GO Crossfire!

This year Cameron is on a new junior level soccer team...their name is the Crossfire. They are now 2 games into the spring season and have won both games. This weekends game was a great one ending with a score of 3-1. Cameron did a super job on defense and really likes this new team, especially since his bestfriends Kia and CJ are also on the team. Here are a few pictures from Saturdays game. GO CROSSFIRE!

Random Wednesday

Finally starting to feel better…after 3 long weeks of sickness.
Kids are on school break.
Work is agonizingly slow.
I hate it when it’s slow.
The weather is perfect, blue skies and lots of sunshine.
Pure torture when seeing it from my office window.
Can’t wait until our vacation!!
John called…left work early at 2:00.
I ditched a boring 401K meeting and was home by 2:15.
Took the kids to Target…I love Target.
Zach went to soccer practice.
The knees are MUCH better.
Cam went to the Rec. Center with a friend.
Folded some laundry…I hate laundry.
Need sunshine...must get outside.
John and I took Ash on a bike ride.
3 miles…what a champ!

All this before 6:00.
Celtics and Suns game...John’s 2 favorite teams.
Read my new book...Baby Proof (it's not what you think).
Indulged in a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg…my favorite Easter candy.
Dropped the kids off at a sleepover.
Went on an impromptu date night.
New place…fabulous food…nice band.
Excellent conversation…he’s always so funny.
House is clean and quiet.
Way too late to be on the computer…logged in anyways.
Checked my progress chart.
Lost 7 pounds in 10 days…proud to say I'm a Big Loser!
Ordered 2 swimsuits to celebrate.
Can’t wait until our vacation!!
Received an awesome email from a dear friend.
Logged off…so tired…can’t sleep…too much to think about.

Easter Sunday

Oh how I love Easter Sunday!! It's the official signal of Spring, it's a special day to really focus on the Savior's life and Resurrection and of course it's a great day spent with wonderful friends and family (oh and the chocolate bunnies are pretty great too).

But it just wouldn't be Easter morning in Colorado without a little overnight snow to blanket the yard...taking with it any chance of an outdoor Easter egg hunt and the colorful photos that I was so looking forward too.

Next best thing...indoor Easter egg hunt, that Easter Bunny sure is a clever one.

After the egg hunting was over we all sat down and enjoyed Ashley's yummy cinnamon rolls...oh were they good!!

As we were heading out to church the temperature was already starting to rise and after the hour long service the snow was pretty much gone and the weather had turned down right beautiful. As soon as we got home the kids quickly changed out of their good clothes and were out jumping on the trampoline, soaking in the sun shine. Jane, Phil, Nathan and Cameron along with my brother Chris' family joined us for a yummy Easter dinner. Then we all sat around the table enjoying the adult conversation while the kids were all outside enjoying the nice weather. All in all it was an absolutely wonderful day.

My Little Protégé

Look who made our traditional Easter Morning Cinnamon Rolls this year.

Getting ready for the Easter Bunny!

My 15 minutes of fame!!

At the urging of my fellow co-workers, I sent the picture I took last night of the Rapids stadium at sunset to our local channel 7 news and guess what...they used it as the front page of their website. How cool is that...it has my name and everything. Oh how I'm going to relish the next 10 minutes...or at least until they take it down.

Burgundy vs Blue

Last night the kids and I were treated to the Colorado Rapids annual Burgundy vs Blue pre-season showcase. The exhibition game featured all the Rapids players and was such a blast.

The night was even better since we went with all the boys from Zach's soccer team.

Even better than that...it was OPEN seating, so we scored excellent seats. Of cource the boys had to be in the middle of the action and chose the front row directly behind the goal.

While the parents and little kids stuck to the upclose sideline seats where there was a little less action in the stands.

But even better than that... it was totally FREE, so we ended up doing a little shopping. The boys both got new Rapid's jerseys and I even let Ashley and Cam splurge on some junk food.

Plus the weather was absolutley perfect and the game ended in an 1-1 tie, which was great since both teams had some of our favorite players.

10 things I love about this guy…

Not sure what prompted this post…(maybe it's all the sinus medication) I guess at this moment I’m just feeling very blessed to have such a wonderful, adorable, thoughtful person to share my crazy life with.

10 things I love about this guy…

1) He is super easy going. John doesn't let much bother him and he’s so much calmer and mellower than I am…he’s the perfect balance to my crazy personality and really helps me remember to relax and enjoy the moment.

2) He is extremely honest and honorable. He always drives the speed limit, tells cashiers if they’ve accidentally undercharged him and is the first to step up and be held accountable for himself. Oh and he’s always first to apologize and call a truce if we squabble, which is great because I’m super stubborn and hate admitting when I’m wrong.

3) He is the hardest working person I know. John will do whatever it takes to finish a job and get it done right…both around the house (especially lately) and at work, which sometimes means working 80+ hours a week when necessary.

4) He is wildly funny. He has no problem poking fun at himself and always finds the humor in every situation. He continually cracks me up on a daily basis, most especially when I’m trying to be mad at him.

5) He is extremely patent and understanding. This makes him a fantastic dad. He’s a great mediator / referee between the kids and is a perfect comforter during difficult times…they always know they can turn to him for support with anything…even better so can I.

