Seattle Sounders

The Seattle Sounders opened their inagural season Thursday, March 19 and Matt and I were there with our scarves on!! What a great night it was. The weather was absolutely perfect (good because where our season tickets are, we will surely be rained on - ugh), the company was great (Matt's oldest brother, wife and three kids have seats right in front of us, Matt's youngest brother and his dad are also splitting a ticket) and the Sounders won.

It was so exciting to see how many people in the area love and appreciate soccer the way Matt's family does and it was so fun to watch the excitement on Matt and his brother's faces when the game started, goals were scored and the crowd was chanting. It must have been like a dream come true for them. Something they have been waiting for all their life. To have a team with so much support and to have amazing players all in our home state - what an exciting time.
So, our summer and fall months will be spent attending Sounders games, enjoying the game and enjoying time with the family that we don't see often enough. I'm so happy that we got season tickets - and what great seats we have!!

Matt and I outside the stadium before the game.

Bernie enjoying opening ceremonies.

Sophie showing her Sounders Pride!

View from our seats!

The family!

Update

I spoke too soon. My sinuses have been horrible for the past couple of weeks. I can't breathe and I can't even blow my nose. I am so stuffed up. It is horrible. The only relief I get is when I use Afrin, which I'm not supposed to do very often per my Doctor. So, it makes for miserable days and nights and tasteless meals. Not so much fun.

Even though my cheer competition season wrapped up the end of January, cheer has slowed down a bit, but not stopped at all. Boys basketball went to post season play. Playing three games (all away) made the last week a busy one. We just held a fundraiser for Rhema, a 12-year old girl that is special to our team. Her brother was on my team last year and her mom and the family have remained involved in the team this year. Great family who had a huge blow the end of January when Rhema was diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer. We held a cheer clinic (Matt's idea - good job Matt) and raised money for the family to help keep mom by her daughter's side as she receives treatment at Children's in Seattle. Now, it is on to team banquet in a couple weeks, tryout parent meeting the following week and then tryouts start the last week of March. There is no break for cheer coaches.

Matt wrapped up his boys soccer season and took on the Girls U-11 team. This means that he is coaching a bunch of 10-year old GIRLS!! He has come to learn that girls operate differently. His exact words were, "Girls talk all the F'ing time". I love the fact that he is getting to experience this and yes, he is actually having fun. He seems to find the girls to be a nice change of pace and may even want to coach them next year in addition to his boys team. Seasons are different so there would be a small time of overlap, but this also keeps him coaching year-round without a break. Boy life is busy.

We have only 48 days until we leave for St. Maarten. We are so excited. We can't wait, especially since the weather here has turned nasty again. What is with all the snow, rain, ice and freezing wind? I am ready to move to a warmer climate. Maybe that would help my sinuses as well. ha. I am looking forward to having the time for us to be together without any distractions, cell phones or practice as we see each other, but never for a period of time like this will be. We really need it, for our own sanity! My goals for the trip: Eat a real French criossant, taste Guavaberry rum (if I can taste by then), eat fresh lobster, get an amazing tan and lay on the beach for as much time as possible. Matt's goals for the trip: Amazing snorkeling, Day trip to Anguilla, possibly try to scuba dive, not to get a sunburn and try to get me to go topless on the beach (good luck with that).

The Seattle Sounders FC season is about to begin and we are season ticket holders. We were a bit stressed as we had not seen our tickets and the first game is less than 2 weeks away, but we received a package on our doorstep yesterday. Inside were our tickets and a nice Sounder FC scarf for each seat purchased. So, Thursday, March 19 we will be watching the season opener for the Sounders and sporting our fancy new scarves!

Until next time . . .

So much has been happening

Well, it has been a while since I last posted, but here is the update (I'm in a hurry, so not too much detail).

• My team qualified for State after a long season of hard work. They looked awesome and did such a great job. They took 4th in the small coed division. I'm so proud of them. This means my season is slowing down. Just doing basketball games for now, so that is so much nicer.
• I am getting towards my ultimate workout goal. My trainer has left, which saddens me as we had a good relationship and I always felt like I was getting the most out of my workouts. I have some ways to go still, but I was able to buy two pant sizes smaller than this time last year. Yay me! I am meeting with a new trainer on Monday, so we shall see how that goes.
• My sinuses are somewhat improved. Still the normal stuffiness, but nothing like they were this fall. Thank goodness (knock on wood).
• Matt surprised me while I was at a competition a few weeks ago and started painting our master bathroom. It is more than half done (and has been sitting like that since then), but it is the thought that counts and now that cheer and soccer are winding down for us we can focus on getting it finished! (I love the color by the way, a really pretty plum purple).
• We had a new addition to the family. Ella Jones was born on January 9 to Matt's brother, Jon, and sister-in-law, Sandra. She is so adorable.

Okay, that is all I can think of at the moment and I need to be heading out for a basketball game, so until next time . . .

Ready for some SUN!!!

