Melanee

So, I haven't written a post about Melanee in a long time. She is doing good. I asked her to send some pictures, but she says she never brings her camera anywhere. I stole these off of her friend Tamara. The first one is a picture of Melanee doing what I hope she wasn't doing her whole camping trip with Tamara and Emma in San Diego (texting CAMERON). And the second is a picture of Emma, Melanee, and Tamara.

new cell phone

We heard that there were some good deals to find at Curcuit City, now that it will soon be closing for good, so we went there last night. They have a Verizon store there, and we found a cell phone for $9.99. You really cant beat that price, and my old phone's battery doesn't hold a charge and it's screen is part black, so we got this cool red one. (We kept my old phone, so we'll have one to send Melanee next time she loses/breaks/ drops her phone in the toilet.)

Basketball

William had another game today. His team lost on the scoreboard (by a lot) but I think it actually counts in the standings as a win, because the other team brought in too many "ringers". The official church basketball rules state that only 2 "non-memebers" can be on the court at a time, and the other team had 3 the whole game. So their win is actually a forfeit loss. That doesn't make our "loser" boys feel any better. It's about half way through the season and they are pretty down about their hoops skills. Enjoy the pictures (even though some are out of focus). William's team was white this time, he was #33.

Folsom Tournament-funny

I KNOW I have written about this tournament, I KNOW I have....but all I could find when I read through my old posts was the post about meeting Kevin Martin (which we did at the Folsom tournament.) I totally remember writing about this somewhere, maybe it is in a real journal, I don't know, but I thought I'd share this funny memory, because I just saw a commercial where a couple is at a hotel/motel and the guy is using both bottles of shampoo.

Melanee, Ashley, and I were sharing a room. Melanee took the first shower. I took the second one, and Ashley took hers in the morning. After Melanee got out of the shower, I noticed there wasn't much shampoo left, so I took in the shampoo and conditioner that were on the counter next to the sink. I took my shower and used the shampoo and conditioner. I have really thick hair, and the shower didn't have very much water pressure, so it took me a LOOOONNNNG time to rinse the conditioner out of my hair.

The next morning my hair was REALLLLLY soft.

We all went down to the breakfast and hung out together for a while eating and socializing. When it was time to leave, I reminded Melanee and Ashley to get more shampoo and conditioner because we had used it all. They went up to the desk and were talking to the lady, then I heard a lot of laughing. They called me over and told me that the motel doesn't provide conditioner. Just shampoo..............and hand lotion!!!!!!! I had used HAND LOTION in my hair! No wonder it was HARD to rinse out! But it sure made for some really soft hair!

Dinner

We went out to dinner tonight. William was at the PV/Chico basketball game at Chico State. Bradley went to Kolby's. With the soccer practice cutting into the time of the day when I usually cook dinner, and all the driving around I had to do for William, no dinner was made when Scott got home from work. I made Isaiah put on some of Andrew's clean clothes, and made Andrew change out of his wet soccer clothes, and we were ready to go. They looked so dressed up (I'm used to seeing them in t shirts and shorts) I wanted to take a picture of them before we left. (I thought Isaiah would fit in to Bradley's clothes, but he tried on 2 things that didn't fit...then I had him stand next to Andrew and he IS SMALLER THAN ANDREW....I've ALWAYS thought Isaiah was bigger!) The other two pictures were taken in "Kings Catch" Scott's choice of restaurant, whenever he gets to pick. Kings Catch has a big mural on one of its walls. It is a picture of London, I think, and there is a monster that Andrew wanted to make sure was in the picture (the monster is right above his head, not right next to him)

Andrew's first practice of the season

Andrew is now in the under 9's division. WOW! His season started today with their first practice. He is on the Lions. They are orange. He has 2 coaches. They seemed pretty good with the boys, but most of the practice was just a scrimmage. There were some good players out there. I think they will have a successful season. Andrew had a lot of fun. It was wet, cold, rainy, and getting dark, but they practiced like the weather didn't matter. Andrew did have an interesting comment when practice was over. He said, "I was freezing and I was sweating at the same time." Andrew is by far the youngest kid on the team, but he is one of the tallest. In these pictures he is the one in the red shirt, black shorts, and orange socks.

lots of ducks

Another hunting trip, more ducks, anyone want to come over for dinner to help us eat all of these? I have a new recipe where I marinate the duck filet pieces, then barbeque them. All together the guys got 11 birds.

