b ball in the church building

Jimmer's wife just posted this photo on Twitter and said in her caption "his toy just arrived, he is in heaven"......cool and all, but can he just set up his toy in the church building, because that is definitely a Mormon church building.  It looks pretty hard to set up, does he just leave it there?  Can others use it?  Did he donate it to the building?  What calling does he have so that he gets a key or a code to get in?  Does he pay the extra PG and E bill for the lights?  Or does his tithing cover is, since his tithing is probably a lot since he is surely a millionaire?  Does he invite Tyreke and Cousins to come shoot with him?  And while they are there, do the missionaries come, and teach them the discussions??  haha!  I'm just joking around, but I found this picture really interesting.  I know they have those contraptions at the Kings training facility, why doesnt he go shoot there?  Or did he move back to Utah, New York, or Colorado for the off season????  lots of questions!!!!  Go Jimmer, keep training!  The Kings are staying in Sacramento!  I hope he earns more playing time!

leftovers

I put ALL of the leftovers from dinner tonight (pork chops, mashed potatoes, and gravy) on a plate....it was a lot of food, but I didn't want to use up a bunch of plates and plastic wrap, so I stuck it all on a plate for Scott to make for lunch tomorrow.  Well, Bradley just said he was hungry, so I told him to go have a pork chop.....he went in the kitchen and came out with the whole plate.  THAT's a lot of food for a late night snack...I just HAD to get a picture.  (but, he ended up not eating very much of it)....funny story though! And look at the crooked fork! 

Viking 4 Life

Scott came out of the bedroom this morning wearing this shirt....I haven't seen it in AGES, haha.  We don't even have a student at PV right now. He never ONCE wore the Bidwell Basketball shirt I bought him, but he still wears Viking for Life.  Go Vikes!  He has an SVU shirt, too. 

lost keys

The other day, Bradley was driving our Ranger from Scott's work to our friend's house and somehow lost Scott's keys.  So we went to look for them along the path he had driven on when he was driving the ATV.  We didn't find the keys anywhere, but the kids seemed to have fun messing around and not really looking for them. 

Here they are on the train track at sunset. 

soccer training

 There is a fairly "famous" soccer trainer in town named Saleshi.  He is Ethiopian, I believe, but I could be wrong.  He is an icon.  If there is soccer taking place somewhere in town, he is usually there somewhere.  If you talk to any aged soccer player in town, and they are even slightly good at soccer, they will probably tell you that at sometime or another, they have trained with Saleshi.  I've never sent any of my kids to him, because it costs money....but this past week Bradley's coach set up a training session for his team with Saleshi.  I took Bradley and was surprised that only two other players showed up.  Free training with the best trainer in town and only 3 took advantage of it!!!!  Well, their loss, Bradley got more time with him with so few players there.  Bradley did well, too. 

They worked on touch, ball skills, dribbling, trapping, keeping the ball near the body, and some passing.  

Bees

Scott got a couple of bee swarms today.

Bike Ride & Lawn Mow

We sat around for most of the morning and it is a nice day today so we decided to go for a bike ride.  Bradley usually mows Reva's lawn on Saturdays but he is at the Camporee, so Andrew got to do it.  We rode to Reva's house, which is about 2 miles away.

The blue Earth Day flags are out on the Esplanade.

Andrew thought that mowing the lawn was hard work.

I never get hurt because all I usually ever do is sit on my couch, so this is blog worthy....today Reva's garbage can attacked me and tried to shut on my arm....and I wasn't quick enough and it got me...and it was sharp, so here's my owchie--

if you cant tell from the picture, it's on my wrist of my right hand! 

I also cut up many fingers with sharp weeds and grass that I pulled out!  But those are little, like paper cuts, so .... not blogworthy ...

jelly beans

Melanee used to really like Starburst jelly beans.  They are good...but have any of you ever tried TROPICAL flavored Starburst jelly beans????  Even Better!!!

bath

Andrew was given the job last night to give Sam a bath.  Well, that is not an easy thing to do.  Sam is big and strong, strong willed, and doesnt like baths...so I helped Andrew.  Boy, Sam was DIRTY! 

As soon as the bath was over, we dried Sam with 3 large towels and he seemed really dry, but as he went outside, he stopped in the kitchen to SHAKE!  Then he ran outside and ROLLED in the DIRT and rolled, and rolled.  What a waste of a perfectly good bath!

blogging more & Camporee

Well, my new "blogging more" idea has earned me two comments in the comment sections....that's exciting!  But I still think this blog is kinda dead.  And in looking around at other's blogs, I think blogging is kinda dead. 

