BUTTERWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY

Hello readers of The Butter Blog! I know that not many of you viewers read this anymore, because I have not posted on this page in so long. I had to take a break from this blog so I could have enough time for school as well as my club soccer. However, I have just recently started a new website called Butterworth Photography! This is a site that is similiar to The Butter Blog, but rather than posting a multi-paragraph description on what my family's past week has held, I post only pictures from the important events of my family. I post many pictures throughout the month, and I would HIGHLY ENCOURAGE everyone who is reading this to go view my new website by CLICKING RIGHT HERE! This website has a very sleek interface, whether it is on your mobile device or your desktop computer. By viewing on your computer or tablet however, you will experience animations from the pictures where they will move around and adjust to the pace that you are scrolling at! Thank you for always being sure to keep up with my family, and if you would like to continue doing so then please click on the link above or in the blog's description. Happy viewing!     Sincerely, Jason Butterworth

Summary Of February

Collin

Hello readers of TBB! I apologize for not being able to publish this post earlier, but I acquired yet another soccer injury in my last game, and I now have a deep bone contusion in my left shoulder. It has just been fairly difficult to type on a keyboard lately, but after multiple physical therapy sessions, I have gotten much better. I wanted to give all of you guys a summary of this last month, which has been quite eventful, believe it or not. To start off, my dad got a few more tickets to the Arizona/Washington college basketball game down in Tuscon! I was really excited because this year my brother Collin got to come with us too, unlike last time (see my older post). Arizona won the game, and it was an enjoyable day where we also got to stroll around the U of A campus afterwards. Valentines Day also arrived sooner than later, and it was a little more interesting than most years. My dad, Collin (see picture on the right), and I went to go pick up Italian food at a nearby restaurant and waited in the to-go line for nealy an hour. My parents got really annoyed and wrote an interesting review on the internet later! February also held the twenty-first anniversary of mine and Collin's parents, and they went out to dinner and had a good time. Overall, February was a huge success for our family, and we already have more awesome plans for the upcoming weeks. I hope to be able to publish my next post on time in the coming week, and I would like to thank all of my readers for sticking with the blog after this stretch of time. Thanks for reading and continue to tune in next week on TBB! 

Mom and dad

Makeup post (Due to sickness)

Hello readers of TBB! For the last few days I have been pretty sick and not able to publish my weekly post. Luckily, there have not been any spectacular events in the last week that are necessary to type about. Collin as well as myself, is  still going to his soccer on the weekends and school on the week days. Besides that, things have been the same as every normal week. I am sure that I will be better by the upcoming weekend and hope to publish my next post by then. Until then, thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB.

One Year Anniversary!!!

Hello everyone! To add on to the excitement of the holidays, I would like to make aware the fact that this is the one year anniversary of The Butter Blog! Over the past year, The Butter Blog has been viewed in ELEVEN COUNTRIES, including France, Portugal, Russia, and more! While accomplishing this, The Butter Blog has racked up nearly TWO THOUSAND page views, which is a major achievement! Thank you to all my viewers for sticking with The Butter Blog, and as always, tune in next week on TBB!

Christmas 2016-New Years 2017 pictures

Ever since my brother and I have been let out of school, things have just been a blur. Between preparing for Christmas all through the week to Christmas Eve mass, there was a lot of stuff going on. Even after Christmas day, there was still the party that we had with my dad's side of the family the next day. Things started to calm down in the next couple of days and before we knew it, it was New Year's Eve. We got to go see a movie and eat out somewhere which was also a blast! Then the schedule started to go back to normal and in what seemed like no time, my brother was back at school. The last week of break, I had been working on the poster board that I had to finish for project week, and it started to look gloomy for me when my last weekend of break came. I also had a school soccer game where my team beat Scottsdale Prep 6-5 and I scored four goals! However, the break is finally over, and I go back to school tomorrow. I wanted to share some of the best pictures that we have from this Winter Break so that you viewers can get an idea of what it was like over the past couple of weeks for my family. Enjoy!