My Scary Dream Last Night

Last night Andrew and I were home alone for the night. Scott, Bradley and William went to the refuge and camped there to go hunting this morning. They took Sam, our dog, with them. I locked the front door. Andrew slept in my bed with me. In the middle of the night I heard the back door open...AND SHUT. (Our back door has a VERY distinct sound, it has a big window in it, that is not totally secure, so it wobbles a little when you shut the door). It woke me RIGHT UP instantly. I sat awake for a long time with my heart pounding and that whole time I kept thinking I could hear noises. The thoughts that passed through my head were- if the door opened AND shut, the person must be INSIDE our house. My cell phone is charging in the kitchen. I could wake Andrew (very hard to do) and try to open the window, take out the screen, and go outside....but my car keys are in the kitchen. I could go look around and see who came in, if anyone did. I kept listening, and I thought I heard things, but we do have rats in the attic, so the noises could be them. The neighbors don't work, so they are up at night working on things, so the noises could be them. ANOTHER thing that kept going through my mind was that I am basically deaf....can't hear very well AT ALL. I usually sleep really good, because the noises of the rats or neighbors dont wake me. The door opening MUST HAVE JUST BEEN IN MY DREAM. I probably wouldn't hear a door open, even if it really did! I got up the courage to go look around. Couldn't find anyone in my house, so I grabbed my cell phone and keys and went back to bed with them in my pocket.

William's English DVD "Everyman"

I wish I was as truly funny as William but I have a story to tell. When school started again after the winter break William's english class was given an assignment that would be due in 2 weeks. They had to get together in groups and make a movie about the story "Everyman". William's group changed a few times, and the date they were going to get together changed quite a few times, but they finally got together on Sunday to make their video. None of them knew how to put it onto the computer, edit it and make a DVD. William thought I could help. Monday was MY DAY OFF. At around 11:00, I started working on their DVD. I have a computer that doesn't easily hook to my camcorder with a simple Fire Wire. My computer doesn't have a fire wire port. A few weeks ago we went to Best Buy and told them our problem, they sold us a cord that supposedly was able to hook the camcorder to the computer...it did, but it did not produce a quality video. I could see that the video in the camera didn't skip and glitch and that the video on the computer screen's audio and video were not synchronized. It was so frustrating. For about 4 or 5 hours I messed with it to try to fix it. I wasted my whole DAY OFF working on William's project and he wasn't even home (he was helping a friend on his Eagle Scout project). I reconfigured my computer, I called customer service, I did an online chat with a help person, I e mailed a different company, I downloaded the video to my hard drive, I burned a DVD, I tried to fix it through windows movie maker. Nothing worked! It was extremely frustrating. So finally, I had to leave. I had to work at the CYSL coaches meeting. I told Scott to help William, I was done. Scott brought a computer home from work. Scott called a friend who knows how to make DVD's. While at the friend's house (Krisha and Richard!) William hadn't brought all the cords for our camcorder. They tried everything they had at their house to get it to work, but couldn't. SO we went home with some of their computer parts to try to get it to work. When we got home the camera wouldn't power on! Seriously! We had this same camera before and the same thing happened. So we tried to go back to the Windows Movie Maker and fiddle with what we had of their video saved onto the computer. All the saving that I did was all glitchy and William did NOT want glitches. We were going to do a voice over, but that still didn't clear up the glitches. So, I yelled at William to go to bed (it was about 9:30). I said, "I'm DONE." I yelled about them waiting till the last minute, about how he shouldn't have volunteered to make the DVD, how they shouldn't have done it on Sunday, about how they should have worked on it together. I was mad and frustrated. Scott kept trying to pipe in suggestions, but they just made the room more filled with stress. One of his suggestions was to go to WalMart and buy a new camcorder. That would be a solution, but not if we couldn't get the tape out. So that's when I started to carefully remove the video. My "carefully" turned into CARELESSLY and I pretty much ripped the camera into 2, no maybe 10, pieces. The tape DID NOT come out intact! It was ruined! Now what are we to do???? So we called WalMart and asked if they even had camcorders for sale. They said they did. But it was too late to call the girls and have them re film everything. So we decided that Scott, William, and I would just do the acting. Then Scott said, (something obvious!) "Why don't we use your camera!?!" My camera is really nice and it takes VIDEOS. It has a BIG memory card. AND, I know how to download it to the computer and how to use the video on Windows Movie Maker. So that's what we did! It turned out pretty funny, but there was one MAJOR problem (which we never went back to fix) when I did the recording, I turned the camera vertical to get the scenes in better. OOPS, cant fix that in editing, so William's whole DVD is going to be watched in class today and the students are all going to have to turn their heads to the side. Hope his group gets a good grade. (He also brought in the DVD made from the glitchy, audio/video problems from when he and the girls were acting, and he also brought in the broken camcorder and tape.)