Come on guys, blogging is AWESOME, do it more.  I like to read your stuff and see your photos!  I guess you could say you other bloggers used to be my entertainment (after my sports addictions!).

Bradley has a Camporee this weekend....and since he took my camera on the scout hike last weekend, but failed to take even ONE picture, I didn't send it with him this time.  Camporees are a little different than just scout camp or a hike.  At Camporees they have contests and earn points and stuff (actually, I've never been to one, so I shouldn't blog about it like I know what happens there...but I still remember one time William and Spud went to one and just the two of them were a "Patrol" up against real life (not church sponsored) troops, who were really into scouting and merit badges and official scout stuff and who had 5 to 10 guys in their patrols.  William and Spud earned the most points, somehow, at that Camporee...and the final event was dancing with their pack on and William did the "dunbar dance" and WON, they came home with a ribbon for their flag that weekend.  So that is why I think Camporees are something to do with tons of troops together in a small area doing contests.)

So, Bradley is going to try to do traveling soccer and scouts this year.  It is not going to be easy because both require a commitment and there are going to be overlaps and conflicts in his schedule.  Choosing which to do is going to be hard.  So, yesterday, the scouts were going to meet at the church at 4:00, but Bradley has soccer until 6:00.  So I told the scout leader that I would drive Bradley up there (Concow, about 45 minutes away) after soccer practice was over.  That was the plan.  But meeting at 4:00 and leaving at 4:00 are totally different things.  So, at about 5:00, the scout leader called me (love cell phones for reasons like this) and told me that they were no where near ready to leave and they would pick up Bradley from soccer practice on their way out of town.  (WOO HOO, saving me tons of money in gas!) 

I'm glad Bradley got to do both soccer and scouts this time.  When they came to pick him up they arrived in 2 cars.  Bradley stuck his backpack in one, but when he went to get in, something happened, dont know if they said something or if there wasnt much room or what, but he hopped back out and got in the other car.  In the other car was just Brother Elton, alone.  So Bradley rode up with Brother Elton, all the scouts went in the van with Brother Burner.  Have Bradleys cell phone here and it was funny to get these 4 texts from Chase---
1.) text me
2.) nevermind, just die
3.) lemme go with you
4.) we are listening to news and cant talk

hahahaaaaaaa, I wonder if Bradley had more fun alone with Brother Elton!?!?!!!!!!!  (probably)

hopefully there will be some photos from others I can share later when they get back!!!  Hope he has fun! 

close up

I saw Adam at lunch, also, and had my real camera, not just the camera on my phone, so I got a better picture.  There was another kid who didn't have his front teeth either, so here they both are---

  CUTE!!!!

Missing TEETH

I love to be greeted by recess kids running to see me when I arrive. 

Adam was most excited and look what he had to show me-he lost the other tooth.  Adorable.  (he's adorable, the photobomber in the background, not so much). 

Krisha, you should make corn on the cob tonight!!!!

Our Garden

We planted our garden tonight.  Hope we aren't too late into the spring!  We planted tomatoes, spinach, zucchini, radishes, carrots, and GIANT pumpkins.  Cant wait to eat it all, well, except the pumpkins. 

The people who own the house and land that we have the garden at made Scott promise that he would make the rows "straight".  How do you think he did???

After all the work of digging and planting, Bradley and Andrew went for an ice cold swim.  Bradley went in wearing his blue jeans/when Andrew dove in, his shorts came off. 

da Vinci

Bradley had a poster to make about a famous person from the Renaissance era.  He picked Leonardo Da Vinci.  He put it off to the last moment, as usual, but he got it done. 

I have no idea if he learned from it, but it was a lot of work. 

His next big project is in English and its about Shakespeare and one of his plays.  It's going to be a lot of research and work....let's hope he doesn't wait till the last day on that one!!!!! 

Face mask

Bradley has zits now.  So a few weeks back, to try to get rid of them, he agreed to do a facial mask.  Don't think it did much...but was worth a try, right? 

wildflowers

more random-
look, beautiful wildflowers growing in THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.

Giant Frosted Flake

Blogger should let us flip photos after we load them!

Look at this huge Frosted Flake...,,Kelloggs needs better quality control.  The girl wouldnt eat it, but put it in her pocket to show people....I bet it's going to break into pieces before it gets home, so here's documentation of faulty food.

Lost Tooth

This goes along with my random, fill up my blog, take pictures every day, new way of blogging, but it's also very cute!  And, he TOLD me to blog about it, so lets hope I get the story straight.  Adam got somehow hit in the mouth at wrestling practice, which loosened his front tooth and hurt his mouth, gums, lip.  The one front tooth was just hanging there for a day, but he wouldn't let me pull it out!  Today, he ran up to me like this

 And reported that he pulled it out himself at 5:00 last night.  The one next to it is loose, too, but he wont let me pull that one out either!  (Guess I gotta wait to see if Andrew (my son) gets any more loose teeth!)

