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.