God is always by our side

You know those times where you feel that God is in the room with you, or have a situation happen and you say "that was a God thing.." Jake had that happen a few days ago, and it was too cool of a story that I had to post! 

Many of you know Jake is in Arlington right now for a mini camp, just for them to see his progress, and meetings. He comes home tomorrow, and I am very excited to see him, not going to lie this week flew by I have been so busy with work, and about to move across the country!! 

He had spoken with someone about if he could request a number for spring training, or the season and how that works..More than likely he would just get a random number (1-99), and that was fine too, but he thought he would try (never hurts to try right?!) He asked the Clubbie on Tuesday if there was any chance he could get #49 (my brothers football number) and they said "Oh i'm sorry, but all the numbers are already assigned for spring training; and I dont think we can change them, but let me see if I can talk to my manager, just to see..." Jake was thinking thats fine, no big deal and thought for sure it was done with.. Later that day, the clubbie and manager came up to Jake and said "We had to show you this, we thought this was so bizarre" and showed him the list.. they assigned Jake number 49 randomly!! They had no idea about my brother or anything, and Jake had the chills all over his body he was in such shock.. it took him a few moments to wrap his head around it, and told them he had to share the story about the meaning behind the number, why he wanted it so bad! They were in shock too, and had no idea when they gave him 49!! I mean talk about God just assuring Jake, He is always looking out for him! Jake was sick the first few days of the camp, of course and he NEVER gets sick so he was pretty down the fact of him being sick so this was so neat to happen! 13 DAYS UNTIL SPRING TRAINING.. We cannot believe it is already here, and we still have so much to do in so little time, but we will get it all done!! 

Great Video

I saw these and really wanted to share them with you! I hope you take a minute to watch them! You won't regret it! The bottom one we saw at PAO, and was really neat!

Updates in the new year!! 2012 !

Hi Everyone! I hope all of you had a great christmas, and new year! Jake and I had a great time with our families, and had so much fun this off season being home with everyone! My sister, and family got to come home for 3 weeks with our precious nephew, and we had a blast!!

Anderson Christmas card

Anderson and Brigham group together on Thanksgiving!

I wanted to update all of you with what is going on with Jake's schedule and so forth. I usually slow my blog down in the off season because most are wanting to know about Jake's exciting baseball news, and we don't have much of that going on during the off season! I will be active with my blog once the season starts letting you each know what is going on with his career, the city we are in, etc.. I really appreciate all of your support, and we are so thankful for everyone who cares about our crazy life! We do this blog for a few different reasons, and I am not sure how this will work the higher up we go, because I have found that some do not respect our privacy, but have not had any problems that I feel worried about our safety. I want each of you to know what is going on and this seems like the easiest way being able to share pictures, stories especially with our families back home! :) ANYWHO!!

Kyler & Ryley christmas present! 

Brigham christmas afternoon

my sisters

our famous gingerbread house competition (ours was #4)

I wanted to share a few photos with you from the holidays! Back to baseball...Jake got invited to a mini camp in Arlington, in January!! He is beyond excited for this opportunity to work with the coaches, and is the first one he will be attending. He will be out there for almost a week, and is excited to get to fly first class haha! We leave February 1st for spring training in Surprise, Arizona (right outside of Phoenix.) I will be going the entire two months, which this was up for discussion most of the off season, but I hate flying and don't want to fly alone so am going with Jake! We will be in Arizona for 2 months, Jake is invited to big league spring training, starts a few weeks into February. He could be moved back to Minor league spring training at any time, which we are fine with and are excited for the opportunity to start in big league spring training! In April we will go to Texas. We don't know what city/team we will be on this year, and will find out at the end of Spring training! They will give us an idea, but what i'll end up doing is booking a place in the city we think we could go to, because last year we got the last place in Frisco, and I am NOT going through the stress of that again..I rather loose our deposit and know we have a place to sleep than be homeless! We have had a lot of decisions we needed to make the last few weeks on if we are shipping our car to AZ, or leaving it in FL, renting furnished or unfurnished, prices, how many suitcases, the list goes on! We are renting a car out in Spring training (felt it was the easiest for 2 months, and same with apartment.) We decided to take our trailer out again, but bring HALF of what I brought last year! Last year was a learning year for me. I had to bring out all that I did to know what I used and didn't use. We know we have to cut it in half, the chances of being moved which could happen more than last year. When he gets moved they tell him when he arrives at the field and usually is gone before or after the game. Yes, exactly what you are thinking.. The packing is left up to me, and trying to figure out where we will live, canceling all bills/electric, tv's, lease agreement etc have to be done and then I will drive to the next location with our stuff. Every girl's goal is to be right behind him and drive all night or whatever to be in the same city the following day, so most pack very very light, and rent furniture. With Texas, I am so thankful all the farm teams are only 4 hours apart instead of being in Cali, then moved to South Carolina like some teams!! We could get lucky and stay in the same city for the entire season like we did last year, but in the back of our mind we have to be prepared to be moved at any moment!

