2 games, back-to-back,in 2 nights

With family in town, we always like to entertain and what better way than to see some of the major pro teams out here in the area.

This past Thursday we headed out to see the Phoenix Coyotes take on the Minnesota Wild. Then on Friday we saw the Suns go up against the LA Clippers. It was a lot for 2 nights in a row but it sure was FUN!

It was very disappointing to see the Coyotes loss on Thursday. However, Friday was better as the Suns handed it to the Clippers. Both games were great and I can't wait to do it again.

Oh, and our visiting family had a great time as well.

2008!! WOW!!

I can not believe that we are getting ready to welcome the year 2008!

Belated Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was wonderful. It was a nice relaxing day at home with my hubby's family.

Here are the boys as they awaited getting to see what Santa brought for them on Christmas morning.

Gifted?

The other day I received a letter from the school saying that they would like to have my permission to have Kyle tested for the gifted program (or, Enhanced Learning Program) in our district. It is not a big surprise. We have known for some time that Kyle is advanced for his age. It seems typical being a younger brother. However, there are a few concerns, as parents, that we have.

Being a small school district, they only have one program that runs out of a different school. So Kyle would have to be bussed to the other location weekly to participate in the program. Also, I have talked with other moms who have children in the program and their kids bring home additional homework that they have to complete for the program on top of their regular class homework. I don't know, to me that sounds like the smarter kids are being punished with more work just for being smart. Anyways...I did sign the paperwork. He will be tested in January. We will see how it all turns out. It may end up being something that will be good for him. Who knows?

I was never in the "gifted" classification as a child in school so I do not have the insight from the students perspective. I am not sure, but I think for some it really gives them a boost in confidence and self esteem. We will see how it goes for Kyle.

Spelling Bee

As a 4th grader, this is Tyler's first year that he gets to compete in the spelling bee at his school. He has been waiting for this opportunity every since he learned about the spelling bee when he was in 1st grade. His strongest academic area is spelling, so naturally this is a big deal for him. They had a spell off in his class last week and he was one of the top 3 that got to advance to the school wide Bee. There were 3 students from each 4th and 5th grade classes.

Yesterday was the competition for the school and Tyler did very well. Although he did not make the cut to advance to the district level he still did very well. He spelled some words that I do not even know how to spell. Heck, by the 6th and 7th rounds there were words that I have never even heard before, much less know how to spell. It was amazing to sit and watch these kids and the level of intelligence that they have at such a young age.

It was a great experience for Tyler and now he has the motivation to study and learn more words for next year. Way to go Tyler!

Christmas With a Capital "C"

This is great!

So What About You...

...what did you ask Santa to bring you this Christmas?

Santa's coming early!

My hubby said that I could go ahead and order my Christmas gift so that I (we) can use it on Christmas day. YeeHaa!

So my (our) new camcorder should be here next week, just in time for Christmas.

We do have one that we purchased about 10 years ago. It is the old small tape kind and after many hours spent trying to convert them to DVD, so that we could share with family and watch for ourselves, I decided that I was not going to use it anymore because it was just too painful. I have a still photo camera (that I got last Christmas) that also takes small short videos that I have been using over the past year. It has been getting us by but it is time to step it up to some longer play and better quality.

Can't wait!

The Goalie in Action

Thought I would share. Here is Tyler in action.

Get to know you, Christmas style

30 Tidbits of Christmas

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Both. Some are wrapped, some are not.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Both. I like both. I have all white on the tree and a little of both outside.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Yes, a fake one in our entrance way

5. When do you put your decorations up?
As soon after Thanksgiving as possible.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Pumpkin Cake (it has to be a dessert, sorry)

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child.
Going over to Grandparents houses every Christmas day and spending the day with lots of family. (or when family would come to our house. specially the days when I can remember my sister and I looking out the window, waiting and watching our Grandparents unload all the gifts that they would bring.)

8. How and When did you learn the truth about Santa?
I am not sure exactly what age. I think maybe pre-teen.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes, as a kids we always did. Now, with my kids, it doesn't always happen every year. Not sure why? hhuummm

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
White lights and various ornaments collected over the years. Each ornament has its own story. It is always neat to pull them out each year and recall the memories of them all.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it

12. Can you ice skate?
Oh yea, baby! Sure can!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
The pink little boom box that I got when I was about 15 years old.

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Pumpkin Cake

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Making picture ornaments for the kids each year. They will take all of them with them, someday, when they leave home. And - Going to Christmas Eve Service

17. What tops your tree?
Right now...nothing. It has been different for many years. (an angel, a bow and a star)

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
Giving...but only when it is not giving just to give. I enjoy buying for people when I know that they truly are in need or that it is appreciated.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Go tell it on the Mountain

20. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Both

21. Real tree or artificial?
Artificial

22. When do you put up the tree?
Anytime we can get it up after Thanksgiving.

23. When do you take the tree down?
After News Years

24. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes

25. Hardest person to buy for?
My hubby and his brother

26. Easiest person to buy for?
my kids

27. Worst Christmas gift you have ever received?
A cleaning tool to clean my toilets.

28. When do you start your Christmas shopping?
As soon as I can.

29. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Oh Yes. I learned from the best, my mother.

30. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
Christmas Morning

Starting to look like Christmas around here...finally

After a long weekend of hard work putting up decorations it is finally starting to feel a little more like Christmas around here. We usually try to get our Christmas decorations up right after Thanksgiving, however that didn't happen this year. We got a little behind because we usually start by pulling out the Christmas tree first and then going from there. Well, this year, as the holidays grew closer we realized that we did not have a tree because the one we had fell apart last year and we had to get rid of it.

Earlier this week we found a tree. Now we have all the decorations up! The tree is beautiful with all the lights and the years of memories that cover it in ornaments. Traditional Christmas decorations fill the house and hundreds of lights light up the yard. aahhh it is a wonderful.

Now all we need is the hot cocoa! :)

One half of the front yard...

The other half of the front yard.

Upclose of our tree decorations....

Our Charlie Brown Christmas...

And the Train!

Still no win...but on their way

Tyler played another hockey game tonight. They played against the best team in the league, the Red Wings (no, not the NHL team). Tyler's team is the Oilers (all the teams have taken on NHL team names). From the beginning of the season they have always dreaded playing against the Red Wings because they get beat so badly. One time I think the score was like 11-2. Ouch! But not tonight. Although they still didn't win they only fell by a score of 3-1. The team was so happy that you would have thought they did win. I can't wait 'till next time. They WILL beat the Red Wings before the season is over and and there WILL be a big celebration. I can't wait. Go Oilers Go!

Need a new camcorder...

so I can record the Goalie in action and share with you.

I want the hard drive kind. Maybe I will get it for Christmas!!

Tyler the Goalie!

Every since Tyler has started playing Hockey he has wanted to the opportunity to play goalie. Being that there is only one goalie per team (for the youth division that he is in) it can be difficult to get a spot on a team as goalie.

