Most Outstanding Offensive Player!!!

Cheryl came home from her college soccer banquet and announced, "I was voted most offensive!" And of course we responded, "You should remember to wash your uniform between games!" LOL!

Seriously, We are so proud of Cheryl! She is Saddleback College's most outstanding offensive player for 2009. Which is quite a surprise since she played offense only in the last five games (Up to then, she was a defender). She scored three goals in those five games which made her Saddleback's highest scoring player.

Congratulations Cheryl! What a way to end your college season!

Festive Friday 5

What's Christmas without a little JibJab FUN?! LOL! I have a few family photos I'd like to share this festive Friday!

The first photo is of Grandma baking cookies...
Bake them cookies, Grandma!

Look! Here's Papa hanging up his Christmas lights! For real this time, LOL!

Me and Jim (Santa in training) hehehe...

Cheryl and Chris having some sister and brother fun!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

Elf Yourself!!!

These are so funny! How can I resist?!!!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Friday 5 - Welcome December!!!

It's December already! The company insisted that everyone take all their 2009 vacation days and 1/2 of their saved vacation from previous years. Well I took 5 of my 7 days for a week off during the summer, and I'm adding one day to Christmas weekend and one day to New Years weekend. Since I have no carry-over days, that's it for me. A majority of my department is off for most of December. That makes it extra busy for those of us that are there. The holiday season will be a little hectic... thank goodness for online shopping!

Speaking of Christmas... LOOK! My dad hung up his Christmas lights!

Now imagine my kids seeing this picture... They smile, they laugh, they shake their heads, and say, "Paaaaapaaaa...." LOL!

We had a great time at the Jeff Dunham show last weekend. Jeff Dunham was so funny... It started with Guitar Guy opening the show, then they took a 20 minute intermission. Then Jeff Dunham came out and did a 2 hour show! We didn't get home until almost midnight. We laughed and laughed! The next morning, Cheryl got up and said that her cheeks were sore from laughing so much the night before.

As promised here is my report on the turkey trot. Chris and I ran the 10K at 8am... it was a lot colder there than it was at home.
I was wearing a tank top and ended up pulling on a t-shirt over it for the race. It was the biggest 10K ever with over 3500 people running!

Here is me running in my humongo t-shirt. I was hoping to finish in the 53 minute range, and ended up finishing in 51:06! YAHOO for me! Since I ran in the 50-55 year group this year, I thought I'd place really well... NOT! I came in 10th out of 134 in my group. I think that ladies over 50, who are racing, are more dedicated to running than the younger groups. There tend to be fewer walkers.

Here's Chris in this typical orange shirt. He said when he talks to others when he's running, they call him the orange-shirt-guy. He ran in the 16-19 year age group made up of mostly high school cross country runners. He finished in 43:14, 14th out of 66 in his age group. He said he was going at cruising speed, not race-pace. WOW!

Today, Cheryl wants to take me to see New Moon, and I think we'll try and get some Christmas shopping done.
Have great weekend everyone!

Friday 5 - Happy Thanksgiving!!!

It seems like it was just Halloween! I can't believe that it's Thanksgiving already! The year is just flying by... This Thanksgiving weekend starts with my birthday. Yep! 50yrs this weekend! I doesn't bother me... 50 is just a number, and I don't feel 50. I don't think I look it either and my very wonderful family supports me on that, hehehe... thanks, guys!

We had a great dinner at one of my very favorite places, TODAI! I got some wonderful presents too... lots of GCs for GAP (my favorite store). Cheryl and I braved the crowds at the mall and went shopping today! The kids got me a giant tootsie roll, lol! Not really, but you've got to admire the wrapping job. They got me a foam roller (Hey, Mara, I have a foam roller now! YIPEE!!) Jim surprised me with tickets to see Jeff Dunham at the POND! It's for tomorrow night, and I'm so excited!

Here is a photo of Chris giving his Thanksgiving toast (it's for extra credit in Spanish class). My cousin held Thanksgiving at her house this year. She just finished some major remodeling. Her house is gorgeous! I especially LOVE her kitchen. Hopefully, I will get the chance to do mine next year.

Before heading to my cousin's for Thanksgiving, Chris and I ran the 10K Turkey Trot in Dana Point. It was clear and COLD! We both PR'd... I wanted to finish in 53 minutes, and ended up finishing in 51! YAHOO! Chris left me in the dust, finishing in 43 minutes and this was without even trying. He said that he was going at cruising speed instead of race pace. I'll add more about the Turkey Trot in a future post.

I finished the Cross Country photo albums! 78 albums and just over 2000 photos! I still need to finish the frames for the seniors, hopefully by the end of this weekend. I've got to get moving on them... the banquet is coming up next week!

On the way to the mall, Cheryl and I stopped for our first RED CUP of the season! Now the season is offically underway! Here comes Santa Claus...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Weekly Sports Report

Here is the LAST sports report of the year. Cross country is over and now so is soccer. Cheryl ended the season with a BANG as she scored the tying goal in the very last game of the season! She said that the ball bounced off the goalie, then the goalie charged out to get it. Cheryl had her back to the goal, reach out, just managed to get her toe on it, and volley-ed it back towards the goal... just at the goalie crashed into her. As Cheryl was laying on the ground with the goalie on top of her, she was thinking, "I wonder if that went in..." IT DID! Saddleback finishes the season with a TIE! Here's the story from the Saddleback website:
http://www.saddleback.edu/athletics/Soccer/2009.html

... and the good news is... SADDLEBACK DID NOT FINISH IN LAST PLACE!

On to other good news... the Quakes last game was another WIN! They finished their BRONZE season in FIRST PLACE and will move on to SILVER next year! Congratulations Quakes!

