My husband...the coach :)

I can remember the day Robby and I went on our first date like it was yesterday. I could tell you exactly what I was wearing (all my sister's clothes...I had been in Hutch that weekend and raided her closet for the perfect outfit)...I remember dragging Whitney downstairs with me just so I could introduce them...you know, so in case he kidnapped me somebody would be able to give an accurate description. That...and so she could picture him when I recapped the date in great detail later that night (this was before the days of facebook). I also remember the exact table we were sat at at Chili's in Lawrence...and I remember my hands being all shaky and barely being able to eat because I was so nervous....because he was so awesome. We drove around for a long time after dinner....going no where in particular....just driving...talking about everything....just getting to know each other (I cried teared up at one point during a particular family story....so you can't say he wasn't warned from the get-go that I can be emotional :)). That is when I first learned that Robby thought he might want to go into coaching.

Fast forward seven and a half years....we're married and Robby is a head coach. :) This dream he mentioned on our first date has come true. And I am so proud of him. And happy for him. Just....excited for him. At one point I remembered him saying he wanted to be head coach by age 28. I've brought it up since then and he said "No, no...I said 30....28 would be too early." Then I reminded him..."YOU ARE 28!!! You did it!!! And if you really meant 30...THEN YOU BLEW THAT GOAL OUT OF THE WATER" Robby is humble....confident, but humble. He won't toot his own horn....but I will. Because I like to brag on the people I love. :) 

He is an awesome coach. Granted, I may not know much about baseball, but I watch him out there, doing his thing...doing what he always wanted to do and I can just tell he is good at it. Because he worked SO HARD at it. And he because he cares so much. He goes out of his ways to help his players. He holds them accountable in their classes, their faith, their behaviors outside of class. He is just the whole package as a coach....he cares about winning, of course. He cares about improving all of them as baseball players....but even more than all that he cares about them as people and preparing them for their lives long after baseball is over for them. 

Anyways...enough of the mushy stuff. :) On to the baseball pictures...be prepared for lots of these throughout the spring! 

That's all for now! Be back soon with some different sport (basketball!) pictures. :) Until then....

Dower Family Birthday Week!

My family all has birthdays within a six months of each other. Well, with Robby it is now closer to 8 months. However, he always notes that he feels like all my family members' birthdays come at the same time. And they almost do! My Dad and I have the "outlier" birthdays...I'm in April, he is in October....then there is Joe Henry, who's birthday is December 7th.....then there is birthday week. :) It kicks off with Betsy's birthday on January 24th. A few days later we celebrate Tedder's birthday on January 29th, then my momma on February 2nd. So in about a week and a half, we get to celebrate half of the Dower family! :) It is a busy, awesome week and a half mostly because now that we live closer, we got to spend a lot of it with my favorite people! :) I took some pictures along the way...I got much better at documenting the birthday by the end of birthday week. Sorry for the lack of pictures, Bets! :)

First up, Betsy's birthday. This year was her GOLDEN birthday! She has waiting 24 years for this magical day....then spent it cheering on Baby Joe in Hutch. She can be selflessly awesome like that. :) I realized after the day that I didn't get any pictures with Bets actually IN them. So I thought for fun I would add a few of us when we were little. 

Earlier this week (actually on my Mom's birthday), my friend Meg had her second baby. Megan is an only child and was really nervous about "how to do the sibling thing." I assured her that she would be a GREAT momma to two babies...and that she is giving her little boy the best thing ever...a built-in, life long, best friend, playmate. :) And as I look back at these pics of my sister and I, I can't help but want to call up my parents and say thanks! Haha...I truly believe that a little brother or sister is the best gift you could ever get (and I got three of them!). Blessed am I.





Now on to her actually birthday pics. Luckily, on the day of her birthday my lunch and plan period were back to back, so I was able to sneak away and drop off a cake and some cupcakes and eat lunch with her. Here is a pic of the cake...