As it turns out, the team that Tyler is playing on this season somehow ended up without a goalie. The coach told all the players on the team that whoever wanted to try their hand at being goalie could do so. About half the team requested to give it a try, and Tyler was one. After everyone had their chance, the coach asked if there was anyone that would like to make the switch to being the full time goalie. Tyler was the only one that wanted to do it and not only that the entire team told the coach that they wanted Tyler to be their goalie. He was so thrilled to be selected but he was even more honored that the rest of the team chose him to do it.

He will be playing in his 5th (or 6th, not sure) game tomorrow as goalie and he is doing wonderful!

due for an undate

After a month, or so, I thought that I had better give an update. So, as things look right now, we are not putting our house back up for sale, at least not right now. After really evaluating the cost and praying about it we are back on the fence again and really feel like we need to give it a little more time.

Basically we are trying to determine if we should stay where we are and build on or move into a place that is "turn key" ready with exactly what we are looking for. The biggest "catch" to moving is that we will lose the land (which is becoming a rare thing where we are now) and most likely have to move into a homeowners association (yuck!, we don't like them!).

Well, that is the long-and-short of it. So, there you have it!

Let the Stress Begin

Ok, with our adventure of looking at possibilities for a new home we are now to the point of putting our house back on the market. We have spent the past few weeks looking at what is out there and we have decided that it is time to see if we can sell our house to move on to another. So, for now, the "fun" is over and now begins the "stress".

We had our house on the market about 6 months ago. It was for sale for about 1 year. With the market being overpriced and saturated nothing happened. In the past 6 months we have been working on remodeling some major "dated" parts of our house. It all looks really good, so far, however we still have a few minor things to finish up. Our Realtor thinks that if we can get it on the market by Thanksgiving then our chances of selling sooner are greater. So hence the stress. (In case you are not aware, Thanksgiving is next week! Yea, that's right, 1 week!!) We have been doing most of the work ourselves so that we can save money. But now that we are pushing the clock, I have been busy on the phone trying to get on peoples calendars to give us a hand with finishing up. I am even hiring a friend of ours who owns her own interior decorating service to come over and give me some advice on rearranging and re-decorating. I am actually looking forward to that meeting. :)

Thinking of moving

Yes, we are exploring that option again. Making another move. It is exciting and stressful all at the same time. We really feel like we are so post to stay in AZ so here we go again. We had our house for sale about a year ago with the intentions of moving back to the wonderful state of TX, however that never happened. With all the different job offers that my hubby has been getting here in AZ it is pretty obvious that we are meant to stay here. That really is fine with us. We do like AZ and all that it has to offer here.

We have been looking at other homes the past few weeks, some resale and some new. It would be nice to own a new home and be the only owners. The past houses that we have had have been ones that we are constantly doing and redoing from others half-ways jobs. How frustrating for us. I guess being two engineers we are just way too picky. Oh well.

We went house "hunting" again yesterday. This time we looked at some new builds. And of course we found one that we liked. Bad part is that the builder will not accept any contingency offers for our house to sale first. So now we are on the move to try and finish up with the last bit of our remodel so that we can get our house back on the market and see if we can get it sold. This is where the stressful part comes in . Our market here in AZ for sellers is absolutely horrible right now.

This house that we found is really awesome. It is 3 stories (yes 3!!), a 2 story with a basement. We are specifically looking for a basement home so we can build another theater like our last house had. We are basically reducing the amount of outdoor land for indoor "play" space. We would be moving from 1 acre to a 1/4 acre. We figured if we are going to stay in AZ then we need to maximize the amount of indoor space being that it is way to hot to be outside most of the year.

Anyways...here we go again.

Sleep in...what's that like?

Today was the first day in a loonnngggg time that I got to sleep in. Oh it was great! I did get to sleep in a little but when your body is so used to waking up at a certain time it is really hard to truly "sleep in". So I figured since I could not go back to sleep I would just get up and sit around in the PJ's a little while before getting myself ready for the rest of the day.

It is hard to believe, after running non-stop for the past 2-3 months, that we have absolutely nothing that we HAVE to do today. It is so nice!

So now that I do not have any excuses (for today anyway) for not blogging...well here I am. I was doing pretty good with trying to keep up with posting every day but just couldn't do it. Oh well.

Our Halloween...a little late

Admittedly, we are not that big on Halloween around here. However, we do let the kids dress up and have fun with letting them participate in the local Halloween festivities. The past couple of years our town has organized and put on a "Trunk-or-Treat" at the main local park right down the street from us. The biggest draw is, of course, all the candy that you get as you pass from trunk to truck. They also had jumping houses, game booths, food booths and various different contests and live music.

So after getting all dressed up in their costumes we were off to the park. The kids had a lot of fun and since the majority of our town is still mostly agriculture and farm land with houses spread far apart, it was nice not to have to walk forever from house to house and feel like your legs were going to fall off by the end of the night.

We were very fortunate that the kids choice of costumes were ones in which we had all the stuff for. There was no cost involved this year. Very NICE!

Here they are. Tyler was a hockey player and Kyle was a soccer playing ninja (he could not decide if he wanted to dress up as a soccer player or a ninja so he decided to combine the two). HA! He thought it was cool and that is all that mattered. If you look closely at his shoes you can see that he is wearing his soccer cleats.

Fall Soccer Coming to an End

Today was Kyle's last soccer game of the season. I can't believe how time goes by. We had a great season. They came away with a record of 7 wins and only 1 loss. I really enjoyed coaching the team. Actually, I have already signed up to coach again next season in the winter. That will start towards the end of January. I am looking forward to it even more this time because I have decided to switch leagues. We are moving to a more established league that actually has their own fields and is a little more organized. One of the biggest reasons why I am looking forward to it is because we can use the fields for practices too. There are so many soccer leagues and teams out here that it is hard to find nice convenient places and times to practice as a team. Now all I have to do is sign up for a spot on the fields and reserve my place and that is all. The fields are even lighted so we don't have to worry about it getting dark too early (since we never change times here in AZ).

As for me and my soccer games this season...well we are not doing as well as Kyle's team did. In the adult league we play mixed games for the first half of the season and then at the end we play a mini tournament with the other teams in the league. We did fine and actually won all our games in the first half of the season...but...we played our third game of the tournament last night and lost. We have lost 2 and tied 1. Oh well, it is for fun and somehow we got slotted in with some of the competitive teams (we are only a rec. team). We have 2 games left and then we are done until the winter season starts up in Feb. 08.

We have had a lot of fun with soccer this fall but it will be nice to take a break and enjoy the holiday times coming up.

Tag I'm it....Now who??

I have never been one to do these types of things...I guess because for most things in my life I don't usually think about "favorites"(I like a lot of variety and change)...so keeping that in mind for you...here it goes....

