XC

Nick has been busy.

He elected to join the cross country team this year.  It keeps him so busy he's had to choose between that and a few other things, like EVYS, drama club, and even Tuesday night mutual activities.

But it's been good for him.  He's making new friends.  I think it's great to see him branching out and looking elsewhere for friends.  They seem to be a close-knit group and a really great bunch of kids.  I'll get to see more tomorrow night when I help out a their weekly pasta party  to help them  "carb-up" for their big race every Wednesday. 

I'm impressed with the coaches as well.  They seem to really care about the kids. 

 Nick seems to love it.  Personally I am perplexed as to how anybody can love running in 100+ degree weather.  I've never cared much for running at all, and to do it when it is miserably hot outside seems like my own personal hell, but Nick says he enjoys it.  So, you know, power to him and all.  But although I may not understand it, I am still proud of his him and the hard work he puts into it, and am happy to support him. 

anthropology

Growing up in my home nobody ever watched sports. With the exception of the occasional Super Bowl game or the big BYU-Utah game. And seriously, that was it.

That's how come when I was seventeen years old, working as the office intern at a Country Club, when the other ladies in the office were all giddy about the fact that Steve Young was going to be at the club participating in a charity golf tournament, I said, "Steve Young? Who's that?"

I got quite an education that day. That was the summer of '93, so Mr. Young was still the head quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. He also used to play for BYU where he got is law degree cause he's super smart, he's LDS, famous, rich, really good looking, and SINGLE. In other words, he was at the top of the Mormon Most Eligible Bachelor list.

Being the youngest girl in the office, I was nominated to walk out onto the golf course where he was teeing off and get his autograph for myself and all the other ladies in the office.

I had it framed, and at one point that autograph occupied a place of honor on my bedroom wall, (it's that framed picture on the bottom left hand side.)

but I think has spent the past decade and a half in a closet or box or something.

Until tonight.

I decided I needed to dust it off and present it to my first born. I have a very small hope it will give him some sort of street cred with his friends or else at least maybe inspire him to not be so ignorant when it comes to sports.

I realize Nick isn't into sports, and personally I could care less, but I think he should try and at least bridge the gap between him and other boys his own age. I told him he doesn't have to watch football and love it (and who knows, maybe if he understands it, he might) but at least stop saying things like "Who are they?" when someone mentions the Miami Dolphins. Or the Denver Broncos. Or the Green Bay Packers. Or the Dallas Cowboys. (to name a very few)

Other sports centered discussions in our home have also included conversations on what "NFL" stands for, and the fact that the Suns won't be playing the the SuperBowl anytime soon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of my little geek, but I just think having a basic understanding of what other teenage boys are interested in wouldn't be a bad thing.

Learning to love baseball

Last Saturday after Zach's baseball game, he came running up to us, "Mom! Dad! Look! I got the game ball!" Sure enough, in his hand was a slightly used baseball with Zach's name and the date on it.

Why exactly the coach picked him over any of the other boys that Saturday, I don't know. Zach worked hard and even scored a run.

But so did some of the other boys.

I don't know what exactly the coach looks for each week when he hands out the game ball, but he must have seen something.

Let me tell you what I saw-

I saw my little boy have fun and do his best.

I saw his coaches teach and encourage.

We are loving this team Zach is on right now.

One day while talking to the wife of the coach, she was telling me about a conversation with her husband. He was telling her how it was his goal to have the boys learn to love baseball. He wanted it to be a positive experience in every way. Maybe they wouldn't win every game, but he sure as heck wanted them to have fun, develop some skills, understand the game, and hopefully have some successes along the way.

What I didn't expect was that I was going to slowly but surely learn to love the game along with my son. I might not be buying season tickets to the Diamondbacks any time soon, (but maybe a game here and there) but there's something pretty special about cheering on your favorite little player on your favorite Little League team.

John's Famous

This picture ran in the Utah based newspaper The Deseret News a week ago. John got to attend the BYU game in Dallas Texas last Saturday. -At the brand spankin' new Dallas Cowboys stadium. They played (and won) against the University of Oklahoma. He's the guy standing up in the blue shirt with half his head cut off. Also pictured are John's sister and her family. (At least parts of them) most of their faces are cut off.

second verse, same as the first...