All this snow and now ALL this rain is making me crazy already. Matt and I finally decided on where to go for our trip. We will be heading to St. Maarten on April 24th for seven nights and eight days of nothing but SUN!! yay. I can't wait. 30 beautiful (mostly clothing optional - that should be interesting) beaches. Half the island is owned by the French the other by the Dutch. I can't wait to experience the two cultures. And the best part is it is only a 20 minute ferry ride to Anguilla, another beautiful island. This one is owned by the British, so we will get to experience three new cultures! I can't wait. I want to leave today, right now.
Now, the fun part. I don't pee on planes. I have this thing about it. I will hold it as long as possible. I have flown to NYC and Hawaii. That is about as long as I have ever had to hold it and I did it! Well, the flights to St. Maarten are going to be a total of 11 - 12 hours (including a layover, which will help), so I am hoping I can make it. LORD knows I don't want to have to use that nasty, small, GOD only knows what goes on in those things, pedal flushing, turbulence might happen while on the toilet thing. I am so freaked out about it. UGH. So, while all of you are sleeping the night of April 24th, I will be trying to hold my urine for as long as possible.
Another fun fact. Matt and I will be staying at Cupecoy Bay. That beach is apparently knows as the "Gay Men's Beach". Hahaha. Matt is not too excited about that. Good thing we will have a car and a lot of other beaches to chose from. We don't have any issues with people who chose that lifestyle, I just think Matt is a bit worried about getting hit on. I told him that if he is with me they will stay away. He cracks me up.
Clothing Optional. Well, this is a funny thing. I really don't want to see anyone's personals, but I love the fact that it is so French there. This is definitely a European thing and I am excited to expereince it (not participate of course). No one needs to see my personals!
And NO, Matt will not be getting a speedo or a thong for the trip. I am sure all the Gay men on the beach who are waiting to hit on him will be very disappointed. hahaha!

Blah

So, today I am feeling really Blah. I didn't sleep well (I was freezing last night) and I can't seem to get myself focused today. I am on the verge of falling asleep. I am getting work done today, but at a very slow pace. I guess it is a good thing there is nothing pressing and that many people are on vacaction still so the building is rather quiet.
Tomorrow is my birthday and Matt wanted to know if I wanted to go to dinner with friends and family. Of course I would love to see everyone, but I am so tired that even the thought of going out tomorrow night makes me that much more tired. Then he wanted to know where I wanted to go. I have a hard enough time choosing places to eat when I am awake and fully aware of my surroundings, ha! I chose Olive Garden. It has good food, but I'm not sure many like it. Oh well, my Birthday right? Right!
I am sure I will be feeling better tomorrow, but all I want to do right now is shut my office door, curl up on the floor and sleep. Do you think anyone would notice?
I have practice after work for two hours and then we have a basketball game that starts at 7:00. That means I won't be getting home until 9:00 or so tonight. The thought of the long evening makes me just that much more tired.

Blogging??

I've never done this blogging thingy, and I think this will probably be my one and only contribution to the "Jones Joint"
So anyways, I love the snow, but I found out that having a large back patio and having a foot of snow compounded with having two shithead dogs pooping on the snow makes for landmine city once all the snow melts. I can't believe they did that to my patio. All the hardwork I have put in on that thing. To have it get pooped on a thousand times. Shamefull!!! I will have to have Jennie take a picture of the patio. It is amazing how much comes out of two small dogs. Small dogs are lazy, they easily could have gone to the grass to do their business. I even made little trails for them with little culd-e-sacs for privacy throughout the backyard.
I have made my contribution to this blog. It will forever be changed. The contribution I have made is so mind blowing that all of you that read "Jones Joint" will be demanding more work from me. I hope I don't break anyone's hearts.

Christmas is coming

The snow has slowed down a bit (after giving us 11 inches). We are now getting the house ready for our guests for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We both have tomorrow off and plan on spending the day shopping, cooking and cleaning. Sounds like fun right? Matt's family will be arriving tomorrow around 3:00 and we have to have the entire thing ready to go. I am so excited for the ham and fixings. I love this time of year. Usually I make my homemade pasta and sauce, but I'm not sure I will do that this year. It is a lot of work and I should have already done it. We will see how I am feeling and how much time I have tomorrow.
I was just informed that my department is having a mini holiday party tomorrow morning at 10:00, so I have to get my gifts here and join in the festivities at that time. I plan on stopping by on my way to shopping for dinner. So much to do and so little time. We still don't have a gift for Matt's youngest brother Dan. I assume it will just be a cash donation to his "still young and trying to make it" fund!
I am working today and did I mention that I love working around the holidays? Hardly anyone is here, not much work gets done and people feel the need to cook and bake and bring to co-workers. One of my co-workers just brought a large spread of food in for everyone. I love people like that.
Matt and I took our nightly walk with Jackson through the neighborhood and came across a girl who had managed to get her car stuck in the snow trying to park in front of her mom's house. Matt had to dig the car out. He got his workout in for the day!! That looked like hard work. Jackson and I stood by and watched! ha. Matt was thanked by the mom with a plate of freshly baked cookies!
Matt and I have decided that the Grand Cayman is the place for us. We will be booking our trip the first part of January. I am so excited. I have thouroughly enjoyed the snow, but I can't wait for the warm sunshine and beautiful beaches.
Until next time!