Hey Batter, Batter, Batter........Sw-ing!

A few weeks ago, I posted about an opportunity for one very special follower of mine and their guest(s) to get fired up about.  On July 19th, Indiana's Family of Farmers sent my family and so many others to Victory Field to watch the Indianapolis Indians battle the Charlotte Knights.



It was quite a trip for us considering we live 2 - 2.5 hours away (one way). But we had so much fun! My two year old is not fond of long car rides (I guess none of us really are) so as soon as we pull into the parking garage, he announces "Me want to go to my house, now." Um, sorry buddy, we just drove over 2 hours to get here...we're planning on staying a few minutes."

I got lots of pictures, mainly of my kids :) can't help it. I love 'em!  Did get some of the players too. Baseball is one of my favorite sports. I love, love, love playing it myself and going to a game is the next best thing.

Tinsley

Hunter

Weston....keeping cool.

 

We had an amazing night, so thankful for the great food and fun times. I could have done without the long drive back home......(yawn). The kids got to sleep, so at least it was quiet time, no fighting over toys or food.  Looking forward to many more baseball trips with my kiddos in the future. 



Honoring a Fallen Officer, Sgt. Brent Long

All gave some, some gave all.

In Memory of Sgt. Brent Long.

He is pictured here with his K-9 partner, Shadow.

Picture taken from 'In Memory of Officer Brent Long' FB page

"KEEPER OF MEN"

Early in life, God had chosen me

to look after His children here on Earth.

As I've been blessed with this awesome task,

I was required to sacrifice many things that others enjoy,

in order to fulfill my mission.

For I had been chosen to keep peace,

in a world which violence takes no vacation.

I was at many times required to be away from my family.

Yes, I have missed many exciting times in our lives.

Birthdays, first steps and first words.

But I know, there is no end to us.

Only another beginning, in another place.

Although I've left this world,

I know that in the next, I will be able to look down,

look back and see all that I have missed.

Do not be sad for me,

For I believe that God will grant me that one wish,

for I have done what was asked of me.

I knew the rewards would be great someday,

as I chose to embrace my mission.

For God would not guide me, where I was not to go.

I've had so little time here on Earth.

But now, I'm with my God, who has rewarded me,

by calling me Home.

Do not remember me as leaving you alone,

as I will always be with you now.

Watching you from the Heavens above.

Continuing my calling.......as a "Keeper of Men."

-Author Unknown



I honestly can't tell you if I ever met Sgt. Brent Long. I know my brother worked with him at Vigo County Jail and when we visited my brother and his family, one of the things I loved doing, was going with him while he was working his shift.  I miss "law enforcement".  I miss the talk, the uniforms, the jail (no, not behind the bars) and I met several of his buddies while we were there.  Sadly, I found out last night, that Sgt. Long's wife, who is a dispatcher, was working on 7-11-11, the day he was fatally wounded. On Monday, she will be giving the final dispatch call "208 is 10-42" I can't imagine how hard this will be on her, their family and the entire police force as they lay a hero to rest tomorrow.

My brother will be walking behind the hearse at the cemetary.  He was asked by THPD to hold/carry the 'thin blue line' flag.  He must be pretty special to get asked to do that.....I think so at least. :) It will be on http://www.wthitv.com/ which will be aired online.

Audio:Officer Long's 10-42 call: wthitv.com

Hog wrasslin' anyone?

See this lil guy? I guess it could be a lil gal, well, my kiddos and a few others, got up close and personal with s/he and a few of it's buddies last night at the 2011 Orange County Hog Wrestling...event :)
These little guys weren't just muddy, they were greasy too! More fun for everyone involved. The night started out with the minis first and finished with the older kiddos wrapping it up. This was the first year my kids have ever tried it, but definitely won't be the last. They got hooked....those little piglets stole their hearts! They will be going back for more & more & more (and I'm so glad!!!!! I had just as much fun as they did!). My two year old wore his rubber boots hoping to get in on some muddin' (or is it?) himself.  He can't wait!  He kept saying "next year, I go get me a hog!"

Introducing the "TOUGH BUDDIES"   this is a BEFORE picture..........

and this is the "TOUGH BUDDIES" after picture ;)......

Yes.....they had fun!  Anyone wanna guess brought most of the mud out with him on his clothes :).... lovely...and our Pastor's son, Joe, is the one with the mud speckled all over his sweet little face.  Mav is the little "Dirt Magnet" and Benjamin is the "Beatles" fan. They all did such a great job!! Got the pig, grabbed it and took him/her through the gate within 2 minutes! Doubt I could have got the job done :) Here are a few more of the pig wranglers :)

I couldn't get Hunter to change his clothes afterwards, he wanted to walk around the fairgrounds in his muddy clothes and proudly display them :) It's the little things in life...they are only little once.

            Getting their names for the paper.....they are gonna be local celebrities! ;)

              Benjamin got pretty lucky! Only his boots.....how is that possible???

           LOL.....he's making a face.....wonder what he's smelling?

                                   Just a lil mud on his face ;)

Had to get little brother in here too.....since he did wear his boots ;)

We can't forget the girls.  Last but not least are the beautiful 'Dogwood Divas'.

Aren't they soooo cute? :) Anna, Addie, Tinsley & Ashley, they have their "war paint" on, ready to tackle those piggies!

My beautiful Tinsley & the beautiful Walerczak girls, Allison, Natalie and Anna. Natalie (in yellow) participated with another team and they won the mini 4-H Hog Wrestling for their age division.

