soccer photos

I just found these somehow and thought I'd re blog them for fun.  Melanee never got any yellow or red cards in all of her soccer career. 

 But WHAT is she doing in this photo???  Where even is the ball? 

I usually just like pictures of people facing the camera and smiling or a moving action shot.....but really, this is a good picture! 

Quakes and Sharks

I am not a band wagoner, I love my teams win or lose.  Winning is a lot more fun, though! 

The Quakes had a pretty bad year this season with lots of bad plays, bad fouls, bad calls, bad injuries, and bad losses.  But there were also quite a few moments of sheer excitement and happiness when things went their way (not often enough).  I still watched every game and enjoyed my time spent. 

They have one more regular season game to play, but they did not make the playoffs.  They missed by just a TINY amount.  In fact, one game, near the beginning of the season had an odd thing happen which could have been the one thing that kept them out of the playoffs.  Two players LEFT THE FIELD to change their cleats AT THE SAME TIME.  Leaving the team down two players.  The ref wouldn't let them back in until there was a stoppage of play, so while the Quakes were two men down, the other team scored!  They lost that game, but would have tied without that goal, that, right there, is minus two points in the standings!  They are one point back right now!  The cleat debacle! 

Well, they are also participating in the CONCACAF champions league.....which isn't all that big of a deal, like the Champions League in Europe, but it's still something to play for, something offering a trophy and a title at the end if they win.  In the first few Champions League games, the Quakes played 2nd and 3rd string guys and didn't take the games seriously and LOST.  But on Wednesday, they weren't out of the first round, yet...they could go in IF they won.  They played their first team, their starters.  It was a good game....they WON!  Chris Wondolowski scored the only goal of the game.  I'm glad they get to go on...but the next games aren't going to be played until the spring, a long way off. 

The Sharks have begun their season by winning a lot of games.  Like I said, winning is way more fun to watch than losing.  GO SHARKS. 

I love my teams! 

a random picture I found of Patty and Jumbo on their draft day!  So young!!!!!

Last Saturday

Last Saturday we had a busy day.  Scott went hunting early in the morning with his brother Mark.  Mark lives in San Diego, but came up here with his wife Paige for a half marathon in Folsom.  After they hunted, Mark went back to Folsom and Scott came back home. 

While Scott was hunting Andrew had a flag football game.  They lost.  Then he had a soccer game.  They lost.  Then we went to El Dorado Hills near Sacramento for Bradley's soccer game.  Mark and Paige also came to watch the game. 

We spent the rest of the evening with them.  We went out to dinner. 

Uncle Mark and Bradley

Bradley and I drove from the field to dinner with Mark and Paige and Bradley tried on Mark's hat.  Cool!......Or Not!!!

Their hotel had really neat hall carpets. 

They also had a Jacuzzi.

And a pool.

                    And a gym.

Bradley brought his skateboard because there was a skateboard park near the soccer field, but by time his game was over, the skateboard park was closed, so he rode it a bit in the hotel parking lot before we left for home. 

We love "Arco Arena" (even though it is now called "Sleep Train Arena").  Whenever we pass it someone always says, "Take a picture."  Well, I tried!  It turned out not as I had hoped to capture, but neat picture just the same!

Mark and Paige



Scott's brother Mark and his wife Paige were in Folsom this past weekend because Paige ran a half marathon.  Folsom is 5 minutes away from El Dorado Hills, so they were able to come to Bradley's soccer game and see him score the game winning goal.  We told them that they were lucky, but they said they weren't coming back for the rest of the games.  After the game we were all hungry so we went out to eat at Chilis (Hey, I should have ordered chili!)  It was fun to see them and we had a great visit. 

Chili's has a dessert called a volcano, I think that's what it was called.  We never get dessert when we go out, but we got one of these and it was really delicious and hit the spot after the nice meal. 

Friends

I've learned a lot of lessons already this week and it's only Tuesday. 

