2nd Annual Brian Buttars Memorial Golf Tournament

I'm so excited that Randy and the Buttars have decided to make the Brian Buttars Memorial Golf Tournament an annual event. Sadly, I wasn't able to make it up there this year. We just have had so much going on with building our house that it didn't work out, but we made sure Randy was there! Once again, he said it was an amazing day! They had another full turn-out with so many people saying it was the best tournament they've ever played at. This was the picture Randy sent me on the day of the tournament from his phone. Another neat touch was that they had Brian's truck which he loved out on the driving range. It's never going to be easy to be without Brian, but it sure helps to be around so many people who also knew and loved him. I'm hoping to make it next year!
Here's the other picture I received from Randy's phone! Definitely a highlight of his trip!! It was the day before the tournament and Randy was out at the golf course setting up. A man came into the clubhouse having trouble getting some range balls. Randy looked over and saw President Henry B. Eyring, a member of the 1st Presidency of our church. He told his friends that it was President Eyring but no one believed him. As they were driving away he called me and told me he saw him. He was sure it was him because he saw his wife in the car, googled her, and it was the same lady! I told him he had to go back, so he and Russ Madsen turned back around. It's not everyday that an Oklahoma kid gets to visit with a member of the 1st Presidency! Russ actually gave President Eyring a few tips which helped his swing. It was a great trip and we are both looking forward to next year!

Happy Birthday, Ashton!

Ashton was okay sharing her birthday with the baseball team because she knew that she was going to have a birthday party later that week!

We had her birthday party at the Sooner Splash Pad. It's a fun little water park in our town that's actually walking distance from Randy's parents house. Avery and MaryKate made sure to keep the water going by putting their hands over the starter!

A lot of Ashton's friends have older siblings that are her siblings age, so it worked out well that everyone had a friend to play with. Addie had both Ellie...

and Evie there to play with. But they are also Ashton's friends as they all play together! There aren't a whole lot of kids Ashton's age, most of them are a year younger or older, but she loves them all!

Sam is probably closest to Ashton's age, but look at the size difference! I think he's four months older but he's tall for his age and AJ is short! But she loves her Sam!

This party was actually supposed to be a few days before the baseball tournament. We haven't had any rain all summer, but the day of her party it rained! So we postponed it to the following week. Addison Revard is giving me her sweet "cheese" smile!

It was great having the older kids there to help with the younger ones! Addie and Ellie are playing ring-around-the-rosie with Kate Hubbard.

Ashton was playing "older kid" to her cousin, Taylor. I love this picture of Ashton taking Taylor into the water! Not that she needed help, Taylor was in love with this place!

We also had popsicles and bottled water to help cool off. Austin and Tanner enjoyed that!

So did Kate!

And it looks like Taylor probably had a blue popsicle from the looks of her face!

Ashton couldn't wait to turn three! She has been talking about it all summer! She is such a sweet little girl that I have enjoyed watching grow up.

She got a lot of really great gifts from some great friends! I love the expressions of the girls in this picture! Happy Birthday Ashton! I love you so much. You bring so much joy into my life and I can't imagine my life without you!

Fathers Day

As you can tell from the attire being worn, baseball went in to a few important holidays. The first was Father's Day. But Randy wasn't sad! He was able to spend it with his family and that night he got foot massages! What more do you need! I can't express enough the importance and the special gift of having a great father. And I feel so blessed that my children were given that gift! It makes me so happy to see the faces of my children light up anytime they see their dad. It was truly the determining factor when I decided to marry Randy, and he hasn't disappointed! I love you, Randy!! Happy Father's Day!! Another important event that happened over one of the baseball weekends was Ashton's birthday! So after the games, we all headed over for a nice dinner with some of our friends from the tournament. Avery is here with her friends Peyton and Grayson. Addie and Ashton hung out with their friend, Lauren Line, every weekend! It was so great to have other kids around to entertain mine! We are waiting outside Los Cabos restaurant in Jenks, OK in this picture. We actually ate their both nights because it was so good!The day it was Ashton's birthday, Austin and his friends told the musicians and they came over to serenade Ashton! She LOVED it! I'm still trying to get the video on YouTube! :) And she loves Bryce Revard! He was very sweet and let her sit by him and even share his food with her!

There was a balloon guy outside so it was a big treat to get some cool balloon creatures after dinner! Thanks for sharing your birthday with the baseball team AJ!! We love you!!

Bartlesville Rockies!!

