Grizz Game

Markus with his friend & teammate McKay

My students, Kyle & Karsen's parents, gave us tickets to the Grizzlies game tonight. It was a great game and the first one that we have been to this season. The Grizzlies won against Las Vegas in a pretty heated battle.

If you only knew...

what I did today.

Speechless

Just today I received a Christmas card from my Aunt Charlotte & Uncle Jerry, and in the corner was written, "Uncle Don passed away on July 3rd." I am speechless. The last time I saw him was at my Grandma Jo's funeral, and I don't know how he died or how his children, my cousins, are doing. My mom's only sister, Aunt Carol, died right after my Grandma did in 2002.

The thing that I remember most about my mom's oldest brother was that he quite literally saved my life. Uncle Donny had come to visit us in the apartment complex we were living in Southern California when my little sister Darlin was born. She was a week or so old and my mom was busy taking care of her, so my older sister Marilee had taken the rest of us out to the pool to swim. I was sitting in the hot tub when all of a sudden my back had been entrapped by the strong suction of the drain of the hot tub. I don't remember being able to scream or anything before being pulled under, but I know that my eyes were open and I could see people walking by the side of the pool but they couldn't see me underneath the water. I don't know how Uncle Donny knew I was under the water, if he had seen me go under or if he just happened to walk by, but he jumped in with all of his clothes on and his nice watch, I remember (funny the details you remember of life changing events) and he used his feet against the side of the pool to free my little six year old body from the suction of the drain. When he carried me into our apartment I remember my mom crying and taking me in her arms and looking at my back where there was a huge purple bruise with drain marks imprinted like a waffle iron. She put me in the tub and I remember lying there thinking about what it had felt like to almost die. I was scared but at the same time peaceful because it was so quiet under the water. I know with out a doubt that if it hadn't been for Uncle Donny saving me that day, I would not be here. I have cried through the Kleenex box.



My mom and her siblings (l to r: Sandra, Carol, Don & Jerry)
 Grandma Jo's Funeral - May 2002



Super Six

How about those Jazz?

Williams taking it to the hoop

Max, Nick, Zac & Natalie

Jazz win 112 to 98

$7 ice cream

The view from the ESA

Max was selected as one of the students from his sixth grade class to be on the Super Six team. Which, I am not really sure what all that means, but he was excited that he made it. As such, he was rewarded with a field trip to the Jazz game last night. He said that he had a fun time eating pretzels and ice cream and watching the Jazz win.

Tickled Pink

After spending an hour before Max's game on Saturday punching out circles...

and tying on bows, I had the party favors ready for Tamara's baby shower.

The Refreshments

The mom to be: Tamara and her mom





The parents to be: Tamara & Robert

Tamara is the skating director at the rink and her friend Kelly asked me if I would host a baby shower for her at my house. Tamara is due in February I think, but wanted to have her baby shower before Christmas, in case she is early I guess. She is having a little girl so it was fun to buy all the pink paper for the favors and the plates.

Mark It

When Markus decides he is going after the goal, consider it a done deal.

He goes after the puck

and stays on it until he scores.

Yesterday his team, the Falcons, played their last half ice game for the year. Next year it will be full ice again and Markus is ready. Mark. Set. Goal!

Game Time

Max's team played the Gophers today



They all tried really hard...



but in the end, it was still a shut out by the Gophers with 6 goals.



Max had a couple of shots on the net but couldn't get anything in on the Lightning goalie, Shawn.

The Gophers deserved to win and played a great game but Max was still a little disappointed afterwards. What do you say to your kids after their teams lose a game? How do you offer encouragement but still acknowledge their feelings?

Hockey Highlights

The Lightning played Park City again tonight beating them 7-3, and that was even with two of P.C.'s bantam players playing down on the pee-wee level. The Lightning team is having a record year, here are some of the stats that the coaches sent out from last week's tournament...

Snap shot:

· We outscored everyone we played a combined 19 to 6

· We had 24 penalty minutes compared to 32 combined for the teams we played. (NOTE: 4 of our minutes were due to bench minors).