So, uh, we didn't end up signing him up for football. Apparently he's not acclimating as well to jr. high as we had previously thought. He still needs more time to figure things out (like turning in his assignments).

While it feels like I'm punishing him, I explained that I can't in good conscience sign him up for something that would take up a good chunk of his spare time and energy when he's still struggling with what he already has on his plate.

(big sigh...)

Who woulda thunk?

Nick came home yesterday and announced he wanted to sign up for the flag football team at his jr. high. (It's a non-cut sport, meaning anyone who wants to play can.)

I didn't even know he had the slightest interest in football.

I'm proud of him for going out of his comfort zone. I hope he has a lot of fun.

What I'm not thrilled about is the 6 am practices. John can take him when he's in town, but when he's not I will have to get my sorry tail out of bed extra early, leave all my other kids sleeping in theirs, to get him to practice on time.

Wish both of us luck.

John's trip

Before I begin, John had strict instructions to "take lots of pictures". I wanted to feel like I was there because I had looked at so many pictures. I gave him my camera (which I appropriated when my other one died- RIP) and deleted a lot of the garbagey pictures off the memory card so he had over a Gig of memory to work with, and then repeated myself several times- "LOTS OF PICTURES". He took 57 (I counted) I was a little bit disappointed, but it could have been a lot worse.

Also I would just like to put it out there that no, John did not visit the very famous Red Light District, or purchase anything from a "Coffee Shop". Some lady at work yesterday actually threw something at John when he told her that he did not partake in "the best parts" of Amsterdam.

He did however, take some pictures of Tulips, (they are in the peak of their season right now, and one of my very favorite flowers)

Travel the city by boat on the many canals,
Take pictures of a "typical scene in Amsterdam"
Eat fries with mayo,Visit the Anne Frank House, he doesn't have a picture of that, but this is the church bell tower she could hear outside her room-Toured the Rijksmuseum (national museum featuring Rembrandt) and tried to visit the Van Gogh museum but it was closed. From there he went to London where John went some time shopping at Harrods-
Saw the Princess Diana memorial-
found a replacement for the Foosball table we threw out a few months ago. Yes, that's a Swarovski Football table for 80,000 British pounds. (Roughly $100,000 USD)
bought me some chocolate,
teased me with the front window display of a pastry shop,
Took pictures of places he wouldn't mind visiting should he ever return like The Natural History Museum-
And the guy who Founded Boy Scouts-
Then went and caught a really nasty cold while waiting outside to get into Wembley Stadium (A big Soccer Stadium, or as the rest of the world calls it- Football)
He was hoping to catch a Manchester United game (his favorite team) but they were having the preliminaries for the World Cup, so he just had to watch England beat Croatia. (He did get to see his favorite player from Manchester United score two goals, and David Beckham had a "really awesome assist")

Then just because he was having too much fun, he ended the trip by getting lost in the streets of London for over an hour. (But obviously made it home okay)

My Little Muckdog

Zach had his very first ever t-ball game today. Actually it was the very first t-ball game any of my kids have ever had. He is on a little team with other 5 and 6 year olds, many of them are kids he was friends with already. He was so excited for his game today. We picked up his uniform yesterday, and this morning when it was time to get ready, I asked him where his shirt was, and he pulled it out from under his pillow. His excuse was that he didn't know where else to put it, but his dad and I thought that was pretty cute he was so excited for t-ball he slept with his jersey. I didn't get to go to his first game today, Nick had try-outs for honors orchestra at the same time (which he made! woo-hoo! Go Nick!) so I sent John to the game with the camera and instructions to take lots of pictures. Zach had a lot of fun and is loving t-ball so far. His very first time at bat he hit the ball and ran straight to third. Fortunately there is no such thing as an "out" in t-ball, so he was able to turn around and run to first.

Go Cards! Woo-hoo!

Today, I am a football fan. Generally speaking, not so much. Sports just don't hold that much interest for me on any kind of consistent basis. I have a list of teams I support and generally would like to see do well, but not enough to actually turn on the TV and sit down and watch anything. Unless, maybe, if I am in the mood, and said team is doing really, really well, like a playoff game, or the Superbowl, then I might actually sit down and watch and cheer. I know, that's really nothing to be proud of, but it is what it is.

