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As you know, I haven't been here a bunch. I don't have a lot of time to post, so I've spent more time on Facebook recently. I have a Facebook app on my blackberry, so I can follow where ever I'm at.

I'm not gone for good, but if you want to see more of me, drop by facebook. Send me a friend request.. I'll accept :)

See ya...

Catching Up...

OK, I haven't posted in a while...

Tuesday, Scouts 6U team the Hueytown Mustangs (as opposed to the Birmingham Mustangs which is Delaney's team) went wild!... They held their opponents to 4 runs (3 in the first, 0 in the second, and 1 in the third) while scoring 25 runs of their own. There's nothing like seeing 6 year olds catch popups, turning double plays and throwing girls out at first unless its watching every girl on the team hit the ball (unlike at the beginning of the season) and having 2 home runs and one of them a GRAND SLAM.

I love it!

Yesterday I heard about my Cousin Cindy, she's been on here a few times... she's had another stroke and needs everyone's prayers right now. She lives in Oklahoma, but don't hold that against her.... she still needs prayers.

My Dad had an Arteriogram (sp?) yesterday but the blockage they were looking for was only 30% and they didn't have to put in a stint. He's back at home now doing fine.

This weekend we'll be in Dalton Ga for Delaney's Softball Tournament, we've made plans for a hotel in Montgomery and we'll be seeing The Alabama Shakespear Production of The Commedy of Errors for our Anniversary. Then I've got to make reservations for Pigeon Forge for another Tournament. Pigeon Forge is on the Edge of the Great Smokey Mtns and its a tournament we love to attend!

Then of course we've already made reservations for June to spend a weekend at the beach with two other families at a Beach House in Gulf Shores! Can't wait for that one.

Then a Weeklong trip to Panama City Beach, FL in July for the USFA World Series. If you don't think we'll spend some days on the beach there, then I'll send you my liquor bill! :)

Lots of fun coming up this summer.... now if I just have the money for all this!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CHERYL

Well kinda, sorta....

15 Years ago tonight, I went out to see a friend band play. It was a friend from my previous job and he was playing at a local restaurant/lounge....

Shortly after I got there, I was talking to the wife of one of the band members and she told me (pointing at a table) that there were some more people from where I use to work...

Looking over, I saw a beautiful blonde sitting at the table and I immediately asked her who that was.... Then wanted her to introduce me....

Then the band kicked into a slow song, and I told her "never mind, I'll introduce myself" and went to ask her to dance...

That dance has lasted for 15 years and I Love It!

Happy Anniversary of the first day that I ever laid eyes on you Cheryl... I love you !

Congratulation's Bobby and Sharon!!

Congratulations on the birth of their 5th child!!

Sailor Zen Parker McDonald
9lbs 21 inches
04/20/2009

Donations welcome!! LOL

LOVE This!!!

A Friend sent this to me...

She said this is why you should always "twirl" in front of the mirror before going out for the day!

This made my day!

A Mile of Pennies....

If you read Cheryl's blog a while back you learned what a penny can really do!

The Children at Church went on a mission a while back to collect a mile of pennies. In case you don't know how many pennies are in a mile, its 84,480 pennies. At the end of the year, they had exceeded their goal collecting 106,000 or $1,066.

With this money they purchase a Cow, A water buffalo, two goats, a flock of chickens, ducks and geese, a share of a pig and a rabbit. WHY?? It was all to benefit Heifer International and the goal to end world hunger.

All animals that were donated were pregnant and so carry on the benefit...

Well, read about it yourself her in this article from the Western Star (4/8/2009).

(Click it to Big It and see Scout!)

Or go here and read Cheryl's story.

Happy Anniversary!!!

It's not only Tax Day but it's my Mom and Dad's anniversary!!!

44 Years??? I think that's right.

44 Years and as of today, they haven't killed one another. Wow!

I hope you have a great day Mom and Dad!!!

:) I love this pic!!!

