St. Geezy

A weekend or so ago Todd and I followed the sun to St. George for his nephews' baseball tournaments.  Was I happy to have a nice vacation and miss a little work? You betcha!  Was I even more happy that I'd be able to spend it with this guy and his fantastic family?

Overjoyed :] 

*Todd only looks a little stoned because he was the responsible one this time and was trying to keep his eyes on the road.... my bad *

Well, when the Oakey's say they are going to watch baseball, they stick true to their word.  That's what we did, watch baseball non-stop for 3 days.  Before I left for the weekend, I heard a lot of jokes about how torturous it would be to watch that much baseball, but I didn't experience that feeling once.  I loved every second of it!  I have to say, I've always had a strange hidden love for watching these games, even back when Karlie used to play softball.  I used to go to every one of her games by myself just to watch her play. 

It's only strange because none of us ever played baseball or softball,

and my brothers barely made it through t-ball. 

I just love being out in the sun, cheering for a team, and hangin out with the fans/family.  Most of those watching the games are well seasoned ball game fans and know how to watch a game.  They come prepared with as many bags of seeds as the closest Maverick had in stock, camping chairs, blankets, snacks, and plenty of cheering.  They remind me of my parents when they used to come to my soccer games, and I think that's why they pull at that special spot in my memory bank. 

Watching baseball this time was a truly interesting experience because for the longest time I've listened to Todd talk about how baseball is really more complicated than most people realize.  He would try to rant with me about how most people don't know the complexities of the game, but these rants ended quickly when all I had to contribute was my "wow this is all going over my head, but I'll smile and nod anyways" face.  Todd coaches one of his nephews and was there coaching the whole time.  I had tagged a long to a few of his practices and was really excited to see how they played in a game, and to see how Coach Todd was.  For most of the games, I got to sit right behind Todd by the team box (still working on the lingo....) and have him coach me probably just as much as he coached his team.  He would walk me through all the scenarios, tell me why they did certain things, and maybe most importantly how to chew/spit seeds like a pro.  I even spit enough seeds to know that cracked pepper remind me of chicken ramen and to be able to declare that the barbecue ones are my favorite!  with dill pickle following so close behind    I got to joke around with the team and cheer them on all weekend and I have to say, there is something about team sports.  I LOVE the atmosphere of them and how everyone is working together to take home the win.  It's so easy to get hooked in, and I don't even have any blood relation to any of these 12 year olds.

It's a good thing I enjoy watching baseball, especially if I want to keep hanging around the Oakeys and Averetts.  So far I've passed, and it wasn't even painful! I can't wait until summer.

P.S. Epic fail on my part for forgetting I had my camera the whole time. Maybe I'll draw us some nice pictures instead.... na, we're just going to have to make another trip soon!