Titans/49ers Game

We waited for years for the Titans to come back to California, and it finally happened! We took the boys to San Francisco on Sunday, November 8th, to watch our team play LIVE. We were all so excited! We ended up booking a room at the hotel where Coach and the players were staying so we could enjoy every possible moment with Coach. We knew he wouldn't have much time, considering he DID have a job to do, so we were grateful for every second he could spare. We were able to visit with him for a little over an hour Saturday evening before he had to go to his meetings. He's such an amazing man. It is such a privilege to know him.

After dinner Saturday night Wes and I sat in the lobby and watched as Cole and Angel greeted the Titans players as they came in and out of the hotel. We had so much fun watching their faces light up as they met the players, and even Coach Fisher. Angel was able to get a picture on his cell phone of him and Lendale White, one of his favorite players ever!

The next morning (game day) we met Coach for breakfast. Once again, we were so grateful that he took time out of his busy schedule to visit with us. After breakfast we headed to the Coliseum.

After breakfast in the hotel

Cole, Coach, and Angel

We went into the Coliseum as soon as the doors opened. We were able to make our way to the lower level, right by the field, on the Titans' side and immediately saw Coach. He came over and chatted with us for a few minutes and then headed off to do his job. We were amazed at how many Titans fans were in San Francisco! It was so comforting to be surrounded by fellow fans and not just people yelling obscenities every time they saw us in our Titans gear! While we were watching the players warm up we met a very nice couple (Ken and Sharyon) who live in the Bay Area, also decked out in Titans gear. They told us that they have a friend who works security at the Coliseum, and if they saw him then he was going to get them on the field. Soon enough, here came their buddy, Joe. They talked to Joe, who started to unhook the gate so they could go on the field. Ken then asked Joe, "Can they go with us?" and he pointed to us. Joe said, "Sure", so we headed down the steps to the field! SO COOL! There we were...in San Francisco...on the Titans' side watching OUR boys warm up!

Before we went on the field

Jevon Kearse shook Wes's hand...Wes couldn't believe how big his hands are!

Chris Johnson...what a STUD!

Coach with his players

Vince Young

The sun was so bright...there's a glare on Wes

As we stood there, taking it all in and taking pictures, somebody in a suit walked by and threw two NFL Equipment arm/sweat bands into a little inflatable helmet Angel was holding. Angel immediately put one on and gave the other one to Cole. Angel had his Lendale White #25 jersey on, and as soon as he made eye contact with Lendale he pointed to him, and Lendale pointed back to Angel. What a happy boy he was! We saw Coach as he was working with his players, but we didn't think he saw us. Apparently he did, though, because he grabbed one of the footballs from someone and came over to Cole and said, "Now we're even", as he put it in Cole's hands. What a special moment for Cole. Seven years ago Coach gave Angel a football, and now Cole was getting one. We had someone snap a quick picture of us with Coach on the field, gave him hugs, wished him good luck, and we started walking off the field.

On the field with Coach

THEN...as we were walking away, our backs to the field, I saw out of the corner of my eye someone was tapping Angel on the shoulder. I turned around and Lendale White was giving Angel his football gloves!!! I couldn't believe it. Lendale tracked Angel down...over the rope and through some people just to find Angel and give him his gloves!! What an amazing moment for Angel. He has barely taken those gloves off since that moment! He wore them throughout the entire game, the whole way home, slept with them on last night, took them to school, and played catch with Wes today. I'd say he is a pretty happy little guy!

AND...to top it all off...the Titans beat the 49ers in 49er territory...34-27!!! GO TITANS! What a wonderful and exciting weekend for the Abolds. The weather was beautiful and the memories are ones we will never forget!

Updates

WOW! Has it really been four months since I updated our blog? Believe me, it's NOT because we've had nothing going on. On the contrary, we have been VERY busy!

Angel finished his first year of youth football. What a stud! We are SO proud of him. His endurance and knowledge of the game is amazing. We were so thrilled to see him break through the line so many times and even sack the quarterback.

Here he is (#52) breaking through the line.

Cole is also doing amazing his senior year. He has scored three touchdowns so far. His team is in the play-offs this coming Friday...GO HONKERS! It's been a trying time (small town politics) for him, but we are proud of him for sticking it out and putting 110% into it. Way to go, Cole!

