Big Al's

Andrew's flag football games are usually around 5 o'clock.  It's too early to eat dinner before the game and the boys always eat pretty much a meal for an after school snack....so, on Tuesday, my dad was over for a visit and he offered to take us out for Andrew's pregame meal.  THANKS DAD!!!!  Here is proof we went and I didn't just pocket the money and feed Andrew a peanut butter and jelly at home, haha!!!  The kids got burgers and fries and a milkshake.  I got a sandwich and a dipped cone. 

  The food was great, but doubt we will ever go back there.  The table was sticky, flies were EVERYWHERE, and we even saw a cockroach!  EWWWWW.  But we enjoyed going out to eat.  Food always tastes better prepared by others, just hope that cockroach wasn't carrying any diseases and hope it hadn't been in the kitchen before it decided to walk under our table!!!  Next time we want In and Out!  haha!!!!  (now that I complained, there probably WONT be a "next time"!!!)

Bio test

I got a photo text from William the other day with this photo-

and these words, "My bio test score. the average score was 66 and only 6 people got A's. BOOM

SHAKA LAKA"

He said that when he got the test back he looked at the score, threw his head back, and said, "YEAH".  I am not sure if that's an exact quote...haha...but I asked if he said it out loud and he said he did! 

Good Job William!  It's nice to be smart, huh?  Or are you going to tell me you studied hard and worked hard for this grade, cuz I cant really see that happening.  (but I can hope it did, right???) 

Andrew got a haircut too

Yesterday I posted William and Bradley's haircuts....Andrew got one too, so I wanted to get a picture of it....well, Bradley got a new hat, so he wanted to be in the picture too...so here they are. 

 (And Bradley's voice is starting to get deeper!)

Melanee's goal description

In talking and texting to Melanee I complied a bunch of details from her game, that I didn't have when I wrote the post about her game. 

She said that on the first goal she was running along the center line, trying to get open and shake her defender, when Jackie sent a through ball through the middle.  Melanee ran to it and was on a breakaway.  She dribbled towards the goal and shot it far corner with her left foot.  It was only the second minute of the game, so I'm sure it really set the tone and helped Melanee's team to think they had a chance.  Most of their games lately they've had to come from behind because the other team seems to always get that first goal. 

Her description of the final goal made it sound very exciting, too.  With very few minutes left in the game she took the corner kick.  She sent it in there, but no one finished, someone cleared it to Meghan Blackham, who passed it to Melanee, who dribbled through the defense and placed it in front of the goal for an easy tap in by her teammates! 

I hope they keep winning!!!

William's Game

William's team had a game today also!  They played Christendom.  The school has a very, very archaic web site, with NOTHING on it....NO hope for live stats, video, webcast or even recap articles.  There is not ever a roster section.  So, I couldn't follow his game at all.  I did keep checking the schedule section of both the SVU site and the Christendom site for a final score, but William's phone call beat them to it.  He called me and told me that his team won 4-1.  I later found out that he played 7 minutes and that his plus minus rating went up again because his friend Andrew scored while he was in and the other team didn't score while he was in.  He said that he played well and won a couple of balls out of the air.  Good Job WILLIAM!!!!!

He got to go to Chipoltle afterwards, which made him very happy and me very jealous. 

more photos

Photos

Haircuts

William recently got a haircut...I finally got him to send me a picture...and Bradley got his haircut this morning.  I like short hair on guys.  Scott is NEXT, although, he has hardly any hair to cut!

Youth Hunt

Today was duck season opener for the youth up north.  Scott drove the boys (and the dog) up there to have a great opportunity to hunt before all the birds get scared by the gun fire and fly away. 

 They seemed to have had a lot of fun and I enjoyed having them gone. 

 Bradley got a bunch of ducks, a goose, and a teal.  One of his ducks was "banded" so he can send in the numbers and find out all the information like where the duck was banded and when.  Pretty cool.  Now he wants a duck call, just so he can have a place to put the band.

GOAL

There actually MAY be pictures from the game later.  Melanee actually brought the cheap little purple camera to the game and actually took it out of her bag!!!!!  But since she was IN the game, she's not sure if anyone actually picked up the camera and used it....we'll see!

But I got to watch the game on a live video feed.  I got to see Melanee's defense get picked apart time and time again...I got to see the other team take 40 or so shots, 20 or so corner kicks, and about 1,000 throw ins.  It was fairly hard to watch.  I even thought in my mind that Bradley's team could beat SVU.  But about half way through the second half, Melanee scored one of the prettiest goals EVER.  She was WAY out in the middle of the field, she created some space for herself, then just absolutely blasted the ball.  It was PERFECTLY placed and gorgeous.  It went over the goal keepers head.  When she connected with it, I KNEW it wasn't going over.  Like I said, it was a PERFECTLY placed, high, arching, shot.  Melanee's team REALLY cheered and the other team stood there STUNNED, absolutely in shock, partly because of the beauty of the shot and because they are not used to being scored on.  They had only been scored on twice this season before that goal and the other two were early on in their season.  It was the first shot of the game for SVU, too.  I cheered loudly here in Chico, sitting on my couch, home alone....and I was so happy, even though the other team had a 9-0 lead before that goal! 

