Random News

Now that soccer and cross country have ended, I seem to be a little less sure of what to write about.  Life does seem a little less hectic than it did when we were trying to fit in two or three soccer games and a cross country meet (along with everything else) per week.  However, I think I've also gotten a little lax in keeping the grandparents updated on our lives.  I'm going to try to do better.

For the Record. . .

I had a birthday a little more than three weeks ago.  I turned 44.  Mike insisted on putting 44 candles on my cake.  I think he was sure this was going to be the year I couldn't blow out all the candles. I would like it recorded for posterity's sake, however, that I did indeed extinguish all 44 candles with a single breath.  Mike failed in this same bid starting when he was about 35.  I think he just wants to prove I have more hot air than he does.  I (and many others) could have told him that.

Halloween. . . on a Lesser Scale

I'll have to admit that we've gotten more and more lame as our nest empties out.  We aren't nearly as pumped up about the holidays as we used to be, but the boys still manage to have fun in spite of their stodgy parents.  They carved some cool pumpkins this year, and we had enough candy left over from trick or treaters that it was almost like they had gone trick or treating themselves.

I can't remember why Matt was wearing a headband that night, but I think he looks pretty stylish, don't you?  (I love that both of my boys are kind of goofballs.  I really do.)

Matt Goes to Sadie's

Matt went to Sadie's a couple of weeks ago.  There is a big group of guys and gals that he runs with, and inevitably, they end up mixing and matching for dances.  This time Matt went with Morgan, and they had a great time.  One of the favorite activities of the day was paintballing.  Seriously, the pictures they got were hilarious.  Maybe some of them will actually end up in the military someday?  From the looks of this picture, I kind of hope not.  They look pretty tough, but they are all just the nicest guys.  Oh, the guy next to Matt does play on the O-line and is getting some looks from Division I schools.  Maybe he could scare the enemy. . .

Besides paintballing, they enjoyed dinner at Texas Roadhouse, some fun at Wahooz, the dance, and probably some other fun activities that I'm forgetting.  (These all-day dates wear me out just watching them.)  I'm glad he had fun.  Morgan is a cute girl.

Cross Country Off-Season



Adam tried out for the freshman basketball team.  Adam likes basketball, but it certainly isn't his best sport.  Much to my surprise, I will admit, Adam made the hoops squad.  It completely wrecked a trip he had planned to Utah, but I think he will enjoy the experience nonetheless.  I suspect it will also be good for him to have to work hard in practice and support his teammates who are playing more.  That may help him be a better runner and be a better leader on the cross country team.

We did run into one problem.  He had to buy shorts and a jersey to practice in.  He got the smallest size they offered, and let's just say that it's a good thing that baggy shorts and shirts are in style.  It's also a good thing that his shorts have a drawstring.  His basketball shoes do fit, but I didn't make him put them on for this picture.  Preseason practices, as I recall, include LOTS of running, so he probably should just keep his running shoes on.  I'll be interested to see how this 5'2", 85-pound guard does in a high school basketball game.  It's not the size of the dog in the fight but rather the size of the fight in the dog, right? 

We are also being entertained by BSU football and Duke basketball right now.  I'll blog more about that soon.  I will just say this:  I'm finally going to get to see the Blue Devils play in person.  How cool is that?

Better Late Than Never

I'm woefully slow in posting about the state soccer tournament and the district cross country meet.  However, since this blog acts a little bit like a family journal, I thought I'd throw in a few paragraphs and pictures to record the events.  Better late than never, right?

Win Some, Lose Some:  Part Two

The Centennial Patriots won the boys' state soccer championship last year, and oh, how we were hoping for a repeat performance in 2010.  Despite losing some key players from last year's squad, the team was playing pretty good soccer as they headed to Idaho Falls for the tournament.  Unlike years past, the teams from this part of the state were very evenly matched, so it was really anyone's tournament.

Centennial opened up the tournament against Coeur d'Alene.  This was hopefully going to be the easiest of the three games.  The teams from up north are usually pretty good but not nearly as deep or as experienced as the teams from the Treasure Valley.  The Patriots scored first, and it seemed like the game was headed the way it had been predicted to go.  Then Coeur d'Alene scored.  Okay.  Then they scored again.  Not okay.  We were down 2-1 at the break.

Coach Reynolds must have lit some kind of fire under them during halftime because the boys came out and scored three times (fairly quickly) to put the game away, 4-2.  Big relief.  We have the first game out of the way, and things are looking good.  Just win two more games, and the Patriots repeat as state champions.  This is going to be so cool.  The weather was even amazingly temperate for Idaho Falls in late October,  a nice, welcome surprise.

Mike left for Boise after Thursday's game because Adam had the district cross country race on Friday.  Karen was going to meet me at Friday's game, so while I felt torn that I wasn't going to be at Adam's race, at least I had company for the semi-final match against Mountain View.  Karen showed her loyalties by keeping her Mountain View gear at home and even finding maroon to wear (wish I had gotten a picture).

