23 Totes
Stuff, stuff and more stuff. We all have stuff, lots of it. I knew we had a lot of stuff because with each move we added several thousand pounds, according to the moving company, and although much of it was on my waistline, the vast majority was just stuff. Now the older we get and the more kids we get the more stuff we add. The question is, how much of it is necessary? I have heard Pastor Brown deliver several messages over the years regarding people and their stuff. In fact just recently he had a great message on joy vs. happiness and used stuff as an example of temporary happiness, but it does not often bring you joy.
I find great irony in stuff. You see I remember when Tra and I were moving back home after college. We had no money, no jobs, a prospect or two and very little stuff. But that stuff was very very important to us. In fact it was so important that we borrowed $3000 from my Grandpa to buy an 18 foot dual axle trailer so that we could haul our stuff up to Alaska. We then built plywood walls 8 feet tall so that we could pile stuff high. Now, as I sit and type this there are only three items that I remember being in that trailer, a washer and dryer of the utmost cheapest variety that we had recently purchased, and a small table made from wafer board. Neither item we would need for years, neither item irreplacable, neither item that important. But at the time that was our stuff, it was all we had and it had enough value to us that we hauled it nearly 4000 miles through blizzards, mountains, wrecks, and Canada. I guarantee you it cost us more to haul or stuff than to replace it. I quickly found out the most valuable thing we brought with us from Missouri; the trailer.
Now the tides have turned. Over the last 20 plus years we have been blessed to have some decent stuff. Stuff it took us years to accumulate. Just one or two pieces of our stuff now is way more valuable, monetarily wise, than our stuff back then. It also has a lot more sentimental value; as pieces of stuff was acquired at significant moments in our live, moments that often involved kids.
But now that we have to pay around $5 a pound to ship it, it quickly loses its importance. In fact, that is a great way to see what stuff really means anything to you at all. Ask yourself, ” would I (more…)
How to shed a few hundred pounds
As D-day (departure day) approaches us like a charging bear, life changes from hectic to frantic. Moving houses is a huge task, moving cities is a giant task, moving states is a humongous task, and moving countries is an overwhelming task. There is so much to think about, so much to plan and so much to execute that it makes us physically exhausted, not figuratively, but physically exhausted. Our minds are cluttered, our days our cluttered, our house is cluttered and our shed was cluttered. You see in the midst of all this working and planning we managed to have a day of unplanned fun.
It was a pouring rain Saturday, a miserable day by any Alaskan’s standard sans the salmon. One of those days where the rain pounded so hard of the dark wet asphalt that the drops that missed you jumped up from the asphalt to bite you in the leg. It was of course the day I had chosen to empty our shed; for a few days prior we had found out that it was sitting on the electrical easement, right where the electric company HAD to put the box. The options; move the shed or get rid of the shed. My inclination was to sell it and have someone else move it. So Ryan and I began the task of moving the mounds of “stuff” from the shed to the garage. I must admit that I was somewhat embarrassed and ashamed of the stuff we just had to store. I know I took at least a truck load directly to the dump. Finally after a few hours the shed was empty and ready to be displayed to a potential buyer. Sure it was a little crooked, but there had to be someone out there that needed a 16X12 crooked tongue and groove shed. Right? I mean people in this state got a lot of stuff. Just then, as we loaded up for our dump run Jason shows up, presumably to help but I suspect that he wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting rid of any good stuff he might need. That’s when the trouble began.
You see now there are three men of action sitting around looking at a leaning shed, a worthless leaning shed. It took but a second for Jason to convince us that the shed was worthless and that it would be impossible to move without destroying it and instead we should tear it down. Well that sounded way too fun to resist, and without any planning, safety briefing, or permit, we found some straps hooked em up to the old Suburban and began to tear down that shed.