The whole "red neck" thing that was going on with Andrew was something that I just, right in the middle of it, realized (with help from my wise brother Kenny) that it was something that if it would have happened when we were kids our parents would have just simply said, "Sticks and stone will break your bones, but names will never hurt you."  NO ONE thinks that now a days.  EVERYONE thinks name calling is bullying.  (It is.)  But, back in the day, situations like the one Andrew was in was just something that made people tougher, stronger, it built character.  But, the way people (parents, kids) are nowadays, oh no, if anything happens to  my precious child, who can do no wrong, I'm going to go solve all his problems, no matter who I take down in the process.  In short, I realized it was PAST time for me to let it go.  I also know Andrew and his friends pretty well, and every fight, problem, situation they have is usually solved and completely forgotten in a few days.  Parents make "mountains out of mole hills".  Most kids are way more resilient than we give them credit for.  Yeah, Andrew was saying that he hated school, yeah, he stopped playing football, yeah, he had hurt feelings, but.....just like the whole "Andrew said a cuss word" scenario a few weeks ago, this "red neck" thing turned into just a way bigger problem than it should have ever been.

So that leads me to my topic of "friends".  I spend a lot of time with the people at my job.....so much that I really like them and feel like I know them.  But, I have to step back and realize, seriously, they are just co workers, not actually friends.  If I needed someone to take Andrew to his game, would ANY of them do it?  No!  Would I even think to ask ANY of them? No!  If I was sick, would ANY of them call to check on me?  No!  etc...........

What is a friend?  Who is a friend?  Good questions.  I looked on my Facebook account and yesterday I had 444 Facebook friends.  I went through all of them and looked at them one by one.  I do NOT really have 444 friends.  Of those 444 people, I would have to say that only a handful are people who actually care about me.  Even LESS are people I could call at any point in need of help. 

I know there is an expression, "You have to BE a friend to HAVE a friend."  I KNOW that I need to be a better friend to people.  I know I need to get off the couch and get out there and BE a friend.  That's where it starts.  But being a true friend really should not be hard. 

I have one friend......ONE friend.....who I can honestly say that on those days when I hated people and wanted to punch EVERYONE in the face, I would not want to punch her.  I've NEVER been mad at her ever for anything.  I can tell her ANYTHING, even if it's stupid, wrong, and doesn't make ANY sense and she will still be my friend.  I could (I did) leave my barfing kid at her house in the middle of the night and she will clean him up and take great care of him, without any complaining.  She would (has) offered me her car to use to go out of town just to watch a basketball game, when she doesn't care about basketball, but knows that I do (did).  I could go on and on.  (Michelle) But, my point is, there aren't many people who are "true" friends.  I had one a few years ago, who moved away.  (Kim) I have another one right now who would do all the above stuff I described, no question (Krisha)....but that is THREE people in this universe?  It's actually super AWESOME that I have those three people (and my family) who like me....but it's also kind of sad.  Three out of 444.  Three out of all the people I've ever met.  Three people who truly like me?  And I truly like them.  Becoming friends with each of them was SIMPLE and has never been work or hard.  I love that!  Kim, I haven't seen her in years.  Michelle, super super busy, but if I need ANYTHING she would make time, but we can go months without seeing each other, well, maybe weeks, but we are able to just pick up right where we left off the second we see each other.  And Krisha, she has A LOT of friends...a lot of "real" friends....(so do Kim and Michelle)...but, Krisha is one of those people who everyone is attracted to because she is everyone's friend.  I hope these three friends also see me as a real friend.  But I know I should do more for them! 

The Shark guys aren't my friends, Sidney Crosby is not my friend, Chris Wondolowski is not my friend, people on tv shows aren't my friends, and no one on Twitter is my friend......the 410 people I have left on Facebook ARE my Facebook friends, but I have realized just today that I need to take better care of the friends I have that are "real"... and if I want to have more "real" friends, I need to be a more real friend!  

Andrew soccer/flag football

Andrew had two game, back to back, yesterday.  His teams lost them both.  He was glad flag football season was over when the game ended.  There is one more soccer game left to go before soccer is over.  He's thinking about signing up for basketball next.  (Hope he can be on a winning team for once in his life, haha.)

Bradley soccer action shots

 For my dad and Melanee.....the sun was right in our eyes (and camera) the whole game, so the pictures colors are a little bad....but it was a beautiful fall day, with a beautiful field, trees all around, mansions (like Ron Artest's old house) up on the hill, and even a creek.  Bradley had a great game, even scored the game winning goal.  (He's #7).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is his goal.....bad photo, but here's how it happened...their defender tried to do a bicycle kick to clear the ball, he missed and as he lay on his back, Bradley took off with the ball, he calmly, cooly, shot and tried to place the ball into the corner, (instead of blasting it), smart play, but the goalie got a piece of it, so Bradley and the defender raced to the ball, the Bradley got to it first, kicked it again, the defender stopped it, and on the third attept, Bradley pounded it finally in!  Soooooooo exciting.  That made the score 2-1.  That was the final score!

