Troyer Party of 9: July 2023

Planning your only family vacation of the summer the same weekend as the State Tournament is not advised. However when you're 1 family of 7 sometimes that's the only week that works so you try to make the best of it and honestly who are we kidding we can't remember the last time a family vacation was relaxing anyway. One of the things that does not come with having 7 children is much free time and the little bit that can be found usually comes by sticking to a good routine which vacation is not conducive to. So typically we come home exhausted from managing our chaos on vacation and this year was really no different. This time we were just tired from so much driving and long days in the sun and packing and repacking instead.

This said the memories are always worth it. We love watching the kids make memories with their cousins, the laughter, the bonding with Aunts and Uncles over silly stories like Sadie's friend "George" at the pool or the infamous Aquaphor stick. We love playing games at night and watching movies. We love the way the family looks out for one another swapping around kids for walks or swimming or the park. We love the shared meals and the late night chats with siblings. All this is what we missed the most while we were absolutely loving cheering our boys on in State. We didn't get to be a part of most of those stories this year but we're thankful for all the extra everyone else did so that Sadie and Hazel and Evie could be in Caldera all week and we're thankful that we got to be there for a day on each end as well.

DAY 1: We squeezed in all the things twice on Day 1. Biking, swimming, paddle boarding, canoeing, the park, the pool, movies, treats, yes please!!!

Bubble Braids by Auntie Kendy

Stopping to pick the flowers with sweet Miss Hadley

Cousins

Evie and Ellie-Jo

Aubrey

Maddie

DAY 2: We headed to Sherwood but the 5 girls stayed to play for most of the day before the twins headed back home with Uncle Robert.

So Sassy!!!

DAY 3: The oldest 3 girls had more fun swimming and hanging out with cousins, Grammy watched a lot of baseball as the games were being live streamed which was fun and apparently as the tournament went on more and more people joined in to watch which was fun for us to hear.

DAY 4: Word on the street was Payton and Sadie really missed the boys. Apparently Wyatt's on the go always needing to be doing something is appreciated to a point and they get a little bored without him. That said Sadie helped a lot with the girls and with Tommy and Hadley while we were away which was much appreciated and the were all up to welcome us back when we rolled back in 10 p.m. Sunday night.

DAY 5: We crammed as many things as we could into our last day and although I was hoping to squeeze one more day in at the pool, it turned out that half of the group was checking out this night and once most of the cousins were gone the kids were ready to go too. I think the boys and the twins could have done another day if we'd pushed it, but girls were partied out and we were all tired so until next year that's a wrap.

Tommy and Evie

Evie

Maddie

Hazel

Uncle Brandon is definitely the funnest uncle in the pool.

Hadley

Ollie showing the boys all the golf balls he found in the lake.

Wyatt making lunch while Brandon and I finished up at the pool with the littles.

This girl loves a baby snuggle just like her Mommy.

Last evening at the park.

We just wrapped up our 2nd season of baseball and it was definitely one to remember. It had it's challenges, among which was that the younger girls didn't enjoy it as much as last year which meant lots of complaining which was HARD, but as we reached the end we found ourselves more in love with the sport than ever.

I've been trying to put my finger on what it is that really makes us love this sport and I can't quite figure it out but I think it has to do with the highs and lows of the game, especially at this age. It's the dropped balls and the amazing catches, the strike outs and the great hits, the swinging at things they shouldn't have even looked at and the way the boys celebrate and encourage each other when they get back to the dugout regardless of how their at bat was. Maybe it's the way you get to know each player and their family and root for them like they're your own. Maybe it's the boys in their uniforms and ball caps. Maybe it's the coaches who bleed baseball and so you really have no other choice but to love it with them. Maybe it's something about boys at this age, sweet and RIDICULOUSLY loud and ALL IN!!! I don't know, but what I do know is that even though we were more tired at the end of this season than last we're still sad to see it come to an end.

Wyatt started taking hitting lessons in January, tried out for the 5/6 team sometime in March, and our first regular season game was on May 15th. At one of the pre season scrimmages we were asked if Cooper would be interested in joining the team. Apparently there is a rule stating you need a minimum of 11 players to qualify for State and our team only had 10. We said sure as it was no extra driving or games and Cooper was willing to give it a try even though he's never played before aside from in the back yard and the 1 or 2 batting practices he went to with Wyatt.

