Blog? What Blog? Ohhh this one

Really? October 15th? The last time I blogged was October 15th? So yeah, I'm feeling a little guilty. Guilty that all of these precious memories are passing by and someday they will be all but a piece of sand. A memory forgotten. Guilty that I have family that I KNOW would like to have more of a glimpse in to our lives than a silly one liner Facebook status update. So I'm here. I've been here along, really, I have. I blog in my head regularly, but this time it's real, I'm taking the initiative to just DO IT! So much is going on in our lives, so many wonderful things and I long to recount them all. Here is my attempt.

Volleyball, Baseball, Dogs, Pudge, jobs, job possibilities, photography, friends, high school, teenage stress, working from home, not working from home, excercise, home improvement, visiting family....and the list goes on. This is what happens when you fail to document your many precious days and all that your decisions entail.

So today. All I can do is start with the now. But before the now, I have to mention Alex's last baseball game. He hit two home runs on Thursday and coach gave him the game ball, which is a huge deal in an 8 year olds world. HUGE. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to see it. I was home getting our house in order for Andy's family to come stay. And that's ok, it happens.

Yesterday we got home from the big kahuna of volleyball tournaments. The last tournament of the season for Ashley. This is the tournament that we've been getting ready for since December. We (Ashley, Alex and I) left town Friday morning for Dallas. Both kiddos missed school with the excuse that we finally had the opportunity to visit David, Cara and Cousin Keller for the first time in WAY TO LONG. It was a very long exciting, exhausting weekend. A tournament that we will never forget. Over three days, Ashley's team played a total of 27 games. Far more than our entire club volleyball season games combined. It was incredible. The Dallas Convention Center was amazing. I have never seen so many volleyball courts in one place in all of my life. There were around 100 courts all on one floor of the convention center. It's hard to even imagine.
It was a rough first 2 days. We lost several games, won a several games, but could never really get ahead. By Sunday, we had no high hopes...until coach informed the girls that even though we'd lost several games, our combined winnings had us sitting pretty. The first match on Sunday would either send us to the semifinals, or send us home. That's all the girls needed to hear. They kicked it in to over drive and proceeded to knock the tiny shorts off of that team, AND the next team. Which put us in the Championship game. Here we were after feeling so defeated the past 2 days, despite our hard work, and we find out we're in THE championship game. We were all in shock, really. They kept up their high energy game won the first game (best 2 out of 3). The next game was almost identical to the first, we were neck and neck, point for point the entire game, but the other team ended up pulling it off and winning. We were down to the third and final game. Winner takes all. It was a repeat of games one and two. We were rarely ever more than a point or two away from the other team. When we switched sides we were down by three. Unlike most times when they were behind, they pulled together and found the energy to kick some serious bootay and in the end they did it. They played like animals! It was the best game I've ever seen them play. They won first place and there wasn't a dry eye on our side of the court. It was amazing. I took over 300 pictures this weekend and at some point I'll find the energy to actually edit and post them. I'm still trying to recover from such a full weekend. And that's me...the one who was on the side lines. I can't even imagine what Ashley feels like. 27 games! REALLY! Youth is amazing, it really is.

So there you have it, my first update since October. I have so much more to say, but I will have to save it all for another post. Life is good. These are the days to hold on to.

Promises, promises

Yeah, it's been a month, what can I say.

Life has been full speed ahead the past few weeks. With basketball, football and work, it's difficult to find the time for the MANY things I want to do.

I just celebrated my 32nd birthday, which was wonderful. I have such an amazing family, and network of friends. My friend Jess was in town from Washington for a few days and I am so thankful I was able to spend some time with her. We had dinner with a group of friends that I really don't see often enough, and the following day (my birthday) she came out to the house with her son Nicholas. They brought me the most beautiful roses in pink, red, orange and yellow. Probably the most beautiful roses I've ever received. The kiddos did some swimming while Jess and I did as much catching up as humanly possible in what little time we had, but I enjoyed our time none the less. Being with friends that night before REALLY made me realize how important it is to have friendships. I really don't take enough time for my friends. Truthfully, I don't take ANY time. I'm working on it.

