Trunk or Treat and Trick Or Treat

To start off our Halloween evening of fun and adventure we went over to the church for the annual Trunk or Treat. If you don't know what that it, I will try to describe it to you....simply, people park in the parking lot, open their trunks or the backs of their vans, and pass out candy to the children who walk from car to car trick or treating. It's really fun for many reasons, but especially for the parents who can socialize with their friends, and they can have peace of mind that the candy and treats are safe. The kids like it because they can get lots of candy, FAST.

These big smiles show how much they enjoyed their evening.

Bradley was a soccer player, just like in the school parade, but a little different, this time he had on red shorts and blue socks. (Don't you love this picture with the fall colors, he ivy and the lighting effects???)This is a picture of Andrew with all his candy. He was a basketball player, just like in the parade, but with different shorts this time and a long sleeved black shirt underneath.

I know a formal, in the mail, thank you note is what you deserve, I am going to thank you Michelle right here because I know you read this (sometimes). Thanks for letting us tag along with you on your awesome route this year. I know it wasn't part of the plan, but you were SO nice to include us. All of the kids with me had fun. Bradley and Kolby, I'm sure, had fun too, but I'm also sure, will probably be begging to go alone next year. I hope Jace's back feels better. I'm sorry he missed out on your holiday tradition. You are always so nice to me and my family. Thanks for the party afterwards, too. It was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

William's Halloween

I know a lot of you will think that 16 year olds have no buisness out Trick Or Treating, but William and his friends went out tonight on their little brother's Razor scooters.

This is how they were dressed.

They came back with a ton of loot, so I think it would be easy to say that they had fun, but LOOK AT THEM, haha, I wish I had a video of them on scooters, especially the time when Preston crashed and William was laughing so hard that he crashed right into him.

(These are not the costumes traditionally seen on "good" Mormon boys, are they? haha)

Andrew's Last Game

Andrew's team won their last game. I think the final score was 5-3. Andrew's team was very successful this season, I think they only lost 1 game.

I really like soccer, but watching the u-9 division play...it's a different game. I enjoy seeing Andrew out there playing and having fun, but I don't YELL and SCREAM at him telling him what to do, where to go, how to play EVERY SECOND of the game. The sidelines are full of those parents.....someone needs to record their voices and play the tape back for them, show them how annoying they sound.

Andrew is big and stong and fast, but he is also the youngest kid on the team and one of the few 2nd graders in a basically 3rd grade division. He is starting to "get" the game and play his position and tries to pass. It's funny that after the games he always complains that his teammates don't pass to him....well, Andrew, they CAN'T, they don't have the skills or the knowledge that they are SUPPOSED to pass. They'll get it, someday!I wouldn't say it was the BEST season ever, because the coach wasn't FAIR in his playing time and substituting patterns, but he tried to teach the boys soccer at practice, so he did TRY to do some good, but when game times came, all he cared about was winning. Winning isn't what it's ALL about for 7 year olds. Why don't some coaches (mostly men) get this??? How are the weak players going to get better sitting on the side line. How are the weak players going to learn to enjoy the game and want to play again if all they ever mostly do is sit on the sideline.

Andrew played goalie today. The other team didn't score while he was in the net.

The hand shake.

Bradley's last game

Bradley's team played one of his best friends from school, skateboarding, and football today. It was the last game of the season. We beat them last time 1-0, it was our only win of the season.

Well, sad to say it but.... we lost.
It was the other teams only win of their season, so I was happy for them.
Bradley always battles very hard.
I hope the kids enjoyed their season as much as I did. They really were good boys. I wish we could have been playing in an U-11 league, not u-12, then I'm sure we would have been more successfull.
I DO know that winning IS more fun than losing, but my hope is that the boys had fun and learned something this season.

Bradley's Team Picture

Co-Champions

Bradley's team had their final game of the season today. It was actually a make up game from a rain out. It was a re match of the very first game of the season. That game was the only game Bradley's team lost. The team they were playing today came into this game UNDEFEATED. So, Bradley's team was the underdog. Bradley's team has been playing so well. They get better each game. So, with this being the final game, it was almost like a championship game.

