Lamb Days and "Singin' in the Rain"

Last Friday we went to the Community/High School production of "Singin' in the Rain". We knew 3 adults and 3 kids in the play and sat in the 3rd row with several friends from our neighborhood. It was a blast and we were both really impressed with how well it was done. It's always amazing to me to see the amount of talent that can be found in one community. I loved watching the tap-dancing and they were really good singers.

Last Saturday we headed down with the Dan and his kids to enjoy a bit of Lamb Days in Fountain Green. Part of the various celebrations was a Co-ed 4's volleyball tournament. Our team consisted of Adrienne, Dan, Bryce (as a sub), and Kasilia (Dan's neice). We had a great time and took second place overall. The only team we lost to the entire day was the eventual champs. We lost 25-22 and 25-23 so they were really close games. Here are some photos from the event.

This first one is Dan's youngest, Tyson. He's a cute kid and surprisingly strong.

Here we have Adrienne getting ready to play some volleyball.

I am setting Adrienne so she can hit the ball.

And Adrienne delivers the big smash with Dan watching.

Finally, Kasilia is serving another ace (at least that's how I want to remember it). Bryce wasn't playing in this game so he graciously took photos of the rest of us.

More photos

Here's some additional shots of our tournament. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of my sweet tan-line from wearing the bandanna all day long. I've got a pretty solid line in the middle of my forehead. In this first one, Dan is showing his passing form. Notice he has his right foot forward and he is completely focused on the ball.
I'm getting ready to serve another winner.
Emily set up Adrienne for this perfect spike. They won the game soon after this play.
Emily's form is even better than Dan's. Of course she's been playing volleyball a lot longer.
We always have a blast playing in these tournaments. I hope we find time to do another one soon. We might even play "B" next time (next level up from Novice).

UOVA Tournament 6-27-09

Adrienne and I both participated in the Men's/Women's outdoor volleyball tournament last Saturday (UOVA stands for Utah Outdoor Volleyball Association). Ade played with our good friend Emily in the Women's novice division, while I teamed up with Dan for the Men's novice. We all had a great time. The girls placed about 5th and the guys actually won their division. I've posted a couple of photos for memory's sake.

Dan set me up pretty good for this one. Notice my stylish shades and bandana. I started wearing the bandana a couple years ago after my head got burned one too many times.

Ade is about to bring the heat with her serve as Emily watches. They were only one game out of making the next stage of the tournament. This was the first time they played together. I hope they get another chance soon. On a side note, Emily's shoulders look pretty buff in this camera angle.

Rain and making time for things that matter

I think it's at least rained a little bit each day for the last two weeks. I thought summer was supposed to be here. There is a bit of sunshine at the end of the tunnel though. It is supposed to stop by the weekend. This is wonderful because we have decided to play in a Co-ed 4's volleyball tournament as part of the Utah Summer Games. We're playing with our old neighbors (Dan and Kim). Ade and I haven't done any outdoor tournaments in a year so we are really looking forward to it.

The good news with the rain is that I haven't had to water my garden at all. It seems to be doing well for the most part.

Most people who follow our blog know this already, but I wanted to let the others know too. My Uncle Larry isn't doing well with his treatment (for cancer). According to the doctors, he might only have a couple of months left. Of all my aunts and uncles, he was the one that I knew the best growing up. We would take trips up to their home in Tennessee about once a year during most of my "formative years". The sad part is, of all my aunts and uncles, it has been the longest since I have seen him and Aunt Margaret. They live out in Wisconsin now, but I wish I would have found the time and resources to make a trip out there before all this happened. At the least, I wish I would have called a few times over the years. I just relied on updates from my mom and dad over the years. Sometimes it takes a tough situation to wake us up to the little to the things we should be doing. We should let those we care about know how we feel. Larry has always been an example of what it means to be a good and honorable man and father all the years I have known him...of course I've heard a story or two from before my time that certainly makes me laugh.

SF Volleyball and Yard

This week we had another volleyball tournament. Our Spanish Fork team competed in the middle bracket and took 3rd place. This might be the last year that we do both Spanish Fork and Payson at the same time. It takes quite a bit of time and hopefully we'll have adopted by then. ;-)

Friday was Liberty's 1st birthday party (our niece). She didn't quite know what to do with the presents, but with a little help she started to get the hang of it. She also had a ball with the cake and ice cream. Check out this great shot I took with my phone.

