haircut

William got a haircut today, I think it looks great. (He's letting his beard grow out for trek.)

Fun Swimming Time has come to an end

We spent a little time just about every one of these hot couple of days at a very fun swimming pool. You see, the owners had Scott feed their cat, so he had a key to their gate, and their pool was just back there EMPTY...plus they said we could use it "any time", so when this over 100 degree weather hit, what better place to cool off than a pool, right?

But the owners are back. They said we could still come "any time" but that would just be too weird.

Funny thing about them coming back yesterday was that we went swimming yesterday....and when they got home, we weren't there, but there were still waves in their pool....we must have JUST missed them....then we went back for Family Home Evening last night. We could tell that they had returned from their trip because the blinds were opened, the patio furniture rearranged, some weeds had been picked, garbage cans moved, etc.....but no one was home while we were there, so we went swimming. When Scott called them later that night they said when they came home that evening there were still waves in the pool, we must have JUST missed them AGAIN.

I bought our pet geese a pool to swim around in, but the boys loved it so much I moved it to the front yard....now they don't play in it because it "doesn't have a diving board". So there it sits.

Excited

Because I wrote about the idea of Melanee staying here next year and playing soccer for Butte college, I thought I'd write a post about something she said yesterday.

I don't know what we were doing, but she said, "I am SO excited about going back to Virginia. I can't WAIT for the new soccer season to start!"

Later she went online to look at her schedule for next year and she was trying to figure out what meal plan to buy.

She will be living in apartment type housing this year and may have a car if we can figure out how to insure a car in Virginia with our California insurance, if we can then insurance will only cost $88 for six months---(very reasonable) if we can't, then she'll have to get her own insurance policy in Virginia and that would cost about $800 for six months- (NOT REASONABLE, at all).

She is in charge of setting up a service project for the soccer team. She has been working hard on this, but hasn't had much luck. (Candace and Cisco, since you live there, can you send her the Elder's Quorum presidents phone number....maybe he will know of some old widow in the ward that needs her yard cleared or something like that.)

Melanee has been VERY depressed the last few days because she misses talking to Cameron....but yesterday and today she has just been better. She is excited to get back to school, and that, to me, is very exciting.

Busy Morning

Scott is building a deck for a lady...he works there every morning before work and on some Saturdays. When they don't have any other plans, Scott takes Melanee and William with him to work. (they do get paid). Today they came home and I was still asleep. Scott wakes me up asking for the insurance card. Then tells me that he has to go to work, and would I take William to Immediate Care. I got up. William had something stuck IN his eyeball. So I took him there. The first thing the nurse had William do was an eye test, you know---read the eye chart!?!?!? Isn't that a weird thing to have him do when he has SOMETHING STUCK IN HIS EYE? Then they took his temperature!?!?!?! Isn't that also an odd thing to do for an eye patient? William has a friend (you may remember a kid on his track team who looks like Obama, I'm sure there's pictures of him here on my blog) anyway, William's friend's dad owns or is the BOSS of Immediate Care. He took William's case. I thought that was pretty nice. (We never get him, we always get the flunkies, the new guys who don't even seem like doctors, I'll have to write sometime about William's mole removal...) He did all the exam and cleaning and all the stuff he did and didn't really find anything to pull out, but he may have gotten it out with all of the wiping and flushing....but he did find a scratch, so William now has antibiotic eye drops and eye drops to help lubricate his eyes. (He really wanted a patch, haha, but I guess he didn't need it.) The doctor was very nice and helpful and even gave us free samples of all the medications.

Happy 20th Anniversary

I just looked at my little computer clock in the bottom corner of my screen and noticed that it is 11:58....so I better blog about this FAST or my 20th wedding anniversary will be over.

Today, June 28th is Scott and my anniversary. We we married on this day 20 years ago. WOW. A lot has happened in those 20 years. It has gone by fast, too.

We were married in Salt Lake City, Utah. (the Oakland temple was closed for asbestos removal and we didn't want to wait the year or so to get married.) It was a Wednesday. We got lost on the way to the temple and I thought we were going to be late. It all turned out fine.....like doctors offices, they were running late that day anyway, us being late didn't matter at all. After the ceremony we got lost again, trying to find each other, trying to find the restaurant, our car, our family and friends. We had a luncheon with all the people in Utah, then drove to Fremont, had a reception there, then drove to Chico and had a reception here. (Our cake was frosted styrofoam, and it melted between the Fremont and Chico receptions.) We went to Fort Bragg for our honeymoon. Scott always says that the highlight of the honeymoon was going out on a fishing boat and catching big fish. He also remembers the fight over a game of chess at the bed and breakfast. I remember looking for, but never actually finding fireworks on the 4th of July.

