The Vickerman Family Happenings

Christmas 2011

2012-01-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

As you can see by the pictures above, we had a great Christmas! We LOVED the week that we had Taylor home - we miss him so much! He came home on the 18th so we had several days to just hang out before the holiday. I loved taking him to school with me, he had a great time going snowboarding and just hanging out with family and friends - For his Christmas present he wanted us to go to the Vancouver Canucks game - so, we did that on Friday and also got to visit our dear friends - the Elsasser's while we were traveling. The girls stayed with them while we went to the game - the girls had a BLAST! They went tot he Bellevue lights and played the night away with their buddy Josh :) I have some pics on my phone that i'll have to upload to the blog later...

Then the time went super fast! We came home on Christmas Eve just in time for church! After church, we went out to The Vickerman's. On Christmas day we did our usual morning at home and then over to my mom's in the afternoon. We had to leave a bit early b/c Taylor and I were leaving for Detroit the next early morning :(

More to come about that trip...

Xtra Xmas Pics

2012-01-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Nutcracker!

2011-12-22T21:43:00.000-08:00

The girls and i had a very special day - we got to experience the "Nutcracker" for the first time together. We really had a nice time. The girls were in awe... they seemed to really enjoy - especially Maylynn - she wants to start ballet when she turns 5 so, she LOVED it! Now whenever she hears the music - she instantly remembers/recognizes it!

Look who's 7!

2011-12-22T21:39:00.000-08:00

Hayleigh turned 7 a few weeks ago - so, we had a week full of celebrations. It started with our family celebration. Hayleigh got to choose where ever she wanted to eat and her choice was at Gma b's house. So, we ordered chinese food and all gathered at gma b's house. We had a fun time! Our next celebration was on her "real" day with just us at home. Then was her friend party at the Rollarena. Everyone had a great time!

batteries for her "hello kitty" karaoke cd player

Celebrating at Gma b's

Friend party at Rollarena!

Maylynn with her buddy Asher

Hockey Update

2011-12-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

Taylor is doing great. He seems to be very happy in his new home - the family has really been wonderful in making feel at home. They now have 5 kids (including Taylor) Their kids are all about the same ages as ours but also have an older daughter too. We are so thankful for them. Here are some pictures of some recent trips that G&G Vickerman made to Philly and Lance made to Ohio and Whitby, Ontario... Taylor is home right now for Christmas and i get to travel back with him to Detroit for a showcase for the 27-29 :)

Gpa & TV in Philly

Nick, Gordi, Grant & TV in their locker room

A poster at their "home" rink of their teammates...

Grant, Griffin & TV - at his new billet home with his billet brothers :)

Beau & TV eating

Why is the fall ALWAYS crazy busy???

2011-11-22T22:28:00.001-08:00

Oh - wait, I know why!! Because October is the Birthday Marathon month, the beginning of swim meets, hockey tournaments and the final planning moments for the Heart for the Fatherless Orphan Conference in November!! And - Taylor came home to visit too!

So... here's a quick update:

We survived all of the birthdays...whew!

On top of all the other usual stuff that's going on, Lance and Brayden had an acting role in "The Judgement House" at Richland Baptist. They had a great time and did a great job! It is basically a story line that explores the scenarios of someone that has accepted Jesus and someone that hasn't. I think that there was a few hundred people that accepted Jesus and several also rededicated their life too! So cool!! Super proud of them :)

Taylor's hockey season is in full swing. My parents flew out to Cleveland to visit him the middle of October and then he came home to visit a few weekends ago. He's seems to really like his team and his role on it - they recently named him Asst. Captain. We loved having him home - even though it was a short time, we had a great time! We had family pictures taken by our friend Brent Rust - it was super fun:) He had some good friends stop by - we miss them too...And we celebrated Thanksgiving early with him. I think while he was at home he realized how much he missed his little bro & sisters. As a result, he recently moved to a home that is loud like ours and believe it or not dogs that look just like our little "oreo"! It was wonderful for him to start the year out in the home that he did - they took very good care of him and spoiled him to death but Taylor just wasn't used to being an only child. God was definately answering prayers last week - the new school allowed him to transfer right away and gave him the same early schedule as his new billet brother that plays on his team.

The weekend before Taylor came home, we had our 3rd Annual Heart for the Fatherless Orphan Conference. This was a "mini-conference". The idea was to be more laid back - not have preregistration, a formal notebook for the conference for each attendee and attendees could just go where they wanted to, etc... I loved it! It was less planning and less stressful for me and we had a great turnout! The only downfall was not being able to follow up with people with contact information. Oh well. I can't wait to see how God will be working in the hearts of the people that came!

Now we are praying about leading a group to Jamaica next summer to work with an organization called Embracing Orphans. We are going to have our first information meeting Dec.1st - I'm looking forward to seeing who God is calling for this trip:)

Here are a couple of my favorite family pics:

Swimming...

2011-10-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

On top of all of the Birthday celebrations, we also had Brayden's first swim meet in Ellensburg. Since his bday was the day before the meet started, this made him the absolute youngest in his NEW age bracket. This can be kind of discouraging - those 13-14 yr. olds are big boys!! But, he did great! I know that he placed 2nd in the 200 breast, 4th in the 100 breast, 4th in the 100 fly, 6th in the 100 free, 7th in the 50 free, 9th in the 200 free and 11th in the 100 back. I am super proud of him and can't wait to see what else he can accomplish this year with his swimming!

Brayden's cheering section!

Getting feeback from coaches...

Getting ready for the race - then he spots me at the other end...

And starts to play...

Peek a Boo!!! What a fruitcake!!! :):) hahaha

breast stroke right before his turn

waiting his turn - again...

At the start for backstroke - his favorite - NOT!!!

We also had a great time visiting with a dear friend/sister and her family this weekend - they met us in E-burg. We had dinner, swam and visited... The girls LOVE playing with Joshua - they were just as thrilled as i was that they came:)

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

The girls came with my class to the pumpkin patch - it was a beautiful sun shiney day! We had a great time - dad even was able to join us:)

Look who's finally 40...

2011-10-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yes - the day has come and i've entered the "40's". I remember turning 30 and was super excited - i guess they were all right... - but, i know one thing is for sure - God TOTALLY changed my life in those years and for that i am eternally grateful! I am looking forward to seeing what He has planned for the next 10 years:)

October is a crazy busy month in our family - tons of bdays & sporting events etc... so, i'm trying to do my best to stay on top of my blogging...

Yesterday, i was blessed with my favorite Starbuck's coffee and breakfast (Egg McMuffin & oatmeal from McD's) and the company of my amazing hubby (he's usually at work by 6am). Then was welcomed with some special bday wishes at school and ended the day at Fiesta Mexican Restaurant with some close family & friends for dinner.

Lance likes to do surprise parties (so do i :)) but, this year i wasn't in the mood and didn't really want to wonder what was going on etc... so, i made him promise - NO SURPRISES AND NO BIG PARTIES - he pretty much obeyed;) He only surprised me with tickets to the "Casting Crowns" concert on Tuesday - i got to go with Camille, s-i-l Kelly and niece Kylie - we had a great time! Loved the company and the concert:) And then last night he put together a little video for me - i think it's about 7 min long but it was special:) I'll try to post it below... I was ok watching the video until pictures of Taylor showed up - i miss him terribly but am happy for what he's experiencing:)

Long time friends - AnnaMaria, Me, Camille & Elizabeth

I wasn't able to upload the video - hopefully this link will work: Kirsten's 40th bday party video

A visit to Detroit...

2011-10-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Pre-game with Krotz & Grant

I love this handicap sign at the rink:)

I had a great time visiting Taylor in Detroit! I ended up getting there a day before Taylor was to arrive. So, since my big bday is coming up - i decided to treat myself:) We ended up staying in a really nice hotel (it used to be the Ritz Carlton) for a great price! They happened to have a spa so i treated myself to a facial- it was wonderful. Afterwards, i took a little nap to get a little bit more of a beauty rest:) and then found some shopping close by. Soon, Taylor arrived! I was thrilled to actually get to hug & kiss him! I was also impressed that he had a bday card for me with my favorite gift card - Starbucks! What a sweetheart - i miss him... We had a nice dinner together before game time - we actually had alot of nice quiet meals together. It was nice to just visit with him face to face to find out how everything was going. He seems to love his billets, like school, and loves the hockey! I guess i couldn't ask for anything more:) His team did very well - these games were for league play. They tied their first game (should've won) and won all of the rest! Taylor had a few assist and played really good - i love watching him:)

It was really hard saying good bye - i miss him terribly but wouldn't change a thing. I'm so happy that he's been given this opportunity and is chasing his dream to the NHL...

Another teenager!! Yikes!

2011-09-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

As you can probably see from the pictures, we left the girls at home with gma & pa V. and took BV and some buddies to Triple Play to celebrate entering into the "teen" years! (We did the same for TV when he turned 13 but TV chose to ski). We ALL had a great time (L & I included!! ) We got there Friday evening and played until 11pm at Raptor Reef, go carts and bowling. We were back at it at 10 am the next day. Not only did we do those things again but did laser tag, a little mini golfing and bumper boats. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and NO LINES! Our time couldn't have been better!!!

Keeping Busy...

2011-09-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been 2 weeks since my big boy left. I am so very grateful for God blessing me with the job that i have right now! HE is SO good! HE knew what was going to be in store for me. If i didn't have it - i'd be a depressed blubbering basket case! HE put me in the perfect job! I have the pleasure of teaching kindergarten again! What is kinda interesting is that the last time i taught Kinder was right before i had Taylor! I loved it then and i love it now! Kinda cool how HE brought be back to it after 15 years... And, the best part is it is at my church where my co workers are also a part of my church family and are there to check on me and pray for me:) I am Blessed indeed!

However, these past 2 weeks have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. I'm super glad that i have been trying to concentrate on my job, the orphan ministry and the kids at home but when i have down time or cuddle time with Bray - i do get a little sad... (putting it lightly). Before Tay left, we had bracelets with Phil. 4:13 put on them and handed them out to family & friends to remind them to pray for him but also for him to remember that "He can do all things through Christ who strengthens him". The first day that i was super sad on the first day of school - we got into the car to take Bray to school and Mathew West's new song was on - perfect timing!

I love it - but i do get kinda teary eyed when i hear it b/c i think of Taylor but then need to remember to be Strong! We can do this!!

Things have definately started to change a bit around here. We do have a bit more time on our hands. We were able to clean out our basement and organize it a bit, deep clean our office area in our kitchen and we are motivated a bit to do some updating!

We've been able to Face time/Tango him a couple of time but we mostly text when he's not busy... Lance gets to see him this upcoming weekend in Chicago:)

New Beginnings...

2011-09-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Taylor - 10th grade

Brayden - 7th grade

Maylynn - K4

Hayleigh - Kindergarten

The beginning of the school year went surprisingly good for all the kids here at home - i think this was the first year with no nervous tummy's!! However, i believe that Taylor was pretty nervous going to a new school etc but it sounds like he survived and will do just fine!