· We out shot out competitors for a total combined number of 121 to 60 for the tournament!!! ~ By period it looks like

· 40 to 23 First Period

· 53 to 26 Second Period


· 28 to 11 Third Period

'Tis the season

...to give. I know that some of you enjoy giving and receiving neighbor gifts at Christmas time. In fact, right now you’re putting the finishing touches on your homemade, hand-dipped chocolates or your caramel macadamia nut popcorn balls before wrapping them in cellophane and red French ribbon and delivering them to snow-covered homes all over the block. If you’re one of those people, you may want to skip this post. But if you’re like me, and the thought of having to come up with a cutesy neighborhood gift every year makes you want to run, then by all means, read on.


When I moved into our neighborhood thirteen years ago, I excitedly joined in with the gift exchange tradition. Every year I tried to come up with something delicious and clever and Martha Stewartish to give to our neighbors, like the one year I gave everyone a membership to the "Cookie of the Month Club". For an entire year I made a different kind of cookie each month and delivered them in little decorative tins to all of the neighbors. I couldn't think of anything else to do, because usually someone had already cornered the market on the muslin bags filled with pistachios, the chips and salsa, the caramel popcorn. We got plates of cookies, bags of clementines, homemade toffee and fudge, a poinsettia, a basket of apples and pears, miniature loaves of bread, soup mixes, muffin mixes, pancake mixes.

And I noticed something else: the neighbor gifts we received were piling up in the pantry, often going uneaten until I was forced to throw them out after New Year’s. So one year my neighbor wrote a letter to the members of our neighborhood, inviting them to forgo giving each other gifts and attend a bonfire and hot chocolate party instead, where we’d collect money and donate it to a charity. That worked well for a couple of years, until the bonfire tradition fizzled out after our ward boundaries changed. But everyone on our street liked not having to give each other gifts so much that we’ve had an unspoken agreement not to exchange gifts ever since.

Except now, some new people have moved into the neighborhood and no one has clued them in to our agreement, so little by little, the gift-giving custom is taking over the neighborhood again. Sometimes—and I’m not proud of this, mind you—I even resort to regifting, and the loaf of cranberry orange bread that Mrs. Farmer dropped off gets a new tag and goes right back out the door to the Browns next door.

But one neighbor (she isn't even a neighbor anymore, since she moved to Heber last summer) in particular—I’ll call her Sharon—a lovely woman, enjoys giving generous, elaborate, thoughtful gifts, and each year I look forward to seeing her creativeness. So today, she delivered a beautifully wrapped, chocolate orange, and a christmas movie on DVD about Christmas Oranges. I had nothing wrapped and ready to give her except for some other neighbors gift, but I really didn't feel okay about regifting, at least not to her.

That made me feel better, somehow, so I put the DVD in the player and then ate the chocolate orange. And then I resolved to give Sharon something really spectacular next year. Next year for sure.

Do you ever regift neighbor gifts?

Frozen Tears

Dave's funeral was today and you can read about it in this article.

# 1 Supporter

After church on Sunday, Max was showing me his trophy from the Jr. Grizzlies tournament and Markus said he wanted to hold it too, since he went to every game to support his brother. Markus is Max's # 1 fan! (That, and he loves to play with all the younger siblings that come to the games.)

Grizz Cup V

 The Lightning played the Grizzlies in the championship game - and won for the second year in a row.




Warrior Paint



Max's assist

Victory Cheer

Presentation of the trophy

Champions

Victory Lap

 #1







A Fabulous Night of Wonderment & Fun



Then (circa 1995)...







and now.

 I made life-long friends fifteen years ago. And I’m not talking about a book I resonate with. No, I actually started hanging out with other moms from the neighborhood, girls who wouldn’t ever know if I could spell or punctuate, but who did know if I forgot to brush my teeth. Somebody IRL.


