Nothing to blog about..

Well, ok, I had a birthday and we had Thanksgiving and Tatiana was here for my birthday and Thanksgiving. But because I had no camera until the friday after Thanksgiving, (many thanks to the wonderful Target sale) I have no pictures of said activities. Pictures do exist but they are on my Mom's camera and Tatiana's camera. Good luck with ever getting any of those pictures.

I do have a new camera, which is something to celebrate. I will be posting more pictures and video than anybody ever wants to see from this point on.

Wrestling season is officially here. I loose all resemblance of myself and my home. I will be gone more than I ever should be from my house. We will eat dinner in the car, the kids will change in the car. Wrestling shoes, knee pads and head gear will live and breath in my car.

Sunday it all begins................

My world traveler!

I've never been out of the country except for Mexico and only on an airplane 3Xs. Tatiana is lucky to have been to:
3 different cities in Mexico
Canada 2X
Germany
Austria
Portugal
Beijing, China 2X
Istanbul, Turkey
Tokoyo, Japan

What a lucky little girl. I think of all those places I would have wanted to go to Austria or maybe Japan, or maybe Turkey. LOL! I guess I can't decide. What a blessing wrestling has been in our lives.

Elizabeth this post is for you!

Tatiana is at Lindenwood University in Missouri on an athletic scholarship. She's been gone since August and was gone nearly the entire summer practicing for and competing in the Junior Worlds in Turkey. She was also fortunate enough to grab a spot on the senior world championship team that competed in Tokoyo, Japan in the beginning of Oct.

http://www.lindenwood.edu/athletics/wrestling_w/2008_09wwrestling.pdf

Women's Wrestling Picks Up First Victories In Program History
Oct. 25, 2008- The Lindenwood women’s wrestling team picked up its first two wins in program history on Saturday. The Lady Lions defeated Wisconsin-River Falls by a 39-4 score and Missouri Baptist by a 25-7 margin. Cynthia Zamora had the lone pin for Lindenwood in the two matches. Tatiana Padilla, who finished third at the recent World Championships, made her Lindenwood debut and collected a 6-0, 8-3 victory in her lone match. The team will have a home intrasquad scrimmage this Wednesday at the Hyland Performance Arena.

Link to my Halloween scrapblog

http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=984027

I miss my daughter!!! Boo Hoo!

I miss Tatiana so much. I miss her more each day. I can't think about her without tearing up. So I tear up like 50 times a day. I miss her quirky attitude, the silly things she says and does. I miss driving her to school in the morning and telling her to take her feet off the dash board on the drive home each night. I miss her smelly knee pads and wrestling shoes. I miss awatching her in amazement as she wrestles or works out. I miss her beautiful smile and her angry scowl. I'm glad she's where she's at but I am selfish and I want her back.

My brother is now a married man and the walk for hope!

Friday was my brother's wedding. He looked handsome. His new wife Claudia looked beautiful. They got married in a little chappel in Upland and had the reception at a restaurant in South Pasadena. Cute little restaurant, nice, small intimate reception. I'm sure that is all that my brother could handle. I am a little sad that myself and my children weren't more included but hey, I guess I'm just as responsible for that.
I saw some of my cousins, I wish more of them could have come. I miss them and just being around them. Pictures to follow.

We walked in the "walk for hope" with Julia's brownie troop and her leader again this year. I decided to bring Ricky this year. I want him to understand that women are important and that he should make small sacrafices for them. It fills my heart to be able to do the little that I can to fight that horrible disease. Our little "team" raised more than $1300 in hopes of a cure.

Man, I hope he keeps his promise..

Our life as we know it depends on it...

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there," - Barack Obama, Nov.4, 2008

"Yes, we can!!!"

Halloween Pics after the fact....

I really just wanted to post the rest of the Halloween pics.

We went trick or treating with my friends and their children and some of thier friends and children. I'm pretty sure fun was had by all. The kids got way too much candy. There was one really scary house with lots of stuff to see. There was fog, chainsaws and assorted body parts hanging.

After trick or treating we went and hung out at another friend's house and checked out the haunted maze they had set up in their driveway/garage. SCARY!!!

Vote!

Just wanted to say that you should Vote. LOL! Like me saying that on my little blog that nobody reads is going to make a big difference. But, if you should happen to run into my blog and you haven't voted yet, you should.

Oak Mesa does Disney!!!

I love Oak Mesa and I love that my two youngest children got the chance to get their primary education at Oak Mesa. It's a totally awesome school. The education is top notch and the children and parents are wonderful. Not to mention their brand new state of the art science lab.

During the fall I love driving up there to drop the kids off. It's so beautiful all nestled in the foothills. The trees that line the school and park are so beautiful in the fall. The mix of orange, red, yellow and green is a special treat with a hit of sun peaking over the horizon and a bit of dew on the grass..

