First Injury Of The Season

I have come to realize that with two boys playing football, one/both of them are bound to end up with an injury.  Taylor had his first one a couple of weeks ago playing the Tracy Cougars.  They thought he had a broken collar bone due to him taking a helmet to it during the game.  Thankfully it was just a sprain and he only had to sit out a week (he only sat out for two days and was back playing).  He and I spent an afternoon at Urgent Care to get an x-ray and a sling.

 

I didn't want him to play in the game that following Saturday.  I thought he needed to let his collar bone rest and heal, so he kept having Colby punch him in the collar bone to show me that it was healed.  Colby was only too happy to help Taylor out.

I have lots of football updating to do!  I hope I don't jinx myself by saying this because Colby has a BIG game tonight against our biggest rivals, St. Mary's.  Taylor' team i s 5-0 and Colby's team is 3-0.  They are both off to a great start!!  I never thought I would like football.  I've changed my mind.

High School

In a couple of week, my three-year-old baby will be starting high school.  Okay, he's not actually three, he's almost fifteen, but in my mind and heart, he's still three.  Colby is calm, cool, and collected about this next step in his young life.  I, on the otherhand, am pretty sure I need some sort of tranquilizer to get me through this Freshman year.  Colby has spent quite a bit of time on the high school campus already between sports and high school classes, so he has an idea of what's coming.  He's made a lot of friends, he's become familiar with the campus, and he knows how a high school classroom works.

As a mother, I have a tradition that I started when Colby started kindergarten.  Every year right before school starts, I bear my testimony.  Why I do this I really don't know.  I like to think that if I say it over the pulpit, then the boys will pay extra close attention to what I have to say and the things I've been saying, or some might say lecturing, about will have extra emphasis.  So, without fail, I bore my testimony this last week.  I must admit, I get very emotional when I do this but this time it was extra hard.  I am having a hard time coping with our boys getting older.  I don't want these next four years with Colby to fly by because then it will all be over and our family dynamics will never be the same.  I love having our boys at home.  I love being busy and involved with sports, school activities, church activities, and whatever else they are involved in.  I have loved the people and friends we have made in the community with our boys being so involved.

Here are my thoughts about high school and some things I want both of the boys to know when they are older and read this again some day.  High school is hard!  There will probably never be a more trying time in your life with friends and peer pressure.  The decisions you make now will affect you for the rest of your life, so choose your friends wisely.  I love the quote that says, "You become like the five people you spend the most time with, so choose wisely".  Oh, how that is so true!!  Don't get too involved with girls.  Have fun but don't date steadily.  Have fun with a group instead of pairing off.  You have the rest of your life to date and be in a relationship, enjoy being young.  Be involved in school and be the best student you can be.  Your grades will carry you farther than anything else you do.  Most of all, remember who you are and always stand up for what you know is right and true, even if it isn't the popular way of thinking.

As I bore my testimony Sunday, I mentioned that Colby and I had been on the high school campus a few times for orientations, etc.  I said that as we walk around the campus, my finger starts pointing and the lecture begins.  I love what Colby says to me when this happens, he says, "Mom, you have nothing to worry about.  I know who I am".  I hope he always remembers that!  As I sat back down on Sunday, Colby was crying because he inherited by tear ducts and he said, "Mom, you've been cut from the NBA fund".  We both laughed!

I love these boys of ours so much!  More than they could ever know.  Until they are a parent someday.....and by someday, I mean when they are 35.

Colby's Promotion

I don't know about other schools, but Stockton has a tradition where the 8th graders have a mini graduation or as they call it, a promotion to high school.  Colby had his the end of May, right before school ended.  I didn't think it would be a big deal, but as I watched him walk down the aisle with his classmates to the song of "Celebration", I found myself teary-eyed and nostalgic.  Where have all the years gone?  Didn't he just potty train a week ago?  Didn't he just start kindergarten yesterday?

He looks so big and grown up now.  He has the body of a teenage boy, not a little boy.  It makes me a little sad, but I know when I was that age all I wanted to do was grow up, and kids nowdays are the same way.  Colby just wants to be older and I still want to be rocking him every day while he watches Toy Story.

They had a school dance after and Colby would rather have his toenails plucked than attend a school dance, so we went to dinner with Geniel at Colby's favorite restaurant and he opened presents.  It was Colby's kind of night, low key.

Walking down the aisle.

Colby and Mr. Asplund, the principal.  He is awesome!!

 

Not a little boy anymore!

 

Colby and Geniel!

The family.

