Another year, another recap. Much of our year is spent with sports, school, and work, but it’s always nice to take a step back and remember what all we’ve accomplished in the last 12 months. He’s a recap of our life in 2023:

• Through January and February of 2023, Bella stayed busy with her freshman basketball season and Ben worked hard on winter baseball workouts. Plenty of activity to keep them busy through the summer.

• Bella’s basketball season wrapped up at the end of February. She had a wonderful experience and put up some good numbers in her first high school season. Primarily playing JV but getting some varsity minutes, she averaged 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds, with 51.8% field goal percentage, in 22 games played. She earned a varsity letter and made the Central Valley Conference All-Academic Team.

• Benny had an incredible start to his junior year of baseball. He was absolutely crushing the ball. In his first 14 games, he had 16 hits (9 doubles), 8 walks, and only stuck out 2 times in 34 at-bats. He had a .471 average with a .617 OBP. Unfortunately, during a game against West Albany in late March, Ben injured his knee sliding into home base. A few weeks later, he would have pain in his throwing arm as well. Although he tried fighting through it, his doctor ultimately pulled the plug on the rest of his spring season. He ended the season earning his first varsity letter and made the Central Valley Conference All-Academic Team with a 3.68 GPA.

• During the same time, Bella made the JV softball team. It wasn’t a great experience for her. Mostly, she had been going from one sport to the next for the previous 2.5 years and the toll of it became overwhelming. She did have a few good moments though and got to play with some friends she’d be playing with for the previous few years.

• We celebrated Benny’s 17th birthday by making a boy’s trip. He and his friends – Andrew, Mason, and Riley – headed over to Bend, Oregon for the week and enjoyed cliff jumping, an abundance of junk food, and many games of pool.

• Bella played summer basketball with her school and played a lot of good minutes.

• Melissa and I celebrated 21 years of marriage. For those who might not know, that’s 183,960 hours. She definitely makes me a better person, a better father, and a better human. Without her, life would be pretty messy.

• I was able to cross off a big bucket list item when Benny and I and my brother-in-law went to the Smashing Pumpkins concert in Bend in August. I had been wanting to see them in concert since 1995 and finally purchased tickets for last year’s concert in Portland but it was cancelled due to a sickness in the band. The concert was unbelievable and better than I ever could have imagined. It was worth the 28-year wait.

• Bella started volleyball in August, right before school started, and it went through the middle of October. She’s somewhat new to volleyball, only having started playing in 7th grade but she has fallen in love with it in that short time. She had a great time this year and is already looking forward to next year!

• In September, Ben started his senior year of high school and Bella started her sophomore year. It’s really unbelievable that Benny is already a senior! Where does the time go? There has been an abundance of planning, organizing, purchasing, etc. that has already gone into it, and he still has more than a half of a year of school to go! But I’m excited for him and his next steps.

• Right after volleyball ended, basketball tryouts began. And November proved to be a big month for Bella. Not only did she make the varsity basketball squad, but she also got her license and started driving on her own. It’s all going by way too fast for me.

Overall, it was a busy year, but we’re starting to get the hang of it all. In just a few more years, both kids will be out of high school and starting (or already in) college. But what a joy it is to watch these kids grow!