This morning when I drove to drop Julia off I was surprised that all the wonderful PTA volunteers had the school so wonderfully decorated. The red carpet with the balloon arch and all the wonderful Disney characters just made Halloween a special treat for the kids. The entire staff were all dressed as Mouscateers, with mouse ears and everything, too cute!!

Oct 19 - Oct 21 - Remembering Caroline!

Caroline was my very first niece. After 41 hours of prayer and hope, GOD decided that she was too special for earth and took her home. We only know her sweet spirit, sending us butterflies and ladybugs to show us she is watching over us. I imagine her chasing ladybugs in heaven, enjoying GODS grace and bouncing on her grandfather's lap. I can't wait to meet her again. We love you and miss you sweet Caroline! Happy 3rd Birthday!

I LOVE THE FALL!!!

Just something I had to throw out there. Here are some more pictures. I got them from themat.com photo gallery. If I have to explain the title of this post to you then you're not a TRUE wrestling fan.

3rd in the World, again!

Nice article on themat.com. Congratulations baby you deserve it. Way to fight!

http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=19619

TOKYO, Japan – She’s just 17 years old and is competing in her first World Championships.

But that hardly stopped American Tatiana Padilla from putting on an impressive display of grit and resiliency on Monday night.

Padilla rallied back in dominating fashion to record a fall over Romania’s Ana Maria Paval in a bronze-medal match at 55 kg/121 lbs. Padilla becomes the youngest U.S. World medalist since Kristie Marano won her first of a record nine World women’s freestyle medals as a 17-year-old in 1996.

“I just hated the feeling of losing the match the way I did in the semifinals,” Padilla said. “I felt like I let myself down, I let my coaches down and I let my country down. I hate the feeling of letting people down. I decided to go out there and leave it all out on the mat in my last match. I had a lot of motivation to come back and win my last match. I didn’t want to come all the way over to Japan and go home with nothing. I’m happy. That’s not my goal, to take third, but I’m happy to come back from a tough loss and take third.

”With her win, Padilla (Azusa, Calif./Sunkist Kids) kept her team in fourth place in the final team standings. Japan won the team title, followed by Canada and Russia.

“Give a lot of credit to our development system,” U.S. National Coach Terry Steiner said. “Tatiana’s 17 years old and has been on our last two Junior World Teams. We’ve had very little time to work with her as a Senior-level wrestler. To see her have success at this young of an age is a huge statement for our development system and the coaches we have had on the Junior World staff. Tatiana just fought and fought and fought. She wrestled her heart out. It was a great way for us to finish the tournament.”

The U.S. finished with two medals in the three-day competition. American Clarissa Chun won a World title at 48 kg/105.5 lbs. on Sunday night.

Padilla won her first three matches, including a win over past World champion Sofia Pompouridou of Greece, before falling to Tetyana Lazareva of the Ukraine in the semifinals on Monday afternoon at Yoyogi National Stadium.

She then regrouped to beat Paval, who placed fifth in the 2008 Olympic Games. Padilla used a front headlock to turn Paval to her back and record the fall.

Padilla won a Junior World bronze medal earlier this year after winning a Junior World silver medal in 2007. She is a freshman in college at Lindenwood (Mo.) and doesn’t turn 18 until December.

“Tatiana is such a true competitor,” U.S. Assistant National Coach Izzy Izboinikov said. “She found a way to bring out her best at the right time. She just never gave up. She showed a lot of character out there.”

1st at the World Team Trials

Congratulations Tatiana, we are so proud of you!! I know you will do great in Japan next month!

World Team Trials, Football, Cheer and School!!

Tatiana will be competing in the World Team Trials on Saturday. I hope she does well, she deserves a great tournament. GO TATIANA!! If she wins she will compete at the World tournament in Tokoyo, Japan.

We're in the middle of football season. Ricky's team is pretty good this year. Yeah!!! Finally!!! I think we were like 50% last year, 25% the year before that and the first year he played his team only won 1 game. We are 1 and 1 so far but I don't expect that we will loose anymore games. I LOVE football!!! Whoohooo!! GO LVSD VULCANS!!!

Julia is cheering. She's so cute in her uniform. I'm not so sure I like cheerleading but she loves it, so ok. I guess I'll have to deal with it.

School is going good so far. Ricky is having some difficulty adjusting to having homework from 4 classes. We'll get that under control, he should be up to par by Christmas break, he usually is a slow starter but ends up doing great. Probably has to do with his late birthday. I probably should have waited another year to start him in school.

1st day of school August 26, 2008

Fake smiles because I asked them to hug for the picture!


Ricky after we dropped off Julia before we headed to his school.

Aren't they sweet!

Julia before we walked her to class. She looks excited for school.

