#10 Family Recap

Over the past few weeks I have basically given summaries on each member of my family so for those who have forgotten, I am going to give a quick recap on The Bauer Bunch.

Joel is my father, he enjoys coaching soccer, sometimes more then he enjoys his family. Which is okay because I enjoy playing soccer more than I enjoy my family sometimes. He has been my coach basically my whole life and he is the reason I ever got into sports. If it wasn't for him there is no way I would be playing college soccer right now. We might butt heads sometimes but he will always be my inspiration to be the best I can be.

Mindy is my mother. She is basically my best friend and an older version of myself. Her family ALWAYS comes first and she will do whatever it takes to make us all happy. I have no idea how she does it sometimes but everything she does makes me appreciate her more and more everyday. She is a phlebotomist, so she is basically a vampire which I think is pretty cool. My mom is just a really cool person.

My oldest brother is Zach and just this past October he married his best friend. Sophia is awesome and I am so lucky to call her my sister. Out of my three brothers, when Zach lived at home we fought the most. He just knew how to push my buttons and he would get a kick out of it but now we are closer than I ever thought we would be. I spend the night at his house all the time and we are way more alike than I ever thought.

My second oldest brother is Ryan. Ever since we were little we were super close. We grew up together so we have always liked the same things. Although we fight, I know I can always count on him when I need someone.

 And then there is Breyden. He is a super weird 11 year old who always knows how to make me laugh. His sense of humor is like nothing I have ever heard before but at the same time, it is amazing. He is super annoying but I would not trade him for anything. 

I love my cats, dog and bunny a lot too. They are really cute and I am lucky to have them.

Overall, I love my family more than anything and they are annoying 95% of the time but that is okay because I am stuck with them.

#9 The Annual Family Trip

Every year, for my dad's birthday the whole family and some close friends all go tubing down the Rifle River. We have been doing this for about 4 years now and it gets more and more interesting every year. 

The first year we went we decided to go canoeing instead of tubing. My parents were in one tube, my brother and I in another and then my oldest brother, his now wife and my youngest brother in another. Within the first 5 minutes my oldest brother tipped his canoe traumatizing my youngest brother who was only about 7 at the time. He sat in the canoe with a death grip on the sides and just looked straight ahead without saying a word for a solid 3 hours. He made it very clear that he never wanted to go canoeing ever again and to this day still feels that way.

So the next year we decided to go tubing instead. I personally enjoy tubing a lot more simply because all you do it sit there. You don't have to row or do any kind of physical activity. You just float. Of course you run into some trees and stuff along the way but that is what we had my dad for. We tied all of our tubes together and he does all the steering. 

It being August, there is always hundreds of people on the river. Some tubing and some canoeing. It is always an odd sight to see. Everyone drunk from the sun and excessive amounts of alcohol, their dogs sitting in tubes or on canoes wanting to jump into the water but too scared to actually do it, kids crying because they're bored or hungry. It is so peaceful. 

Just this past year when we went my mom almost got into a fight. She was drunk of course. But we had about 20 of us between my family and the two families of my parent's best friends. We were all tied together and just minding out own business when this old lady in a canoe was trying to speed down the river and was getting mad because of the 200 people taking up the river. She was going past us and yelled at my brother and his two friends who are only 10 years old, swearing at them and telling them to move. My mom hearing her say these things to three 10 year olds freaked out, as any mother would. She yelled at the lady until she got so far down the river that we couldn't see her anymore, and even then my mom kept yelling. You could say my mom is pretty protective.

But overall, every year I am so excited for this trip. I hope we continue to do it for many more years. From the people watching to floating down a river, soaking up the sun with a cold drink in my hand (non-alcoholic of course) we always manage to have an amazing time and I wouldn't want to spend this time with anyone but my crazy family.

Post #8 All the Animals I Could Ever Ask For

I like cats... a lot. I currently have 8 but not too long ago I had 15. We have given a few away, a few have passed and a few have ran away. When it comes to pets I hate "pet" names, like Spooky or Mr. Whiskers. They make me cringe, so I give my animals people names.