I can’t say things didn’t go as planned, because there was no planning, but they didn’t go as expected. Further, that darn worthless shed, crooked as piece of Homer driftwood, was stinking hard to destroy. It took several takes and many different tactics before we got her off her skids and drug her right in the middle of our driveway. Now what? We were stuck, the driveway was blocked, and the shed looked sturdier than ever. After several attempts to flip it over, it was time for old blue to roar to life. We got my truck running, full of trash mind you, and I proceeded to use it as a battering ram to knock the shed over. I have blogged about my truck in the past, it is blue, it is damaged, it is loud and it is a 5 speed manual, or what you would call a man’s truck and it begs to be used for more than dump runs. So as I sat in the seat I could feel the engine vibrating through my hand which sat on the shift handle. I gave the engine a few good deep revs and proceeded to back right into the shed. With each attempt I gained more confidence until finally I was able to go hard and fast enough to push it over the edge, without destroying old blue. Much better,we then had a crushed shed in the middle of our driveway.
This was a time to plan, over a cup of coffee and some cupcakes of course. The plan was to start cutting, ripping, smashing and tearing and we would load it on a trailer and take it to the dump. Again, contrary to our so-called plans, Jason decides half way into the plan that this shed needs a fire. So after some prodding I provided him with my favorite fire starter. Within 1/2 hour he had two fires going, and one was big enough to be seen from space. So now we had a smashed shed, power tools, fire and rain. It doesn’t get any better than that. Cutting, ripping, smashing, breaking, throwing, burning repeat, and so the rest of the day went. Of course we had to eat so there was a chicken taco break, candy, cupcakes and a smorgasbord of smores. But hey, we could indulge after all we just got done shedding a couple hundred pounds. Did I mention there was video?
She’s just playing
We knew early on she belonged on a stage. In fact, by the time she was two she was known as our little drama queen. She was unbelievably cute, she knew how to bat her eyelashes , smile, and even say things like ” oh daddy” in a patronizing voice. Oh yes, early on we knew this one would be trouble. Tracy figured that dance class may be a place for her use up her charm. She was right. Alli took to it like me to cheesecake, she devoured it. And as good as she was in class, she was even better on stage. She had the smile, the charm, the confidence, she had it all and she knew how to bring it all together to stand out on the stage. Things were going great, dance four days a week, performances 4-5 times a year, and a lot of driving and costume money from dad. But the important thing is that she had to have somewhere to put her creative energy. That all came to a crippling halt last year when her meniscus said ” I need a break“, or perhaps even more proper, I need a tear, as documented in this very blog.
- I really should be out there “acting”
looking beautiful
The three banditos.....
.... and the three princes
So she sat around the house for months with nothing to do, no way to release her creative energy except on her parents. It was politely suggested to her that perhaps the stage was calling her once again, alas not in dance but in drama. Her eyes lit up a little and it seemed as if something so obvious should not have been such a surprise to any of us. Of course she took to it like a rainbow trout to roe.
After a semester of drama she tried out for the school play and actually got two roles. Neither was a lead, but both were scattered throughout the play, and she was critical to the start of the plot and the closing scene. The whole family got to enjoy the play, and the consensus was: She must love sword fighting because she smiled the whole time, Jeremy loved the sword fights but was disappointed she didn’t die on stage, she looked beautiful and did a fantastic job. We are so proud and maybe its time for her one woman show, just as long as she leaves the drama on the stage.
Short video clip of a couple of scenes from the play
The Cast
Hay, Hay we’re the Monkee’s
Have you ever felt like you were lost, going in circles, unable to figure out where you should go next, then looking to heaven for guidance? Well I have, literally a couple of weeks ago. You see, apparently a yearly tradition around here is the hay maze at the Solid Rock Bible Camp. Now we had never heard of the hay maze, but it sounded like great fun. I envisioned a giant maze six feet high, dead ends, running aimlessly looking for exits, laughing, frolicking and all that great stuff. Well it wasn’t quite like that. You see the hay maze was definitely a maze, but instead of six feet high it was about 20 inches high in most of the maze.
bravely waiting our turn to enter the amazing maze of no return
once you enter the red barn you may never leave
Now if you have never been in a maze of hay that is 20 inches high, there are a couple things to think about. Hay absorbs sound like a Shamwow sucks up soda. So your screams for help, well all they do is get you more freaked out and make you short of breath. Bricks of hay block out light, all light, and believe me when I say lighters are not an option. When you only have 20 inches to work with, you cannot use your knees, especially if you are full-grown, or over grown as in my case. So the military slide is a necessity, and doing the military slide over hay, well let’s just say hay will find its way in every area of your body, and I mean everywhere, especially when it is hanging over head. So if hay absorbS sounds like a Shamwow, then it absorbs air like a Super Shamwow mop with a mega twist handle for only 3 payments of $9.99. There is not a lot of air to breath in the hay maze, and I am not even claustrophobic; Tracy is. So I must admit that I was extremely proud of her when she conquered her fears and entered the maze, after much self deliberation and an external internal conversation.