I have never seen anyone as ready for high school as Colby is.  He is so excited to finally play high school sports and to hang out with the older boys he's become friends with through basketball and football.  I about pee'd my pants the first day of high school.  I was SO nervous!  Colby has spent quite a bit of time at the high school already and I'm sure that it helps that the middle school he has been at sits on the high school campus.  Seminary might be another thing!  Right now Colby is excited to start seminary because we have an awesome seminary teacher but I think starting the day at 5:15 is going to wear off quickly.  One of the girls at church who will be a senior offered to drive Colby to school every morning from seminary.  I guess that's better than having your Mom drop you off.

Good luck in high school, Colby!!!  (You're going to need it).

Bleacher Butt

Colby has had a tournament every weekend this month!  When you are playing on three teams, you are bound to have a tournament with at least one of them every weekend.  The last two weekends, two of his teams have both played in the Sac Area Sports tournament, and both of his teams won first place.  Here are a few pictures of Colby's last two tournaments.

Oh, and he dropped the bomb on us a few weeks ago that he's decided to play Freshman football!!  Quarterback!!  He's been going to football practice with the Varsity team to try and learn the plays. Arthur, I'm worried.

Colby Plays JV AAU Basketball

Colby tried out for the 8th grade AAU team, Lincoln Pressure, the beginning of the year. He did this in hopes to get to know the high school basketball coaches (politics)so they would have a better idea of who he was come try-outs next fall.

Colby's coach is the Junior Varsity coach at the high school. To say that he and Colby have hit it off would be an understatement. They have become very good friends! He and Colby spend one hour a week after one of his practices shooting around to improve Colby's shooting skills.

His coach, Coach Welch, also coaches a spring/summer AAU team that consists of the high school kids who are either interested in basketball or played last fall. They have been in the middle of try-outs and Colby asked the coach if he could practice with the Junior Varisty team because they run faster and move the ball quicker. Colby wanted to test his skills and see if he had what it takes to play with older boys and what he needed to improve on.

Coach Welch approached Ryan the other night and asked him if Colby could join the team and play/go to team camps this summer. When the coach extended the invitation to Colby, we had to peel him off the ceiling he was so excited. So, our 8th grader is playing on a team of boys that are going to be Sophomores next year. He has loved it so far and the boys have been very welcoming to him!

We are very proud of Colby. He has put hours and hours into basketball, a lot of it on his own just shooting and trying to get better. I admire Colby for the goals he sets for himself and achieves. I know that he'll never play in the NBA but I am dang proud of that boy. It's going to be a busy summer!

Boys and Girls

I have to pray that Colby and Taylor never read our blog. If they do, I will be exiled from the family, dead to both Colby and Taylor. The time has come in their lives (way to early in my life) where they now notice girls. Taylor admitted a while ago that he has a girlfriend. I am glad my boys like girls but I don't want them to "like" girls, at least not yet. I thought I taught them to walk with their heads down and don't look up until they were 30. I imagined them growing up and living together in an apartment because that's what they told me they were going to do when they were 3 and 4. What happened to that plan? It sounded like a good one to me!

I worry about it constantly and Ryan tells me to calm down. The people at work tell me it will only get worse as they get older and all I want to do is chain them to their beds and lock their door. At this point, I'm thinking arranged marriages might be the answer after all. I need the boys to watch "Fiddler On The Roof", to see if they're open to that idea. I may have just solved this crisis.

First Day of School

Superstar Shootout

At the beginning of the month, we made our way to the thriving metropolis of Tulare for a basketball tournament. This area is my stomping grounds for my road travels with work. Tulare is not a very big town, maybe 60,000-70,000 people and is primarily a farming community. We had a fun time and played lots of games as usual!

Colby getting into the "zone" on the way to the game.

Game #2. There's #21!

Ryan spent the weekend coaching Colby's team as the regular coach was out of town and couldn't be there. He did a great job! I wish he felt like he had more time to coach because he has a lot of knowledge to offer the players and they like him. My nerves are really on edge to have Ryan out there coaching and Colby out there playing. If this was a permanent situation, I would probably need to take a muscle relaxer to calm my nerves before every game. The other parents on the team would probably think I was some sort of a lush.

Ryan coaching, Colby playing, and my nerves are on edge.

Warming up for the next game.

Look at that form!

I'm not real sure what the parents in the area of Tulare are feeding their boys or if it's solely because they are farm boys but the boys in that area are big. I mean big! It was like watching football players on the basketball court. I was warned before we left that the boys in that area were big but I had no idea what we were getting into. Our boys did great! The 6th graders took first place, the 7th graders took second, and the 8th graders took second also. I think the highlight of the trip for Taylor was shaking the Stanford's Men's basketball coach's hand. He was pretty excited that he was there. He was there to watch the high school level boys play, not Colby's age group. That would have put some pressure on!

