Volleyball

Time passes so quickly these days that I can hardly keep up. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Julee started volleyball camp and tryouts right?  I guess that was August and now here we are at the end of October and the season has just ended.  Julee made the JV team this year and had a great season.  Poor girl had practice or games every single day for 2 months including a lot of Saturdays (add seminary, honors classes, homework, and yes, chores, to that and she was one busy girl).  She worked hard and really took the training seriously. She learned a lot and gained a lot of muscle and some great body toning - lucky girl.  Here she is in action:

 

 Don't you just love the knee hi socks and knee pad look?

Friend.... or Best friend......?

I apologize in advance (mostly to my mother) if this offends anyone or gives them the wrong impression.  I am not a violent person by nature and actually think of myself as a pretty caring individual.  But, I have to say that there is something about this statement that really warms my heart.  Really, it does!

Rare sighting

I'd venture to say that most of us out there have at one time or another used Google street maps.  A couple of days ago we spotted the Google maps car by one of our local shopping centers.  This is the car that drives around taking those pictures that become part of those maps.  I wish we could have gotten a closer picture (the guy inside already looked freaked out because we were stalking him) of the inside so you could see all the computers that it has inside.  It is pretty amazing for a little tiny car.  And if once wasn't enough, we saw it again a few days later in a different part of town.  Rick said to the girls that maybe we would end up on Google street maps.  Julee in her rather special 14-year old way responded with something like "Yes, wouldn't that be fabulous."  Too funny!

1st Day of School

Well, we made it through the first week and a half of school.  I find it funny that I wait all summer for us to have our "schedule" back and then when it finally happens, it seems like it takes forever to get used to it.  I suppose it doesn't help that now that Julee is in high school we started seminary this past week.  We now have 8 years of early mornings to look forward to. I'll let you know when I'm excited about that but don't hold your breath.

I can't believe that Julee is already in high school! She has become very busy all of a sudden.  Between seminary, school, and JV volleyball she is always on the run.  Alexis is now in 5th grade and growing like a weed.  She is just a hair taller than Julee and most of the kids in her class.  She was so ready to start the school year and is loving her new teacher, Mr Travers.  Here's to a great school year!

 

 

P.S.  I spent the afternoon downloading and organizing pictures so maybe I'll get to some more blogging this week.  Again, don't hold your breath...

 

There goes the weekend.....

Poor Rick!  He has been trying to get home from San Antonio since 9 o'clock this morning.  Unfortunately, this is what he has been dealing with all day.

 But he is finally on a plane that is just flying out of Baltimore on its way to Albany.  He should be home around 1245am.  And if we're lucky, his luggage has already arrived as it made one of the flights that he did not.  So hopefully he is well rested from all that sitting around in airports because tomorrow is one crazy day.  We'll find ourselves at the high school graduation party of our friends' son, the funeral (in which I am one of the speakers-that's a whole different post) of a dear sister in our ward, the grocery store to buy dish soap (because when I went to do the dishes tonight I realized that when Rick told me we were running out of dish soap he meant that we were really out of dish soap) and something for us to eat tomorrow since we have nothing in the house except chips and salsa, and several loads of laundry so Rick can turn around and re-pack to leave again on Sunday morning.  So, if any of you get to sleep in and just take it easy, please do some of that for me.

P.S. It is now 1:32am.  Rick made it home and his luggage made it home.  Exhaustion has set in.
Good night!

It's what's for dinner

Mmmmm, I love this stuff!

The sound of...........

Listen closely.

 Can you hear that?

Come on, stop and listen for just a minute. 

Can you hear it now? 

Ahhh, of course you can't. 

It's the sweet sound of peace and quiet. 

The girls are in Florida for a few weeks and Rick left this morning for a week long conference in San Antonio. Rumor has it the girls are having a terrible time (not!) spending everyday playing on the beach and swimming in the surf. And poor Rick has just flown right into the middle of a multi-week Texas heat wave (though he did get to have Panda Express for lunch so we are not feeling too bad for him at the moment).  As for me, here I sit in front of the air conditioner alternating between my laptop and a new novel, trying not to break the silence.  I suspect this novelty will be short-lived and it will only be a few days before I'm singing the lonely blues.  But until then...............shhhhhhh.