Christmas Break Part II

After a busy 1st week of break, the Goebel clan left Phoenix early Christmas morning to spend the holidays with Ryan's family in Evansville, Indiana. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with family and friends and it was nice to take a break from our hectic daily lives. The only down part to the trip was the nasty colds the girls got while we were there.

Kayla with her Uncle Darren (Ryan's brother) and her daddy

The girls with their cousins Hayly and Dylan

All the cousins Hayly, Gideon, Kayla, Hadassah, Dylan, John and Anna

Ryan and our 3 year old nephew, John. He called Ryan...McRyan.

Anna and her cousin Hadassah

Kayla and her cousin Hayly

Anna and Kayla were really disappointed that it didn't snow while we were there so we took them up to Paoli Peaks to go tubing. It was a blast although poor little Kayla felt pretty much like poo all day.

Kayla was a trooper!


Going down the hill.


Me at the bottom. I made it!


Darren, Michelle and John riding up the hill.

Although we had a lot of fun, it was a long trip (12 days). It was nice to come home and get back to "normal"....whatever normal is.

Christmas Break Part 1

Our Christmas break has started off with a BANG! On Friday, my first day of vacation, I had to have a double root canal. YIKES! I hate going to the dentist. It is quite possibly my biggest fear in life. I was in the chair for almost 3 hours. It really was quite traumatic, but... I live to tell the tale. On Saturday the girls had a soccer game which they won 2-0. After the game we had a team picnic followed by a parents vs. girls soccer game. It was a blast until Ryan and another dad both went up for a header at the same time and ended up colliding in mid air. We had to take both of them to the ER. Ryan had a huge goose egg on his head and a mild concussion. The other dad ended up with 36 stitches above his left eye.

Oh...just for the record....the parents were winning 4-1 when the collision took place.

We have also been really busy these past few days wrapping presents. Unfortunately the presents we were wrapping weren't ours. They were part of a soccer fundraiser we were doing at Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble provides all the gift wrap, tape, scissors, etc,... All we have to do is show up and wrap. We get to keep 100% of the donations we collect. I spent 19 hours over the past 3 days wrapping. Did I mention that I pretty much stink at wrapping? Yeah, well no one really seemed to care. Everyone was so generous and full of Christmas spirit! This is our 3rd year to do the fundraiser and it's a lot of fun. This year we made close to $800. The money we raised is going to help pay for our Vegas tournament in January.



This weekend was so busy that we just got done with our Christmas shopping tonight. Tomorrow is going to be very busy as we pack for our trip to Indiana and get ready for Christmas Eve services at church. Santa will be visiting our house tonight to leave a few presents for the girls. The rest we will share at my parents house tomorrow night with my folks and sister and bro-in-law. We will spend the night there as we have a 6:00am flight on Christmas Day.

The Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

Yesterday I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! I don't know if it was the continuous rain putting a damper on my mood or if I'm just totally stressed out. I had a crazy day at school,at the gym I was trapped on a machine between two annoyingly rude women, I almost got hit by a dude in a van and I couldn't get Chipotle. I had to give myself some time before I blogged about this because I was so grouchy I would have had to censor the whole blog. Here is my very sad story.

After a really bad day at school I went to the gym. I had been working out for about 40 minutes with 20 to go when this woman got on the end machine next to me. A few minutes later her friend came over and got on the machine on the other side of me. Then they proceeded to carry on a very loud conversation over me. I was so irritated! I mean how rude. The gym was practically empty and there were plenty of machines next to each other that they could have gotten on if they wanted to talk. I kept turning up the volume on my head phones but they never seemed to get the hint. Blah blah blah....blah blah blah!

Then....yes, there is more....I picked up the girls and we went to Chipotle for dinner. I was really craving it b/c the other night when I tried to go it was closed for a Christmas party. On the way there some dude in a van almost ran into me and then, when I finally got to the restaurant, there were about 50 people in line in front of me. That's when I found out that it was free burrito night for
O Connor High School. I think the entire school was there. We waited for about 20 mintues before I got annoyed with all the line jumpers and we left. DON"T JUMP LINES PEOPLE! WAIT YOUR TURN! I got the girls Chop Chop and then I went home hungry. I made Ryan go later so I still got my Chipotle, but not within 45 minutes of working out. I am supposed to eat within 45 minutes. LOL!