Tatiana is away at college, I miss her so much. We all do. It's like a piece of us is missing. I'm really sad but happy that she is getting her education. The kids want to use her room but I can't bring myself to clean it up.

My baby boy is a 6th grader, officially in middle school. How quick did that go by? I know from experience that time only flies from here on out. Before I realize it my baby will be in college. They actually change for PE! :eek: Ricky is such a wonderful kid, so awesome and always happy.

Julia is in 3rd grade. She is such an awesome student. I love that when I check her homework, she never has to fix anything. She actually tells me that it is time for her to read to me, LOL! What an awesome concept, she deserves a star.

Julia and Ricky seem to be polar opposites. Where Ricky needs help with his homework, Julia can do it all by herself. Where Ricky always sees the positive side of things, Julia always sees the negative side. Ricky loves his sister with all his being, Julia can't stand being around her brother for a minute. I hope that one day she will see what a great big brother he is and apprieciate him like he apprieciates her.

EeArThQuAkE!!!!

I forgot to blog about the earthquake we had on 7/29. I was so scared. My thoughts in that 2 or 3 seconds were as follows as the walls in my cubicle shook and I was terrified that it wouldn't stop until it fell down. I actually kind of whined at that moment, "My Kids, My kids? Mental note Tatiana is in Fargo, Ricky and Julia are in separate day camps kind of far away, Chris is probably at home, work or working out, my mom? Is it shaking harder where they are?? Oh carp the dogs are home alone, I hope nothing falls on them. Oh carp, the glass stock room 20 feet away from me might shatter. HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS BUILDING?? I don't think we're supposed to go down the stairs! Grab my purse, grab my phone, should I take my lap top? GET OUT!! Thank you GOD for keeping everybody safe.

3rd in the World Not good enough!

Tatiana took 3rd today in Junior Worlds. She is not a happy camper and doesn't think that she competed to the best of her ability. I still think she is awesome. I was up until 2am watching her preminanary rounds and then had to get up at 5:30 to get to work on time.

The mugshot is the one that they have on the fila website and probably on her wrestling credentials. I think it's a cute picture. Love those warmups and that beautiful smile.

Congratulations Tati! We love you!

Not Cool! So very NOT cool!

Swimmer Jessica Hardy could lose her spot on team
She reportedly tested positive for a stimulant after qualifying in two events.
By Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 24, 2008

Too bad another person's life long dream was crushed.

"All I wanted to do was fall asleep and let the pain of disappointed dreams fade into oblivion. But nothing hurts so badly as the loss of the thing you want most. I’d never played it safe with this dream and now I was paying the price." -Tara Kirk

This little paragraph from Tara Kirk's blog brought tears to my eyes. Having a daughter who was nearly there and who gave up so much of the last year for her dream. I can only imagine how heartbroken Tara, her family and her friends must feel. This is nearly the end of Tara Kirk's career, she's much older than Tatiana. Tatiana still has a few chances to make her dream a reality.

Psalm 103:8 AND Matthew 6:34

So, I have these post-its in my cubicle. They're just kind of hanging there, not really in a spot where most people just walking by can read them. I however, can read them and do, several times a day. They just kind of remind me that my life is not totally in my hands. That some things I have to let go of and learn to deal with the outcome. You know, as humans we would like for things to turn out totally our way all the time. But, as Christians we must understand that to have everything our way would mean that someone else might not get their way. Or that GOD has decided that our way is not the best way.. Anyway on to my point..

Psalm 103:8 in my American King James version of the Bible reads ..

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Well since I am going through a pretty nasty divorce and sometimes things don't always go the way I plan it or want it to go and I have a kind of sarcastic humor, I wrote on my post it..

Psalm 103:8 He is merciful and tender toward those who don't deserve it.

I wrote it this way to remind myself that I am a sinner too. I am human, I make mistakes everyday and GOD forgives me as he forgives those who trespass against me. Why should I get angry about it? I ask GOD every night to forgive those who trespass against me and to help me to forgive those people.

I thought it was funny the other day when someone sat behind me at my desk and read my post it note... She asked me "What about those of us who do deserve it?" She totally missed the point. Which I kindly pointed out to her "we are all sinners", but what was funny in my mind at the time was that as a Christian she didn't already understand that.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK!

Tatiana Padilla named USA Wrestling's Athlete of the week after winning her 4th USAW/Asics National Championship. Congrats Tati we miss you!!!!!!!! Now take the Gold in Turkey baby.

http://www.themat.com/


Padilla wins fourth Women’s Junior Nationals title and named Outstanding Wrestler

http://www.themat.com/index.php?page=showarticle&ArticleID=19176


Could a wrestler's mom be more proud. Isn't she awesome?