Here they are warming up, doing their stretches.

Bradley played really well on defense. He knocked down one pass early in the game. In the second half, he got an interception that he ran back for a touchdown. Two touchdowns in two days!!!!! This is not a picture of the interception, but he almost had a second interception and I got this one on film, wish it was in better focus.

These pictures are OUT OF ORDER, but Bradley was a captain today....this is during the coin toss.

Bradley played QB for about 6 plays. If you are wondering why these pictures are SO GOOD, it's because William took them. The next 4 pictures are from the same play.

Bradley's team won 29-14. It was a great game. It was very exciting.

oh my funny bone

We have this huge blow up football. It's A LOT of fun. The kids play in the front room most of the time. William usually pretty much takes the kids out by clobbering them with the ball and they go FLYING. Andrew fell tonight straight onto his tail bone. He says, "Oh my FUNNYBONE."

school

I had my camera with me today, so here are a few more pictures....first is Andrew pretending to be Dwyane Wade (did his parents NOT know how to spell??? ) The second picture is Bradley and his friend. They didn't plan it, but they were both soccer players. I thought it was cute, but when I went into the classroom to get a picture of them both together, Isaiah had already changed out of his shorts, socks, etc....but you can still see his shirt.

***(as I was walking away I heard Isaiah say to Bradley, "Why does your mom always want to take pictures of us?")

the camera issues

I brought both my camera and my camcorder to both Bradley's football game and William's cross country meet. I was hoping to get some good action shots with the regular camera for my blog/scrapbooking, but I wanted to video tape so that I could show Scott all the action he was missing (I sent him to Andrew's end of the season soccer party, awards, and parents vs. kids game.) So I get to Bradley's game and sit down in my chair all ready to video tape. But then the cards for the coaches gets handed to me. I start signing them and Bradley catches a long pass right up the middle of the field. It was a nice throw and catch...it would have been AWESOME on video. I didn't get it. Then I get out my camera to take some pictures. I took a few, but the batteries died, so as I am changing them.....yep, Bradley makes an interception. He jumped high into the air and picked it off....nope, didn't capture that on film either. So I take a bunch more video of false starts, delay of games, and the backs of kids far away, running a few failed plays here and there. I decide that most of the action had been taking place on the other end of the field, so I walked down there. Took a few videos, but decided that since I was at a good angle, I'd try a few photos, right then, with the video camera OFF....yep, Bradley catches a long pass, over everyone elses head, in the end zone, for a TOUCHDOWN....his very first EVER. Luckily, I did get it on film, but that would have been one of those videos that we would have watched at family get togethers for years to come.....we could have shown it at his wedding, could have used it if he is ever in the NFL and they do an up close and personal show about him.

So, I rush over to William's cross country meet...the one he said started at 5:00, which didn't start until 5:30. If I would have known I would have watched more of Bradley's game and would have sent the cupcakes to the party with someone else. Anyway, I get there and found a great spot in the bleachers. I noticed on my old/new friend Amanda's blog, that she took some pictures from ABOVE her kids and they looked totally cool, so I thought my vantage point would make for some great pictures. Plus no one would be standing above me, right? Well, wrong. The top of the bleachers did fill up with people. So I got a few photos of the starting line and a few videos of some warm up runs, but when it was time for the race to start I had the camcorder in my right hand and the still camera in my left....I was going to try to take pictures with both hands, but it didn't work...I did get video, but with the still camera I hit the On/Off switch instead of the taking a picture button. So, no running action shot. SHUCKS! So I wait 12 to 15 minutes for the runners to return. During that time I set up my camcorder to record without me holding it. I set it where it could just look down the final straightaway and I would just record the guys running toward the finish line, my plan was FAIL PROOF....until the runners neared the finish line, the fans stepped back to make way, stepping DIRECTLY in front of my camcorder. So I picked it up...I missed the first 3 runners running past....and did you know that my camera (the still one) has a battery saving feature on it that makes it go black after a certain amount of time....well, when William came running toward me, the camera was black and by time I got it up and running again, he had passed....so I didn't get ANY PHOTOS of William's race...NOT ONE. Well, I did get one of him sitting on the ground after the race......I'll show it to you and explain

William LOST HIS SHOE out on the course somewhere.....and he didn't stop to put it back on....he FINISHED THE RACE wearing only one shoe. He said it came untied early in the race....WHY DIDN'T HE STOP AND TIE IT???????????? He thought it would take too much time, I guess. His foot now hurts. Although, that didn't stop him from going to the Powder Puff football game. It's 9:30 at night right now and he is still not home. His foot must be ok.