                  Getting their final instructions before the start.....the excitement is building! :)

Oh it's on.....like Donkey Kong!!!!! This is the AFTER pic of our lil Princesses "Dogwood Divas"....I think my lil darling got a mouthful of piggy poo :x.........:( So....not.....cool......I mean, I know it was dirt + water = mud, but those little piggies were being chased and they were scared and that might = ?????........you never know...........Just sayin'

                                                     
 Check us out world!

          Uh oh......Tinsley doesn't look so well on the end :( Luckily, it was a false alarm. Whew!

             Country clean-up........with the water hose, of course. ;)




We had such a great time......and the fair is just beginning!  :) Can't wait to see what is in store for the rest of the week!  A special thanks to the staff at the Orange County Extension Office, the board for the Orange County 4-H Fair, the Volunteers who helped throw this Hog Wrestling together, the people who let our kiddos 'wrestle' their piggies, the FANS who supported our kids, and the wonderful kids who got out there, jumped in that stinky mud and wrasseled those hogs! :) It was a huge success!



Rescue Me

So I mentioned in an earlier post that the kids would be taking swimming lessons......that is what we've been busy with this past week.  Well, that is ONE thing we have been busy with this past week. Seems we've been overloaded here lately.....and that seems to be the norm for most families this time of year, am I right? 



My two oldest, T & H, have been hanging out in the shallow pool.  They are actually doing great there, with the possibility of moving over to the deeper area (ya know..big stuff where they can't touch)! This is big!! Really, it is, big for them and big for me......cause we are all non-swimmers!!! :/ Embarrassed here.....yep, I never learned how to swim, couldn't save myself if I wanted to, but I want my kids to learn to swim & have no fear of the water.   So far, all three are doing better than me. :)



Is she not absolutely gorgeous??? Just LOVE this girl!



Another lil' cutie patootie! :)





This was the best 'pose' I could get....he was too busy asking the life guards, "Can you do this?"

I managed to get several more good shots of my lil fish while they were playing in the water.  They were having fun playing, I mean, swimming, while I was having fun, snapping pics for my blog!  It was a win/win! :)  SCORE! 

Hunter taking a dunk.

My right hand, Shay, went along and helped out.  She is SUCH a sweetheart! I <3 that girl! :)



Weston "abusing" Sutton, one of the life guards. :) He loved pouring water over her head but wouldn't let her return the favor.....not quite fair is it? 



Tinsley just coming back up from a dunk.

Today is our last day of swimming lessons. :(   We are sad about that.....as we should actually have 2 days left.......but we just have too many irons in the fire, as the saying goes.  BUT......it gives me yet ANOTHER great story to blog about.  Tomorrow, we venture out on another exciting expedition.........I just can't tell you what it is......I want to, but I just can't.  You'll have to come back in a few days and check it out yourself.  :) I PROMISE you will NOT be disappointed!  Especially if you have even a tiny bit 'o country in your soul! I'll be snappin' pics & recording video & doin' it all & not sure how I'm doin' it all ----- all at the same time! WHEW!!!!! I just said that all in one breath! And now I'm outta breath & I'm gonna go rest up before our last swim lesson........

Life's a Beach

Life's a Beach?? Well, it was for a few days this past week for the Moffatt family at least...most of the Moffatt family that is.  :( Poor hubby was hard at it working, while we were playing.  Not quite fair.  There is just no talking him into taking a break though, he's a hard working man and there's no nonsense when it comes to work, I won't argue with that....so off we went.....to this place:

Now I had to explain to my 8 year old daughter why I had to take 'that' picture......when we've been past 'that' sign millions of times in the past and I've never took a picture of it before.  It's all about the blogging baby doll, it's all abut the blogging.  I'm pretty sure I got an eye roll....pretty sure......she'll understand some day. :)

We ended up going two days in a row to this little getaway close to home and came home with a nice big sunburn. Did I say nice? I meant, O-U-C-H! I think Tinsley and I got the worst of it, even though I made sure to lather on tons of sunscreen several times during the day, we still got it. Weston looks like the little blonde haired baby on the suncreen bottle, with the line right at his waist, I giggled when I saw it with the bright white bottom and the reddish-tan back. Hunter will have that little farmers tan since he opts to wear a rash guard shirt when he swims....wonder if he will change his mind when he sees his tan lines? ;)

Gonna post a few of my favorites from our past few days on the 'beach' :)



His 'seaweed' fish ;)

Gonna have that farmers tan ;)

Such a good big sister!



Such a lil ham!

Struttin' his stuff

My baby girl... :)

Can you believe I got them together for a group photo??

Getting ready to build her castle :)

We had a GREAT 2 days playing at the beach! You can tell from the pictures. We played, played & played some more. We brought home more sand than mommy cared to bring home, but that tends to happen. Our 'beach' is never that crowded....but we managed to run into some out of towners from the New England states, which I thought was so funny. Folks from way out yonder........way out here in our lil part of no where.....makes you woner how they ever ended up here. They had 2 boys the same age as Hunter and they all hit it off real well.

We're planning on more beach days before summer is over....we just can't wait!  This is one family who loves to spend time in the water....but we need to fine tune the swimming first. Yes, that's right, so we are going to work on swimming lessons next week......as a matter of fact, starting TOMORROW! :)   So guess what I'll be blogging about next? ;) I see more water pics in my blogs future!