I love Scott and I am glad we are married for time and all eternity. He is a wonderful husband and he makes me very happy.

Fun Get Together

We went to a party, or get together, today at our friend's house. It was fun, but the weather was hot and muggy. There was some fun conversation for the adults and fun times getting wet in a barely filled pool for the kids. We also ate, threw apples through a tire swing, and had a little water fight.During the water fight....Levi PICKED UP Doug and carried him through the whole backyard and was going to throw him in the pool.....if you don't know Doug....he is a BIG guy, really big, I mean, like, HUGE and Levi is William's size, just a lot stronger! it was funny....I didn't get my camera out until they were almost all the way to the pool, but there they are.

Melanee's Indoor

Melanee just called....so I thought I'd post the game results here for my 1 follower...haha...well, and Michelle, Ann, and my dad.

Melanee's team played the first game in Turlock and lost 4-3, but Melanee said that she played well....she said that it was 115 degrees inside the indoor arena and that they didn't have enough subs, so they got hot and tired. She said it was a close game, though.

The second game was in Sacramento. They played the same team they played a few weeks ago before Melanee was on the team....and in that game they lost 9-1...today they lost, but it was only 2-1...so Melanee must have REALLY helped them.

She said that she was #10 today. She was #10 on the Chico Cal Thunder, so I know it's a number that she likes.

She didn't take any pictures. She thinks that no one cares about pictures...so if you see her, tell her that YOU DO CARE and WANT pictures of her on my blog!

Saturday

Melanee just left for her TWO soccer games today. One is in Turlock and one is in Sacramento. I sent the little camera with her and told her to get a picture of her in her uniform....we'll see if it actually happens. My kids aren't as good as taking photos as I am.....William went to that youth conference and came back with a picture of Duke. My camera goes a lot of places with the kids and spends a lot of time locked in cars, or left in back packs.

William keeps begging for US to buy HIM a car. What William is the Suburban not good enough for you to drive???

Not the CAMPER TRUCK??? (no photo).....Not the Ford??? (no photo).....when Melanee leaves, he's welcome to the Honda....(no photo) ..... but if you are readers who don't know our cars, just picture in your mind run down, lots of miles, dented, rusted, missing grills, cracked windshilds, rocking drivers seats, dirty interiors, you get the idea......why wouldn't a 16 year old want to drive one of these classics???!!!

Princess Movie

I know you all watched the Disney Channel Princess Protection movie tonight. I KNOW you did, but if you really didn't I promise you will get MANY chances to in the next few hours, days, weeks, months.....there WILL BE repeats, of this I am sure.

One of the stars in the movie is Demi Lavato. She has a unique smile, but it is a smile that Melanee can imitate very well---Check her out in this photo....she's doing the Demi smile.

What do you think? Any similarities????

Melanee is famous, again

I was just looking on the SVU web site (I look there a lot to see if they are EVER going to write about the new recruits, like they did last year)....and on the website http://www.svu.edu/ I read that the school has won an award..... Go read the article, you will read how Melanee helped them to earn the USCAA Director's Cup.

Followers! Hey!!!

I used to have 2 "followers" of my blog, now I only have 1. What Gives? Why would someone want to stop "following" me? Am I THAT boring?

