home from camp

Bradley is back after a week at Boy Scout camp.  He had a great time.  He was all smiles when I picked him up.  His mouth is REALLY chapped and bloody from chapped/sunburned lips...they look PAINFUL.  I don't think he brought any chap stick, but I wish a leader would have somehow helped him out and gave him some chapstick, sent him to the nurse, or at least encouraged him to drink more water because maybe he was dehydrated, thus drying out his skin so bad. 

 I wont have much laundry to do after this camping trip....he wore the same shirt, pants, and SOCKS ALL week.  (He did take showers, though.)  His socks are going to have to be thrown away!!!!  The pants are also pretty destroyed, haha, they are William's old scout pants, well worn!!!  

He liked all the food and said that he went back for seconds and thirds to "get our moneys worth".  

He did a few merit badges.  He didn't sleep very well, but was not cold.  He didn't even use the extra blanket I made him bring.   

He did swim, but thought the lake was small.  He became better friends with all the boys in the group and really liked the leaders.  Kevin was funny, he said.  

He liked the music at all the meals.  

They did a skit.

One of the boys went home sick.

He only spent $1 while there.  

That's about all the details I got out of him.  It was a good week.  

Baseball Game #4

Andrew had another game today ... not very many of our kids showed up, so that really makes it hard to play baseball.  Andrew did well, though.  We played 5 innings, he got to play 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, short stop, and catcher.  I wish he could be in all those places at once.  At third he got a grounder, threw it perfectly to first, and the first baseman didn't catch it.  At second he tagged out a sliding runner and she took him out, he still applied the tag.  He also threw a runner out at first from second base.  At short stop, he missed a pop up on the first batter of the game.  As the catcher, he is the only one on the team who can catch the ball from the pitch.  The ONLY ONE!  As a batter he hit 3 singles, a double, and a home run.  

Quakes!

 For the past few seasons I've been an Earthquakes fan. It's been fun this year because just about every game has been televised. I also follow the team, some of the players, and a few soccer reporters on Twitter, so it's easier this year to keep up with all things going on with them.

     I also, as you probably know if you follow my blog, have my own strong soccer opinions...so I've been wanting to blog about the Earthquakes for a week or so now!

     Three games ago, the Quakes went on what was being called the "Rocky Mountain Road Trip". They played games in Colorado and Utah. The Colorado Rapids are always a tough opponent and Real Salt Lake was in first place (notice the word "was"). Road trips in soccer are always difficult and teams are often happy to just pick up a point on the road (a tie score). The Quakes had also had a long break before the road trip and had been without the league leading scorer Chris Wondolowski and a defender Victor Bernardez, who had both been playing for their national team (USA and Honduras), for nearly a month! During that month, the Earthquakes did ok, but lost a close one to Sporting KC, while winning a few Open Cup games.

     The game in Colorado started well, the Quakes looked hungry after a long lay-off and having some of their "stars" back seemed to help...but Colorado scored pretty early. The game went on and the score stayed 1-0 for most of it. Colorado looked REALLY good. The Quakes didn't dominate, but weren't "bad", either. Then, right at the end of the game Alan Gordon came in as a sub. HE SCORED a goal, like he seems to always do at the end of the game (later the 'official' scorer credited as an "own goal"). That was right at the VERY end of the game. Then in STOPPAGE TIME....Gordon was trying to get past the goalie, and the goalie tripped him in the box. PK awarded!!! Wondo took it. I hate penalty kicks, they are SO nerve racking....especially since last time Wondo took one-----he missed! But he kicked it HARD, right in! GAME WINNING GOAL. They beat Colorado after looking like they were going to lose, then just tie, a few minutes earlier!!!!

     Another interesting part of the game against Colorado had to do with the travel plans. The team’s original flight was canceled. So they chartered a small plane to get them to Colorado, but their luggage and equipment wouldn't fit on the plane, so their equipment manager rented a moving truck and drove all their stuff the 20 hour drive to Colorado. Interesting! He was declared the "Man of the Match". REALLY.