Cole (#5) running the ball

As for Wes and I, we are doing well. We are savoring every moment we have with Cole before he moves out into the real world! It's scary and exciting all at the same time. We are so blessed to have such amazing children.

Fort Bragg

We went to Fort Bragg for four days last week for a mini-vacation and to get Cole's senior pictures and our family pictures taken. It was absolutely beautiful! Tristan REALLY wanted to go for a ride in Cole's truck, so before we went to Fort Bragg (and before she went to her sister's house) Cole took her to the donut shop to get Wes's birthday donuts. She was SO happy!

The sunset on Wednesday

My Boys and Me

My Sweetie and Me

At the Beach

The three most important men in my life!

Wes's attempt at Skim Boarding

Here he goes....Heading for a nose dive. He was such a good sport about it!
Our vacation wouldn't be complete without a picture of Angel and his Titans Jersey

We should receive our family pictures and Cole's senior pictures soon. I can't wait to see how they turned out!

Fourth of July

We were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate the Fourth of July with my best friend, Yvette, and her two kids, Ryan (7) and Tristan (3). It had been over a year since we last saw them. Here are a few pictures from their visit.Tristan loved watching the fireworks, but she didn't like the loud noises.

Yvette and Di

I love this picture...That's Ryan and his sparkler

Cole and Tristan...so sweet!

Angel and Ryan hanging out

Sad Times

I'm feeling very sad right now because so many people we are connected to have died in the last three days. Wes's good buddy, Willard (82 years old) died this morning; a classmate of mine from high school, Dawn, died over the weekend; my old neighbor, Fred, died over the weekend; one of Wes's former youth football players, Cody (16) died of unknown causes over the weekend; and one of Cole's friend's dad died in a tragic tractor accident yesterday. With my niece's near-death accident last week added to all of this tragedy, I am so thankful for my friends and family, but am so sad for those around us who are dealing with pain and loss.

Baltimore!!

Wes, Cole, Angel, and I went to Baltimore from June 5th to June 10th to visit family. We had such a great visit. My nieces and nephews did not know we were coming. When we arrived at the airport my eldest nephew, William (who is my eldest brother's son), was walking with Grace (5) and Charity (3) by the baggage claim. I stooped down, stared at the girls, and said, "Hi". They just looked at me like I was an alien. I said, "What are YOU doing here?" and Gracie said, "We came here to play and watch the airplanes." I said, "But why do you think you are REALLY here?" and she said (in a very excited voice), "My mommy didn't tell me YOU were going to be here!" It was so cute. So, after MANY hugs and kisses, we got our luggage and headed off to Pizza Hut where my Mom, Dad, and Grandma were going to meet us for dinner. It was so great to see everyone...I just LOVE my little kiddos!

Grace Madison (5)
Charity Jade (3)

Dominick Rhys (2)
Kyle Xavier (9 months)

The next day we had a very relaxing day at the house. My brother, Stephen, William, and Wes put up the pool and the kids had fun splashing in it. It took pretty much all day to fill it up. We had a BBQ later that day and some more family came over.

Sunday afternoon we headed to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It is such a beautiful place...I just love being by the water. We spent some time at the ESPN Zone and the kids all had a blast playing the games. It is so fun to watch them play.
Monday was spent at the Baltimore Zoo. It was quite warm (and humid), but we had a great time. This was actually Angel's first time at a zoo. He's been to Marine World, but never to an actual zoo. I'm glad he got to experience it with his cousins.
Tuesday William, Wes, Cole, Angel, and I went to Philadelphia. The boys wanted to run "The Rocky Steps", which is actually the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We started off at the three Philadelphia Stadiums. It's really cool because all three stadiums are located right next to each other.

Then we went to "The Steps" where Angel ran them four times and Cole ran them twice. My boys are such Rocky fans...all three of them!

Then we headed off to Independence Hall for a little history lesson.

Our last day there we all went to the IMAX theatre to see "Up" in 3D. It was a great way to end our trip with the family.

