Day 12: Fiancée

 Do you see his smile? She does that to him and I adore her for it. Daniella has a way of bringing out the best in Zack.
They have a wedding date picked out but they aren't sharing it until they secure the date at the venue they want to hold it at.

They met through their love of throwing. Zack for MSU and Dani for Purdue. They are both All-American throwers multiple times and have quite a huge collection of trophies, metals, and awards between the two of them but you wouldn't know it by the way the conduct themselves. They are both very humble, generous, and caring.

The hard part right now is he lives here in West Michigan and she lives down by Purdue. They are putting a lot of miles on their vehicles these days but I think they'd both agree it's a price they are willing to pay.
~ Happy Monday

Oh Happy Day!

Last week Saturday I got to celebrate with my son a reward for all his hard work... he earned his letter jacket from MSU!

It was so fun to share that honor with him. They recognized all of the athletes that earned a letter jacket during the 2010-2011 academic year by calling them out on the field during halftime at the football game.


As big as he is you would think I could find him but in the sea of green I was having a hard time so I was glad when he looked back at me for a moment.


Here he is coming back off the field. His coach shared with me that Zack has the largest varsity jacket they have made and that is including football players. Zack had to point out that his jacket is one size bigger than his father's is also. Boys! Everything is a competition.


The weather was gorgeous for an afternoon football game and we had front row seats which made the day even more exciting.


This was before the game started. You can see how close we were and how beautiful of a day it was.

Here is Zack and his teammate Derrick. They are the only 2 guys on the track team that earned a jacket last season. Zack is on the throws team and Derrick is a pole vaulter. Way to go guys!

MSU Homecoming Weekend

Can you see him? Can you tell who he is? We (we being my 16 year old daughter) were so hoping to get a little closer to him. As in so close we (16 year old daughter) could get a picture WITH him not just OF him. If you are still wondering who "he" is... It is Gerard Butler from the movie "300" or for those of us (me) who don't watch that kind of movie (super gory) you might know him from "PS:I love you". He has a line in the movie "300" where he is playing King Leonidas and he shouts out "SPARTANS, WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?" and the army of Spartans yell back "HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!" It has become an MSU tradition when it is 3rd down for the opposing team they play that clip from the movie on the "big board".

This weekend was Homecoming and for those of you not following MSU football (is there anyone who doesn't?) they went into the weekend 6-0. Head Coach Mark Dantonio got Gerard Butler to come to East Lansing for the weekend to get the players pumped up for the game. He also opened the game with yelling into the crowd the chant from "300".


Note the lady in front of us fist bumping too soon... she couldn't handle the excitement either.


Here he is again (leather jacket and sunglasses). He watched the game from the sidelines, on the field, right in front of us, slightly distracting... for the 16 year old of course.


Another really fun part of this game is who was playing in it. #37 was Zack's roommate last year and is a fellow thrower for the MSU track team. He decided to go out for the football team as a walk on and he made it. This was the first game he was allowed to dress for. Very exciting!


I wish I had taken my camera along but it is big and bulky so we had Mark's and it doesn't take the greatest of pictures. If you are wondering why our other 2 daughters aren't in the picture, well they aren't such big sport fans but they do like to shop. Does that make any sense? Maybe this will help, it is $50 a ticket and we only get 2 free (Mark played for MSU) so we let the kids decide. Come with us or stay home, get fun snacks, rent a movie, and get $20. We come out way ahead on that deal. I wish they would come with us but not if they are going to keep asking "home much longer is this game?"


Saying goodbye to the "big guy". He stole some toilet paper out of the back of my suburban (what? don't you store extra toilet paper in your trunk? OK I confess I was lazy getting groceries and left it in there.) apparently the toilet paper that the dorm supplies isn't so soft, poor baby. He also stole a mint from his momma. That can cost you your life or at least a slapped hand. I take my mints seriously.

Oh wait I almost forgot.... MSU 36 Illinois 6!!!!!!!!!!
MSU is now 7-0.

Wordless Wednesday - Do they ever out grow it?

How old do boys have to be to stop trying to wrestle their dad's?

Poor Mark. He was just trying to rest.



It looks like Mark can still take the "Mighty Man" even when he isn't completely back to good health.



Awe! Father son love!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Subway endorsement?

Zack was presented his award last night for being named Mr. Track and Field of Michigan.



Zack's Head track coach was also selected as Coach of the Year for the 2nd year in a row.

Wordless Wednesday - Throwing in Green!

Zack's first MSU track meet. He took first place! Way to go Zack!!!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Do you Skype?

I have fallen in love with Skype since Zack left for college. He will call me on his cell phone on the way back to his dorm and say "Mom I will be in my room in 10 minutes. Wanna Skype?"

Do you know what Skype is? It is a software application that lets people talk with video online. And here is the bonus... it is free!

