My niece Morgan has signed to play softball for Bethany College in Kansas, an NAIA School. She is beautful, and such a great young lady. You can't know how proud I am of my Morgan!





Lady Matadors’ outfielder signs with NAIA power in Kansas

Yuma, Arizona – May 13, 2008 -- Arizona Western College is proud to announce that AWC Softball player Morgan Evans has signed with NAIA school Bethany College in Kansas. The announcement was made this afternoon in a press conference on the AWC Campus, and comes three days before Commencement ceremonies at Veterans Memorial Stadium this Friday.
Evans worked hard to show her coaches the facets of her game that would earn her extra playing time, and by the end of her 2-year career, she had secured an important spot in the Matadors’ offense. The Cibola High School alum spent much of the early part of her freshman season learning the game as a pinch-runner or a late-game defensive replacement, she took full advantage of her time, and impressed then-head coach Pam Stone enough to earn more starts as the season wore on. ‘Mo-Mo’ started 28 of the Lady Matadors’ 59 games in 2007, and participated in 42 games overall that year. Despite getting only 70 at-bats, Evans scored 18 runs and stole 6 bases during her freshman campaign. With a new head coach and an influx of new players in 2008, once again, Evans started the season without a starting outfield job, but didn’t let it deter her at all. Evans continued to work hard to impress AWC Head Softball Coach Angel Shamblin, and by mid-season, Morgan was the team’s starting right fielder. At the plate, if the Matadors were starting a rally, Evans was usually in the middle of it, and her .356 batting average ranked her 4th-best on the Matadors’ team in ’08. Shamblin used Evans to manufacture runs several times-as evidenced by Evans’ 10 stolen bases and 25 runs scored (5th).

Okay, we don't usually let Connor read Star magazine (we're People people- but he doesn't read that either), but we made an exception this week when we found out that my little sister, Connor's aunt Lisa from Decatur, Illinois, is in this week's issue. I posted a week or so ago a photo from the Decatur newspaper of my sister getting her picture taken with Matt Damon. Well, that photo made it's way to Star, so we had to go out and buy a copy for posterity. Oh, and by the way, the movie being filmed in Decatur is still in production, so this weekend Lisa got Matt Damon to sign her copy.

















My niece Baylee (Annette's sister Alyson's daughter) came for a brief visit last week, and the kids were in heaven. I haven't gotten to see Bayleee in a few years, so I was a little shocked to see that she's grown a foot and a half, changed hair color, and is a beautiful young lady.

I usually take my camera bag to the Las Vegas 51's game, mostly because it's a good way to bring in all the goodies Connor requires to watch our national pastime. We love the 51's, and always have a great time.

















Connor and 51's catcher Danny Ardoin.

Ramon Troncoso.

Connor and dad watched starting picher Jon Meloan warm up. He had a bunch of strikeouts against the Nashville Sounds last night.

I asked Connor to sing in our Gospel Service this morning, for Mother's Day, and as a preview of our Preschool Choir singing next Sunday. He really did great, and loves to sing.... hope you enjoy it!

Yesterday, Connor and I made our way to Planet Hollywood to see the "Gazillion Bubbles Show." It's supposed to be really pretty cool, and with a gazillion bubbles no less. (I give blood- I've given over a gallon since we've lived here- and one of the things they do to get you to come in is give you show tickets. That's where I got two duckets for the bubbles show.) Anyway, we went all the way there, only to be told that there was no show (it is on their website- a Friday 3PM show, plain as day). We were disappointed, got a lemonade, and vowed to return next week. On our way back to the parking garage, we had to go through Paris Las Vegas, and the first person I saw as we entered was my favorite Las Vegas comedian, George Wallace. (I still recall the early days of the FOX Network when they would have these shows featuring comedians. George Wallace was always on them. My buddy Chris Parrott and I would crack up at his "I been thinkin' " routine.) I took out the cell phone and asked George for a picture with Connor. He couldn't have been any nicer, and here's the photo. I've seen George twice, and rolled on the floor each time (no, I do not drink). It was a laughter roll. Connor thought he was nice, and as we drove home, I pointed out no less than four giant billboards for our man George and his show.

At the beginning of this year, our church remodeled our facilities. It was a $350,000 project, that included, among other things, the repainting of the entire enterior of our building; new carpeting; new theatre seats; stone work around the baptistry and in various spots around the building; tile throughout our hallways; new video projectors; plasma screens in the foyer; a new video camera used for baptism and preaching; and hard wood on the steps of the altar and around the stage area. We even added a remote controlled sunscreen to go behind the stained glass above the baptistry when the sun gets too brilliant! It looks like a new place. Here's Pastor Rob from a recent Sunday morning.

Matt Damon is making a film in Decatur, Illinois, so my little sister and her boys went to see them film. During a break he posed for a photo with Max and Gage. The photo of Lisa with Matt Damon was actually in the Decatur paper. Only Lisa...

My friend Hexel Hernando was taking a photo of me for our church magazine, and when we were done, he shot a few of me with the kids (minus Caleb, who was at home with nanna and pawpaw). Chloe would have been in more photos, but this was the only pose she gave us before quickly exiting. Connor and dad resemble each other as little- I'm starting to see it...