Tatiana in "battle" mode. Olympic trials 2008

These are some of my favorites. Thanks to Jrsachs for the pictures.
http://tech-fall.com/2008INT/08OT41.html

Maybe I should post some more..

We had a fun weekend.

On the 4th we went to the La Verne family fair, Ricky and Julia had a blast on the water slide. Julia spent like an hour in the petting zoo, holding chicks, baby goats and a baby pot belly pig. She was made for living on a farm
After the fun at the fair we went to my mom's for a quick Bar-B-Que and to spend some time with her. I think she misses the kids now that she doesn't see them every day after school. We left her house on time to get to the La Verne fireworks show early enough to enjoy the music and festivities with some friends.
The fireworks were awesome but I think we sat too close because the ash and debris were falling all over us. Note to self... sit further back next year... Unfortunately, I left my camera at home for all the festivities. A friend of ours snapped a couple of pics of the kids at the fireworks show. Maybe she'll email them to me.
Saturday I took the kids to see WALL-E. Cute movie, good plot and moral to the story. After the movie we went swimming, that's always fun. We picked up Tatiana from the airport. She will be in town for about a week and then she'll be off to Fargo then to Turkey. We miss her a lot!!!
Sunday it seems like I washed dishes, cooked, cleaned and washed clothes all day. The kids were bored to be home all day. But I needed a stay at home day with the kids. August will be here before you know it. Weekends will still be "free" but the weekdays will be busy with football and cheer. And before you know it wrestling will consume the rest of our year and most of next year. I love wrestling but the "break" is nice.

A heart of Gold - Just a note to my precious daughter

Dear Tatiana,

Like so many of the other athletes that competed this weekend you have given up so much for your dream. You basically gave up your senior year, no prom, no grad night and no graduation ceremony. To be a champion, you risked it all. Some people may say you came up short and for a second you may have thought you gave it all up for a 3rd place finish. But, you had your graduation ceremony this weekend, just not a typical one. Your graduation to adulthood was much more your style. You took your wins and your loss with grace and the heart of a champion. I am so proud of you.

It was almost fourteen years ago when all 33lbs of you stood in the middle of the mat after your very first match and smiled as your hand was raised. As you skipped into your brother’s arms you said to me with great pride “see I told you I could wrestle”. That only made it more clear to me just how special you were. I knew at that moment you would do great things. Watching you compete these last fourteen years has been a great honor.The future is yours my daughter. An Olympic gold is just four short years away. Thank-you for the memories, I know the best is yet to come. Good luck in Istanbul, bring home the gold.

Love your very first fan, Mom

Congratulations Tatiana Padilla!

1X USGWA Middle School National Champion

2X Schoolgirl Mexico National Champion

1X USA High School Girls folkstyle National Champion

3X Asics Junior Womens National Champion

4X USGWA High School National Champion

2X Fila Cadet Womens National Champion

2X Fila Junior Womens National Champion

2008 Pan American Champion

2007 Junior Worlds Runner up

2007 USA Senior World Team Runner up

2008 USA Olympic Trials 3rd Place

We have a new puppy and her name is Fluffy!

We love Fluffy isn't she cute? I guess the kids are cute too! LOL! We got her on Friday, May 23. She likes to whine and be held. Hopefully she will keep Cutie Pie company and not bug her too much.

Fluffly likes pie!

Fluffy likes to bite Cutie Pie! Cutie Pie is so patient with Fluffy.

Death--

Yesterday Chris called me and I could tell by his voice something was wrong. He said "Mom, Coach Louie died". After being speechless for a bit I said "that really sucks", he said "yeah, I know". I know it bothered him a lot, Louie was one of his first coaches, way back when he was a little 5 year old. We've known Louie for nearly 20 years and he has looked exactly the same for those 20 years. Louie was a great champion for the sport of wrestling and he will be missed by many. I just talked to him last weekend at Masters. One day they are here like you and me and then they are just dead. So sad, so sad and scary, that could be me or you or anybody.
This weekend of all weekends. The great California State tournament weekend... The weekend all of us wrestling junkies are waiting for all year. I know he had to be excited. He had one qualifer for this weekend's tournament, a SS Master's champion has a pretty darn good chance of placing at the state tournament.
Well, I guess this really shook me up. It's been heavy on my mind all day yesterday and this morning. Maybe blogging and some prayer will help ease my mind.

Ahhh, Blogging!! I guess I'll jump aboard the blogging train. It seems to be the thing to do, I guess. I have a lot going on, most of which probably won't be of any interest to anybody but myself.
I'm a divorced mom of 4 kids, I work full time as a PCB designer and volunteer a lot of time to my children's sports teams. My kids are B24, G17, B10 and G7, they are really great kids most of the time and I am really proud of all of them. I really like to read, do puzzles ( yes, I know that is boring), and go to the movies. I would like to camp more often but I find myself suffering from a lack of time.