There was a blip of a couple years when I was a big Utah Jazz fan. It probably doesn't have anything to do with the fact that John took me to a Jazz playoff game on like our second or third date or anything, but my love for the team and the game in general lasted for a couple of years until we moved down here, and then it started to fizzle. Besides moving away from all the excitement, all my favorite players soon retired or were traded, (and at one point I could name them all) and so the apathy started to kick in.

Other teams I generally like to see do well are ASU (I'm a sometime student there, and with any luck should be a graduate of in the next decade or so), the Suns, the Cardinals, BYU, UofU ( I was enrolled there for a whole day once before we moved here), Weber State, Ohio State, the Spurs, The Dodgers, and the 49ers. And I suppose the University of Texas because John's sister is obsessive about converting us, and maybe that ugly brownish color is growing on me ever so slowly, and as long as I am somewhat in support of a certain Texas college, I should mention their big rivals- Texas A&M where my brother will soon be getting his Doctorate.

But today it's all about the Arizona Cardinals, baby. Admittedly I have never been to a Cardinal's game, never even watched a whole game on TV, could not name a player or the coach. My guess is we don't even own any Cardinals paraphernalia, (John might have something) but Woo-hoo! go Cards! Woo-hoo! I do know they haven't been in any kind of play off game since 1947. And have never been to the Superbowl. So we're all pretty excited here in AZ. Nick told me some kid got kicked out of the cafeteria the other day for cheering for the Steelers. (gasp! sacrilege!)

On a side note, John is pretty excited just to be in town. After {click here-> last year's big debacle, <-click here} of which I still bear the emotional scars, John is very happy to be watching the Superbowl in HD on his much beloved ginormous TV. He's waited a very long time for this moment.

Talents

For starters I think it is pretty fortunate that after 10 months of blogging I would FINALLY figure out how to add links to the body of my posts today. Fortunate because there were two separate blogs (not-coincidentally on the same subject that got me thinking today quite a bit) This one and this one. So I can share them with you without having to say things like "link to the side" - like I usually do. So I'm pretty proud of my new talent. I thought about doing a really obnoxious totally rad blog post where I put all sorts of links sending you to all sorts of places all over the web, but I thought better of the idea.

In a nutshell those two blog posts were about the very same coach to a bunch of boys playing flag football. One was from the perspective of the wife of one of the coaches, the other from the mother of one of the kids on the team. Their team ended up winning the championship against numerous odds, but the point of the story was that the coach placed the individual team members above winning. ( and who knew that when you treat kids like winners, in the end they up taking home the big trophy)

What got me thinking was about Nick's not-so-glorious career as a soccer player. He played for like 5 years. We were on numerous teams. Sometimes the coaches were pretty great, and sometimes not so. The coaches we liked best were the ones who did value the players over winning, but sadly our story is a little different than the flag football story. Most of the time the teams we were on lost repeatedly. The soccer league we were in was a just-for-fun league and never kept score. There were no championship games. But we still knew. The kids still knew when they lost yet another game.
But Nick still managed to keep a good attitude the whole time. He said he loved soccer, and every time we asked, he said he wanted to sign up again. Truth be told, he was (sorry Nick) at the bottom end of the talent spectrum when it came to soccer. I still admired his attitude and his desire to go on. I never once got to be the proud mom and watch her son score a goal in all those games, but I got to be the proud mom to watch her kid run to the injured player and help him off the field, no matter what team the kid was on, and even though the rules stated he should have been kneeling on the field.Then there was the very last soccer season. Nick was finally bumped up in age bracket and had to be on an all boys team. The league was still non-competitive, but to watch that coach, you'd think otherwise. He immediately divided the team into two parts- the starters, and the other kids. (Guess which part we were in) The starters played for most of the games, and the other kids, while technically getting to play in every game, only got a few minutes play time. I truthfully couldn't tell you whether it was a winning season or not. I had heard rumor that he was handpicking his own winning team, and trying to force out "the losers". Maybe it was just a rumor.Then came the after season party. This is usually a fun time for all involved, and the coach started out handing out the participation trophies (and I realize that this whole subject is debatable, that giving kids trophies just for showing up can be perceived as a dangerous practice, and I'm not really gonna go into the pros and cons here) But then he started handing out the "real" awards. He gave a certificate 'most improved', 'most goals scored', etc. Everybody got something, except Nick and this other little boy. Nick was crying before the party was over. He was off in a corner so that no one would see him, but it was evident that the coach made him feel bad about himself. He (and we as parents) tried to ignore it the whole season long, but it became glaringly obvious that because Nick wasn't as good as the other kids he wasn't needed or wanted on the team. At nine years old his career as a soccer player was over.
I'm not saying that if he had had a different coach it would have made all the difference and he might be playing for a professional team some day, cause it's been fairly evident from day one that the kid doesn't have an ounce of competition in his blood, but I would have like to see him enjoying playing the sport as long as he wanted to, even though clearly, soccer isn't where his talent lies. I am also sorry that it had to end on such a sour note.

