Sunday, March 6, 2011

March is in full SWING...

We are back in beautiful Arizona so Billy can gear up the baseball season and we wouldn't be enjoying this beautiful weather if it weren't for him so this post is a little update on what he has been up to at "work" while Kenley and I play in AZ...

Spring training is always fun because its the first time all the players get together after not seeing each other all winter. Think first  day of school. There are new guys to get to know...old players getting back together...and young rookies to mess with!

This year Billy is the longest TENURED Royal on the team. Which means although there are guys with MORE big league time then him he has been with the Royals longer then anyone else currently on the team. Drafted by KC in 2004 and has been on the big league team since 2007 all by the ripe age of 24. 

This is an exciting year for us because we have a WAVE of YOUNG players coming up and will be looking to make their debut this year. If any of you know anything about baseball you will know that we haven't been very good in a long time. There is a lot of buzz that we are going to be awesome in the next year! Even though Billy is still young at 24 and some of these "kids" coming up are only a year or two younger they will be looking UP to Billy to show them the ROPES in the BIGS because this is his 5th big league season making him a VETERAN! 


So, although Billy trains all winter to stay in shape it takes him a while to get back into"BASEBALL" shape! Spring training is used to get his timing back for hitting by taking BP and facing real pitching. 


AND
wear off the rust from not taking ground balls all winter! 
(Our 4 first basemans working with the infield coach)

CONDITIONING

BUNTING

They also spend time taking LOTS of pictures and taking video to use on the big video board in KC and for COMMERCIALS and even VIDEO GAMES. 
Billy would say this is the hardest part of the job because he isn't very comfortable in front of a camera! He would rather just go play baseball! 

After a month of drills and practice the month of March is spend playing the other teams that are also training in Arizona for that last little bit he needs to get ready for Opening day on March 31st. 
Here is a MAP of the other teams we get to see during Spring Training! 
Here are a few snapshots of Billy during the first few Spring Training games! 


Billy STOLE 2nd base! 


Although it is a very busy time of year for Billy he still finds time to hang out with Kenley! 
She loves to go to the field and run around on the field with Daddy! 

















Thursday, March 3, 2011

February Speeds by...Literally!

Remember when I posted about how excited we were about coming to Phoenix because of all the friends we get to see and the fun things we get to do!?! Well...we have been having a BLAST! So much fun in fact the month of February is OVER and March is NOW! I just want to post some pics of Kenley from Feb (I have a baseball post coming soon!) and some of my fun times! 

(Hanging out with Mommy at the apartment while Daddy is at the field!)

 He favorite friend Braedon comes to play once in a while! 
The have a BLAST together! 

The other day I got bored and decided to straighten her curly hair! 
Look how LONG it is getting! 


Hanging out...

We spend a lot of time plays DOLLS! 

When Papa got to town we took him to our favorite park to feed the ducks and play on the toys! 
 

Billy has been a NASCAR fan as long as I have known him and I have never understood it! We have argued over it for years! I can't get excited about it watching it on TV...and Billy always tells me that I have to be there in person to understand its awesomeness! 

So do you know what this means!?!

Yep...I got to experience it for myself this last weekend! I went to my first NASCAR race at the Phoenix International Speedway! 

Apparently for my first race I got pretty spoiled with pit passes. This means we got to go down in the pits where the cars get ready in their garages see how that all goes down and then we got to stand right where they did the pit stops! We went early before the race and walked around...
ON THE TRACK! 
 
Ya...I am on the track...which Billy's dad had to point out to me because I didn't even realize I was ON the track! It was fun to walk around and watch them work on the cars and spend some time with these guys!
My father in law/hubby/ and family friend Ronnie from FL
Once the race started only the people with the HOT passes could stay in the pits during the race and guess what!?! we had such passes so we stuck around for the first pit stop so I could get up and personal to admire their work...Intense!!! 
PITSTOP anyone!?!



I have lots of cool post coming up to finish up Feb and lots of stuff for March so keep checking back!