    Then their next game was against Real Salt Lake. They had NEVER beaten RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake has only lost at Rio Tinto like twice in its existence. Real Salt Lake is a good team. They controlled the game with their passing and toughness. The score remained 0-0, throughout most of the game. I think a lot of fans were thinking the game would end in a tie. A tie would assure that RSL would stay in 1st place. Quakes didn't want a tie. But, RSL scored on a direct kick from right outside of the 18. The kick was beautifully placed. And the game was sorta over after that, even though there was a little bit of time left. RSL is just good, 1-0 lead is good enough for them! BUUUUUT, Alan Gordon came in as a late sub and guess what he did???? yep, scored ANOTHER late goal. 1-1. The story of this game really was not Gordon...it was the Quakes defense. THREE times RSL had chances RIGHT in FRONT of the goal and defenders headed them away, or blocked them, or got to them RIGHT before the ball crossed the goal line. The score REALLY should have been 4-0. SERIOUSLY. But in came Alan Gordon...and he scored. (Like he always does.) He has 6 goals in 6 games, all of them after the 75th minute. 3 of them game tie-ers 2 of them game winners, I think. Then a bit later....the tv cameras were off showing a replay or something not game action...and Wondo SCORED. It was on a throw in and pass and side foot flick shot...(that maybe the goalie, yeah, probably, shoulda had!!) It was so amazing and exciting! Both games were FUN.

     But last night the Quakes had another game. This time it was a part of a tournament, not regular season action....and they lost! It was very sad. They really wanted to win, I'm sure. I think the key to the loss was that they didn't put away their chances (of course, obvious), but also they really lost their composure! Wondo was angry all game and was yelling at the ref (something I really don't like) and Gordon even got a red card. Someone on the Sounders actually punched an Earthquake player after the game and there was a lot of rough dirty angry play. Seattle won 1-0. They have won the past 3 or 4 "Open Cup" tournaments, so it seems they really like to win that....but I think, as a Quake fan, I can take solace in knowing that this loss wasn't "real"....not part of the real season!

     So, now without hockey to watch, I'm really enjoying the Quakes unbelievable season. They are right now in FIRST place! GO QUAKES!!!!

FOUND! seriously!!!

I was just sitting on the couch not being able to do anything because I don't have a driver's licence....and I got a phone call....from the Chico Area Recreation League....saying-----they found my equipment bag.  They really did!  They got a call from a lady who was given the bag for her daughter from her ex.  All of the labels had been spray painted over.  When CARD called the cops (because I had given them the case number) the cops did some investigating.  The lady who called is on parole and when talking to the cops she changed her story to "someone put the bag on my door step, I don't know who"....becausssssssssssse the ex is also on parole.  Oops, he's going to be in big trouble! 

I still dont know all that was in the bag when it got found and I think it is still being kept for evidence or something...but I really hope to get my mitt back and all the softer baseballs I bought for game balls. 

Bees

yeah, he got stung today!  I had to pull a stinger right out of his face!  (I stayed in the car!)  (I'm smart like that!)

Oh, I just thought of a better poem-

Beekeeping is fun,

until you get stung!

Scout Camp

Bradley left this morning at 6:30 for a week in the mountains at a scout camp.  Packing last night was not fun.  He did not bring a packing list home, he was not really into getting ready, and even though I told him to just leave his pack packed from the last campout, we still had to search everywhere for everything.  This morning went fairly smoothly, though, so that's good.  And, one small miracle, meeting time was 6:30 and they were out of town BEFORE 7:30....that NEVER happens!  I'm sure he will have fun.  We told him to use the week to earn merit badges...we'll see if he listened....one of them was horseback riding...I hope he gets to do that one! 

Shooting

There was a church activity today at the shooting range.  Scott said it was for the whole family, but I was the only woman there and the kids were the only kids there (unless you count Seth).  Bradley, Andrew, and even Scott (bet you didn't know that) LOVE to shoot guns.  They had fun.  I shoot, too, I shot my CAMERA, haha.  Bradley is a really good shot.  They all are good at shooting.  If Safeway ever closes, I bet we will still be able to eat meat.  Good to have a family of hunter/providers, right???

3 triples & a single

This was week #3 of our Jr. Giants season.  I'm so happy that I signed Andrew up for this experience and I am even happy to be coaching, even though all the people lounging around in folding chairs watching the game look like they are having even more fun.  Andrew is doing great and loving it.  I hope, as a coach, I can help the kids to have fun, but I also want them to improve and learn baseball, because they still seem fairly lost out there.  It's all fun, though, especially batting (everyone's favorite position on the field is batter, right???)

