Neeley Family Blog

We have reached the end of our baseball season for the year.  Both boys played incredibly well!  They enjoyed their seasons.  Brayden's team had several boys he had played with years past, Brock created new friendships on his team. Brayden's team was coached by one of my high school friends and Brad.  They put together a great group of boys.  Their season was rough.  They did not win many games.  These 5th - 6th grade boys often got into their own heads and down on themselves.  It would dominate them for one inning, but often lead to their defeat.  Brayden still had fun and enjoyed his season.  He was a great hitter on the team this year- really going after the pitches.  He also got to pitch some, which he enjoys.  Brad would come home raving of his plays at short stop and 2nd that made outs for the team. I only was able to catch a handful of games (often tournaments) due to their game nights being on the same evening...

This year with baseball, the boys were again at the age of playing on the same team.  This was bittersweet this year, since we know it will more than likely be the last time for a while.  Brad and I were just excited to only be coaching one team this year. ;) We had all of our same kids as previous years, minus a few that either didn't sign up to play, or got put onto another team because we had too many. We had a lot of fun coaching this year and it was so neat to see all the improvement and what these kids could really do towards the end of the season.  It was like watching a real baseball game! They were making double plays and hitting amazing! Here are some photos from our Rookie season this year. Brayden was #8 and Brock was #2.

Easter has become a tradition of us going to church, going out for brunch, doing an egg hunt (after that sneaky bunny comes around) and then another egg hunt at Grammy and Grandpa's house with the cousins. This year, we had great weather for our day! The Easter Bunny was very good to these kiddos, candy in their eggs and baskets full of goodies.   A look at our egg hunt:    

We made it through a crazy winter with snow, rain and coldness and the signs of Spring are amongst us now! We all love this time because it means longer nights, more playing outside, baseball season is coming and I love to see the flowers blooming. We did a little work this weekend and took advantage of the nice weather. We can't wait for more Spring-like activities!

We planned a little trip East recently. We wanted a little family get-a-way.  We booked a house in Sunriver, OR for an extended weekend.  It worked out to be right before Brad's birthday.  He loves Sunriver and we have actually been there before on his birthday. We had a nice drive over the mountain and were blessed with some really great weather! It is one of our favorite places.  We get to relax as a family.  We ate out for dinners, enjoyed the hot tub, went for bike rides and made a little adventure to Mt. Bachelor.  Other than a minor set back of me taking Brock and Brylee to urgent care for a check up of what I thought to be croup (it wasn't just a virus they said), we had an amazing time. Here is our slideshow of pictures from our trip:

We hung out at home or local places during Spring Break.    Checking out some things at Toys R Us.  Brayden won some Blazers gear!  Bowling with some friends for their birthday.  A trip to the zoo! It was packed on such a nice day!!  This is what happens when you play so hard!  Spring Break wouldn't be complete without JJ Jump.  Building forts in the living room!  A little visit to see Daddy's new office! Someone thinks they are in charge! ;) The week flew by and we went back into school feeling good after our little adventures.  It gave us all a little taste of what Summer will be and boy, are we looking forward to these last few months going by quickly!!!

Well, we managed to get another quick trip in as a family.  This time our adventure took us 2 hours North to Great Wolf Lodge. Brad and I bought a Groupon recently for the Lodge and planned out our trip when there was a break in school and baseball.  These happened to be the days leading into the Memorial Weekend but we took it as a chance to have some fun and relax. We left Thursday morning and stayed just one night.  The kids were excited to be able to put their swim lessons to use and get back in the water.  We had not been there since the boys were little and Brylee was not yet a part of our family, so about 5 years! We had a Kid Cabin suite this time around, which meant plenty of space for each person.  There is a King bed, sofa sleeper, bunk beds and a single toddler/twin bed.  It worked out perfectly! We spent much of Thursday swimming.  We took a small break for dinner and were back at it until story time came around (also bed time ;)). ...