 

 

 

 

 

Fruit Trees and Flowers

Our backyard is pretty barren because we have chickens and a dog living back there.  So we mainly plant nice things in our front yard because we know they will have more chances for survival.  Scott likes fruit trees, so he planed this lemon tree a few years ago----I don't really see where any lemons can grow on it, it's basically a short bush with one very long branch that has grown straight upward, looking for more sunlight, I guess

And this is one of the flowers we planted to make our yard look nice before Melanee's wedding over a year ago....they came back and bloomed this year and survived the summer heat this summer.  I was very surprised and happy!

This is our orange tree....I think it's more of a bush. It's growing outward more than upward.  Worries me that it will take over the front walkway someday.

And this is our cherry tree....not looking too good, but it's Fall, so hopefully by spring it will get fatter and have more leaves. 

hair cut

    

 I usually cut the Scott and the kids hair (and my bangs when they need it), but Great Clips had a special going on today, so I took Bradley in for a professional style (I only know one hair cut).  I got him to smile for some photos, but he had his hat on in the first one and is too far away in the second one, but believe me, HE LOOKS GREAT.  When I first saw him after the hair cut I hardly recognized him, he looked older and very handsome. 

Fall

I know this is just a photo taken out my car window, into the sun, but before all the leaves fall, I wanted to take a picture of the beautiful street I live on......it's the prettiest in the Fall, well early Fall, before the leaves all disappear. 

Upper Park

I really like going to Upper Bidwell Park, it's absolutely beautiful. 

(sunset over Horseshoe Lake)

BMX

Bradley got invited to go BMX riding today with a friend (a grown up (kinda, haha).  He said, "I'll be there to get you at 5:00 and you can come with me if you show me that your home work is ALL done."  So this is a picture of Bradley doing his homework AFTER school, not late at night!!!!  Thanks Branndon, you are AWESOME, both for taking Bradley to do something awesome and for encouraging homework!!!!

Grades

I like the parent connect feature schools now have so that parents can keep track of their kids grades online.  As of right now, Bradley is getting straight A's.  I don't have a screen shot of Andrew's grades but he is getting 4 A's and 2 B's right now.  I really like that Andrew's teacher grades completely by percentage....90-100 is an A, 80-89 is a B, 70-79 is a C....simple as that.  Last year, Andrew's teacher graded with 1, 2, 3, 4's and he just randomly gave the numbers out.  For example, Andrew is an excellent speller....almost always got 100% on his spelling tests and often times got most of the bonus words correct, too.  But in the "spelling" category on the report card, he would get a "3".  Andrew has known his multiplication tables since 3rd grade, knew them well in 4th, and perfected them all in 5th and still got a "3" in multiplications tables.  He's athletic, still got a "3" in PE.  So, he is doing much better in this fair way of grading in 6th grade.  And I love Bradley's grades!!!!!!!  If you know Bradley and his past struggles in school (lowest reading group, early morning math tutor, etc.), you'd never believe he could be a straight A student in 8th grade!  So proud of him! 

Concert

Bradley and his friend Isaiah went to a concert tonight at our little local downtown theater.  I have already received a text stating that, "this is so sick".  In teen language "sick" is a good thing, so I'm sure they are having fun.  The funniest thing, though, they both took ear plugs. As one with hearing loss, I am SO glad that they did, but it also cracks me up!!!!!!!! 

Rich Kids

Our kids got a chance to have some spending money this past weekend....all they had to do was roll some coin, easy enough, huh????  Andrew rolled and rolled and rolled, Bradley helped at the end. 

People, save your coins, they add up to a lot of dollars.....we had a lot of fun counting and rolling.  I think there was $84 bucks total. 

Andrew got a video game with his portion and Bradley wants to buy some skateboard parts.  Scott and I each took $10 for helping, but I owed Bradley money, so he got mine! 

Anyone have any more coin they don't want, send it our way, we'll take it!