This is why I've been MIA

I've been missing in the blog world, I know, I know. But I have really good excuses.

Excuse #1: We've officially stayed in four different homes during spring training. Yes, that's four homes in 2 months. Originally we were staying with a guy that had bought a house out here. Take my advice: do not rent from someone when they are going to be living at the house unless you know them very well before hand. Let's just say that was a learning experience for all of us. When we moved out of there we didn't really have a plan so the Denove's took us in for a few days before their family came in. Then we found a house we were going to rent, but it was rented for 9 days before we could get in, so the Lutz's took us into their home. We are so very grateful for our baseball family during the crazy times.

That brings me to Excuse #2: We lived in a 2 bedroom house with 6 adults, one teething, very sick 18 month old, 2 cats and 2 dogs for 9 days so needless to say I was not unpacking much and the computer did not leave it's bag. The Heisey's were in the living room and Travis and I were in a playroom/office separated from the Heisey's by a curtain. It worked. We had a good time, played Settlers, had a cookout, got some sun, and got to catch up with the Lutz's after missing them half of last season when Derrik had to have surgery.

And because of all of this moving and craziness I was very tired, but that also brings me to Excuse #3, if you haven't heard yet, I'm pregnant! We found out last week and we're so excited. So far, so good. I'm just really, really tired. Last night I experienced my first nauseousness, and I hope that doesn't happen often. We haven't been to the doctor yet because we're trying to wait and see one either when I go home or wherever we end up going, just depending on where they send us. But I have taken 6 tests at all different times of the day, on a few different days just to make sure I wasn't getting some faulty test. All said "pregnant." We are so very excited. It seems as though we may have "planned" perfectly and I should be due the middle of November/early December. "Planned" is in parenthesis because we weren't trying, but we weren't preventing. Travis is already talking to my belly, I'm taking my vitamins, and I have already started applying the cocoa butter.

So that's why I've been MIA this spring training.

Making Memories on Valentine's Day

One of the places we heard we had to go see while in Arizona was Sedona. The boys didn't have to go to the field on Sunday (Valentine's Day) and we had no real plans for the day, so we decided to hop in the car and go, and I'm so glad we did because it was beautiful. There are cute little shops and restaurants. We ate lunch on the patio of one of the restaurants and took in some of the gorgeous weather, went through a couple shops, and then went and climbed one of the mountains. Lisa and I would have liked to do some more shopping, but the boys were too excited about the large mountains in the area.

The boys while we were still on the trail and on the very mild part of the hike. They scared Lisa and I to death.

So glad to be reunited with our baseball family

That night, Mike and Katie (the couple whose house we're staying at) made us all a wonderful dinner and then we all got in the hot tub. All in all, it was a wonderful day with great friends, new and old, and a great day spent with the man I love.

It's experiences like this that make this life so wonderful and special, and make me feel so blessed to be living the life I am. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with the people they love!

Snow Days!!!

So the one thing I wanted to happen this off season before we left again was to see some snow. It seems it always snows a few days after we head off to spring training. Well, not this year. Not only did I get to see snow on two different occasions, we even got so much that we could play in it. Even build a snow man, a huge one, not just one that's a foot tall, but one that was taller than me! We ended up getting around 6 inches, which is a lot for us. Travis's brother, BJ, and his wife, Amberle, were snowed in with us so we all got to play in it together. The boys decided to maneuver a "sled" to be pulled behind the four wheelers. It was like tubing in the snow and was soooo much fun. The bad part about the snow was that it pushed back our leaving by a day and kept us from getting to see and say goodbye to some family, but hopefully they'll be able to make a trip out to visit during the season.

What we woke up to. We were shocked because the news said we would get a light dusting to an inch, and it wasn't supposed to come till the next day.

Our last week at home

Right now Travis and I are in the process of going through our things and deciding what we absolutely must have to survive for the next eight months. We have to fit both of our wardrobes for all four seasons, kitchen, bath, bedroom stuff (including our bed, the trusty air mattress), baseball bags (two HUGE bags), and of course, golf clubs, all in our car. Luckily, we have a large gas guzzling SUV (despite how green I want to be, we just can't get rid of it yet), but it's still quite a challenge. You would think I would be a pro after three years of doing it, but I'm not. We are really trying to simplify and bring as little as possible, but we'll see.

I can not express how excited I am about spring training this year. This is the Reds first year out in Goodyear, AZ and I can't wait to get there. I've never been out west at all and can't wait to see everything. I hope we have lots of time for sightseeing (which probably won't happen, but I can dream). I can't even name what all I want to see and do while we're out there. I just want to experience it all. The Grand Canyon, Vegas, Sedona, anything and everything we can fit in, I want to.