So what, you say? Ha, we all had children, that were babies plus or minus two years. Or we had superpowers of extroversion.

My family complicated things for me by moving every year until I was a teenager. Then, while my family worked the ridiculous long hours of the local economy, I was grateful and delighted for conversation with anyone about my height who wasn’t going to ask me for skates.

However, I wasn’t talking to my new friends about the books I read or my latest argument with my family. We caught each other’s occasional rants and good news, but we didn’t share them in common. Not like you do with a friend, the way I had ever had a friend before. Really, what we had in common was still that we were about the same height and didn’t ask for anything. We were just at the same time and place.

And then we moved, or went away to school and half of us didn’t see each other anymore. Our children multiplied, took up new sports, or were of opposite gender, and yet we still got together every month. Sometimes driving for over half an hour to get to each others homes. And I had thought it was hard when we had to walk through the courtyard to get together.

Tearful, I called one of my true friends, a soul mate on the other side of the country whose children are the same ages of mine, and asked her what the heck I should do.

These are the worthwhile friends, she said.

It’s not just that Moms are busy. Grown-ups are busy. Remember when you were single and your friends married and disappeared? Figure out that you never would have become soulmates with that friend, if you weren’t both taking a walk to the library on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:15?

Enjoy these friends. It’s fun and good, enjoy it while you can. Don’t be sad it might be different tomorrow. Enjoy the people who are there.

If you like someone, plan monthly nights out with her, plan an exercise schedule, hope your kids will be friends a while. Because, in general, you’re going to have to make time or you'll be just too darn busy to see her. Next year you’ll be driving to piano while she’s driving to soccer. But there’s still hope for a bright new land where you make more time with friends of your choice.

I'm so glad I took her advice. Now our babies are in high school, and we still make time for each other, fifteen years later.



Heidi



Laurie



Nicole

Kelli

Naomi



Cute Carol hosted our annual Christmas Girl Night this year



• Carol is much too complex to be reduced to a series of annual bullet points
• Grateful that all are healthy and happy!
• Mother of four beautiful children, two of which are pictured above, Lilly and Nina



Lovely Livy said... 



"Our very special bond of friends is quite remarkable. I am so grateful to have friends who truly love each other and who genuinely care about each others well being. All I know is that I feel so comfortable with all of you and know that you all have mine and everyone else's best interest at heart. There is no gossiping among us, back-biting and if we do talk about each other it is out of genuine concern and love."

 



It's a Good Thing

The fifth annual Grizz Cup started last night at Steiner with a win against the Jackson Moose.

Next game was this morning at 6:30 a.m. and with the requirement of being at the rink an hour before the game starts, you guessed it, Max was at the rink by 5:30. It was a good thing it was close by and I took him in his pajamas, drinking his hot chocolate and eating his granola bar on the way! They played the Idaho Falls team for the fifth time this season and won again.

Third game of the tournament was this afternoon against Team Wyoming and it was a great game ending in a win as well.

Next game is for the championship tomorrow morning against the Grizzlies, which will be the first time playing them this season. Should be a fun game.

Not to say that three games in a 24 hour period isn't enough, but Markus had his game today in between the two tournament games at Steiner as well.

He started out with the little guys and after two goals, they said he was too fast and moved him to the other end, with the goalies and the older kids. Which is where he usually starts but they were trying to mix it up today I guess to try and get the boys ready for full ice next month.

 He scored six goals and had four assists. He was pretty excited.

Now you could be thinking that three games in one day must be enough, but no! Max had one more game tonight for his regular house team. Which actually worked out well for him because he really doesn't play that much on the Lightning team against the really good travel teams, so he was excited to get on the ice and skate and score.

He tried really hard to do so, but it didn't happen this game. The Knights won 4 - 0 and shut him down every time he went to score.

After the game Max's first hockey coach, Davis, shook his hand and told him that he played great. Then Max and Markus came home and fell asleep in my bed watching Miracle, the movie about the 1980 USA hockey team winning the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. They just can't get enough of a good thing! :)