William's Sideburns

William decided to cut his sideburns last night. I think he looks younger. What do you think?

(And isn't that a creepy, fake smile?)

Memories of a different soccer tournament

After Melanee made the Explosion, there was a parent meeting. The coach had a print out of all the tournaments he could apply for. He talked about each one and then let the parents vote on which ones we wanted to go to. Most of my voting was done by location. I thought it would be best to go to tournaments where we didn't have to travel too far. But there was one tournament that they team could go to an camp, therefore, saving money, even though it was far away. It was in Eureka on the coast. Melanee and I drove there with Bessie's mom (Bessie went with Katherine). We wanted to leave as soon as school got out, to get there with time to set up camp. Bessie's mom was REALLLLLLLY late. At one point we put our stuff out at the end of our driveway, so that when she showed up we would just jump in the car and go, but she didn't come, so we went back in the house and sat on the couch. I guess this is when Melanee, who was wearing her little back pack with her cleats and shin guards, took it off and set it on the couch. When Bessie's mom finally came, we ran out and got in the car, accidently leaving the cleats and shin guards (not realizing we left them). The ride was about 4 or 5 hours long, 2 or 3 of the hours were on a small, winding, mountainy road with Bessie's mom not being the worlds best driver (not even close, like, maybe she is one of the worlds worst drivers). We got there and a few of the other players and their families were already there. We set up our stuff and even though Bessie's mom said she was bringing a tent to share with me, when she got it out and up, it was a 1 man tent. Our friends the Truemans were there, so I stayed in a tent with Jamie and her mom, while her dad and brother slept in their van. It worked out ok. The next morning Melanee started to get ready for the early morning game and her little bag with cleats and shin guards were no where to be found. We looked everywhere. We finally called home to find out they were sitting on the couch! So we got out the GPS to try to find a store that would sell cleats at 8:00 in the morning (the game was at 10:00, I think). We were about 30 minutes from the field. It was REALLLLLLY hard to get Bessie's mom up and going. She needed her coffee. She socialized with everyone. It would have been so much easier if I would have driven my own car!!!! (This statement came true so many times on this trip). With the GPS, you can get stores addresses and PHONE NUMBERS, so we started calling places to get their store hours. We got answering machines with a lot of messages that said closed on Saturday or open at 10:00 on Saturday. It was very maddening. We finally had an idea to go to one store that opened at 9:00. The directions the GPS were giving up took us right through the down town of a small coastal town THAT WAS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FARMERS MARKET, so the main roads were closed, we were sent on a detour. On the detour we got stopped at a stop sign. Right where we were stopped on the right side of the street was a SHOE STORE and we could see RIGHT in the WINDOW Adidias boxes and cleats! We got out and Bessies mom went to find a parking spot. It was about 8:45 and the STORE WAS CLOSED. We knocked because we saw a guy in the back room. He let us in, we bought the cleats, got back in the car, drove to the game, and made it there even before some of the rest of the players. (The coach had some shin guards in his bag, he let Melanee use.)
This tournament was the Explosions first tournament and first time playing together after only a few weeks of practice. The players on the team were from 4 different competing high schools. Since it was the beginning of the season the FIELDS WERE BEAUTIFUL....in PERFECT condition. The setting in Eureka was absolutly stunning, the green grass, trees, the coast, the small town touristy atmosphere....so pretty. It was August, so it was also perfect weather. The camping was a good team bonding time. (Except the Shasta girls stayed at a different campground.) The team ate together, walked the beach together, hung out around the campfire together, etc..... It was an ideal way to start the season.
The team made it to the Championship game, but took second. A few players got hurt, one left early, the last game was hard fought, but they lost. I will never forget the fun I had watching that tournament. This was Division I soccer, under 19, so it was just well played, exciting soccer.
A couple other memories I had were- Bessie's mom wanting to take the "scenic route" home. It was about a 7 hour drive, some of it on gravel roads, in the middle of NO WHERE.
-I changed clothes in a little portable out house and dropped my "Badgers" shirt into the toilet.
- Kims little brother and Julia's little sister got lost and the camp was in a HUGE panic.
-We hiked down a steep mountain to get to "agate beach" and that was fun. The beach and ocean were beautiful.
-One girl got "taken out" by the goalie and landed REALLY hard. She went to the hospital, but was fine.
-One dad bought and prepared all the food for all the meals and everyone ate together on huge picnic tables.
-It rained during the night.
-seals or sea lions barked all night.
-Bessie's mom is SO weird and CRAZY, I can see why Bessie wanted to go with Katherine on the way there.