1. Favorite TV show: I don't watch all that much tv. Recently, when I have, it has been Big Brother, The Bachelor, NHL Hockey (I typically like the reality shows), does my computer screen count? lol

2. Favorite music: I like A LOT of different types of music. When I am in my car it is usually KLOVE or country. When I am playing around with the kids or on my computer it is usually hip hop/jam music.

3. Favorite color: Green (ok, favorite color is something that has not changed for me since I was a kid.)

4. Five favorite things to do: play soccer, watching kids in their sports games, dates with my hubby, my Bible studies (Precept studies are the best!) and sleeping in!

5. Favorite ice cream: Chocolate with Peanut Butter from Cold Stone!! (me too...funny story with this one....I guess that is another blog:))

6. Stitches: No

7. Broken bones: Yes, collar bone.

8. States I've been to: California, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Nevada, Florida, New York, Massachusetts (drove through others that I can't remember on a road trip when I went to New York and Mass. )

9. Favorite snacks: right now (this is one of those that changes often) cheese and crackers

10. What I'm most proud of: My family

11. Favorite store: Right now...(again this changes often) Kirkland's Home

12. Favorite dog: (My Lady)

So there you have it!

Oh and BTW...this should count for a post on Nov. 2nd (trying maybe to post everyday in Nov.) since I have not even started my day for the 3rd yet! I am a night owl!

so I'm "tagged"...

Ok so I understand I have been tagged....

Well, Jen, Thanks for the tag...however...I will have to get back to you tomorrow.

Man, it has been a long day. The "to-do" list is just never ending. And to top it all off this was officially the first day of the most homework EVER for Tyler. He had one sheet of math, 4 spelling sheets and had to finish a final copy of a report that he is doing at school. He started at 4pm (after getting home from school at 3:40pm), stopped at 4:30pm to work on some hockey practice skills with dad to get ready for his hockey game tomorrow (he is going to play goalie for the first time ever so he needed to get a little practice in for tomorrow). He stopped for dinner and then was off for KidStuf practice at church (a song and dance team that he is in). He was home by 8:20pm and didn't finish up with ALL his homework until 10pm. Holy Cow! I was NOT thinking nice thoughts about his teachers tonight. HA! Bad mom, I know. At least they were just thoughts so Tyler won't go telling his teachers tomorrow. :}

So anyways...thankfully tomorrow is Friday! Yea.

Doggie Shots

So after my big ordeal a couple of days ago with waiting forever to get my dogs shots, I decided just to go to the local vet right down the street and get my doggie's shots there. I originally did not want to go there because it is usually a lot more expensive just to even walk in the door. But...after the other day I just didn't care anymore. So I called yesterday and made the appointment. They were able to get me in right away...TODAY!! I was so pleased.

Here is how the appointment went.....I walked in. I didn't even have to sign in. They called me and my dog by name. (How they new it was us, I am not sure.) I didn't even have a chance to sit down. They called my dog over to the scale (to check her weight) and then we went right into an exam room. We were in there for probably 1 min before the vet assistant walked in. He took Sadie's (my dog) temperature, checked her out a little, talked with me about what we were there for and then left. Before I knew it the door was opening again, this time it was the doctor. He came in with the shots, gave them to Sadie, talked with me a little and then we were on our way. I could not believe it. It was so smooth and easy.

To top it all off, when I went to pay I actually paid less then what I would have paid the other day at the other place. Woo-Hoo Amazing.

I only took one dog in today instead of two because I was not sure what to expect and I was not about to go through another ordeal again with both dogs. I decided to play it safe and just do one at a time. Now I have Annie (the second dog) to get done. You can guess where I am going next time!!

Anger or Frustration??

I think it was truly anger. Here is the story...

Yesterday I took two of my dogs down to our local PetsMart to the vet, that they have in their store, to get some shots that they are needing. This was my first experience with using the vets inside of the store as I have never realized that they were even there before last week. They have a "shot clinic day" each week where you can come and get your dogs shots without having to pay an office/exam visit fee. So, I thought, cool this will save me a LOT of money.

When I called the day before to get all the details they told me to come 30 min before to make sure that I get on the list (because they only take the 1st 20 dogs and the spots fill up fast). So that is what I did. I got the dogs all ready, leashed them up and got them in the car. I drove down to the store and unload the dogs. As I am rushing into the store, to make sure that I get on "the list", I realize that my golden retriever does not even have her collar on and I am dragging the leash. That was not good. So after chasing her down and fixing her collar I finally get to sign them in. Then I wait....and wait....and wait. Oh yea did I tell you that I waited. I stood there for almost 1 1/2 hours before I started asking when they were going to get to me...and everyone else that was their waiting. They told me that I was the next one to be called into an exam room. Well that was all fine but then I asked them..."How long will the wait be once I get in a room?" Their response was one that did not make me happy. They said, "Oh probably about 20 mins, or so." What! You have got to be kidding. I could not believe it. It was going on 2 hours and there I stood...with two dogs going crazy, needing a drink and a walk outside to do their "thing".

And that was not all...it was time for me to pick the kids up from school. Oh man was I mad. Two hours with two dogs in a retail store full of other dogs...not good at all. I told the lady that all I needed were the shots and asked if someone could quickly give them to the dogs. Then I could be on my way. No, they couldn't. So I told her that she could take me off the list and I left. I was so mad the rest of the day! I could not believe that I wasted 2 hours of my day for that! I will not be going back there.

Yes, I am sure now, it was anger!

A "Loosing" Weekend

This past weekend was one of loss for our family...in our sports lives that is.

For a family that plays a lot of sports, we are all fortunate enough to be on teams that win the majority of our games. Well....this past weekend there was no winning to speak of around here.

This past Friday was the first week of our seasonal soccer tournament. Needless to say, we started off on the wrong foot. Yep, we lost. Not only did we loose we helped the other team win by scoring a goal on ourselves (It was not me, thank goodness!). NOT a good thing!

Then on Saturday, Kyle had his soccer game. Yep his team lost too...after creaming the team they played last week 9-0. It was a hard loose for all the kids as it was their first loss of the season. ouch!

And Finally Tyler's Hockey game was on Sunday. They are just starting their season and doing pretty good...until this game. They won their game last week 7-2. But yep...another loss. And, they lost by a score of 9-2. :(

So as I said, this was definitely a LOSSING week! There was a lot of pride capping and humbling going on here.

No one ever likes to loose, but it does help every now and then to keep us humble and remember that life is not always about winning.

Our New Office!

Ok, we are finally making progress towards completing our kitchen and office remodel. I just put a lot of the finishing touches on the kitchen this evening (some decorations and stuff). I still have a few things to add to it. Tomorrow I will be on a search for a few more things to finish it off. The first place I will hit is one of the best stores for home decor, Kirkland's Home. It is a wonderful store and their prices are amazing!

