Home is where the heart is, and mine is in 2 places

We got back from Az on Monday! Brielle did awesome on the flight! (I was very proud of her) We had so much fun in Az and still I didn’t get to do everything I wanted. Being back really made me realize how much I miss my family and friends. I’ve been doing this for a long time now, geez almost 10 years. But having another person involved makes things a little different. Brielle had the time of her life. The bond that she has with my mom and dad is amazing and so sweet. She LOVES being at their house and playing with all of grammie’s cool toys. And I SO appreciated my mom watching Bri while I got some “mommy time”. So leaving was very emotional on all of us. Thank goodness we will get to see our family again in a month in SAN DIEGO!! We are so excited! My parents, sister and brother in law, and his parents rented a HUGE beach house. Matt even might come since it’s during the All-Star break! Whoooo!... Still searching for flights that are not SO expensive from Columbus. Anyway, for now we are back to our baseball schedule.  I will try my best to keep everyone updated on our groundhog day lifestyle! Ha! (I make it sound so boring but it can be exciting!)

Here are some more highlights from our trip:

Mom and the grand babies 

Sister and I at Postinos in Gilbert. YUM!!

Chinches por Vida (2nd generation)

The splash pad sisters

I can't believe my baby is this big!!

Gram and Gramps celebrated their 48th Wedding Anniversary! How cool is that!?

Come on ride the train! choo! choo!

Cousin playtime with Luuuuuccyyy! 

Cousin Conversation

Splash pad fun at Grammie's 

Girls night! We had big plans to "go out" and we were done after dinner! (Getting old. cringe)

Oh! and Matt got to see Niagra Falls on his road trip! (My guy is so handsome!) 

Az for a long road trip

Hey everyone! Matt left on a 12 day road trip on Wednesday, so Brielle and I decided to fly back to Az! It's always hard to say good bye to Matt for that long, but it was a little easier knowing that we were going back home to see our family and friends! It has been almost 2 months since we had seen all of our friends and family so it has been good to be back! Bri and I have stayed really busy! I'm not quite sure we're caught up on sleep but it's so worth it!:) Here are some highlights from our trip so far! Oh and our little send off date with daddy before he left on his trip! 

Bri @ Milestone 229 in downtown Columbus 

*Precious moments*

Fountain Princess 

Bri and I before we took off to Az. I was a little worried bc she was a bit difficult before hand!

She actually did great! She slept the first hour and watched Dora and ate snacks the rest of the time. I find myself saying this a lot but #thankGodforipads!

Mom Party!! Haha! So fun at the Az Grand Hotel! 

My #1 Chinch

Cousin Kaylee's 2nd Birthday. Elmo was a hit!

Nana with Bri and Kaylee

A concert outside with Grammy Joelle and Grandpa Tim. Brielle loved dancing and walking around with Grammy Joelle! 

Cousins

Bri loving on Grammy

Bri LOVES her grandpa! It's the cutest thing!

Well friends! I'll hopefully keep the updates coming! (I'm pretty proud of my blog track record lately!) I can't wait for all of the other fun things we have planned! 

Thats what I love about Sundays!

Hey everyone! So yesterday was one of the those days I kept looking at Matt and Brielle and thinking "Goodness I am blessed!" Matt had a day game yesterday which gave us a little time to enjoy the day as a family. It was such a beautiful day! We went to our favorite Teppanyaki for dinner. And Brielle slept through the whole dinner. (which was nice for mommy and daddy) So we savored every bite of our yummy dinner and decided to go home. Matt and Brielle were playing ball in the apt. Which Brielle LOVES, btw, and Matt suggested bc it was so beautiful we go somewhere outside. We decided to go to an ice cream shop that was recommended by another teammate of Matts. Jenni's ice cream! YUM! Different, local and SO delicious. It is located in old town Dublin. The scenery is beautiful and there are lots of local restaurants I would like to try in the future. Oh and we went on a little stroll down to the river!  SO beautiful! 

Bri and daddy playing ball 

Waiting in line for ice cream

Brielle LOVED it!

LOL! Look at Bri's face! Trying to savor every flavor! 