Saturday was spent in the yard. We weeded the area that we are going to put a planter. Weeded all the garden beds around the house. Moved all the excess dirt from the planter area (about 10 wheel barrow loads worth). Planted our peach tree. Transplanted the maple from the front yard to the side yard. Planted 3 bushes and 2 Hosta plants. We even put down weed barrier fabric everywhere that we cleared.

I still haven't painted the shelves in our closet, but I'll try to get that done tonight. Then, tomorrow, we are having our curbing put in our yard. I'll try to get some before and after photos to share with everyone. I wish I would have taken the time Saturday so that everyone could see just how much was done.

Volleyball and weekend

Our Payson volleyball league had the end of season tournament. We ended up losing in the final so we took 2nd place. It was disappointing but it was a ton of fun playing with friends from our old neighborhood. This week we'll have our Spanish Fork tournament with friends from our current neighborhood. We can hardly wait.

Saturday we had several activities. First, Heidi and Trevor came over to watch a movie. We then caulked the new shelves in the master closet to prep them for paint. Finally, we bought a peach tree from Costco. We've been wanting to get our garden going, but it seems to rain each Saturday, but we figured we could at least buy a tree. We didn't get home in time to plant it Saturday, but we'll get it done tonight as part of Family Home Evening.

Friday night we went to the BYU/UC Irvine Volleyball. It is always amazing to see the ability level that college athletes achieve. We got there over an hour early so that we could get good seats. We were just a couple rows from the front (as you can see in the picture I took with my phone). We lost the game, but it was close. UC Irvine is #1 in the country but BYU is #6.

Much of the weekend was spent in meetings for the LDS semi-annual General Conference.

Saturday, before the first meeting, some neighbors and I rented an aerator and did our lawns Saturday morning. We were hoping for clear weather, but it snowed overnight and snowed the whole time we did the lawns. The irony is that the weather cleared up later in the day.

Sunday, aslo befoer the first meeting, we had our neighbors (Seth, Jill, and their 3 little girls) over for breakfast before General Conference. We also had Heidi and Trevor come by. We had pancakes, bacon, fresh fruit, juice, and even hash browns. Just a great breakfast with good friends and family. I'll pick a favorite talk from General Conference to review later this week.

Volleyball and Babysitting

Last week was very busy. As you know, we got back to town late on Monday. The rest of the week was spent scrambling to catch up on unpacking, cleaning, and other activities.

Our volleyball teams went 1-3 this week. It was disappointing because we should have won 2 more of those. We just ended up giving the games away through mistakes in the end. We still had a lot of fun though. It is always fun to play with all our friends.

Danielle (Dan and Kim's daughter) invited us to come to her basketball game on Saturday. We ran into some of our other friends from the old neighborhood while we were there. Then, in the evening we took care of Tyson (with Danielle's help). Dan took Bryce to the Jazz game, and Kim went to a Young Women's meeting in Salt Lake. He's 6 months old now and surprisingly strong. The key is to make sure your fingers are protected by his...or he'll crunch yours with his two tiny teeth.

What else can I fill everyone in on? Oh, my parents sold their house in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago. It will be nice for them to not have an extra house payment.

Sarah's wedding is just 3 1/2 weeks away. I can't believe how fast time flies.

Catching Up

Last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday we had a ward party that included a service auction and chili cook off. There were probably 20-25 different chili entries. All the ones I tried were great. My favorite was a white chili with chicken. It was really different, but had tons of great flavor.

Most of the day Saturday I spent working on a talk for sacrament meeting. Kevin (the Bishopric member who asked me) gave some ideas and scriptures to help get me started. The focus was "Forgiveness" and as I prepared and prayed I ended up talking about unity as well. I'll include some notes, scriptures and stories from my talk in a later post.

We went to dinner at Red Robin with our friends Dan and Kim (and 2 of their 3 kids). Then we went to play volleyball with some friends.

Sunday mostly consisted of church, choir and dinner with my sister Sarah and her fiance Austin. We had fajitas and played Rummikub (reminded me of family vacations at Uncle Larry's).