Thanksgiving 2009

 This year's Thanksgiving was absolutely fantastic! Spending the day with family was great. The kids entertained, the adults visited and enjoyed spirits, and reconnected with one another.

Kelsey and Kalli are one happy family! This little girl is an absolute honey!

Carter had a great deal of wisdom to share.

The girls were great entertainers all day!

Brendan thought is was fun to play with Kalli.

Brendan is not much for cuddling anymore but I think he still likes a good hug!

These are my buddies!

Kalli is a fun little six month old to hang with!

The gang hanging out.

Ashley and Dale pride themselves on having "cool" glasses.

Ode To The Blue Ball That Floated In At The Lake

Gus is a strange, weird, twisted dog. He does things that most people would not put up with. In fact most people would not have "picked" Gus to begin with! He is a naughty, naughty, naughty dog!
He is also a cuddly, loving, sweet dog. He is fun to play with and fun to watch.
A few years back we took Gus to the lake, refer to previous posts about Gus at the lake. It never ends well. There was one time that he acquired a new toy.
His precious blue ball.
The one and only toy Gus seems to love is his blue ball. We have purchased many toys, balls, and chews for Gus. He has managed to destroy all of them, except the one toy we watched float unto the shore.
Thank you whoever lost this darling little ball. We appreciate the time and energy that is spent with this ball. Gus loves it and will spend hours gumming it and playing with it!

Enough is Enough is Enough

I have had enough!!!!!!
Seeing another giant building/office building go up across the street, angered me.
The constant noise, lights, and rude people across the street was stressful.
TODAY I HAVE ABSOLUTELY HAD IT!!!
Here is what I came home to at 4:15...

By the time the jerks were done and left we did finally have some access to our house from the south, as long as you drive fast you can make it through the mud.
I can NOT believe this!
We will not get our mail tomorrow because as you can see, the mailbox is surrounded.
I am so angry and frustrated with the people on our council and the fact that no one notified us that we would not have access to our home or water today!

Interesting Week

The wave of emotions seems to be crashing quite a bit this week.
Monday-It was extremely nerve racking waiting all day to play in the Regional Tournament. We won easily and I was very excited to play Wyndmere-Lidgerwood on Tuesday.
Tuesday-Another Nerve racking and exciting day. Utter and total disappointment when losing to the Warbirds. The feelings of hurt, sad, and angry were very apparent most of the night and early into Wednesday morning.
Wednesday-I was wallowing and miserable. The biggest feeling I had was sadness for my girls. I wanted this so badly for them. Practice was tough and seeing the disappointment on their faces was really tough.
Thursday-I think Shelly Sinner said it best when she said gearing up for playing in a third place regional match is like gearing up to kiss your sister. I was bitter, hurt, and still angry. I knew I would have to face all of the fans and other teams and that really stinks. We played FSHP and beat them easily. It was fun to watch the kids play together one more time and have a little bit of fun while we did it. As the night progressed it was evident that Wyndmere-Lidgerwood was going to win and I was pleased with their showing.
Then something very unexpected happened. I was getting all of our stuff ready to go and waiting patiently for the awards to be called out. I kind of just wanted to leave and go home, maybe for a bit more wallowing and happy reflecting on my wonderful group of seniors. Then they named the region coach of the year and it was ME!!
I am the Region 1 Coach of the Year. I was very shocked and surprised. It is a great honor to receive this award and I am pretty excited about the whole situation.
I wanted to blog about it so that when I look back at my blog and my blog books I remember this. It has been a crazy week and I am very excited about this award. I am still sad that we will not be playing in the state tournament next week. I am still sad, still hurt, and still a bit angry. I know these feelings will be present again next week while watching the state tournament.  I am still pretty psyched about the award.

Becky's Birthday

It was Becky's Birthday on Friday evening. My mom is pretty much awesome and I look up to her a great deal. She is quiet, calm, and always there to help. I do not know anyone that is a harder worker than her. She enjoys hunting, gardening, reading, walking, riding bike, and spending time with her grandboys. I have never heard her say a naughty word or raise her voice. I am pretty sure she is the most mild tempered person I know. We nick named her the Beckster and sometimes call her Rambo Becky. Becky is pretty awesome:) Happy birthday mom!

 

Coaching

This VB season has been so much fun. The girls have been working hard in practice, they are committed, and have a true love of VB. Unfortunately we lost in the semi-finals of regions last night. We played Wyndmere-Lidgerwood and did not play up to par. It flat out stinks. I wish I could express all of the feelings I have but the only way to say it is that it stinks.
I know everyone will play the blame game and it will be all my fault and I am sure there are people that are condemning me and saying whatever it is they say. The fact of the matter is that the other team played better than we did. They just came out to play and we started well but did not finish the sets.
I am in my eleventh season of coaching (not all at the varsity level) and I have had many different experiences with players, parents, siblings, officials, fans, and those in charge. I have been coach of the year a few times, had terrible seasons with many issues, had great seasons with state finishes, and average seasons that ended too soon.
I have had parents come to my classroom corner me in my room, scream at me, call my house and go on swearing innapropriate rants, send nasty emails that for the most part make no sense what-so-ever, tell me what I should do and how I should do it according to them, and my all time favorite meet me at my car in a dark parking lot and threaten me.
I am always amazed at the emotions that come out with athletics. Sometimes I wonder what the heck these people are thinking!! Oh and I know I am not the most polished writer but really people, read what you send before you send it. When people go on a 4-6 paragraph rant that condems me, the school, and the blessed squirrel mascot, it concerns me. What did the squirrel ever do to them;) Oh and I will share it with the appropriate people and wow does respect go out the window.
I am also amazed at the positive experiences and lessons that can come from athletics. People ask why I coach. I have overheard several conversations about me at school from my fellow "friends" judging me and pretending they have a clue of what they are talking about. I really love it when peole who have no coaching experience or have never been a head coach know EXACTLY what we should be doing. Trust me, you do not have a clue of what sacrifices, time, and energy go into it.
Well here is why I do it:
I care about the kids and I want them to see success at something they work hard for. In our world today many tasks are sugar coated. Kids are not pushed like they should be and people are quick to make excuses and place blame. I want to push the kids to work hard and see them succeed. I want them to have feelings of pride and accomplishement so they can take that with them for the rest of their lives.
Athletics can teach lessons that kids will NOT learn anywhere else. I would say that I do not care if I offend anyone who reads this post but it would be a lie. I do care.
That is my biggest fault, I care.
I care with my entire heart and soul about everything I do. I find that sets me up for a great deal of hurt and I am OK with that. I was taught to put everything I have into all I do and I think that is the best way to live life.
Losing last night stinks, it flat out stinks and I hate feeling the way I do today and the lack of sleeping during the night stinks. I cried and I cried and I guess if that makes me a weak person I am OK with that. If I did not cry it would mean that I did not care and did not put my whole heart into what I was doing.
Today we will have our last practice and tomorrow night will be our last match. It is going to be tough especially for the seniors. I love each of them and wish I had the words to make their hurt go away. I loved this season and I can not believe it is coming to and end. This just stinks!

Have not blogged in a bit

I have not had a chance to blog for a bit so I thought I would toss a few pictures from the past few weeks. Bill took Jess, Justine, Bridget, Joey(The Dog), and I up to Devil's Lake for the Football play-offs a few weekends ago. It was a ton of fun and I enjoyed the bonding time. We also had a chance to explore our redneckedness for Halloween this year. Bridget and I dressed up as people from walmart.com. We had a fantastic time acting like idiots and letting off steam. It was fun!