Wednesday

So, just if you were wondering....I'm not sitting around moping all day now that William is gone.  I actually had a busy and exciting day planned yesterday....but it kinda fizzled.  I thought the NHL hockey game was on at 5:00 and the USMNT soccer game was on at 7:30, so I thought I'd be able to watch both of them....but I got a phone call on Tuesday telling me that I am coaching Andrew's baseball team and that I need to attend a mandatory coaches meeting at 7:15.   I also had to take Bradley to scouts at 7:00.  Then I found out that BOTH games I wanted to watch started at 5:00...right at 5:00 it was HOT and Andrew wanted to go swimming.  So, good mom that I am, I left BOTH games and took him swimming, then took Bradley to scouts, then went to the meeting.  I probably saw 10 minutes of the soccer game and none of the actual hockey game (when they say "puck drop" at 5:00, that means 5:20). 

I haven't heard from William, but our sister in law, Becky, who dropped him off said he walked right in to the MTC at drop off.  I'm sure he's fine.

I had a good day on Tues.---checking flights and delays, then lunch with a great friend, then a nap (needed it after staying up late the night before hemming pants, fighting with Scott, then all the worry causing me sleepless ness the night before.)  I spent a good part of Wednesday anxious and anticipating 12:55, the time that William entered the MTC.  I read France Paris missionary blogs.  I researched the Missionary Training Center.  I listened to some of the "Lemonade Mouth" soundtrack.  I also prayed that his VISA would go through because on some of the blogs some missionaries had to go to Iowa because their VISAs werent granted. 

Life is good.  Summer vacation, nothing to do.  I am going to enjoy this break!  (hopefully)

I'm trying to get the computer to do a side by side comparison, but it's not working....Melanee said that Bradley looks like William, so I tried to find a picture from when William was Bradley's age.  What do you think?

little kids

we found a home video from 2002 or 3, so we started watching it...there were a few things that made us LAUGH OUT LOUD.

The first was - we had a kiddy basketball hoop.  Bradley was standing right UNDER it and kept missing, and Andrew, who was shorter than him and further away, kept swishing it. 

Bradley kept patting HARD the puppy on the head. 

Bradley climbed and hopped the gate to get out....then Andrew walked up to it and opened it and walked out.

I ask Bradley to spell his name, he spells out "b r d l e y" super super fast.  Then I ask Andrew his name and he says, "Bradley".  haha

Then Bradley has a stick after a few minutes of swinging it around Andrew and even a missed throw, Bradley CHUCKS the stick and it hits Andrew and then the tape goes blank.  The next scene is Andrew with a bloody looking mark on his forehead....then Bradley walks up to him an just jams his finger into the ouchie in an attempt to point it out to us. 

Then we watch Bradley playing soccer at age 4...HILARIOUS stuff.  And Melanee scores a hat trick easily and in one of the scenes after one of her goals, you hear me yell (I was the coach) "GO play DEFENSE". 

And there is a scene where we are sitting in the front room and William says, "kill that innocent guy" .. but we figure he must have been playing a video game???????????????

But the oddest scene of ALL was Scott and Melanee IN THE BATHROOM watching Star Trek on a small TV. 

last song

 After the song was over, he said, "turn off the radio, I want that to be the last song I listen to before my mission."

*  I like how he kinda hits Andrew there at the end.  Typical brother!

No Ketchup??? WHAT???

so, William's last meal before leaving Chico
was a burger and "french" fries slathered in ketchup.

Richard, our friend who knows all kinds of interesting facts just off the top of his head, told William that it is AGAINST THE LAW to put ketchup on food in France.  Well, of course we didn't believe him!  Who would?  But as most fancy people now a days do, Richard has a smart phone, so he Googled (William told him to Yahoo it) it and pulled up an article written by the New York Times or some other reliable source and it was true.....it's ok to use ketchup for dipping french fries, but IN FRANCE people are not allowed to put it ON stuff.  Crazy, huh?  They dont want to succumb to western traditions, I guess!

William's MTC address

I'm pretty sure most of you who read this read William's mission blog...but if you dont and if you want to write to him during the next three months, here's his Missionary Training Center address--

Elder William Vern Guymon
MTC Mailbox # 234
FRA-PAR 0731
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

THEY are going to miss him

I'm sad that William is leaving and I will miss him a lot....but it just hit me how much Bradley and Andrew are going to miss William. 

