NCAA Division Three World Series

This weekend I attended my little brother's baseball tournament. It's the last hurrah for the Yocum family's baseball streak. I don't know what Dad is going to do with himself next year!?! Baseball/softball/t-ball/ coach pitch you name it... flowed through the Yocum family veins for the last 20 years. It's the end of an era. Sigh.

Anyway- Jake's team (Shennandoah University Hornets) won the regional tournament last weekend and we quickly found out they'd be traveling to Appleton for the 2nd consecutive year to the World Series. Now...last year- Jake graciously (uh hem) missed out on his first game to attend his big sister's wedding. But- I figured...since this is his senior year and he missed such a big event for me...I owed it to him to show up. Dad and I flew into Greenbay, WI for the tournament and had a blast hanging out and shootin' the breeze until the games all started.

The first night- they lost to Illinois Weslyn 7-5 and the 2nd day they lost to John's Hopkin's. Jake pitched the second game for the first 5 innings and didn't give up a single run! He did an amazing job pitching and I'll admit I was beaming with pride for my little bro! It's been a LONG time since I've seen him play baseball- and I'll admit- it's much more interesting to watch now than it used to be! He's so tall (I'm not really sure where that comes from ...we're all chinese), but he's a great athlete. It was a serious bummer they lost the 2nd game. But- I'm glad he played his absolute best, and went out with a bang!


Dad took me to a steak dinner for my birthday and we grilled our own steaks over an open fire and visited the whole time. We had a great time together watching Jake play and catching up. I don't get to see my family that often- but I love the little snipits of family time when I get the chance.

Our hotel was amazing as well- you can sort of see the pool in this photo. Seriously awesome water slide. Everything is indoor since I'm sure it's miserable here in the winter. Our weekend was perfect weather however- and a welcome change from the San Antonio Heat.

Our new piglet....

Guinea piglet that is.

He is super cute and is only 4 weeks old. After returning from vacation my desire for a new pet could not be ignored any longer. Byron has this thing about animals living indoors with us, so no dogs or cats for us for a while. I routinely feed the stray kitty outside (and continue to do so), but I wanted something more! Monday - I looked on craigslist and sure enough someone was selling guinea piglets:)

He is a little afraid of us right now- but he'll grow accustomed eventually (once he learns that we are the ones who feed him!). I bought him a cage as well (off of craigslist! gotta love it!), and he seems to like like the larger space. He loves spinach and grass. He'll sometimes plop down in his water bowl and just sit there like he's taking a bath.

Anyway- after one year of marriage....we have moved up to the guinea pig stage of life. Next up.....kids. Just kidding. Maybe a dog first?

Vacation Vacation

Last week Byron and I headed back east for a whole week! It makes my heart happy to see all our friends and family and catch up on life. Byron was on call Friday before we left- so he came home- and jumped in Becky's car headed for the airport. He was so excited to get on that plane- but the eventually the weariness took over. He was a pittiful sight to see navigating through the Atlanta airport.

On a side note: Becky is one of my good friends here- that I see 2-3 times a week. We go to movies, play softball together, have bible study and she lives pretty close to us. Anyway- driving us to the airport- was the first time she had met Byron....ever! Now isn't that just sad!?!? It took almost a year for them to meet!

Anyway- we arrived in WS and headed strait to the house for some quick dinner and catching up before heading to bed. Poor Byron could barely keep his eyes open. He slept till 11:30 the next day!

Sunday evening we had a party out at the Branch Ranch with all our friends from Southfork. It was wonderful to see everyone and catch up on what's been happening back east. Nathan is so big now and he was precious playing with Leslie's bunny! I love to hear him laugh outloud! Ashling was pretty darn cute too. She kept relaying the plotline of My Little Pony to Byron while fishing by the lake. Needless to say- Byron wasn't too interested- but I thought it was sweet. Wyatt was out in full force and Luke couldn't be torn away from his fishing post. The weather was absolutely perfect and I'm glad most of our friends could make it. Kiera missed out due to a sick little boy- o the things mother's do:)

Jennie spent the night with us on Monday night and took the whole day off on Tuesday to hang out. We stayed up till 2 am talking and catching up and slept in late the next day! We had lunch at downtown Thai- one of our old favorites, and then headed back to her place for some R & R. It was like dejavu of one year ago as roomates. We curled up on the couch and watched some good old fashioned Reality TV! Then Dave and Kiera picked me up for dinner at Kimono and Byron eventually made an appearance. He's in the phase now-where he is perpetually late for EVERYTHING. I mean- everything. It doens't matter so much on vacation- but this is something we'll have to work on:)


Candance and Bradshaw met us for dinner as well and we laughed and laughed...until we were almost kicked out. Well- not really- we were just being loud. We then headed to Brian and Katie's while Byron and Brian began round 1 of Halo while Katie and I visited and played with Nathan. I love this pic of Tyler doing the "I Love you " sign which is actually the "Ok" sign. So cute!



My parents came in from MD on Wed and my dad headed strait for the lake. Which couldn't have come at a better time since Emily, Leslie and I were rounding the corner of the field from our suicide run Emily was leading. That girl can go for hours! I was relieved to have an excuse to stop! Dad to save the day! All the pics of the boys fishing are on Byron's phone so I'll have to post those later. I always regret not taking more pictures on vacation.

Thursday we went to BLUE ROSE POTTERY and spent a few hours in that warehouse. I Love that store. It's like a timewarp. I never thought I'd be so excited about dishes- but you'd have to go there to understand:) The shipment should arrive anytime and I'll be sure to post some pics. (I'm sure you're soooo interested right?!?!)

Friday and Saturday were relaxing days and I was even able to attend Kiera's baby shower! I can't wait to meet their 2nd baby boy on the next visit back home. Candance and I caught up on many things while watching Kiera open gifts. I also had a chance to catch up with Dr. Kuhn over some good ol fashioned NC BBQ (non of that Texas crap!). The company's research is being taken in a new direction that will hopefully end up in it being sold! Horray! I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

We headed back on Sunday and hung out with our Texas family. All in all- it was a great vacation! We can't wait to do it again!


Also- we put an offer in on a house- but the owners don't seem to motivated to sell. So...onward we go with the house-hunt. It was exciting to place an offer though. I couldn't sleep that whole night thinking about all the things I was going to do to fix up that house. I'm gonna have to break that habit if we end up looking at more than one house! I'll keep you all posted on that front.