One of Our Favorite Pastimes

The last day of summer has come and gone and fall weather is just around the corner. We are huge fans of summer and especially hot, summer days at the ball park. There's nothing better than a hot dog, pretzel with cheese and an ice cold beverage while sitting in the bleachers catching a baseball game.

Over the past several years, we have made it to quite a few ball parks, minor and major league. We spent the day after our wedding at Victory Field...on our vacation to NYC we we took in a game at Yankee Stadium...we watched Terry's cousin Jermaine play for the Gary Railcats and Schaumburg Flyers...and this summer was Nationals Park in DC, Wrigley Field (just the girls), and Busch Stadium on our trip to St. Louis. The trip to Busch was our first scalping tickets experience. Needless to say, we were a little nervous and crossed our fingers that we didn't get ripped off. The tickets looked legit. So for $15 a ticket we both made it through the gates, to our seats and there's not a bad seat in the stadium. Our sports/man's room is becoming quickly filled with memorabilia from each park. We love it.

The summer came to a great end this past weekend, as we traveled the 2.5 hours to the Fort (Fort Wayne) for Terry's alumni baseball game at IPFW. Great time. Good ballpark food. And Terry didn't get injured, which is quite an accomplish for a old guy who hasn't swung a bat, thrown a ball or ran the bases in many years. Good job, TJ!!

Nationals Park in D.C. earlier this summer

Cards v. Cubs at Busch Stadium



Terry up to bat at the IPFW Alumni Game...nice form

I Heart Faces - Completely Candid

My friend and fellow coach's wife, Molly, introduced me and the rest of her blog followers to I Heart Faces, which is a "photography blog sharing faces from around the world." Each week there is a theme and people from around the world submit their favorite photo that fits the theme. Of course, Molly's photos are absolutely adorable, because her beautiful children are often the subject.

So here goes my first shot for the I Heart Faces global community. The theme this week is "Completely Candid". Over Labor Day weekend, I caught this beautiful, candid shot of my dad in his canoe, enjoying the calmness that defines the lake. Since I was a little girl, my dad and his canoe have been a memorable part of my life, whether he was carrying it on his back while portaging in the Boundary Waters, moving gracefully through a field of lilly pads or fishing on the lake at dusk. I heart this photo!

Check out the other shots at iheartfaces.com, especially Molly's adorable candid photo.

Priceless

After a little over two months at my new job, I have come to realize that loving your job is priceless. Waking up every weekday morning (almost) with a smile and an eagerness to get the day started is such a wonderful feeling. All the work to get to this point has really paid off and I could not be happier.

On July 15th, after completion of grad school and several stepping stones, Best Buddies Indiana welcomed me as a High School Program Manager. Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization (yes-finally using my degree!!) that provides opportunities for one-to-one friendships and leadership development for people with intellectual disabilities. The friendships that are formed are incredible and the people I am privileged to work with are so inspiring. Within a week of my start date, we were attending the 2009 International Leadership Conference in Bloomington with people from all over the world, getting 5 hours of sleep a night and loving every minute of the 5-day adventure. Now back in the office, my days are consumed with meeting and talking with high school students and helping them get their BB chapters off to a great start.

Once again....priceless. The work...pricesless. The mission...priceless. The people...priceless.

Indiana HS Chapter Leadership at LC2009...these students are amazing!

Best Buddies representing at the CharitiBowl. Did not bowl the
best game of my life, but still tons of fun!

My coworkers (Rebecca, Melanie and Natalie) along with
Mary and myself gettin' down at the LC pool party.

Mr. Clean

Side story...The past couple of weeks, the Johnson household has had to endure periods of intermittent internet service and my social media activities have fallen to the wayside. Thank you, Comcast. Little did we know that we just needed to unplug and plug in again. Eh. Well, now we are patched.

Main story...The reason that we were so eager to get the internet mystery solved is because of a short clip that a few of the Butler players put together for Coach T (Terry) and posted on Facebook and we wanted to watch. The video highlights his characteristic cleanliness, his no-nonsense workouts, and their overall appreciation. Terry absolutely loves his job, and his fellow coaches and players mean the world to him. As one of his biggest supporters, I am so proud of him and his dedication to the team. Season is just around the corner (or as Terry would say "Season is already here"). Go Dawgs!

Here's the clip, straight to you from Shel, Ronny, and EK via Facebook (the clarity is not the greatest, b/c I had to record the Facebook movie on my camcorder):




Side Note...For those of you that don't know (they baffled me as well) here are some definitions for words found in the video straight from Websters Dictionary (well not really):

"fire" means really good in sports terms
"Gary Payton aka the Glove" is a NBA player who resembles Terry
"pads" are defensive pads used in practice to push the players to get low on defensive drills

Neophyte Blogger on Board...

In the footsteps of several close friends, the force of the blog has pulled me in and thus begins our little blog. Never thought this day would come.

Who might you say does little blog entail? Well, that would be my husband Terry, myself and our preciousl little girl dog, Koko (more to add at a later date), along with our family and friends.

As a program manager at Best Buddies Indiana the school year is busy, fun and filled with friendships. As the wife of a college basketball coach the season is crazy, exciting and filled with wonderful times at Hinkle. As the momma of Koko, life is wonderful, amazing and filled with a wagging tail.

As I have come to learn, every post should include a pretty picture. The photo to the right is of Koko and I during our day at the park with Terry for our 1 year wedding anniversary.

So, here we go...enjoy the ride!