neither of them was much on the whole Prom scene, so when Alyssa went to Prom earlier this month -- it was a first for us!

She knew she wanted a pink dress, and found her dress online. There was nothing locally available that would have been modest. I was very pleased with the company we got the dress from, and it fit her perfectly! They double checked on her measurements, and then called after it arrived to make sure it was going to work. It's nice when a company does business with that personal touch.

There were 5 couples in their group, and they met at our house before dinner, since Alyssa said ours was the best option for photo backgrounds. Here's our Alyssa with her date, putting on the corsage:

Yes, at 6 feet tall, our Alys is taller than a lot of boys, including her date. But she's still absolutely gorgeous! (Mom's perogative to be biased here)
This is Alys with one of her friends from church:

The girls in the group together:

So when your dress is floor-length, you have a few options for footwear, and no one else would be the wiser for it. And yes, those are hot pink Converse tennis shoes on Alyssa. Can you imagine how she would have towered over her date if she'd been in high heels? (Besides, then the dress would have been too short.)

And here's the entire group together:

One of the boys made the limo arrangements. I think the other guys chipped in on it as well.

That's one way to arrive in style! I think the kids had more fun at Prom than they'd expected. They ended up staying longer at the dance than originally planned, and then afterwards, a few of them came over to our house and played some games together before going home.

It was way more classy than my own proms. This might be the spot where I insert an old prom date photo of myself in days gone by. NOT!! We won't even go there.....

Homecoming

Two years.

Two years looms like an eternity -- when you're at the beginning of it. Halfway through, it seems like it's not nearly so long. When you get to the last weeks and then final days, it seems like it has rushed by at Mach speed.

Back at the ranch (or The Haven, in our case!), as a parent, you wonder how your son has changed during that time. After two years on a tropical island, and in 3rd World living conditions, ... what has he learned? How has he matured? What will he look like? What will he BE like?

We made sure to be at the airport early, since we'd heard from several people that his flight is notorious for arriving ahead of time. It turned out that it was right ON time. So we had some time on our hands while we waited:

And then, the plane arrives at the gate. You watch the doorway like a hawk for the once-familiar face. Please don't be the LAST one off the plane!! Then you see him, watch him, as he walks down the stairs. A few seconds later, he walks through the door:

It was a good thing we also saw him put the dreadlock-hat on, otherwise you'd wonder what happened to his strawberry-blonde hair! (And, you forgive your second son for the camera angle. How was he to know that Mom's arm would fling right in front of him?)

As the mom, you have the right to the first hug. So you really make it count!

(We skip the next 6 pictures on the camera, ...... since everyone got a little teary, and the hug was so long, they all look the same as this one!)

This blurry shot is the only one we have of his first reunion with his baby sister:

I think she was pretty unsure about those dreadlocks. Then it was more hugs all around for the rest of the family. We missed the actual shot of the Dad hug, (which wasn't nearly as long as the Mom hug, but still full of all the same sentiment) and we step back to get a good look at him:

Then the siblings. Alyssa stepped in first:

Next came Darcie. I'm pretty sure she gained a couple of inches during the two year's time period, making her taller than he remembered:

Cameron waited to be the last of the immediate family. Partly because he was taking pictures, but partly because he wanted to do this:

Yes, he picked Brandon right up off the floor! Not too surprising when you consider Brandon's weight loss during his mission dropped his weight below Cameron's.

Then came the hugs and greetings from all the great extended family and friends that came to the airport to be there for him. We sure appreciated the committment from these wonderful people to drag themselves away from home at 10:30 pm on a weeknight. And then, I admit, I couldn't help myself. Had to steal another awesome hug from this wonderful son!

And after two long years, we actually got a photograph of the family. ALL of us.

I have plans for a family portrait, although details are not finalized.

It is so wonderful to have our Brandon home again! We feel a twinge of sadness that these two years are over for him, but what a wonderful two years it has been! This coming Sunday will be his return talk in church ... I'm so looking forward to hearing what he has to say then!! Please check his mission blog at www.huffakermission.blogspot.com for his comments from Jamaica.

And in the next couple of weeks, we will watch the mail for another missionary packet. This one will be addressed to Elder Cameron Lee Huffaker, and will hold within it the destination for Cameron's mission. Cameron has worked hard in the last year since he's been out of high school, and has earned almost all of his mission money. There will still be purchases to make for him, but we feel his mission will mean more to him than if Mommy and Daddy had foot the bill for it.

In the mean time, Mother Hen has all her chicks back home once again.

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