Soccer Tournament Memories

During the Explosion season there was a tournament in Lodi. Melanee and I went to the tournament with Kim and her mom (and Zoe and Loran, too) in their RV. It was so awesome to travel the 3 hour long trip in the RV. There were couches and bed, a bathroom, refridgerator, microwave, even a playstation and tv. We left at like 5 in the morning, so during the first part of the trip, in the dark, we slept. *well, not Kim's mom, who was driving! The tournament was on the same weekend as Melanee's birthday. Even though we had the RV, we still stayed in a motel. The motel was BRAND new and right next door to a new Raleys store, so I walked over there and got Melanee a cheesecake for her Birthday Cake. The team played good, but not good enough to make it into the championship game. The next weekend was Twirps or Prom or something at school and 2 of the girls didn't yet have their dresses. There aren't many stores in Chico, so we stopped in Sacramento on the way home. We had never been to "Old Sacramento" and thats where we went to sight see and to eat lunch. There is also a Macys within walking distance. We saw the gold/yellow bridge that they show on TV at the start of the Kings games, and we could also see the Capitol building from near where we parked. Kim and Summer did find dresses. The girls did a lot of homework and gossiping in the VERY comfortable RV during the ride home.

Another Youth Dance

If I knew better how to add things to photos, I would have put some horns on this to make him look even more devilish, (I messed with the color and his eyeballs a little.) Also, don't you think if he spiked out the side burns a little, he'd look like Wolverine from one of those Sci Fi movies?

Tonight there was a dance at the church (didn't they JUST have one?). I made William stand there for some pictures (he hates that!). I also got Ivan to participate. Ivan came over to play Rock Band....I should have got some pictures of that.

