The "First Pitch" Arizona Diamondbacks July 11th,2009

On July 11th, 2009 I was asked to throw out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game. It was ALS awareness night as Lou Gehrig was remembered for his battle with ALS seventy years ago. It was a humbling and honorable experience and one that my family and I will cherish forever.
Thank you to my family and friends for sharing this special moment with me. There was over 70 members of my family and friends in attendance.

I have fond memories of playing catch with my father in my back yard. This night was the 3rd anniversary of my fathers passing. I knew that he was there with me.
My grandson Jackson ran out to help his Grandpa with some last minute coaching, with his Mommy and little brother close behind.
One proud Grandma and Grandpa!
Families are forever. Thank you for your love and support!
My Mother and her five boys celebrating her 80th Birthday. Thanks Mom for being there. It was just like old times having you in the stands getting on the umpire while I was pitching.

I caught two nice rainbow trout over the 4th at ShowLow. Thanks Gary and Kenny, it was awsome!

My brother Lee starting a fire by rubbing sticks together up at Kalamazoo. You can tell he is a lefty.

Wild flowers at Kalamazoo.

My younger brother Lee and I had a great day at Kalamazoo. This is 30 minutes outside of McGill, NV where Karen and I grew up.

Caden at Aspen Grove, Go Cougars!!

There is a new sheriff in Aspen Grove by the name of Jackson.

The Peter Witmer farm at Fayette, NY was one of our stops with the John, Sarah, and Jude during our visit to the Taylors. This is the place where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized on April 6th, 1830.

A visit to the John Johnson home outside of Kirtland, Ohio. Here we are in the sacred revelation room where 16 revelations were received including the glorious vision and revelation associated with Doctrines & Covenants Section 76.

"The Ramp" in Kennebunkport, Maine home of some awsome seafood, Karen was in heaven.

We had an incredible visit to the Joseph Smith memorial at Sharon, Vermont. The birth place of Joseph.

You can't go to Boston without a trip to Fenway Park, the oldest baseball stadium in the country. We ran into a little rain but the day/night was incredible. We started the afternoon with a tour of Fenway. While waiting for the tour to begin on famous Yawkey Way I was asked by a TV sports reporter if I had heard about what happened to Manny Ramirez? Being on vacation I was not current on the news so he informed me that Manny had tested for steroids and asked if he could he get my reaction on film. I stated that I was surprised with all the publicity and testing that a high profile player would risk taking steroids in this environment. My comments were heard that night on the channel 4 sports.

After the tour we met a Fenway employee who took us under her wing and got us into the park early for batting practice and where we were able to see the RedSox pitchers up close and get an autograph from Hideki Okajima. Carole our new friend hosted the old timers autograph booth at Fenway, was on her phone and handed it over to me saying she had someone that wanted to say hi. It was Johnny Pesky, the Redsox player that played in the 50's where the right field pole was named after him. The right field pole at Fenway is only 302 feet from home plate, and Pesky had a knack for hitting balls that seem to wrap around that foul pole for a home run.

Fenway is always sold out, so we had purchased our tickets after the tour. We moved down close to the Redsox dugout to watch the media frenzy with the news about Manny. As fans started to roll in we were getting ready to move over to the visitors side and mid way up in the stadium. It was just then an usher came over and said would it be okay if he moved us

Karen loves her seafood, it doesn't get much better than here at south harbor in Boston, MA

We enjoyed an entertaining and uplifting musical in 9 to 5 on Broadway. Karen is here with Megan Hilty who played the role of Dolly Parton. Dolly did write all the songs and lyrics in this musical. Julia Roberts was in the audience sitting 4 rows in front of us.

Letterman Show

The Late Show with Letterman was a fun experience. The highlights were Dolly Parton and the Paul Schaffer Band. It was intriguing watching behind the scenes during the show and during the breaks. The set was much smaller that you would think, Letterman would take off his jacket and visit with his cronies during the break. Each day they film at 4:30pm and film 2 shows on Mondays.

New York City April 2009

Our transition to retirement started with a trip to New York City and a relaxing stroll in central park.