Good Job Melanee....you make me so proud!!!!

River Fishing

Scott and the little boys went fishing on Saturday.  They went with a friend who owns a boat.  They were trying to catch salmon, but they got skunked (meaning, they caught NOTHING, except squaw fish!)

They had fun anyway!

They liked putting their hand in the water as the boat drove along....Melanee remember doing that when you were very little???  haha!!!

Words With Friends

Did I tell you that I played a word worth 108 points and still LOST the game?  And did you know that "gabfest" IS a word?!??!!!

Week #3, Win #3

Andrew had a flag football game today.  He LOVES flag football.  He never really liked soccer all that much.  He didn't dislike it, but it really wasn't his "thing".  Football, he LOVES.  He got a flyer at school today for the upcoming basketball season.  I asked him if he wanted to play basketball and he said "No, because I only want to do flag football."  wow.  He still may decide to play basketball because football will be all finished before basketball starts, but by his statement, I know we found something Andrew really enjoys.  And just look at his smile! 

Today's game was another win, but wasn't quite as fun for Andrew and most of the kids.  One kid scored 3 touchdowns, another scored one.  Andrew and the other 7 kids didn't really even get to touch the football.  It was almost like the coaches had to decide....do we win this game and give the ball to Atticus or do we let everyone try to carry/catch/throw the ball and lose...and they picked the win option.  Tough situation.  But I don't think ANY college student super athlete 20 year old GUY would ever choose the shar the ball option over winning.  (Insert Tim the toolman Taylor "Home Improvement" show ...grunt grunt grunt here!)  (I probably would have done the same, but the "politically correct" coach would have given everyone a chance.  It's so hard to coach now a days!  Winning is NOT the focus for youth recreational sports.  Let me repeat that for any of you who wonder.....WINNING is NOT the FOCUS.  Fun is the focus, and it is not fun watching other players have all the fun. 

My 3 Sons

When I was a kid there used to be a show (I know it was from before "my time", but it used to be shown in repeats, kinda like a Nick at Night, in the daytime, haha.....called "My Three Sons".  I really used to love that show....REALLY.  Anyway, I saw this picture the other day and thought, hey, these guys are "My 3 Sons"!  And boy do I LOVE THEM.  They are so fun.  They make me so happy.  I am so glad to have them in my life! 

not sure

I did ask William about these pictures, trying to find out the story behind them...but there really isn't a story, so I will just put them here for you to see laugh at. 

(Hey, Gina, I think I found a clever way to FINALLY use the cross out button!  Or should I have crossed out "laugh at" and left "see"???  I think you would have done it viceversa!  Oh well, keep reading my blog, I'm going to try to use it more successfully again someday.)

Isn't this a bench where people come to get engaged, or do engagement photos, or wedding photos? 

More temple service pics

 Even though you can not really see William in this photo....I REALLY like this picture, how the temple is in the background of the trees..  I like how the SVU kids are working together. 

Here's another one, but the sky is whiter, so you can't really see the temple so well, but William stands out in this picture slightly better, so I had to share BOTH.

upsetting loss

The Averette web site had 338 photos from today's game.  This was the only one of Melanee, and it's a good one...but I'm not going to pay $8.00 plus shipping for it, so I took a picture of it on my computer screen with my camera! 

Melanee's team lost today.  I'm not sure it was a game they could have won...because the other team was pretty good, but I'm sure it could have been a closer game if the coach was a better coach.  He didn't start Melanee for some odd reason or another.  He put her in after 25 minutes of SVU lousy play and a 1-0 deficit.  That is just a formula for failure.  Why would any coach who wants to win bench his best player?  And the only reason I can see as to why he could be mad at her is because she was upset to be taken out of last game.  Shouldn't coaches WANT their players to WANT to play?  Shouldn't he value the drive she has to play, to win, to score!  He want to punish her for passion?  What he is doing is taking away her love of the game.  It's very upsetting to me.  It's a mystery.  Melanee did get into the game.  Melanee did make some great defensive steals, great set up passes, and even a few shots of her own....Her specialty this year is her passes and her free kicks...they are placed right on girls feet or right in their path of running and the teammates always flub their set ups.  I watched the game on live video and I felt a few times that Melanee should just "take it", just "do it herself".  But I know if she were to do that, it would just give the coach more reason to dislike her.  It's a lose/lose situation. 