#3

As you know, I love to watch soccer. As you probably already also know, Landon Donovan is my favorite player. (That is if you don't count my kids, when they are playing soccer!) Anyway, during the last USA game, I noticed that Landon wasn't the captain of the team.....there was another guy...this #3 character....where did he come from, who is HE, why does he get to be captain, he's not BETTER than the best player on the TEAM Donovan, so why is he the captain....oh maybe it's because he's older, yeah, maybe that's it....maybe the team gets to vote, and they picked a defender because they are in the back they can see more of the field (then why didn't they pick the goalie), maybe it's because in that game the captains of each team spoke to the crowd about discrimination or something, and the team thought #3 was a better public speaker....I seriously kept waiting for the announcers to tell us why this #3 was wearing the cool armband, not Landon. They never told us....so I did some research. #3 is the national team captian. His name is Carlos Bocanegra. He has been injured. I read articles about him, saw photos of him, and while watching the game I paid attention to his game, and guess what???? I think I have a new favorite soccer player! Yeah, that's right....Carlos is (well, I was going to say very cute, but Scott reads this, so that's out....but if you are interested, do a google image search---wwowwooowwzaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), so I cant say anything about his looks, but Carlos plays in Europe, so that alone proves that he is GOOD. haha. He has won lots of awards and honors, so that's pretty GOOD, too.........and um, he's, ok, I have to say it....he's cute! Well, looks don't matter, right? Nah, so I'll just blog that I have 2 favorite players on the US team, they are the best players on the team!

p.s. (Melanee would HATE Landon's cleats in this picture.)

NBA draft

Today was the NBA draft, the Kings didn't take who I thought they would. We'll have to wait and see how these draft picks work out, but it was fun to watch the draft taking place. The Kings can only get better (they came in LAST place this past season).

Melanee Scored!

Melanee played in an indoor game tonight with a different co ed team. It was really competitive and a very physical and fast moving game. Her team won 7-3, I think, and Melanee scored the 3rd goal on a long, hard, low flying shot to the corner of the net, it zoomed right past the diving, outstretched goalie. To get the shot, she faked a pass first...it was really COOL.

She also juked out a few of her opponents who used to be seniors when she was a Freshman. (And also one girl who used to be her assistant coach.) Those fakes were really fun for me to watch and laugh at. She also stole the ball a few times from these same girls and a few times from the men on the other team. It was so exciting.

Scouts day 3

After being sprayed by the firehose.

Being sprayed by the fire hose. While this was going on, I thought Bradley was playing football with the Chelsons...I was thinking, boy these kids aren't very smart, they are going to be wet the rest of the camp. My son is smart, he's not over there in that chaos. Then he walked over to me a second later, SOAKED.

His poor egg didn't survive the drop from the fire ladder.

Glad camp is over! Days 1 and 2 were great...today was HORRIBLE. They called it a "Family Fun Day" but announced first thing, after we already arrived that siblings, cousins, friends, etc....would NOT be allowed to participate in ANYTHING! OOOOOKKKKKKAAAAAAAYYYYY. Then why are they invited???? Who makes up these things. Then we go over to our first station which is BB guns and they ran out of time before my boys get to shoot...they tell us "sorry, too bad" so we walk over to the next station, archery, and they set up the same 8 boys, who DID just get to shoot the BB guns, and I say, "hey, NO! This is not right, if we are going to run out of time again, we should let MY KIDS go first, these kids just got to shoot." The dude argued with me, said he was taking troop 13 first, anything else would be too confusing. I couldn't explain myself any better, but another dad stepped up and the dude listened to the dad and let my boys go first. Very Frustrating! The rest of the activity was about the same.....the tug of war lady said we couldn't do it because it was time for dinner, but it was only 6:00 and dinner was at 6:15...she still said "no" to me, very rudely...Why do we need her to supervise a tug of war, anyway, just give ME the rope, but NOOOOOO, she wound it up and took it away with her. So we got in line for the Lasso....then another leader told me not to take cuts....but she didn't have any boys with her, she let them run off and play, thinking she could save their place in line... Well, needless to say, we didn't get to do the lasso, the gold panning or the bb guns. And Andrew got to do NOTHING. And they didn't have a sound system set up for the closing ceremonies, the egg drop or anything else, so it was really stupid to be there and not be able to hear ANYTHING. (No one could hear, not just me because of my hearing loss, NO ONE could hear ANYTHING.)

(Who should I write a letter to????) (I better NOT, they may be looking for new scout camp Directors next year.)

delete

got rid of the "worlds strongest child" post....no one commented on it, and that got me to wondering if I shouldn't have posted numerous pictures of my shirtless child on the internet!

2009 Confederations Cup

If you are a soccer fan at ALL, I hope you've been able to watch this years Confederations Cup. WOW, it is so exciting...I bet the neighbors wondered what I am screaming about today in the middle of the day, they probably think I am watching soap operas. Today the USA beat top ranked (in the world) Spain. Now they move onto the finals. I just love watching the excitement.

