• We rolled into 2022 just as busy as we ended 2021. A lot of our busyness came from back-to-back weekends of basketball tournaments for Bella, which went until the first week of March. It was good for Bella to be back on the court, but frustrating in some ways for her as well. In the end, she wrapped up her season, ready to move into a phase she’s been looking forward to for quite some time: high school.

• Toward the end of 2021, we had the idea of starting a girls’ softball team, so that Bella and others she had played with the previous year could continue playing together as a team. As a result, the Bat Girls were formed. We kicked off our first practice on January 17 – and practiced through the first part of the year, with games starting in April.

• At the beginning of the year, Bella went from basketball right into softball and Ben kept working on baseball. His sophomore season started in April and not only had a fun season, he also played incredibly well. In his first 10 league games, Benny was hitting .407 with 11 hits and 6 RBIs. He would continue to play really well – probably the best baseball he’s ever played – throughout the entire spring season!

• Baseball and softball pretty much consumed all of our time from the beginning of the year, up until and throughout the summer. In June, Bella started playing summer basketball with her high school. She was pretty darn nervous at the start but the coaches and staff very much welcomed her right off the bat. Having been looking forward to this day since the 3rd grade (and even though she was trying to balance softball and basketball at the same time), Bella was excited to be playing basketball again!

• Ben got his driver’s license at the end of June. He hasn’t stopped driving since.

• In July, Bella played in the Hoopla tournament again with a great group of young ladies. They won 3 games and lost 2 and took 3rd place overall, winning the consolation bracket for her age group. I especially loved it because I got to watch my nephew, Zack, coach the team. It was a really fun time and one of the highlights of my year (even though I wasn’t playing!).

• In August, Melissa and I celebrated 20 years of marriage! She has given me a lot over the years – lots of laughs, grace, love, and memories – as well as a couple of beautiful (and only sometimes challenging) children!

• It was one thing after another for Bella this year. She made the freshman volleyball team and they started practicing in August and had games through September and October. It was a fun season and she learned a lot. Playing this many sports in high school is challenging – even for us parents – but she’s managing it well and is still doing good in school. We’re really proud of how hard she is working and the goals she has set for herself.

• We also played a ton of baseball this summer. Benny and the Bat Boys had games starting in August, as well as a full fall ball season in September and October. It was the second year in a row with beautiful weather throughout the fall and we soaked it up! We had 3 teams this fall – 34 players – and I ended up coaching two of the teams. Busy times but always worth it.

• It seems the theme for 2022 was “busy,” or so it seems as I type this out. But, not only was it busy for all of us, and especially Bella, there were a lot of firsts this year for the freshman. Bella’s first year of high school meant her first school dance – Snoball in October and Homecoming in December – and … her first boyfriend. Life is starting to look a lot different around here these days!

• The moment volleyball ended, high school basketball began. And Bella couldn’t have been more excited. Bella’s basketball journey has been challenging – from breaking both of her wrists several years ago to the pandemic shutting down youth sports – so to see her continue to play the game she loves so much means the world to me. She has incredible coaches, a great team, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for her. In her first ever high school basketball game on December 2 against Century High School in Hillsboro, Bella scored scored 8 points (she went 4 for 5) and grabbed 4 rebounds!

Aside from some travel for work and a handful of less exciting adventures (like losing my brand new iPhone in a creek), 2022 was far better than the previous 2 years. And it’s always fun and exciting to be a part of the lives of 3 other incredible individuals. I can’t wait to see Ben and Bella continue to grow and flourish over the coming years.