Following dad into the maze, what brave smiles.
the bridge is the only place you can stand straight up and see any natural light
Once inside there really is no turning around, there is one way and that way is unclear. Luckily for us we all had flashlights and me, with a Game Warden’s keen sense of direction. Now prior to entering the maze I was given a hot tip, “look up”. Hmmm, I can’t even turn my bloody head, how am I gonna look up? I thought to myself as I came to the first crossroads. Right or left, right it was, with Jake, Ben, Kassie and my gasping wife in tow. “Worry not” I yelled, to myself as they could not hear me. “Hmmmm, this looks familiar.” And I realized we had just done our first full circle, all the sudden I felt a little short of breath, worried not for myself of course, but for those bravely laughing as if they were having fun behind me. This time I quickly took a left. I must have been going a little fast as I left everyone behind, but of course I had to scout out an escape route. Then I remembered to glance up to heaven, and out of the corner of my eye, on the edge of my L.E.D light I could make out the shape of wood, “ladder”. I quickly climbed to make sure it could hold the weight of the others, and at the top I had a little more head room, and there seemed to be more air. I was sure Tracy was far behind screaming and thrashing about, kicking over bails of hay looking for an emergency exit. To my surprise, she showed up shortly after I had helped the little ones and scolded them for excessively laughing and giggling to hide their fears and embarrassing their mother.
Jake screaming with fear... or laughing with fear... maybe just laughing
ben & kassie in the bridge area, the area of breathing I like to call it
The maze continued on like that, with bridges and areas you could stand, and more crawling, crawling so tight you had to turn sideways to get through. It even had a slide, and a fireman’s pole at the end. A pvc one where I learned that you do not want to wrap hands tightly around pvc and slide, especially if you need to have readable fingerprints.
Tra bringing up the rear and doing a fine job
waiting for mom, boy the flash sure makes a difference
All in all it was a lot of fun, for the kids. Tracy and I even did it a second time with them, just to show them how they could be brave and conquer their fears, not having to hide them behind huge smiles, giggles and words like ” this is so much fun” “this is awesome!” ” can I lead this time”. The false bravado touches a father’s heart. The best part of the hay maze, between all of picking hay out of …… areas, is that we had enough to make quite the bedding for our rabbit. Did you know hay sticks to tears?
Escaping from the jaws of the evil beast! Note Jake running full speed away.
My new career as a bus driver.
Almost every parent goes through the first day of school blues / excitement. We are a slight exception. As most of you know, last year was the first year that any of our kids attended public school, and that was Alli & Dorian. They attended High School for 2 classes a day as a trial run. Other than Dorian not finishing his wood-shop project ( wood working 101) they did pretty good. So this year we have decided in the interest of Tracy’s sanity, and for other noble reasons they will attend Soldotna High School full time this year. Today was the first day. I know it was a big day because I saw people moving around the house at an hour when I am always the only one awake.
Eagle River circa 2000
Dorian Kodiak circa 1999
Alli, typical of a high school girl, budgeted about an hour and half to get ready. She was extremely excited to see her friends and get the year started. Dorian, typical of a high school boy, budgeted about 1/2 hour to get ready. Dorian likes, loves his sleep. To him, the worst part about school is getting up before 1 pm, and I am not joking. For a kid that likes hunting and fishing so much, he sure can sleep. Then our surprise guest was mom, up at the crack of dawn, getting lunches ready, nervously checking every last detail, holding back the tears as they walked out the front door.
2000?