You know how hard it can be to get 2 words out of a male teenager on the phone but with Skype I can see him and he is so much more engaging! I also think Zack's ADD keeps him from being able to focus while he is on the phone. "Oh look a bird." This way he has something to focus on while he talks.

I like to snap still shots while we are chatting. Here is Zack chuckling with his room mate during a funny conversation. Zack had already told me that Chris's girlfriend was coming up for the weekend and planning on staying in their dorm room so he was setting Chris up in this conversation knowing how I would answer. He asked me what I thought of that so Chris could hear. I said, "Chris will have to answer to God for that decision." So this picture I snapped as Zack was saying, "Dude did you hear my mom? She said you will be in trouble with God." They are so cute aren't they.

Zack also snaps pictures of us while we are talking. Here is one from the other night. I was sitting on the floor in our bedroom when he called. You will often find me on the floor when I am working on the computer. I think it is comfortable. You will probably never catch Mark sitting on the floor. I made him join me (under much protest) because I didn't feel like moving. Ignore the laundry waiting to be folded on the bed behind us. Apparently Zack gets his lack of focus from his father who was caught watching tv while we were talking.



In case you Skype my account is "zaankali6".

Wordless Wednesday - MSU move in day!

Final goodbye picture....

"Quick honey, one last Zachary sandwich..."


"We love you Zachary!"

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Quite an honor.

So back to catching up.

On June 16 we found out that Zachary was selected as Mr. Track and Field 2009. This is quite an honor. Out of all of the male track athletes in Michigan only one athlete gets this title every year. I don't know who was more excited Zack or me. I found out through an e-mail and went running through the house to find Zachary. He quickly called his throws coach. I told him to hurry because I wanted to call Mark. Then the little stinker started dialing his girlfriend's number BEFORE calling his father! "Oh no little man! Daddy first."



Here is a link to the list of athletes that made it on the Dream Team.

Wow has it really been that long?

I knew it had been a while since I posted but I didn't realize it had been that long. We have had a busy start to the summer. I was going to do one post and catch up on everything but when I went to pull pictures I realized that would be very overwhelming, so I will try to do a couple post in the next couple weeks to catch up on everything that has been happening.

Up first, Midwest Meet of Champions. (Saturday June 13)

This is a meet that is by invite only and you have to be a senior. It is a meet between Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. It is quite an honor to be asked to represent your state at this meet. Zachary was selected to compete in both shot put and discus for team Michigan. It took place in Jackson, MI this year which was a real bonus to us to have it a couple hours away versus in a different state.

I drove Zachary to Jackson on Friday and dropped him off. He stayed at a local community college in dorms with the rest of his Michigan team mates. They were given team uniforms and a nice backpack that was all theirs to keep. The meet is put on by the coaches association and there is no cost to the kids, their food and lodging is all taken care of for them.

It was a bit weird dropping him off at a college (tug on heartstrings). He even mentioned that this was a little peek into what is going to happen later this summer when we drop him off at MSU. (insert mixed emotions for mom here)

On Saturday Mark, myself and Zachary's HS throws coach all drove back to Jackson to watch the meet. The weather was supposed to be rain and yuck so we left the girls home. It ended up being a perfect day for a track meet. Slightly overcast and we never had rain.

The meet was the best ran HS meet we have ever been at. They had more than enough volunteers and things ran very smoothly.

The Michigan boys team picked Zachary as the team captain so he is carrying the flag during the opening parade.

Here is Zachary showing his determination to take a first place for team Michigan in shot put.

He succeeded! 1st place in shot put and he broke the record at this stadium for the furthest throw here.
Why can't the boys smile? LOL!

He took 2nd place in discus with his team mate taking 1st. He is happy with his performance even though you can't tell it from the picture.

Then he got a nice surprise. They pick one boy and one girl from the 3 states as the field athlete of the meet and he was selected this year.
I need to ask him what the young lady said to him because I love the way he is smiling in this picture. Wink!


Then the cherry on the top... Michigan boys took 1st place! What a great day.

It's official!

Zack and his principle Steve Scholten. This is Mr. Scholten's last year after being our HS principle for the last 19 years.

Zack with mom and dad.

Zack with Grandpa and Grandma.

Life is busy

I have so much to blog about and so little time to do it.

Zack's track is keeping us busy you can also keep up to date with that at his blog Zack's Journey.

Anna had an excellent soccer game last night and scored 3 goals which she tells me is called a "hat trick". We weren't able to be at her game because we were at an awards dinner at school for her and Zack were she got an award for being a scholar athlete. She also got pulled up to varsity for a game on Monday night. She has been a very busy girl also.

Kaylyn will have her last track meet tonight if the weather allows. She is throwing 29' 9" and pole vaulting 5'9". Her goal for the year is 30' and 6' so hopefully tonight won't be canceled and she will have a great night.

