Summer 2016

     It will be tough to sum up the summer now that it is over. I always say I should write while the summer is happening, but of course I was too busy and too lazy to write while we were having fun in the summer. I will do my best to give the detailed needed to explain how busy and fun this summer was for our family.


Softball Tourneys
 

      We played some good softball this summer. The summer started (well, end of June) with a fun tourney in Cranbrook. I have been asked by a team from Lethbridge to play in the tourney for the last few years, but this year Kristi came to play with our team as well. Brody was a little grumpy at first, because it has just been me and him for the last couple years at this tourney. We played great in the tourney and ended up winning the "intermediate" side of the tourney.

   























     Our Cardston Men's team that Me and Jimmy played on had a great final Tourney. We went into the tourney as somewhat the underdogs, but everyone got hot at the same time and we rolled through the tourney and won the championship. Jimmy and I hit the ball so well. It was like every hit was hard and in a gap somewhere or over the fence! I made a wicked diving catch in the semifinal game in left field. I tracked down a ball in fair territory and caught the ball fully stretched out and nearly slid right out of the diamond. Jimmy hit one ball to left field that went over the road and I'm pretty sure they never found the ball. I hit one to Centerfield that was probably one of the longest balls I've hit on Reford East diamond (I also grunted pretty loud as I hit it haha).

   











   




























     Our team in Lethbridge Co-Ed played in the league tourney for the first time ever. We are usually gone and don't have enough for a team. This year we had enough people to get a team. We went into the tourney the #2 team in the league. There was only 1 team that had beaten us and that was the #1 team (the Hounds, they beat us twice in league play). Our first game we went into the bottom of the 7th inning down by 5 runs, but we came back to win the game by 1 run. The Semifinal was against the Hounds and we beat them by 5 runs. We made it to the championship. The Tourney was a true double knockout, so whoever came to play us in the final had to beat us twice to win. The Hounds came all the way around to make it back to the final. It was such a hot day and there was no way we wanted to play 2 games, so we took care of them in one game. Kristi hit a "Legit" inside the park Home run on diamond #9. She hit it over the left fielders head and before he could even get it to the cut off, Kristi was at home!

      Our family tourney was fun this year cause Haydn was able to play full time. He played so good in the outfield, and he made some great catches. He made one catch on the run (off Ben Court) that made me so proud of him!! We only won one game, but everyone had a great time. We wore pink shirts for Breast Cancer and to support my mom. I hit one of the longest home runs I have ever hit during the family ball tourney. We were playing on the Lions Park baseball diamond and I hit one over top of the playground in Left Centre. I wish I knew actually how for it was, maybe I should measure it.

Haydn - Royals Summer Baseball

     Haydn didn't know if he was going to play summer baseball this year because his age group did not have a South Chief All Star team this season. I started talking to Rory Snider and he said they were doing a summer baseball league for some younger kids in association with the Fort Macleod Royals baseball team. It took a little convincing (from Kristi), but Haydn decided to play.












     They practiced twice a week and had 3 tourneys in July. The first 2 tourneys would be seeding tourneys for a final tourney at the end of the season. Our first tourney was in Clive Alberta....Ya I had no idea where it was either. Clive is about 30 minutes east of Red Deer. The 2nd tourney was in Hanna Alberta (which is about 3.5 hours away), and the final tourney was in Wetaskwin Alberta (which is up by Edmonton). So ya, we had to drive a long ways for Haydn to play baseball this summer.




     Haydn's team was young and struggled in the seeding tourney loosing some close games. They pulled it together though for the final Provincial tourney and won. Haydn had a great season playing for the Royals. He played first base for most of the season, but in the finals our team needed a better Catcher and Haydn stepped up and said he could play the position and he did Awesome!! He threw out a few runners on 2nd and 3rd base. He kept the ball in front of him when the pitchers were wild with their throws. He had a great season at the plate, and rarely struck out, he always seemed to put the ball in play.