 

Exercise

I know it's not much exercise because I live 3 blocks from the school, but since I go there and back 3 times a day and gas is $4.00 a gallon and the weather has been really nice....I've been riding "my" bike to school. It's actually Bradley's bike, that we gave to Andrew, that I ride.  It's easy, quick, and it gets my heart pumping a little more than driving a car.

20th Street Park

Bradley had practice today, so I stayed at the park and walked laps.  I also wrote William a letter.  It was a nice sunny day, but very windy. 

scouts

On Saturday, Andrew looked so cute in his scout uniform, with his official real scout shorts, and the scout socks from the actual scout store....but the only photo I got of him was the fuzzy cell phone one because the battery on my big camera was dead and Bradley had taken my good camera....so tonight when Andrew got ready for scouts HE WOULD NOT let me take a photo...but I did get this, while he was hiding from the camera.

He really fights and fusses to get ready and go to scouts, but he always has fun once he is there.

Lunch Time

First graders are awesome because they always bring me salami and pickles....but my favorite are the second graders, they always say to me "come sit with us" or "come bug us" and I really like to tease them.  Here are some of my favorite buddies!  Love them!!!!!!!!! 

blogging more

I ran out of "free" blogging space, so have to now pay....and since Melanee is probably bored and lonely, I'm going to just randomly blog a bunch from now on....haha....so here's Scott and some of the chicks that hatched on Easter.  I bought them some baby chick food, so I must like them a little....but I think Scott loves them.  He goes out and talks to them every day! 

Orthodontist

Each time Bradley goes to the orthodontist, they make the next appointment 6 weeks away.  I totally forgot that Bradley had an appointment today, but he actually remembered.  So I picked him up from school (he usually rides his bike or walks home).  I had pizza with me from my lunch with Michelle (thanks Michelle), so Bradley ate a bunch of it on the way to the appointment....Chicken GARLIC.  He tried to tell me that garlic doesn't cause bad breath.  But I was happy that there are tooth brushes and mouthwash available at the orthodontist office for the taking. 

His orthodontist did all the work on him today (usually its the assistants) (Bradley likes when he gets a "hot" one).  I think his teeth are getting straighter and pulled back.  Only a year an half to go....

Quakes

I have a lot of sports team favorites.  For as long as I've been watching sports, I've picked my "favorite teams" by their personalities as much as their win loss record.  We used to be 49er fans back in the 70's when they were terrible, I've tried hard to stay a Kings fan, even though they are awful, the Quakes were worse than bad two years ago, and I don't disown the Sharks every time they go through a losing streak.  I'm not a fair weather fan, and I dont give up on my favorites even if they have a bad game....but I have had enough of Demarcus Cousins and he is the face of the Kings, so I'm fairly done with the Kings.  I was talking to my dad yesterday and he actually said, "I hope the Kings move to Seattle."  A couple years ago, that would have really stirred some fight in me, but when he said it, I kinda agreed with him.  Weird, I know. 

But this is about the Earthquakes.

I've liked the Earthquakes since I was a kid and there was an indoor Earthquakes team and we used to go to almost all the games because they "guaranteed to win all home games".  When they lost, we got free tickets to the next game.  It came to a point where we ROOTED for them to lose, to get more free tickets.  The stadium was full by the end of the season, and I bet MOST of those people didnt pay a cent to get in!!!!!!!  Anyway, since they are the San Jose Earthquakes, they are my local team, even way up here in Chico.  I've been following them a lot closer these past few years because each season more and more games are televised.  Three years ago they made a really fun playoff run, the season after that, they lost a lot, and last year they were just absolutely fun to watch and played spectacular all season.  This year....NOT SO MUCH.  Ewwww, its an ugly game they play.  And not only do they play poorly, they act like idiots.  They are jerks.  They bloody people.  They cuss.  They argue calls.  They take people out. 

Like I said, I pick my favorite teams for reasons like----they try hard, they like each other, they are nice to fans, they are LIKeABLE, not just because they win.  Last year, the Quakes, they were so happy.  Always smiling, always hugging/high fiving/ chest bumping.  This year they are yelling at each other, never happy, mean spirited.  They dont work hard, they dont play together, they are selfish, and there are so many new guys that everything is different. 

Yesterday the game was on a channel that I dont get, so I drove up to my dad's house to watch it.  He has high def which is awesome for sports.  We watched the game, but it wasn't very exciting or well played.  I actually dont even think either team had any real shots in all the time I watched except the Portland goal, which was from a free kick. 