Shari's Berries

yesterday a UPS truck pulls up to our house and honks his horn (is that normal UPS behavior?).  He had a delivery for us....a big box.  Andrew rushed to open it.  The outside of the box said "Shari's Berries".  I had never heard of them, but Scott says they advertise on Rush Limbaugh.  Inside the fairly large box was lots of padding and ice packs.  First we found 4 chocolate covered cookies, then inside the packaging were 12 large, beautiful chocolate covered strawberries and a note from Dax's mom and step dad.  They are delicious!  What an awesome gift! 

Robbed AGAIN

Since we have lived in this house we have had a few things stolen....a welder, a laptop (and camera on the same day), a bike, a skateboard (that was taken at the skateboard park), William's stereo, and now, last night....my baseball equipment bag---WITH MY PURSE INSIDE, taken right out of our car. 

It hurts a lot to get robbed.  I have been crying.  It's the worst feeling. 

Also, it's such a hassle.  I've had to cancel all my credit cards and file a police report and fill out forms to get unauthorized charges canceled.  And since we have about 10 things automatically withdrawn each month, I have to change all those account, which is tedious.  I also have to get a new drivers licence, which costs money and takes a while to get in the mail, so I cant drive. 

All the baseball equipment they took was not mine....except the extra things I bought like my baseball glove, a bunch more balls, and Andrew's mitt.  (Luckily Andrew's special mitt, given to him by my dad, was not in the bag, it was laying on the back seat, whewww.) 

That was the FIRST time I put my purse in the bag.  I usually just leave it in the car when I go to practice, but I didn't want it to get stolen, so I put it in the bag.  All day yesterday and the whole night before that I had horrible stomach pains, a head ache, and nasty diarrhea.  I was sick and weak, but did not want to cancel practice after all the practice canceling fiascoes last week.  I figured I would just go to practice, bring all the stuff, and the assistant coaches could take over practice.  BUT, none of them showed up at practice.  I ran the kids through drills and even pitched an hours worth of batting practice....all the whole time seeing star and close to passing out.  I was so sick and aching that when we got home, I didn't bring in my purse.  I have had the bag in my car for weeks now, never thinking anyone would ever steal it.....guess I gotta be more aware of dishonest people!!!!  It's now happened to us WAY too many times and I am not happy!!!! 

Happy Father's Day

 

We went to visit my dad for a little bit today for Father's Day.  We watched the end of the Netherlands game (we were rooting for them, but they had to beat Christiano Renaldo and win by a two goal margin...which is hard to do!!!)  We also switched back and forth to the Germany game.  Germany is really good, they weren't going to lose today.  Then we watched the A's game, flipping to the Giants game, and also watched parts of the Golf Tournament at the same time.  It sure was nice to watch sports on a high def tv and to have a ton of sport channels and a handy dandy remote.  We also enjoyed his air conditioning (and I had a fan pointed right at me).  ***I cant figure out why that text  is like this and it wont let me fix the spelling of Cristiano Ronaldo. sorry!



My dad is a great dad.  I love him so much.  Scott is also a great dad.
Both love their families and have raised great kids. 
I am happy to have both these men in my life.
I had a wonderful childhood.  Soooo many great memories.
It's hard being a parent, especially hard being a dad (the bread winner)
but these two men have done their jobs of raising money
and loving their children.  I appreciate both of them!

My dad was wearing a shirt that he said he gets out on Father's Day.  It was dated 2004 and had the words "for our swell dad".  "Swell dad" is really funny to us because one time my dad brought out his year book and just about every message/autograph/signature in it said "To a swell guy"....I guess back in the day "swell" was quite the compliment....but to my brothers and I, we just thought it was FUNNY and we had never used that word to describe ANYTHING.  haha!!!!  If you can see in the photo, it's a photoshopped picture of all us kids/grandkids/pets....I think Robin and David must have given it to him.  It's awesome and it's even awesomer that he was wearing it on Father's Day!!!!  I brought my camera with me today...but forgot the memory card...and it does not work without the memory card!!!  So we used Bradley's phone to take these!  Andrew said, "Ok dad and grandpa, get in the picture."  I said, "No, it should be me and grandpa."  But Andrew was right when he said, "It's Father's Day!"  So Scott walked over near dad and dad said, "take a picture of the two grandpas."  WHAT?!?!!!  Scott corrected him right then, "you mean ONE grandpa and one dad".  haha!!!!  Oh!  haha!

the 2004 Father's Day shirt!

