Last night was Andrew's teams final game of the season.  We drove to Redding (about 1.5 hours away) in the rain.  I went with another mom and she drove, so it was a very nice trip.  There was talk of a dad treating the team to post game pizza, but that never happened.  But the boys wanted to do SOMETHING that included eating before going home.  One of the kids suggested "Mary's Pizza", a place we had been to twice during the AAU season, or Jr high, or one of each.  Anyway, that was the place we all decided to go to.  From past experiences, we knew they take a while to make food, so we called and ordered our pizza, so it would start baking while we drove.  We arrived to find a full waiting room of a few of our players and their families.  Not everyone came, just 7 players and their parents and one sister.  Inside the restaurant, already at a table was another player, his dad, and the coach!!!!  Just happened to be the dad that we heard might pay for the team pizza party?  But, this WAS NOT PLANNED.  So funny!  How many restaurants are there in Redding?  How many people actually know about little Mary's Pizza?  So, they told us in the waiting area that it would be an HOUR wait for a table.  We had already ordered, but the rest of the people in our group hadn't and the boys were hungry.  The moms with smart phones did some searching and found a different pizza place with a party room a mile away.  We decided to go there.  But we had to wait for our pizza that wasnt yet baked.  When we got it (and a salad), I just wanted to take us with us to the other place, but the mom I was with looked down upon that.  So, we just put it in the trunk and went to the other place.  She ordered a pizza and salad bar and soda for her and her son.  I paid for the other pizza and salad in the car, so I just ordered cheesy bread and water.  The rest of the players and families got the all you can eat buffet, so they were all eating while our food cooked.  We got our bread sticks and ate them.  Jesse and his mom ate their salads, but the pizza NEVER came....when she asked about it, they realized that they hadn't even cooked it yet.  They offered her a refund.  She took it, they gave her all her money back, including what she had spent on the salads, drinks, and tip!  

We ate the pizza in the car on the way home!  Crazy night!!!

Final Home Game

warm ups

Look at the other team's coach's shoes!

Bradley and Isaiah came....practically dressed like twins

 Andrew got in once and did fine.  The coach sees what he wants to see and plays his favorites, so Andrew didn't get back in again.  The team won, though, so I think everyone was happy.  But I also think Andrew should have gotten more playing time, for sure!

More pictures from the Paradise game

Andrew's game vs. Paradise

My dad hasn't been able to come to any of Andrew's high school basketball games yet because they are in the evenings and he doesn't really like to drive after dark and Chico is 30 minutes from his house, so its an inconvenience, too.  But, last week Chico played Paradise in Paradise.  (Next year both the football game and the basketball game will be in Chico, but this year we were lucky!)  I am so happy my dad got to see Andrew play and I'm especially happy that Andrew did well in this game.  Andrew got his career high 17 points!  That's A LOT.  He hasn't played much this season and really hasn't scored much either!  He also got some rebounds and assists.  He got to play a little bit in the 2nd quarter, a lot in the 3rd quarter, and all of the 4th quarter.  He did really well and had a lot of fun.  

On the way home we stopped at the lookout point.  There was a spectacular sky....so I took a picture of it...but it didn't show up at all in the photo!

Church basketball

I only took one photo, but today was another church basketball game day.  Our team won, but did not play very well.  Lots of missed shots!  They have some work to do!!!  They only practice once a week for one hour and it SHOWS!

Let's hope they improve before the end of the season tournament! Good news is, though, that Andrew can play in the tournament because Chico High's season will be over by then!

a BIG Surprise!

On Wed, I came home from work, in no rush, as I was driving toward my house there was a car parked in my driveway with someone sitting in it. My first thought was "oh no, my house isnt clean", then I thought "that car looks like my old car (that's in Utah with William)", I parked and got out, and WILLIAM got out of the parked car! William lives and works and is getting ready to go to school in Utah. He has been there since early summer. He didn't come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We miss him so much. We haven't seen him in SO LONG. What a surprise! He didn't tell us he was coming. We didn't know he had any days off. He just showed up. He worked Tues night until about midnight, then started the 12 hour drive, on his own. When he got here, the house was locked and there was no way to get in!
We are so happy he came for a visit. He is so much fun to have around. I wish he lived closer!!! I cant explain the surprise and joy I felt to see him. (My actual first words were, "Did you get fired?") haha.
We went up to visit my dad without telling him William was here, to see his surprise, but I actually think it may have almost given him a heart attack because William walked in after us (he was taking off his shoes) and he's all grown and bearded, my dad must have thought he was a robber when he walked in unexpected!
 And picking Andrew up from school with William was the funniest, because we were in William's car (my car!!!) and were stopped RIGHT in FRONT of Andrew and he looked right over and past us, then when he finally saw William the look on his face was so funny!!!!! Scott and Bradley were amazed and shocked, too!
 William was only here 2.5 days. NOT LONG ENOUGH!!!
I hope he had fun while here. We sure loved having him! He's a wonderful son. We are so blessed to have him in our family. We are so proud of him and love him!
Now we just hope he gets home safely, the mountain passes are requiring chains. Scary!
William, thanks for the visit. It really brightened our lives!

Bradley is actually smiling, so this would have been a good picture, but we were using the timer on the camera and Andrew started walking away too early! A few others are fuzzy, too, haha!