The office is also just about finished. We finally have our new office furniture. Oh, it is so nice to have a desk again! Just about everything for the office came from Ikea, another great store! If you are lucky enough to have one around you or visit somewhere that has one then I recommend that you check it out. Just walking around their showroom is an experience and is actually fun. It can be a bit overwhelming too! You really have to know what you are looking for when you go. :)

I don't have pictures of the kitchen right now, but here is a quick snap of my desk in the office. We still have a lot of clutter and misc. stuff laying around but it is all slowly getting put away.

Still Here

Yes, I am posting! But then again most of you will probably not see it as you have probably stopped checking in on my blog since there has not been any activity around here lately. Can't say I blame you! HA!

Well anyways, for those of you who do check here... Lets just say, house remodeling is still in progress, kids 2 week fall break is here and a few travels here and there. I think that can, mostly, sum up where my time has gone.

Yes the house remodel is still underway but the biggest news right now is the wonderful trip that we just returned from a few days ago. We finally did it. We took the kids on a cruise. It was WONDERFUL and they LOVED it! I have to say that it was probably one of the best family vacations that we have had with the kids. Being in a, relatively, confined place the kids were able to have A LOT of freedom and do just about whatever they wanted to. We never had to worry about them getting lost or someone taking them. We gave them a key to our room and a map of the ship and that was pretty much it. Well, yea yea, they did have to check in with us every so often and let us know what they were doing and where they were going but other than that they were pretty much on their own. They did, actually, spend most of their time in the kids' club that was staffed and run by crew members on the boat. We traveled with Carnival. They have an awesome kids club, which they call Camp Carnival. They literally have activities planned for the kids all day and night. They don't just keep them all in one room/location either. They move all around the ship doing different things. They even had a disco party for the older kids one night. Really cool!

As far as the adults, well we just enjoyed the laid back time of not having to be anywhere or do anything...and did I mention all the food! OH that was great. ALL the food! The kids thought it was great too. They helped themselves to whatever they wanted whenever they wanted (well we did put a limit on the number of ice cream cones they could have in one day). :0

Oh yea, I almost forgot to tell you where we went. We sailed the Mexican Riviera down to Cabo San Lucas, Mex. I have to say that out of all the places that I have been in Mexico it is one of the nicest cities I have seen yet. The natural beauty there , rock formations and the crystal blue waters, were amazing.


I will post more details later. For now, here are some pictures to share with you...


The boys on the beach in Cabo.


The ship we sailed on, The Elation

The famous rock arch at the southern most tip of the mexican baja.

Me and Tyler with the endless pacific ocean and beautiful sun set in the background.

Dad with the boys as we are on our way from the cruise ship to the pier in Cabo.

Upgrades and Remodels in House

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we decided to make the investment and take our outdated house to the next level. There are many things that we have planned in updating the house, but for now we are concentrating on two areas. The kitchen and a home office.

For the kitchen we are replacing old worn out appliances with new Stainless Steal ones, taking out old counter tops and replacing with granite, and repainting.

For our new home office, we are converting one of our bedrooms to resemble an actual "real office" rather than a "quest bedroom". We are taking out old carpet and putting in new hard wood flooring, we are repainting with office "like" colors on the walls (earthy tones), and purchasing all new real office furniture for that finished look.

I can't wait! I am so excited to finally be doing the things that we said we were going to do 3 1/2 years ago, when we moved in. Finally....

I don't have any real Before pictures but I am sure that I can find some shots with both rooms in the background that I can post. I will definitely be taking After shots to show all the hard work and results.

Oh yea...like you said Lisa, IKEA Baby! We are purchasing all our new office furniture from IKEA! It is awesome!

Let the Fall Fun begin

It may still be HOT outside...but fall is finally here and with fall comes all the new programs, sports and practices.

After many wonderful quiet weekends, these past few weeks, we have finally come to our first weekend, of many to come, where we will be "running" in every different direction. It all starts tonight. Here it is:

• Friday...My first soccer game, Tyler's first hockey practice
• Saturday...Kyle's first soccer game, Meet and great Captain Shane Doan (of the NHL Coyotes, can't miss that) at the ice rink, hair cuts for kids (that never got done before school started) , school fundraiser at Dippin' Dots and home to continue our work on the ongoing remodel of the house.
• Sunday...Church, another hockey practice for Tyler, dress rehearsal for Tyler's song and dance team (called KidStuf) at church, KidStuf performance for Tyler at church, back home to continue working on the remodel.

Whew...I think that is all...As you can see, what a crazy weekend this is going to be. And it is the first of many to come.

Call me "Coach"

Last night I officially started my role as my son's soccer coach for this coming fall season. I went to our first coaches meeting. I felt like I had to sign my life away with all the paperwork. We got our official coaches shirts, picked up our team roster as well as all the uniforms. It was exciting.

I play soccer myself but have never ventured into the world of coaching. I will say that I am a little nervous. Anytime I work with children I tend to get a little uneasy. Working with children is a big responsibility. I take it very seriously.

I will say that there are "pluses" to being the coach. You get to pick the practice days, the practice locations, the position that your child wants to play, and the number that your child wants to wear on his uniform... as well as many others.

I am sure that it will be a fun season!

She Shops...She Scores!!!

I found this new Coach patchwork summer edition purse on sale today. I am talkn' a BIG sale. I got it at Dillard's. They were clearancing them out at 50% off AND then they were an additional 30% off. WOW! I could not believe it. So of course I had to get one. I know it is a summer purse, and well, summer is almost over but still I could not pass it up. There is always next summer, and Spring, too. Right??



Oh yea. I had to have the Wristlet to go along with it, too.

Oh yea...for those who do not know...I am a Coach kind of gal. :)

Happy Belated 31st Birthday, Jen

Well I know that I missed posting this by one day. But as MawMaw says... "for every day I am late that just means I love you more". I like that, don't you? :)

I hope you had a wonderful day!
I love you!

Happy 7th Birthday, Kyle

Here is Kyle on his first day of school this year. He is SO excited to be having his birthday because as he says "Now I can be a real 2nd grader". The one thing that is hard for Kyle, with being on the school schedule that we are, is that he always has to start school being one year younger then the rest of his friends. Most of his friends have early spring birthdays and therefore they all get to start school each year one year older than Kyle. Well now that Kyle's birthday is here he can really feel like a big 2nd grader, just like all his friends.

Happy Birthday, Kyle. I hope you have a wonderful day. I love you!

The kids got their Wii

With all the family in town and all the b-day celebration going on we decided to give the boys their big b-day gift. Yes, they got their Wii. It was a huge hit! They really had no idea that they were getting one. We kept telling them that they were to not count on getting it because we could not find one. We set the expectation that there was just no way that we could get it. We even took them to a few retail stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) to show them that they literally did not have ANY on the shelves. ......We got them good! :)

I have to say, it is a really fun little toy. I think I might be able to add it to my workout schedule. You can really work up a sweat! lol

Back to School...already?