Kisses for mommy

Look how beautiful this place is! I want to eat at that restaurant with the balcony!

My handsome man looking at the river 

So beautiful! 

Well, I've got to run friends! Bri is waking from a 3, yes 3 hour nap (not normal) and we've got to get to the field for bible study! 

Test 1, 2.... We're baaaaack!

So after almost a year of no blogging, my friend Alicia Mills has inspired me to start blogging again, just to keep family back home up to date with what is going on in our lives. I love her blog-it's short and sweet.  And so is Alicia and her sweet family.  Alicia is married to one of Matt's teammates Beau Mills. They have a daughter named Kensie, who is close to Brielle's age. They are our neighbors in Columbus. Alicia is a fabulous mom, who loves to run! (She has given me some inspiration to do another half...maybe. ha!) Let's just say I could go on and on about her and how much we have in common and how much I love her! I'm pretty sure she will be included in future posts as we are at a lot of baseball games together and we like to take classes together at the gym!

To give everyone a little run down of what we are up to: Brielle is a TODDLER now!! I can't believe it! She is walking, babbling, and LOVES Dora!  We are currently living in Columbus, OH, where Matt is playing for the AAA team of the Cleveland Indians.  I actually really like it here. It's beautiful and green and has pretty much everything that I need-except family. Also, there are a lot of Matt's teammates who have kids around Brielle's age. It is a lot of fun to see them all together! 

Brielle in front of our apt

Brielle and Kensie at the fountain downtown. This fountain is AWESOME!!

Brielle and Daddy at an awesome park near our place 

haha! Family shot!

Oh yeah and a new milestone for Bri-she has PIGGY TALES!!!! :)

Anyway, I'll do my best to keep you all updated!! xo

Keeping up with the Pagnozzi's

Well after not posting in FOREVER, I finally had the time to sit down and gather my thoughts of what has happened in the last few weeks. I had big plans to post a long time ago about our day off in Colorado Springs. But it has been crazy since Matt called me on June 16^th to tell me he was going to the BIGS!:) I was shocked! Not that I didn’t believe that he wasn’t going to be back with “the big club”, but I honestly JUST had a conversation with God the day before making peace with Him about the situation we were in. Not to say the situation we were in was bad, at all. But of course the ultimate goal when you are playing baseball is to be (and stay) in the Big Leagues. I thought it was kind of ironic that I was just having that conversation with Him, and the next day Matt gets called up. The first thing that came to my mind was: “Thank you Jesus”, as I for sure know it was Him who placed us where we are suppose to be, good or bad.

So since Matt received the call it has been a bit of a whirl-wind. We have been staying in hotels, moving, and traveling from city to city. Which has made it pretty hectic, but at the same time, I have been trying to slow down a bit a let it all sink in. Even though Matt has been called up before, it is still very exciting, and I like to take time to savor every moment, as it clearly can be taken away at any time.

Right after Matt got called up, the team was going to go on the road to play the Yankees! PLUS they had an off day there, which made it extra special! I have been to NYC many times, but never to see my husband play at Yankee stadium!! However, I wasn’t too thrilled about bringing a baby there. I know people do it all of the time, and actually a few of the ladies on the team brought their babies, but I just had no desire. So, I left Brielle with my mom in Az, and I flew to NYC! I was very nervous about leaving my sweet girl, but I knew that she was in great hands with my mom. Matt and I really had no big plans for the off day. And to be honest, we really did not do anything but shop a little, eat at yummy diners, and held hands walking the streets. It was the first time we had been away together without baby, and although I missed her, it was very nice to just sit and talk with no interruption.

So a few weeks later, we are finally settled into our apartment in Denver. It was a little hectic trying to get everything transferred over. But we are finally all settled into our little one bedroom/one bath *with a den, apt in downtown Denver. I actually really love living downtown. I can walk anywhere AND I don’t have to truck up and down three flights of stairs with a baby, groceries etc. We are on the 6^th floor, but thankfully, there is an elevator!:)

So as this time is going by SO fast, we are just trying to savor every moment, and thanking Jesus for His many blessings!