The 8 I have now are named Drake, Little Dickie, Nico, Trevor, Allen Jr., Lucifer, Maurice, and Tracy Jr. The other 7 I had who are no longer with us were Jon, Oscar, Tony, Tracy, Allen, Rihanna and Beyoncé.


Now just to clarify, I do not just go out and continue to get cats. They keep reproducing. We started off with Jon who was a Himalayan. He passed away a few months ago simply from old age. He was about 12 years old and Himalayans are only expected to live for about 8 years but John was lucky. About 5 years ago my mom found Nico as a kitten outside of her work and the mom was nowhere to be seen so she brought her home and we took care of her. Once she was old enough she got outside and was gone for about three months and came back pregnant. Everyone was so excited for the kittens to come. This litter gave us Maurice, Lucifer, Tracy and Tony. A few months later she got pregnant again and she had Little Dickie, Drake, Rihanna, and Beyoncé. Not long after Nico had these kittens, Lucifer had her first litter that gave us Tracy Jr., Allen, and Oscar.


We thought Nico was done having babies until about 5 weeks ago my mom was outside and Nico brought her a baby that was about 2 weeks old so my mom brought it in the house. A few hours later my mom went back outside to see if she would bring her any more babies and then out of nowhere she brought another one and now we have Trevor and Allen Jr., but we plan on giving these two to my older brother.


I am thankful for all of my kitties and when I am older I hope to have plenty of kitties to love.


Besides all of my cats I also have a dog and a bunny. My dog's name is Abby, she is a golden retriever and she is 12 years old. Despite her old age and bad legs, she still acts like the spunky puppy she once was. She absolutely loves running and jumping through the snow so I am very excited to spend another winter with her. Abby loves the kittens almost as much as I do and they love her back. She licks them and cuddles with them all the time. My bunny's name is Tina. She is all black and is so cute. She is litter trained so she is able to run around the house all the time. Tina loves both the cats and dogs and runs around with them all the time.

I love my pets so much and one day I dream to be a crazy cat lady, have 23 dogs and maybe a few other animals.

 Tracy

 Little Dickie and Drake

 Little Dickie and Tracy

 Abby and Tracy

 Abby and Tina

 

 Jon

Post #7 Yours Truly

This week is about me!

Hello everyone,
My name is Hannah Faye Bauer and I am 18 years old. I grew up in the same house I am living in now. I love my 7 cats, and my dog. My hobbies include soccer, disc golfing, camping and hanging out with my boyfriend, Tyric.



In high school, I played volleyball, basketball and soccer, although I quit playing volleyball after my sophomore year so I could be team manager of the guys soccer team. My dad was the coach so I was there anyway but quitting volleyball gave me a lot more free time. Basketball was always a close second to soccer but you get some bad coaches thrown into your career and the love of the game just kind of gets taken away from you. But soccer has always been there and my dad has always been my coach so I can't really say he ruined it for me because in all honesty he is the reason I love the sport so much. He was my coach in basketball too for a while but he is simply just a better soccer coach.

My boyfriend, Tyric and I have been together for almost 8 months now and I guess it's going pretty well so far. I mean he is my best friend and I spend all of my free time with him so it really couldn't be better.



When I'm not playing soccer or with Tyric I am listening to music. Anywhere from Chance the Rapper to Twenty One Pilots to  Demi Lovato. My favorite song is Sunday Candy by Chance the Rapper. I know every word and I listen to is at least three times every day. This past summer I went to a Twenty One Pilots concert and I literally cried because it was so beautiful. They played all of my favorite songs, which is basically every song they have ever sang and it was just awesome. I was suppose to go to a Jon Bellion concert this past October but my soccer team made it to regionals so we were in New York the night of the concert. I was pretty upset at the fact I spent $160 on tickets that I couldn't use or sell but going to Niagara Falls with my team was a pretty great substitute.


When it comes to my family I am the only girl of four kids. Although I sometimes wish I had a sister, I am also extremely glad I don't because being the only girl, I'm spoiled. My parents, grandparents, and aunts all spoil me. I don't know if it is because they feel bad for me or if it is because I am the favorite but I like to thinks it is because I am the favorite.