Missouri 1997
The plan was for me to drop them off on my way to work, which I did. I felt like I started my new career as a bus driver of two, and I can’ t say I liked it all too much. The roads are slow, the lines are long, there are 16 year old drivers and giant yellow buses all over the place, with kids darting in, over , under and through cars all around you. A little stressful for a man with a low patience tolerance such as myself. The second part of the plan was that Tra would pick them up every day after school. We went to plan b. I had to come home early due to minor health issues, so I called and told Tra I would grab them on the way home. Let me tell ya, pick up time is much much worse than drop off time. The kids are faster, the buses slower, the parent drivers more impatient and the lines much longer. Finally, after a quick text sending the signal I was amongst the throng of plastic, metal and rubber in front of the school, they emerged from the school and found me.
First year of football in Eagle River 2001
2000
I was very excited to hear the exploits of the day. During the drive in I shared stories from my days as big man on campus, excited for the new adventures they would experience. As they got in the car I blurted out “so, how was it?” Dorian – “uh, Okay I guess” Alli- ” I hate all my classes, my teachers are mean” . Well we are off to a great start! Eventually, after much interrogation, sighs, “I dunnos” and “I guesses”, I was able to ascertain that things went well and that they found a lot of their old friends. Alli seems most excited about Drama class, which in my opinion was a natural fit. Dorian seems most excited about playing basketball. Me? I am most excited to find out that the real bus runs right by my house.
1998
my all time favorite picture of Dorian & Alli, circa 1999
That’s what I (don’t) love about Sunday
Sunday used to be one of our favorite days, now it is a painful day. You see Sunday is the day Jo has to go away for the week, every Sunday for ….. ever? We still believe that a miracle will occur and that she will be with us, but until then it is very hard to take a little girl you love with all your heart, who is crying and begging not to go, and give her to someone that you don’t think loves her as much as you do, or will care for her like you.
Yet every Sunday afternoon we do just that. It gives us a knot in the bottom of our stomach and a fist in our throat. We do our best not to think about it, but sometimes it just sneaks up on you and you realize the gravity of the situation and the pawns we have become in that struggle that is her life. Further, instead of getting easier as the weeks pass by, the pain increases, and the reality of the weeks and months that we have missed weigh heavy on our souls and cloud our minds.
We pray, try to lighten the mood, and encourage her telling her that she will be back, and maybe, just maybe next time it will be for ever. So from the time we pick her up on Friday to Sunday, we try to make the most of our time, and that is just what we did this Fourth of July weekend.
We started the weekend with a 2 hr. parade, yes 2 hours! An hour and a half of it were Harley riders and wrecked race cars. But the kids got tons of free candy, and after all isn’t that what Independence Day is all about?
Jo loving the deer. He better be glad hunting season is still a month a way.
candy hounds, this is how the spent 90% of the parade. I don't think they saw but 2 floats.
Jo took a picture of daddy
After the parade we boogied down to Clam Gulch and hung out at the beach all day. The weather was absolutely perfect and we staked claim to a great section of beach. The kids played in the freezing water, the miry clay, the unstable bluff and had a great time. If we hadn’t forgot the hot dogs, it would’ve been perfect. Good thing Tra thought to pack some meat for hamburgers and saved the day.
every day at the beach must include rock throwing
Ok, the water's a little colder than I thought
Hmmmm, looks like she does at home.
hmmm, looks like he does at home ( minus the cool shades & fire)
you know how I feel about cameras!!
I don't remember painting red, white and blue on my toes... I thought I went with straight blue.
Olivia and Jake
Jake and Jo
The warrior with the farmer tan, Ben.
No hot dogs, no problem
From the clan of ignorant fools.
Sunday was another beautiful day, and after church and a fried chicken lunch, the slip-n-slide was calling my name. I didn’t answer it, but the kids did.
Jake prepping the slide for maximum slippage.
Jake in action, and yes this is a redneck slip-n-slide.
Livy in action
uhhh, Kassie in action?
a redneck slide must have a redneck fort
- Jeremy building something I am sure, as always.
sisters forever
this is how you do it.
spray action
Jo eating something that is probably not meant to be eaten
Wood Working 101
Dorian & Alli took a couple classes each semester at Soldotna High School this year. One class they took this last semester was wood working 101. Now I was never fortunate enough to take wood working, although I did take motion pictures, science fiction, and spirit club. All of which have helped me immensely get where I am today. Just look at my Youtube videos!
