Ahh... Baseball

Well I promised myself I wouldn't let this become an "baseball update" blog because I know it would drive Derrik crazy for me to update his every move on the field for everyone to read about, but we brought out my new camera I got for Christmas the other night and got some pretty good pictures of Derrik so I figured i'd give a quick update. First off... for anyone looking to keep up with Derrik's baseball his team website is GoMudcats.com. I have a link for it on the right hand side of the website. Derrik's start to the season had been going pretty well. They have no roles in the bull pen as of yet, and have really been pushing to get Derrik out there for over one inning. Derrik struggles with this because his second inning never seems to go as simple as the first, but he's had a great attitude towards it and did awesome the other night in his second inning! I was SO proud of him :)

Ryder saying hi to Daddy before the game

Derrik up on the score board

True Love

Homer and Chloe sitting in a tree... K-I-S-S-I-N-G... It's official folks... Homer and Chloe are in love! It is so adorable... they are just like any other couple... The play all morning, get into a few fights throughout the day, but in the end wind up cuddling for naps on the couch. In the morning Chloe is usually up before Homer (thanks to her little brother Ryder), and she sits at Homer's door waiting for him to come out and play. All I have to say is good thing Chloe is fixed or else we'd have even more little ones running around here in no time!

Puppy Love

And some of our other furry friends....

Hannah Banana

Turbo making herself comfortable on Ryder's blankets

Derrik's Birthday

Derrik had a day game for his birthday so we got to do dinner, presents, and cake for the first time in years since we weren't at the baseball field. We had a great dinner at P.F. Chang's and then came home to eat cake!

Happy 24th Birthday Babe!

Not our best photo ever, but it's the only one we have that day :)

Derrik got his new Lob Wedge golf club that he's been asking for

Grammy, Auntie Ally, and Auntie Hailey Came for a Visit

We were so lucky to have them visit for about a week! The girls were on spring break so they decided to make the drive down. We had a great time doing what we do best... Shopping! We went to Chuck E Cheese one day and also got to go to the opening games for the season. I love when the girls in my famiy visit :)

Auntie Ally finally got her hands on her little man!

Ryder showing his Aunties how high he can swing!!!
Ryder and Auntie Hailey

Enjoying a cold day at the ball field

Loving on my little sister

The girls with Muddy the Mudcat

Ryder with his Grammy

Ryder on the Bob the Builder ride at Chuck E Cheese

Happy Birthday Hunny (Da-Da)!!!

I want to wish Derrik a very Happy 24th Birthday! We have a day game today which means we can actually celebrate his birthday tonight!!!

We Love You Babe!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Ryder LOVES Homer!

Ryder absolutely LOVES our roommates dogs Homer. I'm not sure how we'll separate them when moving day ever comes... they are best buds :)

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder...

So they say, but my heart is fond enough already and I want my husband home already!!! It feels like it has been an eternity since he's been home. They have three more games to go and then they are on their way back home to us!! This was their longest trip away (one more in early August, but we're not thinking about that right now!) and i'm so thankful it is almost over with!

Hurry Home Hunny! Please... Ryder misses his Daddy!

Derrik's New Mudcats Picture

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a great Easter! Ours was unfortunately spent away from family, and i've been sick since yesterday. We made the best of it. The Easter Bunny brought Ryder a basket, and Grammy sent him one. The girls and I colored some eggs today while listening to the boys game.

Ryder checking out what the Easter Bunny brought him

The basket was his favorite toy
Opening his present from Grammy, Grandpa, Auntie Ally, and Auntie Hailey

Thanks Guys :)

My eggs I decorated

Trip to see the Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny came over to say hello when we got there
Ryder LOVED him!

These lasted about two second before they became a snack

Swing Time

Ryder and I decided to go check out the little playground across the street from our apartment building... it will definetely be a new place to go to when we need some frest air and it's been a long day at home! Enjoy the pictures :)

Opening Night!

Tonight is opening night for the Carolina Mudcats! Us wives are all in the living room listening to the game and keeping up on the computers. Anyone interested in listening or watching the play-by-play just go to milb.com and click AA and look for Carolina.

Go Mudcats!

The "Big Boy" Seat

We did it! We made the move to the "Big Boy" seat! Ryder is in heaven. Due to my crashing of the SUV before our big trip down to Florida we have had our car for the last month and a half. Thanks to a family friend who offered to drive our car down to N.C. we now have our SUV back. This means Ryder has a t.v. to watch his new movies on and air conditioning above his head. It was so awful being in Florida and having only a.c. in the front of the car. It felt like it took forever for it to cool the little man off. He is loving sitting in his new car seat, all cooled off, watching his movies :)

Home Sweet Home.. Sort Of...

What a long few days we have had! Lots of pictures of our craziness so i'll start from the beginning.

We had to return a t.v. to Walmart the day before we left that we had been "borrowing" throughout spring training. While we were there we decided to check out some big boy carseats for Ryder. We for some reason thought we would have extra room because friends had thankfully offered to take quite a bit of our stuff. Luckily I talked Derrik out of buying it until we got up here to North Carolina because our car was absolutely packed, and we once again had to bum more space in another friends car right before we left for the trip!