Today, I had bad camera luck...but all in all, it was a good sporting day at the Guymon house!!!

Clown Shoes

Scott needed new shoes. I shop at Ross for shoes a lot of times because I can find name brand shoes for super cheap. I bought Scott some last week that were boots, size 10.5....that is his size, but he has a bone spur on his little toe, so boots don't really work too well because they are so stiff. So I took those back and bought him a size 12, super large, but they are soft and don't hurt his little toes. The price was right, too..only $11.99. They are NBA shoes. New York Knicks design. They are pretty cool if you ask me, but I guess maybe not for an guy in his 40's who works in a shop with people who like to tease.....they call these, "clown shoes".....probably because of their awesome colors, or maybe because they are too big...haha, but I laughed when I heard, "CLOWN SHOES."

It's ok, they will be dirty and worn out SOON. Then I can find another pair of $11.99 shoes at Ross....I'm thinking red high tops next time.

Scott got a goose

Scott went hunting today and he shot a huge goose. He took Andrew with him and they had fun together. They camped at the refuge last night and worked together on Andrew's homework in the camper. Andrew thought that he had to get up too early. Maybe someday Andrew wont mind waking up early. Scott sure doesn't if he can get one of these each time.

close up of touchdown catch

Pizza Party

Bradley's team, the Hooker-Dow Steelers" had their end of the season party tonight, even though the last game is tomorrow.....This is Bradley shaking hands with his coach. The coach said that Bradley is really a leader and he has really improved.
Here are Bradley, Isaiah, and Bradlee with their awards.

This is the poster the coach (or probably his wife) made with pictures I took. One of the mom's said to me, "I can tell that those pictures for the poster came from you." I said, "Oh, yeah, why, because I always sit at the game in my chair with my camera in my hand snapping pictures all game long." And she snootily said, "No, because Bradley is in EVERY picture." Which is a LIE, one picture has only one kid in it----her son, Brian.

Here is the flag football trophy...it even has flags on the guy.

TOUCHDOWN

Bradley has really been enjoying flag football this season. He likes to play, he likes his teammates, his coaches, and winning, but he does complain that there is only one kid on his team that does all the scoring. Brian has scored every touchdown of the season except for 2. He is fast, but the when the team gets close to the end zone the coach has the play go to Brian, each and every time (it seems to Bradley). Bradley has REALLLLLY wanted to score a touchdown. He finally did today. It was on a pass reception. He went out far, way past everyone else, and the quarterback hit him. It was so exciting. The crowd went wild. Bradley was so happy. His smile was HUGE. At halftime he came over to me and gave me a big hug.
Here is a picture of Bradley going out for the pass that he scored on.

Here's him catching the ball in the end zone.

Bradley also played quarterback for 6 plays and did a hand off for a touchdown.

On defense, Bradley got an interception, or as he calls it a "pick". Bradley's team scored 4 touchdowns and the other team scored one. Tomorrow is their last game of the season.

For Whitni- the spin around game description

Our pictures all look crooked and I can tell that the house is messy, but if you ignore all that I will show you some pictures I took one time we played the "Spin Around Game".

We try to blindfold one of the kids. This day it looks like the towel was just draped over Bradley's head, but sometimes we tie a towel to their head, put a backwards sweat shirt on them, or any kind of blindfold you can find will work.

So, the blindfolded person is spun around 3 times and everyone else is just trying to avoid being tagged. Pretty much since the people can see, they should just walk away or run away from the blindfolded person, but our front room is SO SMALL, the area of playing is just little and the hiding places are non existant. SOmetimes you get trapped in a corner and the blindfolded person is swinging around their arms trying to tag anything they can get. the little boys will laugh or giggle and be heard so they get tagged. Sometimes William just sits on the couch and he will get tagged by the blindfolded person stepping on his feet.