Easter Fun

Peanuts: Specials: It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
Uploaded by Peanuts

Hope everyone had....

A Wonderful and Blessed Easter!

And I hope you aren't getting as gray as I am.... :)

This last weekend...

Wow it was busy!

Saturday Scout had a makeup game at 11am. So I got the whole team there at 10am to start getting ready and it turned out to be a high scoring game. We can only bat 10 players each inning and managed to score 7 in both the 2nd and 3rd innings! Final score was 18 - 17 our way and we didn't even get to bat in the 4th inning because we were already ahead!

I jumped in the car after that game and headed to Morris (30 minute drive) where Delaney was starting her second game of the day... They won the first game of ellimination and ended up playing till around 7 that night before they lost the championship game by 2 runs. Which was good considering they were down by 6 at one point.


McKenna had prom Saturday night and she and her date were beautiful! They left with another couple and had a breakdown before getting to dinner. Cheryl got our car to them, and they were off on there way again leaving me and my brother-in-law to tow their car back home! :) Which of course we did...






Sunday, we slept through church... but managed to get everything set up for Scouts 5th Birthday party!!! Some of her team came to the party and I think everyone had a great time with a limbo contest, and musical beach towels, and lots of food! Despite the rain, it was a great party to celebrate Scout turning 5!!



The girls left the party and went to our church's annual easter celebration where they hunted for eggs, played games, did face painting, and rock to Rockin' Ryan (our celebrated church DJ).

When we got home, everyone was ready for bed... so it was an early night for our household...

What did YOU do this weekend?

Proud Moment....

Last week, Delaney's Middle School Team played in a game and she didn't get into the field the whole day. It depresses her when she doesn't get to play but she always takes it in stride.

In the last inning, our team had gone from a 6-0 lead to a 7-7 tie and everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats... We got a girl on and they called on Delaney to bunt her around. Laying down the perfect bunt she was not only safe at first but advanced to second on a bad throw. The next batter is hit so the bases are now loaded.

On a hit the girl on third is out on a force at home. So Delaney is now at third.

Then on a wild pitch, Delaney steals home and slides in under the throw to win the game 8-7!

It was exciting and it taught her that everyone has a job and when they put you in to make the most of it!

(Click the article to make it bigger)

I love softball!

SCREWED..... anyone have a screwdriver?

Well my brackets need a screwdriver.... Duke and Memphis lost completely killing my bracket since I had Duke winning it all....

I think I'll delete my shortcut to ESPN's Tournament Challenge now!

Also one of my sweet little softball players hit her head on a piece of furniture and had a mild concussion. Which of course means she won't be at our game tonight to hit home runs..... Really messes up my game plan (rely totally on her).

Cheryl of course is saying "lets see just how good a coach he is now!!! Blah...

Whish me luck tonight!

The 6U Mustangs Finally Fall

The 6U Mustangs (Scouts Team) finally lost a game last night against the only other undefeated team in the park by the score of 17 - 14.

We had a 2 run first inning and that killed us. We average about 6 runs per inning but Wii Hit held us to 2 our lowest scoring inning to date. But the next inning we came back with our largest scoring inning to date and scored 8 more runs to make the score 11 - 10.

Scout on Second

In the last inning Wii Hit score 6 more runs and held us to 4 runs.

We didn't hit well last night and had quite a few overthrows at first which we normally are like a machine from circle to first.

We'll get them next time!

Old Age getting to me...

I went to my hunting club to work saturday Morning... on the way home I got a call from a friend who needed some help. Seems like he was digging a post hole through solid rock... kinda makes it a little hard. :)

While driving out to where we were digging the hole, we were talking about our age. We were talking about how he was a year older than me (he was 43 and I was 42). Somehow he brought up the year he graduated, which was the same as me. Which led us to the year we were born, which was the same. Then to an argument about our age which didn't take long because he was RIGHT!

I JUST FOUND OUT I'M A YEAR OLDER THAN I THOUGHT!!!

