SPRING TRAINING is here

I pass this sign every Sunday on my way to church. I will always be an Orioles fan.

The sign welcoming you to the new Orioles Spring Training site.

The catchers taking batting practice.

Yesterday (Monday) would have been a much better day to go to practice. I only was there today for about 45 minutes before the players headed into the clubhouse.

After all the players left for the clubhouse, Terry Crowley, who has been hitting instructor for the Orioles for forever came over and signed autographs. I have one of his signatures now. He got on to the golf cart with another coach, but before Crowley drove off, the "other coach" got off and came over to sign autographs. That other coach is Buck Showalter, the skipper for the Orioles. Way cool. That's him as he walked toward the crowd.

Manager Buck Showalter signing autographs. (Yes, I have one.)


It was very exciting to meet Jeremy Guthrie at church on Sunday, too. I am going to love being at spring training for lots of years to come. (I might be lucky enough to go to opening day in Tampa, O's vs. Rays and maybe even luckier to be in Baltimore for their home opener.

Oh yeah, I head to snowy, cold WY tomorrow.

Fun time in Idaho

I had come out west, leaving warm Florida, so I could pack up things in Evanston. Jan (Roy's sister) is moving into our house there when she finishes her mission in a few weeks. It was difficult going through everything we have accumulated over the years. I threw out a lot of stuff and sent a lot of things to DI. If I thought any of kids might want some of the stuff, it is saved in the basement. After a few days of working and going through everything, I needed a break, so Chelley, Nate and I planned a little vacation--Northward.

Nate, Chelley, and I headed to Rexburg on Jan. 28. Nate wanted to check on Copper--it had been a long time since the two of them had been together. This was the weekend of the "Snowfest" in Rexburg, too, so we went up to spend some time in the snow. It was a lot of fun sliding down the hill on Jason's inner tube. There were horses pulling sleigh for us to ride in too. Hot chocolate to drink to warm us up.

We had a great time visiting with the Kimbers. The kids are FUN. It is so nice to visit with Cheryl and Jason. Next time we will make sure we bring along our winter clothes...waterproof pants and warm boots, but we hope they are not needed in the summer. (We are all hoping we get over our colds real soon.)

Thanks for letting us come visit, Kimbers Jason and Ben on the sled.

Nate and Chelley sliding on the snow.

Ma and Nate doing a little sledding

Ben just wanted to go play on the slide

I think Spencer is wondering what all the excitement is about. Maybe he is thinking it's just plain cold. (I got news for him..It's going to get even colder in the next few days.)

Our Horses

Ben and Jason on our sleigh ride. It was really alot of fun.

Nate and Chelley on their Sleigh ride

(BTW, Copper seems to be doing just fine. Thanks Cheryl, Jason, Ben, and Spencer for taking such good care of my dog.)