I don't know if I explained the rules or not, but basically blindfold one person. They try to tag any one. We play in the front room which has an area surrounded by the couch, the loveseat, the chairs, the tv, and the coffee table is pushed to the side. No one can go into the bedroom or kitchen, so there is just a square area. The people who are not blindfolded have different strategies. Some run around, some stand in corners, some walk around, William usually is a party pooper and just sits and hopes to not be found.

I can't picture you and Buck playing, but definitely try it if you ever have any guests over. I've even played it with my cub scouts.

Have I ever described the other game we play called "Family Home Beating". (or sometimes it can be "Family Home Bleeding")? Buck would love that one!!!!!

Family Home Evening

This is what we did for FHE tonight....it will go down in history as the WORST Family Home Evening EVER!!!!!

We took our 2 moldy sleeping bags to the laundromat. Fun times.

It was pretty funny when Scott started driving and took off, rocks flying, tires spinning, and William says, "Whoa, slow down Ricky Bobby."

And later in the evening William stepped on a shoe while JERKINNNN and said instantly, "oh my career". Then Bradley was Jerkinnnn or trying to and William says, "That's not Jerkinnnn, that's the gay leprechaun reverse jerk."

Our Sunday

Melanee wont read this post because she just "skims" my blog and if the post looks interesting she will call me and ask about it.....

But everyone else is in bed (Scott is snoring), so I thought I'd blog about our Sunday, even though I don't have any pictures.

William wanted to sleep in, Andrew wanted Top Ramen for breakfast, Scott had yesterday's ducks to clean, and I was awoken (is that a word?) by a phone call from Melanee asking for ideas for a talk she had to give at a church fireside Sunday evening. I gave her a bunch of ideas, but don't think she wrote them down because she called me again during Sunday School to asks the same questions. I told her the same things and she thought they were good ideas the second time I told her. I said that she should tell them that people in Chico go to Institute classes to get good free parking spaces and that she should use the scripture about all thy children should be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. I don't know if she used any of my ideas, but I bet her talk went fantabulous (is that even a word?)

There was not much going on all morning, Scott had meetings, William slept in, Bradley was over at Kolby's house, and Andrew was on his 3rd viewing of Jonas Brother's in concert. All I wanted to do was get the bowls I borrowed from the church during our scout pumpkin carving clean (they had sat for 4 days, so the pumpkin guts were STUCK on them....and I threw our kitchen sponge away yesterday after I used it to clean the barbecue grill when I couldn't find the scrubber brush that came with the barbecue...so cleaning the HUGE bowls was a big task). The only other thing I wanted to do was what I usually do EVERY Sunday since we got free ESPN U channel....watch women's college soccer. At 12:00 I started looking for the remote. Couldn't find it. Got the boys to try and help me. Couldn't find it! Took off the cushions. Turned over the couches. Looked in the washer machine, the dryer, the trash can....COULDN'T Find it. Then it was time for church. I usually watch the first half, tape the second....but didn't do either today. I didn't freak out though. I was actually pretty relaxed about it....although I did call Scott while in his Bishopric meeting to ask him if he had taken the remote to church...He said, "let me check my pockets." HAHA, do you know how big a Dish Network remote is??? If it was in his pocket, wouldn't he know it already? Then he said that he would go look in the truck. Wasn't there.

We didn't watch tv all day, except for the movie Prefontaine. It's a movie about the famous runner from Oregon and the Olympic team. While we watched it we were interrupted about at least 5 or 6 times. The neighbor came over to borrow a syringe...we didn't have one, WHY would we have one???? One of William's friends and her mom came over to give us a rooster. haha. One of Bradley's friends brought us frosted muffins. We had to pause when the phone rang, someone was asking Scott to go hunting tomorrow morning....what do you think he said to that invitation? We had to pause when people needed bathroom breaks. We paused for so many things it was almost comical.... But I do recommend the movie. (If you don't mind swearing, there was A LOT of it, including the F word.)