Andrew funny

Here is a funny exchange between Andrew and I a while back. His class is learning about native americans. At one point they had a Native American feast. One parent called all of us and gave us food assignments. I was told to bring popcorn. The event was on a Thursday. In my mind, I thought it was on Friday. (Aren't school activities usually on Fridays?) Anyway, I didn't bring the popcorn on the day of the feast. When Andrew came home from school that day he was so excited that he had eaten his very first blueberry and he really liked the jerky. That's when I realized I missed the feast. I asked him questions like, "Was there enough food?" and "Did anyone bring popcorn?" When I asked the popcorn question, Andrew looked at me strangely and replied, "Mom, it was a Native American feast! They didn't have popcorn!!!" I said, "Sure they did." And he said, "Mom, how could they have popcorn...they didn't have microwaves back then!"

my Kings chair

A few weeks ago, Scott went to work at a lady from church's house. He came home with this chair. At first, I didn't want it because we already have a chair almost exactly like this, plus a couch, a love seat, a desk, two book shelves, a big tv, a wood burning stove, a coffee table (why are they called that???) and other stuff taking up space in our small living room. But I rearranged the furniture and the chair turned out to be unbelieveably comfortable. It is the one piece of furniture in the room that faces the TV straight on, so therefore, it is the best chair to sit in to watch tv. You can sit there and use the coffee table as a foot rest. Bradley and Andrew think it is a 2 man chair, but I like it best alone. And I especially like to sit in it to watch the Kings games! (except when they lose, which is OFTEN).

Duck Hunting

Scott, William, and Bradley went duck hunting today. There are very few days left of duck season and William didn't have a basketball game, so even though it was sunny and warm with NO wind, rain, fog, or clouds they went out to "slay beasts". They came back with a bunch. William didn't want to be in the picture, as you can probably tell---Scott and Bradley DID.

2007 first day of school

This was Melanee's senior year, William' freshman year, Andrew's kindergarten year and Bradley's 2n grade year. Notice Melanee's blonde hair, William's sideburns (or lack thereof), Andrew's shaved head, Bradley trying to be cool!

more random pictures

I wanted to post a few more pictures from before I started blogging. This one is Kenzie and Andrew on Andrew's birthday in 2005, I think...we were at Burger Hut. FUN!

This is the Badgers. Nice girls, not the best team in the world.

This is our house in Alturas last winter. (Notice SOMEONE forgot to paint the chimney when HE painted the house green.)

New Uniforms

I have been talking to some of the PV soccer parents a lot lately. They keep calling me for advice on things like t shirts, uniforms, and motel reservations for tournaments. (I was the "team mom" last year). I found out yesterday that the team is getting new uniform jerseys, shorts, socks, bags, and new soccer balls. I am so excited for them, but jealous that Melanee had to wear the old yucky ones all 4 years she played!

Sideburns

William asked me last night what I thought he'd look like if he shaved off his sideburns. I said, "You'd look really good! You should go try it and see!" But he didn't. :(

My house is worth WHAT?

I sometimes watch the HGTV, (when I can get my hands on the remote). The kids don't like to watch with me, but I guess Bradley has seen some of the shows because on Thursday a guy came over to appraise our house (for refinancing with low interest), so we were cleaning the house before school. Bradley didn't want to go to school because he wanted to be on TV. He thought the camera and crew from one of those shows that tell people the value of their house were coming to film our house. He was excited that our house was going to be on TV.

New Shoes

After William's game, I decided that even though the season is pretty short, he still needs some real basketball shoes. So we went shopping and found these. (It's Scott's hand holding them in the picture (if you remember the "creeper" hand from the family pictures)).

b-ball

During a timeout.

Andrew practiced during timeouts and half time. He wanted to make a "buzzer beater".

William scored 4 points in both games.
The team!

The tip. (I took the picture too soon.) William won the tip!

William played good on defense. He's a really good rebounder.

