Family Pictures on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day we started off with our annual "Thanksgiving Devotional" at the church.  Travis tried to cancel it this year, but the HP's took it over and moved it to the RS Room.  I'm always glad we've gone once we're there.  Brother Smith shared a thanksgiving message and we had a nice continental breakfast and visited with people.  This year was the first time we've hosted Thanksgiving and we cooked our first turkey!  It turned out super yummy!

 I had been wanted to take some family pictures for our Christmas cards and Thanksgiving was the day that it happened.  Andrew and Tina (and kids) came by on their way to Tina's family Thanksgiving and took a few pictures.  Here are Christopher and Calissa warming up the camera.

 Cute cousins!

 Lindsay, Christopher and Emily

 Here's a few shots of our family. Can't believe how big everyone is getting.

 A fun one.  

(Who knows what Parker is doing?) 

 Crazy kids!

Aren't they cute?

NCS Cross Country Championship

Last Saturday was the NCS Championship for Cross Country held at Hayward High School.  Unfortunately, it rained (poured) that morning!  We met at the school at 6:00 am and carpooled over.

 Once we arrived, we found a great spot in under an overhang and the boys got ready to walk the course.  They had each brought a couple of pairs of shoes and socks, but we didn't bring enough!

The boys were the 2nd race of the day and it was pouring!!!  Here are some of the parents that were there cheering the kids on.

 Grandma and Grandpa Burr came from Utah to watch.  (They loved watching, but didn't love the rain!)  The Rossi's also braved the rain and came as well.  The rain was coming down so hard and the wind was blowing, so it made for a very wet race (and for very wet spectators)! 

 Here is Parker at the start of the race.  He had a great start!

 Don't you love the standing water on the grass?

 Evidently you run with your eyes closed when it's raining so you don't get water in your eyes!

 They ran through puddles and mud and more puddles and more mud! (This picture is actually of Zach, but you get an idea of the conditions!)

 Parker coming around for his final pass before the finish! 

 Finishing strong!

 Even with the conditions, he came in 8th, with the same time from last year.  The course was running about 45 seconds slower than the year before because of the weather, so he improved a ton!  He just missed a medal by one place, (1-7 got medals) but he qualified for state!

 Wet boys and dry girls (they hadn't run yet).

 These boys were dripping wet, and very muddy!

 Parker's legs.  His socks were white.  We just threw them away when we got home!  He had mud on his face, in his ears, under his armpits!  He was covered!!

 We had the boys bring a pair of shoes and socks for warm ups, and then one for the race.  We forgot that they'd be soaking wet after the race too!  Oops!  Parker said it was a lot of fun!

 Here is the president of NCS announcing the qualifiers for state.

 Congratulations Parker!

 The group going to state!

(With his time he would have finished 1st in division 1 and 5, 2nd in division 4, and 5th in division 2 - he would have received a medal (or won) in another other division  His race was the fastest of the day)  He ended up finishing 16th out of 670 runners in all divisions that day for boys!

His dirty feet after taking his socks and shoes off once he got home.  We were all wet and needing to dry off once we got home!

Congratulations Parker!  We are so proud of you and Concord High is as well!

Grandpa Romer is 90!

My grandpa is turning 90 this month and my mom and cousin (and his sons) decided to throw him a party.  I was lucky enough to get to fly in and spend time with Kevin and Kellie (and Drew) and help get ready for the party.  Kevin and Kellie were kind enough to have the party and their house.

 Kellie picked up some things from my grandpa's house that reminded us of him. Books - he loves to read - Cowboy boot - He always was wearing them - Dog - He loves his Tipper! Clock - He was always making something (and made this clock)

 Cards - Loves playing cards - Latch hook rug - Always has a project going

 Needlepoint - He's crafty!  Pass the budder to me mudder award - Drove my mom crazy when he used to say that!

 Puzzle - He always has one (or many more) puzzles going!

He had several hats, but this is one that I remember him loving recently!

 Birthday balloons!!

 The beautiful spread of food!

 The amazing cowboy cake that Carrie had made.

 A banner that his neighbor Mike made

 Me and Grandpa!

 Grandpa as a little boy. 

Drew, Kevin, and I.

I had a great weekend spending time with my brothers (we missed BJ) and Kevin's family and my dad.  It was fun to visit and spend some time with them.

It was also fun to see a lot of my cousins that I haven't seen for quite a while!  

Happy birthday Grandpa!  I love you!