We were really sad when William's Utah construction job ended....but there is a big bonus to that happening and that is the extra time these brothers got to spend with each other.  (because, really, they are going to be SO much different when he returns!!!!)

Date

My kids were trying to say that I NEVER go out on dates with Scott....so here's proof....we spent part of our Memorial Day holiday and the last day before William leaves at the movie theater (shoulda been heming the pants!!!),

watching----



bet you cant guess---





Battleship! 

Farewell Party

We hosted a little going away party at our house for William last night.  I put an "event" on Facebook and invited 109 people to it.  I got back 9 yess replys, but one of them was me.  We also told people at church about it and William told his friends.



this is what our party looked like at 7:00

we baked cookies, brownies, and lemon bars

by about 7:10, a car pulled up, it was our Home Teachers!  Not even party goers, but the home teachers, haha!!!  So I took a picture of our awesome party when it was just getting started!

Scott brought out the chicken, see told ya it was a happenin party!

I didn't get too many photos, but here is the view of our yard after the house overflowed....and you can see William with Ansel getting their picture taken.



Ansel is a Sharks fan, so I basically pretty much love him! 
(We are even Facebook friends.) 
(He even gave me a big hug and said that it's ok if I comment on his status!!!)

William had a lot of friends show up to say good bye. 
I stole this pic off Facebook because this is William's friend who looks like Joe Pavelski,
doesn't he???  (And because he's a great friend!!!!!)
 (I guess I should have written "I stole this off of Facebook because he's a great friend, and, hey, doesn't he look like Joe Pavelski???)

Our ward missionaries came (for the cookies, I'm sure).

the mosquitos outsider were bad, so after a while we came inside!

we never got out the strobe light, but after most everyone left the party got really wild with the old Honker jerseys (and helmet) getting brought out for some tackling practice.

 The party was a hit.  It was a fun evening and it was good for everyone who wanted to say goodbye to William one last time to have a chance to do it.  I'm thankful for all of our friends.  It's events like these which really help me to feel loved and know that our family has a lot of very good friends!  I hope everyone who came had fun (and enjoyed the brownies made with ONE POUND of butter). 

Sons of Liberty

While having my scanner actually work for a second, I scanned this Promise, which William referred to in his talk last week.  I thought I'd share it here for anyone who would like to read it or see it.  I'm thankful for all the experiences William had at church, school, sports, scouting, etc...which helped shape him in to the wonderful person he is today.  I knew this was something he valued, but didn't know until his talk how important it really was to him!

Cards

Isn't this the cutest card EVER for someone who is going to France.  So perfect!!!!  This is the front of the card and you cant tell but it is raised and textured and so cool!!! William got a couple of cards last night.  One was a picture of a guy in a store like Men's Wearhouse getting measured for a suit and the inside of the card said "a mission will suit you well" and another was a homemade card from someone with serious scrapbooking skills!  (But this was my favorite.)  (And I know that it was picked out MONTHS ago!)  Thanks EVERYONE for supporting William on his new adventure!!!!

Award

Bradley got the "Longevity" Award at the 6th grade promotion ceremony.  

I thought it was so cute to have the kindergarten photo with the 6th grade photo.  

It was also framed.  So it's on my wall now.  

Bradley doesn't really like it, but I LOVE it!!!

Last Soccer Game

William's rec league soccer season is over.  His team won two games....I think 3, but William said two...and I think they tied one, also...but his team was just average, they beat the bad teams and lost to the good teams.  Jamie Trueman's brother's team won the league...they didn't even lose a game. 

William had fun, got some exercise, and main thing---didn't get hurt!



He did a flying header on this one, but didn't score....but it was really awesome and exciting that he almost did!!! (Pretty cool that he even attempted it and that he got his head on it.)  I thought I got a better picture, it was really cool in real life, I don't think this photo captures that!!!!

This was the funniest thing that happened all night....wasn't even that hard of a shot...right through the goalies legs!!!!!  He was SO mad!

Galaxy

We saw this sticker on a car in the parking lot at DeGarmo park the other day and Andrew was wearing his Chivas shirt, so I said, "Let's take a picture."  So Andrew put on his "blog smile" and I got one. 

