Player of the Game, Happy Birthday, & Merry Christmas!

We've been super busy with school and basketball finishing up before Christmas break; getting ready for Christmas...decorating, cards, letters, baking, shopping, etc. Haven't had much time to update the blog and unfortunately, pictures are on the camera card that is currently with some friends, but here goes...

Heather earned 'Player of the Game' in their game against Stapley for shooting 2 three-point shots (in a row)! She did awesome! Unfortunately, they still lost the game but she had fun. Mom gave Brandon a hard time because, although he was at the game to support here, he was very 'involved' with a brickbreaker game on his phone during both of her three-pointers.

Brandon celebrated his 19th birthday the week before Christmas. He got (an early present) a ticket (and cash) to go the ASU vs UofA football game in Tucson and then we took him and his friends Dan & Jessica out to dinner at Olive Garden.

We had a great Christmas (aside from a slight plumbing problem that started the day before Christmas Eve and therefore wasn't able to be fixed for about a week). The kids got everything they wanted and more (well, maybe not everything but they faired well). They got mom & dad out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to open presents. The popular items this year were clothes, shoes, jackets and gift cards for the older kids and of course, toys for Dean...Bakugan, chapter books, Ben 10, etc. Derek's family (well, part of them)and some friends came over Christmas morning for breakfast (biscuits & gravy, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, and Grandpa Tommy's 'concoction' (egg, potato, ham & cheese casserole). It was a nice day!

Chris & Tyler playing with Dean's toys

Kim excited about one of her new DVDs

Tiffany sporting some of her new clothes

Dean showing off his new Pumas! He's been wanting these shoes for months but mom could never find them.

Heather is, for some reason, obsessed with office supplies...she got an OfficeMax gift card!

Happy Belated Birthday, Tyler!

OK, so it's been way too long since my last post and I just realized that I still had my Halloween background up and it is now November 9th. I also missed posting a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Tyler (sorry T)...Tyler turned 20 on November 1st. It's hard to believe! Also, a belated Happy Birthday to Sharon!!! We took Tyler & Sharon out to Red Lobster for their birthdays and then had them over for dinner on Sunday for tacos and taco soup (their favorites). Here's the new blazer he bought for his birthday...


Here's a few pictures from Halloween. Unfortunately, I missed Kim in her costume. She left early and went trick-or-treating with the neighbors.
Here's Dean (Batman) and his friend Willy


Heather and her friend Marlee (dressed as Brandon)


And Molly getting her 'treat'...she's just a little spoiled, don't you think???

There are aliens among us...

So, Brandon's game last Saturday was at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, home of the famous 1947 Roswell UFO incident/crash. So, we went on an alien adventure and although we didn't see any 'real' aliens or even any live 'alien impersonators' (hmmm....not sure that word really works in that sense) we had a great time. It was a very long drive, they lost, and an even longer drive home (although we did decide to stop on the way and sleep.

I would like to give a special thanks to all who helped us out so we could make this trip...Beaudoins, Mom & Paul, Whitfields, Ericksons and L'Heureux's!!!!!!!

It was rather interesting to see the entire town with its 'alien theme'. Most all of the storefronts were painted with some type of 'alien' scene. We stopped at the local Wal-Mart only to find this on the front of the building...


...and Heather and her friend Marlee found this inside...
"UFO H2O" who would have thought?

We drove by the local McDonald's, which is designed like a space ship (pretty cool)


We tried to visit the UFO Museum Research Center but they were closed when we got there. We did take a few fun pictures nearby. Unfortunately most of these displays were inside the front windows of the little shops nearby and there was a bad glare from the sun but it's the best we could get since we couldn't get in to the museum.

Here's the museum sign with a view of one of the street lights that line this main downtown area.


Brandon and cousin, Carl



The Coke machine we walked by on the street corner


One of the storefronts


Heather and Marlee in one of the shops we visited, pictured with the alien displaying the local newspaper from the 1947 incident.


The gang...


I got some great photos of Brandon playing this week and we made a few other stops on the way home. All-in-all it was a nice relaxing, fun weekend. We had Heather and Marlee on the way there and added Brandon and Carl on the way home. We spent the night in a hotel Friday and Saturday evenings and even got to spend a little time with our friend Brent, who was able to make the short drive up from his new/temporary home to attend the game and join us for dinner. It was great to see him. Here are some other random photos from our weekend trip.

