Presley's Transition to Spring Sports

This spring, Presley played hockey with the Ice Cougars as well as kicked off the official soccer season with U13 C1+ team with the Eden Prairie Soccer Club. Presley's hockey team had two tournaments this spring. Both tournaments included fun team gatherings (for parents and girls) and the girls took home the championship for the Minnesota Meltdown.



Presley's soccer season started a bit slower. She had a foot injury that we had a challenging diagnosing and sidelined her for about a month until we started physical therapy. There was also a big transition to her team as they transitioned from school years to birth years for the teams. Her U13 team is now coached by the high school varsity coach and Presley will be the team's lead goalie. The season will continue through the summer.

April Updates - Easter & Friends

After Ron's cancer treatment ended on April 7th, he slowly started to get reconnected. The week after his treatment, his colleague and friend Greg came for a visit. Our family had a nice visit with Greg, which included puzzles and Easter egg decorating.



Ron also had the opportunity to join is University of MN Cemba classmates for a 15 year reunion (Wow!) at a local brewery. His group was the only with a full showing! Fun event for Ron.

Spring Break "Staycation"

Because Ron's radiation treatment continued through April 7th, we had to cancel our spring break for 2017. While this was extremely disappointing for us, we also knew that we all wanted to be together for Ron's last week of treatment, the toughest time, and also be together to celebrate the end of treatment. The kids kept busy during the week with sports practices. Canyon had high school baseball and High Performance hockey practices during the week while Presley had practices with her 12U Ice Cougars hockey team (and was nursing a stress fracture on her left foot). We tried to incorporate a couple of staycation activities, which included a cultural experience to see the MN Rollergirls with some friends and an outing for the Twins home opener against the Kansas City Royals. And then on Friday, we all drove to Mayo for Ron's last radiation treatment. Yeah!!! Let the recovery begin!

MN Rollergirls Night Out...


Twins Home Opener...


Last Day of Radiation Treatment...

Canyon Gets a Buzz Cut

Canyon made a best with one of his hockey buddies this hockey season. Whoever lost the bet had to get a buzz cut. The bet got a lot of buzz throughout the hockey community. I learned about this bet from many other parents (parents that were not even on our hockey team) who could't believe that Canyon would make such a bet because he hadn't had "short" hair since he was a toddler. Canyon was the unfortunate loser of this bet. Right before spring break, Canyon followed through on his end of the deal, and got all of his hair shaved off. It actually looks pretty good and I was proud of his follow through.

Before...


During...


After...

Bantam AA State Tournament 2017

The Eden Prairie Bantam AA travelled to Marshall, MN to play in the state tournament with the other top 7 teams in the state. This is a big deal with all the games being televised, an opening ceremony banquet, and brand new gear (always a big deal for the boys). The boys first match up was against Blaine, a team we had beaten two other times during the regular season. This game was an epic battle that ended in a tie after 3 periods and then went into a state history making 6 full overtimes (10 minutes each). Unfortunately, Eden Prairie ended on the losing side of that battle but I was so proud of how Canyon and his team played. It was such an amazing experience, regardless of the final score on the scoresheet. Great season boys!









Another highlight was running into a friend from the Edina Bantam A team that was also playing in the state tournament. One of the dad's on that team was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. In support of that dad and all those fighting cancer, the boys got special state jersey's to show their support. Ron was so touched to find out that our friend's son, Cy, had Ron's initials put on his jersey. Super cool!

Ron is Well Loved

While cancer sucks, it also has some highs when you see the love of friends and family that come out to show you support. We were blessed throughout this process with gifts, meal trains, and out of town visitors that came out to show Ron and our family how much they love us and our praying for us. It will be impossible to thank everyone but we were forever grateful.

District Tournament Results

We arrived home back from Mexico to see the last games of the kids' region tournament. Canyon's team was lucky to place 2nd in regions and earn a spot to the state tournament with the top 8 teams in the state. Presley's team had a good run at regions but unfortunately did not make it to state. This was also the week Ron started his radiation treatment so he was not able to travel to one of his industry's biggest conferences. His colleagues and other industry leaders came out in full force to support him with Rocking for Red Cooler Ron wristbands and a dedication from Jim Belushi on his road to recovery.