Gobble Gobble. Had a good turkey day weekend

Caiden went out of town with his mother to visit her father in Phoenix. Alene and I went up to her parents house for some grubbing. There was only nine of us there and about 50 pies to eat!! Throw in the fact that her mom also made about 200 rolls (we got two bags full of them to take home) and rest assured, I'm still trying to recover. Later that night we went with Alene's brother and sister to see Harry Potter. I'm not much into the whole Harry Potter thing (mostly out of pride of the fact that EVERYONE gushes over it), but I thought the movie was pretty entertaining.

Friday I spent a lot of the day getting some errands ran and doing a little shopping (no, I didn't get up at 3am and camp outside the stores). I actually waited for the shopping craze to die down. I went out around 1pm, got Alene's tire fixed, ate a hot dog at Costco, bought some stuff there, Home Depot, and CompUSA. CompUSA had a sick deal: 100 DVD+R's for $20. Had a $30 instant rebate. Not too shabby.

Anyway, spend Saturday working on the house. It has been so long since I've done something meaningful to the house. I hung some pictures and then spent a good portion under the house adding insulation (fiberglass) to the bare parts of the house. Hopefully it will help make things warmer.

Alene, Caiden and I went to Temple square last night (Sunday night). The lights are just as amazing every year I see them. Of course, I pushed the bar even higher as to how our yard needs to be decorated (according to Caiden, our trees need to have as many lights as the trees on Temple square).

Anyway, here are some pictures:

Blah

This song had a profound impact on me as a 15-16 year old and changed my whole outlook on hip-hop. This is what hip-hop should be instead it's all about the bling-bling and the bragging and boasting. I don't listen to a lot of hip-hop anymore (except for a little outkast), but give me some Pharcyde and their dope, meaningful and funny lyrics that are open and shamefully honest, and I'm happy:

Passin' me by (by the Pharcyde)

Now in my younger days I used to sport as shag
When I went to school I carried lunch in a bag
With an apple for my teacher 'cause I knew I'd get a kiss
Always got mad when the class was dismissed
But when it was in session, I always had a question
I would raise my hand to make her stagger to my desk and
help me with my problem, it was never much
Just a trick, to smell her scent and try to sneak a touch
Oh, how I wish I could hold her hand and give her a hug
She was married to the man, he was a thug,
His name was Lee, he drove a Z,
he'd pick her up from school promptly at three o'clock
I was on her jock, yes indeedy I wrote graffiti on the bus
First I'd write her name then carve a plus,
with my name last, on the looking glass,
I seen her yesterday but still I had to let her pass

She keeps on passin me by...

When I dream of fairytales I think of me and Shelly
See she's my type of hype and I can't stand when brothers tell me
That I should quit chasin' and look for something better
But the smile that she shows makes me a go-getter
I haven't gone as far as asking if I could get with her
I just play it by ear and hope she gets the picture
I'm shootin for her heart, got my finger on the trigger
She could be my broad, and I could be her (nigga)
But, all I can do is stare...
Back as kids we used to kiss when we played truth or dare
Now she's more sophisticated, highly edu-ma-cated
not at all over-rated, I think I need a prayer
to get in her boots and it looks rather dry
I guess a twinkle in her eye is just a twinkle in her eye
Although she's crazy steppin, I'll try to stop her stride
Cause I won't have no more of this passin me by

And I must voice my opinion of not even pretending she didn't have me
Strung like a chicken, chase my tail like a doggie
She was kind of like a star, thinking I was like a fan
Dude, she looked good, down side: she had a man
He was a rooty-toot, a nincompoop
She told me soon your little birdie's gonna fly the coop
She was a flake like corn, and I was born not to understand
By lettin her pass I had proved to be a better man

She keeps on passin me by...

Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian
And now the world around me be gets movin in slow motion
when-ever she happens to walk by - why does the apple of my eye
overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?
Wait, no, i did not really pursue my little princess with persistance;
And I was so low-key that she was unaware of my existance
From a distance I desired, secretly admired her;
Wired her a letter to get her, and it went:
My dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me but I know you very well
Now let me tell you about the feelings I have for you
When I try, or make some sort of attempt, I symp
Damn I wish I wasn't such a wimp!
'Cause then I would let you know that I love you so
And if I was your man then I would be true
The only lying I would do is in the bed with you
Then I signed sincerely the one who loves you dearly, PS love me tender
The letter came back three days later: Return to Sender
Damn!