I think I'll move to Australia!

Tis the Season to be Busy!

What a crazy, but wonderful time of year this is. Like everyone else, the Goebel family has been incredibly busy. Soccer tournaments, band and chorus concerts, parties, getting report cards finished and church events haven't left much time for blogging. At night I am so tired that I literally fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. School has been nuts! What's worse than a classroom of 10 year olds a week before Christmas? A classroom of 10 year olds on a RAINY week before Christmas. They are super hyper, and super LOUD! I can't really blame them though. I am excited that Christmas is almost here too and that we get out of school tomorrow. Woop! The only thing standing in my way of celebrating 2 weeks off of school is the root canal I am having on Friday. But at this point I would rather have a root canal then spend another day with those crazy hyper kids. LOL!

Desert Sky Student of the Month

We are excited that Anna was chosen student of the month at school! It is a big honor at the jr. high and the SOM gets a certificate, pin and a front of the line pass in the cafeteria. For a girl that is always hungry this was the best prize of all! As my sister said, "her mom doesen't even work at the school so she must have really earned it". LOL!

Kohl's Christmas Angel

This past weekend the girls played in the Kohl's Christmas Angel Tournament at Friendship Park. It was our 3rd year to play in this tournament, however, I use the term "play" loosely because last year most of the tournament got rained out. The girls really enjoy playing this tournament because instead of paying full tournament fees we pay half and then each player brings a $10 toy to donate to the Christmas Angel program. This year they placed our team in the top bracket for our age group. We were definitely the underdogs going into this thing. Our first game was against the Hammers, which happens to be the team that 3 of our players were on last year. The girls took a lot of flack for leaving and were nervous to play their old team. They really wanted to prove that the made the right choice so you can imagine how excited they were when we WON 1-0. Anna scored our one and only goal. Next we had to play the Inferno. This was the game I was nervous about. I am not very "fond" of their coach and this team ate us for lunch in indoor this summer. The Inferno are ranked 9th in the state (we are 17th). It was a tough game...well played by all, and at the end we tied 1-1. Anna has a friend at school who plays on this team. Anna scored the goal for our team and her friend scored for the other team. The best part of this game was that although we tied, because of the point system we knocked the Inferno out of the running for semi finals and we ended up taking first place in our bracket. On Sunday we played in the semi finals against Sereno, arguably one of the best clubs in the state. They got up on us 3-1 before the half and it looked like we were out of it. Somehow, a Christmas miracle I guess, our girls rallied and tied up the game in the last 6 minutes. I was seriously so excited I about peed myself. Because a semi final game can not end in a tie we had to go to a shoot out. We ended up losing the shootout and the girls got 3rd place overall. Not too bad considering we weren't expected to place. Inferno got 5th and the Hammers got 4th.

Out of or last 13 games we have 11 wins, 2 ties and no losses.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

A CHRISTMAS STORY 2
starring Ryan Goebel



Synopsis: The guys in the youth group convince Ryan, their youth pastor to play Air Soft guns with them at church. Ryan's wife tells Ryan that the game is dumb and he better be careful or he'll shoot his eye out. Ryan is a guy so he plays anyway. Ryan gets shot twice in the head and bleeds profusely.

Moral: Listen to your wife....guns are bad!

We've Been Elfed!

The Goebel family, along with our soccer coach Freddy, have been elfed. Check out the video below.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

anniversary dance

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Thankful Heart

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I am especially thankful for my amazing husband and talented daughters, my family
and great friends. We are all healthy and get to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. The Lord has blessed me greatly and for that I am so thankful!

14 Years and Counting!

Ryan and I celebrated our 14th anniversary this week! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY RYAN! I LOVE YOU!

PLANET ORANGE

Can I tell you how excited I am that it's basketball season?! I love the Suns and my little Stevie is the best! How can you not like that kid? He's an amazing point guard and a former soccer player to boot.I think this might just be our year. New coach...a couple of new players...I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm hoping that Santa will bring me season tickets for Christmas. Yeah, fat chance of that, but maybe, just maybe, if I wish really hard I might get a ticket to at least one game. HINT HINT Santa.