Then we played the "spin around game"....so much fun for Bradley and Andrew, so much NOT fun for everyone else....I say that, but really everyone is laughing the WHOLE game. Especially when one of the little boys runs full speed into the TV.

So when it was time to HURRY up and CLEAN for William's friend to come over, guess what was sitting right on top of our bed, not underneath ANYTHING, just sitting there- yep, the remote.

It was a good day, even without tv. Now, Michelle, you are going to have to tell me what happened on Amazing Race. Did that one guy throw his skinny, afraid of heights girlfriend down the water slide???? (I would have!)

***I forgot to add that William and Scott made dinner and served it to the homeless people at the Salvation Army tonight and NO fist fights broke out. And we ate for dinner the ducks the guys got yesterday. (I probably forgot a lot more, but that's ok.)

A Prize

Ok, I am ALWAYS updating my blog. It is SO current. Like, for example, Andrew's game took place at 9:45 this morning, we were home by 11:00...I blogged about his game within minutes of walking in the door and eating a Reeces Peanut Butter Cup. I'm just that good. But everytime I come to my blog, I check my right side bar where all your blogs are listed, and there is NEVER anything new, well, there is, but not as often as I would like. (I really enjoyed reading all the new stuff from LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL today, but it's been a long time!!!!!)

So, I am offering a reward, a prize.

When I wake up tomorrow I am going to check my blog....I BET that NONE of your blogs will have been updated during the time I sleep. That's fine, who blogs at mid night???...but I will keep checking all day tomorrow and the next day and the next until one of you blogs, and WHOEVER blogs first, you have to be on my blog roll, I will send you a gift. I am not sure what it will be....I have a gift card in my purse for Office Depot (It was one of Melanee's graduation presents, but since it is in my purse, not being used, I might use it as a prize.) Or maybe it will be the Toys R Us gift card that is in Andrew's wallet, that I don't know the value of, so I can't give it to a kid for a birthday present, cuz what if it is only worth a buck, what if it is worth $20....maybe that can be the prize......maybe the prize will be something like food, something from my gift box....I actually don't know what it will be but I PROMISE if you update your blog FIRST you will make me happy, and I will make you happy.

Grocery Shopping with Andrew

We needed to return a video, so we were at Safeway right before dinner time. I hadn't defrosted anything or planned dinner so while at the store I asked Andrew what he wanted for dinner. He said, "Steak." So I took him to the meat department and I held up a package of steak and asked him if it was good. He said, "no" so I told him to pick out some. He looked around, kept looking, and couldn't find what he wanted. I held up another package. He said, "No, I want the brown kind with the black lines. I guess I either need to let Andrew help in the kitchen more, take him shopping more, or we should eat steak more often. haha.

Bradley's Week 7 Game

I know they have to check the cleats every game, but...seriously...if anyone had baseball cleats, wouldn't one of the refs the 6 games before this have found them??? And really, the guy doesn't bend down and feel the cleats, he just glances at them quickly.

Givin them the last minute PEP talk...and trying to decide if we are going to do the, "We're not 5, we're not 4, we're not 3, we're not 2, we're number 1, we're number 1" cheer...but they vetoed it because...well, um....we are in second to last place, and have only won 1 game, so is there a cheer that says, "we're number 6"? I don't think so.

Scott was the photographer again. He also had the camcorder, so I was REALLY excited when Bradley scored, because I thought Scott got it on film, but he didn't...he missed it....the camera's batteries were dead and the camcorder was off when Bradley scored.

Bradley's goal was beautiful, though. Atticus placed it between two defenders and Bradley beat them and shot it right past the outstreatched goalie. It was the first goal of the game. I thought we had a chance to win. But the other team got 3 quick goals right before the half and we never recovered.

Bradley fought hard. The other team, like all of the other teams this season, it seems, was really rough. Our team is not rough at all....we don't push, we don't kick guys feet on purpose, and we don't try to hurt people. I'd rather have nice boys anyway. They are a good group of kids. They work well together out on the field and it never translates into goals on the scoreboard. One more game left in the season. We are playing the only team we beat. That should be a good game.