I guess I would just like to say that I liked reading those blogs about the positive side of sports and coaching. I think kids can learn valuable lessons out on the field and I hope that for every meanie coach out there, there's a Tim or a Travis to balance things out.

On a positive note, apparently public speaking is one of his natural born talents. (Don't ask me where he gets this from) It was the primary program in church today and Nick was one of the narrators. He spoke loudly and clearly and with animation to his voice. By the end of the day he said he was getting kind of embarrassed at the number of adults who were telling him what a great job he did. I overheard one lady as she was singing his praises to him and he was trying to downplay it and say that he was just one of the many who did a great job and there were lots of others who worked hard and did a good job too. Truth be told I had a few people tell me I need to put him in acting classes. Which I will. If he wants to. Just as soon as he masters the talent of turning in his assignments on time and brings those grades up.

The Olympics

Like so many others, I have stayed up way past my bedtime watching the Olympics these past couple weeks. There have been points when I have been on the edge of my seat, holding my breath for the outcome. Gymnastics and swimming have always been favorites of mine. Gymnastics because I'm a girl and most girls like that kind of stuff, and it's absolutely fascinating at what those bodies can do. Swimming because growing up swimming was a major part of our family. My little brother Rich was an awesome swimmer and at one time was even an Olympic hopeful. I think he still holds some school records more than a decade later.

Despite my angst towards the location of the Olympics (China never should have got them) and I think many judging portions of the Olympics were ridiculously biased (I think some of the judges have been bribed). I think that the Olympics are a fabulous event to showcase what the human body and spirit are capable of. The beauty, the strength, the speed, the grace, the endurance, the willpower. W-O-W

Admittedly most of the time I sit there a little envious that these athletes are achieving something I could never dream of. I have known from a very young age that athletics in any shape or form have never been my strong suits.

Even though my brother and I were both on the same swim team, (for a very short while) and I was the older one, we were on opposite ends of the spectrum. The only races I could ever hope to win were against my self. I could make it from one end of the pool to the other, but speed and good form eluded me.

I totally can't run. I can go like 2 minutes before I am doubled over, gasping for air, clutching the stitch in my side. I know that is something I could work on, but I hear it's bad for your knees, so why bother?

Any team sports are totally out of the question. I should just wear a sign around my neck "Don't throw the ball to me, I'll drop it (if I manage to catch it)" Total Liability. That's me.

And gymnastics? That's the most impossibly ridiculous one of them all. I can do a somersault. Just don't expect any grace or style from me. In fact, I might even sprain something in the attempt. But I can probably most definitely do one. But those girls are like 16 (or 14 if they're Chinese) I am so past my prime on that one.

There's also the winter Olympics. I love those too. Before we had moved here, John and I had signed up to volunteer when Salt Lake hosted back in 2002. (We moved here in 2000) That would have been fun. I think I mentioned before that I can ski. Or at least I could 14 years ago, but in all honestly, I really stunk. I loved it, but I stunk. I am totally not exaggerating when I say that my mom told me she half expected a phone call from the hospital everytime I went skiing.

(totally off the subject here, but these spacing issues with blogger are driving me nuts! why won't it let me separate the paragraphs?!? Some of them are separted, but it won't let me separte the middle section!)