Present on the Porch

Ryan got home the other day and found an advent calendar on our front porch. Attached to it was a note that read, "We were just in the neighborhood. Happy Birthday!" That's it. No name...nothing! We have no idea who it is from or how long it has been there. We never use the front door, but assume it couldn't have been more than a couple of days because my birthday was Wednesday. I asked a few people, but no one will admit to it. I guess it's just another Goebel mystery. Kind of like Ryan's keys.

Shappy-

One of my students is a HUGE fan of KMLE Country 108. He has the radio station on speed dial and is a regular caller on Hump It Or Dump It and the 8 Second KMLE Ride. About a month ago this kid called into the radio station and talked one of the DJs into coming to our classroom. So today Shappy came to Bellair. He spent some time talking to the students then taped them saying the Pledge. He is going to play the recording on the air next Tuesday morning. The funny thing is that It just so happens to be the birthday of my student that got Shappy to come. While Shappy was there the school went into lockdown. It was just a drill, but we were locked in our rooms for about 20 minutes. Poor Shappy picked the wrong time to come I guess. He was a really good sport about it.

So next Tuesday, December 2 at 8:00am (radio time) tune in to 107.9 to hear Mrs. Goebel's class from Bellair Elementary saying the Pledge.

I Once Was Lost But Now I'm Found

About 2 months ago Ryan lost his keys. It was actually quite a mystery because the day the keys disappeared he had been at church all day. We thought one of the youth was playing a practical joke, but no one ever fessed up, and the keys never turned up, so after scouring the church from top to bottom, we finally gave up looking. We'd pretty much forgotten about the keys until a package arrived in the mail this weekend. It was from Fry's Grocery Store and in the package (as you have probably already guessed) were Ryan's lost keys! Now we can pretty much figure out how the keys got from Fry's back to us. Ryan has one of those little Fry's cards on his key chain so the people at the store must have scanned the card to find his address and were nice enough to mail them to us. BUT....we still don't know how the keys got from church to Fry's in the first place. I guess it will just have to remain a mystery. For now!

Pole Dancing

It appears that my youngest daughter has a new hobby....pole dancing. Yep, you read that right...pole dancing. I witnessed her newest activity first hand when I was on playground duty today. Usually when I'm on duty Kayla and her friends hang out and talk to me, but today they raced right past with barely a glance in my direction. The girls made a beeline for 5 poles on the side of the basketball court. They each grabbed one and starting spinning and twirling around. When I asked Kayla about it she said that there were playing pole TAG but it looked an awful lot like pole dancing to me. I have a feeling I am going to have my hands full with that one!

Gymtastic!

After a long absence from the gym, I have finally dragged my lazy 'ole bootie back. I blamed this 4 month respite (ok so maybe it was more like 5 months) on the fact that my gym was too far (which it was) and the price of gas was too high(which it was), but in reality it was my lack of motivation and desire for FOOD that drove me to this self imposed dearth. So when a new gym, Mountainside Fitness, opened only 5 miles from my house...all my excuses flew out the window (along with the coke and Cheezits and all the other junk I've been eating). Mountainside it great! Almost as nice as Lifetime, my old gym. The best part is that Ryan joined too so we can go workout together. (Yeah, only that hasn't really happened yet.) So...I guess you can say I'm back. And not only am I back, but I'm back with a vengence! Even though I am so not a morning person, I have been getting up at 5:15 (that's AM people) to go work out before school. Then, I go back in the afternoon to workout some more. Getting back into the swing of the gym has been much easier than I thought. The first time I started working out I was working off 35 years of flab. This time it's only 5 months. After I finish working out I feel so good that I'm not sure why I stopped going in the first place.

RideMakerz

The other night the girls and I were at Westgate and found one of the coolest new stores! It's called RideMakerz and is all about creating a customized car. If you have a boy (or tomboys like I do), then I highly recommend you take them to this store. It's like the Build A Bear for cars. You pick your car body and wheels and can even add a sound. You have the choice of making it remote control and there are tons of accessories to help you "pimp your ride". When you have everything picked out you take your car to the assembly station to put it all together. There is a timer so you can time how fast you go. Must be a guy thing. The girls are going to create a customized car for their cousins for Christmas. (I hope they are not reading this!) We are going to take pics of them building it to include with the gift. Check out the link below.

