Lewis Scuttlebutt

I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas. We all had a great day. Opened presents and spent the day with family. Here are a few pictures of us opening presents. Mia was excited to get her new dog (the brown one), but she's not ready to give up zee-zee (the zebra from last year). She had to take a nap on both of them. She couldn't take a chance that they might disappear.

Since this is the time of year that we should be thinking about all the wonderful blessings that god has given us, I would like to take a moment to share a web site that I heard about on the radio and checked it out. It's called "Lets say Thanks". It is sponsored by Xerox and it is a website that you can go to and select a thank you card that you can send to someone in our Armed forces that is in a strange hostile country fighting to protect what we all take for granted every day --Our Freedom. It only take a few second to select your card and your thank you message. They will send to card to someone. I feel very fortunate that I don't have any family members away fight for our freedom, but I truely appreciate all of the soldiers and their families that are willing to put their life on the line so that I can enjoy my life. I hope everyone that reads this will that the few minute to to click your mouse and let someone in our armed forces know that we love and appreciat

Here is the basketball update for the last week. Last Saturday we played Skyview at home. It was a tough game and the girls did not play very well. We ended up losing 50-55. Tori didn't get to play in the game at all. She was broken hearted about it, but she went out to practice on Monday and busted her butt. So on Tuesday we played Borah. It started out tough, but Tori got put in in about the middle of the second quarter and play very well. She was able to play in the third and fourth quarter also. We ended up winning 45-22. Tori scored 4 points. She was on cloud 9. Tonight we played Caldwell and it ended ugly for the other team 48 -7. Tori played in all 4 quarters, had two steals and 2 lay ups. Here are some highlight pictures and I have updated all the pictures to my photo journal. Link is on the list side bar.

Disappointments are a part of life. They come in all shapes and sizes and can occur at all ages. I have discovered that it is a whole lot easier dealing with my own disappointments than it is dealing with my children's. Words are just so inadequate. You know as they come out of your mouth that they really are meaningless but you say them anyway. Since we are older we also know that their disappointments are really just a small blimp in the radar when it comes to the whole big picture. But we have to walk a very fine line with giving it the attention that it deserves because we don't want to demean what they are going through. I have found that this has been the hardest part of being a mother. I would rather cut out my own heart than to see my children feel pain (physical or emotional).

Last night was the first basketball game, but since Tori went to Walla Walla she was one practice short to be eligible to play last night. Unfortunately for her, too. It would have been a game that she might have gotten some playing time. They played Emmett in Emmett and the final score was 60-15 (and they ran the last quarter straight through). Next Saturday we will play Skyview at home at 7:30pm. She will be able to play, how much she gets to play, well... who knows. Here is the conference schedule, all games are at 7:30 (bold are home games): 11/25 @ Borah 11/28 Caldwell 12/2 @ Capital 12/4 Centennial 12/6 @ Rocky Mtn 12/10 @ Eagle 12/12 @ Mtn View 12/17 @ Timberline 12/19 Vallivue 1/2 Capital 1/6 Borah 1/8 @ Caldwell 1/16 @ Centennial 1/17 Eagle 1/22 @ Meridian 1/24 Mtn View 1/27 Rocky Mtn 1/29 Timberline

I decided to set up a photo journal so that I have somewhere to put and share all my pictures. I have added all of Tori's soccer pictures and the pictures that I took of Hunter and Carson. If you click on the pictures or the album it will take you to a larger view. I'm know that I will probably drive you all crazy with them, but......oh well. Isn't that what is for??? Here is the link: http://mitzpicz.shutterfly.com I decided to switch from smugmug to shutterfly because it's free. :) Give me your feed back.

Last Saturday I made to to Carson's last soccer game to take some pictures. Here are the cute pictures of him. We can't forget cute little Adie....................