She keeps on passin me by

Highs and Lows from the weekend

First, the Low:

My 8th grade team lost their championship game 20-21. Very hard to lose that way. As I mentioned before the team we were playing owns the record for the longest winning streak of any team in this league (38 games straight). They average around 35-40 points per game and usually pitch a shut-out. They've NEVER had 3 TD's scored on them in one game before. We lost to them earlier in the season 7-6.

Here are some frustrating facets of the game:

1. We moved the ball on them at will. It took us a couple of series to figure it out, but we got it down.

2. Our defense shut them down (for the most part). It took them a botched punt (snapper snapped the ball over our punters head, Judge recovers on our own two yard line and scores on the next play), a Play-action pass that went for 40 yards, and a trick play (more on that later) to beat us.

3. The Trick play: Their players all get set, but the center doesn't put his hands on the ball. His linemen just stand in their position, but not with their hands down (so they look like they're resting). The center yells back to his QB that they have the wrong ball, the QB tells the center to give him the ball, so the center, takes the ball and slowly turns around and hands it to the QB. The QB starts lightly jogging to the sidelines saying "we have the wrong ball", then once he get's outside our defenders, he takes off down-field for a 60 yard TD run.

4. We get the ball back with 4 minutes left and drive down to their end zone (at this point, we're down 14-21. With 50 seconds left, we have a 4th and goal from the 7 yard line. We run a toss sweep to our best player and he scores (barely). As he get's up and runs to hand the ball to the ref, he holds the ball high and the refs flag him for unsportsmanlike conduct. 10 yard penalty. This puts us at the 12 yard line to go for one, so I say screw it, we're going for two points and went for it from the 15 yard line. We run a pass play where our best WR runs a corner route, the pass is perfect, our WR turns at the goal line with tight coverage on him, and he drops the ball. If we score, we go up by one and the game is over (becuase no way judge was going to get the ball back and score on us with less than 50 seconds left). Our onside attempt failed and the game was over.

5. Our players worked so hard to get to this point. We've had 4 losses this season, all by one point. We've never been blown out, we've only beaten ourselves in our losses.

Anyway, can't look back. I have these kids for one more year, then they move onto Sophmore football. I love working with these kids so much. They all have such great personalities and have made my work with them feel important. I really hope these kids know how much I love them.

The High: BYU beat Wyoming and Utah lost to New Mexico. I'm not a big "cheer for Utah to lose" person, because I sincerely think that them winning is good for the conference and for the state of Utah, but I find it very hard to cheer for them. When they play and lose, I feel nothing, when they play and win, I feel nothing, but sometimes have a feeling of joy knowing their fanbase is about to collectively slit their wrists. Utah lost to New Mexico, but that isn't all; they also lost their starting QB and starting WR to season-ending injuries. Utah's season is in turmoil while BYU is on the rise. (sorry to any of my "Utah fan" friends that read my blog; you know I love you and am only concerned for your well-being as Utah fans) :-).

BYU beat Wyoming AT Wyoming, which is nothing but a bunch of overly drunken college students mixed with a bunch of in-bread hicks that never finished Jr. High School. They are famous for such things as "piss bombs", breaking vehicle windows that display BYU stickers on them, and starting fights with the other team's fans (and this time, players).

One funny story coming out of the weekend was BYU's 6'1" 210 lbs Safety, KC Bills, getting a concussion toward the end of the game. As he was being helped off the field when the game was over, a group of drunken students came over and started heckling him, raising their middle fingers right in his face. Being in a concussed state, he reacted with a closed fist to the dudes face, leveling him to the ground. The dude then complained about it to security as the security laughed at him. I would honestly pay LOT'S of money to have been there to see that happen.

Anyway, life has been a blur for me since August first. Coaching takes a lot of your time and energy. I am greatful for the opportunity and for the support Alene and Caiden have given me while coaching. We have just a couple more things to do with the boys (a banquet and we're taking them snowmobiling for making it to the championship game) and then the winter is here.

Speaking of, I can't wait to go snowboarding. Caiden is more stoked than I am. He is so proud of his new snowboard gear. I hope he catches onto it soon enough to be able to ride w/o my help. I'll try to spend as much time up there with him as I can this year. I think I'm going to put him in one of those "kiddie" classes, where they are good at teaching little kids how to do it.

Anyway, that is about it.

Crazy dream, my son, stuff........