"http://www.ridemakerz.com/RZ/default.aspx">

Camp Cougar!

This past week I went to 6th grade camp with Kayla's class. It was called Camp Cougar and was held at the Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant. To be honest, I wasn't too excited about going because it was on my birthday, but I ended up having a blast! The place was absolutely gorgeous and the kids were great! We left on Wednesday morning, spent the night and came home Thursday afternoon. During the days the students went to classes led by the Rangers at the outdoor center. The students (and parents) learned about desert survival, bats, animals in AZ, compass and map reading, weather, etc,...It was pretty interesting stuff and the kids were totally engaged. My personal favorite was Desert Survival 2. The students were taken out into the desert and given a box of supplies. They had to use the supplies in their box to build a shelter, fire pit and distress signal. I felt like I was on Survivor only I didn't win a million dollars at the end and I'm pretty sure some of the kids would have voted me off if they could have.



The strangest class was called Castaway Kids. Even though we were at a lake we went fishing in the parking lot. "You might be a redneck if..."!


It was a great week! Thanks Kayla for taking me to Camp Cougar. I had a lot of fun!

Saturday Soccer

This weekend was a busy one for the Goebel Girls! Even though we didn't have a soccer game, we still had soccer. The morning started at 9:30 with a mother daughter breakfast at the Deer Valley Airport. Both the 96 teams were there so we had over 60 people. It was a lot of fun!
Breakfast was followed by a shopping trip to Walmart. The girls are playing in the Kohl's Christmas Angel Tournament in December and as part of the tournament entry fee each girl and coach has to bring a $10 gift. The girls had fun running around the store picking out gifts for children who might otherwise not get a Christmas.
Next, we headed over to CCV for team pictures. Coach Freddy asked me if he could get his picture with Kayla since he doesn't have a daughter on the team. I think he likes her because she is the only girl on the team who makes him feel tall. LOL! Ryan had to miss the team pictures because he took the youth group to Magic Mountain for the weekend. When pictures were over we went to our church where Freddy had set up a classroom training session. It was from 12:00-5:00 which we thought was going to be a really long time, but actually it went quickly and Freddy made it a lot of fun for the girls. He brought cookies for the girls and we ordered pizza about halfway through the session.


Then Freddy took them to the school next door to do some team building games.

It was a busy day, but everyone had fun and enjoyed spending time together.

KICK FOR THE CURE CHAMPIONS

This weekend the girls participated in the Kick for the Cure soccer tournament and took 1st place in their division! Not only did they take first, but they were undefeated!! They went into the weekend hoping they would do well. They had already beaten all the teams they were playing in regular season, but in sports nothing is for sure. The first game was against Ahwatukee on Saturday morning at 8:00 am (YUCK!). They are so not a morning team, but ended up winning 2-1. That afternoon they played North Valley Soccer Club and won 5-0. That put them first in their bracket which meant they had to play in the semi finals against our B team (CCV Stars Red) Sunday morning. That was fun because all the girls are friends and train together on Thursday nights. They beat the Red team 5-0, but there were no hard feelings. In fact, both teams went out for pizza together after the game. The finals were this afternoon at 2:00. They played San Tan Legacy which they had beaten 4-2 in regular season. Besides us of course, San Tan was probably the toughest team in the division. It started out really rough. San Tan had control of the field and the game was getting very physical. But when one of the girls did a slide tackle and took out our goalie, it changed the whole momentum of the game. (The girl got a yellow card.) It was like someone lit a fire under our girls and they pulled out a 4-0 Victory! WOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

We are sunburnt and exhausted, but it was an awesome weekend! I am so proud of all the girls! Go CCV Stars!
Now I'm going to bed!

You can call him....Mr. Vice President!