Overall I have had a pretty good 18 years of life so that is always a plus.

 

Post #6 Brey Ray

Breyden Ray Bauer is the youngest member of the Bauer Bunch. He is also the gooniest. And we fight. A LOT. He is 11 years old and has the biggest and weirdest imagination ever. Today's generation of kids is honestly just really weird so he definitely fits in with everyone else his age. 

For some reason kids like so spend their time watching Youtube videos on things like Mindcraft or GTA and a bunch of other video games. Brey likes to do both... at the same time. He sits at his tv playing games while his iPod is set out so he can watch videos at the same time. I will never understand the enjoyment to this but I also grew up without a cell phone or access to as many electronics as Breyden does. 

Even though he spends a good majority of his day playing video games he, like most of my family, plays soccer so we go outside a lot and kick a ball around or when I go up to the field to work out or shoot around he tags along and we manage to have a good time. Like my brother Ryan, Brey and I have a decent amount in common and now that he's older I do not mind doing stuff with him but he definitely knows how to get on my nerves when he wants to. Him being the youngest makes him spoiled. Breyden does no wrong and has to have everything done for him according to my parents so it is irritating when I get asked to do things he is more than capable of doing so that is what a good amount of our fights consist of. But most of the times he's trying to annoy me on purpose and my lack of patience starts to kick in and we just start yelling at each other and beating each other up. 

For being 11 he is also the wittiest person I know. He has a comment for EVERYTHING and it is usually really funny and I have no idea how he comes up with half of the stuff he says. It is nice knowing I can always count on him for a good laugh when I need it, until he takes it too far which is usually what happens.

He's a little brother so I kind of have to cut him some slack sometimes because as he says, "It's his job to annoy me." But I love the kid and I don't know what I'd do without seeing his goony self every day.

Post #5 Reen

This weeks post is about my 22 year old brother Ryan, aka Reen. Ever since I was little my older brothers called me, Heen and so we started calling Ryan, Reen.

Don't tell my other brothers but Ryan has always been my favorite. We are only 4 years apart and we have a lot more in common than I do with Zach and Breyden. Ryan is actually one of the main reasons I am so into sports. He has always been athletic and into basketball and soccer so of course i wanted to be just like my big brother so we were always outside shooting around or kicking a ball back and forth.

Ryan isn't the type of brother who never wanted his little sister around. He always included me when it came to doing stuff with his friends, with a few exceptions. It was nice having that because it made high school a lot easier for me at the beginning. Reen was a senior when I was a freshman and going from a parochial school to a public high school was terrifying so knowing more than half of the senior class was so cool. Him and his friends always stood up for me whenever I needed someone.

"Disc golf is life" is a very commonly used phrase in my house recently. Ryan picked up disc golfing his senior year of high school and spend every second he has free discing. He has over 200 discs and several portable baskets at my house. He is in a league that plays every Tuesday and is always coming home with the $50 dollar prize which he enjoys rubbing in my face. Reen travels all over Michigan to disc at the best courses and every time we talk about taking a family trip, it HAS to have a disc golf course nearby.

When Ryan isn't disc golfing he's usually working at the good ole McDonald's. He is the shift manager so it isn't as bad as most people say it is. But making over $15 an hour isn't necessarily awful either. I personally think he will be working there the rest of his life. Although after majoring in media broadcasting he plans to move to California to peruse his dream of becoming a producer. I just hope he remembers me after he becomes this big producer up in Hollywood.

Post #4 Zach Attack

For those who don't know, I am the only girl of four. Two older brothers and one younger brother. Most people would see this and feel bad for me but in all honesty I wouldn't have it any other way. My brothers have taught me a lot. How to look out for myself, how to fight and simply how to live.

My oldest brother, Zach, is 24. Currently engaged and getting married on the 16th of October, which is only a few weeks away. Zach moved out of the house as soon as he turned 18. Him and my mom were way too much alike and butt heads about everything. So he was done and without telling my parents decided to sign a lease on a house. My parents were furious but if you ask Zach it was the best decision he ever made...