I can't tell you how excited we are for this season, not just because we got protected, but Jake has been working so hard and it is finally paying off! We love Texas not only as a team, but the state! I was so happy being in Frisco last year, the amazing city, people, and field! I love how friendly everyone was to us, and the safety of the towns, shopping, and ballparks. Some things I am not looking forward to is how hot it gets during the summer!! haha I will miss our families BAD... You get used to being home for so long, and our routine here which is somewhat normal lifestyle. We both have jobs, wake up together, and get to eat dinner together, go to church, and have date nights. During the season we don't do any of that together. We have baseball 7 days a week, never eat dinner together unless at 11 pm, and lots of days apart. It will be an adjustment, Jake is itching to get back out on that mound! I will keep everyone updated when we hear new stuff! 

Christmas eve

PAO Baseball 2011 closing video

We had an amazing time at PAO this year, and they sent us the highlight video! I wanted to share it with you all! Watching the people getting baptized again was so cool to watch! We can't wait for next year! Hope you enjoy!

The Life of the Baseball Wife: I Am A Baseball Wife

The Life of the Baseball Wife: I Am A Baseball Wife: Written by Nicole Johnson, Wife to Elliot Johnson I am a baseball wife. I log long hours of driving and flying to be with the man I love...

This post is reality of our lives, not what you are watching on VH1 Baseball Wives! Nicole did an amazing job on this post! If you have been watching Baseball Wives, I suggest you read this and really see what a baseball wife is!

Jake did it!! He got protected!!!

I really cannot believe I am getting to write this to you all! I am so excited to share with you that Jake got protected by Texas!!!!

We are so excited, and know that all of the prayers (lots of them) have been answered!!! We have been in knots for months now not knowing whether we were going to be protected or not.. We were getting ready for anything that could have happened this year, which could have been protected, next step in rule 5 draft (Dec 5), or left right where we left off last year. Ultimately our desire was to be protected and stay with the Rangers. We got told over and over again by everyone that it could be a 50/50 chance, no one really knew what would happen.. We along with many others were just trying to prepare, and be ready for whatever was thrown our way November 18.

November 18 was the deadline for 40-man protection for all teams. We had to find out by midnight (thankfully we only had to wait until 5:47) and we got THE CALL.... Jake got home from work around 3:30, I didn't get home from work until 4:30 and since we didn't hear anything we thought for sure we had no chance.. I felt so bad for Jake, he was so down..We tried to go on with the evening,but every few seconds he would reload the mlb trade rumors to check to see what other teams have finalized their roster..Then at 5:47 (Jake says it has to be the EXACT time) a weird number called...Jake started to shake, and it was John Daniels (GM for Rangers) I am trying my best to listen, but can't really hear that much, but I knew the minute Jake got a little emotional and I heard them say "Congratulations Jake, we protected you. You did it, and this is only the beginning...." I had to walk away, and all I could think about is HE DID IT~!!! God answered our prayers, and Jake's hard work paid off!!! It was so cute seeing Jake fall to the ground, he was speechless so I'm sure the guys on the other end knew he couldn't talk! They carried on with a few more instructions for this year, and Jake thanked them over and over again. Those words Jake has been wanting to hear now for 6 years! This has been a dream of his since he started to play little league, and he is getting to pursue his dream, and finally stepped over a huge rock basically and made it across the other side! I was so anxious/excited/emotional I couldn't wait to call anyone and everyone! Jake called his mom first to tell her, and then my parents who were on their weekly date night and NEVER will answer the phone or text, and dad answered in the movies and about wet themselves from excitement!! The only bummer was I had agreed to go babysit at 6:15 and had to leave!!! Talk about wanting to shoot myself for agreeing to babysit that night!  AHHH!! All I wanted to do was be with him and celebrate, but I got to spend my night with 5 kids under the age of 7...haha It was so fun watching the media blow up, on twitter, reports, mlb and see Jake's name on it!!!

"The Rangers added pitchers Jacob Brigham, Roman Mendez, Justin Miller, Martin Perez, Neil Ramirez and Matt West to their 40-man roster, reports Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest (via Twitter)."

There is his name on the big league roster!

I am sure most of you are wondering, so what exactly does this mean for us? It is kind of confusing, but will explain the best I can for those who don't know all the rules (we are still learning most of them.) Jake is officially on the major league roster (ah that is so weird saying!!!!) They can have 40 on their roster, and anyone can be called up at anytime, if someone is hurt, rehabbing, etc. Jake will go to big league spring training to start out, they project him to go to Triple A (Round Rock) but if he performs really really well in spring training he could break out in camp, but realistically he could go to AA, or AAA. If that happens then they will send him down (this is not a bad thing, just part of spring, and guys on the 40-man.) We will get big league insurance which is huge for us because we were having to pay $300 a month just for me last year, and it might as well been a million from our income.. We do make more money, and that will be so nice to be able to breathe a little. He will have to report to spring training beginning of February, because of Big league spring training starting Feb, instead of March. With Jake being put on the roster, this means no one can touch him during the huge trades that will be going on in the next few weeks, it is nice having a little bit of security!

