Football

Larisa let me join the a semi-pro football team again this year. Two years ago I played for the Bay Tickets 49ers. Now I joined the California Warriors. I like this team a lot better and have made a lot of friends on the team. But it still had its rough periods. I joined the team late in the season, after the games had already started, because I wasn't willing to commit as much time to it as I did before. I play in the Golden Coast Football League, and our team is doing quite well.

Today I played almost the entire game (on offense), but I've had many games where I haven't played much at all. I was riding on a record of never having dropped a pass in my semi-pro carrier (totaling seven receptions). :) Then about a month ago I got my first touchdown, even though I got hit hard while catching it in the end-zone. But the following week I played terribly and dropped two passes among other things.

I tend to get down on myself for the mistakes I make. It's both good and bad for me.

Today I had another touchdown, only to have it taken from me because of a holding penalty. It was a replay of the John Beck pass to Johnny Harline at the end of the 2006 BYU-Utah game. We were on 4th and goal (7 year-line), with 2 minutes left in the game, and down by 8. I ran a post from the right side of the field, and our quarterback held onto it for a long time as he rolled right. At the last possible moment he chucked it across his body to me, waiting open on the left-hand side. His pass was short and almost knocked away by a defender, but I dove for it and came up with it. I would have been a hero if it weren't for the penalty. We ended up losing the game.

The most important thing to report is that I don't have anything to report in the way of injuries. That's what I get most worried about as I live out this fantasy. Although I did get hit pretty hard today by a teammate as I tackled someone on the kickoff.

Camping at Big Sur

 
I was supposed to write about our overnight camping trip in Big Sur with the Porters in March. Better late than never.

There was a very nice looking beach, with water on both sides of a strip of sand that ended with large rocks standing up to the crashing waves. As beautiful as it was, it ended up being way too windy. We ate our lunch, and the kids played, but before too long they were crying and wanted to leave. Tyler didn't seem to care though. :)

Other than that, we did all of the usual fun camping stuff. We made smores, hiked among (and through) the tall Redwood trees, visited Pfieffer Falls, and drove home listening to "Where the Red Furn Grows" on our Garmin Nuvi GPS.

Tyler's escapes

Tyler loves being mobile and escapes from us all the time. Favorite places are the stairs and our back patio. If the gate is not up and we are not paying close attention, Tyler usually makes it to the top of the first flight of stares before we catch him. He starts giggling when he sees us coming for him.

Also, once our little guy hears the sliding door open, he makes a beeline for it. When he manages to crawl out, Tyler looks for a piece of chalk. And that's how we usually find him-- leaning on Lydia's easel, lips colored by the chalk he's gnawing on.

I am a good cooker

Lydia has taken up cooking lately. Some of her favorite things to do include mixing my spices in a bowl at the stove and looking through dessert recipe books. One particular book she really loves. Our little girl begs us to looks through the pictures of recipes and always asks "can we make this for my friends?". Each time we reassure her that we can, sometime later. So one day we decided to pick a dessert, go shopping for it and make it for family home evening. Lydia chose a fancy no-bake cheesecake with praline crust and Italian cream cheese. It took us a while to figure out how to caramelize sugar to make pralines, but overall it was a fun adventure. The cheesecake was more like an ice-cream cake. It was wonderful! But it seemed that we were more excited about it than Lydia. I don't think she quite comprehended what a creation that particular cheesecake was. We enjoyed it so much that we forgot to share it with Lydia's friends.

As to Lydia's cooking, she told us once "I am a good cooker".