And here are the flowers she got for her birthday from her sweet boyfriend, Michael. The card said, "Golden sunflowers for your golden birthday." Gotta appreciate a boy who knows that a golden birthday is a big deal. :)



Then we went over to Hutch to watch Joe Henry square off against Goddard. Before the game started, we were trying to get his attention as he was warming up...you know....yelling his name....waving our hands in the air....generally annoying things. We didn't think he could see us (or hear us:)), when all of the sudden he turned around, and winked at us (mostly Bets I think....I mean it was her birthday). Then he just went back to warming up. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Love that little boy!

Here are a few pics of him playing that night. He is the one of the two boys that greet the starters as the run out. I love seeing all of their routines as they run out. :)





Waiting to check in to the game...





Ok...obviously this isn't Joe Henry...haha...BUT I could not get over how cute this little girl was. It was the night of the Saltshaker clinic, and this girl had the dance down pat...except she was a count behind the whole time. And she was in the front row so even though she could see the actual Saltshaker leaders...I don't think she realized (or cared) that she was dancing to her own beat.



Back to Joe....





Poor Joe got pulled from the game after this for taking too long to tie his shoe...and I'm afraid that is the rest of my family's fault. When Joe was little, it was just quicker and easier to tie his shoes for him. Actually, I'm pretty sure he was so loved on that his feet didn't touch the ground for the first couple years of his life. Anyways, with six of us trying to get out the door, we were always running behind and kind of enabled Joe. It wasn't until he went off to school at Morgan Elementary, that a teacher discovered he couldn't tie his shoes. Yes....he was at least 5 by the time he learned how to tie his shoe. And yes...the rest of us our embarrassed by that. Poor youngest child. :) As a result, Joe ties his shoes different than the rest of us...and it takes him longer....and he doesn't let us forget it. :)

After the game my folks treated Bets to a birthday dinner worthy of the princess she is....Bogey's! YUM!



Next up, Tedder's birthday! He was born on Kansas Day...with a birth mark shaped like Kansas on his foot! Wild, huh? This year he celebrated the big 2-0....only one teenager left in this family! :)I can't believe he is a "twenty-something" now....when did we he get so old?!

We enjoyed dinner out at the Dunes with everyone and Ted's girlfriend, Anna. Here are few pics we took after dinner!



Typical.





When Robby and I walked up and the boys stood at the table, we said, "WHOA, Joe...did you grow an inch since Christmas?!" He seriously all of the sudden looked REALLY tall. After dinner we made him and Ted go back to back. Ted is 6'6"...and Joe is 6'4"...but growing like a weed!



Bets decided to jump in for fun...then of course I had to stand there too. My mom cut off our legs, so if you didn't know my family and looked at this picture, you would probably assume I am REALLY REALLY short. But I'm not. I'm almost 5'6"...which is ABOVE average for a female. Unfortunately for me, everyone else in my family is incredibly tall, so my average height ends up looking really short. Lame.



This looks bad...but its not. :) Joe Henry had just gotten his state ring and is very proud of it. He works it into any picture he possibly can. :)





And last but certainly not least, my Mom's birthday! :) This time, everybody came to us in Newton! My grandparents were back from their vacation so they were able to celebrate with us. We went to Reba's here...a really great little hole in the wall with an awesome wine list and DELICIOUS burgers. :) Everyone was able to make it (including Anna and Savannah...we were just missing Michael!)...here are a few pics from the night.





Ted and Anna...



Joe and Savannah....and The Ring..... :)







Singing my mom Happy Birthday!



Last year Christmas rolled around and my mom realized we only had ONE picture of all of us together from 2011. So this year she is making it her mission to make sure we take pictures every time we are together so she has more options this year.

This was a fail...



Here was our next attempt....looks like an awkward family photo. Note: Joe is still proudly showing off his state ring. :)



And finally we ended up with this....please, Mom...please don't make this the Christmas card.



Well...there was birthday week! It is crazy and busy and wonderful. I love getting the chance to celebrate three of the people I love most in the world! :)