Me, however, i'm hoping so! Not being able to wake up and kiss my big boy in the morning before school has made me super sad and miss him:( I keep trying to remember how his cheek felt the last time i kissed him and many times i find myself kissing Brayden extra kisses just to make up for the ones that i miss out on giving Taylor - kind of weird i know... but extra kisses are always good! I'm counting down the days that i get to see him again - Sept 29th! :)

Rookie Camp

2011-09-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

Taylor was drafted in the 6th round of the 2011 Bantam Draft by an awesome organization - The Vancouver Giants . He was invited to participate in their rookie camp which began on Thursday, August 25th and was supposed to end for most rookies by Saturday night. Gma & Pa Vickerman was assigned the task of taking TV up to the camp. Lance has NO vacation time left and since i am starting a new job teaching which began the next week - i was not able to take off either:( But! Lance's friday off was that week and i hustled to get everything done so i could go too! So, we (including the girls & gma B.) took off for BC Thursday afternoon so we could watch 3 out of 4 games on Friday. Taylor was scheduled to fly out of Seattle early Saturday morning for Cleveland because his school had already started earlier that week - we wanted him to get there and be ready for school monday morning (unfortunately, the school wasn't ready for HIM and his first day wasn't until Wednesday - ugh:()

We were so thankful that we chose to make this last minute trip to watch him. I was so SUPER PROUD of him! He was amazing! He just keeps getting better & better! He was right in his first interview when he said the "Vancouver got a steal" they sure did!! He was so hungry for that puck and when he got to it he took control of the puck & ice. He didn't let ANYTHING get in his way! and we weren't the only ones who noticed!!

The management had heard that we had to leave after his 3rd game and wanted to talk with us. We had an amazing opportunity to hear how impressed they were in TV's game and that if he was able to stay that they would've liked him to go right into the Main Camp! Wow! - What an honor to hear that:) They had definately seen his hard work that he put in over the summer and they were very happy with his performance! We questioned whether or not we should let him stay but felt that his school and transition to Cleveland was pretty important. Had he stayed for the Main Camp, it wouldn't have changed anything because he can't play for them until he's 16 anyway...

Our goodbye was bitter sweet... Lance & I took him out to the front of the Ladner Center and told him about our meeting and i haven't seen him grin from ear to ear like that in a LOOOOONNNNG time! He was so happy!!! and then we had to tell him goodbye...

We got reports from Gpa V. that his 4th game was even better than the last 3 that we had seen! He scored several goals and had several good checks - i'm a proud mama - for sure:)

PS - a few days before the Rookie camp, TV had some good friends & family over for a "Good luck/Good bye" party -{ unfortunately, my pics didn't turn out - i need to work on the files:)} Hopefully, i can post more about that - but a verse that we shared that night was "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Phil 4:13 - this verse is on his wall at home & on the prayer "Fer Da Boyz" bracelets that we gave out too - it continues to speak to us...

Taylor skating his little heart out!

You can barely see that he was tripped which resulted in this...

Penalty shot!

He played a very physical game.

If you hadn't figured it out yet, he's #14 in the red helmet & pants:)

2011-08-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

Park City, Utah

Our last big HURRAH for the summer! Taylor's hockey team - The Cleveland Barons - invited all of the families to Park City, Utah for a summer bonding/training session week. At first we were just going to send Taylor but then we didn't really want him to be gone a week and then home for a short time and then gone... We all have been going different ways this summer so we viewed it as an opportunity to do something somewhat together. I say somewhat b/c Taylor got to fly to SLC - we drove 10 hrs. and he stayed in a different room with a player (Grant Meyer). Our time with him (TV) was minimal but we were there together(same city/condo) and got to see him a few times. The condo's were magnificent -we wanted to bring it all home with us! It reminded us alot of the Worldmark Condo's but on a MUCH NICER scale (granite, steam shower etc...) They were called Westgate Park City Resort & Spa

The boys had ice times and off ice training times -so in between all of that we all got to play!

We went rafting - the water was VERY mild! Class 2 - but it was the boys' first time so, i think it was a good step - we will have to take them white water rafting next summer for sure!

The boys played paintball with the team while i took the girls into SLC to Lakeshore Learning store. They came home with tons of welts - this doesn't sound fun to me but they had a blast!

We played at the hotel pool & ping pong alot with Grant's family. We really had a great time getting to know them and all of the other families that were there.

The 5 of us ventured to the Utah Olympic park - it was a nice quick trip. Very cool to see the museum of how skiing got so popular in Park City and the Olympic museum. It was very fun to watch people try to ski, jump & flip into the pool...

We also played at "park city park" where we took a gondola ride, alpine sled ride and roller coaster ride as well as a play area for the girls - pics are below...

Brayden & the girls swimming in the outdoor pool - they loved it b/c it was only 3ft deep all around - great for playing!

View of Park City coming down on the gondola

MV asleep on gondola - YES! my plan worked!! :)

Chris - Taylor's billet dad

The play area at the base of the Park City mountain area...

HV on her airplane

Brayden concentrating REALLY hard on stopping on the roller coaster - i went on it later too - it was super fun!

MV on her plane...

These guys raced down the alpine slide

MV on top of her climbing rock - i was pretty impress that she got up there all by her self!

HV tried out rock climbing - we had a hard time getting her off~!

Playing at the pool...

Ping Pong with me:)

MV putting suds on her dad while he was talking to another dad :) Can you see the welt on his back!! ouch!!

HV with her buddy (Grant's little bro)

Add caption

Pretending to be sledding at the Olympic museum

I guess you can pay to take lessons & try out the ramps! it was fun to watch:)

the real big ramps for winter time

TV playing volleyball with some teammates...

Lunch after rafting (pic on iphone)

The BIG group (2 teams Barons & Belle Tire and misc. parents & coaches)

The 2 teams

Grant, Blake & TV

We drove home on our 18th anniversary - 10 hrs in the car with my sweetie pie kinda all to myself!

2011-08-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Tri-City Channel Cats Inland Empire Long Course Championships

Brayden is such a good swimmer! I LOVE watching him swim - he just seems to have such an easy effortless stroke. When baseball started in March -sadly swimming ended for him. The swim team continued on but BV didn't want to - i was so sad... his focus was now on baseball:( He did swim in a meet at the beginning of June but he really wasn't "gung ho" about it. I encouraged him to swim because i wanted to watch him but also i needed to volunteer for some hours... He did great and qualified for 4 events in the last meet of the season the " Inland Empire long course championships" To participate in this meet you have to have certain qualifying times... Below you can see his qualifying times and his final times. In addition to those 4 events - he participated in 2 relay events. He did fabulous in all of them!!

BUT! He did OUTSTANDING in his very last race! The 50 breast!!!! Through out the meet, there was one other kid from another team that was giving BV a run for his $$ - granted that kid probably practice the entire summer - unfortunately, BV DID NOT practice at all this summer:( He just showed up at the meet and swam - i tried to get him there but he just wasnt' motivated to get up at 6am for practice... Anyway, this other kid kept beating BV and going into this race he was ahead by about 1 sec. and BV was ranked 2nd in the finals... I should also share that BV missed the warm up for the finals - since he only had 2 races that morning, we left and didn't realize the warm up & finals started an hr earlier than the day before! So, we got a call from his coach asking if BV was going to race and that he was seeded 2nd and that warmups were going on now! We quickly appologized and raced over to the meet in Pasco! We threw BV in the extra warm up pool and told him to warm himself up... About 30 min later his event was just about up. During this entire meet, i had been praying that the coaches would talk to Bv and encourage him to continue swimming. Many times i wanted to stop by their coaching table to mention that to them but something was telling me "no - be patient - whatever is supposed to happen with BV and swimming - it will". So, i didn't - i just continued to pray... Before he went to line up, i told him "B. you can do this! You can win! Just swim hard! If not, you will for sure have second and that's ok." He says "no, 2nd is not ok - i want 1st" - cool - a bit of determination - that's what i like to hear and i can't remember if i ever heard it before in all of his 2 yrs of swimming...Anyway, he gets up on the starting blocks in lane 3 - the 1 seeded swimmer is in lane 4. The announcer introduces all of the swimmers and they take their mark!. the buzzer sounds and BV has a great start! He's up and going strong and comes out of the water ahead of lane 4! I'm just standing there watching in disbelief how fast he was going and he remained in the lead! He never gave up - he kept going hard! it wasn't until he was to the flags that it sunk in that HE's GONNA WIN!! I started cheering super loud (not that he can hear me but at least everyone else knew that he's my boy ;) haha) He did it!!! he touched the wall and won 1st place!!! we were amazed and so happy for him. I started crying (just as i am as i am writing and reliving this now;)) I was so super happy and proud of him! THEN! his coach came out from under his tent (i have NEVER seen the coach do this ever before for any swimmer) ran up to BV and TOTALLY encouraged him!! He said "that was amazing!! I haven't seen you AT ALL this summer and you come here and you get 1st place in this event! That's incredible! Your brother's thing in hockey but your thing is swimming! i hope that i see you this fall" Wow! Thank you God! You are awesome - thank you for answering my prayer! I just love this story and i'm hoping that this fall that i can continue to blog about BV's swimming... the last i've heard is that "yes!" he wants to swim this fall!! - woohooo:):)

ps. I've been praying about BV's swimming all summer and thinking that he was done by the comments he had been making up to this point. But, there have been little signs all summer - a few of them are: while playing in a baseball tourney in Moses Lake, i overheard a mom from the other team say " look at that 3rd baseman (brayden) - he looks like a swimmer with his broad shoulders & long legs" i couldn't believe my ears! Then the next several times at church our pastor mentioned swimming in his sermon! - crazy stuff but i love it!

BV - thrilled for me to take his pic...

	Athlete Name	Event	Tria	Prelim.	Finals	Pos	Pts	EventAge Current	Date of Swim	Meet


1	Vickerman, Brayden R	Male (11-12) 50 Breast	41.01L	39.10L	1	18.00	12 12	07/30/11	2011 Inland Empire Long Course
2	Vickerman, Brayden R	Male (11-12) 50 Free	33.17L	33.55L	6	11.00	12 12	07/29/11	2011 Inland Empire Long Course
3	Vickerman, Brayden R	Male (11-12) 100 Breast	1:33.55L	1:33.78L	2	15.00	12 12	07/29/11	2011 Inland Empire Long Course
4	Vickerman, Brayden R	Male (11-12) 200 IM	3:19.88L	3:18.83L	14	1.00	12 12	07/29/11	2011 Inland Empire

2011-08-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

NYC - part 4 (day 3)~
This was our last day in NYC, We took our tour bus to do the uptown tour...It wasn't as hot as the previous days but it was still fairly warm!

My little "smilies" on top of the bus getting ready for another day...

We love the Seinfeld show and was excited to see where the "real" soup man is - we had every intention on going there but our feet were just too tired by the end of the day...

We went to the Museum of Natural History - the only cool thing was this scale.

There were some neat animals & skeletons too

A really neat looking church...

The tracks going to the Bronx

I really wanted to expose the boys to some culture - i made them go to the Gugenheim Museum. They weren't too thrilled... until i checked out an audio head cassette that explained each piece of art work. This was when the good times began to roll! The boys got a HUGE kick out of the explanations of rocks dropped on glass and the glass breaking to become art & cotton glued on metal & rocks placed here & there... etc... We were having a good ol' time - i was waiting for them to kick us out...

So, after the museum - we tried to get back on our bus but we waited 30 min (was supposed to come every 10min) and so we started walking through Central Park...

At Central Park... this was about all that we did there. It got hot by this time and we were trying to get back on our bus...

I wished that we would've went into the MOMA but we were so darn hot and ticked that our bus wasn't coming that we just continued to walk. The boys were pouting b/c they wanted to go on a speed boat ride and i was pouting b/c i wanted to go to a REAL broadway show. We waited again for a bus at the next stop down the route and when 1 finally came - it was full! I was ticked and told the guy that they needed to get more busses running - we had been waiting for 45 min - he said that he'd call but i'm sure that he didn't and just thought of me as a crazy tourist lady! So, we then hailed our first cab!!! it was great fun and not as expensive as we thought - about 10 bucks to get us to Times Square to buy some Broadway Tickets to "Catch me if you Can". Then we walked to the harbor only to find out that supposedly bad weather was coming and they had cancelled the speed boat trips:( BUMMER!! We decided to take another taxi back to our hotel and start to pack for our trip home in the early morning. Then it was off to a REAL broadway show!! YAY! Our seats weren't as good as the "Rock of Ages" Show - oh, i forgot to mention at the RofA show we were sitting in row 8! and we did leave after the first act. I guess we could've snuck out earlier 1 by 1 but i think we were in complete shock!! Anyway - it didn't matter that we were up above about 5 rows from the back of the theatre - it was FANTASTIC!!! and if you ask the boys, they will tell you that was the FAVORITE part of NY!! YAY!!! i was so excited to hear that!! What a wonderful way to end our first trip to NYC!!