Well, the summer is officially over for us this year. Days off from school, that is...it is still plenty hot enough to know that the summer season here in AZ is still among us. lol

The kids started school this past Monday and will already be in their 2nd week of school starting tomorrow. I really can not believe it. We had a great summer and was not really that ready to start a new school year, but it is here anyways. Tyler is in the 4th grade this year and Kyle in the 2nd grade. Wow, time flys! Both kids got really wonderful teachers and I am looking forward to working with them through the year in the boys' education.

With the start of a new year also means returning to part time work and volunteering at the school for me. I love being at the school, helping out and also working part time hours as a playground aide a couple days a week.

Here we go....

Happy Belated B-day to my oldest, Tyler!

We have been so busy with family visiting that I am just now getting this b-day post up!

Tyler celebrated his 9th birthday on Friday, July 27. This was his official last day of summer vacation. So, not being in school on his b-day made it a really fun day for him. He got to choose from a list of things that he could do for his big day. One of the things that he choose was to play a 9 hole round of golf at one of the many local golf clubs out here. Yes, I took him in the middle of a hot AZ summer day. What love! :) He was so thrilled. It was his first real time to play on a professional PGA golf course. And I have to say that he did great! If I remember correctly he got one par and a couple of bogey's. Pretty good for a 9 year old, if you ask me. Better than I can do, anyway. After golf we came home, cleaned up, opened gifts and then went out for a b-day dinner. His "big" gift was a new golf club set, so I guess you can say that he had a great "golf" birthday.

Happy Birthday, Tyler. I love you!

Out of touch for a while

Well, it has been a wonderful whirlwind this past week. My sister, Jen, and my brother-in-law came to visit. They arrived on July 28th and left today, Aug. 5th. They stayed for over one week. It was the longest time that we have had to spend together in a REAL LONG TIME! It was absolutely wonderful! We visit them quit a bit through out the year, however it is just not the same as when they come here. There is a lot of family for us to visit in TX when we go there so we pretty much only get "shared and split time" together. When they visit us here in AZ it is just us and them.

We did many fun things together this past week. The week started off with hockey and baseball. They got to see our kidos play hockey (several times actually) and on Sunday we went to see the Diamondbacks and Braves play at Chase field in Phoenix. Then on Monday it was the boys' first day of school. They were so excited to have family here to share in their first day back to school. One of the days Jen went and had lunch with the boys at school. That was a big treat for them. One of the days, after dropping the kids off at school we went out for an entire day of shopping and walking the mall. There were some days that I was not able to spend parts of the day with them, now that I am back to work and volunteering at the school, and they enjoyed getting out and checking out the Scottsdale mall as well as take a few Apple imac and ipod classes.

On Friday we went to see a movie, "The Bourne Ultimatum". It was a great movie, specially if you have seen the first two. After the movie we came home and greeted our dad, who drove in that afternoon from TX to spend the weekend with us. That night we invited some of my hubby's family over and had a little family b-day party for the boy's here at the house. The next day was my b-day. It was a full day, too. Again, more hockey, then some open skate (ice skating)time for those of us who wanted a little exercise. After that we took the long drive out to Cabela's outfitters, per my dad's request. That is a massive store!

We had a relaxing time at home most evenings just enjoying family, doing Sudoku puzzles and watching the BB8 live feeds. There were many wonderful times and lots of memories made. I can't wait until we get to do it again.

Happy Birthday to Me...

...happy birthday to me, happy birthday to mmeeeee, happy birthday to me!!! LOL

Ssshhhhhh...don't tell

With both boys' birthdays being so close together they usually end up getting combined gifts to share each year. Yea, I know, sometimes that can really be a bummer. But, I have to say that they are going to be really surprised and happy at the gift we decided to get them this year.

Yes, I can not believe it but we actually found a Wii system for them. I am not sure how readily available they are where any of you are, but out here in AZ they are really hard to find. Sure, I know, anyone can get them through a seller on ebay and such but it sure is an awesome feeling getting one on your own without having to pay extra for it, or even shipping for that matter.

They have been asking for one for a long time now. We really resisted when they first came out and pretty much set the expectation that it would be a very long time before they got one, if there ever did at all. So needless to say, they are going to be VERY surprised and thrilled this year with their "Shared" gift! BUT....ssshhhh don't tell! This is a big one for them!

Many Fun Days Ahead

As mentioned before, birthday season is upon us. With birthday season comes many fun times, too. As usual this is the time when we get to have most of our family come and visit. Yeah. We are all excited to finally have family come our way and visit us. In fact, when the boys tell people that they are having a birthday soon their next comment is, "my family is coming to see me too". They LOVE it when family comes to see them.

So here is the crazy schedule of events...

-Tyler's B-day is Friday 27th
-My sister and brother in law are coming to visit and hockey pics for boys on Sat. 28th
-MLB game to see the Diamondbacks play on Sun29th- (in a suite right behind home plate - yea baby!)
-First Day of School for the boys on Mon. 30th (Oh yea, did I mention the kids start back to school this week too)
-My Dad and his family come to visit for more b-day fun on Fri., Aug. 3rd
-My B-day and family party for boys, Sat. 4th
-Kyle's B-day Thurs. 9th
-Road trip to San Diego, CA weekend of the 10th
-Last day of hockey, hockey party (maybe?) and Kid b-day party for boys on the 18th

Whew!! I hope that is all because I think it is going to take the rest of the month of August to recover from all that!! OH and did I mention that I was called to go back to work again this year as an aide at the kids school. Boy things sure are crazy around here!

Let the Birthday Season Begin

As jen mentioned, July 10th was the start of the birthday season in our family. July 10th was my mom's birthday and then everyone else (almost) followed. After my mom's is Tyler's, then mine, then Kyle's, then Jen's. Whew! that is a lot of birthdays in a matter of only one month.

So, now that July 10th is behind us, Tyler is up next, July 27th! He can't wait! He has been telling everyone he meets when we are out in town. He is so funny. He can really crack people up and put a smile on their face. It is so fun to watch.

Stay posted as I reveal the rest to come. (oh man, have I been watching too much reality TV!)

New Neighbors

Last week we found ourselves in Tx visiting family and we when we returned home, poof, we had new neighbors. They moved in last week on July 4th. They have 2 kids; a 10 year old girl and 12 year old boy. We ended up spending that evening with them watching fireworks (most of the neighbors on our street were all enjoying the fireworks together) and it seems like my boys have been playing with them everyday since then. It has been so good for the boys to have them to play with, not to mention I have not heard the dreaded phrase, "I'm bored", in quit some time now. I am really kind of liking this. :)

Golf camp this week for Tyler

Well, the week of golf camp is finally here for Tyler. He loves to play golf and has been patiently waiting for over a month to be able to participate in this camp and learn more about the game of golf and how to be a better player. He has taken a few of these camps in the past and absolutely loves them. This summer we decided to try a different camp at a new golf course in town. The course is beautiful and the people working with the kids are wonderful! I really can not get over how well they work with them and really want to help them become better players. I am very impressed so far. They have another camp next week, however I have not made a commitment to enroll Tyler for that one because it starts so early in the morning, at 7AM. The one he is in right now starts everyday at 8:30am and it is a struggle getting him out of bed to be there on time as it is.