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” 1Chronicles 16:34

Matt and Brielle on family day. So sweet!

I love this pic!

Getting ready to watch fireworks in the dugout.

Matt on the big screen at Yankee Stadium-brought tears to my eyes!

Yankee Stadium

I have always wanted to see the "naked cowboy" in NYC and finally caught a glimpse

"Baked by Melissa" mini cupcake shop. Genius idea! LOVED it!

Yummy NYC diners are my fav!

My sexy tour guide

Grand Central Station

Fathers Day 2011

Matt started on Fathers Day

Daddy's #1 Fan

The Baseball Life

I’m not going to lie, being a baseball wife is not easy. Don’t get me wrong, I am very thankful for it. God has provided for us through this crazy journey and He has brought us many blessings. We have met some AMAZING people, have gotten to see some very cool (and not so cool) cities, and have gotten to experience the ups and downs of this game called baseball. Let me tell you, when Matt and I first started dating in 2002, I had NO idea that we would still be in baseball today. When we met, Matt was playing at Central Arizona College, shortly after that, he was drafted in 2003, and has been in the game ever since.

I remember when I visited Matt for the first time after he got drafted in 2003. I bought a plane ticket to Newark, NJ, Matt picked me up from the airport, then drove to a little town calledAndover, NJ, where Matt’s team played. The New Jersey Cardinals was a Rookie team, and Matt’s first “professional” team he ever played on. I honestly did not know a lot about baseball. I didn’t know the rules, the stress, the time away from each other. I was just along for the ride.

Well as our relationship got a little more serious, I quickly learned that the baseball life, was not the easiest. After we spent A LOT of money on the few plane tickets we bought for me to visit, I decided to be a flight attendant to cut that cost, and see my man a little more. So In 2004 I became a flight attendant for America West Airlines. Me being a flight attendant and him playing minor league ball seemed to be a good fit, I got to fly for free to see him on my days off. It made being a part from each other a lot easier, especially because Matt was basically making pennies, the first 5 or 6 years of his career.

So throughout the 7 years of minor league baseball with the Cardinals, we have lived in NJ, Peoria, IL, Palm Beach, FL, Springfield, Mo, and Memphis, TN. It’s crazy, to type all of that out, and in the middle of all of that in 2007 we got married… Anyway, Finally in 2009, Matt made his dream come true and got called up to THE BIGS! To say we were excited was an understatement. It seriously felt like a dream. Matt made his big league appearance inCincinatti, but it wasn’t until the Cardinals were on the road in Denver I was able to visit. Not only was it exciting to go watch my husband play in a big league uniform, but the Cardinals were in the running to make the playoffs, which made it even more exciting. I remember getting out of the cab at The Ritz in Denver, and seeing our friend Blake, who also played for the Cardinals. The first thing he said to me was “This isn’t the MCM Elagante, is it?” (TheMCM Elegante, is a nasty minor hotel in Albuquerque) Ha! NO it was not! The Cardinals ended up clinching the playoffs on that trip- which being a part of that is an amazing experience in itself! So the 2009 season ended, and it was time for Matt to prepare for the 2010 season.

So the 2010 season started, and Matt started out in AAA (Memphis), which we expected. Let’s just say that God threw us some curve balls during the 2010 season, but Matt ended up in St. Louis at the end of the season, and did really well.

2011 is now here, and things are a little different, because we have our sweet angel, Brielle. Having a baby definitely makes things a little harder, as far as travel, Matt being on the road, etc. But so much fun at the same time. We are living in Colorado Springs, which is AAA for the Colorado Rockies, and hopefully waiting for that shot for Matt to get back to the Bigs. In the mean time, I’m embracing being in a different city, being a stay at home mom, and being alone, without my family (and husband) most of the time. It can be challenging at times, but I’m so grateful for my amazing husband, who works SO hard at what he does. He has defied a lot of odds during his career, and he makes me so proud! He is the most dedicated man I have ever met, in everything that he does.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future” Jeremiah 29:11

I wish I had more pics on my computer from the minor leagues, but unfortunately, I don't. :(

Our first family baseball photo

Matt and I in Denver 2009