I want to blog about the Galaxy a bit though.  Today the salaries of MLS players was published for all to see.  The Earthquakes highest paid player makes $300,000.  To me, that's a lot.  But for a professional athlete...um....it's probably about what Kobe makes A DAY.  Not quite fair!  And the new young acquisitions on the Quakes make $44,000 a year...that is NOTHING....HOW can they AFFORD to live in the Bay Area on that salary?  Do they work other jobs on the off season?  Do their wives or parents help them out so they can live their dream of playing in the MLS???  Two of the players that are making $44,000 are STARTERS.  Well, that's not the reason I wrote this whole thing....I am more upset/aghast/appalled at the salaries of three of the Galaxy players.  One makes $4,000,000.  One makes $3,900,000.  And one makes $2,000,000.  How can that be?  How can the highest paid player on the Earthquakes make 1/12 (actually a little less if you do long division) of what someone on the Galaxy makes?  And how can they have THREE players that make millionS???  And another shocking fact-----Beckham is not the MLS highest paid player!!!!!  It is Rafa Marquez, you know, the dirty mexican who goes around hurting people and spends most of the season on suspension?  He makes $5,000,000!  WOW! 

And another very interesting point to this outrage-----the Quakes and their TINY payroll are in FIRST PLACE.  Galaxy, not even close!!!!  Money doesn't buy wins, I guess!

Also, I can include this here.....OH MY GOODNESS, did you see the Galaxy/Earthquakes game on Wednesday???????  It was SO good.  Well, not if you are/were a Galaxy fan! 

GO QUAKES!!!!

This is Sharks Territory

I was so excited to get this in the mail.  I've always wanted one of these!  Right now the Sharks are having a promotion wanting people to take this sign all over the world and post their pictures on the Sharks web page.  I think I'm actually going to let William take his to Paris....I bet he'll win the contest!  Cuz we all know that Paris is Sharks Territory, right???

Wacky Hair Day



I was trying to get a pic of the top of his head,
but he looked up right when I took it

I know it's way past time for an Andrew haircut, but that worked out great for wacky hair day....we gelled it up and sprayed it blue....only one other kid had colored hair....I bet the spray is not on sale around this time of the year anywhere...I just bought extra around Halloween time thinking if the kids went to the Almond Bowl, it would come in handy! 



this one is a little better, can you tell it's blue???

Front Yard

My kids play TOO many video games and watch too many lame cartoons ("Regular Show"....it's a really dumb cartoon...take my word for it!).  So I like when they go outside to play.  The other evening we had friends over and the kids played non stop....well, a little pause happened when a light saber got stuck in a tree.  Then, a bike helmet, which was thrown at the light saber, got stuck in the tree.  Then, the rake got stuck up there. SOOOOO, the kids HAD to get on the roof to rescue the items, right??---

Krisha wanted these (there are a bunch of Andrew riding two skateboards like skates....not the safest activity, but he was having fun...so I let him do it....yeah, I'm a good babysitter like that!!!!)  because Andrew is so adorable, but I'm using this one to make my blog cuter!!!!!

the sword fight (light saber fight) continued for most of the evening....
(but I'll tell you---it REALLY hurts when you get hit in the hand!)

Brodie Brazil Tie



As you know, we are Sharks fans (except Scott and Andrew).  We watch the games, but we also watch the pre game show, the post game shows, we read the articles in the Mercury News, watch everyting on CSN.....all of it. 

Well, there is this one Comcast Sportsnet employee who we have come to know through Twitter, Facebook, and when we waved at him for a brief second when we went to the Sharks game.  He has an obsession with ties.  On Facebook and Twitter he asks for followers to vote on his tie of the day, he post pictures of his tie racks, he brags to know how to make a perfect tie dimple.  One time William asked him on Facebook how to make a dimple and he responded with, "just practice".  We've Facebooked and Twittered with him a few times and he answers our comments or questions. 

Well, a few weeks ago, I wrote Brodie a real handwritten letter.  I put it in a nice padded envelope and enclosed a tie.  In the letter I told him all about William and then requested one of his ties for William to wear on his mission.  I also included a stamped, addressed, padded envelope to make it easier for him to return it. 

And guess what????