Mom's side of the family

Every family dog!

Xmas present game

Bobbing for candy canes championship!

Dad's side of the family

School soccer victory

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE BUTTERS!

Christmas decorating, lots of soccer, injuries, and beginning Winter break!

There have been many things going on during the past couple of weeks, and it started with finally putting up our Christmas decorations. We also decorated the tree, but it was the first time that we had used it and we did not realize how big it was at first. It goes all the way up to the ceiling and we could barely fit the star on top. We had to get out a step stool and I eventually climbed up to put the top ornaments on. Mom went out and bought a couple of new decorations, including a new stocking holder since we do not have a fireplace.

 There were also a lot of soccer games that weekend which contained a middle school game on top of the club tournament that I had. I actually scored a goal during my school game and then another one from outside the box during my club game that was right after it! The next week was the last week for Collin and I before Winter break! I had half days throughout the week though and his were regular. The first two days for me were mostly for studying and then the next three days were my mid-term finals. I also get to have an extra week off for "project week" after Christmas. This year we are supposed to read a relatively large book that was assigned to us from Life Science class and then we have to pick a topic that the teacher gives us and make a poster board out of it. I got my book in the mail the day that school ended and started reading it, and I am already half way through it.

 I also had a club game on Thursday that week but we were playing down with only ten men. However, right before the first half ended, I pulled my hamstring really bad and I could not play. I also had to sit out my school game that I had the next day as well as the second club game that I had the day after that.

 There were no games on Sunday though, and Collin, mom, my grandma and I went go see this Christmas show called the "Celebration of Christmas". It was pretty good and all of the people that performed in it were very talented! It was about two hours long and then after we went out to eat before we went back home.

 Overall, it was very entertaining and hopefully we will go next year too! My grandma's favorite part was when they brought in these two camels during the Bethlehem scene and also when there was a horse that was dragging Santa's sleigh. Now we have Christmas to look forward to, and no school for two whole weeks! Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB! 

Before

After

Beau's fourth birthday, first GP soccer game, mom's absence.

This week was pretty bland, but there were a few points that were definitely worth mentioning! First off was that our dog Beau had his fourth birthday this past Monday! He got a couple of cool birthday presents, which contained a dog bone and a red rubber ring, and he also got some really good food from the dinner that we had that night. Afterwards, he laid down with all the toys he had and started playing with all of them. There were so many of them that he did not know which one to start biting next!

 The next event the week contained was that my school soccer team had its first game this week. We played against Anthem Prep, and they were the home team so we got to get out of school forty five minutes early. That was the good part, but once the actual game got started, it was not very fun. We lost 6-1, but I think that the game was a lot closer than the score indicated. Our goalie is not very good, and he does not even know the rules. For instance: If your own team member plays it back to you with their feet, you are not allowed to pick it up. However, they can pick it up if the teammate heads it back to you, which he did not know. He tried to hit it off of his knee and he barely got it out of the goal. If we had a better goalie, I think it would have been a closer game, and NO I am not just blaming the goalie. Our team still has a lot to work on.

 The next day, mom actually left in the morning after Collin and I went to school to head to California for her friend's birthday. This is the second year in a row, so I tink it is going to become a tradition. It was actually the same friend that she saw during our last Spring break (on day five) and she is going to come back this next Monday. In the meantime, it was just my dad, Collin, and I. I think it went surprisingly smooth, but I did not really know what to expect.

 After Collin's soccer on Sunday, he went to run some errands with Isabelle while my dad and I started to get down the Christmas boxes from the attic. This is also the first year that we are using the big artificial tree that we got right after Christmas last year. This is a lot harder to set up and it also takes up a lot of space. One more thing. After taking off the covering of it, we noticed something that is kind of bad, which is that we are missing the top pointy part of the tree. It still had about two feet higher to go, but we had no idea where that piece was, so we are going to have to look for that later!