One of the Quakes lost his cool and called one of the Portland guys a homophobic slur.  He also did things to get two yellow cards.  Two or three other players also got yellow cards for the Quakes.  The quakes are thugs this year.  I think that happens to teams sometimes when things are not going right, but it's still early in the season, they need to pull it together.  They need to go back the the speed and hard work.  They outplayed teams last year with their effort and heart....they have none this year.  It doesnt even look like they enjoy soccer. 

I am embarrassed right now to say that I'm a Quakes fan.  I dont like their style of play.  I want them to be likable, I want to be a proud Quakes fan, but it's hard right now!

Saturday

 There was no soccer today, but the calendar was full with scout stuff, I'm so glad they didn't overlap and I hope the kids will be able to keep doing scouts and sports.  They are both so good for kids!

Bradley's scout troop went on a 6 mile hike in Upper Bidwell Park.  Andrew's 11 year old scout group is at a day camp in another part of Bidwell Park.  Andrew is still not home, but after Bradleys hike he went to the fairgrounds for what I call the "boat show", but it's really the Sportsman Expo, I think.  So Scott and I got to spend some time together. 

 We went out to lunch at Hulas, then Scott mowed Revas lawn.  So far a really good day. 

we planted these LAST year.
Look at them now!

Bradley's new soccer season

Enough of the complaints about CYSL....Bradley now plays in a different soccer league.  It's a competitive or "select" league.  He had to try out to get on the team, but I think that everyone who tried out made the team and I think that some of them have already dropped out and decided not to do it.  But of the three leagues in Chico, the top players play for Butte United, so you can say that Bradley is on the best u-14 team in Chico. 

They've had two practices now and I stayed and watched parts of them and the team looks pretty good.  They have only 10 kids who have come out to practice so far, but there are supposedly 17 on the team.  I guess some are playing baseball and one is a competitive bike rider, but I think a few aren't coming out.  A few years back Bradley tried out for Butte United and made a second team they were putting together and only had 9 players.  The coach sent out an e mail asking us to find friends to make a bigger team and that's when we backed out.  I hope this team doesn't turn into the kind where they say, "go find friends so that we can fill the roster" because if those friends were really dedicated and really wanted to play, they would have been at try outs!  There is some talk of combining with the u15 team, which would be bad for a few reasons, one is that the 13 year olds would have to play up a league and each player would get less playing time because there will be so many people on the team. 

Bradley is one of the new kids and from what I can tell of the 10 kids out there, 5 are returning, 5 are new.  If I was going to rank the players, without sounding like I'm biased because I am his mom, I would say that Bradley is the best player out there.  Yeah, I'm biased, and yeah he has a lot to learn and work on, but he's GOOD.  He's strong, fast, has ball control, good size, great effort, and smart.  I think this is going to be a good season for him.  He wont be the only one on the team who knows what he is doing, he wont be the only one trying hard, and he wont feel like he has to do it ALL. 

The coach works them SO HARD and they are going to be in really good shape really quick.  Bradley doesn't have new cleats, but he has blisters from the two practices this week.  He had 1.5 hour practices with the CYSL team and never got blisters, that fact right there proves that these practices are much more intense. 

It's going to be a fun season! 

Hot Tubbing

I dont actually have any hot tubbing pictures...but for Family Home Evening we went up to Paradise to my dad's house to go hot tubbing.  On the way there we all noticed the grass is green, not ugly brown...it's BEAUTIFUL.

My dad has a Kindle and wanted to show it to Andrew, the first thing Andrew said was, "Does it have GAMES?" and then he started playing Temple Run.  Bet my dad never plays that!

The way we keep Sam chained up when we leave doesnt work any more, so we just take him places with us...haha...he loves being part of the family! 

That hook hand is back! 

Thanks for the fun night dad.  Bradley's back does feel better and we all had fun!

The Batting Cages

 Scott wanted me to show him how much I loved him by going out on a date with him instead of  watching a Sharks game...he told me to think of something to do.  I couldn't think of anything, so he suggested going to the batting cages.  I didn't really want to, but Andrew really did.  It ended up being too late at night to go that night, so we went on Saturday afternoon.  I hit every ball except one.  Andrew was the second best at hitting.  Scott hit a few solidly, but also missed a bunch.  Bradley couldn't hit anything.  He kept complaining that the pitches were too high or too low. 

They gave us some batting helmets to wear, but I kept telling the kids that adults did not need to wear them.  Right before I went in, Bradley plopped this onto my head.  I didn't realize it was backwards, I just thought they fit terribly from all the wear in tear from being batting cage helmets.