The other day....in the mail....was a package....for William.....

FROM BRODIE!!!!!!!!

It was a SILK tie!  One of Brodie's old favorites from when he was young.  He also included a note telling about the tie and wishing William safe travels!

How exciting is THAT???!?!??!!!!

William in the "Brodie tie".

Father Son Campout

Earlier in May the church had an activity for the fathers and sons at Black Butte Lake.  Bradley was still in Oregon, so just Scott and Andrew went together.  He sent me two cell phone pictures and I just remember them after I saw Krisha's blog. 

I don't know is Scott's phone just has a bad camera or if he needs to clean his lens, but these pictures are really blue, dark, and fuzzy, but I'm not complaining.  Maybe when William goes on his mission, Scott will get his phone?  And I'm just glad to have some pictures.  What did we do back in the day before everyone had a camera (phone camera) in their pocket.  Bet blogs were pretty boring! 

Scott and Andrew had fun together.  I'm glad they got to spend time alone together.  They ate hot dogs and lots of snacks.  Andrew knew some kids from soccer, one from our ward, and the Jones kids, so he had fun.  They said it wasn't too cold and they enjoyed having a 6 person tent for just two.  Andrew said Scott jumped around and talked in his sleep, so I bet that was scary (or fun). 

I hope Bradley gets to go next time.  I always enjoy the Father Son Campout for the peace and quiet it gives me!!!!

Missionary Photo Shoot

 Thanks Wendy Mayo...you are AWESOME!!!  If I were to try to take these.....um....yeah, they WOULDN'T have turned out near as well.  I LOVE them!!!!!!  Ok, anyone needing any photography services....go to Wendy, she just opened her own studio. 

Today

I felt really down or emotional or off today.  I don't really know the exact reason why, but I have a few ideas.....anyway, since we've been pretty busy with mission prep stuff and company, I took today "off" pretty much and didn't do ANYTHING all day.  We even had leftovers for dinner.  For a part of the day I found a web site with missionary blogs on it and read all the letters home from 3 different missionaries.  I enjoyed that, but it also made me realize that William is leaving VERY soon and I'm going to miss him. 

When my kids were younger and people would go on missions, I always kinda thought, "well, that's dumb, to leave for so long, I don't like that idea much".  But when it came time for William to actually fill out his papers, get his call, and now it's time for him to leave.....I see and know that it is the right thing for him to do.  I know he will serve and help people and meet people and change and grow.  I know he will be so happy and so good at it!  I will miss him, but I'm glad he gets to go. 

It's hard having Melanee gone and William just about gone.  But they are great kids and are growing up.  Moving on.  They are headed in the right direction and I am proud of them.  I see my friends with young kids, even the ones with adorable babies, and I'm not even jealous of their stage in life....raising kids is HARD work, but when I look at Melanee and William I can feel proud that they had a good childhood and have turned out to be good people. 

In the past few days I've heard William say stuff about past vacations, events, happenings with the expression "that was the BEST TRIP EVER" "the was the MOST FUN we ever had" "we had a GREAT time"......so many wonderful memories.  The bad stuff kinda dims when the good stuff is SO GOOD.  I'm glad they think of their childhoods with fondness!!!! 

I'm so glad, too, that we have Bradley and Andrew!  If we would have stopped at 2 life would be so different.  I am not ready to be an empty nester.  I like having the kids rush in the door at 2:30 with their tales of the day.  I look forward to Bradley starting jr high school.  There are so many adventures still ahead for me be a mom for.  I don't feel at all like a "young mom", but I do know that Bradley and Andrew keep me young.  I have a good life.  I love my family! 

Bradley's class

Hopefully there will be more photos....but I took this one off an e mail from one of the parents who went.  Bradley loved every second of the sixth grade field trip to Oregon.  They left Chico on Wednesday and returned late Friday.  On Wednesday, they spent a bunch of time at a Hands on Museum.  They also enjoyed staying at a college dorm and eating in the college cafeteria.  The next day they went on a hike, went out to a fancy dinner, and then saw the play "Animal Crackers".  On the last day, they went to a Shakespearean workshop and got to learn how to act and then actually try out what they learned, then they went to a park for lunch and soccer, then they watched the play "Romeo and Juliet".  Bradley liked "Animal Crackers" better than Romeo and Juliet.  He also thought Romeo was ugly and couldn't understand why the girls in his class were swooning over Romeo.  (I guess one girl even cried when she saw him kiss another girl!)  The cars with boys in them got back faster than the ones with girls because the girls waited in line after the show to get a picture taken with Romeo and a chance to hug him....HAHA!

