Yesterday's Scrimmage

Melanee's team played a scrimmage yesterday.  They tied 1-1.  Melanee has been playing center forward.  She said that her team SHOULD have won.  The real season has now begun!!!

Melanee's Scrimmage

 On Aug 24th Melanee's team had a scrimmage.  She sent me some pictures, but I never got around to blogging about the game...and I don't want to ask for photos, then not use them, because I KNOW that will mean that I will never get photos again, so here are a BUNCH....enjoy...and SORRY they are not in order. 

Melanee's team won the game 4-1, if you were wondering, and MELANEE SCORED A GOAL!!!  and she got a beautiful assist, too!!!!

Melanee's Article

Melanee wrote an article for SVU's new online newspaper and it was published....you can go read it here -http://www.theaccoladenews.com/sports.html

First Day of School

A few weeks ago I may have mentioned here or to the big kids that I wanted a "first day of school" picture.  Well, this morning at like 4, Scott wakes me up, telling me I have a text.  It was this----

 A little bit later, William's first class must be later in the morning, I got this----

THANKS kids, you are so thoughtful and make your mom so happy!  And you look GREAT!

I hope they have a wonderful first day of classes and a great semester!  I'm sure they will.  Melanee is DONE after this semester!  WOO HOO!!!

Ha, ha, you are so funny! (not)

I have been trying to get William to send me MORE pictures.  I want to SEE what he's doing.  I want blog about what he's doing.  I want to scrapbook his season.  I want PICTURES.  Every day I ask him for pictures.  He says he doesn't have a camera.  I tell him to get Melanee's old one.  She can't find the charger, so I tell him to get her new one.  He forgets, so I tell him , I don't care, send me cell phone camera pictures.  He says his battery is dead.  UGH!!!! 

So last night as soon as we got the new computer up and running we loaded Skype and called William and got to see him.  He has funny facial expressions and I was just so happy to see him and talk to him I just started laughing....like seriously cracking up, tears running down my face, stomach muscles hurting....so what does he do....he hung up on me!   haha!

So today, they have another game, another away game, so I tried to get pictures again.  BEGGING....so a few minutes later I see my phone doing the "loading, loading, loading" thing that it does when a picture is arriving....I was SO excited...and happy, until....I opened it.....

William sent me a picture of THE GLENDE'S dog, sleeping! 

WHAT?!?!????!!!

***(gee, thanks William...wise guy!)

my birthday

I will blog the whole birthday story tomorrow, cuz it's late, but I wanted to write and just say quickly that today was the BEST birthday I can remember. 

The cake was kinda a dud, so we put the candle in the ice cream!

 Scott said I didn't smile when I opened my present!  WRONG!!!!

Here it is, isn't it BEAUTIFUL! 

Bird Feeders

For the cub scout activity today the boys made bird feeders.  They loved them.  It was a good activity.  I invited a guy from the ward to come help, plus the two missionaries, and a guy from our bishopric came to let us borrow his drill/screw gun and ended up staying, so each of the boy had the much needed one on one attention.  I forgot to get a photo of all the kids together (and their helpers), but Brother Elton got this one right before we left!

Mini Golf

Every Monday Andrew asks if we can go to Miniature Golf, the Batting Cages, or Fun Land for Family Home Evening.  We usually pretty much always say, "no" so he was pretty thrilled and surprised when we actually took the kids there this week. 

 They aren't the best miniature golfers, but they had fun.  Miniature golf is really a game of luck as much as skill....they just need more practice, and more luck!

 On the wall of the mini golf place are the teams that Cal Skate has sponsored over the years.  We saw the one of Bradley's t ball team and the kids on the team were pretty stinkin cute......back then!  Now they are stinkin pre teens, haha!!!  ("stinkin", get it...not funny, I guess)

New Room

William stayed in a different room in a different dorm for pre season.  Now his has moved into the room he will be living in this semester.  He has 3 roommates, all of them play on the soccer team.  Two are brothers from El or San Salvador or somewhere in South or Central America, somewhere like Venezuela.  The other is the roommate he has had all pre season. 