2011-08-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

NYC part 3 (day 2)

Before we made our trip to NYC we did some research and purchased a 2 day bus tour that included a New York City pass to MANY attractions. So that is what we did for the next 2 days. Our first day on Saturday, we did the "downtown tour" (which is the green loop on this link). We boarded a bus that we could hop on and off when we wanted and they had guides point out various places etc...

The boys are thrilled and really looking forward to me taking their picture and this was one of the firsts!! Here we are on the Hop on/off bus...

WE stopped at the Empire State Building - couldn't quite get the entire building in the pic. We went inside the building and did the "Sky Ride" it was okay. We didn't wait in the extremely long line to go to the top...

I love these old style looking buildings...

This was a memorial type corner that MANY elementary schools around the nation sent tiles to commemorate the 911 World Trade Center attack.

A cool pic of Empire State building...

I thought the "Don't honk" sign was funny - kinda reminded me of some signs in China:)

Rebuilding the World Trade Center - I wanted to go to the Visitors Center but the boys weren't up for walking around to try to find it:(

We took a sail boat around the harbor and around Ellis Island - this was Brayden's choice to take a sail boat - Taylor & i was worried about getting sick but we made it through...

On the boat

Brayden helping to raise the sails...

I enjoyed watching all the work the deck hands had to do... First they gathered the rope into this big pile...

Then they made another pile with it - apparently this is so when the sails come down then the rope doesn't get tangled.

We saw the Statue of Liberty from the boat.

Me & my hubby - i pretty much didn't move from this seat:)

Statue of Liberty with "happy" boys:)

NYC skyline

Brooklyn Bridge

This too reminded me of China - however, it was near Chinatown!

We went back to Rockefeller Center and to "The Top of the Rock" for these awesome views - this is of Central Park.

A view towards "uptown"

A View towards downtown with the WHOLE FAMILY!

We then waited about an hr to be seated at Bubba Gump's overlooking Times Square

The next series of pics were at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum - Taylor was really getting into this and wanted his pic taken with almost every figure - it did take him a bit to get warmed up but then he was unstoppable - maybe he'll be a model one day - LOL!

It was a very full & extremely hot day - record breaking temps in the city while we were there. Time to get rested up for another day...

2011-08-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

NYC - Part 2 (day 1+)

We finally made it to New Jersey from Rochester at about 8pm on Thursday. Taylor had the very last game scheduled - ugh:( So, we got a later start than I wanted to - oh well... the only bummer was that we didn't get to visit "Cake Boss" - Brayden and I really wanted to do that... After we finally found our bus shuttle and checked into the Courtyard Marriott on 5th Ave/40th - we headed out in search of pizza! luckily this restaurant was still open - i dont' remember the name though...

Friday was our NBC tour - so, we headed down to Rockefeller Center and hung around the NBC store for a bit before our tour - There was a lady signing her new book that was released that day and i'm not much of a tv watcher so i'm not sure but i think her name was Roda??? Anway, the tour was good - didn't see anyone or anything too fabulous but it was interesting to see some of the studios!! The boys were excited to buy some "Office" t-shirts and they thought it was pretty cool when we drove through the town of Scranton, PA :)

After the NBC store, we headed over to the Nintendo Store!

Then we were off to the NHL Store...

This was a blow up Stanley Cup - Hopefully one day he'll be kissing the real thing!!

I thought this was cool - it was made up of all hockey sticks - it was a light fixture & TV stand thingy...

After that, we went to Times Square and purchased Broadway tickets for "Rock of Ages" - Maybe if we had watched this "sneak peek" preview on the website - we would have saved our $$$$. It was the raunchiest, lewdist, grossest, cheesiest, stupidest thing we have EVER seen - and we had exposed the boys to this - we had some conversations after that! It should have been rater R or X if there were any rating for Broadway!

Times Square

We had dinner at Planet Hollywood

At Grand Central Station! We adventured through the station to take the subway to the Yankees game and we made it!

and... here the boys are COOKING in the 100+ degree temps at Yankee stadium at 7pm! It was miserable

we took the subway home too - i was so proud of ourselves!!!

My first impression of NYC was that it reminded me alot of China (Beijing & Chongqing). some of the smells, the amount of people everywhere etc...

2011-08-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

New York & Pennsylvania~ (part 1)

It seems like ALL of our vacations & travel are centered around Taylor's hockey and to be honest - it is! Our latest trip to New York was stemmed from Taylor's invitation to participate in the USA Hockey National Development Team Camp. He was chosen as one of the best from the Pacific District Region (AK, WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ) to participate. It's quite an accomplishment to be chosen, so he went! Brayden and myself have always wanted to go to NY too! So, we went too! His camp was in Rochester, NY - after Brayden and i decided that we really wanted to go (poor Lance couldn't b/c not enough vaca time:() we researched Rochester only to find out it is about 5-6 hrs. away from NYC! Yikes - that was a bummer... we had originally thought that we'd drop of TV in Rochester and then go to NYC for a few days and then come back for TV etc... Well - that wasn't gonna work... But, we certainly made the most of our week in upper NY (Rochester). After we dropped TV off and BV and I got rested up from the looooong plane trip & drive over, BV and I made plans to visit my "new" step brother. We were finally found by him last year - he is the son of my step dad's from his first marriage and was adopted to by his step dad. Anyway, BV and i were dying to meet him and his family and were thrilled that we were about 4 hrs away - so, we hopped in the car and drove through NY and 1/2 way through PA to get to State College area. It certainly was an amazing experience to finally meet him - there are MANY similarities of him and my dad - it is CRAZY!!! I love it ! :) We had a great time visiting with his wife Diane and 3 little girls - so much fun! BV had a great time riding his quad around for about an hour straight! We were only able to spend about 24 hrs there and needed to get back up to Rochester to see how TV was doing...

Dave & Diane

The day after getting back to Rochester, my parents arrived to watch TV and to explore Rochester & Buffalo with us. We had a great time! We were happy that TV didn't have games one day, so we took a quick trip to Buffalo to see Niagara Falls. It was amazing! We wanted to visit the Canadian side of the Falls - we had heard that it is a much better view etc... It's always so much fun crossing the border with my dad - usually, a great story unfolds that we get to talk about;) This one involves having a machete in his trunk and realizing that we have to declare all weapons as you cross the border (the machete was for Dave jr) and then another with my silly BV telling his Gpa "good job - Dave" on the way back into the USA & the strict crossing guard glaring at us as he heard this...oh my - there was some intense moments but we can laugh about it now!!! LOL

WE are standing in front of the falls - you can't see it very good b/c of all the spray/mist that was drenching us!

BV in front of the falls

Back to hockey - Taylor did a good job. As the week progressed he got back in his comfort zone more & more and played a really good game. We've had some positive feedback since then - so we are proud of him and are continuing to pray for God's direction in his life. Please keep him in your prayers...

TV - #16 - i didn't bring my good camera so this is the best hockey pic that i got:(

This video was taken with my iphone - Taylor is in the navy blue jersey #16

2011-07-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

Baptism~
I was first baptized on November 28th, 1971. I know this because my parents kept my official baptism certificate. I was about 7 weeks old:) Growing up, i was also reminded of me being baptized and thought - "oh, very cool- I'm baptized" My family was all raised up in the Lutheran church where they believe in infant baptism. I never thought twice about me being baptized as a baby until i became more knowledgeable in the differences in various denominations. Several years after we were married in the Lutheran church we ended up attending a Presbyterian church - this was a good "common ground" for me and my hubby and i thought it was interesting that they believe in both infant baptism and infant dedications/adult baptism. I started to question the difference even more... Then, about 4 (or 5) years ago we started to attend Calvary Chapel (a non denominational church) that teaches straight from the bible and nothing else. It was then that I began to wonder about my baptism... I know that baptism is merely a public declaration of accepting Jesus as my Savior. I know that i personally have prayed for this not only once but several times - haha but I've never really made my own public declaration. So, after praying about it for over a year, i finally decided to be baptized as an adult and to make my own personal public declaration to follow Christ!

And, it couldn't have happened on a better day! July 10th! This is my Grandma Jordahl's birthday - she has always been the one that has been grounded in her faith. She would never miss a day of church! And as a young child, I would LOVE visiting her just so we could go to church with her! My grandma is now 85 years old and is suffering from Alzheimer's at Callaway Gardens.

The other awesome thing was that all of my kids were here that day! My boys were also baptized as infants (and they know this) - my prayer for them now, is for them to make their own personal/public decision to follow Christ. I want them to "own" their belief just as I have come to "own" what I believe:)

Pastor Steve praying with me - he was a little surprised that i was being baptized - i quickly explained...

I LOVE this picture!

So - Lance knew that i wanted to be baptized and i think that he could see that i was starting to chicken out - so, he decided that he'd get baptized again too - he was first baptized in Jr High (i think)

This is a favorite too - Lance's prayer with Steve and Maylynn lovingly touching my wet hair:)

Lance's Baptism

So... then at breakfast on Sunday morning we announced to the kids that we were going to be baptized that morning. Hayleigh immediately said that she too wanted to be baptized! We have talked to her about baptism (she too was baptized as an infant) and we asked her more questions trying to decide if we should let her but really, is it our decision or hers??? So, we let her - it was a great day!! She was soo excited and called all of the grandparents to tell them and she told anyone else that she ran into that day:)

Hayleigh with her daddy & Pastor Steve - saying a prayer

This is the best pic of after her "dunk" :) - So precious:)

2011-07-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

~ BRAYDEN'S BASEBALL SEASON IS OVER~

Lance and Brayden (and sometimes Taylor) had a great time with post season baseball this year. The team did pretty good! They didn't win any tournaments but they sure came together and really improved! Brayden especially blossomed as a catcher this summer! Since my last post, they played in the KA Conner Classic tournament during the 4th of July holiday and did well and then 2 days later traveled across the state to Castle Rock to compete in the Cal Ripken 60' state tournament. The team did good but not good enough to continue to play. We had a great set of players & parents - a fun memorable season!

The boys were the Dust Devil "Baseball Buddies" on July 3rd

Brayden up to bat...

2011-06-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

Father's Day....

Dad wanted to climb Badger Mountain - so that's what we did!

Maylynn loves "poofy heads" and this was the Queen of poofy heads!

Baseball has been a priority around here lately... Father's day weekend we had a tournament here in Kennewick but last weekend we went to Moses Lake. The boys did great! They got 3rd place and really started to come together as a team! Very fun!!

Father/son - i'm still trying to get one with Taylor in it too...

Just 2 more tournaments left - the next one is here in Kennewick this weekend - should be fun!

2011-06-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Summer (maybe)

Last Friday was a super nice day - we all quickly took advantage of it and went swimming at my parent's pool. We were glad that we did that b/c the next few days were super cold - ugh!! These past few days have been nice - we are hoping that this summer weather will finally stick around!!!

2011-06-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Summer Ball -

We have another summer filled with baseball fun! We've had about 2 summers off of no baseball and now we are back at it! Lance is coaching again but this time it is Brayden's tournament team! This is the "b" team but it is super fun. Most of the boys have a really great attitude and know that winning isn't everything - they just want to play ball with their buddies. The families are great and we(Lance & I) were super excited when we saw the roster - we personally know almost every family! so, it makes it for fun times!

In Taylor's spare time, he is helping to coach.

