Dream come true

So tonight is the 113 Civil War game between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers.
This is the first time in the history of the game that the winner is guaranteed to go to the Rose Bowl !!!!!!!
I as you know by now am a HUGE Duck fan !!!!!!!!
For the last few years I have been telling my friends, - in a perfect world wouldn't it be great that the winner of the Civil War would win the PAC-10 and go to the Rose Bowl.
Never did I think it would happen this year, not with the way that the season started for both teams.
So now the day is finally here, and I am so ready for the game, I just don't know how I am gonna make it thru the day.
On my way to work today, all I could think about was this game and how I used to watch all the big games with my dad. If my dad was still here, there is no doubt that I would be with him tonight watching this great game. I know that he will be watching tonight and I know that he is here with me in spirit.
So I will pour myself a few adult beverages tonight, watch the game and talk to my dad, because I know he is listening and he watching right there with me.
GO DUCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY DAY NOVEMBER 4TH

Well, so today is my birthday, good old November 4th as rolled around again. mY I wasn't gonna blog today, but my cousin asked for one ,so I thought why not ??
So today I turned 46, do I feel 46 ?? Do I look it- well I will let you make that decision.
I don't know what I am supposed to feel like at 46. I feel good, I feel young, sure I do have some aches and pains now and then, but hey, doesn't everybody ?
I am very happy with my life , I am married to a wonderful woman and have two wonderful children that keep me young and active. If you know me, you know that I prefer to look at the wonderful things that I have and not worry about things I don't have.
With me the glass is always 3/4 full when I look at it.
I have a great job, many great friends , a great Mom and wonderful brother and a super sister, and I had the most amazing dad that anyone could ever hope for.
So people have asked me all day- what are your plans for tonight ? doing anything special /
So, what am I doing tonight on my birthday ?? Well I am taking my kids to piano, then dropping one off at basketball, then going with my other daughter to our own basketball practice( I coach her team) , then after that, I will go home for awhile and then head out to pick up our oldest daughter after her soccer practice- ( which she will be at, thanks to my wife picking her up after basketball and taking her to soccer)- then head home.
A busy night you might say, but to my it is wonderful, I get to spend time with my family and particapate in sports with one of my daughters. So yes, I am a lucky man and my birthday is AWESOME !!!!!!!!! and so is my life

Grandma turns 91

Well on saturday, my grandmother-- Dorothy Campbell turned 91 !!

She is an amazing woman. I have never seen my grandma get mad or say a bad thing about anyone in my entire life. She has 7, yes 7 children that are all still alive and are wonderful aunts and uncles.

Dorothy is well known in Gladstone for the many lives that she touched over the years. Her and grandpa Ed always took in troubled youths as far back as the late fifites. She never judges anyone, she gives so much love and never, ever asks for it in return. I am so lucky to have her as my grandma.

She is my inspiration for helping people and how she treats everyone. So here's hoping that next October we get to celebrate her 92nd birthday !!

Happy Birthday Grandma
I LOVE YOU

MANY THINGS-- SOCCER- NEW FRIENDS AND TACOS

Well last night the soccer team I coach won again, 6-0.. That leaves our season record at 6-0, with 36 goals scored and only 5 against us. I have some amazing little soccer players on the team. It is a U-9 girls rec team and let me tell you, the one thing they have that you cannot teach is that they are so aggresive !! They just want to get the ball and score some goals.
I am very lucky to get to coach these girls and it is alot of fun.
So after the game we went to Gloriaz for TACO TUESDAY, which we have been doing lately after our Tuesday night games. We started doing this with the Moe's, and then the Alberts started to come with us also and last night we had the Engstrom's join us. It was a great time and it is just nice to get to sit down for a minute and meet new people that could turn out to be new friends. I am always looking to meet new people and make new friends. My wife and I have been getting to know the Moe's a little better this summer and early fall. Glen and Jeanette are nice people, easy to hang out with and just some cool people in general. Now Glen cracks me up.
Glen is so out of touch with technology that is comedy. He doesn't use a debit card, has no facebook page and basically is just old, old, old school. Which is totally cool and makes him refreshing and his takes on life are just awesome. So we were all talking last night and Aaron Engstrom brings up that he plays mafia wars on facebook and then makes a funny comment about it and Glen just busts out laughing. Now remember, Glen doesn't facebook so he has no idea what Aaron is talking about, but he laughs anyways. So I call him out on it and say- dude, you don't even know what mafia wars is and Glen being Glenn, then starts laughing even harder. PRICELESS !! The dude cracks me up. He doesn't take himself or life to serious and is always good for a few laughs a day.
I think that as people get older they make less of an attempt to make new friends, I totally disagree with this attitude and I look forward to meeting new people and hopefully making some new friends. You just have to get out there and keep on living.
So enjoy your day, laugh a little today , love a little and make an effort to meet new people, you never know , that new person that you just met could turn out to be a life long friend.
Remember- the glass is half full, not half empty, so fill er up and make it a full glass and a full life !!!!
Diamond