Every week I would talk to them about their projects and how they were going and get they typical teenage response, “good”. Everything is always “good”. Specifics do not exist, and if you try to get specifics, you get attitude. And me and attitude don’t get along, so I live with “good” for the most part. I tell you all this so that you can see what their definitions of good is with the following picture examples.
At the end of the semester they brought their projects home, and I was somewhat impressed… with Alli’s. Dorian’s was another story. They both decided to make a Costa Rican inspired coffee maker due to our recent trek south of the border. Both Tra and I thought that was a fantastic idea, (even if it was my idea) and we were very excited to see the finished products. So I have enclosed pictures of the finished products.
Alli's costa rican coffe maker bird's eye view
Alli's side view, notice the great lines and curves
Alli's great color, just overall great product. Can't wait to use it.
And now Dorian’s:
It takes a little more vision to get Dorian's concept here.
Maybe from this angle..... nope.
At least he got the "DUKE" sign done, that's something.
The good news, they both passed. The bad news Dorian’s looks more like firewood than a coffee maker. Apparently there was limitation on what tools could be operated by the students, therefore Dorian “DUKE” Godfrey wasn’t aggressive enough to get the teachers attention and missed out on some cuts. But fear not people, dad and him are going to get it done, before we move to Costa Rica. If you are really nice to us and comment, you may get one for Christmas, if we finish it by then. Also, I will do a youtube video of us making coffee in one of them soon, now I got ya really excited.
four minutes fun, 296 minutes of waterboarding?
Recitals, recitals, recitals. I have noticed that I spend a lot of time at recitals. This spring it is a little different. You see now that Alli is out with injury, just Olivia and Kassie are left holding the Godfrey flag in the world of dance. I love watching them dance, but I do have a couple of small complaints. In a two and 1/2 hour recital, why do I have to watch 2 hours and 28 minutes of everybody else’s kids dancing to see my kids 2 minute dance? It’s not that I don’t enjoy dance…. well okay maybe it is that I don’t enjoy dance. But I do enjoy watching my kids perform in anything. Maybe we could implement a take a number type of thing. You go in, take a number, and when your kid is on the stage that number comes up. You walk in sit down clap your fool head off and call it a night. Now that is a recital I would love to attend.
Another issue is the heat. I do not think it could be stuffier or hotter in that auditorium. The show is free, of great quality, and in a small town that equates to 300-400 hot bodies in the seats, and another hundred dancers heating the place up from their sweaty dancing. So there is naturally generated heat, which seems to often be accompanied by an odor for some odd reason, and not pleasant.
Not only did I get to do this Saturday for Olivia, but Sunday for Kassie as well. So that would be 4 minutes of my kids for 5 hours of dance. Post lunch, Sunday afternoon, darkness,heat and music all mix together to make a great nap time for dad.
None the less, I am very proud of all my girls. They are awesome and they have some great smiles and they did a great job dancing this weekend. It was all Alli could to do sit in the seat. In fact she danced every one of her dances while sitting in her seat, and at one point got up and danced a jig in sync with her dance crew on stage, except she was back in the doorway. I feel bad for her after the hundreds of hours she put into practice and two weeks before the big show, her knee gives out. And I feel bad for me, cuz if Alli was able to dance then I would have got to enjoy about 60 minutes of dance out of 5 hours. Poor me, at least I still have soccer and soon you will too…. on this blog.
2009 Group Dance Photo
A sno-go Sunday
It has been difficult to blog since we have come home from Costa Rica. It just does not seem as exciting or interesting, and the material has somehow lost its luster. But we will persevere and fight through and together we can get back in the groove. So if there is something you want to know about, let me know and I will offer up a blog on it.
First an update on Jo. Recently I realized that I had not updated all of you as to the status, that is because the status is quo. We pick up Jo on Friday at 5 pm and then drop her off Sunday at 5 pm. This has been going on since before we left for vacation and will continue until????? We have still seen signs that cause us concern, so please continue to pray.
Her last weekend here we took the opportunity to go out on our snowmachine, a machine given to us by some extremely giving people. I took most of the kids out and let them drive me around, and they had a blast. You may recall, about 4 years ago Dorian had a little “incident” on a snowmachine a few years back and we haven’t gone out much since.