ARRESTED for breaking and entering!

Hope you don't believe my titles....because no one was "arrested" because no one actually "entered"....

Gabby is staying at our friend Reva's house while she's here.  She mostly just sleeps and showers there and spends the rest of the day here with us.  The other night (Friday), Gabby stayed here really late, close to midnight when William took her home.  (We were watching a DVD (Chronicle, I do not recommend it at all).  When they got there Reva was already asleep.  They knocked as much and as loud as they could, but she did not answer.   We do have a key to Reva's house, but it was here, so they had to come back here to get it.  So they did, then they drove back to Reva's house, which is in a small, quiet neighborhood, on a tiny little end of a cul de sac.  After they got there, the key did not work.  They stood there and wiggled it and tried it different ways for 10 minutes.  They also tried other doors all around the front and back of the house.  Reva did not wake through all of it.  Then they saw some cars pull up with bright spot lights pointed at them.....they were COP cars!  The POLICE....4 of them.  Four cars, SIX men.  William stood with his arms raised in the "I Surrender" pose.  He was wearing a hooded black sweatshirt!  Seriously!  The cops walked up to them demanding to know what they were doing.  William explained the best he could about how Reva was a friend and about how the key did not work.  The cops ran a check on the car to see if it belonged to him.  They also called Scott to find out if William's story was true.  He confirmed it.  He also then told William of another hidden key in the backyard which worked on the back door.  The police determined that William and Gabby didn't fit the profile of typical robbers and let them go. William found the back door key and they got into the room that used to be a garage.....but the door to the house from there was LOCKED!!!!  They called Scott back and got Reva's phone number.  They called her, which finally woke her up (she actually slept through all the commotion and bright lights).  She let them into the main house and the adventure and excitement were finally over.......with no arrests.

 (And Gabby was M A D!)

If I can get William to "guest blog" I'm sure his account of this would be MUCH better.

****whenever we say that William was "almost arrested" he says, "How could I have been arrested, we never got in!"

Eclipse

This is the shadow that the eclipse left on the boat.  

Scott had a bunch of welding helmet glasses....so we were able to look at the eclipse.  

Every once in a while we'd accidentally look at the actual sun...oops.....hope we dont get "Irreversible, Irresistible,  Permanent eye damage".  (That's what it was being called because we would stumble on the word irreversible and accidentally say irresistible almost every time.   When we first went out to look, we used the welding glasses he put onto the table, but I didn't hear him say "double them up" so we were looking through them when the sun was barely covered up, single strength....so I got a headache and Gabby said she could see a spot.  Hope we are OK!!!!

Reva's Backyard

We have a friend named Reva who has a beautiful backyard.  She is good friends with Scott, because he helps her all the time when she needs handy man jobs done and her trash taken out.  We have a barbeque, but not a nice place to "have a barbeque" so we asked Reva if we could have one at her house.  She let us and enjoyed our company, I hope.  My mom's brother Uncle John and his wife Aunt Eileen came for William's talk at church, so we invited them to come over.  It was really nice that my dad came also because I don't think he has seen uncle John since my grandma died over 20 years ago.  They were pretty good friends back in the day.  (ask my kids, I love to say "back in the day", haha).  Gabby came to the barbeque also.  It was a nice day, but sorta hot.  The kids played catch with a baseball and managed to throw it over BOTH neighbors fences.  We sat in the shade eating and visiting.  It was a nice afternoon.  

When I showed Melanee this picture she asked, "Where are you?"  I thought it was a sorta lame question, but since she had just commented on the other picture "I like your Sharks dress", I thought she must have been looking for me in this picture wearing my "sharks dress", but I changed after church, so I figured in these bland colors, she just couldnt see me.....but after I answered, "I'm right there in the middle!"  She worded her question differently...."Where was the picture taken?"  haha....she didn't know we went to Reva's house!!!!

I really like this picture of William and Gabby!  His smile is actually real here!!!!