Fall Jays Baseball

As if Connor weren't busy enough with Katy fall baseball and gearing up for his sophomore basketball season, he was still occasionally joining his Jays select baseball team for weekend tournaments when his schedule allowed. After such a fun year with the Jays last year, Connor makes sure to squeeze in any time he can with his teammates and coaches. A couple of the moms took some great photos from their fall tournaments, so I wanted to make sure to share them here. 

Spicewood

Back when Jeff and I visited the Austin area for our fall getaway, we had no idea what an impact it would have in the coming months. Jeff ended up falling in love with the area and began searching properties for potential income or construction opportunities. He landed upon a 1.4 acre lakefront lot on Lake Travis in Spicewood, and he immediately fell in love with the possibilities it offered. It's a heavily wooded, narrow piece of land in a small, private residential community. The lot has a steep drop down to the lake, creating a perfect opportunity to build a custom home with beautiful views amidst serene and peaceful privacy. 

After some back and forth over many weeks, we successfully purchased the lot late in the year. I visited the land with Jeff and took these photos on a beautiful fall day. Jeff is definitely in his element here and we are excited about the potential offered by our new lakefront lot!

Wrapping up Fall Cheer

Kaitlynn's fall season of 7th grade school cheer wrapped up in October with a celebration of breast cancer awareness month. The cheerleaders and football players all wore pink in honor of the month and it was a nice way to end Kaitlynn's first season of sideline cheer. 

Along with her last football game, the school also hosted a final pep rally where the cheerleaders were able to perform in front of the crowd. Kaitlynn had the honor of assisting the 8th grade squad by filling in as a backspot on their pyramid. It was really fun to see Kaitlynn in her element, although she'd be the first one to tell you that she does not enjoy wearing her uniform or cheering in front of her peers. At least she hides it well!

All in all, there were many ups and downs of Kaitlynn's fall cheer experience. I'm just keeping it real here. She LOVED the camaraderie and friendships she made throughout these months, but the team dynamic at times was quite the negative experience for Kaitlynn and some of the other girls. It was super disappointing that a positive opportunity had turned into a toxic environment due to "girl drama" and other issues on the squad, but overall Kaitlynn would say that the good outweighed the bad and she was thankful to have had the experience. 

Katy Fall Baseball

Beginning in September, Connor was excited to participate in the Katy High School fall baseball league. This was a new experience for us, because last year the fall league was cancelled due to Covid. After a disappointing spring season in 9th grade due to his lack of playing time, Connor was hoping for a chance to play more and show the coaches more of his ability as he continued working towards a spot on the team for the upcoming spring season. He was working so hard in the offseason to improve his batting and pitching, and he was excited to see if his efforts would pay off in the fall season. 

It must've been a good omen when he was issued his fall jersey and landed his beloved #3. Over the span of 2 months, Connor played great on the fall team and truly enjoyed the experience with his teammates. He primarily pitched but also played some 1st base and outfield. He made some outstanding plays, pitched some great innings, and had some solid hits. The only downside was that his game days (Mondays) became super tough with the late night of baseball followed by endless hours of homework. He persevered and had a great season overall, and we were SO proud of his hard work to hopefully set up a positive experience when the spring season would arrive next year.

Enjoy these tons of great photos taken by the team photographer from the entire fall season of Monday Night Lights. Love our #3!