Now hold on tight!!!
Ben tended to get a little throttle happy, and at one point I thought he was determined to jump the Sterling Highway, and not on purpose. His second time out he seemed to have the hang of it.
Ready for takeoff
Olivia was a natural. She has the touch and went just the right speed for dad’s taste.
Livy scaring daddy
Kassie too seemed to have a great touch and as usual her smile never left her face, which in turn made me smile.
Ben waiting patiently for his second turn
Jake and Jo loved it. Though a little apprehensive at first, they soon warmed up to the adventure and the next thing I knew they had their hands on the throttle and apparently thought that I should go a little faster.
If we are not back in 5 minutes, send out the Troopers.
I thought we were going on a hay ride.
The next thing I knew, 2 hours had flown by and it was time to get ready for Sunday night church. Now if I could only get mom to come out for a ride, then I would have accomplished something. She has this “thing” about outside activities in the winter. My true Alaskan woman.
Jo showing daddy how to go faster
What to write about? How about you.
I thought quite a bit on what to pontificate on tonight, not that I have a shortage of topics, but what seemed to be most appropriate in these times, I never came up with an answer. In light of the recent transgessions upon our household, I have been trying to keep things light, not only for my sake, but for Tra’s sake as well. There seems to be quite a bit of strife going on around us right now, and not just our family, our friends families as well. Maybe it’s like when you a get a new car and then you notice how many people actually drive that car. It seemed like nobody had that car, and then you bought it and now everybody drives. They saw how good you and your family looked in it and then they had to go and get one. Those dirty scoundrels. Funny thing with us, I still don’t see much of the 4X4 15 passenger van running around town.
Uncle Brad and Auntie Jenna at Melting Pot North Carolina
NLAG cleaning crew with the sweet vests.
Perhaps that is what we are experiencing, we have turmoil in our life and then our eyes are open to all the turmoil around us, and there does not seem to be a shortage. I thought things were suppose to be better with our new Pres. Just kidding, don’t get offended, just a little joke. I don’t doubt that that is part of it, but I also truly believe that there are seasons of difficulities, seasons of testings, seasons of despair. It is all over in the Bible, look at Joseph, Job, Daniel, Noah, some brought on themselves, some did nothing apparent to cause it. Some of it focused on one, some focused on a family, tribe or nation. Could we be experiencing the same? It is possible, but I am not sure.
Angie belting one out.
uncle and nephews
I am not sure which of these fit, nor do I think it matters. What matters is that our hope is not in this world. What matters is that we have a God who loves us, always, period. What matters is that he brings those into our lives,who, if we let them, can aid us through these times. Not usually with words, but with love, comfort, tears, and honest true compassion. What matters is that we are here for a reason, and if we walk in God’s word and in his desire, in the end it will be as it should.
We are truly blessed to have this. We are blessed to have a strong family, a family that has survived numerous tragedies and has come out stronger through the other side. We are blessed to have true friends, friends who when they say “let me know if I can do anything” mean “anything”. Friends who pray, often harder for us than we do for ourselves. And a church to bring us all together.
The last scragglers.
Road trip! No dudes allowed.
So today I want to write to you out there in the blogesphere, those of you who take the time out of your day to read this drabble, those of you who appreciate us, and those we appreciate. I want to thank you all so much, it truly is a huge uplifiting to us, more than we can express. I know it seems we have been a bit introvert lately, but it is just us getting grounded again before facing everything full force. We appreciate the space and time you have allowed us, and we love you and know you really, really want to help. There may come a time soon when we will need that help, and we will let you know.
A sad day for KNLAG
Beauty pagent, you're all winners in my book.
A truly motley crew.
So in honor of you I have spent hours digging through some old files on my computer to find some of your finest moments, I hope you enjoy them.
Grandpa Gugel at 91.
I know this seems mushy, again, but I think it is Niki’s fault. She had a very introspective blog the other day and it made me introspect. I think we need Ty to blog about his Rhino some more, lighten things up. Or even better, maybe he can blog about his ballet days, with photos included of course.