Mom, you owe me $1,000

Every couple of weeks William reminds me, "Mom, you owe me $1,000." He will never let it go! I bet him $1,000 a year or so ago KNOWING that I was RIGHT. I KNEW he would never pay me $1,000 if I would have won, and I never even thought about losing because I KNEW I was right, so I bet him.
There was a TV commercial for the NBA last year that would show a picture of Dirk Nowitzki on draft day with a long haired, blond kid, who was also drafted. (See above Youtube video) The commercial didn't show any names and William would say, "that's Steve Nash." and I would say, "no it isn't". I was so sure that I said "I'll bet you $1,000"
We then looked it up on the Internet and guess what----?????-----that young character WAS Steve Nash!!!!!
So, at the time, I just laughed it off. Yeah, William was right! But I never intended to be wrong, I never intended to have to hand over $1,000.
He brought it up again tonight! Everytime he wants something....like a JEEP....and I say it's too expensive, he says, "Mom, you owe me $1,000."

Bradley is now a Bear Scout

Tonight was a scout pack meeting and Bradley has now moved up to the Bear den. I am still a Wolf leader, and right now I only have 2 boys. The scouts pin little "mom award" pins on their moms, and Bradley had a hard time getting it through my thick sweatshirt.

Stargate Atlantis

So, as you know, I HATE when Scott watches his "space shows". He likes the Sci Fi channel and all of the Star Wars, Star Trek, Star ANYTHING shows that are on. They drive me CRAZY, seriously. I especially HATE repeats of star shows. If a show comes on that I'VE seen before, I KNOW Scott has seen it 3, 4, 5 times already, so I HATE the show even more. Well, I guess this one show "Stargate Atlantis" is having it's Series Finale on Friday because this week on the Sci Fi channel they are showing ALL STARGATE ATLANTIS, ALL THE TIME. I mean, it starts at like 5:00 in the morning and goes on until 5:00 in the evening. So when we are getting ready for school, it is on. When we are home for lunch it is on. After school, it is on. You get the idea. So, I've never really sat and watched this show before, I don't think I've ever sat through a whole episode.....even this week, but the past few morning and lunches I've seen some exciting, funny, good writing, ok acting (The acting on "space shows" is usually HORRIBLE!!!!). I don't think I'll go out an buy the DVD sets of all the season, but maybe, just for this show, I wont give Scott such a bad time for watching "space shows".

the marble jar

Krisha,
(I thought that) Andrew came up with the Marble Jar idea...I didn't know that he got it from you! He just found the marbles, got out a glass, told us the rules, and started being good, so I went with it, but that is SO funny that he WANTS to do it, and that IT IS TOTALLY working. It's also funny that you made it up, but it's working better for US. So, I really need to thank you. Please share with me your other parenting ideas. And good luck with your jar.

Concussion

Here's a picture of Bradley with his AWFUL hat that he wears morning noon and night. (Except when we are at my dad's house, then my dad makes him take it off.) (I didn't let him wear it to scouts tonight either, but he is asleep right now and he is wearing it!) It used to have a pom pom on top, but that has fallen off. A lot of kids are wearing these hats now, and I think they ALL look ridiculious, including my son, but I guess if they keep their heads warm, maybe they will stay healthier. Maybe they will keep the lice away. There must be something good about this hat trend? I can pick Bradley out of a crowd of kids at recess because of the silly hat.

Anyway, Ann or Krisha or someone commented that they wanted to see a picture of Bradley's concussion....well, I didn't take one. I know, I always have my camera ready for blog pictures, but I didn't think of it, and it actually was never a big bump, bruise, or bloody, so the picture probably would have looked just like this one.

Back to Work/Back to School

Well, Christmas vacation is over. I am back to work. The boys are back in school. Melanee flew back to Virginia yesterday.

Soccer for Bradley and Andrew starts at the end of the month, so that is something to look forward to, but I hope the weather warms up, I hate those CCCOOOLLLLDDDD spring soccer games. I am not coaching this season, so I think it will be fun to watch and take pictures.