I always enjoy the road trips! It's fun to be together as a team and as families. We really have become a family with the other parents and players in the organization. We have a lot of fun together and the boys really love one another. I'm grateful that Colby gets to be part of something so great. The schnauzer thinks he's the mascot for the team, we haven't told him otherwise.

The schnauzer posing for his "mascot" photo.

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

Colby has at least one tournament a month in Sacramento for basketball. Sac Area Sports hosts the tournament and each time there are a variety of new teams that show up. Last month Colby's team won the tournament for their division undefeated. They were pretty excited boys!

Game #1

Tournament Champs!

We found out over the weekend that the 7th grade team is ranked 9th in the nation while the 8th grade boys team is ranked 2nd. We're playing in the big time now!!

Colby's News

In the AAU world there are basketball camps that you want to be invited to. Colby has known this for some time and has been talking non-stop about the Adidas Phenom Camp in San Diego. He knew that his coach was going to pick someone from the team to go and I know he has had his hopes that it would be him. I guess last Saturday was his lucky day.............

Opening the invitation.

Colby is going to the national camp the beginning of August. There were some Adidas reps. at the tournament we went to in L.A. and they liked what they saw. There are a few other boys from Blackout who will be going with him but he's pretty excited to get the invitation. Colby will be followed by scouts from now on as a result of this camp. They will keep tabs on him until he graduates from high school. We'll never know when they're around but they will be watching.

Reading the invitation.

I am very proud of Colby and all the hard work he has put in to this sport. I am also reminded again of why I love where we live so much. Colby and Taylor have had so many opportunites come their way that I believe would not have happened for them anywhere else.

One happy boy!

A Successful Weekend

My baby's back on the court. He doesn't like me to call him my baby because he's thirteen and thinks he's too cool to be called that, so I just do it behind his back. He'll always be my baby, though, and I was so excited for him knowing how excited he was that he was able to play again. He played two tournaments, with a total record of 5-2. He fouled out of the last two games but in the second half and the game was almost over.

He was walking a little stiff afterwards but that was due to sore leg muscles, not his ankle. He gets a break this Saturday and then it gets really crazy for him. Our school district didn't have school today, so he's home recooperating. I need to be at home recooperating after our busy weekend. At least this next weekend is a three-day weekend! Yay!!

The Love Of The Game

When I walked into practice last night, this is what I found................

Chasing the ball down the court.

Talking to his good friend and teammate, Aiden.

Going down to say hello to some other teammates.

Dribbling the ball, or starting to, to shoot it.

He shot it and made the basket.

Talking to his coach.

One of Many

Colby had another tournament in the Sacramento area this weekend. Ryan and the boys went up early because Colby had a 9:00 game and I had a haircut at 10. I was planning to go up for his other games and spend the day in Sacramento. Ryan called me just before 10 and said, "Don't come up, Colby's hurt". I found out that Colby had gone up for a rebound, came down, and landed on another kid's foot and rolled his ankle.

Ryan brought him home and it's been a whirlwind ever since. We met CP at UOP at 4:00 on Saturday, he looked at Colby's ankle and quietly said to Ryan, "Your best case scenario here is that it's broken. We want it to be broken, it will heal faster if it is." As Colby was laying on the table at UOP, I said to him, "You realize this is your first of MANY rolled ankles, right?". He knew and he was okay with it. CP fixed him up with some crutches and a compression he made to try and move the swelling up his leg. CP told us that we want it to change color and the swelling should start to go down. Colby has had his leg up and on ice since Saturday evening.

Yesterday at church CP asked us how Colby was doing and when we said there really hadn't been any change over night he encouraged us to get him in for an X-ray quickly. We ended up spending four hours at the doctor's office. As far as the doctor could tell, he doesn't have a break along the growth plate but his foot is so swelled that they couldn't see anything else. There is a possibility of torn ligaments, which means surgery. It could be just a really bad sprain, they really don't know.

Colby has been a trooper. He is so even tempered, calm, and mature in tough situations. He's been very independent and hasn't complained. He did have one little meltdown after church yesterday. I could see that he was emotional and when Ryan and I asked him about it he said, "I just love the game so much, I just want to play". Ryan explained to him that he would play again but we had to get him better the right way so he wouldn't suffer with it for the rest of his life. Once Ryan told him that he wasn't going to lose his spot on the team, that he would play again, and that we would do everything we could to help him, then he was better.

His coach has also been wonderful! He's called, been concerned, and has wanted to help in any way he could. I am reminded at times like this how blessed we are to be surrounded by such wonderful friends. One of the many reasons we decided not to move back to Oregon a couple of months ago was because we have so many wonderful people in our lives here. CP jumps right in and does whatever he can to help the boys, Colby's coach has taught him so much and truly cares for him, our ward family was so concerned that Colby wasn't there yesterday and wanted to know how they could help. Even his Sunday School teacher sent him a text to let him know that he was thinking of Colby. How lucky are we?