One of Maylynn's friends (Kendra) playing at the ball field

We have every weekend filled with baseball. Only 2 tournaments are out of town and baseball will be over by July 9th - not too bad...

2011-06-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Girls...
Hayleigh finished her first season playing coach pitch/ T-ball in May. She was SO VERY EXCITED to play! She has been wanting to play for a very long time. Finally we felt that we could handle the juggling of our schedules to fit in this opportunity for Hayleigh. She had a wonderful coach! Coach Kasey goes to our church and as he calls himself "A Jesus Freak" - so every game & practice started and ended in prayer:) We loved it! The season is now over and she's not doing extra curricular activity right now - and that's ok! :)

Maylynn finished her first year of preschool in May. She went to Young Years in Kennewick and she LOVED it!! Mrs. Yaden was her small group teacher... I missed the last day of preschool program & picnic b/c i was in Vancouver with TV...but i heard that she did a wonderful job of singing out LOUD! She loves to be heard!!

2011-06-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Giants Camp - day 1

What an amazing day! I don’t want to forget what happened -so I’m blogging:)

WARNING: a lot of rambling ahead…

We arrived at the Ladner Center Ice arena at 3pm as we were walking in we noticed a player dressed up in slacks etc. TV was wearing shorts and a polo shirt and immediately we both got a little nervous that he maybe should’ve thought about dressing up but much to our relief all of the other boys were dressed similar to TV:) we entered the building through a short narrow hallway with exercise bikes lined up along the wall, just past that was several staff members that introduced themselves to TV and then we really didn’t know what to do… until 1 gentleman asked if he had brought his gear (he hadn’t carried it in b/c he wasn’t going on the ice until the next day and had no idea what was gonna happen next) the gentleman suggested that he bring in his gear and put it away in the locker room. He got his gear and disappeared in the “players only” locker room and left me standing in the short crowded hallway not sure what to do next. There is a fine line of just letting the boys go and also wanting to know what’s going on and if the parents are involved in anyway… luckily just as we were walking in with his gear another mum (Canadian for mom:)) walked her son in and looked just as clueless as us! We introduced ourselves to each other and ended up hanging out the entire session - we ended up meeting a couple other “solo” mum’s :) it was great conversation - when we usually come to Canada we hang out with our team so I’ve never got a chance to really visit with other Canadian mums - I love their vocabulary and I have to admit by the end of the evening I thought I sounded a little Canadian - hahaha. One even mentioned that she was surprised that I was American and didn’t hear much of an American accent - I was shocked to hear that Americans have an accent - I’d like to hear more about what that is from them - hopefully today)

Ok - sorry - I got off topic! While TV was putting his gear away and changing into his workout clothes, we were then informed that we were supposed to follow the bus to the high school, sit and listen to the high school coordinator talk about education, ask him questions and then the boys would go out on the track to do some fitness testing… we were then invited in to the locker room to sit next to our boys. I walked in and felt so incredibly proud of my boy! He was sitting in front of his locker stall dressed in some pretty sweet workout clothes (all of the boys had the same outfit on) and directly behind him was hanging his jersey with his name on it (I’m assuming the jersey is just for him to use for the camp and will stay here but it was a super sweet sight) My heart also broke for him - the look on his face was the look of a super nervous little boy:( I think that he was glad that I got to come and sit next to him - I know I was:) The staff all introduced themselves to us and explained a little bit about the facility and the weekend. Afterwards, we had a bit of time before the bus came to take the boys to the high school so, we walked around a bit and introduced Taylor to my new friend and her son (who looked just as nervous as TV!) we got to talking so much that I glanced around and noticed that we were the only mums left in the locker room! We quickly left and the boys were right behind us heading to the bus…

We arrived at South Delta Secondary School and listened to the high school coordinator speak. A few interesting things I learned was that we are definitely on the right track with having TV take some online courses this summer to lighten his load later on (it was recommended that the boys “front load” like that) and I asked him what his experience was with USA kids and he only really had 2 options for us: 1 - take all his courses online through a US curriculum or 2 - graduate from BC - not too sure how I feel about those options… we’ll have to pray about it…

At 5:30 the boys went out on the track for some agility & speed fitness training. Us mums later snuck out at watched from afar with some other dads:) they ran laps around the track, ladders, jumped over agility hurdles, ran with parachutes and had some races - TV won the sprint race!! Super proud of him!! They had the races amongst age groups (96, 95 & 94 birth years) Afterwards, they were bussed back to the Ladner center where I picked him up. He was starving after the 2 hr fitness test! (I was too:))

Day 2

I think that we were both glad that the boys had a little bit of time to bond during the fitness but you could tell that there were still some nervousness… the boys each had their own session (goalies, defense & forwards) the forwards was the last session before the scrimmage. Don Hay was running the practice sessions with help from his son Daryl & Yogi. TV did good and fit right in with the 94 & 95 - couldn’t tell that he just turned 15! During their ice session, I had the opportunity to meet and visit with Terry Bonner (head scout and father of GM Scott Bonner). After the practice session, the boys went back to the Ladner center for lunch. While they did that I stayed at the rink and had lunch with my new Canadian mum friend;) The scrimmage started at 1:30 and ended at 3:00 there was only 2 lines so the boys really had to pace themselves and take short shifts… TV did great! He has a few things to work on but who doesn’t, right? He did have several shots on goal and 1 finally went in! He definitely sticks out on the ice with his red helmet and red pants!!

After the scrimmage, the boys had white spot burgers waiting for them but TV was still hungry so we went and had some pasta - it was a nice dinner - just the 2 of us;) I love my boy :)

Day 3

Unfortunately, I didn’t write down all of the details immediately after the third day and so, it will be brief:) The boys had 1 more ice time where they did a few drills with Don Hay and then scrimmaged again. It got pretty physical but not too bad… The boys were then whisked away to quickly change and then taken to a dry land work out where they ran TONS & TONS of stairs! I didn’t go and watch this workout - I stayed at the Ladner Center to try to get some pics of the “wild” rabbits that hang out and live at the park area there. Too cuteJ Taylor did said that he was the first one in his age group to finish and stayed at the head of the pack overall. When he was done, we headed home for the 6 hr drive!

Here's a few links of video from the Giant's organization about the camp:
http://www.vancouvergiants.com/video/index/id/ead66f86f9333cc94aad10c33bf70fff

2011-05-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

Answered Prayer...

The morning of May 5th was filled with much anticipation and anxiety. It was the day that we would have more answers as to what God has planned for Taylor's life. The WHL draft was to begin at 7:30am pacific time. There had been some speculation that TV might be drafted in the first round (the first round was the only round ustreamed live) after that, the website would be updated every 15 sec and you just have to wait to see what name popped up. We were all dressed and ready for the day by 7:30 - knowing that no matter what would happen, we wanted to be ready for the day:) The grandparents also joined us for the morning event.

As it turned out Taylor wasn't drafted until the 2nd pick in the 6th round by the Vancouver Giants. Let me tell you, there was MANY things that crossed our minds that morning - many of which was when we knew what team's turn it was to pick, we were either hoping to see his name or cringing hoping not to see his name (depending on who was picking:)) We were praying for an organization close by with a good reputation for great hockey - he got that!! But, there was a bit of doubt that crossed his mind as he waited for sooo long for his name to show up (especially during the 1hr lunch break)- much later than anticipated but, it was a perfect answer to prayer for many reasons!! To be honest, the whole "scene" didn't carry out as "I" had planned - i was envisioning us all sitting together by the computer to see his name pop up together but NO - TV was on the couch watching NHL channel just finished eating something and decided to refresh the netbook - i was working on an email and not sure what Lance was doing... So, all of a sudden he says "i think i'm gonna check to see if they started again, oh...they started...oh my gosh! Vancouver Giants - TAYLOR VICKERMAN - that's me - i just got drafted to the GIANTS!!!! woo hoo!!" i jumped up from my computer just in time to see the HUGE grin come across his face. It still took awhile for it to sink in and about 20 seconds later - the phone rang! It was Vancouver calling to make sure he knew he was picked by them and to let him know of the spring camp that they would be having memorial day weekend. After that, our day was a BLUR!! We (Lance, TV and myself) were planning on going out of town to check out a few teams in Michigan & Ohio for TV to play for next season (Midget minor yr). So, we had to quickly celebrate this event! We quickly sent out emails and posted to FB about a last minute celebration at Kimo's. Taylor went to school for the rest of the day and i frantically got a cake, balloons and tried to finish packing! As soon as Tv got home, Annie Fowler called to interview him and shortly after that KEPR came by to do his FIRST ever interview (i'm sure it won't be his last;)) He did a great job!! The pic below is that moment:

VERY proud grandmas!!! They have done so much praying and supporting of his hockey - i just love this pic!

Family and Friends celebrating...

Eating and waiting for the news...

A very special person in Taylor's life - Terry Liikala was one of TV's first coach and coached him for several years and gave him the nickname of "TV" We were so glad that he came!

TV with Michael from AFS - Taylor trains with him 2 times a week!

TV and Craig Bond - Taylor's Power Skating coach - he skates with him 2 times a week too!

We had a wonderful time enjoying this occasion. A night we will always remember - thank you to those that helped us celebrate and also prayed for God's will to be done:)

I'll have to blog about our trip to MI & OH later...

Many people have asked and wondered if he is going to Vancouver next year and the answer to that is no - he is too young. To play in the WHL, you have to be 16 and then after he is 16, it just depends if the team thinks he's ready or needed. Until then, he continues to play and develop as a better hockey player and to do that he will need to move away from home:( - more about that later...

Here are some links regarding TV being drafted:

KEPR interview

Taylor 3rd person drafted

Newspaper article about the draft

Vancouver Giants recap of draft

2011-05-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Taylor Vickerman and the WHL draft.

The time is almost here! Taylor has been playing hockey since he was 3 or 4 years old and has ALWAYS dreamed of playing in the WHL or “the dub” as he would say it. It is truly amazing for me to reflect on his years of hockey… Growing up he has always had a deep passion for the game. EVERYTHING in his life has been centered around hockey. People have always asked me if I would be okay with him playing professionally because of the physicalness of the sport (ie fighting, checking etc.) at first I would kinda be a little weery about all that but I haven’t worried too much about that because he has always been the bigger kid on the team and has for the most part been unscathed. The “realness” of him “going pro” didn’t really hit until this year in February.

Even though he has grown up playing hockey here in the Tri-Cities, it’s not a really great place to get noticed. We started coming to that realization 2 years ago before his bantam years when he was invited to try out for a AAA team in Kent. This was the year that we learned how important the bantam years are in preparation for the WHL draft. Last year he played the majority of the year for Spokane Jr Chiefs. Even though the events surrounding joining that team were very hard in all aspect, it was the BEST thing for Taylor. We thank God daily for carrying us through this time and totally blessing Taylor with the open arms of the Spokane coach & families that welcomed him to the team. If it wasn’t for the amazing opportunities that this team provided Taylor, I probably wouldn’t be writing this post!

He played great and has had some awesome exposure up at the KIBIHT tournament in Kamloops, BC where there was TONS of scouts, as well as, the WHL Prospect Camp in Anaheim. Since then, there have been a few tweets, podcastings & blog postings about Taylor:

Tweets:

tweet #1 -TylerBoldt WHL camp

tweet #2 -TylerBoldt WHL camp

Websites:

http://www.whl.ca/article/2011-whl-us-prospect-camp-huge-success

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/04/27/1467991/kennewicks-vickerman-awaits-whl.html

http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-usa-prospect-taylor-vickerman.html
http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-10-usa-bantam-prospects.html

Podcast:

http://www.thescoutingnews.com/images/USHLWHL.mp3

No matter what will happen on May 5^th we are super proud him! We are praying for God’s will for Taylor’s life. If it is to be drafted in the WHL, we will all rejoice for him! “The dub” is truly Taylor’s first choice - especially since growing up in a town that only has a WHL team - but we aren’t sure what God’s first choice is for him. We will soon find out! Other options for Taylor is the NTDP and/or College route to get to the NHL.

