Patrick and Co Halloween 2013

Owen, Jackson, Jason, Geo, Yo, and some others.

The boys played some basketball, ping pong, and FIFA. They also ate all the chili.

Salt Lake ComicCon

Really have to work on getting to the ComicCon in Salt Lake. I heard 40,000 attending in 2013. Then again...

Thomas bitten at a soccer tournament in North Platte

I coached a soccer team in a tournament in North Platte. The games did not go well and we did not win one. After the first game, the boys were petting a dog of one of the players. The dog was in a car and they were reaching through the window. I was talking with parents about the game and did not see what happened but apparently Thomas reached in to pet the dog and it bit him hard enough to draw blood. We went to the emergency room which was just down the street. Thomas tried playing in the next game but said the wound hurt too much.

From Francesco to Frank

We made a good bye presentation for Frank. It made him cry.

The video is too big to post as one file, so I divided it into 5 parts.

Frank's Graduation

Our foreign exchange student, Frank, graduated from Scottsbluff High School today.

Gering Courior Newpaper Soccer

Woo-hoo, we made the newspaper!

Rachel high centers the car.

Rachel was at tennis practice when it snowed very heavily. She tried to leave and managed to high center the car on one of those cement guards for the parking spaces. It took a tow truck to get it off. She claims she was not going that fast but I don't understand how it could be that far onto the block.

Patrick opening his Christmas present

Every year I try to have a little fun with Christmas presents. Last year I gave Rachel a bunch of video cables and a note that said "I always support your dreams". She talked April into buying a projector and texted me that her dream was to show movies. It got a lot of use.

This year I packed Patrick's gift of a small XBox HD in a large box with a bunch of other stuff I found around the house. This is the video I took of him opening it:

Laramie Turf wars 2013

The weekend of January 4-6 Thomas, Patrick, Frank, and I went to Laramie for the Cowboy Turf Wars. I coached two teams of 11 and 12 year olds in the U-14 silver bracket. Considering they were playing 12 and 13 year olds they did not do too badly. The first game for Thomas was won 11-6. The next game for the 11 year olds was lost 5-6 on a last second corner kick. It was a lucky shot. Both teams went on to lose the rest of the games by one goal. The last game for the 11 year olds was at 11:45 at night. They were doing pretty well until the other team stuck a big kid in the goal.

Patrick’s team had a rough time. They played in the high school junior varsity gold division with all freshmen. All of the teams they played were either juniors or seniors, so they were a little outmatched. They did play well against the teams.

Frank’s team had the best time, eventually winning 1^st place. Frank played well, flipping a ball over a keepers head and into the goal. In the final game, he bounced the ball over the head of a defender about three or four times so that the guy had no idea where it was.

Here is a picture of the 1st place team:

And one other photos I took:

Patrick and Ethan Parks