William says he is going to be on the track team and run the two mile, but he only ran once or twice this whole vacation, and he was supposed to run 20-30 minutes a day, so we'll see how well he does! The two mile is HARD.

The Kings are playing HORRIBLY. So that hobby is not as fun as it used to be. I did find a live blog to participate in during the Kings games, so I've been sort of enjoying that.

Bradley fell hard on his head at lunch recess on Monday and got a slight concussion. That was no fun, but he is fine now.

Andrew has decided he wants our family to have a marble jar, and when they do good things they can add marbles, and when they are bad we take out marbles. When it is full he wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese and Bradley wants to go skeet shooting. It's filling up pretty fast. I think I've only had to take a marble out ONCE. So I think it will be a good thing to motivate them.

Where's Andrew? (oops!)

I think everyone who reads this blog has already heard this story today (or were a part of it- Krisha!), but I thought it would be funny to blog about it.
Today we went to 4th ward for church to be there for Richard and Krisha's son's baby blessing. After the blessing they had a huge, wonderful meal at their house. We went there for a little while, but I needed to go to our ward to help in Primary, and William wanted to go, too, so since we had 2 cars, William and I left, Andrew was coming with us, but when he found out that we weren't going home, he went back in the house. Scott was going to come to church, too, but we went earlier to stop at home so William could get a sweater and tithing money (I wanted to brush my teeth). Scott saw Andrew come out with us, and didn't see him come back into the house.
Scott and Bradley got to the church a few minutes after William and I did and the first thing he said was, "Where is Andrew?" I said, "He's with you." But he wasn't. Scott quickly called Richard, and Richard actually didn't know if Andrew was there, but looked in the bedroom where the kids were playing, and there was Andrew!
So Andrew got to stay longer, (Sorry Krisha, I hope he wasn't too much of a PROBLEM!) and didn't have to go to 4 hours of primary. (Lucky kid!)
And I guess the lesson learned here is...um...maybe---don't take 2 cars! Or communicate better!

a memory I just had

I have been thinking about soccer a lot lately and just thought of a story that may have made a difference in the PV soccer season, but I don't think anyone ever thought about it at the time.

The first soccer tournament of the year is always St. Marys, in Stockton. It is always RIGHT at the VERY start of the season, before the team has even really made final cuts, after they've only been practicing for about 2 weeks, the girls don't even really know each other, the coach doesn't even know where to put people, and the parents get to meet and hang out for the first time.....

For the trip to St. Marys for last season, we didn't ALL meet at PV first, everyone pretty much went on their own, but a few of us did meet at PV because Melanee went to her first class, and we were taking Cheyanne, a sophomore. At PV we met, me for the first time, Amber and her mom, who were taking a few other freshmen. Since I had been to St. Marys, and I had GPS, she said she would follow me. We went on our way and got about 20 minutes into the ride when Cheyanne figured out that she had forgotten her lunch, water jug, and purse. She really needed her money for food and the motel, and she probably really needed her food and water, too. So I pulled over. She called her dad, and he started driving to meet us. Amber's mom had pulled over too. I did not want the girls to be late so we convinced Melanee and Cheyanne to go the rest of the way with Amber's mom, and I would wait for Cheyanne's dad. I also gave the GPS for them to use to find the high school. They went on their way. I drove the 2 hour drive alone, after getting Cheyanne's stuff. It was a little lonely, but I think the BIG thing that came from this HELPED the season and the whole team........Melanee, Cheyanne, Amber, Yolanda, and I think someone else was in their van BONDED and became GREAT friends and teammates. I don't think they would have ever even talked to each other if that wouldn't have happened. Cheyanne and Melanee weren't friends before the trip, Cheyanne was just driving with me because I am friends with her parents. Amber and the girls in that van were shy, young freshmen, at school they don't hang out with Cheyanne or Melanee, so 5 girls--new teammates- spend 2 hours in a van talking, laughing, making memories. It's the beginning of a season...they now like each other, that will show up on the field. That will help between games, when they are relaxing and chillin. Cheyanne forgetting her food was a GOOD thing. Melanee had played on 3 PV teams before her senior season and the seniors NEVER made an effort to be nice to or include the younger players in anything past the practices or games. Melanee was a senior and a leader, the other seniors sort of follow her lead and are also nice to the younger players all season, it made for a great season and lots of wonderful friendships.

