THE HULLINGERS: April 2009

On April 18, Josh turned 3. We had originally planned to head out to Myrtle Beach to hang out and have some fun, but with a busy week we were just too tired to go. We ended up having fun for his Birthday the next best possible way...Chuck E. Cheese!!!

We all slept in that day and got out of bed around 9:00. We decided that it would be better to go early since it wouldn't be too crowded. We got there around 10:30 and had a blast. I think John and I had the most fun, there were even times the kids wanted coins and we would hide some so we could use them for ourselves. John and I competed against each other in the basketball game and course we all know who won...ME!! I am not sure if John will ever admit that I am a better shot then him, but maybe one day. Okay, so back to Josh. We let the kids run around and play games for an hour or so, had pizza, and had a lot of fun.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we headed home for some normal Saturday activities...cleaning the house a bit, doing some yard work, etc., etc. After eating a great barbeque, we sat down for some yummy cake and presents. Sometimes I feel that kids get too many toys and especially ones that they may play with one time and then they are done. So we kept it simple and got Josh a Spider-Man Backpack and a motorcycle that does wheelies (which I now wish I hadn't got because it is so incredibly loud and he always wants to play with it when it is bedtime). But of course he loved them both and was happy to have them.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my most favorite 3 year old in the whole world. We love you Josh!!!!

So, I guess you can say I am really bad. I haven't made an entry on my blog since November last year. I have been really busy, but I am usually at the computer doing some type of work, so there really is no excuse. So let me try to catch everything up so we can see what has been going on.

Grandma Beattie
My Grandma, Phoebe LaPrele Beattie, passed away on September 27th, 2008. I flew out to California to attend her funeral. The funeral was very heart warming and sad, but the trip was very fun for everyone that attended. We had a blast reminiscing over all the funny stuff that my grandparents did throughout their lives. We dressed up in my grandmas house coats, she had enough for an army of housewives. We looked through a lot of her old pictures and got to take some important things home with us to remind us of her. My grandma was an awesome woman and will be missed by everyone that knew her.

First Date In A Really Long Time
For Christmas I bought John tickets to a Jim Brickman concert. I didn't know who he was until I met John. His music is great if you want that mellow mood, which isn't always me, but he is really good and fun to watch play the piano. We had looked at going to a concert of his in the past but he always seemed to playing on Sundays when he was playing where we lived. So finally he was playing on a weeknight and we could go. Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep this a surprise, but he still enjoyed it. My most favorite part of the concert was Ann Cochran. There was portion of the concert after the intermission when they read some comments that people in the audience had written for Jim. She read one completely wrong but it came out in the most hilarious way and she even started crying because she could not stop laughing. We had a great night...now I just need to get John to do that more often with me.

My Sister Lauren
So this part is mostly for my friends and in-laws. My sister and her husband moved to Germany right after Thanksgiving. Adam is in the army and was stationed at Fort Bragg as part of the 82nd Airborne. Six months after they got married he was called to Afghanistan. He was there for a year and came back without any injury, thank goodness. Adam is very good at what he does and he wanted to move himself forward in what he did, and also not have to go back to fighting in the war (sorry if that is not totally right Adam). So he applied for a position as the General's Assistant in Germany. Well he got the position, yea :), but by then my sister was 5 months pregnant. Soon my sister found out that things are done a little different in Germany with regards to baby delivery. They didn't provide hospital gowns in the doctor offices and they seemed to have no respect for privacy. So I had a friend in my ward sew up some nursing gowns for her so that she could have some privacy while delivering her baby. On March 14, Addison Knox Davies was born and he is the cutest little baby boy. My sister is taking complete advantage of her awesome camera and taking the best pictures ever. Visit her blog for all of the details on that (look at my friends list on the right hand side).

Carolina RISE Volleyball
Club Volleyball season started up again with tryouts back in November. We had our first practices in December. Tournaments started in January and things were really tough on the team. We were lacking some of the talent that I thought we really needed. But nothing a good coach can't fix right... Well we made some position changes, moved some things around and this is how our season went:
Tournament #1 - (this was the first tournament for us but the second the region had for our age division) 1 - 3, not that great but we did win one match.
Tournament #2 - (they moved us down to Silver Division) 2 - 1, lost in quarter finals of the playoffs.
Tournament #3 - 3 - 0, WOW, we didn't lose a game in pool play!! Lost in the semi-finals of the playoffs :(
Tournament #4 The Southern Classic, Spartanburg SC - This was our first out-of-state tournament, so we were facing teams we had never seen before. We also had to play in the Power Division so these were teams that were much better than us to begin with. We ended up finishing 19th out of 28 teams. Overall that was a great finish for us!!
Tournament #5 The Peachtree Classic, Atlanta GA - We finished 5th out of 22 teams. This tournament had made the whole season to this point worth it. Of course there is not a lot of room in these gyms when you are packing in all the parents and players. So, in our last game of the tournament, my girls are playing awesome. I hear some parents from other teams that are watching and making comments. This one dad that was close to me says, "Now this is real volleyball." At that point I was completely satisfied. My girls were just doing so good, as well as the other team. So to hear someone who had nothing invested in either team say that made me so happy!!!
Tournament #6 Region Finals - We went 2-1 in pool play (the girls were having a really off game in the one we lost). Then we lost to the #1 team in our division. We finished in 5th place for the tournament. Still waiting to see how we finished in the region.
Tournament #7 Big South National Qualifier, Atlanta GA - So at this point I think the girls are just wasted from playing so many tournaments and not getting enough breaks between the tournaments, practices, and all their school work that had to be done. Needless to say, we played horrible this weekend. This tournament was a 3 day tournament and we only won one game the whole weekend. ugh. It is hard when you are dealing with nine 15 year olds, their attitudes, their hormones, and their parents. After this tournament I am just glad that the season is over. I really need a break, and my family really needs me back. I think it is time for me to go use the massage gift cards I got for Christmas.

As hard as this season was, I did enjoy it. It really was a lot of fun.

I am sure there is much more that I could put on here and when I think of it I will put it on. But for now, this is what I have. I will do better and be sure to add stuff as it comes.