Zone Tournament

Congratulations Cute Little Boy!!! Good luck at State

Zone Finals Tomorrow...

This weekend is the zone soccer tournament. Last night Virgin Valley (that's us) played Moapa (the "other" valley). The two valleys are big rivals, sometimes the rivalry gets out of control... but that's a post for another day. Anyway, it was a good, clean game and both teams came out fighting. Pedro had a GREAT game, 1 assist and 3 goals - first hat trick of the season! Here is his first goal, a penalty shot inside the box. I love these one-on-one pressure situations. Pedro does well at staying calm, I actually think he thrives on the excitement. (Sorry about the poor quality - night games are NOT ideal.)



I went early to watch the girl's team play. Unfortunately they didn't win and their season is over. I felt really bad for the team. I think they could have won, they just had a little bit of an off day. But look at the beautiful sunset we watched as they played. Oh what a day.

Tomorrow 10am the boys play Boulder. If we win... we are the league champions, which has never been done in Mesquite. And... we will be going to state. Cross your fingers for us!

Happy Halloween!

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. I don't like to be scared and I don't like to contribute to American children's obesity problem. I wanted to hand out carrot sticks but Mark forbid me! hahaha kidding I wouldn't actually do that... But anyway, this year I really enjoyed Halloween. My sister needed driving hours so she can get her license in January. So Jamie and my mom came down for the weekend. We started the festivities by attending Thriller. It's our Halloween tradition and one thing I actually look forward to about this holiday. The show was wonderful!

Saturday morning we carved pumpins. It's Pedro's first official Halloween, so we had to do it right!

Pretty good pumpkins huh! Carved by Grandma Kerri, Pedro, Aunt Jamie and Mommy Mindee (unfortunately Markie Mark had to work during the day)
We spent the afternoon playing Rock Band and making cookies. I mean what's a little more sugar?

Mia (another exchange student) came over for dinner and to hang out. I told Jamie to bring a costume just in case there was a party... no party, but Mia and Pedro had never been trick or treating. So we went through my closet and found costumes and the three teenagers hit up the neighborhood for candy. hahaha doesn't Pedro look really comfortable?

My "band" played tonight!

Yes I know the thought of me being in a band is almost as funny as my outfit! hahaha But I wanted to dress the part since my "fiddle band" was performing (plus Mark wasn't going, so he couldn't make fun of me - until I got home). Anyway, he's how I got roped into it...

A friend from the ward said, "Hey Mindee do you still have your band?" I said, "Ummmm you must have me confused with someone else." He said, "No your fiddle band that played at Trek two summers ago." Now let me just clarify... Me and another guy went up the mountain two summers ago during trek to play the violin/guitar for a few hours while the kids danced. That hardly constitutes a band, since we haven't played before or since.

But regardless of the logistics, we attempted to play tonight for the ward chili cook-off. The only problem was that it was outside and freezing! Okay freezing for Mesquite's standards. My fingers got so cold after 30 minutes that they wouldn't respond when my brain told them to move. Dave and Brian played the guitars for awhile and it was a short performance on my part, but maybe just as well. I enjoyed chili, cornbread and apple pie the rest of the evening.

The weekend...

Hmmmm what did we do last week and weekend? Well, Pedro's soccer team won the League Championship! It's the first time they have accomplished that since VVHS established a soccer team 10 years ago. They are on a 13-game winning streak and breaking all sorts of records. They play in the Zone Tournament Nov 5th and 7th and HOPEFULLY win and get to go to state!

Friday night was the last home football game and they recognized all the Seniors. The team wore their jerseys and walked the track and received a flower. Mark and I left at half time, he studied and I cleaned... wow we are real partiers! hahaha

Saturday Mark and I went on visits with our ward. Then we made chocolate chip cookies and ate then warm with ice cream and fudge. Mmmmm Pedro went see a scary movie with friends and drove around Mesquite causing harmless mischief.

Sunday we slept in and relaxed. Mark had a couple meetings and it was our Ward Conference. And we buzzed Pedro's head, his hair was getting pretty shaggy looking. I always look forward to the weekends, and they always seem to fly by. But this weekend will be REALLY great, we have visitors coming!!

Haircut

I will make this short... Mark has wanted a haircut for weeks. But he never goes in and he refused to let me or Pedro buzz his head. So today he just went down and had the other Mindy cut his hair. I was planning to take before and after pictures... to show you how long his hair really was. He could reach the hair down past his nose and almost into his mouth! Yes, his hair is that curly - you would never know how long it really was. And I would have shown you before and after pictures, had my husband told me he was going to get a haircut. But whatever, I guess you only get an after picture.
I think he's mocking me... Actually I know he is. But again, whatever!

Dance & other random events

Pedro hurt his knee last Tuesday and missed a few days of practice and the game on Thursday. But I think he's recovered now and is ready to play Boulder tomorrow.

Friday the high school had a football game and got their butts kicked! Then Pedro, Mark and I went to see a movie. Saturday there was a stake dance and it turned out really fun! I didn't take very many pictures... and the ones I did take turned out blurry. I was experimenting with different settings without using the flash. It was pitch black, I needed my lens with a higher aperture, so the long shutter speed made all the pictures a little blurry. But I learned some new things, and I guess the motion just goes to show the serious dancing that was happening! hahaha

We held the dance for Mesquite and Logandale stake, we had a good turn out with 200-250 kids. It was fun for them to mingle with other youth they don't see very often. We had a live band and they were great about starting dance contests, letting the kids sing karaoke, and getting everyone involved. We had a firepit for cooking smores, but it was a little too warm outside to hang around the fire. Overall it was a great night.




And why no pictures of Pedro dancing? Oh because he wouldn't dance. He sat on the side with a bunch of silly boys and made all the girls sad that they were ignoring them! Kidding, I think he danced a whopping 3 or 4 times. Maybe it was because I was there...

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL

Okay sorry if some of you are sick of soccer pictures. But can I just tell you that I LOVE the continuous shutter option?

Passing one player...

And then another...

Wide open goal... but not yet...

One more step... (okay sorry this one isn't in focus, I got a little excited)

And the shot...

The other guy slides in and almost makes a daring save...

But he ends up nearly taking out his own goalie...

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL

Close up... yes just barely between the two players.

Nice game Pedro. Bulldogs are going to the zone tournament!!

Markie Mark

Sometimes husbands get forgotten in the blogging world. Kids are cute and moms are funny or emotions, and sometimes both. So, here is a tribute to my wonderful husband. Mark spent two years doing generals and completing prerequisites for the Nursing Program in Vegas. He took the tests, filled out the applications and got excepted sooner than we expected. (He planned to have some time off so he could be home more this year while Pedro is living with us... but "life happens as you make plans" so we had to adjust.) Anyway, he spent the summer getting shots, physicals, background checks, CPR certified and filling out lots of papers and attending lots of meetings.

Mark drives about 600 miles a week commuting back and forth between here and Vegas (West Charleston Medical Campus). Mondays and Tuesdays he leaves between 4:30 and 5am. Here is an average week for him:

9 hours driving
6 hours at the hospital
6 hours in class/labs
28 hours working at the Pharmacy
30 hours studying (or sometimes more)

I try to help by taking care of the bills, cooking, cleaning, errands, etc. to give him more time to focus on studying. But it's so hard for me that I can't really help. Maybe it's a learning experience for both of us!

So here is my cute student nurse. And can you tell me who chose white for working in the hospital? I guess maybe it's so bleach can be used on a regular basis. hahaha

By day... nap after after school... And by night... more studying

Homecoming

We tried to take pictures before Pedro and Jessica and all the other kids headed off to the dinner and dance... it was pitch black outside. Gosh! I guess I need to study up on flash photography. Always more to learn :)








They seemed to have a really fun group. I knew most the kids and I'm sure they are having a blast at the dance!