Life goes on and on and on…
That’s what we have to realize at this time. Tracy and I always talk about having a magical device that you could just push a button and you could be somewhere else or fast forward time to bypass hard times. I would use it every time I am coming home late from fishing, her to get us through bad times quickly. But without the bad times, there would be no good times; you can’t have one without the other. So life goes on, although very unpleasant as it may be.
However, in the wallowing sea of sadness we are currently living in, we had a super bright spot today, something I have been looking forward to years and years. My first time watching a high school game with one of my kids playing. Dorian had his first high school game today, and I was sooooo excited. I have coached all my kids in something, but it all started with Dorian and basketball. He immediately took an interest in basketball and he was good from early on. Although he is almost always the smallest kid on any team he is on, football, basketball, baseball, ballet, .. ok I made that last one up, usually has the most heart. I have watched him get pummeled by bigger kids in football, try to box out huge kids in basketball, try to hit balls thrown by mere giants in baseball, and go right back and get some more. The kid has heart and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He is not always the fastest or best, but he is almost always one of coaches favorite ( I am not counting me even though I have coached him in just about everything except that ballet thing) because he never ever complains and he does what he is told. He could have tears streaming down his eyes, he does what he is suppose to do and he does it to the best of his ability. You cannot ask for more than that, although as his coach I probably have. So today’s blog is in honor of my oldest child, my parent’s oldest grandchild ( out of 20 I think) and Tracy’s parent’s oldest grandchild, Dorian Grey Godfrey. I could not be prouder of him.
He was sooo nervous, as I remember being. He looked lost for the first few minutes.
Let's get this thing started!
It seems to me that kids are much bigger than when I was in school. I remember thinking I was hot stuff, and it turns out I was right, but I don’t remember kids looking so big; especially freshman.
Dude, we could so take these guys, just us three.
Textbook defense, (just like dad taught him).
Dorian didn’t play tons tonight, but when he did he played well. He had the best defensive stance I saw all night, and some great moves. Pretty sweet shoes help too.
You can see how close his head is to the rim here, hope the NBA scouts were watching.
If there is a camera around, Jo will find it. Her forced smile is quite unique.
Beautiful skies on the way home.
I just threw this one in here because it was eerily pretty and icy on the way home, plus maybe Aspen Hotels will give me some $$ for putting em in my blog.
Here is a short video of some of Dorian’s action tonght. You can watch it here or tune into ESPN Sportscenter tonight at 10pm. Oh yeah, they won by like a dozen points or so, after all that is what is most important, isn’t it?
Surprise Guest Star
I am still a little star struck. I couldn’t believe my luck, this week we had an actual guest star visit the Godfrey house. She is well known, especially around these parts. These parts being mostly our church, but none the less. Her work can be seen on a rival network, schemanski.com (there is a link to the right ). You guessed it, it was Nya Schemanski herself.
Let me tell you, her work is awe inspiring. Immediately I could tell she was a professional, because from the moment I picked up my camera to see if I could sneak a few shots of her, she started saying “cheese” with no prompting. Accompianed with this cheese, was the true smile of a professional photog. She knew how to work the camera, of that there can be no doubt.
A good chili eating outfit. I have the same one.
She was mobbed all night long by the kids of the house, obviously happy to have a celebrity of her status in our own home. You can tell she is a celeb because she refers to herself in the third person, “Nya’s turn” “Nya’s thirsty” “Nya’s jello” definitely stuck up, but since she is so cute, and a star, she can get away with it.
Nya and Kassie playing "mess up the house" a newer version of house.
Once she was done with the chili outfit, it was time to go out.
She was definitely hip, as she refered to me as “daddy” just like the jazz stars. I convinced her to call me uncle Glenn, but that turned into Levi, her true uncle. Finally she decided to call me by my name, Gwen. I always liked the name Gwen, it is so masculine.
Uncle Gwen cooking up a storm!
"and in the morning momma looks like....
Where is my chauffeur? She is late!
Sadly she had to leave us at the end of the night when her chauffeur showed up. Just prior to leaving she said something to the effect of going home to “pway wif daddy’s new webel in the pahdy.” I don’t know what that meant, but whatever it is, I am sure daddy will be pleased. She will always be welcome back to “hang”.
Here is a short video of her visit.