I don't know if I worded that all so it made any sense to any of you, but I saw Cheyanne today and thought those thoughts. Then I saw Zoe's mom a few minutes latermand realized that I really miss soccer.

Another dead animal picture

Ok, I just have to wonder....why is Scott smiling so big here (and in the other goose picture)...I can never get him to smile for pictures that dont include dead birds. NEVER.

Goose Hunting

Since Scott doesn't know how to get his own blog, here are some pictures he wants me to put on mine, so he can show his family, who never read my blog.

*yes, one of them is still alive!

Taco Bell Ordering

I know I have told this story to SOME of you and I may have even blogged about it, but I told Andrew I was going to Blog about it, so here's a funny Andrew story-

Whenever we go to Taco Bell Andrew orders the same thing. He orders for himself, too. He says, "I want a Nacho Cheese Chalupa with No tomatoes, No onions, No pickles, and No celery. (Funny because he thinks their lettuce is "celery" and they don't even ever put on pickles or onions!)

1st basketball game

Today was William's first basketball game of the season. His team actually got to play two games, because the team for the second game didn't show up. William and his team (but mostly just William) played good, but both opponents were better skilled. They lost both games. William played a lot, he scored 2 points in the first game and 4 in the second. He got a lot of rebounds and got to jump for the tip off in both games. He is the team captain. The games were fun to watch.

out for dinner

We got to go out to dinner tonight. Andrew got to choose this time (we take turns) and he picked Denny's Diner. (Denny's, but he calls it Denny's Diner). (William was with us, he took the picture.) The house is clean, and stayed clean because I didn't have to cook and we didn't have to use our dishes. So it was a nice night. (We cleaned all morning because William's friend Jill came over to play Rock Band.)

Mel sent me some pictures

Melanee sent me some pictures today, so I thought I'd share them with you. These were on her camera. The first is the picture I told you about with William and the Oklahoma State football players.

For the second picture, I asked William to write the story of this porcupine, but he refused, so you'll have to get my version of what I saw. We were all coming out of the childrens petting zoo area. Mark was getting a few kids buckled into the stroller, I was rounding kids up, and over to the side there was an area to look at the porcupine. Melanee, William, and Kiersten were over there. All of a sudden I hear a very loud noise that sounded like I don't know sticks hitting together, or some loud unknown noise, but then instantly and EVEN LOUDER I hear HIGH PITCHED screams coming from MY KIDS! It was really a commotion. So Mark and I went over there to see what happened. Other people gathered quickly and people were asking "did they shoot their quills at you?". That was my question, too. And we all also wondered- "What did you do to him???" Melanee sincerely claimed, "we didn't do ANYTHING, I was just taking a picture". It was the most excitement provided by all the animals all day....most of them were just sitting around doing NOTHING. (Actually the tiger cubs were cute, they were basically attacking the mom tiger and she was swatting them away, just like I would do if my kids were trying to bite me on the bottom.)

New Years Day

We went up to my dad's house today. David and Robin (and Philip and their dog Toby)were there, too. Philip is well behaved and VERY cute. The first picture is Andrew, Philip, and Bradley playing Club Penguin. The 2nd is a picture of us all except my dad, he's the one who took the picture. We ate pizza, watched football, and visited. Robin baked some muffins. Andrew ate too many of dad's secret stash of hidden mints. Dad played solitaire and wouldn't "cheat" and do the moves I told him to do...he ended up WINNING, so I guess his way is the right way to play. Robin made a copy of the PV soccer DVD for me. I don't think we did much else, but it was a fun few hours to spend with family.