Scouts and Swimming

Today was almost the exact same day as yesterday (kinda like my least favorite movie of all time "Ground Hog Day". I hate that movie) we sat around for a long time, then went swimming, then went to Cub Scout Camp. So today's pictures and events look almost like doubles of yesterday. Today at scout camp my station was the Horseshoe Pit...pretty fun, but for a while I was missing a horseshoe. After a lot of searching and digging I found it burried in the sand near one of the poles...I was looking FAR from the poles, not thinking the kids had gotten anywhere near them! Horse shoes is a fun game.

Cub Twilight Camp

Bradley's cub scout troop is partcipating in a camp this week. Last year they didn't get to do Archery, but they did TODAY, so Bradley had fun. He also made a walking stick, a hat, and a participated in a varitety of other fun activities. He gets to go back tomorrow and Thursday also.

Swimming Fun

Today was the first really hot day in a while. We sat home for a big chunk of the day, doing basically nothing, then Andrew had a brilliant idea...."why sit here in this hot house?", he asked, "lets go swimming!"

Cub Twilight Camp

Had the month of June (so far) off of scouts, so I should be motivated and excited about today- the start of Cub Scouts Twilight Camp.....but I am not really. Last year it was over 100 degrees and there was smoke all around from the Paradise fires. Bradley is not even very excited because last year his group did not get to do Archery, he was so sad.....so I hope they get to do that very first thing today, then he might be more happy to leave his friends and go! I'll try to get some pictures. This year I don't have to run a station, I just need to be a leader, it might be more fun. We'll see.

William Scored A Goal

William played soccer tonight on an adult team....the same one he and Cameron played on a few weeks back. Here are a few photos..... His team lost, but William scored a goal...it was the only goal scored by his team...the final score was 8-1. The first picture is him just about to score his goal. The second is his team celebrating and about to slap him 5. The next is just an action shot. Then we see him at when he was out for a break. The last one is how he looked after the game.

Cameron...oh, uh..I mean Elder Cook

Cameron got set apart for his mission today....that means no more phone calls to Melanee....he's a missionary now.

Here's a picture of him when he was younger. Melanee says it was at Yosemite, and that they went to this same spot again this year when they were there together.

And I like this baby picture of Cameron.

Good bye Cameron. You'll do "well" is Spain. (I also think you will do "good".)

* if your computer has speakers, turn them on....I changed out "Shake Your Groove Thing" to a more appropriate song for Cameron...oops, I mean....Elder Cook!

So Cute *part 2

I didn't realize they had left, so I ran out into the street to get this picture.

William and Spud went around the neighborhood today with a little wagon full of car washing supplies. They are going to try to earn some more money for scout camp. They are still gone, so I'm hoping it was a success. (THANKS Sharon, for the idea!!!!)

That's What Friends are 4

William and Spud- good buddies!

William and Spud decided to go out today to try to earn more money for scout camp. When William put on his uniform, he was missing a button.

Now, I don't even think I have THIS GOOD of friends. Look at Spud......sewing on a button for William. Who does that kind of stuff?!?!?! Must be a GOOD friend.

(LOL, and look at William just sitting there, waiting.)

Chuck E. Cheese Shirt

Andrew loves this shirt. (Someone gave it to us in a bag of hand me downs). He wont wear it to school because he thinks the kids will tease him, but he wears it here. He thinks he looks strong when he stands under the fan. HAHA.

Ginormous Spider

This is from a while back, but I found it on my camera when I took some pictures today.

No one was home except for Bradley and I. This spider just started walking across the room. It was FREAKY. I told Bradley to squish it FAST. This spider was completely SMASHED by Bradley with a shoe. I put the checker next to it to show how big it is (was). Then I told Bradley to pick it up and throw it away. He grabbed it with a paper towel.....remember it was already SMASHED.....when he picked it up it MOVED and he started screaming like a girl "It bit me, IT BIT ME!!!!" Then he was hysterically crying. After calming him down and smashing the spider again, he said that it just TRIED to bite him, through the paper towel.

Isn't this a BIG spider?

U.S.A.

