Chico Bullpen Baseball Academy

How the Chico Bullpen came about.....

Lance was laid off from Hardesty and Sons back in August, 2009. He decided then that he definitely did not want to go back to construction work. His love is baseball and he had to do something related. He has always wanted to be a scout and still wants to be and decided to pursue a scouting job. It seemed as though every open door led to a dead end. He was becoming very frustrated. His buddy asked if he wanted to help coach some travel teams of kids aged 9-14. Lance was happy to do it, excited to do it, and thought, even if I don't get paid, at least his name was getting out there. He also started volunteering his time at little league fields maintaining them. He would go out almost every morning and work on them. During his time coaching the travel teams, he realized how much he enjoys working with kids and of course baseball...the perfect combination. The kids loved him, too and their parents noticed. They started coming to him asking for lessons. He decided that he should open his own baseball school, a dream he has had for a long time now. At first it was just dreaming out loud to me but the more we thought and talked about it, the more it became a reality. His unemployment was running out and my paycheck has been dwindling down so what did we have to lose? He wanted to try this new venture not only to pursue his dream but also to provide for us, his family. Once we decided it was a go, he/we started working non-stop until the doors opened on Feb. 16, 2010. It has been a lot of hard work so far and we still aren't done, but it's also really exciting. Unfortunately it's a little bittersweet at the moment, but hopefully everything with his "buddy" will blow over. Yay honey! Here's to a very exciting and fun (and maybe a little nerve-wracking and a bit stressful) year to come with the Chico Bullpen! I'm so proud of you!

The house was a wreck for a few weeks with things Lance

ordered for the business....

The first day with the building.

The office

Hanging the cages

Painting the Bullpen signature colors

The finished product!

The Grand Opening Day and the proud family!

Valentine's Day

We spent Valentine's Day down in Roseville this year. Lance's travel team had a tournament down there and the kids, mom and I went, too. We stayed in a hotel because Evan had been sick up until the afternoon we headed down and by that time we already had our hotel and couldn't cancel without a fee. It was weird staying in a hotel but kind of fun also. It is a brand new hotel and so it was really nice. Lance had two games on Sunday, heart day, so the rest of us went to hang out with Erich, Meg and the kids before heading home. Meg had the table set with roses and mimosas and made heart shaped pancakes with powdered sugar and berries, a tofu scramble and heart shaped vegan sausage! YUM! It was a beautiful day so after breakfast we took a nice walk to a little park where the kids played a little....

Adi Grace striking a pose!

So cute!!!

HJ had so much fun going down the slide with Grandma!

What a handsome boy!

Peek-a-boo!

The girls in their matching dresses....love it!

13 Month Update

Holden had a well-baby appointment at 13 months and at that time he weighed 22 lbs. and 4 oz. (just below the 50th %) and was 31.5 inches (75th %). So he has definitely slowed down in the weight gain but he did gain at least 1 pound...in three months. Before his appointment I was thinking he hadn't gained anything, so I was relieved that he did, even if just a little. He's so active, running all around, dancing, etc. that not only is he burning tons of calories, but he also doesn't want to stop to eat.

He's talking up a storm lately - he has this new babble that just cracks up Adi and I! He can say a few words and is trying some new words. Let's see, here are his words up to this point:

Mama, dada, sissy (sounds like shishy), Adi (sounds like deee), Ty-Ty (what we call Tyson), My (what we all Mylee), Dude (grandpa taught him that one), bike (sounds like by), bye-bye (sounds like buh-bye), hi (sounds like hieeeee), no, milk (sounds like meel), ball (sounds like ba or ball), kitty, tractor (very high pitched), dog (sounds like dog or da), sheep (sounds like shee) and Bubba. He has known how to sign for "milk" and "all done" for a little while now, but just learned "more" a couple of weeks ago. Mommy was very excited about that!

On his 10 month update I put that he was sleeping through the night. Well that went out the window a few nights later. He no longer sleeps through the night. He goes down for 2 to 4 hours but usually 3, and then he comes to bed with us. I have tried putting him back in his crib after getting him back to sleep but he wakes up right away again. Daddy likes me to bring him to bed with us. Although our bed is cramped, we love being next to him...as long as he sleeps. When he doesn't feel well, he just tosses and turns and wants to nurse and yells out. So I usually take him to the couch or rocking chair for a few hours. Thank goodness for my yummy coffee in the morning!!

Holden loves looking at books and being read to, he LOVES running around outside, playing with balls of course, taking rides in the jeep he and sissy got for Christmas, playing chase and peek-a-boo! He hates getting his diaper changed, getting dressed and going to bed.

He climbed into this tub while I was on the computer.


Peek-a-boo, I see you!!

Feeding himself some yogurt....

Decided it might be easier to just pour it in his mouth...

Back to using the spoon...

Notice the hair - there is yogurt all over his head!!

Got a nice bath after the yogurt mess.

Relaxing on the fire truck couch chewing on

a toothbrush (one of his favorite things to chew on).

The sand pile at mommy's work.

Sitting in and pretending to drive the big dump truck at mommy's work.

Throwing a ball around and enjoying some warm sunshine at work.

Decided to crawl into his toy basket to look at a book.

Brashears-Mallory Reunion

On the day after Christmas 2009, we had a little reunion with the Brashears Family and Mallory Family. The Mallory's lived next door to the Brashears from day one in their house on Rush Court, until the kids were in high school. We used to play and play and then play some more with the Mallory kids. Those are some of my favorite memories as a kid. We decided that since everyone was in town for Christmas we should all get together. We met at Caper Acres and despite the chilly weather, we had a great time!

Holden and daddy going down the slide...I think daddy's

having as much fun as HJ!

Loving the slide

What's up dude?

Grandpa and HJ going through the tunnel on

the way to yet another slide!

The whole bunch of us!

Brashears and Mallory kids...Brad, Erich, Keri, Jordan, Brook and Summer

With the spouses and kids

Mom, Dad, Janet and Paul