But then one event caught my eye the other night. Women's Race WALKING. Walking! I do that all the time. And most of the time I don't even hurt myself! If I were to set my sights on an event, that would be it. Of course we aren't talking about regular walking, but still. And don't worry, I have no delusions that should I take up this particular sport that I would be ever be in the same league with these women, but still a sport I could do. Several thoughts/questions have been running through my head however-

-Those women had really nice bodies. Nice flat stomachs. Toned legs. Could I look like that if I took it up?

- Many of them were my age! The youngest girl I took note of was like 22 or something. She won. But she weighed like 95 pounds. Must be all that walking.

- Why do they all look like they just got off the sand volleyball courts? Is there some kind of dress code where you wear as little as possible, and your does it bother them when the camera is following behind them as they walk that their bums are hanging out of their shorts for millions of worldwide viewers?

-What's the difference between race walking and running or jogging? I'm confused as to the exact specifications as to what makes a really really fast walk and not running? Is it the hip wiggle? When you are barely right behind another racer, and can't seem to get ahead, do they think about cheating and breaking into a slight run just for an edge?

-John and I decided this must be a "women's only" sport. Then the next night I saw the men. At least their shorts weren't as short. That's a camera shot I don't need to see.

-If I were to actually consider taking up this particular sport, I think I'd need a treadmill so I could train in the privacy of my own home. I don't think I'd be able to keep a straight face in public while I practiced my hip wiggle, and it's probably hard to train when you have to keep switching from speed-walking form, to casual saunter when I think someone is looking.

Euro 2008!!!

The big sport everywhere else in the world is football, or as we Americans call it, soccer. Right now they are having the Euro cup, or whatever they call it. Euro 2008. The World cup for soccer is played every four years, and the Euro games are played every four years as well, but not the same year, there’s a two year span between the big games. One game just ended in the guarter finals an hour ago. Turkey played against Croatia, and Turkey just won, so they get to go to the semi finals. I am sitting in my hotel room typing this in this teeny little touristy town, Rothenburg, that time forgot (I’m typing this in word, the internet is down), and I can hear cars honking and people celebrating. It’s totally crazy. I missed the celebrating when Germany won their quarterfinals game last night. I was so exhausted I passed out early. But the fans are really into it here. We actually met a guy who worked in this little shop in this town who just retired from playing on a local American Football team. He works in this shop that his grandma owns, and his dad and uncle work there too, so when I asked him about it, his proud father whipped out newspaper clippings to show me. But he had to retire because it was too expensive. There are no sponsors, because no one goes to see the games. It’s all about soccer here.

You can tell some of the bigger fans, because they like to fly their flags proudly in support of their favorite team (or home country) I took a few pictures.

This flag was flying off the back of a tanker truck driving down the Autobahn.

It was a common sight to see flags attached to cars. This car was parked in the parking lot at the LDS temple in Frankfurt.
It was also common to see flags flying from windows. This house had an actual mounting for the flag. Most people just hung them out the windows.
One of my favorites was this bakery window display. Notice the soccer ball in the center, in the place of honor.

So of course I’m rooting for Germany. Any other team I might have supported (England, France) is already out. I’m not sure if Italy is out, but I’ve grown pretty fond of Germany.

Seriously!?! They are still out celebrating? The game was over like an hour ago. There’s THAT many Turkey fans here? And cars honking? The streets are a NIGHTMARE to drive through- we got so lost- all cobbled, and one way, and narrow. The last game Turkey won we were in Paris, so all the guys that were driving around yelling and honking and waving flags and hanging out their windows, wasn’t as surprising.

I miss skiing.

I love to ski. But man, do I stink at it. Horrible, really. It's been more than 14 years, my little brother took me skiing on my 18th birthday, and that was the last time. Even back then, I stuck to the green circles (easiest) and the blue squares (medium) but I knew my limits and stayed well away from the black diamonds.

My parents took me skiing a couple times before it really took and I couldn't get off the ground. My feet were big for a kid, so I had to rent skis that were too long for me and I hated it. Sometime around jr. high, my dad took me night skiing, and that was so much better, I actually managed to stay upright except when I threw myself to the ground before hitting the building at the bottom of the hill. I hadn't learned how to turn yet, so I just kept my skis parallel, flew down the mountain, prayed nobody got in my way, threw myself to the ground, then did it all over again. It was fun.