Libby has not had hives since Saturday so we are hopeful that we have seen the last of them for this bout of them. Once she has been hive free for 2 weeks we will start weening her off her medicine again. Hopefully we can get her off them for a month and tested before another episode of hives. Maybe I should enforce a rule of no eating new food for awhile. Not a bad thought...

I got a new camera out of necessity for a Mother's Day/Birthday/Anniversary gift. Mine died right after Zack's regional meet. It was already having some issues so it was only a matter of time before we would have to replace it but with Prom and State track meets coming up there was no waiting.

So here are some random pictures from me playing with my new toy and then I had to include one Prom picture. When exactly did he grow up?

Zack and Tricia

Zack

Anna

Kaylyn

Libby
(Little explanation... my new camera has a feature that it can detect when someone smiles and then snaps the picture on it's own so I told Libby to smile and I guess she thought it had to be a really exaggerated smile. LOL!)

Last but not least here is a picture that is getting a lot of feedback of Zack and his friend Stephen taken before Prom. They are in track and choir together. Funny picture! Mark took it with his camera. Thank goodness because I missed it wile trying to figure out the new camera. There is a bit of a learning curve with it. Wink!

It must be track season at the Hill house....

Monday Sports Recap

Since my life revolves around sports right now I figured I might as well save all the sports related posts for one day of the week and I pick Monday. So here is some of what happened since last week Monday.

Monday-
Anna had a home soccer game. It was horrible weather. In fact every other school sport was cancelled due to the weather but not soccer. Libby and I watched the first half and then at half time I could tell Anna was freezing so I gave her my headband and gloves but that meant I had to watch the rest of the game from the parking lot. It wasn't a terrible view but it was hard to see who was who from that distance. They tied 1-1.

Wednesday-
Anna had a home soccer game and Kaylyn had an away track meet. Kaylyn's track meet was close to Mark's work so he went to watch her and Libby and I watched Anna's game. What a difference in weather from Monday! It felt wonderful to be outside Wednesday. Anna's team won their game and Anna made a goal. I got a picture of it too but it is kinda hard to tell what is going on in the picture.


Kaylyn placed first in pole vault at 5'0". She wasn't sure where she placed in shot put but had a toss of 27' (I think-since she doesn't want to do shot she isn't good about remembering her distance. Coach makes her do shot because she can usually take first in it.)

Thursday-
Zack had a home track meet. It was an amazing day for him! He broke our area record that had been set in 1968. Go here to read more about it. There is also a neat write up about it here.

That is one happy coach!

Friday-

Anna had an away soccer game. The weather was GORGEOUS. The other team didn't have enough JV players to field a team so they had to forfiet (we get the win) but instead of going home without playing they put together a scrimmage using some of their varsity players. Anna scored 2 goals. They won 3-0.

Saturday-
Zack had an away track meet. Again he had an amazing day. It was a relay which means you combine the marks of 2 throwers and use that combined distance. Him and his teammate CJ broke 2 of the meet's records (one set in 1966) for both shot and discus. You can read about it here. There was a 30 minute lightening delay part way through the meet and then the entire meet ended early because of severe weather so not all of the races got to be completed. Bummer.

Here is Zack and CJ after breaking the shot put record. Along with their teammate Anna trying to get in on the picture. LOL!

Now I have to go catch up on laundry. It seems to get put to the back burner around here when life gets busy. I here a lot of "Mom, did my uniform get washed?" and the reply is usually, "Yes dear, it is in one of the laundry baskets of unfolded clean clothes you will just have to look." But at least it is clean right?

Sports are officially in full gear here.

We are in our busiest season as far as kids go and Mark at work too because it is spring and he works in a greenhouse which means he is back to working Saturdays. Zack and Kaylyn are both in track and Anna is in soccer. Here are some highlights from last week.

Kaylyn took 2nd in shot put at her track meet on Wednesday. Here she is with Zack looking on. The HS track team works the MS track meets.

Then she went over to pole vault and took first. Way to go Kaylyn! An excellent day.

Anna had a home game against Hamilton Friday. She is #10. They lost this game 0-1 but they won their game earlier in the week 3-0 and Anna scored 2 of the goals. Great job Anna! In the picture it might appear that her socks don't match but actually she is a captain and is wearing a captain's band on her leg.

Zack had a huge week this week in shot put. He re-broke his personal record (which is also the school record) 4 times this week. His biggest throw was Saturday with a toss of 64' 7.5". We are waiting for the listings to be updated but it looks like this will put him 6th in the nation and 1st in the Midwest (OH, IN, MI, IL, WI). To see video of Zack's throw you can check out his blog.

He also took first in the discus with a throw of 174'.

Kaylyn also had a track meet on Saturday but I couldn't be there because I was at Zack's. She took 5th in shot put with a toss of 26'. That was great because the track meet was with a lot of school in bigger districts than what we are in.

We will be back at the soccer fields tonight and hopefully the rain will have stopped by then.

Smiles!