Bits and Pieces

I have been a slacker blogger, which is fine because there are only like 5 people who ever read my blog.  But here are some random things I meant to blog about, but never did.

Wrestling:
Rocky participated in wrestling this past fall.  He was awesome.  I hated watching it the first 2-3 times, but then I got over it.  I was banned from video-taping as it seemed to make him lose.  Every match I didn't video tape he won.  His fastest pin was in 8 seconds - WOW! 
On his very last match he was in the third period and was down in points 12 - 2.  He had been on the bottom and struggling the whole match (I was video-taping it) and I just thought, "Ug!  He can't lose this one!"  I turned the camera off and looked down for a moment and when I looked back up, Rocky had his opponent flipped over on his back and pinned.  He won!  It was a great way to end the season!  Here are some pics:

Rocky and a couple of his wrestling buddies.

Ha!  Take that! 1..2..3..PINNED!

Some of the moms (missing a few).

Happy boys.

Lunch Bunch:

Every day Austin and lots of other guys invade someone's house for lunch.  I feed them every other Tuesday.  I feel bad for them when they eat at our house because I just throw something together.  They have had pizza here a couple times, a waffle bar, pancakes, sloppy joes, bread bowls with stew, and Arby's Roast Beef Sandwiches one time when I was really bad.  At Toshiko's house they get fabulous homemade japanese food and home cut and breaded french fries.  I'm not sure exactly what they are, but Austin raved about them.  Here are some of the guys playing games after eating about 100 pancakes.  (I got the camera out too late to take before photos.)

Chillin' after a fine lunch of pancakes and oranges.

Getting their "Halo" fix to get through the last couple hours of school.

The left overs of about 100 pancakes!

Thanksgiving:

Somewhere in the midst of the fall we had Thanksgiving.  This is the only picture I am posting of Thanksgiving.

Family:

These pictures were taken in Arizona while we were there for my dad's funeral.  It was a good time of healing and happy remembrances.  I enjoyed spending time with all those who were there to show their love and support, especially my siblings and their families.

My fine boys!

Em and Joe (the coolest aunt and uncle).

Me, Sally, Em, and Joe

Eating at the Firehouse Kitchen in Prescott, AZ.  Very fine food!

Rock and his cousins.

Outside the Firehouse Kitchen with the owner.

Em and Hannah (after Em cut Hannah's hair)

Gabe, Roland, and Jason waiting for the service to begin.

Sally and cousin, Jodi.

This was the sparse little desert cemetery where dad's body is buried.

Me and my siblings with Rosemary, dad's wife.

Hanging out at home:
We spent lots of fun hours enjoying each other's company.  Sometimes with friends, sometimes just with family.  These are my favorite times!

Austin, so tall and handsome!

Lulu, the dog.

This is just a wierd picture.

Playing x-box in the garage.

goofing off

Gotta love having friends over!

Taking a break from wrestling around.

Rocky was showing us some of his songs for band.

One of my all time favorite pictures!

Goodbye 09

Thank goodness it is over!  What a year!

Here is a quick recap of 2009 in the French household:

On December 30th, 2008 we returned to Idaho from Christmas in California.  I was then promptly laid off of my job along with over 200,000 other people.  It made finding a job very challenging.

Later in the month we headed to California in January for Grandma Steimle's 90th birthday party.

Cousins in California

The tunnel of cupcake candles for Grandma's 90th. 

Notice the shirts, "I am a descendant of LoRene Hawley Steimle"

February was a fun month with snowboarding and Scentsy.  I did my first expo, a motorcycle show with Carole,  see this post for more about that. 

Rocky putting on the snowboard gear up at Bogus.

A few of my friends from the motorcycle show.

March and April brought more Scentsy work and family time at home.

May brought spring time, finally, and the Hunter Ward Talent show.

A bird nest on our outdoor stereo speaker, look carefully, there are three baby birds in there.

Flowers on one of our 5 flowering trees.  Ahhh, springtime!

June brought the end of school, and the beginning of Kristen, Austin, and Rocky teaching swim lessons.  It was lots of fun!

July  and August started with a big Fourth of July swim party (read this post) and included Scout Camp, High Adventure, Hunter Ward Camp, Rocky's 13th b-day, Kristen's birthday, Scentsy convention, and Adventures for Youth Camp at BYUI.  busy month!  Kristen also took a long trip and did a Scentsy show in Priest Lake, ID.

Scentsy show in Priest Lake, hanging out at home in the summer (more here).

Hunter Ward Campout and Pier in Manhatten Beach, CA (more on my trip here).

In September I went to California for a couple big Scentsy shows.

Nancy and I in Santa Clara, CA.

October through November was Scentsy, Scentsy, Scentsy.  I went to Southern California twice, Canada, Nevada, and Colorado, all for Scentsy shows.   Through this intense effort I earned a promotion in Scentsy to Director.  I also had a fun "witches party" just before halloween (read more here).

In the midst of all the chaos of 3 shows from California to Canada, I got divorced and then my dad died on Thanksgiving morning (read more about the divorce here, and about my dad here and here).

In December I took a break from all the Scentsy shows and traveling.  I stayed at home a lot and tried to recover from a challenging few months.  Christmas was nice, quiet, and peaceful.

After Christmas we took a short trip to SLC.  We got to meet Austin's girlfriend, Courtney.  She is a cute girl.  We spent the day at the mall with her and saw a movie.  The next day Austin, Rocky, and myself went bowling and then met Courtney and her family for dinner and a trip to temple square to see the lights.

Austin and Courtney                                                       Austin bowling

At the arcade and at temple square.

So this brings me to the end of 2009, happily!  I look forward to 2010 and hope that it brings lots of success, happiness, peace, and laughter with it, for all of us!