I'm also looking forward to catching back up with all of the baseball girls. Kalee Maloney is heading up a book club for us. Our first book is "The Pilot's Wife" by Anita Shreve (which I ended up getting on Amazon for $5.48 with shipping!). I haven't started it yet, but I have a 20 hour car ride that I think I'll be able to finish it in. Kalee is also a personal trainer and plans on doing a boot camp with all of us. I'm super excited about it because I need motivation to work out. I was doing pretty good for about two weeks, and then failed miserably by letting life get in the way and just quit. Which is horrible, but I'm going to get on track when I get to AZ.

We have a busy last few days in Arkansas. Saturday is Travis's birthday and he's going fishing all day with his dad. If they catch a lot, I'm going to go with them Sunday morning. Then we have a Super Bowl party to go to that afternoon. We have dinner with my aunt, uncle, and cousins Monday night. We have to go to by all of our families and say our goodbyes which is always hard. We're heading out Tuesday morning and should be in Phoenix Wednesday night. I'm making Travis take his time and stay the night along the way, which he is fighting, but I'm insisting.

The worst part for me is that we're not taking Abbi, our puppy, to spring training with us. I hate leaving her, but hopefully this will be the last year. She will stay with Travis's parents again. Hopefully she won't gain four pounds like she did last year, and they'll bring her up when they come to visit us at the beginning of the season.

I leave you with a few random pictures from the past few weeks.

Travis showing off his new suit

Bella trying to get a better view of the Crawfish Boil
We went bowling Tuesday night with some friends
Travis bowling a strike I'm sure

As you know, my husband is a huge hunter. He made me kill this poor squirrel. It was the first thing I've ever killed so he made me take a picture with it. I shot it out of a tree :( I now I'm smiling in this picture, but it's just so I could put the poor thing down. I was really sad about this.

Crawfish in the snow, yes please!

Travis decided he wanted to have a big cookout before we leave for spring training. We normally have some sort of big gathering/going away party where we get our friends together one last time. He wanted to try out a new way to cook his duck (which I didn't get any pictures of because it was gone too quick, but it was amazing) and his friends decided they wanted crawfish. None of them had cooked crawfish before, but we had a savior who owns his own restaurant that specializes in catfish, and now he's also serving crawfish. Check Travis Hester out at Eatmycatfish.com or go by and try it out first hand. Eat My Catsfish is located in the Benton Wal Mart parking lot. He makes his own seasoning for the crawfish, and it was absolutely amazing. Sooo spicy, and sooo good.
The day before our cookout we had a bit of an ice storm and even SNOW! I was so excited because every year we seem to miss out on the snow. This year I've seen snow twice, but this was the first time there was a little bit left the next day. So we made a fire and pigged out. It was really a great time and I think we may have started a new tradition!

Mouthwatering

My outfit for the day. Camo was the only thing warm enough.

Everyone pigging out

Enjoying the fire

Sweet, sweet husband

I came home from work one day and found the bedroom completely clean, all of the laundry clean and put away, and these wonderful flowers, card, and stuffed animal. And before you ask, no, he didn't do anything wrong, he was just doing something sweet.

Oprah, you've disappointed me

I recently came across a Facebook group banding together against Oprah because on one of her shows she said that it would be fine to tip 10% while dining out because of the poor economy. Let me just say, no matter what state the economy is in, tipping less is not the answer (unless you've just been an obscene tipper). If you have never waited tables, it is not easy. Servers work very, very hard. No, it's not challenging mentally, but it requires someone to be on their toes, be aware of every one's needs, and to have the stomach to deal with the complainers (that's really the hardest part). I have waited tables during the off seasons for 3 years, and let me tell you, every dollar I make is well earned. Servers make less than $3 an hour before taxes! So tips are their income. Also, servers normally must tip out a percentage of their sales to bartenders/hosts/kitchen/table bussers. So if someone comes in and tips me 10% I have to tip out 3%, so I've made 7%. Normally, someone sits at a table for at least an hour. Say their tab is $40, I've just made $2.80 for an hour! Woohoo, take that straight to the bank. Not only did I make $2.80, but you just took up a table from someone that could have been a great tipper. Then, there are those people that tip nothing at all and then I literally have to pay to wait on them. Yes, if you do not tip your server, they still have to pay that tip out. Now I'm not saying that a server always deserves 20%, but if you've had good service, not had to wait on anything, then you need to tip adequately. Just imagine waiting on 12 people at once, all needing refills, ranch, more napkins, etc. all at different times. Also, look around you. If your server is extremely busy because maybe someone called in and their section is double what it's supposed to be, but they are truly working as hard as they can to take care of everyone, make sure you're aware of that. There have been times during Razorback football games that I have been waiting on over 100 people by myself. If people follow Oprah's policy, all of the good servers are going to leave the industry, everyone is going to get bad service, or restaurants will have to raise prices to compensate and pay the servers more. Neither of which is good, so just tip accordingly for the service you are given.