   

     By the end of the season he was really happy that he played and was already talking about next season with the Royals. Haydn also hit his first ever "over the fence" home run this summer. We were taking BP on the SW diamond of Town Square and he put one of the fence. He (And Dad) was pretty excited.

Brody - South Chief Minor All Star Baseball

     Brody made the Minors All Star team this year. He had a great regular season and had a lot of confidence going into the try outs for the team. He Actually missed the first try out because he went with us to a softball tourney in Cranbrook, but the coach told him it would be ok because he had played so good during the season.









     Brody's season was made up of a lot of exhibition games and then the big "AAA" Prairies tourney at the end of the season. We travelled to Medicine Hat and played against their "AA" and "AAA" teams. They easily beat the "AA" team and had a tough loss to the "AAA" team. We went into the top of the 6th inning against the Med Hat "AAA" team with the top of our order due up in the batting ordered and down by 2 runs. Suddenly the field sprinklers came on and they could not get the to shut off so they had to call the game and we lost by 2.

   




     They played games in Lethbridge, Fort Macleod and Raymond. Brody played First base, Catcher, Outfield and catcher. He had a great season at the plate and hit the ball really well.

     The final Prairies Tourney was playing against the best 9-10 year olds in Alberta and Saskatchewan. We were not sure how we would do, but the boys played awesome and we ended up loosing in a game that would have sent us to the semifinal. The team that ended up winning Prairies was the Med Hat team that had beat us by 2 because we could finish the game. Brody had 2 "Walk Off" hits in the tourney, where he scored the winning runs.

     So between the 2 boys playing baseball, we did a lot of travelling. I am so proud of both of them and how they played. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love traveling around and watching them play the game I love.

Wasa and Echo

     We ended the summer with a couple of camping trips. We went to Wasa as a family for a week and then we spent 5 days at Echo with Ryan and Brandi. It was a great way for the family to end the busy summer. Just relaxing and playing on the beach. Not too sure what to say about the trips, so I will let the pictures do the talking.

Jaxon / Grandma Fromm / T-Bones Birthday / Luc

     Jaxon stayed here for the summer and worked at the Subway in Waterton. He Cant work in the States right now, so he had to come to Canada to make some money for the summer. It was fun getting to know him better and hanging out. He would just pop-over and hang out with the boys whenever he wasn't at work, or if he was just bored. He would come hit balls with us and play basketball with the boys when we could get into the gym.

   

     Kristi's Grandma Fromm passed away this summer. She was an amazing lady and so many people turned out for the funeral. It was a happy/sad moment for Kristi. Happy that she was on the other side now, but sad to see her go. She loved Haydn and was not shy about telling other people that Haydn was one of here favourites haha. We were so glad that we stopped in a few weeks before and took some pictures with her. She leaves behind a lot of family that will carry on her good name.

   
Tyson turned 6 years old!! all he wanted was a Luigi's Mansion cake and Corn on the cob for his Birthday. Some how Kristi made it happen (Well the corn part was easy, because its Taber Corn season). She knew a girl who was good at making cakes and she made T-Bone an awesome Luigi's Mansion cake!! Tyson had some friends and family over and we had a BBQ and cake with everyone.

      Luc was in a terrible car accident at the end of June just outside Sparwood. He had to be air-lifted to Calgary with life threatening injuries. He is still in the hospital and cannot move very well. He has a trake in that helps him breath, but he cannot talk. He communicates using head nods and an alphabet board that he spells things out with. It will be a very long road for him, but he has made a ton of progress in the last couple months.

Other Summer Pics

Baseball Season is Over (Well Kind of)

     The boys baseball season has come to an end, kind of. Haydn's team finished the season with a 6-5 record. The boys played great and improved so much as the season moved on. It was disappointing that his league did not have playoffs for them. The league is run out of Lethbridge and they wanted to get All-stars started as soon as possible so they said no to playoffs. Haydn had a great season and really improved on his hitting. He seemed to always put the ball in play and would hardly ever strike out. Haydn will still be playing baseball through out July on a Fort Macleod Junior Royals team. It will be great for him to continue playing through part of the summer. It will be good for him to travel and have someone coach him besides me. I am sure it will help him improve as a baseball player.