Parker is an EAGLE!!

Parker had his Eagle Board of Review last Wednesday night.  He said he wasn't nervous.  I was, but just a little.  He got asked about what some red dots on one of his merit badges meant.  He said, "I have no idea!"  He passed even though he didn't know.  :)

 Here is one of the reviewers signing his book.

  Parker with Mark Paulson after he had completed his Board of Review

 Parker and Brother Marquardson

 Happy parents that he's done!!

Now, we just have to plan his Eagle Court of Honor!

Calissa's soccer season is over!

Calissa had a busy couple of weekends.  The day of DVAL's she had her soccer tournament.  Because there were only 3 girls teams in her division, they only had 2 games.  Travis went to her first game, then left to come over the DVAL's to see Conner race.  Then, he went back to watch part of Calissa's 2nd game.  They left during the 4th quarter, so they could get back in time to see Parker run.

They ended up winning both games that day, which was surprising because they had lost to both teams earlier in the season.  Travis said they had a new player who was originally on the roster, but had moved before the season had started.  She was back for the weekend and ended up playing for our team and scoring 3 out of the 4 goals that day.

This last weekend, they had their championship game.  They were tied 2-2 at the end of regulation, but ended up loosing in double overtime 3-2.  They ended up 2nd place in the league.

We're so proud of how hard Calissa played this season.  She moved up to Under 14's and was by far the smallest on her team.  She was never intimidated by the other players though and played with all her might all season!  Congratulations Calissa on a wonderful season.  We are proud of you!

DVAL Cross Country Championships

 Last Saturday was a busy day.  Calissa had her league soccer tournament that day and the boys had their DVAL Cross Country Championships.  Here are the boys as we were heading out the door for the day.

 The Championship was held at Hidden Valley Park this year in Martinez.  When we got to the park the coach greeted us with a flag that she had had made.  Pretty cool, huh?

 Conner was running Frosh/Soph because of his injured hip.  His race was the 2nd of the day after the Frosh/Soph Girls.  As he came around the first time, he was doing pretty good.

 After running about 1.25 miles out where we couldn't see him, he showed up (in 4th place for CHS) looking like he was hurting.  He only had the final big hill and a little bit left to the finish (maybe .2 miles).

 We hurried to the finish line to get pictures of him finished and he didn't come, and didn't come, and didn't come.  Finally Travis ran back to the other side of the hill to see if he could find him.  I ran over too, and with tears streaming down his face, he came limping into view.  His hip got hurt much worse going up that big hill at the end.  As he hobbled towards the finish line, our CHS families and teammates cheered him on.  Tears were streaming down more than just his face as he finished the race.

 He went straight over to the medical personnel who were there.  They gave him ice and then we brought him back over to our seats to eat something, take some Motrin, and ice his hip.  We were so proud of him for finishing the race and know that he has 3 more years to compete!
He finished with a time of 17:16 for 2 miles which is an 8:37 pace (which is faster than I can run, uninjured)!

 The last race of the day was the boy's varsity race.  This is the only time during the season that the whole league runs together.  Usually it's just half of the boys and half of the girls who run at the same time.  I don't know about how nervous Parker was, but I was super nervous for him (as was his coach)!  He had won all the league races this year and really wanted to come in first for league this year.  As they came around for the first time Parker was leading the pack.

Another pass around the hill, and he was still in first.

 Here's a group of fans coming to observe in the spot where they show up again (after a couple of miles). 

 Waiting for them to show up on this bridge seems like a long wait, but when they came into view, Parker was still in first.

 Up and over the big hill, around the bottom of the hill and Parker showed up to the finish line!

 One last final sprint and he ended up beating the next runner by an amazing 8 seconds!
He finished with a time of 16:17 which is a 5:25 pace.

 (There was a drone-thingy about the finish line ... not sure why, but it was kind of cool?)

 Getting a big hug from his coach!

 After that race was over, we all gathered for the league awards.  We had 2 girls (Faith & Kiyomi) place in the top 10 for JV, one boy (Evan) made Honorable Mention, and Parker getting first place and winning league MVP.  Here's the DVAL commissioner congratulating him on his run. 

 Congratulations Parker!

First team all-league!

 Here are 7 of the 10 seniors after the race.

Zach, Parker, Ellison, Arnold, Trever, Nathan

Biviana 

 Parker and Coach Stanziano 

Way to go Parker and Conner!

We are so proud of you boys!!

Now on to NCS!