A Visitor

Over the weekend, John's good friend, and his assistant lacrosse coach for the University of New Mexico, came for a visit and dinner. I served crabcakes with green chile aioli sauce, along with dirty rice and a salad. We enjoyed his visit very much, since he has temporarily moved to NC with his wife and wants to move back to New Mexico in the future. We hope it is sooner and later!

Lacrosse Camp Buddies

I finally got some photos developed that I had taken with a disposable camera over the summer because I had forgotten to bring my camera....I know, how weird of me! hehe

Michael, who is not only the organizer and head coach of the Summer Lacrosse Sports Camp in Albuquerque, is also one of John's University of New Mexico Lacrosse players, too.
Jackson thinks he's pretty cool and considers him a friend.
Jeff is one of John's best friends, who used to coach UNM Lacrosse right beside him, but had moved away last year with his wife to North Carolina. John was pretty upset about his friend moving so far away, but happy that it was only a 2 yr temporary move. Jeff flew back to NM just to assist in coaching the summer lacrosse camp. John and Jackson could not have been any happier!

Baseball, Lacrosse, Pool/Birthday Party, House....

Besides all of the regular busy-ness of our lives that prevent me from regularly logging into this Blog, we've been extra busy this week with Jackson & Jeremiah's baseball games and practices. They have a game on Saturday, followed by a pool/birthday party at their friend's house in Rio Rancho.

And John is coaching lacrosse at UNM on Saturday afternoon. And then we are hoping to get ourselves packed up and head north to go camping with our friends, Karen and Sharon and their families.
We've got to be back Sunday night, so we can attend our new houses' inspection in the East Mountains. We are praying that it's an uneventful inspection, after the nightmare of the previous home we placed an offer on, too!

But we are all a little bit bummed to be missing the Golden Letterboxing Gathering in Golden, CO this weekend. We were so looking forward to camping and letterboxing with fellow letterboxers in Colorado.
The next close-enough letterboxing gathering is being held in Santa Fe in October and called the "Spooktacular"! We are excited about participating, along with our friend's Karen and Al and their kids.

Coaching below Mountains

I took some photos of John preparing for the afternoon lacrosse session. One of his favorite things about coaching at BYU in Provo, Utah are the constant majestic views of the huge mountains.

John took these next two photos of these breathtaking mountains that tower over Provo.

Jax Lax!

Jackson is attending a Lacrosse Sports Camp this week in Albuquerque, hosted by one of John's lacrosse players, Michael Mooney. Jackson went to last year's lacrosse camp, too and had a great time. He has been really excited about this year's camp.

It is all week, and all day. In the hot New Mexico sun. They are having a blast!

John took this picture. He gets a kick out of laying out Jackson's lacrosse gear the night before.
Jeremiah, Jenna and I stayed home, so all the photos following were taken by either Jackson or John. John, feeling the heat. Notice he's proudly wearing his UNM Lacrosse Head Coach shirt, too.
Jax: A Self-Portrait.
Jackson loves his helmet, so he took a photo of it!
He is SOOOO excited about his new Defensive Lax stick! And he is doing awesome with it, too!
Posing with hs brand new stick! VERY happy boy!
Some of the lacrosse camp attendees, volunteers and coaches. John is also helping to coach the kids, too. Jackson is loving that he gets to do lacrosse with his Daddy.
Another happy Jax Lax pose!
Covered in mud, he was having a blast!
A couple of Coach Mooney's friends, two UNM girls showed up with coolers of Red Bull. Jackson was smitten...not just with the Red Bull either. He thought these girls were very cute! (He even blushed telling me about them.) Gosh! My little boy is not so little anymore! So, he decided to take their picture.
He even took several photos of the girls as they walked away!
He's been making some new friends, getting tons of outside exercise (goes to sleep as soon as it's dark outside), honing his lacrosse skills, and growing up to be an amazingly handsome young man. I'm SO proud of my Jackson. He is such a wonderful young person. I'm so blessed that he's my son.

Hey Mickey!