I told him he didn't have to tell me that. I was perfectly happy thinking that I was 42 for the next 10 years....

It's the pitts getting old!

I rule.....

so far I've only missed one game on my bracket! (Damn that Michigan!)

I'm leading the ESPN group (Blogger Hacks) and I RuLe the BrAcKeT Challenge... (I better brag now because I'll suck it up the next round).

Spent half the day playing in the sun! Wish I could do it again!

Gary

Pretty Days...

The rain has finally moved on and the temperatures yesterday were in the 70's.

We had a great practice and then just hung out and watched the kids play. They played ball by theirselves for about 30 minutes before (inevitably) one of them got hit in the face by the ball and died.

Well, maybe she didn't die, but you would have thought she may have.....

It was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed just watching them....

Life is good isn't it?

OK, Not Fair

This is just not right.

Opening day was rained out. We played two games then had a bye (an off night). Now on the day that our team (Scouts Team) was to play... we woke up to a nasty, cold, wet day. We were really looking forward to playing after the last 3 days of practice!

I think my girls are on top of their game and need to be back out on the field.

Maybe the rain will quit, and we'll get a chance to play at 6pm tonight...

or maybe not....



Look at Scout's perfect form. Watches the ball into her glove, makes a perfect throw to first!

Sorry, I haven't posted much...

Things seem to get busy in the spring. Delaney playing softball, Sydney playing softball with me coaching her team (4 days a week of practice or games), there's Brett's baseball games (McKenna's boyfriend), Church activities, and of course, School activities for both McKenna and Delaney.

It's usually rather busy around our house and when you can find a second to just relax, you do it. I found myself Tuesday night in my pajamas going to sleep while the rest of the house was watching American Idol!

While things seem so busy and sometimes I say "I'd just like a day to myself", I also find that I get extremely BORED when there's nothing to do.... I guess you just get use to the hustle and bustle.

I'm not really going anywhere here... I just I'm making excuses as to why I don't post often... hmmm, does anyone really care? :)

ADD ON... While I never thought I'd like Facebook. I find myself on it more now, just because I don't have to think up a post. It's like commenting all the time. You just don't have to spend a lot of time with it. The bad part is All of you guys aren't there.

If you have a facebook account feel free to send me an invitation. gary k wray in Birmingham, AL

Sydney's Team

the Hueytown Mustangs (Delaney's team is the Birmingham Mustangs... ) Won their Second Game Tonight!! We are Now 2 - 0!!!!

Sydney went 2 for 3 and scored both times she got on base!! She actually put the ball in play all 3 times! I'm so excited that we are hitting the ball! That makes for a good season as long as you are hitting...

We're off till next Friday. So back to our regularly schedule hum drum...

Sydney's Team

The Hueytown Mustangs won their first game tonight!! Our season starts with a big "W"

Every girl on the teams had at least one hit!

Yes, I'm proud!

2009 All State Choir

Delaney has been so proud to be picked for the 2009 All State Choir. Only 2 students were picked from HMS and she was one of the two.

She has practice, ran between softball and Choir practice and finally the big weekend was this weekend! Of course this was also the opening weekend for Sydney's Softball, which I am coaching her team. So I missed the big performance. My wife and McKenna took care of me taping the performance and here's the results! The shaking gets better after the first song....

First Snow!

Here in Alabama we NEVER get snow especially in daylight hours! Imagine how excited we were!

A little Entertainment...

Just a video of our skit night at our Family Life Retreat this last weekend... It's a little long, but there's some cute skits.



Hey guys don't forget the Joke contest below! Don't let Lorrie win by default this year (especially with THAT joke!!). Last Day is Friday the 27th!

Contest

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in D.C.; One from Illinois , one from Tennessee , and a third from Kentucky. They all go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Tennessee contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil.

'Well', he says, 'I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'

The Kentucky contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, 'I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'

The Illinois contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, '$2,700.'

