Jullien Turns 21 Today!

My little boy man is 21 today, and is celebrating in Paris right now. He left on a two month trip to work/model with his agencies in Europe. He traveled to Germany and Spain already and is now in Paris and will end up in London before heading back to New York. So unfortunately I'm not able to celebrate this momentous occasion with him.

Jullien has always been my tenacious kid. He was born two weeks early and when he was not quite a year old we moved from California to Utah to be close to my family. Just as we arrived he became very sick and listless. We rushed him to the ER and it turned out he had pneumonia. It was really scary and we weren't sure if he was going to pull through; little did I know way back then...I had a little fighter on my hands (in more ways than one!) Luckily he came through it with only slight lingering lung weakness that appears whenever he gets the cold or flu (it drops straight to his lungs.)

Jullien was always a skinny, lanky kid but had a huge attitude to compensate. He would stand up to anyone who came at him or his brothers, his friends, or someone who was getting picked on. This served him well in sports. He was really talented at football, baseball, basketball, surfing and volleyballl. He had a never quit, never let anyone get you down or tell you that you can't do something attitude. He would push through any obstacle like a bulldozer. No one was going to hold him back from something he wanted or wanted to achieve.

During his Senior year he started at safety but was moved up to linebacker for Edison High School. He didn't look like your typical linebacker, but he hit like a freight train. No one could ever understand how he had so much strength. During one of Edison's practices, Jullien kept getting by one of the huge lineman and sacking the quarterback. The coaches began to yell at the kid for being unable to stop Jullien. After about the third or fourth time of getting beat, the 250+ lb kid charged Jullien after the play was over hitting him from behind and knocking him to the ground. Jullien...all 130 lbs of him went crazy on the kid, flipping him over and ended up on top of him punching him. They finally had to pull Jullien off the kid. He definitely earned the respect of the players and coaches and proved that the size of the player doesn't necessarily matter, it's what's on the inside that's important. I think that's when the coaches decided to move him from safety up to linebacker.

Jullien has applied that same perseverance to everything he does. I can honestly say that I admire his fearlessness; his ability to charge at an obstacle and conquer whatever is in front of him. I've been so blessed to have such a wonderful son who has not only a big personality but an even bigger heart!! So today on his 21st birthday...I've posted 21 pictures of my boy throughout the years. I want him to know how proud I am of him and how much I love him. Happy Birthday Jujy!! I love you and am so blessed call myself your mom.
Never stop chasing your dreams!!

 YOU"RE 21 WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edison vs. Mater Dei

Elijah Herrera # 9~Sacking Villa Park H.S. QB

Tonight's BIG high school football match up against the two undefeated schools Edison (green/gold) & Mater Dei (white/red) begins at 7:00 pm tonight. It will be a battle. I'm so proud of my son #9 Elijah Herrera. He's been having an amazing season so far (Outside Linebacker/Running Back & Team Captain). The game will be on IBN Sports live stream...be sure to tune in & cheer for Edison & my son, #9. It's going to be a good one! LET'S GO EDISON CHARGER'S! TEAMWORK!! Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ibnsportsnetwork/featured?v=93rTBQKbN_c

Edison Beats Villa Park!

Elijah Herrera (OLB) takes down Meki Tafuna-ouch!

OC Varsity interview after the game

I wanted to give you a quick update on last weeks game: Edison vs. Villa Park. It was the first time we'd ever played them. Since our league (Sunset League) has been moved to a new CIF Division this year we got a little preview into the type of teams we'll be seeing in the playoffs.

We won...27-7! Our defense played AMAZING and held Villa Park's top running back, Meki Tafuna to only 64 yards the entire game.

This basically shut down their offense as they are a running team. Our offense is still working on a few kinks but once they get ironed out...we will be unstoppable. It's only a matter of time and we're looking for that timing to fall into place this week against Servite.

Elijah played incredible defense (outside linebacker)...he's been so fired up to have the best Senior season. Most of these boys have been playing together since they were 5 years old so there is such a since of "family" on the team. They never want to let their "brother" down. Each and every boy on the team is giving 100+%. With that kind of determination...they will be unstoppable! A lot of teams have talent, but to have talent in addition to a bond, determination, never quit, never give up, never let your brother down attitude will propel these boys to the best season Edison has ever seen.

Watch this short highlight video from OC Varsity about the game & they interviewed Elijah again. You can tell he was pretty fired up right after the game!
 