The boys went undefeated in the regular season, 10 running most of the teams we played, which was kind of a bummer honestly, but Wyatt got to pitch quite a bit which he really enjoys, he gained a ton of confidence hitting and fielding, and Cooper also gained a lot of experience as this was all new to him. Brandon started off in and out of the dugout helping just a bit and by the end of the season he was helping a lot which was a special experience for him with both of his boys.

Eagle Field

Wyatt Pitching

I'll never forget the way Wyatt smiles when he's on the mound. Before he throws a pitch he typically looks over to his coach and gives a little nod and a grin, but sometimes I catch his eye and his grin is a highlight of the season for me. He's so happy out there.

He grew a lot as a pitcher this season. I get so nervous when he takes the mound but he truly seem to love it. Again and again this season he'd get a little wound up and then Brandon would remind him to step off the plate and take a breath and when he stepped back on he'd always give that same grin and then most of the time he'd start throwing strikes again. It's one of the best things in the world to watch your kids find things they really love and for Wyatt one of those things seems to be baseball and pitching.

Cooper

District Playoffs

District Playoffs were July 8-9. We played 2 games Saturday and 1 games Sunday and won all of them even though we were missing a few boys at each game. The playoff games were definitely more challenging than our regular season games but the boys stepped up to the challenge and we went into the State Championship pretty excited.

Leaving church heading to the District Championship.

State was the weekend of our family trip to Caldera which was a bummer but we did it. We basically drove up to Caldera on Wednesday, spent Thursday doing ALL the things (riding bikes, swimming, paddle boarding, riding bikes some more, and staying up WAY too late.) I tried to slow the boys down reminding them we had to leave early the next morning but what can you do? It's vacation and I knew this was possibly their only full day there with all their cousins. So they played hard and then we loaded them up at 6:00 the next morning to drive them 3 1/2 hours to play in their first game at 11:30 Friday morning.

As you would expect Friday was rough!!! We won both games but the boys were dragging and Cooper took a hard hit to the ribs off a wild pitch. Between games we attempted to feed them and even caffeinate them with red bulls (great parenting). Wyatt perked up and played a solid game that afternoon but poor Cooper was done. It was 90 degrees, he was completely exhausted and hurting, and by middle of the 2nd game we made the decision to pull him because he just couldn't hang and who could really blame him, poor guy. :(

Thankfully the win Friday afternoon secured 3rd place and meant we didn't have to be back on the field until 1:30 Saturday and only for a single game. So the team went out to dinner together which seemed to recharge Cooper a bit, Brandon spent some time hitting with the boys in the morning to help Cooper get his head back in the game, and then we headed back to Sherwood for game #3.

Meanwhile Robert drove Maddie and Aubrey home from Caldera Friday afternoon and dropped them off at my sister in laws house. We picked them up at 9:00 that night and then left them with a babysitter most of the day Saturday. They really were troopers for as hard of a time as we give them.

Unfortunately we lost on Saturday which meant a 10:30 game on Sunday, twins in tow, followed by a 1:30 game against the team we lost to Saturday. Needless to say Sunday was a long hot day!!!

We won the first game which has to be our most memorable game to date. Top of the 6th, were down by 1 with 1 out and Cooper is up to bat. He wracks up 3 balls and 2 strikes with a couple foul balls mixed in before the hit that gets him on base making him our tying runner. The next kiddo strikes out and the next one gets walked. Now Wyatt is up to bat with 2 outs a runner on 1st and Cooper, our tying runner, on 2nd. Talk about a nervous Mamma. The pressure should really be more evenly divided between families. Wyatt does the same thing, for dramatic effect I'm sure, and wracks up 2 balls 2 strikes and a foul ball before his big hit which allows Cooper to score and tie the game. Ryder then bats Gavin in our winning run!!! The inning ended with Crosshill up by 2. Ryder pitched our last inning giving up only 1 run and so we won by 1 point securing 2nd place!!!! What an exciting game!!!

We lost our next game to Sherwood 12-14 and although loosing is never fun we were soooo proud of our boys and this team. Our little 1A school gave a 6A school with quite a few teams and a really legit program a run for their money. Such an amazing way to end the season!!!