Win the Weekend!

Thanks everyone for the sympathy from yesterday. I woke up at about 4am Saturday morning, still felt a throbbing knot - got some more ice, and then by the time I woke up around 8am, "All Gone" - and good to go from then on out. Whew! There have been times these situations have been excruciating, but lately the headaches have been manageable once I'm stationary in bed with ice packs, so the bummer about the whole thing is only the "missing out on life" and not that I'm agonizing or anything. Once again, so many folks have it so much worse than me, so I don't want to sound like I'm whining.....

So, with Saturday being back to full speed, Michele and I made up for lost time hitting Kohls, Michaels, and Target with expediency before I had to get the girls ready for Mikayla's first game of volleyball.

Chalk this up as the second "win" of the day (I'm going to give my headache disappearing the first mark in the win column). Jonna and I's team did excellent and really took to heart our charge and challenge of making the goal be more about three contacts before sending the ball over vs. "sloppy ping pong" ball. All of the girls were able to get at least one of their overhand serves over (including Mikayla!) - and we were so delighted for them each to feel the success of that huge accomplishment. Without keeping score this year, the game experience is much more subdued and relaxed, which takes a little bit of the excitement out of the equation, but definitely fosters a much more encouraging environment - with an emphasis on making more efforts towards positive skill building vs. just getting the ball over the net. I really enjoy working with Kenady's mom, Jonna, in this capacity - it definitely makes sense why our daughters love each other's company so much!


Third "win" of the weekend - Traig's second successful hunt this year. Who pulls this kind of success at age 13? A 5 point buck in October, and 4x5 point bull elk yesterday? SO PROUD of that kid - what a way to end a week of huge efforts and bonding with his dad and the rest of their hunting party - in the midst of snowy conditions in Eastern Oregon.

Moving on to win #4.....a double win of sorts in that yes, Oregon defeated Stanford (take that, Lee Corso....next time, you oughta pick the Duck!) - but I'd say the even bigger win was the experience John and Travis had in choosing to spontaneously go down to Palo Alto together and take it all in. They had SO MUCH FUN....maybe too much as I think they are talking about doing more of these "Away Game Field Trips" in the future!

View of the sunrise that the guys saw in Southern Oregon on their way down Saturday morning:

The guys - where their seats were in the stadium - they loved their location!

The guys spent the night in Redding and John snapped this image on the way back home this morning of Mt. Shasta. They got back home around 1 this afternoon. Kudos to Travis for getting the "Best Driver of the Year Award" - even amidst John sleeping for much of it. Definitely a talent, Travis - and it's because of you and how safe you drive that I didn't worry (too much) about you guys being out on the road.

Finally, "Win #5": Brayden's Pop Warner Championship game at Autzen Stadium. Here's his fan club that were seating in the stands: Leona, Travis, Mom, Dad, Stephie, Michele, me, Kaela, and Heather-

And then, the two guys down here across the field are John and Kenjon. John so narrowly made the cut to be on the field - they said "No" to practically everyone who wasn't a coach. However, Kenjon was able to just use his key card and access the field through the locker room and saunter on in....players have their privileges!

So more fun fan pics (How great that these gals came just to support our boy!!):

Really Travis?!

And, an early pic of the game in action. (These are taken from Kaela's camera...the thousands of photos John took have yet to be sorted). We played this team earlier in the season and beat them rather heartily. However, this game, we didn't even give them a chance....we beat them 39-0. Sadly, for them and us, because of the point spread, we weren't even able to make passes or blitz in the second half, so it was kind of anti-climactic. But, Brayden played a good chunk and made some fantastic blocks - we are super proud of his improvement this year. (Brayden is in the black socks and black long sleeves at the bottom of the "O" in this picture)

Some post-game picture fun:



Unwilling to let the party just end - we took the celebration to Red Robin with Heather, Kenjon, the Whites, Kaela, Michele and our family (minus Mikayla who was home with the girls).



This is one of those weekends - being that it was long and drawing closer to the holidays and included lots of family time - that makes returning to the "real world" of a "work week" harder than normal. But, oh what a great weekend it was - wins all around!