Brandon's SCC Spotlight

Brandon had mentioned a couple weeks ago that he was interviewed at school but he wasn't sure what they were going to do with it. Well, I've been doing some research to find out where they might be posting it. They televised one of his games last week but it wasn't part of that. Anyway, this morning I found it posted on the Maricopa Community College website at www.maricopa.edu/mctv in their Inside Maricopa Sports segment. It's a great spotlight if you want to check it out...

Molly

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!

Today is Chris' birthday. He turned 22 today. It's hard to believe!

We had him and Tiffany over for dinner; spaghetti w/hot Italian sausage and white cake and ice cream. We got him a couple pair of new Vans (shoes). Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of them but he was excited. His old ones were getting pretty ragged. Happy Birthday Chris! We love you!!!
Tyler and Sharon came over to help celebrate too.

Chris & Tyler both brought the 'grandpuppies' over tonight as well.
Einstein is Chris and Tiffany's puppy. He's about 4 months old and is a German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mix.

Scarlet is Tyler & Sharon's puppy. She is a 5 month old Yorkie Poo. I tried to get a picture of her standing up on her hind legs (it was so cute) but then Brandon walked in the door and she decided she didn't like him and wouldn't stop barking at him. Then Kim and Heather and Patrick all came in within about 5 minutes of each other and she was barking at each of them as they came in. We couldn't get her to stand up again after that, even with a treat.


It was a rough week of football last week. All 3 teams lost. Better luck next week! Skyline JV and Varsity both play Carl Hayden this week (both at home) and SCC plays Western Arizona in Yuma. Brandon is hoping to get lots of passing in this next game. He's very excited about that! Last week's game will be televised on Wednesday 9/24 at 7:05 on Cox Digital Cable channel 115 in AZ.

Family Photos

So, we finally had some new family photos taken so we thought we'd share...

Heather recently tried out for a club softball team and did really well. They asked her to join the team. She is very excited. They don't have any games scheduled yet but have been practicing 2 nights a week.

We made it through another week of football. Patrick's team beat Alhambra 62-6. He played well and had a really nice tackle. Brandon's team beat Pima College 48-8. Brandon had a bit of an off night but obviously not too bad. He sat out most of the 4th quarter because they were so far ahead. He's looking forward to the game this week against Glendale Community College in hopes they'll have a little more competition. Tiffany's team beat North 26-6. The cheer squad definitely had a better week than last week. They actually cheered a lot more this week and were a little more enthusiastic. Their half-time dance performances have been great!

Derek's company picnic was this past weekend at Big Surf. The whole family was able to make it. It was a lot of fun! Derek made me take the camera but I didn't even use it.

Proud to be an American

I heard the most amazing September 11th Tribute this morning on the JohnJay & Rich radio show (104.7 KISS FM). It's about 18 minutes long but worth every second. It's an MP3 file so I couldn't figure out how to include it on my blog but you can listen to it on their website at: http://johnjayandrich.1047kissfm.com/pages/podcasts.php

Our hearts go out to all those who lost loved ones or were in other ways affected by the tragedy 7 years ago today.

FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, and more FOOTBALL!!!

In case you didn't know...it's football season! Wednesday night we went with Heather and Kim to watch the junior high game. Thursday Tiffany cheered for the JV game. They lost but it was fun to watch Tiffany cheer. Friday was the varsity game and Saturday was Brandon's first college game at SCC. He only got to play the first half because they were up 41-2 at halftime and the other 2 backup QBs got to play the 2nd half. They ended up winning 58-2. They played a semi-pro team from Tempe. He threw 3 touchdown passes and ran another one. He only had one incomplete pass out of about 14 or so and about 200 yards. He didn't get to throw any of his long passes this game but maybe next week.

Here are some pictures of Tiffany cheering.






Brandon (watching during the 2nd half)...

...and anxiously stripping off all the gear after the game (with cousin Carl).

Brandon's 1st Day of School

So, as promised, here is Brandon's first day of school photo. He's really difficult to photograph. He will grudgingly agree to 'one' photo and that's pushing it. He also doesn't like to take pictures in the front yard. So, in trying to locate an ok place to take a photo inside the house, this is the best we get...



He had an ok first week. He wasn't too excited to have homework on the first day but hey, that's part of school, right?!! He's been spending a lot of time at SCC between classes and long practices getting ready for the big opening game on Saturday.