Ryder checking out the carseats... this is the one we have purchased since we've been up here.

Ryder trying the cart out for the 1st time... did great!
Ryder making silly faces in the mirror the night before we left

We were scheduled to depart from Sarasota around 1pm on Saturday after the boys scrimmage game was over. We were all packed up and ready to meet Derrik at the field until I realized we were missing a cat. The house we were staying in was old. It had lots of "flaws" I guess we can call them. Well there was a hole in one of the cabinets that lead back underneath them. After Derrik drove back to the house and we searched everywhere he managed to see a single one of Hannah's whiskers hiding in this hole in the cabinet. After lots of serious attempts... meat on a string, pulling the dishwasher out as far as we thought it would go without pulling any hoses off... we had to call a handyman. $120 dollars later for a guy to put two minutes worth of work in we had our cat and were on the road... not very happy, but at least we had our kitty! We got on the road about three hours behind schedule and after Ryder had just woken up from a long nap. Go figure... The trip went relatively smooth. Derrik and I bought Ryder some new toys which kept him occupied until about 6:30 which is his usually time for dinner and then bed. We stopped at a McDonalds to feed him and let him get out of his carseat for a little bit. We got back on the road pretty quickly and Ryder slept the rest of the way. Our animals were SUCH a pain the whole way. They were all over the place and only wanted to be under the petals to the car or sleeping on Ryder... so fustrating! We made it safe and sound anyhow... Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Turbo and Hannah enjoying the ride

Hannah driving on the dashboard
Chloe with her Daddy

Luckily when we got in around 3a.m. we got the car unloaded fed Ryder a bottle and he slept until 8a.m. so we got a few hours of sleep under our belt before a longgggg day! Derrik had Sunday off completely which was nice. We woke to a gorgeous day and went out to find out what our new town had to offer and realized it was everything within about five minutes!!!! Ahh how i'm loving having a Target within a couple miles. We also have a Walmart we can walk to and a Super Walmart down the road. Lots of shopping and lots of food. We also heard the mall isn't too far. I think we'll be venturing there this weekend! Another important thing to do the first day was getting Homer aquainted with his new girlfriends... It's going great... Homer loves to chase them around, and I think it's good for our animals to get some exercise. They are SO lazy! Now we are just waiting for Abby (Brittany's dog) to get here. Brittany who was our third roommate in Sarasota is living in the apartment right above us which is great... I love having them aroudn to hang out with :)

Chloe and Homer checking each other out

I finally decided to try out the cheerios! Ryder didn't know what ot think at first and still doesn't. Were getting the hang out of it though

The 1st Cheerio

Last night I finally got to see the baseball field!!! The guys had a little meet 'n greet type thing with the sponsors and the booster club. It was a great event and nice to finally see the place.

The water tower right by the field... MudCats

On our way out Derrik had to use the restroom so we stopped by the locker room. The boys wanted to show us the family room they have for immediate family to wait for them after the game. It had quite a few couches in it and a changing table. It will be great for us for the "too hot" or "too cold" days when Ryder is just over baseball. We also snuck into the locker room :)

Ryder and Daddy in his locker

Family pic by the water tower

Derrik left this morning at 9am for two back to back 5-series games. Along with the travel days they will be gone for a total of 11 1/2 days! I'm glad were getting one of the big ones out of the way right away, but still am so sad to see him go. Us girls will find lots of ways to keep ourselves busy. With the animals, Ryder, household chores, and work it's not hard to do but I still miss him like crazy. I'll update with some picture of the place soon.

Also... A lot of people have asked for our address. We always use the one for the field in case we got moved for baseball they could still get it to us. Here you go folks:

Carolina Mudcats

Attn: Derrik Lutz

1501 Highway 39

Zebulon, North Carolina 27597

Big League Appearance!

What a great spring training... Derrik got invited up for five big league games and got to pitch in one yesterday! He has gone up for a few in the past two years, but definately not as much as this year :) I am not one to know amazing baseball terminology so bare with me baseball buffs.... From what I can remember Derrik went in for the sixth inning. He gave up a double to the first guy (I think it was adrenaline and nerves... heck it's the big leagues!) The next guy made it on base on a fielding error which left him with no outs and a guy on first and third. I believe the next two guys grounded out and the third out was a fly ball to center field. Way to get out of a jam!!! Derrik said he threw about twenty pitches which is high for him at this point in the season, but the pitching coach asked him how he felt and ask if he wanted to go out for another inning. Could he honestly have said no?! It was a big league spring training game of course he opted to go out for another inning. Probably not the best idea... The first guy got a single off of him and the next guy got a homer. They pulled him after this. Derrik was still in high spirits after the game. Second innings are definately not his specialty. I know nothing about baseball and I know this... hopefully the Reds know this for the season :) He was really excited to have gotten to play and is so ready for this season to get under way! I unfortunaly wasn't at the game. I found out he was playing as I was on my way out the door headed to Fort Myers for the day to say my good-byes, get my hair cut, and pick up my animals. Luckily my grandpa went and had my camera... enjoy the pictures (double-click them for them to blow up so you can see him better!)

Ryder and Dakota hanging out at the office yesterday.. notice how much larger Ryder is... Ryder is 5 weeks YOUNGER!