I had a crazy dream late into my sleeping mode last night. I dreamed that the night before my FB game (this coming weekend) that my ball box (I have a ball box, as opposed to a ball bag) was stolen, along with all my plays and my footballs. I showed up to the game 20 minutes before it started and everyone was looking at me like I was a big loser. All the parents were upset that I was not there 2 hrs before as I said I would be and I they were yelling at me. We lost the game and I was a disgrace. Then I woke up feeling like a loser. I took a shower and started to ding around, then remembered that Caiden was at the house and his school started in 20 minutes! We had to get ready quickly, plus I had to do his hair becuase it was picture day.

Anyway, we were kind of in a hurry, but only got to school 10 minutes late. He's so cute. There are times when he is still totally my baby boy, then other times he tries so hard to act like he's in charge and a responsible adult. However, when he gets to school he already starts to act like he doesn't need me. He'll give me a hug, but he used to put his head on my shoulder when he did it, as though he was looking for comfort. Now he just hugs me, then pulls away pretty quickly, taking note if anyone is looking. It's weird, but I always said I wanted to be a cool parent. I have to now think back to what it was like when I was his age and remember the things that embarassed me and the things that I thought were cool, for Caiden's sake. As much as I want him to be able to carve his own niche in life, there are still things that can affect his personality and the kids at his age can be so cruel and brutal.

Anyway, in the past (when he was late), I would park my truck, take him to the office, then walk him to his class. Now I just take him to the office and let him go to his class himself. He looks so small and vulnerable walking down those big hallways with his backpack that is half his size on his back. As he walked away today, I watched him walk down the long hallway and as he walked, he peered into every classroom he passed by and quickly looked back at or toward everyone he passed. He looked so innocent and almost in awe of his surroundings. He's learning so much too.

I love my son so much.

I also love my wife. She is so understanding and loving. I love that the most important thing to her in her life is her relationship with me. She tries so hard to make that a priority and I don't do enough to show that it is important to me as well. I love her so much it hurts.

Anyway, stuff.

Oh yeah, for my last playoff game (that we won) and this coming game, I put together scouting reports for my players. This usually consisted of a 4-page report that I prepared for the kids detailing the opposing teams best players, their defensive sets, their offensive plays, any new stuff we're adding to our offensive and defensive schemes, and some notes of motivation. As I was going over it with the kids (I made a copy for each of my 21 players), a guy named Pete was standing by listening in (appearantly he wanted to "suggest" a play to me that he has used in the past). Pete has been a coach in this conference for over 20 years and has had lot's of kids play in it. He's a firey guy and typically the type of guy I don't like, but I tolerated him and what he wanted to suggest adding to our play book. It was a pretty good play and we may use it, but we'll have to see how the game dictates it.

Anyway, he made a nice compliment to me about my scouting report, saying it's the most detailed report he's ever seen in his 20 years coaching on either the little league or the HS level. That was nice of him. I do take pride in my scouting reports. I think it's important that my players are as mentally prepared as they are physically prepared.

I've been waivering on being really nervous for this upcoming game, then I start to put it in perspective with life in general (it's just a game) and I calm down and start to think of how fun the opportunity will be. Then I start to make the perspective a little smaller and I think of how important it is for my kids that they have the opportunity to win a championship and beat a team that has won a record 38 games.

Oh well. We have practice tonight to plan some more. Should be fun.

We won our first playoff game!!

It was a good weekend for me. My 8th grade team posted a shut-out win in our first round play-off game 19-0. We got beat by this team earlier in the season 21-20. This was a team that scored on a kickoff return and two deep passes. Other than that they could not do anything else. I think they completed two passes against us, but they were actually able to run it a bit better than they had in the past.

The team we are playing was playing on an opposite field and finished before we did. Right after our win, they sat down in the corner of our field hooting and hollering at us, as though they were excited to play us. My boys did the same, but in order to keep peace, I calmed them down and had them go shake hands with the other team.

Here is a dillema for this week. Our head coach left on a planned trip to Hawaii, so this means I'm going to be calling the offense. I don't think I'll have a major problem, but it's been a while since I've called an offense.

This team we are playing (Judge Memorial, a private catholic school that can recruit players from other districts) has won 38 straight games. When we played them earlier this season we lost to them 7-6 (missed our XP) so they know they're in for a challenge. Should be a good game.

I'm so thankful Alene has been willing and able to video tape every game this year. I have been able to scout Judge better based off our last game with them.

Alene sent me this picture the other day

All I can say is WOW! I'd have to think that some altering was done on it (it seems the green was altered a bit), but even so, it's beautiful.