Here is a picture that I took of him this morning before we left.

Isn't he handsome?

07/07/07

What a cool date! All day I kept thinking about ALL the people getting married today and also those that were saving the date for a planned c-section (you know, those women that actually get to choose the b-date of their baby like I got to do with my second child) just to have their child born on this date. Pretty Cool!

I have to say it was not much of a BIG day for me. All I did was clean, clean, clean! yepee fun! Nothing much to remember for me.

Summer more than half over for us

I can not believe that our summer is more than half over. We are on a modified year round school year and only get 8 weeks for summer break. I do love the year round schedule, specially in the fall when we get 2 weeks break (most school don't get a break in the fall). However, the summer just seems to go way too fast.

I really enjoy having the kids out of school in the summer. We are on-the-go quit a bit and having a lot of fun. We have already, in the past 6 weeks, been on 3 vacations and many various day trips around the valley here in AZ. At this point, in their summer vacation and all that we have done so far, the kids are really enjoying just being at home. I hope to get out and do one more trip up to northern AZ to visit some friends before it is back to the books.

Big Brother 8

Yes, just like Jen, I am a Big Brother junkie, too. I watched the first Big Brother 8 show yesterday and it seems like this season should be a pretty good one.

It is so neat to watch how people think (or how you think they are thinking and "playing" the game.). It is also really funny to watch some of them make total fools out of themselves.

I already have my player that I am routing for. It is Kail. I think that she may be a Christan. I assume this by the comment that she made about taking her Bible with her during her stay there. You can also kind of tell that she has a definite strategy and I am curious to see how she ends up playing the game in the months ahead. It just seems like she is real level headed and is using her brain rather than emotions and feelings.

Regarding her comment about "not giving up her seat for a pregnant lady" during the HOH competition, in my opinion, is all strategy. My thought is that she is trying to pull the attention of a "miss goodie 2 shoes" label off of herself so she is not such a big target.

Anyways, I will be watching on Sunday...will you?

A New Home Office

In addition to redoing our Kitchen we are also completely redoing our home office. This project is one that we are taking on ourselves. We will be the ones to do all the work as it will save us a lot in labor costs. The work involved is really not all that hard it just takes time.

Here is what we are planning on doing. First, being that the room was originally designed to be a bedroom, not all that big and an odd shape, we are on the hunt for new office furniture that will fit our needs (specifically large 30+ inch monitors, they are VERY hard to find:) yes I live with a computer nerd, ha ) and also fit in the room. Once we find the right furniture then that will help us to know what wall(s) to paint and the color to paint them. The last thing we are planning on is replacing the carpet with laminate flooring. Does not sound like too much, but I can guarantee you that it will take us a good bit of time to get this project completed.

SO tomorrow, after our visit to the tile and granite showroom, we are off to look for office furniture. WooHoo!

A New Kitchen

After being in our home for a little over 3 years now we are finally getting around to redoing our kitchen. This was something that we planned on doing right away after moving in, however... well, I guess time sort of got away.

We are not completely tearing out the whole thing and starting over, just a few things to bring it a little up to date. We are replacing all our appliances with stainless steel and tearing out the nasty tile counter tops and upgrading with granite.

I met with the counter top guy today. He was really shocked at the amount of counter top space we have. Our kitchen is huge, to say the least. He ended up measuring out over 113 square feet. That is a lot and that also means a LOT of $$$.

In addition to the appliances and counter tops we are also replacing both sinks (one is a veggie sink in the island) and fixtures. Yea!

Now that the time is finally here I am SO anxious to have it all completed. It just seems like it can not happen fast enough. But, I am going to have to be patient as the guy told me today that the whole process will, ideally, take about 3-4 weeks and on top of that they are scheduling 4-5 weeks out for installation. Bummer! That takes it to mid September. Oh well.

Our next step is going to the showroom to pick out the slab of granite that we want. We will be doing that tomorrow. Very exciting!

100% Chance of Rain

One of the big topics of conversation lately around here (on vacation in TX) is the small % chance of rain that we may or may not get. As we were driving in the car yesterday I saw a little drop of rain on the windshield and exclaimed "look, a little drop of rain, yea!". When Kyle heard me say that he said something that went a little like this..."yea, that must be a small % chance of rain because if it were 100% chance of rain it would be a bigger drop like this" (as he shows us with his fingers that the size of the rain drop would be really big). HA!HA! We all just cracked up! ... And then tried to explain to him that the % chance of rain does not refer to the size of the rain drops but how likely it is that it will rain. I don't think he really understood because this morning he was still talking about the size of the rain drops.

Oh, the things that kids think and say...it is great!

Beauty Time Together

As posted by my sis...I had the honors of joining my grandmother and sister on one of their routine nail trips to the salon. They have been going together for a VERY long time.

One thing that was quit interesting to me was when we pulled up I noticed a brand new nail spa that had opened right next door. I thought "how odd, 2 salon's right next door to each other". When I saw that I began to wonder if the new one (which looked to be a pretty high end and fancy salon) would eventually put the other (a quit older and dated salon, by the looks of things) out of business. As I thought about that I began to become a little sad by the fact that the times that they share together at that salon would possibly come to an end. Well, that was on our way in and by the time we were on our way out I had a totally different perspective...if either of the 2 salons were to go under it was definitely NOT going to be that one (the older one). That place was packed the whole time we were there! I tell you, I felt like I was treated like royalty! It was exactly what a spa experience should be...make you feel good on the inside AND pretty on the outside.

I hope I have the opportunity to join them again someday.

Running...

I think I have officially made up my mind and have set a goal for myself that is really going to challenge me.

After a long over due shedding of most of my extra "baby" weight, returning to working out on a (somewhat) regular basis, getting back into playing soccer and taking up hockey I have come to realize that pushing my body physically can be very rewarding and a lot of fun too. So, I have decided that I am going to take up running, too, and actually begin training to be able to someday run a marathon. WOW! Huh?

It may sound crazy but I have had many encounters over the past month or so with people who run all the time and actually travel long distances just to compete (or just have fun) in different types of runs. It is fascinating to listen to them talk about their experiences as a runner.

I have to admit that it is going to be difficult trying to start this in the middle of the summer, and the heat. I am not a member at a gym (I work out at home) and so my only way to get running in (instead of on a tread mill) is the outdoors. I am going to have to do my best to fit time in the early morning or late evening. I am not that much of a morning person so it is going to be really hard to get up too early. I might have to start by getting out in the evenings. Maybe I will try both and see what works best.

If there are any of you that may have some advice on how to get started, or any other "good to know" tips, they would be greatly appreciated.

Some lilke it HOT...some NOT

Their heeerrreeee....the wonderful HOT AZ months. This is the time of year when I REALLY long to live somewhere else.