Move over Biden and Palin...there's a New Vice President in town. For the second year in a row...Ryan has been elected 1st Vice President of the Arizona Baptist Convention. Not really sure what a 1st VP does or why there is even more than 1 VP. LOL! In a year of election firsts...Ryan may have his own first. Not many states in the Southern Baptist convention would have a youth guy as their VP. Especially a youth guy without a seminary degree. But good ole AZ must realize what an amazing guy my hubby is with or with out a seminary degree. Next stop, the White House.

GOEBEL 2012

The Shack

If you haven't already read the book The Shack, I highly recommend it.

The Shack revolves around Mack (Mackenzie) Philips. Four years before this story begins, Mack’s young daughter, Missy, was abducted during a family vacation. Though her body was never found, the police did find evidence in an abandoned shack to prove that she had been brutally murdered by a notorious serial killer who preyed on young girls. As the story begins, Mack, who has been living in the shadow of his Great Sadness, receives a strange note that is apparently from God. God invites Mack to return to this shack for a get together. Though uncertain, Mack visits the scene of the crime and there has a weekend-long encounter with God, or, more properly, with the godhead.

I have been trying to write this entry for days and have really struggled with what to say about the book in this blog. I know that there are many critics of the book who say, among other things, that it is not Biblically correct. I don't want to, nor will I, get into a huge theological debate over the subject. However, I feel a need to express my thoughts on the book. I will keep it simple, because to me it is simple. My opinion is that The Shack is a great work of FICTION that was never meant to be studied as theology. The story isn't about "religion" but rather a relationship which truthfully, isn't that what it's all about? My God is good. My God loves me. My God desires a relationship with me and he will not be limited by my stereotypes of who he is. This book really made me think about how I view God and the limits that I sometimes put on him. It left me with a yearning to know him more completely and a renewed desire to make him Lord over everything in my life.

I encourage you to read the book and form your own opinion.

Christmas Already?

Is it just me or do people start getting ready for Christmas earlier and earlier every year? Some of the stores had Christmas decorations up before Halloween and one of the radio stations is already playing 24 hour continuos Christmas music. Now, I am all about stretching out the holidays, but before Thanksgiving? That's a little nuts. I refuse to get ready for Christmas until my birthday (which by the way is next Wednesday, Nov. 19!) and Thanksgiving are over. One holiday at a time!

Peeing In The Rocks

I was looking for this picture the other day when I wrote about Anna's inventions.
Here is a picture of her very 1st invention.



When Anna and Kayla were little, rather than drag them both out of the pool to go use the potty, my mom would let them pee in the rocks. The girls thought this was great. I thought it was gross and I would get really ticked off with my mom for letting them do it. Anna, always the peacemaker, decided to come up with a way to make us all happy. She built a toilet and put it on the side of the house in the backyard. For a 5 year old it was a pretty good little commode. It even had a place to put the toilet paper. Anna was so proud of herself. I didn't have the heart to tell her that technically they were still peeing in the rocks. You gotta give the girl credit for trying.

HO HO Holy Stuff in the Yard

Last Christmas I posted a blog about our neighbors and their rather "eclectic" taste in Christmas decorations. (Eclectic is a much nicer word than tacky don't you think?!) They have a little bit of everything and it's spread all over the yard. Plastic candles, blow up snowmen, an old wooden nativity scene (that is missing two of the wise men and baby Jesus), colored lights, candy canes, wreaths,....etc,.. The guy that lives there starts pulling things out of boxes about mid November. Every day he spends hours outside putting stuff up and at night the family sits in the driveway and sips cocoa while they admire his handiwork. Over the past few years the decorations have slowly made their way into the surrounding yards and the girls and I jokingly refer to it as the house with the "HO HO Holy stuff in the yard".

This summer those neighbors moved out. I didn't really think too much about it until Anna reminded me that there probably wouldn't be any HO HO Holy stuff in the yard this Christmas. That made me kind of sad. I mean it's become pretty much a holiday tradition around here and we actually look forward to seeing what new things might show up in the yard. In fact, we turned it into a game. "Who can guess what random Christmas decoration will show up next and where will it go?" I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to find some new form of holiday entertainment when who should come strolling up to our garage sale today, but our old neighbors. Turns out they just moved into another neighborhood down the road. So...I can still participate in one of my favorite holiday pastimes, but I don't have to drive by it every day on may home. GAME ON!