A year or two later, back in Utah, they had a program where you could take ski lessons through the school and you actually got out of school once a week for a month. No kidding, my mom was waiting for a phone call to come to the hospital. I majorly crashed and burned every week. The most memorable time was when I was racing some kids down the hill, and tried to hit the switch back, but was going too fast, so I sailed over the switchback trail, and over the side of the cliff. I probably landed 20-30 feet or so down the side of the mountain. Luckily the powder was soft, and like 10 feet deep. I wasn't hurt. What made me think about this particular instance this evening was because I read a friends blog and she made a comment about wanting to take a nap to avoid things she doesn't want to deal with. Back to the story- so there I am, face down in the snow, one of my skis is who knows where, the other is 6 feet in front of me, with only about a foot of it sticking straight up out of the snow, without moving my body, I glance around for half a second, decide it was more than I wanted to deal with at the moment, lay my face back down in the snow and decide to take a nap.

Unfortunately my flight over the side of the mountain didn't go unnoticed by my fellow skiers, and I can hear them up there at the top of the cliff screaming that I was dead, and they were totally freaking out. Since I can't sleep with all the screaming going on, I lift up my head to tell them "I'm not dead", at which point someone recognizes me and then proceeds to climb down to help me. The nerve. How am I supposed to sleep when people are helping me? Obviously I can't, so I am forced to try and forge my way through snow up to my chest, retrieve my ski (I think she grabbed the other one) then try and climb back up the side of the mountain. - it wasn't a sheer straight up and down cliff, but a definite drop off, and the snow made it nearly impossible, so it took forever to get back up. We nearly missed the bus.

Boy do I miss skiing. I totally regret not having good, close ski resorts here. I can't believe Nick is 11 and has never been. Seriously I feel like he's deprived. Maybe some year, we can take a ski vacation or something, and I can learn to snowboard. I hear that rocks.

Sparky

See that Sparky shirt? Zach got it for Christmas. He asked for it specifically. Not having grown up here, we're not die-hard fans or anything, although on occasion in the past couple years I have been able to claim to being a student there and hope to graduate from ASU before Nick goes off to college. So we generally cheer the team on, or at the very least are happy to hear when they win (John follows more closely, sports just ain't my thing).

So anyways, back to the shirt. He asked for a Sparky shirt because of an incident in kindergarten sometime in November or December. He was playing on the kindergarten playground and Sparky showed up and surprised all the kids. And by surprised, I mean totally freaked Zach out. (can you blame him? A larger than life devil shows up at your playground?) so he's totally traumatized, crying, flipping out, the whole nine yards, the teachers are trying to calm him down, but ultimately he ended up in some storage room with Sparky so she could take her head off and they could talk face to face, give high fives, etc. And yeah, the story is is that it's a she, and supposedly she was promoting the women's basketball team, so maybe there's more than one Sparky which makes sense because I would think there are tons of games he would need to be at. But the point is is that Zach got to do what almost nobody else has ever done, and that is see the true identity of an ASU mascot, a closely guarded secret, and so he wanted a Sparky shirt for Christmas. Go Sundevils!

Zach's first kiss

I think Zach has his first girlfriend. She's this cute little blonde named Natalie on his soccer team. They've been flirting off and on for the past few weeks, you know the way five year olds do, mostly chasing each other around when they are supposed to be paying attention to the coach. Well according to John, on Thursday, she just totally planted one on him right smack on the lips. He giggled. There was more giggling and blushing today when I asked him if she was his girlfriend. "(giggle, giggle, I don't know, giggle giggle") Normally I discourage this kind of behavior, the other kids aren't even supposed to look at the opposite sex until they are 27, (While reading this, Nick burst out "27!?!? you said 16!!!!") but she's so cute. Well, Nick might tell you about another blonde named Natalie that he's thinking about marrying. They have been friends since before they could walk. She lives in Utah and will be moving to Oregon shortly, and while I would be pleased as punch if anything did pan out, I'm not overly concerned this early in life. So I took my camera to the game today. (so sad when you realize AFTER you take a bunch of pictures that your kid needs a haircut.) I took a bunch of them together, (they seemed to gravitate together) and there's one of Zach playing goalie. He's been looking forward to it all week.