We just got an email with details regarding the draft from Tyler Boldt Manager, Player Development & Recruitment of the WHL:

"The WHL Bantam Draft will be held on Thursday, May 5^th, in Calgary, AB, beginning at 8:30am MT. While the Draft is a closed event, you will be able to view the first round live, for free, at www.whl.ca. A link will be provided the day of the Draft which will take you directly to the webcast. Following the first round, all picks will be updated live as they happen on www.whl.ca."

So, I guess you know what we’ll be doing on Thursday – yep you guessed it we will be glued to our computer waiting to see where and when Taylor’s name shows up – that’s what we are praying for anyway:) We are all feeling a bit anxious right now just not knowing what will happen on Thursday but whenever we’ve been having these uneasy feelings it is important for us to rely on God to get us through this long anticipated day!

Phil 4:6 “ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God...”

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Also - here is a cool song that TV has been listening to - i think the words are pretty cool. It was originally for a Soccer tournament but i think it cool:

2011-04-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sunset at Huntington Beach on Thursday nite

Taylor showing off his "guns" in front of the Angel Stadium - We happened to drive past it on our way to Hockey Giant. It was a really cool entrance and we just had to stop.

Taylor & Auzzi on the pier at Huntington Beach on Friday.

My Brother Michael and his family made a trip down to see Taylor play - it was wonderful to see them! I haven't seen them in over 10 years:( Way too long!

Taylor coming off the ice at the end of his last game on Sunday.

Taylor, Auzzi & Austin - teammates from Spokane Jr. Chiefs

While we were gone, Hayleigh lost her first tooth!

WHL Prospect Camp - Anaheim, CA - April 22-24

It was an honor for Taylor to be selected to participate in the US WHL Prospect Camp. The WHL holds this camp in order to "see" western US players that may potentially be good enough for the WHL draft that will take place on May 5th. There were scouts there from all of the WHL teams and many GM's too. We spoke to several teams and a few GM's - it was exciting and fun.

Taylor did a good job -He was on the black team which led the weekend in wins and won the tournament. Taylor had at least 2 goals and 2 assists for the weekend, as well as many other game changing plays... His last goal was the winning goal in the last game of the weekend against the white team – the black team came from behind and Taylor scored with less than 2:00 in the game. Another thing that was cool about the teams, is that they are coached by actual WHL coaches in the league. TV's coach was Bruno Campese (Prince Albert Raiders).

When we weren't at the ice rink, we had a few opportunities to do some fun things. We went to the beach, the Hockey Giant store and ate dinner out 1 night at the ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney. We also were so excited to have my brother and his family come down for the morning game on Saturday and my cousin and his wife come down for the afternoon game on Saturday to watch TV play and to catch up. It had been over 10 years since the last time i saw both of them - way too long and hope to see them sooner than 10 yrs from now! We had a great time!

Up next: USA Hockey Pacific District Camp in Kent next weekend. These are the best from USA Hockey in our region - i'm assuming there will be many of the same players that were at the WHL Camp at this camp too... If TV is selected from this camp, he will participate in the National Camp in Rochester, NY in July...

2011-04-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

Baseball & More Birthday's...

Maylynn eating sunflower seeds with Gpa V.

Brayden at bat...

Baseball: Brayden seems to be enjoying baseball. He's bummed that none of his buddies are on his team but it's been good for him to make new friends etc... He's been playing a little bit of catcher, 1st base and outfield. He hit his first homerun a few days ago - I missed it:( Hayleigh hurt her finger REALLY bad with a rock and i had to immediately take her home. As soon as i did - i got text messages that he hit it out of the park!! I was so happy for him and bummed that i didn't get to see it - he'll just have to do it again! His baseball fills up at least 3-4 nights of our week...and no, Lance is not coaching this year - it has been hard for him - he see's so many things that can be done differently and things that are not being done... poor guy:(

Taylor and Maylynn blowing out their bday candles together

Maylynn's friends at her birthday party

Teagan didn't want to be in the group picture :)

Getting ready to blow out her candle...

We celebrated Taylor, Maylynn and my niece Kylie's birthdays together on Sunday - they all have birthday's within 1 week! April is a crazy bday month like October is too! On Wednesday, Maylynn had a few friends join her at the park to celebrate. They all seemed to have a great time. They decorated flower pots, filled it with jelly beans for the dirt and planted a fake flower in it. They played at the park - it was a "new" park for Maylynn to play at - she'd never been there before but i used to take the boys there all of the time when they were younger:) They had lunch - Maylynn helped me make little flower cut out sandwiches. Fun was had by all!

2011-04-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Blowing through April...

KIBIHT Opening Ceremonies - 13 teams competing in the Tier 1 and 12 teams competing in the Tier 2 tournament

Spokane Jr. Chiefs took home 5th place out of 13 very good hockey teams! They did great!

Taylor lookin up for a pic after the final game

Maylynn passing time in the 8hr car ride home by blowing bubbles - she won the contest!

Taylor celebrates his 15th bday at the Ams game - maybe one day he'll be playing there on his bday:)

Yes! - as always at the Vickerman house, time flies by but this month has been so windy - we are blowing through it:):)

Brayden's baseball season is up an going again - he has a game this afternoon that i hope to be diligent about taking pictures at and posting. I just haven't been too motivated to photograph lately:( I need to take a class... oh well...

Taylor's been the one to keep up hopping this month so far and for the upcoming weeks as well... For most of spring break the whole family went to Kamloops, BC. We had a great time spending time alone with just the 6 of us! The car ride was 8 hrs - we had no complaining - it was wonderful! We stayed at an awesome hotel (not where the team was staying) that had an amazing bkfst and indoor waterslide/pool. We spent many hours on the slide - it was super fun! But, the hockey was even more enjoyable! I know that i am biased but I just think that Taylor is an amazing hockey player! I love how he goes hard after the puck, uses his body to create opportunities, he's an amazing skater, he's big and others are a bit frightened when they see him coming :) , he has a super hard shot, he's an awesome playmaker and scorer - i just love watching him!!! We are so super proud of him too and excited that other professionals/scouts are noticing him too:) Next weekend he will be participating in the US WHL Prospects camp in Anaheim. I get to take him down there and am really excited about spending time with him and to see what other types of opportunities might come his way. All of the WHL scouts and many GM's should be there.

2011-03-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Alot of changes have been taking place this month - change is good - i like change - i like life to be exciting and new - i get too bored doing the same thing over and over - i think that may be why i like living here too (the 4 seasons)- the weather changing also brings out new things to do too... Anyway...

Brayden had his last swim meet for a few months until the long course season starts -he finished off the short course season AWESOME!!! He qualified in a relay team to go to the age group sectional meet - this is a regional meet (ie. our section of the US) Lance took him to this meet - here's his recap including his analsys :):

Here’s a re-cap from the swim meet. Unfortunately, these times don’t “count” as personal bests for Brayden because they were swam as part of a relay.

He dropped time in every event. In the 100 Breaststroke, he dropped almost 3 seconds. In the 50 Free, it was the first time he was under 30 seconds. The coaches were very happy with (and for) him. And it was cool to see how much the other boys like him. And the other parents were extremely thankful he made the trip.

The venue was just amazing with live announcing, loud music, and the number of people. There were kids there from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii.

The team broke 3 of 4 Channel Cat team records – they just missed the 4th by 11/100ths of a second. All of the team records were held by a team from a few years ago which one of the boy’s older brother was on.

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the team together (although I did try). I was told some of the moms did. Apparently, they will be in the next Channel Cats newsletter which might have a picture. But I did take some pictures and video -- which maybe Kirsten or I can put on Facebook or on Kirsten’s blog.

It was an amazing weekend. And to think he accomplished that in that environment and against that kind of competition is awesome. I’m sure most of those kids are full time swimmers that don’t play other sports like Brayden does.

Event / Brayden's Leg / Sectionals Time / Previous Personal Best / Time Dropped / % Improvement

200 Medley Relay / 50 Breaststroke / 00:38.07 / 00:39.82 / 00:01.75 / 4.4%

400 Medley Relay / 100 Breaststroke / 01:23.30 / 01:26.04 / 00:02.74 / 3.2%

200 Free Relay / 50 Free / 00:29.28 / 00:30.52 / 00:01.24 / 4.1%

400 Free Relay / 100 Free / 01:10.34 / 01:12.37 / 00:02.03 / 2.8%

Federal Way Pool

Now that BV is slacking off from swimming a bit, his baseball season is in full swing! He is playing Major's this year and is on the Sullivan Rowell team - he seems to be enjoying it - they haven't won many games yet but it's still early. I think he's the tallest on the team:) My only problem with the team are the team colors: black & orange (sorry Anji) but it reminds me too much of KHS colors :( but, i'm trying hard to look past it! ;)

This is Hayleigh's last month of gymnastics for a bit - she too is making a change - she will start T-Ball in April. She can't wait! This will be her first year. She wanted to play last year but we had too many baseball schedules to keep track of last year -but not this year...

The only change for TV is that he's not playing baseball. We are kind of having withdrawals from not watching him but he is much too focused on hockey to do ball. Even though his regular season is pretty much over, he is still having workouts at AFS and power skating with Craig Bond twice a week. He may be adding a bit more to his off season training like yoga and boxing... his team got 3rd place at the regional tournament in San Jose. They did great in round robin play but then lost in the semi finals:( Taylor had an excellent showing and lead his team in points. The team just has one more tournament - during spring break he will be playing in the KIBIHT tournament in Kamloops, BC. This is a huge high level tournament with tons of exposure - should be fun! April will be a very busy month for him - he just signed up to play for the Kamiaking High School Club hockey team and may have some games at home this spring - woohoo!!! But he probably won't be able to participate in a game until May - he has the KIBIHT, then a camp in Penticton, the WHL Prospect camp in Anaheim and the Pacific District USA hockey camp in Kent - makes me tired thinking about it but he sure is excited!!

I am no longer working. This was my last week as a Site Supervisor at a preschool. I absolutely loved my job but it really required me to work full time, which i cannot do right now. The family is much happier that i'm home and i am too! It was hard saying good bye to the teachers there and the girls really enjoyed it there too. Maylynn keeps asking me "mommy, are we going to go to your work? I want to see Miss Gina" oh well - change is good:) We are just praying the God will provide for us financially...

Lance's change is that he's NOT coaching baseball this year. It is really starting to eat at him and he's being pretty good about it but i'm praying for him. I know that it's really hard. But! I sure am enjoying the company in the stands and the help with keeping track of the girls!!! ;)

Sorry - not too many pics:( I hope to dust off my camera and start clicking more but i'm kinda mad at my camera right now. I really need to take a class or a lesson from one of my friends:):)

Change is good - embrace it!

2011-03-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

What the heck happened to February?!?

It seemed to have been filled with sickies, hockey and a little bit of swimming! All of which are very consuming! haha:)

I don't want to bore you with all of our sicknesses, so - here's the hockey latest:

Taylor was selected at the Washington State USA Hockey Select Camp and now gets to pay more $$ to move onto the Pacific District Select Camp at the end of April in Kent, WA - So, he was 1 of a few forwards selected as the best from WA state! woohoo!

The 2nd weekend in Feb., was the State Tournament. The team won every single game and almost had a complete shutout! Soooo close! The championship game was the only goal that was let in - it was fun - Below are the pics of that celebration! Now Lance and Taylor will be traveling to San Jose TONIGHT (driving - please pray for traveling mercies) for the team to compete in the Pacific District tournament. They play teams from Alaska and California... The winner then travels to NJ in April for the National Tourney! I hope they do it! Good luck Jr. Chiefs!!