While in Tucson we stopped in for a visit with one of John's good Lacrosse buddies, Mickey Miles. Mickey has been the Head Lacrosse Coach at University of Arizona for many years. He's also an amazing artist and interesting person. Hard to believe that he's 62 years old, but he has a super way with children, and our kids were pretty enamored of him. It was great to spend some time visiting, too.
Mickey's house is full of all sorts of 'conversation starter' items, but most of all, it's his creatively beautiful art that stands out. Even the stucco walls around his pool are covered with handsome murals (including lacrosse accents, of course!)

After our visit, John drove to the airport to fly back to ABQ, and the kids and I went to look for the "5 Minutes of my Life" letterbox. We were the First Finders, but the letterbox placers are sort of new and didn't leave a certificate with their new box. But it was still a fun find on the way back to Benson.

Jackson with Mickey in front of an amazing animated, rocking, iron horse art piece.

Jenna in front of a Native American lacrosse warrior panel designed piece.
Even Mickey's bathroom has some interesting stuff in it! Check out the cool 'rock' soap!
An amazing 3-D wall art that Mickey created.(There are a number of these around his house, too)
This one he created with a competitive lacrosse game 'western' theme. Fun!
Mickey and John standing beside another piece of interesting southwestern-themed lacrosse art: Kokopelli Lacrosse Dude!

UNM ~VS~ UVS

This past weekend John's UNM Lacrosse team hosted a home game against Utah Valley State University, ranked #5 in the entire nation. The Lobos played a great game, but still...as John likes to say, "They scored a lot...and we scored a little". hehehe

Coach John out on the field with his team.



Some of the UNM Lax Lobos! John and his assistant coach designed the uniforms
and helmets of the players. Don't they look great?!

UNM Lobos Lacrosse

We had a busy Spring with Lacrosse. John is the Head Coach of the University of New Mexico Lacrosse team, a position he volunteered for more than 13 years ago when we first moved to New Mexico. John actually helped start up the team at UNM back then.
Additionally, John has played Lacrosse most of his life in High School and in College. And he has coached since we've been married...going on 17 years now.
Jackson seems to be following in his Daddy's footsteps, too. Sadly, Jeremiah lost his love of lacrosse due to the March 14,2005 accident, though, and he is quite bitter about it and the way that our family was treated by his Daddy's former university afterwards. But I digress.

John is enjoying his involvement with the UNM Lobos Lax team this year, and he also has some wonderful support from an assistant coach and the team captains. The team has already played several good games with some very competitive teams.

Jax, ever the technical engineer, helped put together and set up the lacrosse goals.



John standing on the sidelines coaching the UNM team.

UNM played UCCS 'University of Colorado, Colorado Springs'


Ever since John's TBI caused by the March 14, 2005 accident and John's subsequent brain surgery, he still has a very difficult time keeping track of details and anything that requires his short term memory. So, he uses lots of notes and a mini- tape recorder, as well as the support from his assistant coach and players.

Jackson took this unique photo. He wanted to portray the heat of the day and the tiredness of the players. I'm pretty impressed with his view and portrayal of the subject matter.

Durango, Colorado Lacrosse Trip

We finally got the disposable cameras processed. These pictures are from the trip that John and Jackson took up to Durango last month. The University of New Mexico Lacrosse team played a scrimmage game against Ft. Louis and John helped coach that game. Before the game, Jackson participated in the Durango Lacrosse Clinic held on the same fields.
The Visitor Center was close to the fields so they stopped in for a visit.
This train engine was right beside the lacrosse fields
Some striking looking cliffs backdropped the lacrosse fields.
Some landscapes Jackson was impressed with and took some pics of as they drove by.
They came upon a 'ghost town' with some interesting looking buildings and decided to explore.
John and Jackson wanted to know what was inside this barn. They say it was quite spooky here.
Some more pretty vistas Jackson took photos of.
A Huge happy smile from the "Jacksonator"
Fort Louis and UNM doing a 'face-off'
The scrimmage game
Jackson (in the blue pants) attending the Lacrosse Clinic
Jackson blocking an attack. He is cradling the lax ball in his stick.
Lax Victory Salute!