All through high school Zach was the kind of person to be friends with everyone. Super open and very outgoing. He was the lead in three plays at Hemlock and then when he went to college he was the lead in SVSU's production of Little Shop of Horror. Music and acting have always been his thing. He just has that bubbly personality. A lot of people look at him as animated due to his crazy facial expressions and different voices he uses.

About four years ago Zach met the love of his life, Sophia. It was one of those fairy tale meetings. They were both attending SVSU and a mutual friend of theirs got a party bus for their 21st birthday. Both of them were on the bus and just enjoying their night then suddenly while Zach was sitting down the bus hit a bump and Sophia fell into his lap. It was love at first sight. They moved in together and have two dogs and are soon to be Mr. and Mrs. 

Although he has made a lot of mistakes throughout the years and struggles with money he still has everything he needs to be happy. He has a job he loves, the girl of his dreams couldn't be happier. If he wouldn't have moved out when he did he would not have Sophia and he would not be marrying his best friend. He would not have the job he has now or the friends he has made. So if you ask my parents they'll say he should have not moved out when he did but if you ask Zach himself he'll tell you he doesn't regret a single thing.

Post #3 Mindy Lee

This week's post is going to tell you all about my mother. Her name is Mindy and she is kind of my best friend. Like every teenage daughter and her mother we butt heads OFTEN but I know she is always my go-to person when I'm having a problem.

My mom grew up going to Swan Valley (Hemlock's rival school). She worked at McDonald's where she met my dad. Funny story about that... While my parents were still working at McDonald's together my father proposed. They were professional about working together and kept the proposal to themselves. So one day my dad had to work late so my mom went and waited for him to get out. While she was waiting a girl who also worked at McDonald's, who happened to have a thing for my dad was also waiting for him to get out of work. My mom being the crazy woman she is chased this girl three miles down the road because she could not believe she was there waiting for my dad. The next day the girl filed a report to the McDonald's manager about my mom chasing her down the road and they transferred my mom to a different location. To this day she is still unsure why she got transferred and not the other girl...

If you knew my mom you would not find that story surprising or odd at all. She is a strong woman who believes in what she stands for. Nobody can mess with her without getting something in return. She fights for what she loves and always gets the job done. Her family always comes first in whatever it is she is doing. My mom has always been the type do whatever it takes to make her husband and kids happy. I could go on for hours about all the times my mom gave something up of her own in order to get me what I need or want, even when I don't deserve it. She has taught me how to love, how to respect and how to never give up on what I want.

Even though we fight and get on each other's nerves, we always know how to have a good time. Every once in a while we just go shopping or something and it's a nonstop laughing fit for the whole day. No matter what kind of mood I'm in she knows how to either make me more mad or make me feel better. Like most people I have no idea what I would do without my mom and I am so grateful to have her in my life.

Post #2 Coach Dad

This weeks post is strictly about my dad, Joel. He's an emotional, 45 year old man living in Hemlock with his wife, two out of three of his sons and myself, his only daughter. My dad grew up in Hemlock with his parents, older brother and younger sister. Joel attended St. Peter Lutheran School and Church for grade school then went on to Valley Lutheran for high school. For college he went to Delta and got his bachelors in design engineering and is currently working at Saginaw Control and Engineering. He worked at McDonald's during his teen years, which is where he met my mother.

In high school my dad was, like me, an athlete. He played basketball, soccer, track and in his older years played slow-pitch softball. When he got too old to play sports himself, after tearing both Achilles playing basketball, he picked up coaching. His coaching career started when my oldest brother was in 5th grade and his soccer team needed a coach and then continued to coach myself and other older brother's basketball teams along with my softball teams when we were old enough to start playing. For about years he coached at the grade school level until my second oldest brother started playing soccer in high school. My dad was offered to take the boys varsity soccer position and he could not refuse. That next spring the girls varsity coach stepped down and my dad was then offered that position knowing in a few years I would become part of the program. He is currently on his 6th season as the boys varsity coach and this spring will be his 5th season with the girls. Along with his high school team, Joel is back to coaching soccer at St. Peter for my little brothers soccer team and will more than likely be coaching there for another 2 years until my brother gets into high school. Not only has he coached my soccer teams in high school but he was the assistant coach for my varsity basketball team for 3 years. Since I no longer play basketball he decided to decline the opportunity of helping again this year.