6) He is very confident and content with himself. In his handbook of life there’s no such thing as keeping up with the Jones and he really doesn’t care what other people think. This at times can be a frustrating quality…especially in the style department, like when he pairs polo shirts with basketball shorts and black socks with brown sandals…yes that bad. Even though this can be mildly embarrassing at times, I think his quiet confidence is what I love most about him.

7) He is so goodhearted and charitable minded. He always rewards good service with a sincere thank you and more times than I can count, John has sought out a manager to pass along a complement of one of their employees. He always puts others first and goes out of his way to help anyone in need...and would literally give them the shirt off his back or even better he'd buy them a new one.

8) He is humble beyond measure. He acknowledges our creators hand in everything he does and always strives to live a Christ centered life. Plus he hates being praised or receiving any sort of recognition but he is always the first one to pass any accolades on to others. With that said he will absolutely be mortified by this blog entry and beg me profusely to delete it.

9) He is very engaging. Everyone likes John…he’s a very likable guy. He has this great knack for making people feel like they’ve known him for years. Oh and he can talk to anyone…and when I say he can, I actually mean he does. John is super friendly and can strike up a conversation with anyone…from the high school age ticket taker at the movies to the random elderly man buying paper plates at Target. This is a continual source of embarrassment for the kids, as for me I hope and pray that they inherit this same quality someday.

10) He is absolutely adorable and I’m not just talking physically here, which of course I think he is…but here are a couple adorable things about him; he’s a candy junkie (no chocolate though and the more sour the better), he has major OCD especially with things like band aids, hair ties and tiny scraps of paper (he won’t pick them up), he sings and hums all the time (his favorites are Christmas songs in July), he yells and cheers while watching basketball on TV as if he was actually sitting courtside and lastly he never leaves the house or hangs up the phone without first saying “I love you”…what a nice guy.

Bum Knee Update

First a little good news, it looks like Zach just had a little bout of the stomach flu yesterday since he's already feeling better and is happily back at school today, good thing because today he has another day of CSAPs (Colorado standardized tests).

The diagnosis for Zach's knee on the other hand can be described in one word...Bummer!! It looks like for the next 2 weeks (possibly 3) Zach has to take a break from soccer and any other physical activities to rest his knee until the swelling and pain go away, then he can ease back into practice and possibly play in a game. It actually may not heal completely until he's finished growing...I'm thinking that may be awhile.

Needless to say he is quite bummed...especially since he's only 1 week into the 10 week competitive soccer season. But boy is this kid determined to get better as soon as possible! So far he's being very responsible about wearing his knee band, icing it 3 times a day and elevating his leg as often as he can. Which of course is a great excuse for playing his new Smash Brothers game on the Wii and having his family wait on him!

Two sickies and a bum knee

I think all this crazy changing weather is literally making some of us sick. I rarely get sick but I was out of commission on Friday with a sinus infection, ear infection and strep throat...yuck. Thankfully my doctor gave me a big bottle of Robitussin AC (it has codeine in it) so I finally got some good sleep over the weekend. Then yesterday Zach started complaining that his throat hurt, actually he thought he had something stuck in it and gave us all a little scare but this morning he threw up two times, so were pretty sure if there was actually something stuck it's gone now. I'm taking him to the doctor this morning so we'll see if he has strep as well. This is what the poor boy looks like passed out on the couch this morning...

On top of all that Zach hurt his knee playing soccer...we'll it's actually a condition called Osgood-Schlatter disease and it is common in young athletes. It occurs mostly in boys who are having a growth spurt during their pre-teen years...although I think spurt is an understatement in Zach's case. It's when your muscles are growing faster than your tendons (in his case it's the patella tendon that runs through the knee) and it stresses the tendon and playing sports especially soccer can aggravate it causing it to swell and sometimes pull away from the shin bone. You have to understand something about Zach he plays soccer twice a day at school, then has an hour and a half of team practices 3 days a week and plus games on the weekend, where he plays all 60 minutes and is never subbed out. Plus he just finished a 4 game tournament and a 10 week indoor soccer season. So after all that he now he has a large bump under his knee that looks almost like a second knee cap...I know gross. Well he's getting it checked out today but unfortunately the recommended treatment is usually just ice, ibuprofen and rest which he's not looking forward too considering they just had their first spring season soccer game on Saturday...oh and they tied 1-1.

I'll keep you posted and hopefully we can all get healthy...because I'm running out of sick days!!

Here comes March and it's crazy weather...

I know I've posted about Colorado's revolving door weather before but this weekend we had a seriously crazy weather shift.

Welcome spring!! Saturday was a glorious day and we spent most of it outside. The kids even had a nice little driveway picnic lunch out in the sunny 70 degree weather...Cameron designed the table himself and notice the shorts and lack of shoes!! Then they spent a few hours jumping on the trampoline, playing basketball and riding their bikes.

Zach doing a Vitamin Water commercial.

We all really enjoyed our first spring-like weather day and it got us really excited for our upcoming spring break trip to sunny San Diego...but spring can be a funny season in Colorado.

On Sunday we woke up to a wet, slushy, blowing snow storm with wind chill temps hanging around 10 degrees and of course Zach had a 8:30 am indoor soccer game across town...thank goodness for Starbucks drive-thru.


and here's what our driveway that hosted the lovely sunny picnic looks like this morning...gotta love crazy Colorado weather.