Presidents Weekend was a huge turning point in Taylor's hockey career. His team traveled to Minnesota to participate in a Super Series AAA tournament at Shattuck St. Mary's (beautiful school and area) The team did very well! They placed 4th out of 8 teams and they were all very close games - very exciting - loved it! It was great to finally play some American teams - we've played MANY Canadians so far... There was alot of people watching... The weather was also very exciting while we were there! Luckily, it didn't snow until Sunday but as you may have heard in news reports - there was a HUGE blizzard and "lucky me" got to drive about 45 miles in it - i definatley had "white knuckles" and the Lord was definately with us during that trip. We also spent some time at the Mall of America...

Last weekend the whole family got to travel together to the Spokane area: Taylor had 2 hockey games and Brayden had IES Championships. Brayden had to have qualifying times to compete - their relay team was fabulous and qualified for the Age Group Sectionals in a few weeks in Federal Way. He also improved on other events and placed! His team won the meet!

In other news: the girls are doing good at school and my work; Hayleigh is now on an IEP (hopefully, someone at school can find the time to teach her); Lance and I just make sure everyone is getting to their activities and sometimes we are able to find a few minutes to talk:) Yes - we are a crazy busy family but i wouldn't trade it for anything! (well... maybe for an occasional getaway - hehehe)

2011-02-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

January 2011 - Since January has come and gone already, here's a quick recap with pictures to follow:

We did nothing for New Years Eve - so, nothing to report there...
Lance turned 40 and Kirsten was able to give him a surprise open house - he loved it
Brayden had 2 swim meets and in the last one - he had some great times that gave him qualifying times for the Inland Empire Championships and a relay time for the Age Group Sectionals!
Taylor had lots of hockey (of course) He had a tournament in Lethbridge (crazy long bus ride story with that - the bus driver had a felony on his record and Canada wouldn't let him in so the team had to wait for another bus) and the State Select Camp.
Brayden is still taking guitar lessons and Taylor's last month was January - i guess Zach doesn't have anything else to teach Taylor - we just need to be home more so Taylor can play in the worship band more often...
Hayleigh is doing gymastics still but we moved her night so our evenings aren't so rushed and someone can actually watch her instead of dropping her off and running to pick up someone else etc. As you can see in the pictures below she'd rather be playing hockey. We are thinking about letting her try T-ball - not sure yet though...
Brayden started a baseball camp every Friday nite to get ready for the upcoming season - he's really been enjoying it and Lance is very pleased to see how much he's improved since last year!

The best part of January was that Lance and I escaped to a bed & breakfast only 30 minutes away - Cameo Heights Mansion. They have an excellent restaurant - dinner was divine and breakfast was delicious! Each suite is decorated to replicate the decor of a different countries - we stayed in the German Suite - I can't wait to go back but it will be awhile - kinda expensive but it was worth it. I can't remember the last time we had some time together...

The Birthday Boy!

After the surprise open house, we also had a family party and this was the cake from that "planned" event

Maylynn on a nature walk in the backyard:)

Taylor & Hayleigh playing hockey on our backyard ice rink

The rink...

2011-01-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

December in pictures (and not in order)...

The boys were BIG turkeys for Christmas and WOULD NOT pose nicely for a picture so - here they are! The big stinker Brayden:
And the Biggest stinker - Taylor on Christmas day!

Maylynn just sitting on the couch on Christmas morning playing with her favorite gifts: Jessie & Buzz!

The kids on Christmas morn:

The girls cooperating for a picture Christmas Eve:)

Taylor's team had a tournament in Cheney. They won the tourney! Maylynn was the "star" at her preschool Christmas Program - she was the only child that you could clearly hear singing ALL of the words to all 15 songs! Grandpa V was in tears from laughing:) it was pretty darn cute!
Grandma J. came to the program too. Maylynn was sitting in her lap here to hide/protect herself from Santa

Brayden had his first Band concert in the 120 degree gym! UFFDA it was hot! He's the only one NOT wearing a hat b/c he procrastinated in looking for one - live & learn (i hope)...

Hayleigh had a few friends join her for bowling to celebrate her 6th birthday!

This is the family celebration that also took place...

Luckily Brayden had a swim meet in Wenatchee the first weekend in December so we were FINALLY able to see the Christmas Tree lighting festival. It was great! I loved it that it was such a Christian event!!

I think all of these pictures are in reverse order of when they actually happened but oh well! And i never had time to edit them:(

2010-12-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

A quick update (pics to follow later - i hope:))

Since Thanksgiving we've had 2 major changes in our family!

The first occured right after Thanksgiving - for various reasons we decided that the team that Taylor was playing for in Kent was not working out and removed him from it. It was a super hard decision to make and was huge ordeal (believe it or not) I wish that i could explain everything but it much too complicated - lets just say that i spent countless hours in prayer and scripture searching for strength from God to get us through. He did. Taylor is now on the Spokane Jr. Chiefs Bantam AAA Tier 1 team. He's thoroughly enjoying it!! Here's a link to a newspaper article about their first tournament the team won last weekend in Trail, BC - HERE The picture is of Taylor :) #93

Shortly after Thanksgiving, i also started applying for a job. My wonderful private tutoring job ended because the family had to move to Minnesota. I was super sad. I loved tutoring Sophie and will miss her! I applied for 2 positions - 1 as a realtor asst. - i interviewed a few times with that position, it came down to me and another person. I was dissappointed when the realtor called to tell me that b/c of my family being my priority that she'd feel bad if she needed me to stay late or work weekend (i was kinda looking forward to helping with real estate again)- but, i understood and felt that God had something else planned for me. Actually, the day that i was supposed to hear back from the realtor, was the day i applied for another position as a site supervisor at a preschool. I interviewed that day with them - it was soon after, that they offered me the job - however, it was for full time - i really felt that i wasn't ready for full time yet. They were able to adjust and hire an asst for me so that i could work there 5 hrs a day and take the girls with me! I was excited to start last week. It has it's challenging moments and everyday is something new - it's kinda fun - really keeps me on my toes!!

That's all for now...

2010-11-26T16:42:00.000-08:00

CATCHING UP....

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day yesterday. Our families all came over to our house - i cooked the bird, potatoes, stuffing, bread & corn - everyone else brought their favorite dish - it was a delicious day:) The only bummer was that our oldest, Taylor, was gone playing in a hockey tournament in Abbotsford. He had a great game yesterday - his first with this team - he scored a couple and got "player of the game" - :)

Here's the crew:

Fall is gone...

Last week we also got a huge snowstorm - we haven't had snow like this at Thanksgiving time since the early 80's!! We have about a foot of snow! The kids didn't have much school and have had a great time playing in the snow...

Week of Nov. 14 - 21st

There is a well known fact that many times when you do something "big" like an orphan conference - that many times you (or your family) will be attacked. This was VERY true for our family this past week. It seemed as if anything was going to go wrong that week - it did...It was a tough week and it had us crying out on our knees pleading to God to help carry us through - He is a gracious and loving Father and did just that! Some of our controversies this past week included Maylynn getting "throw up" sick for the first time, bad behavior from certain children, I hurt my hand, and the big one for our family had to do with Taylor's hockey team. He is no longer playing for Kent Valley - i do not want to go into details but it was time for him to leave and move on. This was a VERY hard decision and unfortunately had an unforseen financial impact. On the bright side of it all - after it took 1 week to get his release (it should have been 24hrs.) - he is now playing for Spokane.

Conference ~ Nov. 12 &13

This was a very busy but an amazing weekend! We had over 30 presenters and obout 125 attendees participate in the conference - not to mention the countless numbers of volunteers! We loved every single minute of it and have enjoyed hearing how God is speaking to people and working in their lives. I love watching people take that step and how God leads them along the way to His plan for them.

We didn't get much sleep that weekend but it was worth it! Lance was up until 2am on Friday night helping the sound crew set up for the concert on Sat night. and then Sat night was a late night after the AMAZING concert of Caleb & Sol, Broken and Rush of Fools. Each band "rocked the house"! It was a bit of a bummer that more people didn't come - the concert didn't make a profit from ticket sales -which 40% would have benefited the ministry but we did take a "love offering" and was blessed with enough money for a very small grant to give a family:) If you weren't able to make it to the concert and wanted to donate to the funds - you can do so here

And - if you want to get involved or would like information about adoption, foster care or orphan care, you can visit here

Kamloops ~ Nov. 4-7

Lance and I had a great time taking Taylor to his tourney in Kamloops - it was a very long 8 hr drive (very glad that we didn't take the other kids). We enjoyed our time together and think that it was the first time in 12 years that it was just the 3 of us again - kinda fun:)

I had to take a picture of this sign in the middle of the city - this city does have MANY tournaments here and hopefully we'll be back in the spring for another "BIG" one!

Halloween 2010 ~

Brayden as "Legolas" and his trick or treating buddy Joe as "Frodo"

Brayden had a legolas wig but wore it all afternoon at the church Harvest Party so by the time i got home from Taylor's hockey game in Spokane, he was done wearing it - i was bummed - i never got to see him in it...

Our Pumpkins...

My princess' - Maylynn really wanted to be Cinderella - I don't think Hayleigh really cared so she decided on Belle...

2010-10-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

On November 12th & 13th, we are hosting an Orphan Conference called "Heart For The Fatherless" at our church (Calvary Chapel Tri-Cities). It is a free conference and we are also offering Free Childcare. This is our 2nd year doing this conference. We are really excited to see God's hand at work through everything. We feel priviledged to have Jason Weber from Hope for Orphans (a ministry of Family Life) to be our keynote speaker. We can't wait to hear the message that he has to give. There is so much more going on and we are super excited about the whole thing! If you live in the Northwest, you just might want to join us - I'd love to meet you!! Visit our website at: www.cctcorphanministry.org or here

You know... when i look back over the past 5 years and see the work that God has done in our lives and in our hearts - it is truly amazing! I would have NEVER imagined that i would be so passionate about what we are doing now. I am SO very thankful that i listened to that "little voice in the back of my head" (ie the Holy Spirit). That we took a step of faith in obedience to the will of God. The will that He has for our lives. I think that so many times people don't. Life is to short and I don't want to live it with regret. Do you? So, I encourage to take a little tiny step and see how much it is a blessing for you and Him and others around you. Do it before it's too late. Whatever it is... Just do it. Take a step...

I personally challenge you to attend the conference with an open heart and an open mind. Then pray about what God's will is for you. Is it adoption? Is it foster care? Is it part-time (respite) foster care? Is it supporting others in adoption & foster care? Is it orphan care - sponsoring children in orphans in other countries? Is it visiting an orphanage? You might want to come and explore...

Hope to see you soon...

2010-10-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch...

After church on Sunday, we quickly went to the Job's Pumpkin Patch in Pasco. We had a great time and barely missed the bad weather coming our way...

2010-10-26T17:46:00.001-07:00

Hayleigh's Pumpkin Patch Day...

It was another beautiful day at the pumpkin patch last Thursday! I got to go with Hayleigh's kindergarten class. We had a great time. She got to do all of the same fun things that Maylynn did the week before. Although, this time i didn't go into the petting barn - i wanted to be able to breath the rest of the day... :)

2010-10-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

Maylynn's first "Big Pumpkin Patch"...

Last week Maylynn and I joined her preschool friends for a trip to the pumpkin patch. She had SO much fun!! We didn't go last year - for some reason (maybe bad weather) we didn't go with Hayleigh's class and only went as a family to a local nursery. She was a little bit unsure with the haybale maze but after she followed me through it -she had got the hang of it and then wanted me to follow her:) Then it was off to pet the farm animals - she loved the little baby pig the most - i have to admit it was my fav too - it was so cute. We were then whisked away on a tractor trailer ride to the pumpkins - so many fun memories! I enjoyed watching her pal around with her buddy Micah. I guess those 2 really hit it off wonderfully well at school. I've heard alot about him - he sure seems like a real sweet boy. I'm so glad that she's making friends:)

Next week i get to go with Hayleigh to the same patch - more fun times!