Changes and New Beginnings

Well it has been a while since I blogged. Got busy with summer, soccer, trade shows, school starting and a convention. But now hopefully things will settle down and trust me, that would be a welcome change.. It has been a pretty rough few weeks for my wife. I really can't get into it right now, other than to say that she had people betray her and she didn't see it coming at all.
Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can get into it more, but out of respect for her, I will not at this time.
So because of the things that have happened, the family is now checking out other churches and looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends.
Friends- a good subject. In the past few weeks my wife and I have really found out who are friends are and who the pretenders were. We are very lucky in that we have lots of great friends and they have given us great support. We know that it will all work out in the long run and we will come out of this in a better place.
I have so much more that I want to say, but I just can't at this time.
Have a great day and make sure you tell your friends how really important that they are to you.
Diamond

Congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I want to send out a congratulations today to my best friend, Rob Saldivar. Rob and I have been best friends for too many years to count. Well enough of that, the reason I am blogging about him is that his company, R & R Catering landed the contract to do all the catering for the luxury suites at Fed Ex Field, which is the home of the NFL Washington Redskins.

Not only did his company beat out many competitors for this, he also starting today is catering to the Redskins training camp. Rob has been in the catering business for over 20 years and he has put in a lot of hard work and long hours to make his company successful. Over the years he has had to make many sacrifices to get his company where it is today. For that I applaud him and congratulate him. Well done my friend, well done.

You deserve all that you have worked for and I wish you and your company nothing but success this year and the many years to come.

WONDERFUL, FUN AND SOMETIMES FRUSTRATIN

Parenting, that is what I am talking about today people. If you are a parent, you know what I am talking about, sometimes it can be fun and sometimes it can be very frustrating. I am a Step-Dad to two wonderful little girls who I love so much and have changed my life completly.
This year makes it five years that I have been their step-dad and they have been a wonderful five years. I have learned alot from them and I am still learning. They have taught me patience, which I admit, I still do have a ways to go, but I am working on it. I really enjoy being around them, watching them grow and being involved in their lives. They live with us full time and see their dad every now and then. I love having them around, but I do admit I like the break of a child-free weekend or week ( during the summer) that we get every now and then. The funny thing is after like 2 or 3 days I begin to miss them terribly and the house as you can imagine is alot quieter with out a 10 year old and an 8 year old running around.
One of the great things about having the girls, is that they got me into coaching sports, and if you didn't know it - I LOVE SPORTS !!!! and I have discovered that I really enjoy coaching.
It all started with soccer last year, continued with basketball and then of course it was softball.
It will continue again this fall with me coaching my youngest daughter is soccer again and I am really looking forward to it.
Of course if you have kids you also know that they can be very frustrating and drive you ablsolutley crazy sometimes. Last night for example, the youngest accidently hung on the nbrand new towel rack in the kids bathroom and yes , you guessed it, tore it out of the wall . Those of you who know, know that we just moved back into our house after being out of it for almost 5 months because of the house fire. So everything is brand new, including new paint.
So now we have to get the wall patched and re-painted. Of course she did not mean to do this and she would never , ever , ever admit it was her fault ( because nothing is ever her fault ).
So in the past I would have proabably lost my mind, but this time I did not. I know it was an accident and that there will be more accidents in the future.
My girls and yes, I totally consider them my children, bring me a ton of joy. There is nothing like watching their faces light up when they are happy. You cannot put a price on that . Sometimes they say things that just crack me up without evey trying. So I consider my self very lucky to be their dad and to get to watch them grow up and to be a part of their lives.
Enjoy your children while you can, love them and just spend some quality time with them and then the wonderful and fun times will far out number the frustrating times.
Dale