Well, we're on to the next season with barely a break. Season's around our house are identified by what sport is next... Basketball ~!~! Tori made varsity basketball this week. The first game is a 1 1/2 weeks away. She might not get to play in the first game because she won't have all her practices in since her and Justine are off to visit Walla Walla Community College tomorrow to visit the school and practice with their team. They are looking at her to come play for them next year. Surprisingly she is very excited about the possibility. I hope it goes well for her. I personally am a nervous wreck about them driving up there. I keep telling myself that she is going to be going away to college next year and I need to get use to it. I also keep reminding myself that I was younger than Tori when I left home. I really know how my folks must have felt with all the turmoil that I caused them. God bless them. I love them both for putting up with me. I'm sure that they will be

Tori has decided to let me take her Senior pictures, so we went to the train depot and Kathryn Albertsons park today to take pictures. We weren't the only ones. There were tons of people out getting their pictures taken. Tori's new boyfriend Pat went with us. I told him his job was to help her poise. I was able to get a couple of pictures of them together. Out of all of her boyfriends, this one seems to be the nicest. He seems to be more considerate of her than any of the others.

Soccer is all over.... Yippee..... We finished in Third place, beat Centennial 4-1. To sum up the season, we were District Champs, we were first in Academics (highest team GPA in the state), took 1st in fan sportsmanship, and Miah Mollay was District player of the year. So other than not winning State we took all the other honors. Way to go Braves. Way to go Tori.

The fourth time was not a charm for us. Unfortunately it was for them. After a hard fought 90 min (2-40 minute halves, 2-10 minute over times) we lost in a shoot out 5-3. It was very sad. Tori play a great second half. Not that she did play go good 1st half, she just didn't get to play in the first half. Since we have a idiot for coach, Tori swears that he forget how good she is. Once she gets in she usually gets to stay in. This loss if all on the Coach, he did not have his best shooter in the shoot out. So we now play Centennial tomorrow at 11:45 at Meridian for 3rd and 4th place. Tori is pretty upset.........

Boise beats Twin Falls 4-0 today. They did a good job getting it done today.... We advance to tomorrow and we will have a tough game. We get to beat Capital for the 4th time. The first time we beat them 3-2, second time 2-1, third time was in a shoot out 4-3. Hopefully we will show up to play tomorrow and get it done. Game time is 11:45 at Meridian, come if you can Tori would love to have you there to cheer her on.

The State tournamemt schedule is out. We play Twin Falls on Thursday 10/23 at 11:45 am at Meridian High school. I know it's in the middle of the day but I'm sure Tori would appreciate any support that she can get. If they win they play on Friday at 11:45 am at Meridian. I'll post the Friday schedule Thursday afternoon after the game. Go Braves.....

WE WON DISTRICT.............. We're off to State. Wow, it has been quite the week.... Last Saturday (in the freezing cold) we battled Meridian High winning 2-1 in the 2nd Overtime period. Then we turned around and had to play Capital on Monday night. WOW what a game, we ended up winning 4-3 in a shoot out. Guess what, Tori made the 4th goal in the shoot out. I think this is the first time she has been a kicker in a shoot out. I was soooooo nervous I could hardly watch. Tonight we took the championship away from Mountain View with a 2-1 win. Tori play 3/4 of the game as outside defensive back and did a great job of shutting out their offense. They scored their only goal when she wasn't in the game. She played great. I'm so proud of her. GO Braves...... State is in Meridian, so it's close to home. Starts next Thursday. I believe Tori's game will be at 11:45 at Meridian High School.