 Our grandparents went to dinner with us that night, which wrapped up our weekend by the time that we got home. The week really got a lot busier as it went on, and we are going to have even more things next week! Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB!

Mom with Beau on his birthday

Thanksgiving (and then some)

Thanksgiving was this week, which means that mine and Collin's school week was shortened! We had Thursday and Friday off, and I had a half day on Wednesday! Thanksgiving was at my grandparents this year like usual, and it was mayhem like usual! My Aunt Kristen drove in from California the day before with her two dogs, and my other grandparents came from Prescott with their dog named Hank, who is full of energy! Their was also my cousins and my aunt and uncle.

 Everyone was there by about three, and there were a lot of things going on. There was a total of six dogs that were running everywhere, people were all in groups talking to one another, and my grandma was still busy finishing cooking some of the food! (She let me help cook one of the desserts!) We took all of our family photos outside in the backyard (which was a chore), and after a little while it was time to eat. The turkey was delicious, along with all of the side dishes such as the mashed potatoes and the corn. After everyone was full, there was more socializing until dessert came, which was also very filling! Eventually, everyone went home after a long day of eating.

 Despite the fact that this was the biggest event of the long weekend, there was still much more to come. The next day was black Friday, and we got to go see a new movie at AMC, which was very enjoyable! That took up most of the morning, and in the afternoon, my mom and I did some Christmas shopping. It took us a while to find what we were looking for though, and we had to go to three different stores until we found it!

 On Saturday, I went with my mom again to the farmers market while Collin was in physical therapy. He actually got to got to watch Isabelle's friend's band play after, which he had a lot of fun at! My mom and I were at the farmers market for about an hour, and then we were able to go to the pizza place that was right next to it called Grimaldi's for a quick lunch! At the end of the day, my aunt and uncle came over with my cousins, along with my Aunt Kristen to have dinner. We just had some burgers and talked, which was fun to do even though we just had Thanksgiving dinner!

The dogs at Thanksgiving!

 On Sunday, my mom went out with my grandma and Aunt Kristen for brunch, and then they went shopping for a LONG time. Collin, my dad, and I ran a lot of errands while they were gone, but when we got back, my mom still was not home. After we got back though, we mostly just rested! When it looked like the day was almost over, my mom called my dad and she said that we could go out to eat at Babbo's with my grandparents and aunt before she went back to California! While we were there, it actually started pouring and my grandpa and I had to pull up the car for everyone else because it was coming down so hard! We had a really fun time while we were there, and by the time that was over, so was the day! Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB!

At brunch

GP soccer tryouts, shopping, athletic field day, and... Thanksgiving?

A lot has happened in the last two weeks, and it started with school soccer tryouts. There were only going to be two of them, and practices were on Tuesday and Thursday. Unfortunately, the coach that the school found cancelled the day before the first tryout, so the athletic director showed up with the coach of the high school team, and they just had us do these very basic drills and then scrimmage at the end.

 Even though I did not think it could get much worse because the athletic director knew nothing about soccer, it did. They had found a coach to come out and see who should be on the A Team or the B Team. He had a very strong accent and you could barely understand him, and he seemed to have this vision that we were all star soccer players. For example: he put us in a very small area and split us up into teams, then told us that we needed to play two touch possession when some kids can barely make a pass. He also said that if you can not juggle the ball 20 times in a row, you should not be on the A Team. I got to 82, and the kid next to me tried to brag to the coach that he beat his record and got 6.

 Another problem is that most of the kids are really out of shape. After playing on a club team with kids that are two years older than me, I usually come in last place on things like sprints or field runs. Now, I am running with kids that are about my age and do not even play sports, so I get to come in first every time! Same with strength. When the coach told us to do twenty push ups, one kid was panting when he got to three. It was pretty pathetic. Long story short, I got on the A Team with a few of the other seventh graders, sixth graders, and a couple of the eight graders.