The official, incredulous, whispers back, 'You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?'

The Illinois contractor whispers back, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.'

'Done!' replies the government official. And that my friends, is how it all works!

(LeeAnne)

And Here's another

The very first ever Blonde GUY joke. And well worth the wait!

An Irishman , a Mexican and a Blonde Guy were doing construction work on
scaffolding on the 20th floor of a building.

They were eating lunch and the Irishman said, 'Corned beef and cabbage! If I
get corned beef and cabbage one more time for lunch, I'm going to jump off
this building.'

The Mexican! Opened his lunc h box and exclaimed,'Burritos again! If I get
burritos one more time I'm going to jump off, too.'

The blonde opened his lunch and said,' Bologna again! If I get a bologna
sandwich one more time, I'm jumping too.'

The next day, the Irishman opened his lunch box, saw corned beef and
cabbage, and jumped to his death.

The Mexican opened his lunch, saw a burrito, and jumped, too.

The blonde guy opened his lunch, saw the bologna and jumped to his death as
well.

At the funeral, the Irishman's wife was weeping. She said, 'If I'd known how
really tired he was of corned beef and cabbage, I never would have given it
to him again!'

The Mexican's wife also wept and said, 'I could have given him tacos or
enchiladas! I didn't realize he hated burritos so much.'

(Oh this is SO GOOD!!)?

Everyone turned and stared at the blonde's wife. The blonde's wife said,

'Don't look at me. The idiot makes his own lunch.'

(Bobby)

We haven't done this in a while....Send me your BEST Jokes and my lovely wife will pick the best joke and I'll find a prize for you. Last time Lorrie won a nice Coca Cola Thermos. I'll see if I can come up with something different this time. OH, Deadline is Friday, February 27th! You can leave them in my comment section or email them to garykwray@gmail.com .

Make um good!

Josey - Deep Blue Something

YUM

My new drink. Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and Coke.

Yes, it tastes like Vanilla Coke!
It's now my favorite!

Wonderful Production!!

We attended the production of "Big Bad" last night at the Middle School. Delaney was the Evil Stepmother defending The Big Bad Wolf from The Fairy Godmother, The 3 Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother in a Fairy Land court.

The play was so funny and Delaney's role was the largest (in the number of lines). I loved the Wolf's little "ad libs"

I'm sure that Delaney is glad to see it end. She's been spending all of her time after school in Drama and Softball. The Drama Sponsor and the softball coaches worked out a deal where Delaney would spend half the time at Drama and then come to Softball for the remainder of practice. So she's been running from one to the other and is exhausted when she gets home.

Had a great time at Habanero's after the play. All the cast went there to eat and celebrate.

Tonight we are celebrating my Mom's Birthday and my Grandmother's 80th birthday!

Today is a SPECIAL DAY!!

The wonderful woman who gave birth to me is turning 61 today!!!

(The first picture of Mom and Me)

She wiped a bratty 6-year old's nose, she was at all the scout meetings (and was a den leader through most of it), held a screaming 4th grader when he sliced open his hand on the playground, called his Dad when he got out of hand, celebrated with the 7th grade boy who made the basketball team in Middle School and the 10th grader who made the baseball team in High School, Yes and she was at most of the games too..., She kept the Teen out of too much trouble let him go once he got to be a young adult (but kept an eye on him just the same to make sure he was ok).



She was at his wedding, and there for him when it failed. Supported him when he remarried and took in the child as her own Grand-daughter. She was there at the birth of his first daughter. And when times got tough, and he was in the hospital after a stroke, she was there too.

A great Mother and Grandmother, you gave up so much for us, I wish we could repay you in some way.


Mom, You've always been there for me and today I want to wish you a Happy Birthday!

Meme

OK, I was looking around at Terry's Timeout and found a neat little meme so I thought I'd do it here...

Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
Select the 4th picture in the folder.
Explain the picture.
Tag four people to do the same.
No Cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

Now I have a complicated filing system... First of all I have all my pics seperated by years... starting at 2003. So I went 4 folders to 2007.

There were so many things in 2007 that would have been interesting... I have pictures from the Southern Museum of Flight where I went one day at lunch... Cindy's Grandbaby... Cheryl's bowling party... but the instructions said take the 4th picture. I had no pictures yet so I started drilling down in the 4th folder again....

That got me to the 2007 Mustangs folder. Now, in the Fall of 2007 we created the Birmingham Mustangs (originally named the Birmingham Crusaders but the name fell through when... well long story) and I LOVE softball so this is a good folder....

now I have folders again... 4 over is our FIRST tournament! Great Delaney's first tournament as a 12U. Our first tournament as a team and the first tournament where Delaney's friend Shelby B was playing with us.....

Now I'm finally at pictures. 4th Picture.... hmmmm We were trying to line up 12 - 11 year old girls BEFORE their first game to get a picture, so I have pics of Coach Rin trying to get them in place, and lining them up...




But here's the 4th...
It was our first team picture as Mustangs.... we didn't use this one because there's a gap on the back row and part of Caroline's face is hidden... but it was our first team picture ever. I LOVE these girls.... some of them have left us now, and we have some new girls but I loved every one of these first kids because it was a special group....

OK to TAG 4 people....

Kayla - I just want to see more pics of her
Memphis Steve - I Love his pics :)
Gareth - One of the few regulars
Phats - shooting to maybe get a pic of that HOT girl of his! Probably end up with his Dog or something.....

Meme

OK, I got this from Dutch Grandma and this is one I haven't seen yet... So why not...

1. Is sex best in the morning, afternoon, or night?
I was going to say "any time I can get it" but realistically since as soon as I lay my head down I fall asleep from exhaustion the correct answer would be morning. Unfortunately my wife is not a morning person so where does that leave me?? LOL

2. On which side of the bed do you sleep?
Now are we talking which side as your facing the bed or laying on it?? hmmmm I guess the right as your laying on it.

3. Pork, beef, or chicken?
Yes...

4. Have you ever had to pull over on the side of the road to puke?
Oh, many times. There are even times that I got home and had to wash the puke off of me and can't remember how it got there or how I got home. I'm glad those days are past me, the recovery time is too long now..

5. What leg do you put in pants first when putting them on?
left

6. Candles or incense?
No

7. Do you dance when no one is watching?
Yes and when someone is watching and I'm drunk....

8. Did you play doctor when you were little?
No, but I have been known to play doctor as an adult.

9. Stove top cooking or microwave?
Pizza Hut

10. Would you rather your car or your house be dirty?
Now this assumes that I had rather one of them be dirty. Why can't I prefer that neither be dirty? Isn't that what we have kids for? To clean??

11. Shower or bath?
No I don't need one now thank you....


12. Do you pee in the shower?
Of course, doesn't every red blood american male??

13. Mexican or Chinese food?
Yes

14. Do you want someone aggressive or passive in bed?
Aggressive. I want to have to use a whip to keep her back. Ummm, hypothetically of course, Cheryl baby...

15. Do you own sex toys?
Does my wife count??

16. Corn dogs or hot dogs?
Yes...

17. Your favorite restaurant?
Who's Paying?? Habanero's

18. What did you have for lunch today?
nothing. it's 7:30 am. Jeez

19. When did you last fall down?
Hmm, when's the last time I drank heavily?

20. Have you ever wished someone were dead?
No but I have threatened a couple of teen aged boys that came to date may 16 year old daughter

21. Love or money?
Both!!!

22. Credit cards or cash?
Lots and Lots and Lots of cash would be fine thankyou

23. Has there ever been anyone in your family you wish wasn’t?
Yes, but my parents told me to shut up I'd just have to live with my sister...