Our trip home was quite eventful. Because of the bad weather, our plane didn't leave Baltimore until almost two hours after it was supposed to. SO...that meant we missed our connecting flight in Las Vegas. By the time we got to Vegas, all of the flights going to Oakland had left, so we had to get back on the flight we just got off of because it was heading to San Francisco. We landed in San Fran at midnight, gathered our luggage, then had to take a taxi to Oakland to pick up our car. It was a very expensive taxi ride...almost $100...but Southwest is supposed to reimburse us for it. We finally got home at 3:40am, yes, that's right...AM! Poor Wes...he's such a trooper when it comes to driving. We were in bed around 4am, and up at 9am. Needless to say, Wes took a LONG cat nap during the day because he was VERY tired!

We had such a wonderful time. It's always good to be home, but we miss the family! My four nieces and nephews hold such a special place in my heart!

This post wouldn't be complete without adding this picture of Uncle Wes and Dominick. It is one of my favorite pictures of all times!

I have MANY more pictures if you'd like to view them...go to http://aboldfamily.shutterfly.com/ for all 646 of them...or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118417&id=550901799&l=54f724fd47 for the condensed version (112 pictures) on my Facebook page.

Field Trip

I took my Journalism class (17 7th and 8th graders) on a field trip this past Friday and had a blast. We went to the IMAX theatre in Sacramento and saw "Under the Sea", spent an hour at the K Street Mall, and then headed to Roseville to Skatetown where they ice skated. They all did an amazing job. I thought about skating, but it has been so long since I have ice skated that I didn't want to hurt myself or embarrass myself too much. I told them that they would have no way of getting home if I got hurt, so I had to stay off the ice.

Anyway, then we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. 17 students and 4 adults made for quite a large group. So here's the kicker...apparently it was my birthday. Some of the students told the waitress that it was my birthday so after dinner they brought out a scoop of ice cream with a candle in it and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. Of course, it WASN'T my birthday. The students loved it! About 8 or 9 of them whipped out their cell phones and took pictures, video, etc. One of them was so "kind" to post it on YouTube. It's a fuzzy video, but you'll get the jist of it. They had a blast "punking" Mrs. Abold. I just love my job! Check it out if you want...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYKw0QQh0hc

Catching Up

So it's been a while since I've posted anything. We have been quite busy, as usual.

Cole attended his Junior Prom on May 2nd.

What a handsome young man! He looked so good in his tuxedo.

Cole and his best friend, Justin.

Cole and Angel

Cole and his cousin, Ashley

Cole and his date, Lindsey

They had such a great time. Cole's Aunt Stacey went to the restaurant where they were eating dinner and took some pictures of them there, too. One of the school counselors also showed up with some sparkling cider for them. He said he likes to go to the restaurants on Prom night and give the students a little treat.

MOTHER'S DAY

Unfortunately, Cole had to work on Mother's Day, so it was just Wes, Angel, and me at the lake. We had the lake to ourselves for over an hour...it was absolutely beautiful. Wes and I sat in the front of the boat most of the time and Angel chauffeured us. He loves driving the boat.

ANGEL'S 4TH GRADE PROJECTS

And finally...Angel is almost finished with his 4th grade year. His teacher had the students do three major projects this year, and Wes helped Angel with each of them. They do great work together.

Indian Homestead Project

California Missions Project

Pioneer Doll Project


I think both Wes AND Angel are ready for 4th grade projects to be over, but they had a great time doing them, and it was wonderful father/son bonding time!

Now that the school year is just about over, we are making plans for the summer. We will be heading to Baltimore to visit Di's family in two weeks. We are all looking forward to spending time with our four little munchkins and the rest of the family. It's not easy being 3,000 miles away from the ones you love!


Then, in July, we are going to Fort Bragg to get Cole's senior pictures and our family pictures taken. It's hard to believe it's already time for Cole's senior year. Oh my word! This next year is going to fly by! Cole has been working hard at one of the local grocery stores, as well as maintaining over a 3.0 GPA. We are so proud of him and how dedicated he is. He wants to get into the welding program at the local community college after graduation. They have an outstanding program that also has job connections with PG & E for some of their graduates. Cole loves to work with his hands, so Wes and I are encouraging him to do this.

We are so blessed to have two amazing boys. God truly has blessed us with a wonderful family.