So, like I mentioned before, Austin really grew to love baseball this season. He just couldn't get enough of it. So Randy and a few other dads got together a group of boys to make a tournament team this summer.One of the dad's wanted to be the Yankees, but Randy wouldn't have it! Of course we wanted to be the Braves... but in the end we settled for middle ground and went for the Rockies! :) And they made a name for themselves!! Their first tournament ever they got 3rd place.
We traveled to Tulsa 3 weekends in a row for three separate tournaments. Surprisingly, we looked forward to it each time! We couldn't have picked a better group of kids and parents to hang out with every weekend. It was a great experience for Austin too. It really helped him to be around great talent and he earned his place in the line-up. I was very impressed with how far he has come this year!This was the beginning part of summer but it felt like August out there! The heat and humidity came early this year. Luckily most of us had tents and one of the coaches bought a tarp to go over the boys as their dug-out was just a fence with no shade! And every single person now owns a valuable Frog Tog. Those things were lifesavers!The parking lot was forever away and we had coolers and tents to carry... but Ashton figured out a way that she didn't have to walk! It was so adorable! The girls actually did very well at all the games. They brought things to do and had friends to play with, but I hardly ever had to deal with complaining. They almost always left me alone to cheer on my boys!This has to be one of my favorite pics! Austin is number 3 and he is here with some of his teammates (Luke Line, William Vasseour, and Bryce Revard) checking out the competition at the State Tournament in Jenks, OK. Our boys ended up getting 3rd place in State. We were super proud of them!Baseball has quickly become Austin's favorite sport and he can't wait to get started again in the fall. He has made some great friends. Here he is chillin' with Nate Herchock and Brady Rigdon.

The State Tournament was their 3rd and final tournament of the summer, but the second tournament the played, they won! They were given medals and t-shirts. I think Randy had just as much fun as Austin! Randy was the third base coach and I was so impressed with his coaching. He really taught the boys to depend on and listen to their coaches. Brandon Revard was our pitcher and I don't know how he was able to throw strike after strike, but he really made it easy for the boys to hit the ball. Like I said, we had a great group of kids and parents and it made the heat almost forgettable!

Adam's Golf Course- Golf Clinic

Last year we sent Austin to the free golf clinic at Adams Golf Course. Avery would have, but her soccer camp was at the same time. This year both Avery and Austin were able to go to the free golf clinic.Avery was very happy with her instructors. She got to learn from Coach Hughes, who is an excellent golfer and the golf coach of Bartlesville High School. Her other instructor was Ellen Mueller of The University of Oklahoma. Ellen won the 2010 Dale McNamara Invitational, leading the Sooners to the team title while setting the school record for a 54-hole total. Avery thought it was cool that she started golfing at the age of 10, which is how old Avery is right now!

Besides attending the free 3-day golf clinic, we paid to have them in the golf league for the summer. This included another week of lessons and then every Wednesday they have gotten to go play a few holes. Austin and Avery have both really loved it and are both excited to get to play with their dad soon!

Avery's 3v3 tournament

Avery played in a 3v3 soccer tournament this summer. One of the coaches got a group of girls together. I love it when she plays in these summer tournaments because she is able to play with girls that are usually on other teams.

The tournament was in Tulsa. Even though it was the beginning of summer, it was already super hot! She was nervous at first, but was once the game started she got in the groove!

They played eight games that weekend. They tied their first game, won the next two games, and then lost the last game of the day.

The next day they won their first two games, but lost their last two games.

They ended up getting 4th place out of the 15 teams that were there playing.

Avery had a blast! She loved the girls she played with, and she loves soccer. She just tried out for the U11 competitive team this summer and we recently found out that she made it!

Buffalo Wild Wings Coach Pitch

Austin's baseball team this year was sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings. Randy was the head coach and also the Commissioner for Coach Pitch this year. I was super proud of our boys. They played in the finals and got second place this year out of all the teams.

Something really clicked in Austin this year with baseball. The season started while school was in, but went into the summer. In his first week, we were given three games to play. He loved coming home from school, getting his uniform on and going to play. He told me he wished he could do that every day!

Austin batted great. He usually connected with the ball and in most cases made it to base.

He even had a few doubles and triples. And we were so excited when he hit his first in-the-park homerun!!

I loved his "down and ready" position.

Like I said, we had a great group of kids. Austin had a lot of his friends on his team, including his cousin Tanner.

And here are Austin's biggest fans! Excluding his mom and dad of course! The girls loved going out to the fields and cheering on their brother.

But what meant the most was to have his dad out there! Great season guys! We are proud of both of you!