Heater

Curtis at the plate, loading up for the pitch.

Mound Visit

I love when Tate and Juliano huddle up on the mound.

Rain Delay

How do you stay warm during a 90-minute torrential downpour? Huddle up in the dugout. #baseballlife

So Fresh and So Clean

Tate got baptized today. He giggled through the whole thing. 😂

11

11 years of Curt, Curd, Curb, and Curtis.

Beauty

My favorite dancing feather duster. Props to Paige for months of hard work and six great nights of Beauty and the Beast at her junior high. 🌹

The Bump

Baseball is back. This year, with Tate on the hill. ⚾️

Halloweeners

Winnie the Pooh, Charlie Blackmon, and the Ref.

Football guy

Too smoky outside for a flag football game, but you can never cancel picture day. 🏈

Despite all my rage

Twenty-two years since I last saw @smashingpumpkins. The three-hour set was probably an hour longer than I needed, but if that’s how you get Drown, Mayonaise, and Thirty Three, I won’t complain. And The visuals were flat out AMAZING. (Plus, I got to hang out with Kaleb and Tim.)

Rodeo (King and) Queen

Gettin’ our rodeo on.🐴

Buh-bye Lie-berry

After 20 years, this lady just completed her final shift at the Murray Library. Cheers to a great career!

High Times: The Sutherlands Go to Denver

The Sutherlands' love of baseball is at all-time high (the Sutherland boys at least. Paige and Traci both find baseball excruciatingly long and boring, which isn't exactly untrue). So I decided the best thing to do was to watch some more of it.

The day after school let out for the summer, we packed up the minivan and headed to Denver to go watch a couple of Colorado Rockies games.

Sixth Grade Graduate

Congrats to our 6th grade graduate! Paige has certainly made the most of her elementary school years. School musicals and plays, debate team, history fair, future problem solvers, student council, library crew (just like her mom). Let’s see if junior high can handle this talented pre-teen.

Swing Batter, Batter, Swing

Big game for Tater. Hit a triple. Stole home a few times. Got a runner out at first. ⚾️ #baseballlife #tatersgonnatate

Curtis Turns 10

Today’s the big day, the culmination of a what Curtis has dubbed “A decade of Curd.” Happy 10th to our Green Kangaroo.

Gone Afoul

No one believed me.  No one. But my confidence could not be shaken. 

I told the kids today was the day I would catch a foul ball. 

“You always say that, Dad.”

Well, I do always say that. But this time I meant it. 

It was a quintessential spring day in Utah. Ice cold in the morning — we just about froze to death during Curd’s 8:00 am soccer game — and gorgeous in the afternoon. 

A perfect day for a Utes baseball game with Grandma and Grandpa. 

At first pitch, there were only about 200 people in the 14,000-seat stadium. 

Which meant Curtis, Tate, and I could each sit in our own section, separated by hundreds of seats. 

To increase your chances of snagging a foul ball, it’s best to spread out. 

(To decrease the likelihood of your kids driving you nuts, it’s also a good idea to separate.)

In the second inning, I made good on my promise. 

O ye children of little faith. 

Only God Can Judge Me

Best thing about going to church? Rockin’ these Tupac socks, complete with tieable bandanas.

Thanks to my friend Liz for the fantastic gift. 

It's Good to be Seven

Our littlest guy isn't so little anymore. Tate just turned the big 0-7.

And I don't think he could have had a better day. 

He got a brand new bathrobe — the perfect gift for a kid who wears pajamas every minute that he's home.

He spent hours playing with his new Football Guys, lining up plastic linemen and defensive backs, repositioning running backs, and making sure the referee was where he needed to be.

He went out to a fancy a lunch at Arby's.

He went to Play it Again Sports and tried on umpire masks and hockey goalie sticks.

He found a $1 copy of Madden 2012 for the Xbox at the D.I.

And he spent his evening at his happy place: the Maverik Center, watching the Utah Grizzlies.

The simple joys of being seven. 

Photographing the Photographer