We have gotten up really early the past couple of days to enjoy the outdoors before it gets too hot to be outside. However, I am still trying to determine, in my mind, just exactly what "too hot" is .

I have one of those nifty temp gauges on my car and at 8:30am this morning it was telling me that it was already 97 degrees outside. WHAT! no way, it couldn't already be closing in on 100 degrees that early in the morning, the day was just getting started! But oh yea, it was confirmed after I saw a temp reading from a digital retail sign that I later passed on my way to the soccer park. It was in deed 97 degrees. Boy was that depressing, as I definitely knew what the afternoon was going to bring...being confined to the indoors, with the AC on high. (I know, I can at least be thankful for the the AC...ok,ok) Still...no fun was to be had in the outdoors today.

We do have plans to visit the community pool sometime soon. I am sure that will be a hit and a nice "cool" place to be for most of the summer days, still yet to come.

NASA's Atlantis STS-117

Crew members on today's launch aboard the Atlantis STS-117 mission.

Successful Launch!

Learning to Blog...

Just playing around with Picasa and
posting pics.

DUCKS TAKE THE CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DUCKS ARE STANLEY CUP CHAMPS!!!

The Ducks team picture with the Stanley Cup after their win this evening over the Senators.



This is the Captain of the team, Scott Niedermayer, doing the traditional hoisting of the cup after it was presented to him and his team.

It was a great game. I would LOVED to have been there to see The Cup. It has to be one of the most difficult awards to win of any sport, with 82 regular season games and as many as 28 play off games. That's 110 games! Wow...think about it... each NFL team only plays 12 regular season games and just a hand full of playoff games (not sure the exact number). That does not even come close to the games played by an NHL team. Then throw in the physicalness of the game. It has to be the most physical sport there is. I heard a comment from one of the guys who won The Cup last year and he said that it took him almost 1 month to recover after the playoffs and to not "hurt" after waking up in the mornings. Whoooo! Heck, I play hockey (the bad news bears type, HA!) and it takes me a couple of days to recover from only about 1 hour on the ice. I can not imagine going through a play off series of games. I do have to say though, with as much as I love hockey, part of me at times wishes I was a male so that I could at least dream of playing in the NHL someday. haha!

Thanks to all of you who helped in cheering the Ducks on to victory and keeping The Cup on US soil.

Congratulations Ducks, 2007 Stanley Cup Champs!!

Future space walkers

Atlantis STS - 117, scheduled for launch this Friday

During our time in Orlando we headed out to tour NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This was an awesome time to go as they were (still are) in the process of preparing for the next shuttle launch. I have to say that this was probably my most favorite part of our whole trip (next to seeing the ocean). We went on a bus tour (being that civilians can not get past a certain point of the secured area on their own) of the entire grounds and facilities. We got to see the launch pad (with the shuttle Atlantis already on the pad being prepped for launch), the pay load clean room facility, the vehicle assembly building and much more. All I can say is WOW.



Here is a picture of the boys with the launch pad in the background.

Here is a picture of a closer look at the launch pad. If you look closely you can see an orange colored tip towards the top middle of the structure. That is the tip of the external fuel tank and the shuttle is attached to it.

This shuttle launch is one to remember for our family as one of the crew members is a former school mate and long time friend of Shaun's. He is Danny Olivas. You can see and learn more about him here http://floridatoday.com/legacy/multimedia/interactivegraphics/space/sts117crew/sts117astronauts.html . Danny and Shaun went to grade school, Jr. high, high school and college together. They graduated from Burges High and attended UTEP together in El Paso.

Anyways, the shuttle is scheduled for a 7:38 pm (eastern) launch time this Friday, the 8th of June. I hope to be able to watch it. I am not sure what that day will bring yet or what we will be doing.

Soccer champs proof...

Ok, here it is...A picture of the T-Shirt that we got for winning and coming in 1st place for the spring soccer season.

Go Ducks Go

It's the "Quest for the Cup", baby!

YEE-HA!!! The Ducks won tonight in game 4 of the cup final series against the Ottawa Senators. That puts them in the lead with 3 wins to 1 over the Sens. Game 5, scheduled for Wednesday, will be played in Anaheim. If they can bring home the win then they will bring home The Cup! Oh Man, I would LOVE to be at that game! Buutt... since I can't, I will be glued to the TV anxiously watching. If anyone is interested, you can catch the game on NBC at 8pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific). Help me cheer on the Ducks and keep the Cup on US soil. Yea!

Go Ducks Go!!

Soccer champs

Kind of old news here but still thought that it was worthy of a post...

The week before we took our vacation I played in my last soccer game of the season...

It was down to the wire and we were fighting for 1st place in our division. We were seated number 2 going up against the number 1 team. We all knew they were really good and it was going to take some of our best effort to beat them that night. Just as we thought, it was indeed a tough game. So tough that it ended in a nail biting shot out finish. First they scored, then we scored, they scored again, then us, and then....yes they missed. We could not believe it. All we had to do was score the next one and then we would be one up on them for the 1st time ever. But...we could not do it....however, in the end, thanks to our awesome goalie, we finally pulled it off when he stopped the last shot from the other team. We finally did it. We WON!

Now ...I know that winning isn't everything, but it sure is a great feeling...specially when you are playing in the "old fart" league. HA! It sure makes you feel good.

BTW...when you play in the "old fart" league you no longer get the nice little trophies to show off but rather the "...been there, done that, got the t-shirt" award. (yea, we got the t-shirts with "Champions" on it) pretty cool!

School is out, time for some summer fun!

Well, now that school is out and we have already taken our big vacation....what next?

As usual, we will most likely be visiting family in TX sometime this summer. Other than that it is time to find things to keep the kidos busy and not get too bored the next eight weeks...or so. (School out here starts back on July 30th, so the summer will not be too long)

Both of the boys are still playing hockey. Their season ends right before the start of school, thank goodness (it is too hot out here in AZ for any other sport during the summer). In addition to hockey, Tyler will be taking a week long Jr. Golf camp and Kyle will be taking a week long soccer camp.

To fill in the gaps there is always the local swimming complex. It is a very nice facility and is almost like a mini water park with large slides, a lazy river, interactive water features, and even a water vortex (aka the toilet bowl, ha!).

Oh yea...we may even get to the other Disney park (Disneyland in CA), too, before the summer is over. I am trying to talk my sister into coming to visit and if she does I told her that we would take her (and her hubby) to see Mickey (HA!). Disneyland is a very easy trip for us from our house and it is always a lot of fun.

Oh yea and then there is always just chilln' at home.

I'm still here...

I know... I know...you are probably wondering...did she fall off the edge of the earth or something...
Well, I guess you could say that we went to the eastern edge of the US....but no, I did not fall off! HA!

