Semi-Annual Update

End of Summer Haiku

Summer break is done.
School starts tomorrow morning.
My alarm is set.

We are wrapping up one of the best summer breaks ever!  There are too many highlights to single out just one as the biggest, but the Anderson Family reunion is up there, along with the post-reunion activities in Provo.  I started a new job.  We spent a weekend with friends at their family cabin in Prescott.  Michael got his license to drive (but no car of his own, bummer).  Christine had another successful SummerSmart program (and doubled her capacity this year).  The girls finished their volleyball season, and both of them finally got serves over the net in their final games.

Come to think of it, this has been a very busy summer.  The time flew by and now we're looking at getting up for early morning seminary at 5:50am on Tuesday.  Believe me, nobody wants more than I do for Michael to have a car at his disposal.  Otherwise, I have to drive them.  We're looking, but we haven't seen the right deal come along, yet (reasonably good condition, in our price range).  He's teaching piano lessons, and has 4 or 5 families lined as clients.  That's the kind of teen job I'd have loved: set your own hours, work with people you choose to work with, make $20/hr.  He's also on student council this year.  I think it's a ploy to get in good with the varsity volleyball coach for the spring - she's the student council sponsor.

Mark is starting high school.  He's already been through two weeks of band camp.  But unlike his cousin Brett, they only spent about 3 hours outside each day, starting at 7am.  Lest you think that's wimpy, it's 95 degrees at 6am, and 105 by 10am. 

Jason, Joanne, and Julie are all still at the same school they've always been at.  I don't know what she did, but Christine was able to convince the principal to assign our girls to two of our favorite teachers in the 3rd and 4th grades.  Maybe it helps that she's been subbing at the school for the last few years, and is in high demand when teachers need to find a sub.  They come to her because they know she can teach the material and control the class, and the day won't be wasted.

Have a great week (or month, or six months -- depending on when I write again!).

Valentine’s Day

Another Hallmark holiday! All the girls in the family got roses – some unique ones that I found at Trader Joe’s.  Joanne and Julie were thrilled that their Daddy thought of them.

But the real news of the weekend was an amazing basketball game played by Jason’s team.  Most of the boys on the team have been playing soccer and basketball together for years.  This season, they’ve met some really talented teams, and have been on the losing side of the scoreboard more times than not.  (They did have one victory, which was a blowout, where they turned off the scoreboard half-way through the game.  But other than that, they’ve had some humbling experiences.

Yesterday’s game was against the team that shares the school gym with them on Thursday nights for practice.  They’re a good team – well coached and very precise in their ball handling.  At one point in the second half, our boys were down by 15 points, 27 to 12.  Jason scored a few needed baskets in his last chance on the court.  (He would be sitting out the last 5 minutes.)  With two minutes to go, the boys were down by nine points.  

The two-minute mark is significant.  If the teams are within 20 points of each other, they are allowed to press full court.  That was the other team’s undoing.  Our boys shut them down.  Every attempt to get the ball up the court ended in an intercepted pass and a quick two points.  We were down by seven points, then 5, then 3.  A foul put our coach’s son on the free-throw line, and he made one of the free throws.  29 to 27. 

Another in-bound attempt, and up the court the other team moves. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get through the pressure, and their player stepped out of bounds.  We inbound, they play zone (supposed to be playing man to man), and someone blew their position.  29 to 29.  The crowd is erupting in cheers (ok, half the crowd, anyway). Less than ten seconds left (8.4, to be precise, according to Jason).  Another inbound pass, and, you guessed it, another steal by our team, followed by a clutch four-footer to take the lead 31 to 29.  Four seconds left and the clock is ticking.  They can’t get the inbound pass in fast enough (and the boy was three feet into the court, anyway). 

Game over.  Parents were still talking about the game today at Church (most of the boys on the team are in our ward).  The rest of the day was just boring in comparison.

By the way, a previous posting mentioned something about Christine and skin cancer.  The test results came back negative – no cancer, yet.

Have a great week.