Congratulations And The Weekend

Congratulations to the Connell wrestlers! The Eagles were represented by 9 boys and 1 girl at the State Tournament this last weekend in Tacoma. There were 3 alternates (unfortunately none of them got to participate but they were there to help cheer on their teammates!) and 7 that got to wrestle for state placement......they came home with 4 wrestlers earning titles!! Congratulations to ALL of them, especially the placers:

Jacob - 2nd place

Misael - 3rd place

Tyson - 5th place

Ryan - 8th place

It was a long weekend I'm sure. There is a lot of "hurry up and wait" time but it is also a great opportunity to see a lot of good wrestling. We are proud of all of the wrestlers.

My 3 day weekend involved driving to see Briar. It was a LONG trip over because I left after school. It is a 8 1/2 hour drive and doing it after putting in an 8 hour workday takes a toll on a person. Needless to say I was glad to sink into the motel bed Friday night (actually it was Saturday morning!). Saturday morning I made it to Briar's apartment and got to see where he is living. He shares with 5 other guys and between the 6 of them, 1 is a little on the "slobby" side, more than a little acutally. Guess who shares a room with him?? You guessed it! Briar. For anyone who knows Briar, he feels there is a place for everything and puts his things in that spot. I am sure he has held his breath more than a couple of times when he walks into his room. He showed me the desk of one of the other guys who is a little more compatible with the 'organization' that Briar is more use to: "look at the drawers, mom, even in here, everything is in its place." Cracked me up. [Briar's drawers look the same way!] Anyways, the first thing I saw when I looked at Briar's side of the room was a picture of his sister on his desk...the desk he uses every day. So hang in there parents! Your children really will turn out to love each other, just takes a little longer than we would like!

I did do the mother thing and cleaned the kitchen. The counters were a little on the grose side, dried food on them. Nasty! Anyways, I did the dishes and washed down the countertops. I can't help myself. Like I said: it's a mother thing.

Saturday afternoon I did another mom thing and took him grocery shopping. It was a new experience going grocery shopping with him this time: he actually picked things out because of their lower price or because the things would actually get used! "Don't spend your money on that, mom. I probably won't use it" or "this one is cheaper!" OK, who are YOU and where is MY son?? It was more proof that he really has grown. It's one of the reasons for the trail of tears that cascaded down my cheeks when it was time to leave. This is what we raised them to be isn't it?? After grocery shopping we went to see "Unknown" at the movie theatre. It was awesome! I recommend it if you like suspense/drama/twists. I don't go to movies much at all, but this was a good one.

Sunday we didn't do anything but eat dinner and hang out. We watched tv and just spent time together. It was nice and relaxing. Monday morning it was up and on the road early. I had to spend a good half-hour or so getting all the snow off of my car before I could get going. There was a good 5 inches or so, and some nice ice under all of the snow. I lost the last bit of snow off of the car just before I got to Baker City, Oregon! It is only February so I shouldn't have been so surprised. I do love the snow but didn't want to have to battle it on the roads coming home. The drive home seemed a lot easier/shorter than the drive down. I got home about 7:30. Boy was my butt ready to not have to be sitting in a car's seat!

It was hard to leave....I am not use to not seeing him every week. He gets done with school on April 9th. That doesn't seem like that long of a time so that's good. He is working hard. He showed me all his class books and notes that he takes and complained about all the studying that he has to do. I think he doesn't mind it all, makes it seem like he is getting something for his money. Welcome to the real world my son! I love you!!

Tonight was our Europe meeting, the next-to-the-last one before we get international! We leave on April 3rd and get back on April 13th. We are going to Turkey and Greece. Tonight we talked about getting Euros and Turkish Lira, packing, hotel assignments, chaperone assignments, tips for not getting pick-pocketed, and plane departures/returns. We have known about this trip for over a year now....finally it is starting to feel like it is coming and quickly! We now have just a few weeks left. And lots of details to get tied up! Starting to get a tad-bit excited!!

I am going to end this post with a super fantastic picture of my very best friend in the whole wide world and two of her favorite boys.....pretty high up on my list of favorites too! I stole it off of her blog because I think it is great! I love you LeeLee!!

Hi Matt and Lucas!! Say hi to your dad too!