Colby starts treatment tonight with CP to try and get the swelling down. If it doesn't go down, then we have to meet with an Orthopedic doctor for an MRI. I am praying that it doesn't have to go that far. I don't know if my heart could handle Colby needing surgery. I was very worried about him being at school today, you know Colby, he won't miss school. He stepped out of the car with his crutches and his friends were there instantly wanting to know what was going on. After seeing how they reacted and how concerned they were, I'm sure Colby will be in good hands at school.

L.A. Tournament

A couple of weekends ago, Colby and his basketball team had a tournament in Los Angeles. We couldn't pass up the chance to go to L.A., so we went along with the schnauzer in tow. The tournament was in the northern most part of L.A., Chatsworth area, but it was still beautiful and fun to be in southern California.

There were a lot of teams. A LOT! I had no idea that there were so many AAU teams around but I got just a small glimpse of some in the state of Cali and Nevada. We enjoyed seeing so many other teams and to see how our boys stacked up against them. The 7th grade team that Colby plays on won 1 game and lost 3. The 8th grade team he plays on won the tournament for their age division. It was fun to see the boys so excited over winning!

I can't believe that Colby has been handed such a great opportunity as this. We feel very lucky to have found such a great team that has high morals and expectations for these boys. I can't say enough nice things about the coach. I believe there isn't any other coach like him and all the boys have the upmost respect for him. You have to see it to believe it to understand what Colby is involved in. Sometimes it's a little overwhelming to see him playing a faster, much more competitive game, but he has done well and loves his teammates.

Here's a few pictures of our trip. The schnauzer did really well on the trip, we were so proud of him! He's such a great little passenger and he just rolled along with whatever we had to do. We love him more and more everyday.

The famous "Grapevine" pass.

Magic Mountain.

Game #1 for the 7th graders.

Taylor teasing Hurley with his "blue man" toy.

Taylor hiding Hurley's "blue man" toy and Hurley trying to dig for it.

Game #3 for the 7th graders.

Tournament champions.

The Big 1-3

We officially have a teenager in the house. The teenage hormones have been in the house for quite some time but now we have the teenager to go with it. Colby is 13, I keep saying this to myself over and over again. Where has the time gone? Where is the little boy who used to climb on my lap and say, "Mom, sniff my ears and tell me what I ate today?". Gone, those times are gone and sometimes that just doesn't sit well with me.

Colby is what I have always defined as an "old soul". He is mature way beyond his years and a very deep thinker. Not that he can't have fun and goofy, there's plenty of that, but he has a very serious side that he shows to everyone outside of our house. I asked Colby if he wanted to have a party with his friends for his birthday and his reply to me was, "Why would I want to do that?". He just wanted to hang out with his family, CP, and Geniel for his birthday. I guess I should be thankful that he still wants to be with his family but at times I worry about his lack of interests in his friends outside of school.

Colby opening the big present.

Colby stunned and talking to Ryan about it being a gun.

Already has it in hand.

A gun. That's what he wanted for his birthday. Well, either that or a "Fixie" bike. He got the gun. He was very surprised! Ryan told him that there really wasn't a way for him to get a gun because of all the registration stuff, etc. We fooled him. So, for his birthday we took him to the gun room to try it out. It was an experience to say the least. I don't like loud noises and even though I had two layers of ear protection on, I couldn't handle the noise. The boys, Ryan, and CP, had a ball! I've never seen grown men laugh like little boys until that night.

At the shooting range. Aiming at his target.

CP and Colby. Who knows what they're doing.

Taylor with a gun in his hand. Makes me nervous!

Colby also had a basketball tournament that day in Sacramento. They played three games and Colby fouled out of the last two. He also received a nice fat lip from a guy on another team as a birthday gift. It was cute to see his team sing "Happy Birthday" to him and then dog-pile on top of him. He has some great friends in that group of players!

Ryan showing off the lastest styles at the shooting range, along with a nice sunburn.

Geniel and I were so happy to be there we could hardly contain our excitement!

They call me Annie Oakley. I was just trying to get it over with.

Even though I struggle with my fellas growing up, I am very proud of the young man that Colby has become. He's not afraid to stand up for what he believes is true and he is intent on doing the right thing. There are so many things I admire about Colby and I feel blessed every day to be his Mom. It has always been my hope that these boys of ours would grow up to be good, righteous men in the world who contribute good things to the world and to their community.

One more shot of Colby shooting.

We love you, Colby! You are one terrific son and young man! Now, on to more serious business. Something happened at the gun room that wasn't so terrific. It will be my next post. Let's just say that I'm lucky to be alive. You may want to have a box of kleenex close by when you find out what happened.