Setting the Record Straight

Apparently my post entitled "It's THAT Time of the Month" was the topic of conversation at a certain staff meeting the other day. My husband thinks that it was an unfair post and believes he was grossly misrepresented. So Ryan, I would like to offer my sincerest apologizes and set the record straight once and for all.

Blogging world...Ryan Jason Goebel is an amazing husband and is "almost always" willing to get whatever I need whenever I need it. In all fairness to him, it was THAT time of the month for me when I wrote the blog and my hormones were raging! Being bloated, having a headache, backache, cramps, water weight gain, irritability, food cravings, and mood swings is NO excuse for hanging up on him in the middle of our conversation or writing such an insensitive blog. It was both rude and uncalled for and I am truly sorry. It won't happen again (or at least not until next month).

Tool Box on a Shopping Cart

My last blog was about Anna and her wood shop project. This blog is all about Ryan and his new project. I like to call it
"Tool Box on a Shopping Cart". Mainly because that's what it is...a tool box on a shopping cart. (See the picture below.)


Here's the story. The other night on our bike ride, Ryan spotted an old shopping cart in a ditch. (It was probably left there by one of the homeless people who live in the canal under the bridge.) For some reason Ryan seems to find a lot of stuff in ditches. Once when we lived in Indiana, he found a tv in a ditch. He brought it home, fixed it up and to make a long story short, it's 10 years later and we are still using it. Anywhooo....today Ryan went and got the cart and brought it home. He spent most of the night in the garage "pimpin' his cart". It looks pretty amazing and you know what's even better? He got a smokin' deal on a tool box to go on top of the shopping cart he found in a ditch.


The Tool Box on a Shopping Cart isn't Ryan's only great invention. He just recently created something that makes life much easier for a soccer parent. However, it's TOP SECRET so I can't post a picture on here. Wouldn't want someone to steal his idea!

Like Father Like Daughter

Anna is definitely her father's daughter. She loves to build things and is always working on some kind of project. Other people's trash is Anna's treasure. Empty boxes, scraps of fabric, tape,...you name it....she'll find some way to use it.



This quarter she is taking Wood (wood shop) at school. She is building a locker for her soccer stuff. Ryan took her to buy the wood and helped her cut it tonight.



She can't wait to go to school tomorrow and start building!

She Scores

Kayla scored her first goal of the season today!!!!!! It was so exciting! The whole team rushed her after she scored and Courtney picked her up and swung her around! The girls won today 7-2 and are 6-0. Gooooooooo STARS!

The Pirate Who Didn't Give Kids Candy

On Halloween night, Ryan put on a pirate mask to answer the door for trick or treaters. He was cracking us up with his pirate routine. I tell you, those poor kids didn't know what they were in for when they rang our doorbell. At one point he got slammed with a whole group of trick or treaters at once. He was tying to keep in his pirate mode as he passed out candy and fended off the obnoxious kid that kept trying to get more than his share. Finally, the trick or treaters left and Ryan shut the door. A minute later there was a knock on the window and we heard this little voice say...."I didn't get my candy!". We laughed so hard. It was hysterical!

Theoretically Speaking

Anna's friend, Leigha, is staying with us this weekend while her parents are out of town. Today on the way to the soccer game Leigha was talking, and talking....AND TALKING about the Jonas Brothers. She is totally gaga over Nick Jonas. She didn't have a very appreciative audience because Anna, Kayla and Rachel think the Jonas Brothers are lame. That didn't stop Leigha though and she told the girls about her "theory". One day she will go to a Jonas Brothers concert, get to go backstage, meet Nick Jonas and they will fall madly in love. Kayla looked at her said, "Leigha, that is not a theory....It's a fantasy!"

Halloween Hijinks

Halloween was so much fun! The Clearys, the Crutchers, the Belks and the Warners came over along with a few assorted soccer friends. Ryan made chili and hotdogs, Aunt Amy planned some fun games, the kiddos went trick or treating and the Rachel Zoe wig got passed around. Here are some pics of our wild night.