Good Friends

We went to a wedding reception tonight.  It was really nice.   We got to visit with lots of friends, eat good food, and get out of the house for a while.  Andrew even got to swim.  Here is a picture of me with two of my favorite people.  Sister Ogden is someone I look up to.  We were good friends years ago when we were in the 3rd ward.  She's super nice and talented and wise.  Jennifer Trueman has been my friend for almost as long.  We've done a lot of things together like girl camp and watching soccer games.  Jennifer is also very sweet, smart, and thoughtful.  When I saw them sitting there visiting together as Scott and Bradley were helping stack chairs and tables, I went over to them and said, "Hey, let me get a picture for my blog."  I knew I wanted to blog about how special these two women are to me even though we rarely see each other anymore.  Love them.  Hope everyone has some friends like them, friends they admire! 

try to stay cool

chin drip....

It's soooooo hot today.....even the pool water is warm....but warm swimming is better than sitting in a hot house anyday!!!!

Home Run!!!

It was game #2 of the season today.  After a week of stressing over problems with assistant coaches, I was a little worried about the game...but everything was fine.  Both assistants were pleasant and both let me coach.  Whewwwww!  I was a little worried, but it seems to have all worked out! 

We were the home team this week so we were out in the field first.  Andrew started at second base.  Nothing got hit to him, but he did get a little action as cut off man. 

The first time he batted, he hit it hard, but it hits the pitching machine, which is an automatic hit!  I was the one putting the balls in the machine, so I'm glad he didn't hit ME. 

He played catcher in the second inning and did a great job.  He could actually catch the ball. 

He almost caught a really high fly ball while playing the utility position, but it got lost in the sun...it did hit his mitt, but popped out. 

Andrew hit a home run.  It wasn't over the fence....which is W A Y out there, but he hit it way over the center fielder's head, and by time the center fielder chased it down and threw it back in, Andrew had already rounded the bases!

He fielded another ball playing center field...he got the ball and threw a perfect throw all the way right to the 3rd baseman before the runner, but the 3rd baseman dropped the ball. 

I decided to award a game ball to the top player of the game.  Last week I gave it to a player who was the only one to volunteer to play catcher, who made an out, and batter well.  I didn't know it at the time, but after he got the game ball, his dad told everyone it was his birthday, so what a thrill to earn the game ball on his birthday.  This week, going into the final at bat for our team, I talked to one of my assistants and we decided that up till that point there was no clear cut "player of the game" and that we'd watch the last at bat and decide.  Well, after Andrew's home run hit, before he even crossed home, the assistant coach said to me, "you were looking for someone to give the game ball too....????" 
Andrew was ecstatic!!!!

Egg Drop

Later in the evening it was time for the egg drop.  They usually have the fire truck with the big extending ladder basket thing that someone will go up in and drop the eggs from way up high, but this year they just used a plain old ladder.  Andrew's group actually went first and Andrew's was the second thing they dropped, so that was super exciting for him.  And guess what---

His egg SURVIVED!

we have two egg containers in the fridge,
 one with uncooked eggs,
the other has hard boiled eggs in it
....oops, Andrew had grabbed a hard boiled egg,
no wonder it survived!!!!

Camp took place at the Elks Lodge,
 so here's Andrew in front of the elk

Rocket Launch

Today, for the last day of camp, the campers got to do the activities they enjoyed the most a second time, so Andrew did the water rocket launch. 

You can tell from this picture that his rocket went really high.

Andrew ran to where it flew to, but wasn't able to catch it. 

