Overwhelmed!?!

It has been almost a month since I have posted on my blog. Yes, it has been updated since then, but Derek has been writing the most recent posts. The title should explain it all. Since school started I have been so OVERWHELMED!! It seems that I have not had a moment with nothing going on. I did not go to my classroom once during the summer. In fact, I didn't even think about school or lesson plans. I have been behind on planning my own music lesson plans and then I got a few new responsibilities at work that have just about put me over the edge.

This bulletin board hangs in my classroom and no I didn't just undecorate it to put up something new. It has looked this way since the first day of school on August 20. I have a great idea of how to decorate it. In fact, I have all the materials which sat in a stack on my table at home for about a month and now they are in a drawer in my classroom. This bulletin board has been a constant reminder of how much I have to do and no time to do it.

Other than work, I was also in charge of our ward's Super Saturday just over a week ago and it was just so time consuming. I had to find 5 speakers organize 3 home decor projects, collect all the money, pick up the projects, and make sure that a luncheon was going to happen. Also all the advertising, etc. I am so glad it is over. Not to mention all the football practices, games, dance lessons and gymnastics that I have to get my kids to. My house is a disaster. The laundry hampers are full (and it seems that I can do laundry all night and they are still full??) Most of our meals have been eaten out.

When I was at my breaking point, a few weeks ago, my 18-month-old niece was diagnosed with leukemia. It was at this point I realized that I had to stop and decide what was important to me and what I was going to put off until later. About two days after we found out about my niece, I had planned to miss Braxton's football game so I could do my dishes instead. Needless to say I went to the game and the dishes waited for me until the game was over. Many things were put on hold as we packed up that week to visit my sister and her daughter in the hospital. For now, the bulletin board will stay empty because I still don't have the time to get it done. Now it is a reminder that nothing is as important as family.

We Finally Got The Shot

Braxton has had seven games and so far we have either forgot our camera or did not have it ready at the right time to get a good shot of Braxton making a big play. With two games left we were really feeling the pressure.

Braxton's game last night was against Ben Lomond and there was plenty of opportunities. The game started pretty even but after each team scored two touchdowns we were on fire. I think it was because of the play below. Braxton blocked the punt and his teammate picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown.

Braxton did really well on defense. He was actually the defensive player of the game last week. He got several sacks on the quarterback. Below Braxton is two steps away from a sack (this was in the first quarter).


And a few minutes later, we got the best shot - Braxton single handedly sacked the quarterback. It was awesome! Here is Braxton half of a second from taking the quarterback to the ground.


We felt really good - finally having a good shot of Braxton doing really well on defense but we still wanted to get a good shot of him catching the ball. We almost had our chance. The picture below is Braxton very close to catching the ball, unfortunately a defender jumped in at the wrong time and intercepted it instead. You can see Braxton ready to catch the ball and head for a touchdown - better luck next time.


McKell and I got a chance to talk to Braxton during half-time, which we haven't been able to do before. He told me he was really tired. He would have had to be - he played practically every play in the first half and we scored 8 touchdowns so there were many kickoffs and big plays that he had to run a lot.

It was a really good game. Braxton (along with most of the 1st string players) didn't play much in the second half. I can't believe next week is the last game. What a season!

First Dam Update 2

The race information is now up and can be viewed at http://www.topofutahmarathon.com/Firstdam.php/

The race will start at 10 AM on Nov. 1, 2008. You can pre-register by sending in a registration form (link found on site) or you can register the day of the race. The cost is $18 (with shirt) or $12 (without shirt) if you register before noon on Oct. 31, 2008. If you register the morning of the race the cost is $20 (with) or $14 (without shirt).

Everyone is welcome to run it with us. I think that there will be quite a few of us. Email or call me if you have any questions. Thanks
Derek

First Dam Update

Just a quick update about the First Dam Run - I called Al's Sporting Goods to see if they have any information about the race yet - they have not received anything yet. I also called the race director and got his voice mail. The voice mail message said that he did not have everything together yet but will post the information at:

www.topofutahmarathon.com

I looked there and found the like to the First Dam Run at http://www.topofutahmarathon.com/Firstdam.php/

This link shows the information from the last year but I assume that it will be the same for this year. I know that date will be Nov. 1 this year so plan on that. It may be another week until we get the rest of the information and are able to register. You can register the morning of the race but will not be able to get a shirt (not a great loss).

I will post any information that I get here. Thanks for your support, I am really looking forward to this race. It will be fun for all of us. Plan on going out to lunch after.

So, overall the update is that there is no update - sorry.