I asked why the room looked so messy and he said it was because they weren't moved in yet. 

I tried to get him to send me more pictures, but he didn't or wouldn't. 

I hope they have a great semester. 

Want to see what the outside of their dorm looks like????

Yep, he lives in a mansion....or as they call it at SVU "Main Hall". Isn't it beautiful? I'll have to ask him which windows are his. He's on the 3rd floor.

lake bonding

Melanee's team's pre season fun is just about over.  School starts on Monday.  The next few days are orientation activities.  Three a day practices, have dwindled to two a day, now down to one a day.  So, for a final activity of pre season bonding they took a trip to "the lake".  I think they had fun, but Melanee said that the lake was "gross" when I asked her why she needed a shower when she got home from "swimming". 

I like the shadows! 

Shark carving (or craving, haha)

I am going to make this for our snack during the first Sharks game this season...but instead of the little fishy candy, I'll be putting a small ducky in it's mouth!  haha!

THE PACKAGE

Are any of you as curious as me about what was inside "the package"?  (I guess the answer is only 'yes" if you read the blog post I wrote this morning FIRST!)

Go read it, first, then come back....only, I KNOW you are NOT going to do that, so I'll just tell you. 

William got a package in the mail.  I guess it came to the mail room a few days ago, but William doesn't ever check his school e mail and the mail room closed at noon on Friday and is not opened on weekends, so he had to wait until this morning to get the package!  I was realllllllllllllllllly excited to find out about the package and to learn what was INSIDE of it, but I also had to wait.  I even told William to try to find a way to break into the mail room (I mean, find someone with a key!).  But he was patient and waited until this morning.  But morning in Virginia is middle of the night in California....so he sent me a text while I was still asleep....but the text contained merely a photo.....a photo of the UNOPENED package.  Then he went to practice, then breakfast, then took a nap, actually I dont know what he did, but for HOURS I had to wait for another text.  I had to text him TWICE--"what was in the package...what IS IT????" before he responded with this photo-

A t shirt from Jonathan Spector and a note wishing William a good season.  William loves it and his roommates are IMPRESSED!  So am I!  This tops my Dany Heatley photo!!!!  I love mail days like these! 

SUCH A TEASE

Does William think he is funny, cuz he is NOT......

We've been expecting a package in the mail (for him, at his school)

and it came, but I got this photo as a text this morning----

(At 5:30 this morning!!!) 

That's all I got....a photo text of the PACKAGE....the OUTSIDE of the package. 

I WANT TO KNOW what's inside!!!!

Now he's at practice, or sleeping,.....and I am sitting here dying to know what he got!!!!

MEANIE!!!!!

Another Scrimmage

William's first real game in on Friday, ON my BIRTHDAY, haha.  So his team had another intrasquad scrimmage to get some real game action.  William has an ankle injury, so he only played for half, but Melanee said he played well.  He played right back. 

Unbelieveable Mail Today

I wasn't home when the mail man came....but when I got home, I looked through the stack of mail on the table.....usually our mail is all junk mail and bills, I usually never even open any of it.  But on the top of the stack there was a letter sized envelope addressed to Diane Guymon....and the return address was MY address.  It was undoubtedly written in mens writing.  I ripped open the envelope after trying to hold it up to the light, with no success, and guess what was inside.  Something that I NEVER expected.  Well, about a year ago, I may have expected it a little, but I totally forgot that I wrote Dany Heatley a letter last year....LAST YEAR.....over a year ago.....after I read a book about his car accident in Atlanta and another book about his career (the second one written by him).  I just strongly felt the need to write a letter of support because I know he has a lot of  "HATERS".  He is a good guy, to which a bad thing happened.  I can NOT imagine all that he has gone through.  When he in interviewed on tv, or on the show "Shark Byte", or even when he threw out the first pitch at the Giants game, I really liked him.  He's funny.  He just seems nice.  He is also a super hockey player.  Well, to all of my readers who don't know, (you should because I wrote about it when it happened) Dany Heatley is no longer on the Sharks.  He did have a no trade clause in his contract, but the way his clause worked was that he could submit a list of ten teams that he would not go to.....well, the Minnesota Wild was not on that list.  He is now on the Wild :(  I am sad, but wish him luck.  I bet he will score a hat trick in his first game and win a lot of fans over to his side. 