Overall my dad has been a pretty successful coach earning the very first district championship in 2013 with the Hemlock Varsity Boys soccer team along with the very first conference championship this past spring with the Hemlock Varsity Girls soccer team. People come up to me all the time telling me what a fantastic coach he is. Sometimes I have to disagree with that statement due to the fact that we bumped heads A LOT during the time of having him as my coach. The problem we always had was that he would push me harder and discipline me more because he wanted to push me to be the best I could be. I did not agree with that at all at the time, I totally just thought he was being a big jerk, but now I know it was in my best interest and without that constant push I would not be playing college soccer or be the person and player I am today.

My dad has been one of my best friends, biggest supporters and biggest role models for my entire life. My family and I would not be the same without him and I am thankful for him every day. (Even though he can be really annoying half the time"

*Funny story about this picture. We were playing in one of our games this past spring against a very... aggressive team, (I won't name names) and one of our players got slapped in the face. Somehow neither of the refs saw the slap so I, as a captain, took the liberty to kindly ask the ref why there was no call on the girl who just slapped my teammate. The ref instantly ran at me throwing up a yellow card for absolutely no reason. This was both mine, and my father's reaction to the unnecessary yellow card and no call on the opposing player, shortly followed by a yellow card for my father who was asking for an explanation on my yellow card. Moral of the story, a family that gets yellow carded together, stays together.

Post #1 Intro to The Bauers

I have chosen to blog about my family simply because I love my family. The Bauers are a family of six. My parents, Joel and Mindy, my three brothers, Zach, Ryan, and Breyden and myself. I can't forget to mention all of our animals. We currently have a golden retriever named Abby, a bunny named Tina along with six cats.

My family has always been close. Of course, just like any family we have our ups and downs but I have learned to cherish and appreciate every moment, good and bad. I mean, you're only given so much time with them so you might as well make the most of it, right? I look at family as a blessing. They're my biggest supports, best friends, and role models. You could say we're a "soccer family". All of my brothers played or are playing and my dad has always been our coach. Although my mom never played she has learned to love the sport.

We have been living in Hemlock, MI since way before my time. My dad grew up in Hemlock while my mom grew up in Shields, only 5 minutes out of Hemlock. Joel Bauer and Mindy Dennison met while working at McDonald's in Shields. My mom always says that the first time she saw my dad she knew she was going to marry him. Although my dad had a girlfriend at the time he thought the same thing. I always thought love at first sight was a cliche until I heard that story. They were both about 17 years old when they met and started dating. After four years of dating they finally decided to tie the knot. On December 22, 1991they became Mr. and Mrs. Joel and Mindy Bauer. Just a few months later on Feburary 26, 1992 they had their first son, Zachary Michael Bauer. The small Bauer family moved into a trailer in the local trailer park. Only two years later on September 1, 1994, they had another son, Ryan Austin Bauer. A few months later they bought their first real house together right on M-46. Two years after that their wonderful daughter was born. Joel being "clever" decided to name his daughter after his favorite movie, Toy Story. For those who don't understand how he got the name from Toy Story, Andy's neighbor Sid had a little sister named, Hannah. Thus we have little Hannah Faye Bauer born on March 25, 1998. After I was born my parents thought they were done having children. But to their surprise, in 2006 they had another son, Breyden Ray Bauer. I wouldn't necessarily call Breyden a "mistake" but he was unplanned. And finally the Bauer family was complete.

So this has been a basic introduction to the Bauer family and how we started and became a family. From here on out for my posts I will be choosing one family member and talking all about them as an individual. I'm hoping to make it as interesting as possible but some people are just simply boring. Next week we'll start off my talking about my dad, Joel. For the most part he is an interesting guy, but I will let you all be the judge of that.