I texted Matt early Friday morning to see if he was psyched for the big game.  (I was staying in Rexburg with my brother-in-law and his family.)  He texted me back that he had spent the majority of the night throwing up.  Uh-oh.  Not okay.  My mind started racing, and I wondered if we could actually get him ready to play since hadn't been sick for several hours by the time I got in touch with him.  I found an urgent care facility in Idaho Falls that could administer IV fluids, and off I sped to pick him up.

To be truthful, when I met him at the hotel, I didn't feel terribly hopeful.  He looked both flushed and drawn, as well as incredibly tired.  However, this is state, boys!  You have to be dead or dying not to play.  So, we got him some IV fluids and some trusty sublingual Zofran, and we headed back to the hotel so that he could stretch with the team.  He even managed a smile while the IV was infusing, so I was hoping he could play at least part of the game.

At least I wasn't kept in suspense.  After warmups, Matt texted me from the bench:  "I'm not playing."  Coach's choice.  Okay.  I spent a lot of money to see if we could make it happen, but it wasn't meant to be.  I felt pretty disappointed for Karen that she had driven two plus hours to watch her brother play, but we settled in for the game anyway.  At least I had good company, and I still felt invested in the team.  I was ready to cheer my guts out.  Unfortunately, the weather had turned more southeast Idaho-ish, and it was a bit nippy and windy, though not as bad as it would be on Saturday.

Mountain View scored first after an extremely questionable call in the box for a penalty kick.  Not okay.  I was pretty ticked about it, but Karen was even more enraged.  Seriously, she hasn't watched enough soccer to know that junk like that happens more frequently it should.  Fortunately, Matt's team was able to tie it up about two minutes before the end of regulation.  I was super stoked, but Karen was even more pumped up.  I was glad to see that familial ties are stronger than school ones.

The state games that were tied at the end of regulation play went to "golden goal."  That means that the first team to score in overtime wins.  If at the end of two overtimes, neither team has scored, then it moves to a shootout.  I couldn't possibly handle another shootout after the district games, so I was beyond elated when Centennial scored the golden goal to win.  Karen and I jumped around and cheered and screamed like crazed fans.  It was super exciting.

Mike and Adam arrived to meet up with me and Karen before Saturday's game, so Matt had a respectable cheering section.  The championship match was a rematch of last year's game versus Borah.  They'd lost to them once in the regular season, but I was hoping the Patriots would use that for motivation.  It just wasn't meant to be this year.  Borah scored first, but Centennial managed to tie it up.  Unfortunately, they scored quite quickly again after our first goal.  The boys then worked like crazy to try and knot it up at 2, but the ball just never found the back of the net.  Borah scored one more throw-away goal at the very end of the game to win, 3-1.  The Lions played well to win it.  Hats off to them.

Matt played almost the whole championship game, taking just a short break in the second half to regroup a bit.  I actually thought he played one of his best games of the season, and I was proud of him for finding the strength to support his team when he didn't feel the greatest.  He played every minute of every game this season, except for the state semi-final game and the two or three minutes he had to sit out after his yellow card.  All in all, it was a very successful season, and Matt had a nice soccer career.  Seems hard to believe it's all over.  It has been a treat to watch him play over the years.

District XC

Unfortunately, I couldn't be two places at once, so I didn't get to see Adam run in the district cross country meet.  However, I did get to watch what Mike videotaped, and I got an excellent report from both Mike and Adam.  It wasn't nearly as cool as being there myself, but in light of the fact that Matt needed medical attention (and his mommy!) on Friday morning, I felt okay about missing the race.

Adam ran great.  He felt like he "left it all out on the course" and simply didn't have an ounce of energy left at the finish line.  Mike confirmed this when Karen and I called him to see how Adam had run.  He sounded completely out of breath, and when Karen asked him if he had run the race himself, he replied, "No, I've just been running around trying to find some Gatorade that I can get into Adam because he almost passed out at the end."  Okay.  Sounds like he gave it his all.

His time for the final race of the year was 17:10.94.  He was the third varsity runner on his team, and unfortunately, the team didn't run fast enough to make it to state.  However, I think Adam had a wonderful season.  He had a goal to run varsity all season as a freshman, and he accomplished that.  I'm not sure what his race time goals were, but I know I was very pleasantly surprised when he beat 18 minutes his first race out.  He then went out and ran every race under 18 minutes and even threw in a sub-17-minute performance at the Kuna meet.  Nice work, son!

The real bummer was that his time would have gotten him to state last year as an individual runner--the top 26 individuals and all the members of the top six teams qualify for state--but there was just more competition this year.  He finished third among the freshman at district, so he's hoping for big things next year.  We shall see! 

(P.S.  The picture to the right is from the Gibb Floyd Invitational in Kuna.  Adam finished as the top freshman in that meet.  Pretty cool!)