Actually we took a nice family vacation to Florida. We stayed in Orlando and of course went to The World (Disney, that is), NASA's Kennedy Space Center (that was the best!) and Busch Gardens. Yea, we had a great time. We even found some time to relax a little at the resort that we stayed in. And WOW! the resort we stayed in was wonderful! Some friends of ours let us use a week of their time share. It was so great that I think we are going to have to look at buying into our own time share now.

Anyways...we took lots of pictures and had a lot of good fun. I will do my best to post some of the pics soon and share some of our vacation experiences.

The Dentist

I went to the dentist today to have 3 teeth worked on. Yuk!

Two of the teeth were on each side of my lower jaw and so needless to say it was really interesting the rest of the day. They must have been really bad or really close to the nerve because they gave me a lot of medication to numb my mouth, more than I ever remember having. Every time I tried to eat, drink, or talk I had to literally hold my bottom jaw and move it and make it do what I needed it to do. It was so embarrassing at times. I even had to hold my mouth when I was checking out of a store because I could barely talk and when I did I started to drool. Oh my, I can only wonder what the guy at the check out counter must have thought. HA! On the positive side...It made me think of how very thankful I am for my health and that on a normal, typical day I do have the ability to eat, drink and talk with out any assistance. I am also thankful for the resources that I have such as dental insurance and a good knowledgeable dentist to keep my teeth in working order. (smile)

1Thes 5:18 comes to mind...."Give thanks in everything.."

He shoots...He scores

OK there is something that I overlooked in my last post...in regards to our first 3v3 hockey experience Sunday afternoon...

Yes, let it be known, Shaun hit the score board first and scored his first hockey goal ever! Way to go Shaun!

This is how it went.... he was playing the right wing (he shoots lefty) heading toward the goal. His teammate passed the puck to him and it sort of fumbled on his stick as it went a little past him. The goalie dropped to a butterfly (he covered the bottom half of the net) and he got pretzel feet and started to fall. Shaun switched to his backhand and sent the puck over the goalie's left shoulder!! He scored his first official hockey goal, and did it while falling down, too.

A Great Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day today. It started off with church, then lunch, then (my first experience at) 3 on 3 hockey, and finally it was home with pizza to watch the Ducks hand it to the Wings in OT! Yeah!

I have to say that today's message from our pastor was very refreshing. When I got there I sat down and kind of expected to hear the same o'l sermon as you tend to hear year after year on Mother's Day. You know, the scripture from proverbs 31 or something from psalms. Well, not today. It was great. I learned about Timothy and Timothy's mother, Eunice (to be honest I never remember ever reading or studying about Eunice). It was so great. There is so much to learn about Timothy and as you/I look at his life it is VERY evident that he was who he was mostly because of his mother and her diligence of bringing him up in The Faith. Timothy was a pretty big "Jesus Freak" (as we would say today) and changed many people with his life and how he lived, even Paul. Wow! He was a pretty influential man! In fact, in the New Testament there are 2 books written to Timothy and 4 others that refer to him or make mention of him. Wow! I pray that my sons would some day eventually have the faith and passion in Jesus like Timothy had. What a great story, example and truth we are given here in regards to raising children. The scripture that we studied from was Acts 6 and 2 Timothy 1. Check it out sometime, it is great.

Well, after church it was lunch and then off to the ice for our first experience at 3 on 3 hockey. Man, what a BLAST! We had a great time with that. After hockey it was time for dinner and more hockey. It was playoff hockey at home to watch the Ducks and Red Wings in their 2nd game of the series. The Ducks were able to pull off a win in OT at the Joe in Detroit! Go, Ducks, Go! A great end to a great day!

So, anyways...for all you mothers out there...Happy Mother's Day! Hope you had a wonderful day!

Ready for our 3 on 3...

Senators win tonight and take a 2-0 lead in the series...Bummer!!

Time for a little NHL talk...

As you might know (or not) the NHL is about midway through the Stanley Cup playoffs. Currently there are 4 teams left in the fight for THE cup. The Ducks and the Red Wings are battling for the western conference camps. And the Sabers and the Senators are the final 2 in it for the eastern conference. The winners of those two series will advance and play for the Stanley Cup (the ultimate of all honors). Of the two series currently being played I am cheering on the Ducks in the western conf. and the Sabers for the Eastern conf. The Ducks because...well I am just not a fan of the Wings and the Sabers because of a couple of the players on their team that we used to know when they played for Phoenix (Numminen and Briere...they are great guys and I would love to see them go all the way and win the cup).

All I can say right now is that it is not looking good for the Sabers. I just finished watching the Ottawa Senators beat the Buffalo Sabers in over time. It was a good game as Briere (Sabers) tied it up with only 6 seconds left in the game. Then it went all the way to double overtime when the senators scored off of a face-off. It was a quick slap shot and it was over. They lead the series 2-0 and now the Sabers have to play in the Senators home ice...that is not good as the fans really do contribute alot to the game of hockey. Specially Canadian fans...oowwww...not good, Sabers.

The Ducks and the Wings meet again tomorrow for the second time. The Wings won the first game and have the 1-0 lead in their series. It is a 7:30 ET start time. (4:30PT). You can find it on Versus (which is where we tune into for most games). We get it through Direct TV (it is just a regular basic programing channel) it think channel 608. If you can get it check it out. It is sure to be a great game . The Ducks and the Wings are pretty evenly matched teams. ((This is mostly for Jen...Ok..you got me into and hooked on blogging now it is your turn to learn a little a hockey and give it try. Hehe!))

Ok, I know...I know...this may be a little boring to some of you...but stick around...hockey really is an interesting sport to watch and a lot of fun. It is big in our house right now (with playoffs and all). So I am sure there will be more to come as the games go on. You can check out more on http://www.nhl.com/

9 more days...and counting...How many for you?

Ok, after reading many blogs out there I think most everyone is counting the number of days until school is out for the summer. Whether you are a student yourself, a parent of school age children or just live in a neighborhood of school children you can probably feel the since of anticipation of another school year coming to a close. What follows is usually a fun, relaxing and hot (for us anyways) summer. So far we have an eventful summer ahead of us. We have a family vacation planned for Walt Disney World in Orlando, a trip to visit family back home in TX, the continuation of hockey, and of course some swimming. With only 8 weeks of summer (yep only 8 weeks, we are on a modified year round calendar) it is sure to fly by with not much time for anything else. What about you? Anything exciting in the works for the summer months?

Also, next week my kids will get to find out who their teacher will be for next year. They will be moving up to 4th and a 2nd grade. WOW! I think most schools make the kids wait until right before school starts to find out who their teacher will be for the year. That is how our school has done it out here, anyways. That is how I remember it as a kid, too. However, this year the principal is going to try something new and make classroom/teacher assignments before the school year is over. That way the students will have all summer to look forward ( or NOT! uuuhh) to their new teacher, for the following year. This is also the first year at our school that they are not accepting teacher requests. (that's a bummer!) It is probably due to our school getting to be way too big. In fact this year we had to add 2 portables to the campus. Our small little town is not so small anymore. Oh well.