Friday-5: Good-bye Kayle...

Tonight, Kayle was outside when she yelped and started to whimper. She couldn't lay down and her stomach was bloated. We took her right away to Animal Urgent Care. They did x-rays and told us that her stomach detached from the wall of her abdomen and twisted... because of her age (she's 16yrs), they recommended that we have her put down. Poor Kayle is gone in doggie heaven...

It's Milkbone time! Every morning at 7am! How in the world can a dog tell time? I don't know, but she definitely knew when it was 7am!

Her luxury in life... sleeping wrapped in a blanket on a cold night!

She loved to go for car rides! Anytime she hears car keys, she's running for the door! ... AND yep, that's Chris. You can imagine how long she's been in our family.

She had a very non-dog-like personality. Instead of being eager to please and starved for attention. Queen Kayle has her own mind. She's stubborn and gets moody when she doesn't get her way. She may grace us with her presence when we call, or maybe not (depends if she's feeling gracious). But she was a GOOD dog and she was so darn CUTE!

Kayle's greatest joy in life was licking the dregs at the bottom of an ice cream cup!

Good-bye, Kayle. We LOVE you, and we'll MISS you!

Weekly Sports Report

I had a crazy crazy week at work... It was a 50 hour week, but I still made time to get to Cheryl's game. This may be the only game I see this season. Uhmmm... they lost... Nothing new there... BUT I got some photos of Cheryl playing! She was playing striker again and took some shots on goal. The keeper on the other team stopped them all this time. Poor Cheryl, with sore feet, a pulled hamstring and hip flexor, she's just managing to limp through the rest of the season. No rest for Cheryl... she plays the whole game. Two more games this week and the season is OVER! Cheryl is very happy! After she takes some time to heal, she said that she will start running with Chris and me.

The last Cross Country meet of the season (for non-Varsity) and Chris is sick. At least his fever was gone, but he was still very congested. Poor guy... he really wanted to PR at his last race. It didn't happen. I think he fell to 8th. The good news is that CAPO is going to CIF for the second year in a row, YAHOO!!!







Coach Cheryl was under pressure this weekend! She was tasked to not break the Quakes undefeated streak while Coach Monica is recovering from knee surgery. And she did it!!! The Quakes win 1-0 on a PK! It sounds like it was an exciting game.

Galaxy went into their second playoff game against Chivas, tied on aggregate! We got tickets, because it was a game NOT to MISS!!! Here's the funny part... we got tickets through Chivas because they cost less than the exact same tickets through Galaxy. We sat between the two Chivas cheering squads. I wish I had my camera... we were given confetti and streamers... they were beating HUGE drums and chanting, waving flags and banners... BIG TIME PARTY!!! Things got rowdy when a couple of guys set off a smoke bomb. The Security people were chasing them through the stands, cornered them under the drum, and hauled them away. Oh, and the game! Very exciting! Galaxy won on a PK (just like Cheryl's Quakes) and are advancing to the semi-finals against Houston!

Weekly Sports Report

The second cluster meet was last week, but I got stuck at work and missed it... so no photos this week. Chris came in front of Ricky! That put Chris in the #5 scoring spot last week! GO CHRIS!!! According to the Orange County Register, the Capo XC team is ranked #10 in Orange County! GO CAPO!

I'll just cut and paste from last week, "two more losses for the Gauchos." There is a difference! Cheryl was moved from defense to striker and scored two goals... but it wasn't enough to win the game...


Quakes TIED!!! That ends their winning streak... but they can still say that they are undefeated. With Coach Monica getting knee surgery this week, that puts Coach Cheryl in charge, GO QUAKES! LOOK! They are on the short list of unbeaten teams in Orange County!
http://soccer.xkorangecounty.com/news.php?viewStory=4717

Free Holiday Class with Jessica Sprague

I've taken a couple of Jessica's classes before and they've been wonderful! I feel like a Photoshop wiz thanks to her... I've already signed up for her next free class. Come join in the FUN!

Happy Halloween

Are 19yr and 16yrs too old for Trick or Treating? My kids don't think so! They are never too old to have FUN!

We had an ethnic theme going on this year. With black hair, black eyes, and dark complextion, Chris is often mistaken for hispanic (especially since his three best friends are all hispanic)... hey, if you can't beat them, join them, lol! And then there is my daughter, the hapa rasta, LOL!

My brother and SIL have a HUGE Halloween party every year! Look at that bowl of candy!

The kids are ready to hit the streets for some serious trick or treating!

Here's Cheryl with our newest trick or treater...

The kids are gone... and here we are all settled in waiting to give out candy.

Look at ALL the FOOD!!!

My mom and dad... My mom usually dresses up in some amazing costume! This year she came as a lady with a broken arm. Actually, she just broke it in Las Vegas and had surgery on it this week.

Winding down after a busy night of trick or treating. We will all be thankful for the extra hour of sleep tonight!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Weekly Sports Report

No cross country this week... well, actually there was a BIG meet at Mt. Sac. But, the invitational got too big and Mt. Sac cut all the JV races. Since Chris is on JV, there was no racing for him, but he still needed to get up at 4:30am to catch the bus and cheer on the team.

Uhm... two more losses for the Gauchos. An example of just how bad this team is: Cheryl was playing center defender, she got between the ball and the other team's striker and was ready to kick it out. BUT her keeper called for the ball... Cheryl expected her to pick the ball up, but she came out and tried to kick it. She ended up missing the ball and kicking Cheryl in the leg... the ball rolled past the keeper and into the net. Cheryl has a big bruise on her hip flexor.

Quakes win again! They played the second place team last weekend... looks like they will sweep the entire league!