Their next game is Friday.  I hope Melanee and the coach work out their disputes before then....it will benefit the whole team.  A happy Melanee is a much better soccer player. 

SVU Super Fan

Yeah, I know, I know "SVU Super Fans" are a student group that wear neon green t shirts and attend SVU sporting matches....but I couldn't think of a better title AND I bet no one more famous than Jonathan Spector has ever worn an SVU t shirt!  Jonathan has probably never heard of SVU, he probably doesn't even know where Buena Vista is located in Virginia, he probably calls it B-wayne-uh Vista (instead of B-you-na Vista), and he probably will never wear this shirt again...(I hope he will!)...but here is photo proof that he is an SVU super fan!  haha!!!!

I really, really love the smile.  I even think it is a genuine smile and that he is really happy to have a new soccer shirt! 

I guess I should back up a bit and tell the story of how these photos came about.  It's really a long story.  I don't think I will devulge all the details, but let me just say that Jonathan sent William a shirt from his new soccer club a few weeks ago (you hopefully remember from this blog post titled "the package" http://dsguymon.blogspot.com/2011/08/package.html ).  William wanted to send Jonathan an SVU shirt in return.  He went to the SVU book store to shop and wanted to get him a "soccer" shirt, not just a plain SVU generic shirt.  He used the return address on the package and he also inserted a thank you note, I think (I hope).  I am so happy the package arrived to the right place, was addressed properly, had the correct postage, and wasn't lost in the mail or stolen at customs (do they have that for England mail???)  I bet some of William's jealous soccer friends may think that this picture just an SVU shirt photoshopped on, but I assure you that it is actually Jonathan wearing it!  And looks to be happy wearing it.  What a nice guy!!!! 

thumbs up....universal seal of approval sign, right?  he likes it! 

Christmas lights, IN SEPTEMBER?

William and Melanee and a bunch of people from their stake traveled to the Washington DC temple to do some service.  They hung Christmas lights!!!!

Thanks for the cell phone pictures, kids, I showed them to anyone who would look as I walked around shoving my cell phone in their face this weekend.  Now I'm using them for my blog.  See how much I appreciate getting photos!?!?!???!!!!! 

Picture Day

CYSL had picture day today.  Bradley got to be the kid who held the soccer ball in the picture.  He has hardly EVER been in the front row before, but LOOK how BIG the kids on his team are this year!!!!  Bradley also got to be the kid used as an example of how to kneel down and hold the ball.  You'll have to wait to see how his actual picture turned out! 

Two Wins in a Row

Melanee's team had another game today.  They won AGAIN!  They've now won two straight!  Woo Hoo.  Melanee didn't score, but she lead the team in shots.  She played center forward.  The weather in this picture looks CCCCOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDD.   I am sitting here in Chico sweating and miserable from the heat and there in Virginia it is grey and gloomy....ODD!

Melanee only played 63 minutes.  She was NOT happy to be taken out of the game.  She said she wasn't tired or hurt.  After the game, I talked to her and she was really upset.  I don't know if my words helped her at all, but I sure wish I could be there to talk to her in person and take care of her.  I hope her friends are there for her.  I know Dax brought her Taco Bell tacos (IN the library, how can that be legal???), so that hopefully cheered her up. 

The final score was 1-0.

GO KNIGHTS!!!!

SVU Men's Soccer Overtime Thriller

I think the word "thriller" was also used yesterday, but today William's team won their game IN OVERTIME, in a thrilling manner.  I know this picture is fuzzy and may be considered "stolen property, but I love how happy they all are!!!  That's William there to the left of the #12 player.  I would hate to be the guy on the bottom of that stack (or maybe not, maybe it would be fun to be on the bottom, because that is the person who just scored the GAME WINNING GOAL.....on a header.....from a free kick....in overtime.....FOR THE WIN!!!! 

Flag Football Game #2

Andrew's game was at 6, but he wanted to go early....his coach was there at the field, so Andrew got to practice with him/warm up for about 15 minutes, just the two of them-

I know this is out of focus, but I clicked the camera RIGHT as Andrew caught a touchdown pass in the end zone.  It was a great run, than catch, thennnnnnnn he tried to lateral it to another player (who dropped it), but the touchdown was already good, so Andrew was HAPPY

Then he went out for another pass play, but him and another reciever ran into each other.  The quarterback got sacked anyway.

Here's the traditional after the game photo, I left for a soccer bored (oops, I mean BOARD) meeting, so Scott took this....guess Andrew is still wearing his mouthguard.  Cute anyway!!!!

OUCH

Look what Melanee did playing volleyball today!!!!  I think it may be broken.  How is she going to write?  How is she going to play soccer?  How is she going to be able to HOLD HANDS with Dax???? 

No more VOLLEYBALL!!!!