I know that some of you are probably wondering why the only person I talk about is Tori. You're probably saying to yourself, "Doesn't she have a son???". So I thought I would take a minute just to let you know a little bit about my amazing son - Alex. Alex is camera shy, so I have to work very hard or be very sneaky to get any pictures of him. I forced him to take this picture with his birthday cake in July. ALEX... ....is a Sophomore at Timberline this year and doing quite well. He seems to be enjoying his classes this year, even PE. ....is very much into online computer games and video games ....is not into competitive sports of any kind. He has tried soccer, basketball, little league but just doesn't have that competitive edge. Likes to play for fun only. ....likes to play ultimate Frisbee at lunch with his friends ....has an amazing personality, but you really have to get to know him to see it. ....is allergic to cats and dogs, which we have both, but he likes

SENIOR NIGHT We had two very important (and tough) games this week. We needed to win them both to end up high in the standings. Monday's game, Senior night, was against Capital, Tori played outside back defender the whole first half. Then he moved her to outside midfielder for the second half. Boise won to win 3-1. Wednesday was again Centennial at Centennial. We started pretty flat and they scored first. Tori went in about half way through the first half as a outside midfielder. She SCORED with about 2 minutes left in the first half. It was a beauty...... We were able to come out in the second half and score again. Tori played really well in both games. Then we just held on tight and pulled out the win. We are going into the District Tourney as #2 seed. We play Saturday 10/11 at Centennial High School at 11:00. Come cheer her on..............

Well, we played Borah on Monday and our centerback fouled in the box as the last defender which is an automatic red card in the first 10 minutes. They got a PK and we had to play the rest of the game down one player. Our forwards could not find the back of the net, therefore we now have our first lost of 0-1. Wednesday we played Caldwell and won that game 5-0. No surprise there. Currently we are tied for 3rd with Timberline, Mtn View is 1st and Capital is 2nd. We play Capital on Monday and Centennial on Wednesday. Two tough games that we need to win. Here are some Borah highlights. Tori is in white #16, Justin is green #18 Now for some highlights from the Caldwell game.

Today Tori and I ran up to Simplot to watch Hunter play soccer. It was really fun to watch the younger kids play again. Hunter is #2 in Black. Look at the size of this boy compared to Hunter. Somebody check his birth certificate. I love the look on his face...........

It was a easy week for Soccer. We only had one game. We played Vallivue and won 9-0. Nothing very exciting happened. We start next week re-playing the 4 teams that we played in the beginning, this time the score counts for the district standings. We play Borah at home (Willow Lane) at 6:00pm. Come out and watch Tori and Justine play each other.

Boise High's Homecoming dance was tonight. Tori's date flaked out on her this week (which is another story in it's self, which I'll tell as soon as I know the ending) too late to try to find another one, but she decided to go any way. Good for her..... She went with her friend Kristin and her boyfriend Davis. Kristin and Tori got ready at our house. I made dinner for the three of them, then took pictures. She looked so cute. I just can't believe that this is her last year of school. Hopefully she has lots of fun tonight.

Ummmmm....... WALK (in the pouring rain, oh, and lightening) or go to BREAKFAST.. Hum let me think..... I think this is a no brainer..... Salena, Shawna, Sharlene, Jessie, Tori and I were all signed up, dressed up umbrella'd up and ready to walk in the Women's Fitness Celebration today. But the weather didn't want to cooperate. It was a down pour but worst than the rain was the lightening strikes. We met a McU's, but it took us about 5 minutes to decide to skip the walk and go straight to breakfast. Here we are recovering from our strenuous walk................

This week we played Rocky Mountain on Monday. This is the new high school in Meridian. It was a pretty easy game. We were up 5-0 at half time and end up winning 6-2. Tori played 3/4 of the game. It did get to be a very physical game and one of our girls, got taken out. She is probably out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. T's comment about this next picture is "Dang, my hair looks so good, I should have been sitting on the bench". This has been a joke around our house this fall. The coach is very hard to predict, so she has been expecting to spend a lot of time on the bench. So she says, "If I'm going to be sitting on the bench, I'm going to be lookin' good"...... Our game on Thursday was against our biggest rivalry school --- Timberline.... This is another one of those teams that has a lot of the girls from the club team, so it gets to be pretty personal. They scored first on a marginal call. Our Keeper Hannah had the ball but the line