Derek

Fashion Parade

I am at a tradeshow for work at Houston, Texas. This entails sitting (and standing) in a 10 x 10 foot booth displaying the products that I sell. I am surrounded by booths of other companies doing the same thing. I patiently wait (and smile) for someone to mosey over to my booth and then I pounce – launching into my sales pitch - then I wait for the next person to show some interest and repeat

While I wait, I have been getting quite a fashion parade. The dress varies widely (and sometimes wildly). On one end there are those who are giving talks about their research, they are often in suits with ties. On the other end there are t-shirts, Levis, and the occasional wranglers tucked into cowboy boots. However, there is one reoccurring component of the fashion parade – the sports jacket.

I believe that the sports jacket has created a false sense of fashion for most of those wearing them. I can imagine them thinking, “Since this is a professional meeting, I should probably dress up, I know, I will just wear my sports jacket.”

I emphasize ‘my’ here because after five years of attending these tradeshows I am pretty sure that most of the men only have ‘a’ sports jacket and it has also been the only sports jacket they ever owned. It stays buried in the back of the closet and rarely sees the light of day.

The main problem with the sports jacket is that it does not include a dress-up of any other article of clothing. Their regular daily shirts (polo shirts, dress shirts, and t-shirts) and pants (dress slacks, khakis, and Levis) are worn but are mistakenly kicked-up a notch with the sports jacket addition.

There apparently is no concern whether the olive green button-up shirt, tan khaki pants, and Nike shoes go together with a gray corduroy sports jacket. There is also no concern whether the sports jacket their parents bought them for college graduation in 1968 is still in style today.

Luckily for me I outgrew (and out-gained) any chance of making a sports jacket fashion mistake. Now if I can just figure out the pesky rules of what not to wear after Labor Day I will be a fashion expert. I’d better go, there is a guy coming towards me whose herringbone pattern of his sports jacket is clashing with his Hawaiian shirt.

Houston, we have a problem.

I am on a business trip in Houston, Texas - I am not that excited about being here. Even though it is fun to spend someone else’s money traveling – I would much rather be home.

I usually take the airport shuttle from Logan to the Salt Lake airport. This gives me a chance to either relax and catch up on a little sleep or listen to stories from the driver on the way to the airport. Sometimes I want to pretend I am deaf (it worked so well for Elaine on Seinfeld). But this time was a little different.

We had gone to Salt Lake on Saturday and were staying at Destry and Trish’s. Jen said that she would take me to the airport but later Destry volunteered for the early morning drop-off. Against Jen’s advice, I accepted Destry’s offer.

It was a nice and quick 25 minute drive to the airport - no crazy stories just a random sampling of music from Destry’s iPod to keep us awake. Along the way we stopped for a breakfast burrito, I got my wallet out to pay but Destry took care of it (thanks again). When you are in a car and are fat, it is difficult to get your wallet out of your back pocket – it is even harder to get it back into your pocket so I just set my wallet on my lap.

We got to the airport and I got out, grabbed my luggage, and said good-bye to Destry. I took one step into the terminal and realized I had left my wallet in Destry’s car. I figured he was gone but I didn’t panic because this is the 21st century and everyone has cell phones. I immediately called Destry’s phone – it went right to voice mail – I panicked.

To make a long story short, Destry drove home, was informed that I was stranded at the airport, got his phone, drove back to the airport, gave me my wallet, and drove me back to his house – I had missed my 6:50 AM flight and was bumped to the 12:50 PM flight. I felt quite embarrassed but it was nice to go back to Destry’s, have another breakfast, and see the kids again one last time.

Even though Destry offered to take me to the airport again, Jen insisted and took me back to the airport. All I had to do was admit that Jen is always right and agree to do whatever she says for the rest of my life.

"Locking The Church"

Last Sunday I was asked to check the church each night and make sure it was locked up for the week. The first night as I was leaving to go check the church Braxton asked to go. When I got to the garage Braxton was already in the driver's seat of the Jeep - he wanted to drive. I thought it would be okay so I got in the passenger's seat and got strapped in.
Braxton backed out of the garage slowly and out onto the road - we were off. He did a really good job that night. He drove the three blocks to the church and then drove back home after. We were careful not to tell Jen that he was the driver.
I let Brax drive to the church each night I went to lock the church. We had our own little code for "locking the church". As we left home one night for the church I told Braxton he could drive wherever he wanted for five minutes. He drove by as many houses of his friends as he could in the time.
He was doing a great job of slowing down at each intersection and checking for cars. I had to remind him that he didn't need to stop at each intersection but it was good that he was careful.
The last night of locking the church McKell came along. She was a little surprised and expressed her concern when Brax was allowed to drive. I had Brax drive us to the gas station for pop and candy bars all around.
I am sure that we will have to go "lock the church" more often now. I remember driving with Meme, Mom, and Dad when I young - it was so fun and I felt so old. It won't be too long until he has his learner's permit - then we will go for much longer drives. Until then we will keep it in the neighborhood - so be on the lookout for a green Jeep, the young driver will have a HUGE smile on his face.