Next up: Edison vs. Servite- Friday, 9/14/12 @ 7:00 pm. LET'S GO CHARGERS!!!  This is your year. Make the best of each and every moment!!

When Opportunity Knocks

On Friday night, Elijah Herrera (#9) had his Varsity football game against, Dana Hills High School. He plays Linebacker & rotates in at running back for the Edison Chargers. He didn't get very many offensive rotations in the first half of the game, but played Linebacker the entire 1st half & did great on Defense. We had a 6 point lead (13-7) heading into half-time, which is a little too close for comfort.

Elijah #9 Linebacker- you can find him by his self designed bright yellow Nike cleats!

Making the tackle!

At the start of the second half, Elijah was put into the position as the main running back, when the starter became injured. He didn't waste the opportunity. He quickly took, hand off-after hand off, 10 yards at a time, moving the ball down to the end zone, breaking tackles to finally score on a 40 yard touchdown run.

Waiting for the hand-off

In life, we each have moments of opportunities. Things that seem to fall into our laps. We can run from them in fear and doubt, or we can choose to face it head on.

I'm so proud of Elijah, he stepped up, never fearing that he wouldn't be good enough. He was ready and he made the most of his opportunity. He had 10 carries and ran for 103 yards. Propelling our offense to a huge victory, 34-13.  

Elijah's (#9) break away 40 yd. touchdown run

He was interviewed by a reporter for the newspaper after the game. He ended the interview by humbly saying, "The offensive line did an excellent job tonight."

 Giving them credit, knowing that without the lineman blocking for him...his accomplishments wouldn't have been possible. I'm so proud of him! His hard work, dedication & trust in the Lord helped him step up, 'When Opportunity Knocked.'

K, Really?

Yesterday felt like I was in the movie, "Groundhog Day." After I got off work at 1:00p.m., I raced around, ordered the wrist corsage for Elijah's date tomorrow night (Homecoming Dance). I had to get candy & a Starbuck's gift card for the cheerleader who was postering our house for the football game tonight, and get my dogs pills (she has a leaking problem & the pills really help), then be at the football field at 3:00 p.m. for the JV game (I'm the team photographer).

My son played AMAZING! We won 13-12...whew! They put him at running back for the second time & he was unstoppable. He also played defense (linebacker) so he was pretty wiped out after playing both ways for 2 hours. Guess that'll explain the next part of my day.

I took him back to the school to get his stuff after the game. Then rushed home to be there when the cheerleader arrived. Then Elijah says, "Oh no, I think I left my mouth piece sitting on the bench in the locker room. We jumped in the car and went back to the school. He had actually put it away. Then we raced back home because the cheerleader was there, gave her the candy/gift card & took pictures in front of the poster she put up on our garage.


THEN...Elijah says, "I can't find my varsity jersey! (he's supposed to wear it to school & the game on Friday) I think I left it out because it's not in my room!"

I got back in the car & went to the school for the 3rd time! It wasn't there & he was stressing all night, (today at school he said one of the coaches found it & picked it up for him...lucky!)

What a day! Have you ever had a Groundhog Day?

Weekend Wipeout

This has been a crazy, busy week. Let's see, first off Elijah got nominated for Freshman Homecoming Prince. They nominated five boys and five girls...they find out sometime next week who wins. We had two football games back to back yesterday. Elijah had an awesome game and had a key interception at the end of the game. He played both ways (linebacker & tight end). Even though we were winning...they were driving and we were struggling to stop them.The interception kind of took the wind out of their sails. We ended up winning the Freshman and Varsity game against Dana Hills High School.

We had Adam's J.V. game today...he played really good and is getting a lot of playing time at wide receiver and on special teams...they won also. We had a parent/son night last week for the J.V. & Varsity players. They had us walk on the field, the dad's wore their sons away jersey's, which was pretty funny to see some dad's trying to squeeze into it and then suck in their guts trying to look buff and slim. They announced the parents names and then took pictures and the boys handed the mom's a flower.


Tonight we have a birthday party to go to for my bosses 60th birthday. I was going to dye my roots tonight, but I forgot that I threw away my last container and brush. So it looks like I'm going to the party looking ghetto. I also have to go out and find something to wear. I have a closet full of clothes that I hate. I need to stop being such a pack rat and just get rid of them. I don't know why I find it so hard...I always start to go through the stuff and then say, "Oh, I can't get rid of this, I'm sure I will be able to wear it again somewhere." It's a definite problem!

I'm wiped out and my weekends just beginning.