First Day of School

Here are a few pictures from the kids first day of school. Dean is starting 3rd grade, Heather and Kim are Freshman, Tiffany is a Sophomore, and Patrick is a Senior. Time flies...I can't believe my girls are high school age! Brandon has a couple more weeks before he starts at SCC so I'll have to torture him then but here are the other kids...

Summer...Come and Gone!!!

Wow, I can't believe summer break is over and I haven't updated the blog for 3 months! Sorry about that! The sad thing is, we really haven't been nearly as busy this summer as we normally are. I guess I've been spoiled and getting some much needed R&R. Well, we've recently been busy school shopping and getting ready for the new school year and getting everyone's schedules figured out. School starts on Monday, August 11th. Wooooooohoooooo! EVERYONE here is so excited about that. Well, what have we been up to all summer?

Dean went to summer school in June to get a little extra reading help. Since then he has been bored out of his mind and, like the other kids, becoming rather lazy. He is anxious to get back to school and also ready to start playing baseball. We will probably be signing him up to play on a fall baseball team soon.

Heather has been busy babysitting; playing softball (she was on the All-Star team and also played a few games with a traveling team); she got braces last month and is VERY excited about that, of course her first set of bands had to be 'blue and orange'! She has spent the past couple of weeks at volleyball camps at her Junior High and also the high school and is having lots of fun with that. She will have tryouts for the junior high team during the first week of school.

Tiffany has also been doing some babysitting along with some weight lifting and lots of cheering and dancing. She is really having fun with cheer. At cheer camp, she made All-Stars and is supposed to go to Houston to compete. She is anxiously awaiting the time (in the near future) when she gets to have her braces removed! Can you believe Tiffany is going to be in High School??? It's hard to believe; only 3 more years!

Kimberly has also been babysitting most of the summer. She and the other girls went to church camp in June and had a lot of fun. Kimberly was called to serve as the Mia Maids President for her age group in the Young Women's program at church.

Patrick has been practicing and gearing up for football all summer. He's also been pulling lots of weeds and being lazy around the house. He was suppose to have a job but hasn't had much luck with that.

Brandon has also been practicing and gearing up for football and is registered and ready for college! He will be attending Scottsdale Community College on football scholarship and learned recently that he will be starting so we are all excited about that. He is scheduled for 16 hours first semester so between that and football he will be keeping busy. He also got a job this summer; yes can you believe that, Brandon has a job!!! He's working with Dad at the auction yard. He calls himself the Assistant General Manager (Dad is the General Manager). He acts like one too, trying to hang out in the office all day sleeping with his feet up on the desk :)

Tyler is still working and playing...what Tyler does best. Chris has moved back down from Flagstaff and he and his girlfriend, Tiffany have moved in with Tyler and his girlfriend, Sharon. They both have new puppies...We call them the 'grandpuppies' and we are ok with that for now! It's nice to have them fairly close by and they do come visit quite often (only if we bribe them with dinner).

We are hoping to have some new family photos taken soon so we'll be posting some of those as soon as we can make that happen. Once school starts next week and all the sporting events gear back up our schedules will go back to crazy busy mode again. Assuming Heather makes the volleyball team we will have games 4 nights a week plus all the other stuff; Monday and Tuesday Tiffany will be dancing, Tuesday-Heather's volleyball games; Thursday-Tiffany cheers for JV football games; Friday-Patrick's Varsity football games; Saturday-Brandon's SCC games. I need to find some pictures to add but will have to update later. For now, I'm off to pick up Heather from volleyball camp and it is pouring outside right now with some good thunder and lightning!

Graduation

Well, for the first time in, I don't know, 20+ years it rained on graduation night in Mesa. Last minute backup plan was moving graduation into the gym and the auditorium. They had to split the class in half. It was a bummer not to have them all together but we survived it and Brandon received his diploma! We didn't get nice pictures which really stinks but he did it and we are SO proud of him. We will miss his school friends and sporting events but look forward to watching him grow, learn, and succeed at the next level. CONGRATULATIONS Brandon and the entire Class of 2008!! We are proud of you and we love you!

Athletes

Over the last few days we've had the opportunity to attend several end-of-the-school-year events including: choir concert; orchestra concert and various award ceremonies. Patrick received his first varsity letter from Skyline for track. Way to go Patrick! We look forward to watching him play football, wrestle, and compete in track again next year with Skyline.



Today we attended Westwood's Senior Awards Ceremony. What an amazing group of seniors they have there! Brandon received the Mutt Ford Athletic Award (which is basically best multi-sport athlete).



We are so proud of all of our kids and their accomplishments during this school year.