24. Oreos or vanilla wafers?
Both

25. How do you like your steak cooked?
On a grill

26. How do you like your eggs cooked?
In a frying pan I hate it when someone tries to cook them on a grill

27. Have you ever knocked someone off their feet in a fight?
Yes, but more often I've been knocked off my feet. We are talking about boxing on the Wii aren't we?

28. Would you rather go camping or to a five star hotel?
I had rather camp. That's what I tell my family right after I look at the price of the five star hotel...

29. Would you rather have a root canal or minor surgery?
Neither!!

30. Would you shave your entire body (including your head) for money?
Hmmm, how much money are you offering?

31. Would you rather have lice or an STD?
the STD of course... At least that would mean that I had fun getting it!

32. What’s your favorite hard candy?
lemon drops...

Label Me...

I just found a label for me... You know you can't exist now days without a label, we want to label everyone. If someone walks up to you on the street and you don't have a label, well then they'll give you one.

I was reading through latimesblog because we know anything coming out of LA must be the authority on new trends and I have to be the trendy kind of guy ( I write this realizing my camo and guns are still in the den floor and my wife is probably getting tired of them being there).

So while I'm reading about At 50, is Madonna middle-aged? Are you? , and howKim Kardashian re-creates Brooke Shields' Calvin Klein ads, and of course we have to answer the question of If CAA plays matchmaker for Jennifer Aniston, do they get 10% of her wedding gifts? I ran across this article...

Martinis in the morning? You may be a retrosexual

I think I may have finally found a label that I can live with...

Meet the retrosexual. You've seen this guy. Maybe even married him? He shaves with Barbasol, quotes Steve McQueen whenever possible and thinks a stiff drink before noon is his kind of triple latte. He also never apologizes for checking out a hot broad. Instead, he winks at you afterward and says, "She's no you, baby."

Are you a "retrosexual"?? Here are the top 5 of the Retrosexual 10 Commandments.

1. A retrosexual always pays for the date. If she tries to insist, so much the better. He still pays.

2. A retrosexual deals with it. Flat car batteries, house break-ins, cable TV malfunction, earthquake damage -- he just gets on with it.

3. A retrosexual never acknowledges he is in a relationship.

4. A retrosexual always carves the Sunday roast. Make sure you know what you're doing -- practise on the cat, spend an hour taking notes at the kebab shop.

5. A retrosexual is never seen in the passenger seat, unless it is a minicab, in which case he asks the driver if he can sit in the front.

Kinda sound like James Bond huh??

The Ting Tings

I just found this band, quite by accident, and think their music is great! They have a different style and I can understand them which makes is playable in my book! LOL I've watched several of their videos trying to decide which to post and have decided on this one. But you really need to watch several yourself, because they have a wide variety of sound from slow acoustic to fast, loud electric sound. Their from the UK. Great music... by the way, there's just the two of them.

Accomplishment...

Having goals and working toward them is something I get really proud of. When someone sees what they want, and then has the will power to work toward that goal it's something to be proud of, especially when that goal is a minimum of 6 years away.

Delaney started playing softball at 4. I know I've written about this but stick with me...

She was just a little thing, and her first practice was 6:30 - 8:00pm and freezing! She cried that her hands were cold and she wanted to go home... I thought that was it and she wouldn't be back. But she was.

Two years later our team were the park champions and she made the All Star Team, that was when she began to notice the school ball players that practiced at our park. They were leaving as we came in. I think it was then that she first stated that one day she would play for her school.

She kept playing park ball, sometimes spending her whole summer in All Stars, not finishing softball until it was time to go back to school.

When she started playing travel ball it got worse. She would play the entire year, not having a break from practice and games except December and January. But she loved it and continued talking about playing school ball.

Last night at 7pm her goals were at last accomplished. Six years from the time she first mentioned wanting to play school ball, She made the Middle School Softball Team at Hueytown.

After 8 years of coaching her, taking her to practices, going to or coaching games, I'll completely turn her over to someone else... I guess this is just a sign of things to come.