I love my autographed picture.  I am so shocked that he kept my letter for over a year and finally wrote back.  THANKS, Dany!!!!

fishing

I didn't go fishing with the family because I had a soccer coaches meeting to attend, but they came home with 2 bass and a trout...so I took a picture for the blog....but the photo quality is bad, so I apologize. I have got to find my camera! Cell phone cameras are just not the same!!!

Bradley didn't catch any, so he was sad. But he will get to eat some, so that should make him a little more happy.

Dear Matt,

I am so mad right now I feel ill. 

I haven't talked to Melanee since before the game, but I am writing this letter from my heart and from the information given to me by Melanee last night.  Now I know that I have not talked to you and that it IS possible that Melanee could be the world's biggest jerk and could be lying about everything she told me, but I know my daughter and I KNOW that she LOVES soccer.  Soccer makes her happy.  There is nothing she'd rather do with her time than play soccer.  And if you have taken that love away from her I will forever be mad at you. 

I know that you are a parent, you have a daughter and I would like you to think about her when you are dealing with other people's daughters and treating them poorly.  How would you feel if someone made your daughter cry?  How would you feel if your daughter LOVED something with all her heart and someone ruined that for her?  You would NOT like it. 

I don't know your side of this whole "Matt and the assistant coaches hate me and I don't know why" thing, but according to Melanee, you NEVER compliment her, you do not like her, and you are openly mean to her.  According to her, the only reason you gave her for taking away her "captaincy" was because you wanted to go in a different direction.  What direction was that, down?  You picked someone who is not a senior, who is out of shape, and who is overwhelmed with a leadership role."  I have heard people say that the team's best player isn't always the best candidate to be a team captain (case in point---Alexander Ovechkin)....but these are college kids, not professionals, if you want them to captain differently, teach them, show them, tell them what you want done differently, don't go out and tell a different girl she is captain before even telling the previous captains that they have been replaced.  And if you only have 2 players who stayed at your school all 4 years and stuck it out when NUMEROUS others have left, they should be rewarded with SOMETHING their final season! 

*(I got a phone call in the middle of this blog post, when I came back I forgot the "dear Matt letter format.....until the very last paragraph......)(so I will italic this section, hopefully to help you not get confused by my writing style mistake, haha) 

It is not an unknown or hidden fact that Melanee and Matt do not like each other.  Freshman season, Melanee mumbled under her breath something like, "Matt is dumb" or something similar and Courtney, the captain and the wife of the assistant coach that season, heard her and told Matt.  Matt and Melanee had a meeting.  The next season, Melanee went to take a corner kick and Matt called out a play, Melanee didn't do the play....Matt and Melanee had a meeting that season, too.  Last season, Melanee yelled at one of her teammates DURING a game, Matt and Melanee had a meeting THAT season, too.  So, this whole, "Matt doesn't like me."  "I don't like Matt" thing, is NOT new.  But last night, Matt, along with his new assistant coaches (whom Melanee claims ALSO don't like her) called Melanee in for a meeting.  They told her she would NOT be starting in the game today.  It really upset Melanee, who is ultra competitive and who has started in EVERY game so far of her SVU career. 

Scott and I both counseled her to just hold her head up, say she's sorry, be of good spirits around her teammates, and learn from this setback. 

She wanted to quit.  She has a Tuesday/Thursday class this semester that will conflict with practice.  She has 4 very difficult classes.  She graduates in December.  She plays a lot of pick up soccer.  She was ready to walk away.  She is NOT having FUN.  Soccer is a GAME.  Games were invented for people to ENJOY. 

It's just so frustrating to me, here thousands of miles away, to not be able to help her.  She is 20, she is an adult.  She is wise.  She is smart.  She is spiritual.  She is very gifted/talented/blessed.  But she is still my "kid", my "child", my daughter and I want to help her. 