Cub Camp Day 2

Andrew is really enjoying the Cub Scout day camp.  His favorite activities so far have been the water rockets made from 2 litre bottles, the b b gun shooting and archery.  When I picked him up today he said, "I'm thirsty."  I had packed him a large water bottle and a fairly large Gatorade.  He was all sweaty.  While he was filling his water bottle a grown up came up to me and said, "Are you Andrew's mom?  Andrew is the most gifted athlete here.  He is the best at every single event."  He was very excited to tell me that and seemed to love Andrew.  He was one of Andrew's den leaders.  Very nice guy.  I'm glad Andrew got men den leaders this time.  Tomorrow is the last day.  They are going to have an egg drop.  It's also "family day" so I get to go, fun times, haha, (not).  I hope I can find some shade and hope that there will be a breeze.  I don't like the heat!  (I also don't like the Heat basketball team.)

Scott's Birthday

The day before Scott's birthday I heard him tell someone on the phone "I don't care about birthdays, I'm not celebrating my birthday.  Dont do anything for my birthday."  So, I asked him if that's really how he felt.  He said he'd think about it.  I told the boys to bake him a cake, but they didn't.  When I tried to bake the cake the oven wouldn't stay hot.  Scott didn't come home at dinner time, so I just ate without him and figured that he really meant that he didn't want his birthday to be any different than any other day.  But at 8:30 at night, he was hungry, so we went to Wendy's for his "party".  The Eltons came too, I forgot to get a picture of them there with us for the blog!  But here were are---

Here is Scott re enacting blowing out his candles. 

His first gift was a multi-tool with a flashlight on it!

And he got a flashlight.  EVERY night we hear the words, "Where did I put the flashlight?"  So we thought he needed more.  His other "catchphrase" is "Where is the REMOTE?"  ...  shoulda got him one of those, too!!!!

you cant see it in the picture, but I also made him a photo book.  It took me over 9 hours to make because I kept losing my work and would have to start over, or the pictures wouldn't fit, or I would change the backgrounds and that would change everything.  The book says "Happy Fathers Day" and was meant for Father's Day, but since it arrived yesterday, we gave it to him.  We said he could count one of the flashlights as the Father's Day gift. 
The book turned out better than the SVU book I made like it last time I had a free coupon.  In that one, I had the same problem of when I switched the "design" it would change my writing and I didn't edit it good enough, so on this one, I wrote very few words, so that wouldn't happen.  This is just a photo book!  It's cool! 

cub scout day camp

Today was day #1 of Andrew's cub scout camp.  He was very excited to go.  He is in a group with all the kids from his den, plus a few others.  I think he is going to have fun.  I was supposed to be one of the volunteers there, but they didn't seem to need me, so I left.  Now I have a cake in the oven, but I just got a "come back, we need you text".  I don't really want to go back.  Plus, the cake is not baking because our oven is a piece of junk....so I have to wait here for it.  I'm really mad that they didn't tell me yesterday that they didn't need me because I'm supposed to be coaching baseball practice today!!!!  Hope the assistant knows what he is doing, haha!!!  I bet the "baseball dads" will tell him what to do if he'll listen.

turtle tradition

Whenever grandma Guymon comes to visit she and the kids (*mostly grandma) always make turtles (it's a type of candy with pecans, carmel, and chocolate.  

 I just posted this to make Melanee jealous!

Tumba's Graduation Party

his cake...he said he's never had a birthday cake on his birthday,
 so this graduation cake was something that made him really surprised and thrilled!

Here is Tumba with Bradley,
 who is wearing William's shirt, hat, shorts, and shoes!
 I really like this picture!

 Our friend Tumba graduated from college recently and he doesn't have any family near by (they live in Africa), so a lady from our ward threw a party for him and invited his closest friends.  We were some of the few that were picked, so that makes me happy!  It was nice weather for an outdoor get together and talking to everyone was fun. 

Hometown Buffet

To celebrate Scott and grandma's birthdays (and to not have to cook or clean) we went out to dinner.  We had a few coupons, so the price was acceptable.  The food was even good too.  They now have a wok type place like Hulas, so I tried that and enjoyed it.  I also like their macaroni and cheese, their soups, and their meat.  Yeah, we ate a lot.  It was fun and having the waiter take away our dirty dishes was nice, too!  We didn't tell the employees we were there for birthday dinners, so we avoided the embarrassing song they come to the table and sing!  Thanks for the meal grandpa and grandma!!!