We want to thank everyone who prayed for us during this time, we know this was all God, and yes Jake's talent, and all those hours, training, hard work has paid off, but more than anything it is so amazing and knowing that Texas wanted Jake is awesome! Jake started to train this morning before Church, and is starting to throw this week getting ready for February. Other than the main things to be excited about, all I am really excited about is being able to buy sprite, and getting some dip n dots/cotton candy at the ballpark (Jake sent me down some dip n dots one game and surprised me, but only had them once the entire season!!)

 When Jake and I got married it was a joke that I could not buy sprite we were that broke, and my dad would always say "Dont you worry honey, when I come to visit i'll buy you all the sprite you want!!" FYI: I did not buy a case of sprite the ENTIRE season! HAHA So... I can't wait to be able to buy my first case during the season! :)

On that note, we are so excited and can't wait to see what God has in store for us this year! It has been an amazing/busy off season! We have enjoyed being home with our families, only being 5 minutes apart from everyone and the time we have hear! Jake is loving interpreting, and he is doing pitching lessons for a few families. I am babysitting, selling my boards on etsy-and locally, and am helping my dad out with some office-communication. We are so content with everything in our life, and are thankful to have so many people supporting us through this crazy journey! We get to go to PAO, next week here in Orlando. It is a christian conference called Professional Athlete Outreach, and is for major/minor league baseball families and get to know other families, small groups, worship services, and has conferences about all the struggles, finances of baseball. We didn't know if we could go because couldn't really afford it, but our agent, Doug sent us a check for our anniversary/christmas and we got to sign up!! We got to go 2 years ago in Dallas and was life changing for us! It helped me out a lot because I knew nothing about this crazy lifestyle, and it is hard to fall quickly..It's so nice to see we are not the only ones struggling or believers. If you click on the link below you can watch some very famous ballplayers who are involved, and tell about it! We can't wait! :)

PAO video <-----Click that

Off Season 2011

We have been home a little over a month, and boy does it feel good to be home!! We have had an interesting off season so far! We waited a LONG 9 weeks to hear the status of us going to the Dominican Republic which fell through a few weeks ago.. It is a long story and don't want to get into detail, but lets just say the team down there didn't treat Jake very well, and told him not to sign with any teams because they had a spot for him on the roster.. 

We have had a few other "interest" that I throw out very carefully because baseball is so unpredictable..everything is a waiting game, and most of the time things don't happen the way we expect them to. I believe Jake has decided to shut down for the rest of the off season..We are happy and in reality whatever is supposed to happen with the protection I believe Texas has already made their mind up about us.. 


Speaking of Texas...We are so happy and excited about them being in the WORLD SERIES! Second year in a row!! We are proud to be with them, and think the team deserves it! They all have worked so hard! GO Rangers!!! 

This has been a L.O.N.G few weeks for us.. Everything is so unpredictable especially this year. We have been waiting waiting and some more waiting to hear if we get protected which we will find out sometime in November, and if Texas doesn't protect us we could get picked up in the Rule 5 draft, and that doesn't happen until December.... AHH, OR we could just go back to our life in the minors and start up where we left off in AA or wherever Texas decides to put us.. I have mixed feelings about what I want to happen..I am leaning one way and hope it happens, I love Texas, but wouldn't mind a change. I hate the unknown which is almost a joke in our profession because all of it is unknown until the day it happens, working on being patient has been a BIG challenge for me! I just want to KNOW!!! haha


We are praying a lot, and just trying to go on with our life preparing for whatever is supposed to happen with Jake's career. We have heard some mixed things through some friends in the Organization on their predictions, but obviously it all depends on who gets traded, contracts, and what Texas ultimately decides to do with Jake. We trust in the Lord that we will be exactly where we are supposed to be in Spring whether that's with a a new team, or back with Texas. 

Jake's huge fish!!

We are so thankful for many positive things that have happened OUTSIDE of baseball. Jake got on with an interpreting company that is more reliable than the one he was working for the last few off seasons. He has guaranteed hours, and is at one school (he likes that, instead of driving all over.) He likes getting to know the girls/boys he is working with, and being in one place. I got to design an office for Dora Mae Jewelry, and it was SOOO much fun!! I absolutely love what we came up with, and very pleased with how it turned out! I am still looking for a nanny job, but haven't found anything yet. I am selling my boards, and some stuff for my dad on the side, and babysitting for families on the weekends. Jake has been fishing almost everyday and loves being on the lake again catching fish! We have enjoyed both of our families and love being back in our church. 

Dora Mae Wall

Jake and I just celebrated our ONE year anniversary!! We had a lot of fun, and Jake did very well with making me feel special!! I cannot believe it has already been a year since our wedding!! It has been a crazy first year, and so much fun!  We have signed up to go to PAO (Professional Athlete Outreach) again in November and so excited!!! We got to go in Texas two years ago, and loved meeting christian players, and realizing we aren't the only ones in this crazy lifestyle..It was so good for me, and Jake and looking forward to it again this year in Orlando. 

Our One Year Anniversary

I will try to update on our life and when we find out details on baseball.. I hope everyone enjoys the holidays coming up, and again we appreciate all the people who are supporting Jake and I in our crazy journey in the minors! We know we couldn't do it without the prayers, and support from each one of you who are faithful readers, and care!