I guess I shouldn't write a post about "quitting" cub scouts, then say to her, "don't be a quitter".  But I don't want her to quit.  I want her to play.  I love soccer.  I love following soccer.  I admit to being one of those parents who live through their children....haha....yeah, I never got to go away to college and play soccer, but Melanee has, so I want to know about everything that happens.  It's all fun and exciting to me.  I want her to be a 4 time All American.  I want her team to make it to the National Championship, so that I can go watch.  I want her name in the articles on the web sites.  I want her to be a star.......BUT MOST OF ALL I WANT HER TO BE HAPPY.  And I know that soccer MAKES her happy, so I don't want her to quit!  And I am MAD that Matt makes her feel like quitting. 

He may think she is a jerk....but she never was before.  Ask her high school coach.  Ask her club coach.  Ask the coach of the semi pro summer indoor league team she played on for two seasons.  If she has become a jerk...it just may be YOUR fault, Matt.

And the last thing I want to say is......SVU has pamphlets, a web site, videos, commercials all stating that at SVU students are shown caring in a nurturing environment.  Um, Matt, you and your coaching style do NOT fit that description.  Please remember my statement about treating MY daughter how you would like others to treat YOUR daughter and we can all get along. 

Women's Soccer Preview

http://athletics.svu.edu/sports/wsoc/2011-12/releases/20110818l69qhe

I've been checking ALL summer, waiting for SVU to update their sports section on their web site....which they haven't done...until tonight!  Go read this article...haha...it mentions Melanee a couple of times!!!! 

GOOOOO KNIGHTS!  (they have their first game tomorrow!) 

Now I hope they update the Men's soccer section soon!  And I hope to get some photos to share tomorrow!!!! 

Read fast....may be gone SOON

I am FED UP with the Cub Scouting program in our ward.  I am just the den leader....but I'm the only one who does ANYTHING in the entire organization. 

If you don't know much about scouts....this blog post might confuse you.

I don't even know WHERE to start with my list of complaints!

Tonight there was a "committee" meeting.  I got an e mail informing me of it last week.  I read the e mail, but also noticed that the e mail only went to me, the scout master, the bishopric guy over scouts, and only TWO other parents....it left out the primary representative and three of the families.  So, I immediately e mailed the person who sent the e mail and told her that she must also do phone calls because not everyone does e mail and I also told her the name of our newest scout. 

Today, at scouts, I told the mom of the newest scout about the meeting, but she didn't know about it...no one had called her.  I then texted the cub master and told him to make sure everyone knows about the meeting.  I didn't want to attend ANOTHER meeting with just 2 or three attendees.  He said he would. 

I go to the meeting.  The committee chair is there, one parent, and one sister.  The scout master said he was in another meeting, he would come later.  He was a half hour late! 

We started without him and the committee chair is one of those thinks she knows everything about everything type of person, but in actuality she KNOWS NOTHING.  She proceeds to tell me that my way of scouting is not what the stake or the bishop wants for our boys.  UMMMMM, LADY, lets see you do better!  During track season, I wanted to watch William's home track meets, there were only about 3 of them.  I wanted to just cancel scouts, but she said she would hold scouts whenever there was a track meet.  Of the three times she was set to do it, she canceled them all.  Then this summer, when I had vacation one week and girls camp the next, the Cub Master said he would lead scouts for me....the first week HE FORGOT, the second week, he just played basketball with them.  Lame! 

These two "leaders" just bug the heck out of me. 
For the meeting, neither came with any sort of agenda...they never have.  The meeting went ON and ON with nothing being decided.  It was a huge waste of our time.  Not everyone was there, so that created some problems.  It's so frustrating. 
I have quit!  I have had ENOUGH!  UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Wayne Rooney Came to Church

We were sitting in Sacrament Meeting waiting for it to begin, then WHO walks in.....none other than WAYNE ROONEY (and his family). I could not believe it and COULD NOT pay attention to the meeting because I wanted to get a picture of him for my blog. I saw him in the hall later and he let me take his picture!

What do you think?

 Please tell me these two guys LOOK ALIKE!?!??!!!!!!!!!!!