Alex had his end of season playoffs for football this morning. No superbowl win this season, but they made major improvements throughout the season. We are not contemplating tackle football. I'm not sure he's ready for that, despite how insistent he is about it. We'll see what happens, and possibly consider it. This summer I signed him up for a swim team in town. He'll be practicing four days a week, and meets most Saturdays. I know he will do well. This boy has been a fish since he was tiny, and now that we have the pool, all he wants to do is race. I've timed him from one end of the pool to the other probably 50 times already this season and it's only just begun. I'm anxious to see him compete!

Last night Mark bought us a new movie camera. I am SO EXCITED! No more tapes! This thing is the size of my palm and super easy to use. I recorded some footage of Alex's football games this morning, but have yet to download them and check out the quality. I guess that's my next project. Now I have to figure out how to take pictures AND video without growing extra limbs.

I'll post video as soon as I can!

And suddenly it's December

Wow, it's been so long since I've blogged, it's hard to know where to begin! About two months ago my hard drive crashed, FINALLY, I'm back up and running and have so much to blog about. I really need to get back to blogging more often, aside from family and friends being out of the loop, I MISS IT!

So, I guess in order to get caught up, I should just run down the list of things going on in the Urben household. For starters, YES, the pool is complete, and has been for quite some time, however, we are STILL waiting on the right retaining wall blocks to be delivered. Meanwhile, the wrong blocks are still taking up a large portion of the driveway. A few weekends ago, Mark and I sodded the backyard, and nearly killed ourselves doing so. Let me just say, that is something I will NEVER do again. We worked for over ten hours straight taking no more than 15 minutes here and there for breaks. It took me days to recover...just another reminder that I am completely out of shape. But hey, the grass looks fantastic. We decided to go with Jamur Zoysia, a drought tolerant, traffic tolerant and slow growing gorgeous turf that should save us a whole heck of a lot of time and money in the long run.
We also decided to rock the back stretch of yard in lieu of trying to keep sod alive. During heavy rainstorms we have a full on flowing river that runs the back four or so feet of the yard. We decided to just let it do its thing and now it can run freely through the rocks without tearing up our yard, or creating a mud hole for the dogs to play in. We used about 10-12 truck loads of 2-3 inch rock which equates to about 10-12 tons. Another project we're so thankful to be done with!

I'm not sure what I've updated about the kids, so if I repeat myself, forgive me.

Ashley was on the A team for Volleyball and finished her season a couple of weeks ago. She had such a blast playing for the team, and now can't decide which sport she loves most, basketball or volleyball. Basketball tryouts were last week and we are so proud of our girl for once again, making the A team! Her first game is tonight and I am really looking forward to it.
Along with basketball practice every morning at 7:15, she's also doing training with Magic Volleyball, a club out of Round Rock that practices 4 hours each week. She has already made soooo much progress with this group, I can't imagine all that she'll learn between now and April.
As for school, she's doing SUPER. 7th grade is typically a tough year for kids, but so far that hasn't phased her a bit. On her first report card she had all A's and two B's (an 88 and 89). While this is her first time to not make honor roll, I'm so so proud of her holding it all together so well with sports, friends and boyfriends (ugh, yes, I said boyfriends).

As for Mr. Alex, he just finished his NFL flag football season and his team ended up with the Super Bowl win. He's so proud of his trophy, he seriously didn't put it down for an entire day. He loves riding his new bike that we bought him for his birthday and spends a lot of time playing wii and his Tony Hawk X Box game. He's doing well in school, no problems to speak of. Now that football is over he's itching to try something new. He's mentioned BMX and Boy Scouts, both of which I have no clue about. I've tried looking in to BMX, but I'm not sure I get it. It seems that you just show up to the track, practice and then jump in on races? If anyone knows anything about this HELP!

Mark is still at Apple...thank goodness! I think he's meshed well with the Apple crowd and is enjoying himself as much as one possibly can going to work each day.

He's still hosting poker every other Thursday with the same group of guys. They are still having a blast pretending they're not old farts for one night every two weeks.
He's also still working out regularly and looks and feels better than he has in his entire life. His dedication to his health and fitness such and inspiration to me. And I must say, I'm certain that I have the best looking husband ever.

Ahhh, that feels better even if it is only a half ass update. Now at least I can start fresh update as things come up without feeling like I can't because it's been so long!
At some point I need to upload pictures...maybe I'll find some time this weekend.