2010-10-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

Swimming Season has begun!!

Brayden diving in - he's in the closest lane above

Brayden leaning against the wall - i wonder what he's thinking about???

Brayden in the orange cap shaking hands with a teamate competitor

Brayden (orange cap) freestyle

Focusing on the race ahead??

Brayden had is first meet of the swimming season last weekend in Ellensburg for their Oktober Fest Meet. He did a wonderful, wonderful job!! He improved his time in 8 out of 10 events! He competed in the last heat in most of his events which meant that going into the race he had a good qualifying time. He placed in most of his events which gave points to his team for an overall standing!

Here's his results:

9th place in the 200 Free
6th place in the 50 Free & 50 Back
5th place in the 50 fly & 200 Medley
4th place in the 100 breast
3rd place in the 200 breast
2nd place in the 50 breast!

I'm so super proud of him!

We are looking forward to the meet in November - there is a boy that will age up this month and will no longer be in Brayden's division - we call him a "man-child" he's huge and was always WAY ahead of the pack!

2010-10-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

October is Birthday Central!!

We have 4 bdays in our family in 7 days! - here's the order but was not necesarily celebrated in order:)

First up was my Bday - i won't say how old i turned. But i'll just say that next year is a BIG one and so Lance did a great job surprising me this year by getting some friends together for lunch! He's a keeper! And it meant alot to me to have some good friends get together and visit:)

Next up was Brayden's bday - he turned 12! Yikes - next year we'll have another teenager in the house!! He didn't have a party but he did invite a couple of friends to go to dinner with us and then to a movie. Then he celebrated with the family. Then on his actual day - he celebrated with us! He was excited to get an ipod touch (4gen) - it's cool (i want one now - i have the very first ipod touch) he can take video, skype, take pics etc... he also got an electric scooter like TV and also an electric guitar (which he hasn't played yet but insisted that he REALLY wanted it - i think he's a bit intimidated cuz his big bro plays so well) we need to get him taking lessons - just haven't had a chance to schedule that yet...

Then Grandpa B. had a bday and retirement celebration! He was super excited that the whole family went in together to get him an ipad - we are trying to get him caught up with mondern technology;) Since both gma B and gpaB are retired - they are planning on traveling alot. They are actually traveling today to meet his son that he just very recently came in contact with after about 35 yrs. It was a wonderful surprise to have Dave Jr. call him on Sept.8th. We all had always hoped and prayed that we would someday find him and meet him - he found us! What a wonderful blessing! I can't wait to hear about their trip!

Then Grandma V. had a bday - we celebrated with her at IHOP - yummo!! Love their pumpkin pancakes:)

Whew! We are done with the bday's for a few weeks - so glad - I'm partied out!

2010-10-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hockey season has begun!

Unfortunately, i haven't seen any games yet so i don't have any pictures of him in action yet and it's killing me! I love watching TV play!! This year he is playing for Kent Valley Rainiers Bantam AAA Tier 1 team. He played for this team last year but this year we have a new coach and we are really excited about that! This is the FIRST year TV has been coached by a REAL coach and not a dad! This year TV also has to wear dress clothes to the rink for games - so, after spending another small fortune on "nice" clothes Lance had to teach him how to tie a tie. It was one of those "father/son" moments and of course I had to catch the moment - my camera settings were not the greatest b/c i quickly wanted to snap a few shots before it was too late:)

Last weekend the team had a tourney in Richmond BC (most all games are in Canada) The team got off to a slow start but quickly came together as a team - after losing the first 2 games they won the last 3 and took 3rd place in the tourney.

2010-09-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Gotcha Day to Hayleigh - You can read about this here on her adoption website

2010-09-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Maylynn's First Day of Preschool

Finally! Maylynn was so excited for her first day of school on Thursday! She is going to the preschool that Hayleigh went to for the past 2 years (Young Years Preschool). And for the past year, she has wanted to stay and go to preschool SOOO bad! Her day finally came! (i think i was just as excited as she was - but for differing reasons;)) She knew exactly what to do - she hung up her back pack, gave her teachers her homework and found her name! She's already a pro! The first thing she went to do was the dramatic play area. I'm not surprised though - she is our "dramatic" one alright and has quite the imagination!! It wasn't until she entered our family that Hayleigh would ever play "house" - now those 2 play "house" ALL the time... I can't wait to hear and see what else she enjoys to do. I warned the teachers that she is totally different than her sister and may not be able to get her to stop talking - oh boy... are they in for it! - hehehe

I'm not exactly sure what i will be doing for those 2 days a week - maybe helping out at the various schools, maybe sub or maybe enjoy some girlfriend time! I've been trying to go to the gym at 5am to get my workout out of the way and so far it's been going ok - but it's only been 1 week - hoping to continue it - i've also been able to have more quiet time with my bible in the morning by doing this so i'm really hoping to keep it going...

2010-09-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hayleigh's First Day of Kindergarten!

I can't believe that she's in Kindergarten! She was so superly duper excited to start school today and even more excited that her friend Hailey from preschool is in her class and was there today. It was priceless to see Hayleigh's face "light -up!" as soon as she saw Hailey walk out of the door of her mom's K class (she teaches Kinder there but not the Hayleigh's teacher). It sounded like she had a great SHORT day! Yes - a SHORT Wednesday (which i temporarily forgot about!) I realized that i was supposed to be at Hayleigh's school getting her for the weekly early release day at 10:50 when i drove through a neighboring schools "flashing school light" - YIKES! of course, i got behind the sslllooowweesstt driver! At least i wasn't the only mom that was 5 min late - don't think i'll forget about that again. But on the first day of school - oh my - what a bad mom:( Afterwards, we went to McD's and ran into several preschool friends there that now go to a different school than Hayleigh and the first thing that she told them was that "my mom was late picking me up from school today" - LOVELY!!

2010-08-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

Summer's Gone & School has Officially begun...

Our last summer adventure - climbing Badger Mtn:

The First Day of School Pictures:

Brayden entering Middle School -with a nervous tummy:(

Taylor entering High School!

I am so sad that summer is over! I have truly enjoyed this summer - i can't remember a summer better than this one! In the past, we have been so OVERLY busy with summer baseball, hockey, band camps, church camps, vacation trips etc... but this year it was just busy enough to RELAX! I loved it and REALLY needed a relaxing summer and time with the kids. Last year was super crazy - with bringing Maylynn home and the huge adjustment that she had with us and I had with her - it really took a toll on our family but we are MUCH better now and like I said -had a great chillaxin (as Taylor would say) summer!

With summer over we are saying goodbye (for now) to:

warm weather (although we didn't have too much of that this year -must be global warming),

swimming at gma & pa B's, jet skiing (or sketching as Hayleigh would say),

mid week sleepovers,

staying up late & sleeping in,

waterparks,

playing at the parks (Library Park & Howard Amon)

camping,

band camp,

hockey camps & tryouts,

early morning swim practice,

outdoor swim meets, hikes,

outdoor church service

& selling hotdogs on Sun. morning at church...

With School officially begining today!we are saying hello to:

early morning alarms,

making lunches,

catching bus (Taylor is riding the bus to school for the first time ever this year!),

new gymnastics schedule for Hayleigh,

Trombone practicing for Brayden,

continuing Worship Band practice for Taylor,

Maylynn starting preschool,

me hopefully able to help out in the kids classes this year,

& maybe Lance & I waking up SUPER early to work out at the Court Club (still praying about this one;))

weekend hockey practice & tourneys

swim practice & meets

2010-08-23T16:28:00.003-07:00

Small World/Lifeline Agency Reunion

All the kids together for a group picture

Maylynn, Lily & Hayleigh

Hayleigh, Rebecca & Maylynn

Our agencies that we used to adopt the girls had a reunion last weekend. I think they have one every summer but the only other one that we've made it to was 5 years ago when we were waiting for our referral for Hayleigh. At the reunion, the guests of honor are the China Liaisons. These VERY special ladies play a HUGE role in the adoption of our girls (and everyone else's kids too) They are the ones that do all of the work for us in China and make sure that EVERYTHING goes through perfectly - and they are TRULY THE BEST in the business!! If anyone ever wanted to adopt from China - i would recommend to use whatever agency Lily and Rebecca are working with!

Hayleigh was just 10 months old the last time that we saw Lily in China and that was when Rebecca had just begun helping Lily. Lily was here in the US last year when we got Maylynn- So, last summer we only got to see Rebecca. And Rebecca seemed to remember Maylynn (not sure if she just says that to be nice or if she truly remembers her:) -i'd like to think that she remembers her!

We had a great time in Spokane for the day. Not only did we get to see Lily & Rebecca and other agency friends but also some friend from home that the kids enjoyed playing with. There was carnival games, spin art (the girls loved this!!), ice cream & sno cones!

2010-08-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

August 14 - Our 17th Anniversary!

Our Wedding Picture on August 14, 1993

And we spent our day 17 years later - playing with our kids at the Hermiston Water Park:

And then we enjoyed an evening to ourselves with a delicious dinner at The Bonefish Grill and then to an off Broadway Musical Show at CBC called "The Lazy Chaperone". It's hard to believe that 17 years have zoomed by. I'm so blessed to be married to a man of God and my best friend. God knew that Lance was my soul mate and just who I'd need that would put up with me;) I'm lucky - he truly is a wonderful husband!

2010-08-23T14:17:00.001-07:00

Potholes & Moses Lake Waterpark

We ended July at the Moses Lake Waterpark - the kids had a great time but i was surprised that they didn't want to stay longer than we did... I bet if they had a friend with them, then they'd want to spend more time there. But it was just enough time to enjoy it and then head over to our camping spot...

So, we started August at Potholes State Park. It is a nice state park - all grass at the camping spots, a park, and boat dock etc... We had to tent camp this year! But - it was okay with me because our friends (the Elsassser's) that we were camping with had a nice motorhome that we could use to wash dishes & do a bit of cooking etc... and they saved us too with a nice big tent! We had planned on using 2 smaller tents for the 6 of us - but really only 2 people could fit in each tent. So, the boys had their little tent and the girls and us had the big one - not sure what kind of weekend it would've been if we didn't have the big tent!

We really enjoyed our time! We had delicious food, a charcoal camp fire to make smores (no wood fires were allowed), fun times on the lake which included boating, jet skiig, swimming & fishing! Great memories!!

2010-08-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Brayden's Tri City Channel Cat Season #1 is over...

Brayden's 6th place medal & 10th place ribbon at the IE Long Course Championships for breaststroke.

Brayden's ribbons and medals from this past years meets

Brayden's first competitive swimming season ended July 31st. This was a fun and eye opening year for us in learning all about swim team stuff! I still don't think that we know EVERYTHING! But we got our feet wet (no pun intended - hehe).

I think that he's going to do it again next year - i sure hope so! We just love watching him swim - i think that he has a natural talent for swimming and the perfect body composition.

By the end of the season, he finally would go to a meet without a nervous tummy and OH BOY was that fun in helping him to get through the nerves! It helped alot for him to have his buddy Jeff join up with him for the last half of the season - we did too, we really enjoy the sitting at the meets ALL day with friends - it makes the time go by faster. There's nothing like getting at the pool at 7am and then waiting for 3-4 hrs. later for his 30 sec race and then wait another hr for another min. in the pool etc... It can make for LOOOONNNNGGGG days but it's funner with friends:)

Anyway, through out the years meets you can qualify to race in the championship race at the end of the season if you have certain qualifying times (we didn't find this out until June - a little late but oh well - it would've given him a goal to aim for). However, he did qualify for 4 events - 50 breast, 100 breast, 100 freestyle & 50 back. Since they didn't offer all of those events on the same day and we didn't want to spend 4 days at the meet - he raced in the first 3 over 2 days. Each race had a preliminary event and if you finished in the top 16 then you got to come back later in the day to race in the final event for a medal (in heat A: top 8 swimmers) or a ribbon (in heat B: next top 8 swimmers). I won't go into detail on everyrace but we were super proud of him in what he accomplished and i think he learned alot on what to do differently for next year (i know that we did). He finished the meet with a 6th place medal in the 100 breast and a 10th place ribbon in the 50 breast. He had personal best times in both those events - his favorite!