 The next thing that happened this week was that my mom decided that we needed to have our own Thanksgiving dinner before the real Thanksgiving with the rest of the family. We had the turkey, cranberry sauce mashed potatoes and gravy, on top of everything else. It did feel a bit odd having all of this two weeks before actual Thanksgiving, but we went with it. The next weekend, we had a soccer tournament that my team actually came first place in! We went undefeated, with three wins and a draw!

 The next week did not hold as much excitement, but my school had athletic field day on Friday! They create random groups with kids from every grade from sixth to twelfth, which is not as fun as it may sound. After school though, my friend came home with me and had dinner with us, which was a fun surprise because neither of us knew that it was going to happen until right after school. The weekend held a few events, such as how I had to help out the Anthem team again (see this earlier post!), which was really easy. My friend from my club team also helped out which made it more enjoyable.

 On Sunday, nothing happened in the morning but we went to Collin's soccer after lunch. I had missed the last game because I was at my soccer tournament, but there were two new kids there that had joined the team when I was gone. They seemed to have enjoyed the first week of soccer so much that they came back this week with new Adidas flats! After, Collin went home with Isabelle and my dad and I went to the mall to look for things to ask for for Christmas.

 I thought it was early, but mom said she needed to tell people what I wanted for Christmas when they asked. First, we went to Soccer Post, which is a family run soccer store where I was going to look for new shin guards. Turns out, they are closed on Sunday! When we went to the mall, there were all sorts of cool things to get. I found a pair of Nike running shoes that were made of flynit, a decently priced drone at the remote control store, and a penny board in the skate shop! Unfortunately, we had to end the day with going to Macy's to buy jeans. (Boring).

 We went home to eat dinner after that, and then rested up for another school/work week. (Which will be shortened due to Thanksgiving!) Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB!

Halloween, volunteering for soccer teams, and classical concerts

This was a very eventful week, and it started early on Monday, which was Halloween. Instead of going out to get candy this year, I set up a table with candy on the edge of the cul de sac that we live in. Hardly anybody comes over to our house on Halloween since we live in the corner of the neighborhood, so I thought we should do something about it!

 Surprisingly, a lot of people came over to the stand, some of which I thought should not be trick or treating anymore. In fact, the very first customers that walked by were two seniors that went to Sunrise Mountain, which is the high school right outside the neighborhood. They were not exactly dressed up though. One of them was wearing a horse mask, while the other one was just wearing regular clothes! The stand was up for a few hours, but eventually, we took it inside since everyone had gone back to their houses.

 The next event that happened that week was not even an event at all. We were driving up to the Thursday soccer practice that is all the way out in Scottsdale, and when we were less than five minutes away they canceled it due to rain. I did not thinking that it was raining too hard on the drive there, but admittedly, it did start to came down when we got back on the freeway going home. Our last soccer game of the season was on Saturday, but we lost in that one just like our other few games that we had. We had actually been playing very well in the last three weeks, and tied our last game, but we fell apart in the last game for some reason.

 It looked like it was going to be a normal day after that, but I actually had to help out another team later that day in Anthem! The only reason that we are affiliated with the team is because our team manager knows the coach and he does not even have enough players to play in his games! I did not know what to expect, but by the time the next game started, I knew why they needed more players. The kids were not very good, and just ran around the field not staying in their positions at all. The coach made it look like he had a plan, but I was very confused by him. He told me to go in for center midfield five times, and then when I ran out on the field he yelled back at me, "Remember, you're playing left midfield!!" After being on the field for a few minutes, I just started playing center mid because no one was playing their position anyways. We ended up losing that game as well, but at least that did not concern me that much.

 Sunday morning did not have much going on and was a good opportunity to rest, but by three o'clock I was going to go to a classical concert with my friend because we had to fill out a paper for my music class. The players were actually really good, and it was fun to listen to. After we got to get something to eat while we were still downtown. We were going to go to a pizza place, but it ended up being closed on Sunday. Instead, we went to a place that was just called "The Duce", which had ping pong, corn hole, and other games. After we ate there, we went back home and took showers before going to bed to get rested for the next big week. Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB! 

(I am not standing in this picture!)