Nationals...and other juice

Ashley and I made our way to Navasota, TX last Tuesday, along with 11 other teammates and numerous parents to watch our 6th graders play in the Dribblers National Tournament. We fully expected it to be a two day trip considering the talent pool that the tournament brings in, however, two days turned in to four, and four days in to a second place finish.

It was an excited four days that I'm sure the girls will talk about for most of their lives. The opportunity to play the in the Championship game is a rare one, and for Georgetown, it was a first. It was so, so exciting to be a part of.

I took about a thousand pictures that I will post as soon as I can. I'm still working on the photos from Tiesa's wedding that Mollie and I shot last weekend. I have SO much to do. This was my first time to use my new camera and lens for Basketball, and I'm anxious to see the improvements!

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In other news...you know what they say about an Apple a day...well, for us, it will be keeping more than the doctor away, it will be keeping the bill collectors, psychiatrists and marriage counselors away. After 4 1/2 months of unemployment, Mark is on his way to becoming an Apple employee. We are all so relieved, excited, anxious and thankful that the wait is over.
They're running background checks and going through all the standard procedures right now, but barring any unforseen circumstances, he's in! I feel like I took a deep breath months ago and forgot to let it go. Finally, we can all exhale knowing that everything is going to be just fine.

She did it AGAIN

Holy cow, I really didn't expect that she would make BOTH theams, but she did! Not only will she be on the Club team, she will also be on the League All Star Team!!! There were at least 25 girls that tried out for the All Star team and Ashley was one of 12 to make it!!! She doesn't know yet, I can't wait for her to get home so I can tell her!!

She did it!!!!

We just found out this afternoon that Ashley made the select team!!!! I can't even begin to describe how excited we all are...especially the Ash herself. I'll update when I know more, but for now all I know is that this is a club team that travels to different tournaments in central-ish Texas. I'm so EXCITED!!!!!!

Snippet from their website:

Home to Georgetown, FURY Basketball is a non-Profit 501(c)3 Basketball Club. Our mission is to complement school programs by providing student athletes an affordable off-season competitive program designed to enhance and further their basketball careers. Check out the growing list of FURY Alumni who have taken their games to the college level.

FURY Basketball is able to offer players and parents an outstanding value in competitive club ball through the generosity of our sponsors, coaches and volunteers, as well as the club's extensive fundraising activities including annually hosting the FURY Invitational and FURY Golf Classic.

History
FURY started in 1999 as a single 13U team, earning their first trip to AAU Nationals in 2001.

2004 was a banner year as the 17U team advanced to the Sweet 16 at AAU Nationals in Orlando and Lindsay Fields, the first FURY player to graduate from the program, earned a D1 scholarship to play for the University of Missouri at Kansas City. The fall of 2004 also marked the creation of the FURY Basketball Club as it operates today, a program that has grown to a projected 16-teams ranging in age from 10U thru Varsity High School. Check out our prior years' results.

Basketball weekend

Wow, what an amazing weekend this was for the Ash. Their team finished the season in first place and had their end of season tournament this weekend. The Championship game was Sunday where so many wonderful friends and families crammed the bleachers to cheer on their amazing girls. We were honered to have our own little cheering section for Miss Ash...Ashley's best friend Kelly, and her dad Brian were there, along with our good friends and neighbors Peg and Dan, and of course Grams and Pops. The game was INTENSE, to say the least. Our girls played their hearts out and lead the game up until the last quarter, when in the last few minutes their opponents pulled ahead by 2. The last few minutes were loud and intense, exactly the way it should have been. Unfortunately, we weren't able to come back, and ended up loosing by 2 points, to place 2nd in the tournament. I have to say, this has been the best basketball season yet, and that's due to the amazing coaches and incredible group of girls we were so fortunate to have. We were so, so lucky to have been a part of such an amazing group of girls. They developed a very close bond, and we're all sad to see the season come to an end. Most of the girls on our team (including Ashley) will be trying out for All Stars, as well as a select team, so we're hoping they'll be able to stick together a little while longer.

Thanks to all of our wonderful friends for coming out to the game, your support means so much to us. We'll keep you updated on how the tryouts go.