Now he/we have a month off and then it's back to the pool in September!

2010-08-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

Brayden's Weekend

In the picture above, you can see how awesome their seats were!

The day after Lance & I got home from San Diego, Lance took Brayden on a little get-away weekend. It was a time for the 2 of them to have some good "guy/father-son" talks along the way... They went to see a Mariner's Game and had GREAT seats! I was super jealous and many thanks to the Mather's for helping Lance get these seats:) They really had a good time and hopefully Brayden will remember some of the things they talked about:)

2010-08-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

Pacific District Team in Kent, Ohio

(Taylor is the first on left on back row)

After a few rounds of evaluations (State & Regional/District), Taylor was chosen to represent the Pacific District Team as one of the best forwards in the Region (AL, WA, OR, CA, NV) at the Kent Select Festival in Kent, Ohio.

We are super proud of him to have worked so hard and to have been recognized for his hard work and talent:)

His Grandparents took him for us (see post/story below as to why). It sounds like he had a great time - he was with the team the entire time and stayed in the dorms at the university. He really enjoyed meeting the other boys from the other states and hanging out with fellow teammates Keanu Yamamoto & John Marzek... The team really came together and they went to the championships after Taylor made the game winning goal in the tied semi-final game (i will try to upload the video). The team took 2nd place after losing to Michigan.

So, Taylor has no hockey now until the end of August but continues his off ice workouts in preparation for an awesome year in Kent, WA again.

2010-08-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

Rest & Relaxation - San Diego (July 20th...)

This was my FAVORITE restaurant - i loved their shrimp tacos! and the atmosphere:)
Lance & I on the pier overlooking Pacific Beach

My Grandma Huston & myself - not too sure if I will ever get a chance to see her again in this lifetime:( It was fun to visit - all of my childhood memories came rushing back as i pulled into her neighborhood...

Lance doesn't get too many opportunities to travel for work, which is a good thing. But, this summer it was time for him to take a class to make sure he is current on the information that he needs to know - it was an appropriations class - i guess... Anyway, it was in San Diego! He found out about it in May and we kinda had it in our minds that he would go and i would go with him - it's super important for us to do at least 1 thing a year for just the 2 of us - we are so busy and all...

Well, he got the work approval and then Taylor was selected to go to the Kent Select Festival in Kent, Ohio during the same time period - bummer! but - Gma & pa V. saved the day - actually, in April they couldn't use some plane tickets to fly to Canada with Taylor so, they ended up using them to take Taylor to Kent! So, while they had Taylor in Kent watching him play hockey with the other top players in the US - Gma & gpa B. watched the girls and helped coordinated several playdates for Brayden with his friends! It seemed to have worked out perfectly:)

So, Lance and I enjoyed a wonderful 4 days together. While he was in his class during the day, i had a chance to visit with my gma Huston, Aunt Dianne & Uncle Warren for a day, read a book, had to trade my rental car one day cuz the battery was bad (frustrating), met the grandparents of the little girl that i tutor here (they are the ones that hired me & i've never met them - until then) and just relaxed! When Lance was done with his work duties, we did some sight seeing on the trolley tour around the city (The HUGE comic con convention was in town the same time we were so there were some VERY interesting people there - you know the ADULTS that are REALLY into superheros, comics etc... and dress up like them...) Anyway, we also visited Calvary Chapel San Diego, and we had a super fun time at an improv comedy show - we would definately recommend this to anyone going to SD! And our last day before loading the plane, we enjoyed some time at the Cabrillo Nat'l Monument (a light house & awesome views of the city) we also loved watching the surfers here. Oh - and one evening we went to Pacific Beach - watched tons of surfers and saw some dolphins!!

We really enjoyed our time together!!

2010-07-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Fun Times at Qwik Karts in Hermiston!

Hayleigh & Daddy Hayleigh

Taylor

Lined up and ready to go...
Maylynn and Daddy

Maylynn

2010-07-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Pendleton Meet - July 10, 2010

Brayden doing his breast stroke - you can see Maylynn in the background keeping herself busy...

Brayden (orange cap)is the 3rd from the rt - his finger tips are just about to enter the water...
Brayden is the first on the rt (orange cap)
Brayden did a great job at his swim meet a few weekends ago. It was a meet that was fairly close to home (in Pendleton, OR) so, we didn't have to stay in a hotel etc... it was nice:) The weather was also nice - not too hot or not too cold - just right! :) And we got to hang out and visit with friends:) I think that he improved on his times and he placed 6th overall in the 50m breast (his favorite). His next meet is the Inland Empire Championships in Spokane in a few weeks - he qualified in 4 strokes but we will only be availabe for 3...

2010-07-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Cool Desert Nights!

FINALLY! We were finally here to watch the "Cool Desert Nights" Car show parade. We are not car "buffs" or "finatics" but it was fun to see some of the old cars and new, shiny cars -we didn't care for the loud/obnoxious car honkings though... As you can see Brayden was much happier after he borrowed the ear muff thingys and Taylor was MR. COOL! (however, he's starting to tick me off by not smiling -i don't think i have any pictures of him naturally smiling -it's starting to make me wondering if it's ALL really that BAD... - hoping it's just a "cool" phase...) Anyway, we were invited to the Brown's house for a potluck and fellowship time. After dinner, we walked 2 houses down and enjoyed watching the cars go by and go by and go by - i think they went around at least 5-6 times... the ice cream helped the time go by too:)

You can see more pictures of our fun times at the picture website here

It seems all of the past summers we have been gone during Coold Desert Nights b/c of baseball or hockey tournaments and surprisingly enough - this summer we don't have any of that! - however, we have been busy with other little events but it has been just right - not too busy and not too boring!

Hope to post more stuff in the next few days - don't want to get too far behind:)

2010-06-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

YARD SALE!

Taylor had a yard sale a few weekends ago. I was pleasantly surprised with how much work he actually did to prepare and work the yard sale. He had a few good friends (Cassidy & Bailey) also help out but i didn't get them in any pics:( I barely got these taken on our 2nd day of the sale. He had a few very generous donations and did very well - he raised enough money to pay for his portion of next years dues!

2010-06-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Global Showcase - Las Vegas - 2010

Taylor was invited to participate at the Global Showcase in Las Vegas. It proved to be a great experience for him. Not only did he get to play hockey, but him & Lance also learned ALOT about what could be in the future for him.

In addition to other highly skilled hockey players of his age that were there, there was also a good number of whl, Jr. teams, ushl & college scouts watching. From what i've heard Taylor did a great job playing his game on a team of kids that he's NEVER met or played with before. He scored & assisted many goals. We hardly ever take video, but Lance did take some for me this past week, so, I put some of his goals, assists & breakaway on a short 2 min. video...

When Taylor was off the ice, they attended several seminars which included: Strength & conditioning, NCAA Scholarship Opportunities and Academic Qualifications, Hockey Stepping Stones (NCAA eligibility), Nutrition, Here's What we Look For (NCAA, WHL & Jr. reps talk about thier scouting routines), Opportunities in Jr. Hockey, and USA Hockey's National Team Development Program. He has come home with alot of awesome information that he can use now for his off ice training and conditioning for the upcoming season. And, a better grasp on what may be in the future for him... I think all along he's had the desire to play in the WHL (that's the league of the Tri-City Americans) - it's "COOL" to be drafted! ;) And, yes, while it's cool to be drafted - this may not be the best thing for him... for an American born player to be drafted to the WHL, once you have stepped on the ice or have recieved ANYTHING from a whl (or the likes) then you immediately become ineligible to play hockey at the college level. And, once you are drafted and do commit or whatever to a team like that, you can EASILY be traded and traded and traded - never really know where you will end up if anywhere (for an American, this may not be the best thing) It's a different story for Canadians - sad isn't it,they can still play college hockey if they want too... Anyway, He was told that if he didn't have good grades or any potential of making it into college academically then the WHL would definately be the route to go... However, Taylor has very good grades (so far:)) and is a great hockey player. He has enormous potential of getting a full hockey scholarship if he continues the grades & hard work on the ice and then can continue his dream of making it to the NHL (with an education)

So... now what?? Well... we are not exactly sure - we are definately leaving it up to God to guide us and direct us as a family as to what the best thing for him to do is. Just recently Taylor has committed another year at Kent Valley a AAA tier 1 team. They have hired a new and very experienced coach and feel that God had directed us back there again this year (although, last year was very rocky). After the information we got at global we feel confident that this was a good direction. Coach Lloyd Degelman has many years experience with coaching and moving kids onto the next level. After next year, we are not sure what he'll do... some possiblities are: U16 team, or a Jr hockey team (Wenatchee Wild, etc.) - we'll just see what God has planned for him!

After 2 days of seminars, Lance and i were talking over the phone and he was wondering if anyone was noticing Taylor... One thing that we learned is that college scouts CANNOT approach you - if they do, then Taylor would be ineligible. College scouts can only approach a player who is in their jr. year at HS.... But, if you talk to them, then they can openly talk to you:) So, i told Lance that his job that day was to NOT video anymore and to mull around and talk to people... Immediately after he hung up, he went to the restroom and noticed a complete list of players at the camp that is given to scouts. Lance picked it up and began looking at it and noticed that Taylor's name was 1 of 5 circled - kinda cool - but we dont' know who circled it -hahaha :) oh well... Then Lance began "circulating" and talking to others that he thought may be someone to talk to... I can't remember exactly who he spoke with but they all seemed to know who Taylor was and said that he has great talent, he will go far in hockey and do great things. This was wonderful encouragement for him... Can't wait to see what God has planned:)

There was 1 day that the boys had time to explore - they went to a state park and saw some awesome scenery - thankfully, they steered clear of the scenery on the "strip"... Gosh, Lance did say what an aweful, icky place that is and hopes that he never has to go back...

2010-06-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

The End of another year...

The end of May was Hayleigh's last day of Preschool - next year she will enter Elementary school where her big Bro Brayden had his last year. I had fun helping and watching Brayden's 5th grade Breakfast/party. Brayden will be entering Middle School next year where his big Bro Taylor had his last year. Taylor will begin his freshman year at my old high school Kamiakin:) Go Braves! ;) He kept me busy too with helping at his 8th gr. party (no pics at this one - i think he would've shot me -jk) But i did get a few pictures of the last day of school swimming at my mom's house with a few of the kids' buddies!

Next year will be a big year for everyone! They will all be at a new school - including Maylynn where she will begin preschool - she is SO-SO-SO ready for school!

The weather is FINALLY HOT! Lance & Taylor are on their way home from Las Vegas now (i'll update the blog with that trip later) the "middle" kids have VBS this week, so next week are are looking forward to some relaxing, do what we want, when we want times!! woohoo!

2010-06-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Baseball & Swimming...

Brayden kept us super busy last weekend with a swim meet in Pasco and the inner city baseball tournament.

His meet was Fri-Sunday and the events that he was able to swim when he wasn't at the baseball field -he did great! He hasn't been in the pool for 2 months b/c of baseball but that didn't seem to slow him down:) The best part for him though was hanging out with some buddies between events...

His baseball tournament is still going - he had 2 games on Sat. They lost the first game which resulted in having to play again immediately afterwards. They play again tonight and if they lose again then they are done for the season...

2010-06-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday...