Happy 5-Friday!

Welcome to the end of a very very busy week! School is finally out, YAHOO!!! Chris is so happy to finally be out of school. Cheryl's been out for a month already, she starts back at college summer school next week. Jim has started his part-time summer route... Welcome summer vacation!!!

It's still Friday... just barely... and here are my Friday-5! I noticed today that I have five library books on my coffee table waiting to be read.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Airman by Eoin Colfer

The Ironhand (Stoneheart Trilogy, Book Two) by Charlie Fletcher

City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, Book Three) by Cassandra Clare

The Awakening (Darkest Powers, Book 2) by Kelley Armstrong

I hope you enjoyed my Friday-5... See you next Friday, if not before!

Now I've gotta get reading so I can finish all these before they are due, LOL!

Friday-5

Some of my friends participate in the Thursday-13, where they make of list of 13 random items on their blogs on Thursday. My friends Beth and Mara participate in Friday Favorites, where they make a list of their favorite things on Friday.

Well, I like the randomness of the Thursday 13 but I think 13 items are just too many! I like the Friday Favorites, but I want to list more than just my favorite things.... So, I've come up with my own blogging list called Friday-5! Hmmmm... now I think I need a blinkie. Oh well, that's something else I don't have time to do, LOL!

I've had music on my mind more than usual this week (probably because I've been without it). I went running at lunch on Monday and got caught in the rain... my poor little MP3 player didn't like that one bit! Yep, it gave up the ghost... I miss it. I ordered a new one from Amazon (with twice as much memory, YIPEE!) and I'm impatiently waiting for its arrival.

With music on my mind... here are five of my best running songs:

1.Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

2. Beautiful Day - U2

3. Fame - Irene Cara

4. Let it Rock - Kevin Rudolf

5. Dreams - Van Halen

Free Photoshop Class

I usually don't post these types of things, unless there is a prize entry for me involved, ;oD ... This is a free online Photoshop class by the super talented Jessica Sprague. Her classes are always in such high demand (and most people pay to take them).

You can find all the info HERE:
http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=976:free-photo-editing-class&catid=1:latest&Itemid=148

All you need is Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I have Photoshop, but I'm going to use the class to learn how to use Elements better.

Sign-up is on June 22... Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday Jane!

My friend Jane (card artist extraordinaire) is having a Bloggy Birthday this month! She's celebrating with a great prize giveaway on her blog. Go check it out!
http://whoopsiedaisy-jane.blogspot.com/

Happy National Running Day!

It's been a wet wild Wednesday! We had thunder and lightning this morning, but I still managed to get out for a run at lunch. Cheryl even drove over to come with me. Chris ran after school. So that is our family's contribution to National Running Day!

I've been a bad blogger. Chris had a soccer tournament last weekend. The team did great!

His team lost their first game 0-3. (The team that they lost to went on to win the tournament.) Chris's team won their next two games. Chris showed his conditioning in the third game, when he was one of the few boys who could still run. He was moved to mark the fastest striker on the other team and was able to overtake him. They made it to the playoffs and were supposed to play for overall third place, but the other team didn't show up. So, they all came home with third place medals. I asked Chris if everyone was happy or sad that they didn't play. He said, "The ones that could still move were a little sad, but everyone else was happy!" LOL!

Cheryl was in a tournament Memorial Day weekend... now you know what a bad blogger I've been... Her team lost their first game; won their second game 3-0; tied their third game... and that put them in the semi-finals. They had to come back and play two more games Monday... both were loses. They came home with 4th place medals. The girls were so tired! I can only remember one other tournament where Cheryl played 5 games. On their one win of the weekend, Cheryl scored one of the three goals, and assisted the other two (one on a through ball to the striker and the other from a corner kick). I'm so excited, I actually caught her goal on film! Look at the placement of that ball!



Cheryl is playing in a tournament this weekend at World Cup. These will be her very last recreational soccer games.
Saturday - 2:15 and 7:15
Sunday - 10:30

PTI Blog Hop

This is my first blog hop for PTI. I've been hearing such wonderful things about their stamps, and now that I'm working, I finally ordered a set for myself.

The set I ordered is called Star Prints. I love using stars on layouts... maybe it's because I think my family are such super stars! LOL!

The challenge this month is to use yellow on a project. Here's my project. It's a layout of my son's cross country season... their school colors are black and gold.

Weekly Sports Report

Cheryl's little girl's team picked the name, "Quakes." How apropos since we just had an earthquake today! Anyway, her team won their first game, lost their second game, and won their third game on forfeit. All the teams in the pool were tied on points, but the Quakes went on to the finals because of goal differential. They ended up losing 4-3... it was an exciting game. They all came home with silver medals and were very happy!

Galaxy is hopeless! I guess you can agree with Galaxy PR that Galaxy is in an unbeaten streak... they've only lost one game this season... BUT they've only WON ONE GAME this season too! Another tie today against Columbus (the last place team in the MLS East)!

Next Week's Sports Schedule:
Chris: No Sports
Cheryl: Cheryl is skipping her BOB game since she has finals this week. She will be playing in a Soccer tournament in Cypress this weekend (SAT&SUN)

Chris and I have signed up for the 10K Turkey Trot. We couldn't convince Cheryl to run it with us, so it will be just the two of us. Still no luck finding a summer half-marathon... fall is out because it's during Cross Country season... so, it's looking like our next half-marathon won't be until winter. Lots of time for me to get out of shape {sigh}...

Have a great week everybody!

Our next race...

We had a conflict with Rock and Roll Seattle... Chris has a soccer tournament that same weekend. So we looked around and found a MUD RUN! ... and it's just down at Wild Rivers. We had the choice between a 5K and a 10K. Cheryl decided that she wants to run with us so we picked the 5K. Following the 5K is the EcoFest! It looks like a blast! See you there, July 18th!!!

There aren't very many choices for summer half marathons.
We're still looking!

Weekly Sports Report

We had a very quiet weekend... I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!

Cheryl was supposed to play with Team Bob on Tuesday, but when she got to the game she realized that she forgot her inhaler. She sat on the sidelines and watched Bob win 3-2. On Saturday, she had a scrimmage with another Mission Viejo team. They tied 3-3, with Cheryl scoring 2 out of the 3 goals for her team!


Here are some more photos of the OC half-marathon! This first photo is the only one I have of the great scenery through Newport Back Bay.
The next two are us in the sprint for the finish line!


...And with so many great photos, a layout is a MUST!!!

We've picked our next race!
I'll tell you more about that later!!!

Weekly Sports Report

We had a great sports week this week. We'll start with Cheryl... Cheryl had an amazing shot on goal playing with Bob Tuesday night. The keeper just managed to do a jumping dive and tip the ball over the top of the goal. Bob tied 2-2.

Cheryl did score with her AYSO team this weekend... She shot at least 30 yards out, curving the ball in with the outside of her foot (she just learned how to do that last Friday). It was an amazing goal! She also assisted another one of the goals. Her team won 3-1!

Chris had his last track meet of the season and matched his PR from last week... finishing the mile in 5:12. The coach was so pleased that he let Chris skip the 2-mile. Since I didn't get out of work in time to see the one mile, I didn't get to see Chris run at all.

Chris was amazing in his game on Saturday! He played all game running up and down the midfield. His team won 1-0. His team also had a game on Sunday (the won 2-0) but Chris didn't play because...

We ran a half-marathon!
The photos Cheryl took were pretty bad. I should have had her use the soccer camera.

Anyway, Chris and I started together. We both texted our mileage to Cheryl. Cheryl said that by the time I reached mile 7, Chris was already 2 miles ahead of me. Chris finished with a new PR (personal record) of 1 hour 33 minutes! HE CAME IN 4TH PLACE in his age group!!! The three boys that came in before him were all older than he was. If he came in 2 minutes faster, he would have come home with a trophy! He was so excited with is time! He came in 94th overall!... and was the first 16yr and younger runner to cross the finish line!

My goal was to finish in under 2 hours... I finished in 2 hours 14 seconds (sigh) oh well... I came in 53rd in my age group.

A guy tripped me up at the mile 6 water station. He was in line for water... I was running past the water line and he stepped out of line in front of me. I ended up tripping over his feet... I reached up and grabbed onto him. I'm sure glad his shorts were tied on tight, lol! I was stumbling for a good 5 seconds (I had so much momentum going). I'm also glad I didn't hit the ground, because that would have been the end of my race. I came in 1192 overall.

Chris is super excited about half-marathons again... this happened after the last half-marathon again too. He wants to run another one. We are considering... ARE YOU LISTENING BETH?... Rock and Roll Seattle!

Cheryl's new job

Cheryl has a new job! She's still tutoring 4th grade math, and now she's a Club Soccer Coach. She's assistant coach for a Girls U10 Bronze team at Saddleback United Soccer Club. She has a class to take to get her Level E coaching license before she can coach a game, but she starts showing up at practice on Monday!

Card Patterns - Birthday Card

Unity Stamp Co is sponsoring a fairly new sketch blog this week called Card Patterns. This is the first time I've ever participated in a card sketch blog. It was FUN! I may even get some much needed cards done!


Supplies used:
*Stamps - the cupcake and flower stamps are from Michael's. I took them out of the package so I don't know who made them. The word stamps are from Stampin' Up.

*Sassafraslass
*Bazzil
*Stardust pen
*Stickles - silver
*Glimmer Mist - bronze
*Memento ink - tuxedo black
*Fiskars border punch
*Ki Memories - ribbon
*Foam mounting squares

Weekly Sports Report

Chris ran an amazing race yesterday afternoon. He usually runs the 1 mile and 2 mile. He asked the coach if he could skip the 2 mile... the last few races he came in last place in the 2 mile (far enough back in last place to get the pity clap). The coach told him that if he could finish the 1 mile in 5:10 (that's 10 seconds faster than his current PR) that he could skip the 2 mile. Chris had an amazing 1 mile... finished in 5:12.

He still had to run the 2 mile, but was very happy with his 1 mile time. AND he didn't come in last in the 2 mile! One of Chris's friends overheard their long distance coach tell the head coach, "Now I know what motives him (Chris), I should tell him to finish in 4:50 next time." LOL!

Soccer for Chris was Sunday instead of Saturday... that means that Chris didn't have track practice before his game. He had a great game today. He played mid-field and ran up and back the entire time he was in. He even had a couple shots on goal (both wide). His team WON today 3-0!

Bob won on Tuesday. They always seem to win when Cheryl isn't there. This weekend, her team ended up playing down a player. It looked like it was going to be bad, but they played hard and only lost by one... 1-2.

Sports this week:

Chris
WED - Track Meet
SAT - 10:15 AM Wagon Wheel
SUN - 3:50 PM Wagon Wheel

Cheryl
WED- Soccer (Bob) 7pm Arroyo
SAT - 9:00 AM Forster 5

Spring Scrapin-ings Blog Hop!

WELCOME!!!
I'm so excited about being a part of the first SD4U Blog Hop!

Here is my spring-time project... a cute little gift set.

Supplies:
Patterned paper from Basic Grey
Solid cardstock from Bazzill
Round stamps from Stampin' Up
Nugget stamps from Unity
Various punches from Stampin-up, EK success, and Fiskars.

Here are some close-ups:

Bag topper...

Peppermint Patty Box

Nugget Box

Post-it holder with paper clip

Hershey Bar

My favorite quote:
It's not about talent, it's about heart!

Congratulations!
You've reached the end of the blog hop!
Thanks for playing with us!

To be entered into the Blog Hop prize drawing, go HERE,

Weekly Sports Update

It was 113F yesterday... today was cooler, 97F! It's supposed to be lots cooler by this weekend. Thank Goodness! I went running today. It was so HOT, that I had trouble making it back. It's been a long time since I've run on such a hot day. Yep, I run at work! I only have an hour, so I can't get the long runs in that I have been, but it's better than nothing. There are some great trails behind my building! Here's the satellite view:

There are lockers and showers at work too! Following the trail NE, takes me into Whiting Ranch (yes, that's where the mountain lions eat people)... I haven't been that way yet. I usually follow it SW. It's 6 miles round trip, and I only have to go out to the street once!

Cheryl didn't play at all this week. She missed her Bob game because her lab ran late last Tuesday. She won her game on Saturday by forfeit (sorry Papa...). She was so sure that she was going to score at least three goals that game too! She was supposed to play with Bob tonight, but she turned her ankle again... stepping of the curb. It's still swollen today, but not as sore. It's still better to give it a rest so that she can play again this weekend.

I couldn't get off work early enough to see Chris run the mile. Apparently he was amazing! He ran the first half mile with the varsity. He said he felt great and that he thought that he could keep that pace up for the whole race. He lost concentration when he realized he was running in the front pack. He started wondering, "What am I doing up here?"... then he lost it, and he did what we call, "hit a wall" (which is when you can't run anymore and want to stop). I got there in time to see him run the 2 mile. He did pretty bad (he got lapped by the varsity runners). He said he was too tired from running the mile.

After Chris had an almost amazing time in the mile, he's gotten serious about practicing again. He completely wore himself out at track practice on Saturday morning, and didn't have much energy left for his soccer game. He only played about 20 minutes of the game, but he played as hard as he could. His team lost 1-3, but the other team didn't score when Chris was playing!

Sports this week:

Chris
THURS - Track Meet
SUN - Soccer 4:10pm World Cup

Cheryl
TUES - Soccer (Bob) 8:30pm at Bonita
SAT - Soccer 1:25pm Melinda Park

Sports this week

The only sports we had last week was Cheryl's game with Team Bob. Team Bob lost 2-3.

Sports this week:

Chris
THURS - Track Meet
SAT - Soccer 11:40am at World Cup

Cheryl
TUES - Soccer (Bob) 7pm at Bonita
SAT - Soccer 10:15am at RSM Intermediate

Spring in the Desert

Welcome to the Southern California desert in springtime! It was raining as we set out this morning, but look what a beautiful day it is on the other side of the mountains! First we headed out to Joshua Tree National Monument for a picnic and some rock scrabling (that's rock climbing without all the rock climbing gear). Jim and I used to come out here and camp a lot when we first got married. It's beautiful in the spring
when the wild flowers are in bloom! We set the kids loose on the rocks with warnings to be careful and watch for rattlesnakes. Cheryl is such a nut... She found a perfect sized hole in the rock and decided to park it and rest. Chris loved rock scrabling! He has to make it to the top... I wish he'd apply some of that determination to his school work, lol!
Here they are at the top of the hill again!


After a late lunch we got back in the car and headed towards Anza Borrego. We entered Anza Borrego from the east side and found several off-roading rental shops... My family can't resist a chance to play! The off-roading area in Indian Wells was HUGE, but we only had an hour rental... Do you see Chris driving his own bike? He was so excited... Yep, he's 16yrs now!

We only saw one type of cactus in bloom (we call them prickly pears), but there were lots and lots of wildflowers!

On the way home we stopped in Julian and picked up an apple pie. We MUST have Julian apple pie! YUMMY!!!

Believe it or not, it started to rain on our way through Julian... it was so cold that it was falling as slush. They were expecting snow that evening and the town was closing early... we got there just in time to get our pie and get out of there before it started snowing!

It's been a fun week... my last week of being unemployed! Yep, Panasonic called me this morning (while we were on our way to the desert) and made me an official offer. I start on Monday!

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!