Dear Photograph

Stumbled across this website thanks to an article on msn.com.  What a wonderful idea, so many memories are captured in photos and then revisited with touching captions.  I plan to do some of these when I go back to NZ in a few weeks.

This one is my favorite and brought tears to my eyes!!

"Dear Photograph, thank you for everything we had"1

1 http://dearphotograph.com/post/6958037321/dear-photograph-thank-you-for-everything-we

Beach Trip

Two weeks ago we piled in three cars and took off to Destin for the Loftin family beach trip, and once again it was an amazing trip!!  We spent most of each day on the beach body surfing in the waves, and each night we had a nice relaxed dinner with plenty of entertaining conversation.  One night we went to the track and raced go carts, we turned it more into a round of bumper cars trying to spin each other out.  I look like a maori now, between 3 days of softball camp and 4 days at the beach I have a pretty decent tan.

Back to the conversations, our servers always left our table with their mouths wide open because they would walk up on some inappropriate part of a story.  One example is John (one of our cousins) saying that the only thing bad about the trip was that he had to share a bed with Sam.  This was quickly followed with a comment from Mr. Pat saying he understood, he has to share a bed with Ms. Tracie (his wife) all of these comments are always made in good fun.  The best part is that not a single one liner comes in without three or four new ones being tacked on to the end.

Unfortunately I only took one photo the whole time down there, the downfall of having a good camera on your phone is you forget to take another one with you!!  At least it was a beautiful sunset :o)

Too fast for the camera - notice Andrew is behind me :oP

Auburn Softball Camp - Part 1

Last week was the Auburn Softball Elite Camp, as per usual it was A LOT of fun!!  This was the first of two camps that Auburn Softball puts on each year.  The girls ranged from 12 years old through to upcoming high school seniors.  With large age differences there were varying levels of skill, but all were very talented.

Tat, Ice, and I were in charge of the 26 catchers.  Normally we only have about 18, so the larger group required a slight change in how we operated.  We worked on all the basics like blocking, framing, throwing down to second...but my favorite part would have to be when we went over rundowns (or pickles).  The group we had caught on to everything really quickly, except for this!  Ice, the current auburn catcher, actually made it through twelve throws before she crossed home safely - for those that do not know the rule of run downs, 12 is WAY TOO MANY throws, most rundowns end after two, but at the most 3 throws.  Finally after the three of us who were coaching demonstrated the proper technique (both times we got the out in one or two throws) the girls finally caught on.  Unfortunately it was my turn to run when the girls made their first out - not really surprising seen as I am slower than Christmas!!  Anyways the out was made by a catcher who is about the same size as me; in my oldness, her tag managed to send me flying and leave me with some very bloody knees!!  Just surface grazes, but go big or go home right!!

I was too busy to take any photos during the day, but I did manage to get a couple of my team playing during the evening session.  Stay tuned for Part 2...little kids camp!!!

Seriously . . . Someone approved this?

During a walk through Academy Sports the other day, Andrew came across these swimsuits.  I couldn't resist taking a few photos...

I can't believe someone actually thought these patterns were a good idea?!  Thank you Columbia for making it even easier for a shark to mistake someone as a fish!

Product # 1 - fish scaled swimsuits by Columbia

2nd Amendment Right!!

This weekend was a blast!  Despite the heat we made the trip out to the hunting land for some much needed stress relief.  We broke out a portion of the Loftin arsenal, along with the Tew arsenal, and proceeded to destroy an old computer.  We had bows, pistols (including 2 1911's, a H&K USP, and a Ruger 22), and rifles (including Cade's Christmas present: a Marlin Model 336 chambered in .338, a golden boy 17 cal., a 22 cal. Ruger, a Mosin Nagant, and a Kar. 98).

The Loftin Christmas Card

Thankfully I remembered my camera, and actually used it!!  I got some great photos and movies.  If you don't want to watch them all I highly recommend the first one of Cade - just make sure the sound on your computer is up, this is a guaranteed laugh!

Cade's first time shooting his new gun - wait till he tries to reload it

The computer hunter

The remains of the computer

Keegan with the Kar.

Andrew with the Golden Boy

Me with the Taurus 1911 :o)

Decorating

This morning Ms. Linda - our receptionist - comes into my office and suggests that we decorate it.  Wow what a change, this empty front office has gone from an echoing junked up room to something that actually makes me look like I know what I am doing. (NOTE: I only said "look like")  I am super excited about it so I just wanted to share some before and after pictures.

Before

After

My Desk