 












      Brody played his first playoff game against Raymond. They were the 6th seed and Raymond was the 3rd seed coming into playoffs. It was a tie game heading into the top of the 6th. There were 2 on and 2 out and Brody ripped a shot to the fence and had a 2 RBI triple to go up by 2. Raymond had last bats and Cardston was faced with a big decision. We had already burnt one of our best pitchers and now we had Brody on the mound, but if they wanted Brody to pitch on Thursday (if they won) he could only pitch 35 pitches. Brody only had 14 pitches left, which is not a lot in Minors. Brody got the first out, but then ran out of pitches. The next pitcher came in and couldn't hold the lead and they ended up loosing by 1 run. The boys were sad, but they had a great season and improved a ton along the way. Brody will be playing on the South Chief All Star team this season as well, so he will continue playing baseball through out the month of July.

        I am so proud of my boys this season. They both played so well and have improved so much. I am excited to watch them this summer! I know it will make the summer super busy, and it may even make the summer move by too quickly, but it will be so worth it!


     Tyson finished up his 2nd year of T-ball. It is so funny watching these kids learning to play the game of baseball. Tyson was excited to go to baseball each week and he always seemed to be having fun. Im glad T-ball was only once a week!! hahaha. I can't wait to see Tyson improve as he gets older and continues to play.

Beard Competition 2016

     Well I competed in my 2nd beard competition. I can't believe how much longer my beard is from the last time I was in the competition. I was hoping to be in the 6 inches and under category this year, because I thought I would have a pretty good chance of winning. When they measured my beard, it was over the 6 inches. I was gonna have to compete against the big boys in the over 6 inches category. I thought I had no chance because I was competing against some pretty good size beards in this category. I had a good cheering section this year: Kristi, Spencer, Kelsey, Justin and Jo were all there to support the beard!

     It was my turn to go up to the front and show off my beard. They had me stand in front of the judges and show off the different sides of my beard. The judges asked me questions about where I was from and the clothes I was wearing. I did the best I could, but I was in tough. It was in the hands of the judges, but I really felt i had no chance of winning anything.

   




























     Kristi competed in the Womens category. hahaha. She had to use her hair to wrap around her face and make it look like she had a beard. It was so funny to see.



     It was time for awards to be given out. The women's category was first. Kristi was 2nd place in the women's category. Now I knew it was going to be a rough night. I come all the way to Calgary for a beard competition and my wife gets 2nd place and I get nothing.  Finally it was time for the awards in the big boy category. Expecting nothing, I was completely surprised when my name was called for the 3rd place award!!!! The Judges told me that they thought my beard was great and could believe how a person with no neck hair could grow such a big beard hahahaha. They said it looked well taken care of and that helped in the competition. After that I had ton of people come up to me and talk to me about my beard.

     3rd best 6 inch+ beard in Alberta......Not too shabby hahahaha


Extras

     Kristi and I went to the City and Colour concert and it was amazing. I got her tickets for Christmas and the concert was just last week. So we have been waiting a long time for it.

     We went to the Cancer Clinic in Calgary for my back and the doctors told me that I didn't need to come back. All the cancer had been cut out of the mole that was on my back. I just have to be careful in the sun and I need to continue to go to the dermatologist in Lethbridge every 6 months. Its still a scary feeling knowing that cancer was in my body, and I have a hard time not looking at every mole on me now. I just hope that if anything else comes back we can catch it just as quick.

   



















     We went to visit Grandma Fromm the other day and we were able to get some pictures with her and the kids. She won't be around much longer so it was good for Kristi and the kids to spend a little time with her.

Other Pics