I've been watching (and enjoying) the Confederations Cup Soccer tournament. The USA team STINKS. All I do is yell at the tv screen (and they don't even listen to me).....but yesterday they WON! It was SO exciting. They had to win by 3 and Brazil had to win by 3 for the USA to make it into the semi finals and boths of those scenarios happened, so I get to watch more USA (and Landon Donovan) soccer on Wednesday. (Brazil only wanted to win by a 3 point margin so that a BAD team could go on....)

Now do you think that they can beat Spain? Spain hasn't lost in the last 37 games that they have played. USA USA USA

smashed fingers, toes, scraped arms and legs

Andrew climbed the tree before we even got started and got stuck.

It was a family project.

We did it in less than two hours.

6 posts, now 7

I just wrote 6 different blog posts.

Now leave me some comments and all of you UPDATE YOUR BLOGS!!!!!

dissapointed

Chico, Yuba City, and Gridley "Keepers of the Light" Youth Conference 2009.

William just got home from Gridley. He was at a Youth Conference. I am "dissapointed" because he too a total of 3 pictures! None of them were of him.

He had a great time. The first picture is a picture of the motivational speaker Brad Wilcox.....he spoke for 2 and a half hours.

William was part of the leadership committee. He got and the other youth leaders got red t shirts, the rest of the youth got white t shirts.

I need to stress more efficiently to my kids to take pictures of THEMSELVES......I guess I could show you the other two pictures in William's camera- haha

#4

Melanee doesn't care about stuff like this, but I do........her uniform number on this indoor team is number 4. I don't think she has been number 4, ever, in any of the sports she has played in, on any of the teams since she was 4 years old....not since the Raccoons co-ed under 6 soccer team (we just watched the video the other day, she was cute in her little maroon uniform, but she just followed the ball, never kicking it, or doing anything spectacular...haha).

I specifically asked her to take a picture or 2 for my blog, but she didn't....so you'll just have to picture a royal blue jersey, white shorts, and white socks.


Four is a good number!

Tie Score

Some of you may be checking in to find out how Melanee's first indoor game went tonight with the Premier team.....haha, I like saying that "the PREMIER team"....how cool does that sound!?

She texted me to tell me that it was "so much fun". That was the first text. I was very happy to get it because pretty much "so much fun" as her first words to me mean that she didn't get hurt. She said that it was a defensive battle and that the final score was 1-1. For those of you who don't know indoor soccer, that is a LOW scoring game. Before this game, the team hadn't won a game, so they probably thought of the tie as a victory. Her texts were very cheerful and she said that she played well. The other teams goal did come when she was in, but it was a long shot from the other end of the field that went over the goalie's head, no fault of Melanees. She said that she played defense. She plays defense a lot. I like it best when she plays offense, but I haven't been her coach since she was 14, so I don't have much say in where she plays.....but I love to see her dribble, run, fake people out, shoot, and score. That is very exciting for a parent. But watching her steal the ball from the enemy is also something that makes me cheer when I watch her play.

Last night we went to her co ed indoor game and her team played a team made up of a bunch of kids she knew from high school. 2 of the them played on her high school team, 3 or 4 of them were from our church, and a few of them were from the PV boys team when Melanee was in high school I loved watching her take the ball from her old classmates or fake them out of their boots. She even got past a few of the boys. But her team lost. It seemed to be a blow out because at one point the score was 7-2, but Melanee's team made a hard push at the end and almost came up with a big come back, but the final score ended up being 6-7. As usual, Melanee played well....and more importantly---she didn't get hurt! (There were a few polite boys on that team, who would slow down a bit when they came up to a girl, but others seemed to go even harder into tackles and challenges when it was a girl.....I hate watching that kind of soccer, it really makes me cringe.)

William is at a tri-stake youth conference and Melanee's game was in the bay Area. Scott is working on our rental's roof in Alturas, so I am here with Bradley and Andrew. We just watched High School Musical 1 AND 2, you know, the sing along, dance along version. FUN STUFF.

If William brings pictures or Melanee gives me more detalis, I'll post more later.

Thought of the Day

Count your blessings,
not your problems

Row 23, seat A

I searched high and low, every discount and not discount site, every airlines, every airport near Sacramento, near Beuna Vista, and compared and contrasted ALL the info to find the best time and price on an airline ticket for Melanee to GO BACK TO SVU on Aug 9th.

Picture from 2007

My dad does not have very many pictures on his computer, but I found this one. It must have been at one of my dad's birthday's. (I can tell by the chocolate cake.)