The next post will have pictures, I promise

I know I said pictures were forthcoming, but you know how things can just get behind you...

I'm going to post the pics a little later today - just be patient!

The kids are enjoying their last week of summer, and making the most of their late nights and late mornings (as compared to school nights) to watch as much TV as possible. They and their mother are completely addicted to "So You Think You Can Dance" and it's not just current shows - they go back and watch old episodes repeatedly for some reason ... women.

Speaking of old episodes, I recently watched the last quarter of the BYU-Utah game from last season - still brings chills, tears, and the urge to jump up and down and pump my fists vigorously. I and my brothers are anxiously awaiting the start of the new season. I got my ticket arranged to go with a big group of NoCal guys down to LA in a few weeks for the BYU-UCLA game. Should be fun.

I'm Kennan's soccer coach this year. I've been wanting to do it, and a friend of mine wanted to be an assistant coach for his daughter, so we teamed up to coach the girls. We just got our roster this morning and we're excited to have a team full of friends from Kennan's school. It should be fun - hopefully we don't lose every single game! I'm about to go get "Coaching Soccer for Dummies". I think our first practice will be a screening of "Bend it Like Beckham" and hope they pick up something from that...

I'm pretty busy with work, and I have a few travels coming up. During the next month I will be in Seattle, Austin, L.A. (not work related), London, and Dublin. Most are just brief trips so they won't be too bad. It'll be busy though with the kids starting up school, but I don't think I'll miss anything important.

The kids and we are all happy with their teachers and classes. They have a good mix of old friends and new kids in their classes, and even though some of their teachers are new to the school, they seem very sharp and have outstanding reputations. We're excited for what the new school year will bring.

And finally, a shout out to Spencer as he sends his wife and older kids off to play in the sun and he keeps the newborn twins with him and has taken on the task of painting the house at the same time. Some guys just don't know how to say no... just kidding bro - you're a good man!

peace

Normality Returns

As we sat around this morning as a family, just kind of relaxing before our morning prayer and my work day, I couldn't help but smile. To be home, all together as a family, as the sun shone through the window, after a great night's sleep in our own beds, with no other distractions - very nice!

The drive home, however, wasn't all nice. The kids did great, and we made excellent time until Reno, but hit the horrendous Bay Area traffic and what normally takes about 11 1/2 hours took us 13 1/2 hours. Oh well, we'll have to time it a bit better next time. Luckily though, we got home early enough that we had very little stress even with the added hours on the road. We were able to get a few things unpacked, and at least tidied up before settling down for the evening.

So now we're home and things are back to normal, but it was nice to spend a final weekend with family and friends in Utah. We really enjoyed a trip to the BYU bookstore, hanging out with our longtime friends, Matt and Sheri, a couple more great meals prepared by Grandma LeBras, The Music Man play at a local theater, a fun dinner and hospital tour with Grandpa Richards while he was on call at the hospital, and being with everyone we won't be able to see for a while.

I also ran the Provo 1/2 marathon on Saturday and really enjoyed it. I wasn't planning on running until maybe Friday, but I'm glad I did. I didn't run my best time (I ran 1:44), but in going in with a lot more relaxed view of the run, I enjoyed it much more than usual and felt good afterwards. I'm grateful to be in shape to be able to run something like that on a spur of the moment. It also got my juices flowing for St. George again, which is big because I was really feeling non-motivated for October. I'm looking forward to also running a relaxed marathon with Matt Dalton and probably Jason (if his ankle continues feeling better).

The trip to the BYU bookstore was fun! We got some awesome Cougs gear for Brig - workout pants, sweatshirt, t-shirt; and a couple of things for Brig's dad. I was especially excited to put the new/old Y logo sticker on our Rocketbox proudly displayed alongside the Longhorns sticker.

I owe you some pictures, which I may have time to do tonight or tomorrow. We took so many it's going to be hard to narrow it down... Here's my favorite one so far from the hospital cafe with the Richards (note the remains of Brig's accident markings on his head):

Brig and the Girls

Brig had a little accident yesterday. He was playing with the girls and the cousins around a treadmill, and while he was on it, someone turned it up to high. He was thrown off the back into the wall, and then was trapped between the wall and the moving treadmill belt, giving him some nice burns on his face/head and arm. It was nobody's fault, it just happened, and frankly, I think that's how it is with little boys - something's wrong if they don't have multiple bruises, scabs, scars, and parent scares to their credit. We feel bad for him, but by Angela's account, he was soon acting as if nothing happened and he hasn't been any different than his usual happy self since then. Thankfully Ang was close and able to get things turned off quickly so it wasn't worse.

And on a lighter note, the girls had a wonderful opportunity to stay last night at the cabin in the beautiful mountains with Grandpa and Grandma and three other cousins. They went fishing at the lake yesterday afternoon, with only a few "bites" but no fish, they had a great cabin-style chili and hotdog dinner, they saw a moose and her calf right by the cabin, and they watched the classic tear-jerker, Where the Red Fern Grows. I talked to them mid-movie so I haven't heard a report on whether or not they cried at the end - I know I have every time I've ever seen that movie... Today they're going for a hike and a mountain picnic, with maybe a little more fishing. What a great thing for Grandpa to take them up there - they'll always remember that! Man, I am jealous though - what I wouldn't give to get out on the river...

Tomorrow's the day I head back to join the family in preparation for our drive home this weekend. It will be nice closure to do a last few fun activities and then say our goodbyes as we come back to restart our lives. It'll be good to get back to normal. My most pressing problem is in what I have to do tonight to get the house ready for the family to come home...I'm generally pretty clean when I'm home by myself, but let's just say my cleanliness standards may be a little different from Angela's cleanliness standards. I think it's gonna be a late one tonight. But can't wait to see the fam again!

Funny video

I was sitting here at my desk at the end of the work day, and I thought I would browse around YouTube for videos to watch. The first search I usually type in is "funny", and I have to tell you, my stomach hurts, my cheeks hurt from laughing, and I'm still getting looks from my coworkers. The best one I saw is this one of soccer:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YPQ_N4imYVE

Admittedly there are a couple of pictures that border on inappropriate, but if you can get past that, you'll be in for a good laugh. Note that the side bar to the right of this page are also showing funny soccer moments.

I also thought you might enjoy this:

http://www.bluefangroup.com/

Two days until I get to hang with the fam again - can't wait!!!!

Happy Monday

Morgan called me this morning to tell me how excited she is for the dance camp they're doing this week. It's Jazz and Ballet, she told me, and she said she thinks she's a good dancer - well of course...

They've had a great time with their cousins and family in Utah, but we think it's getting to the time where it will be good to get home and unwind before school starts. There's only so much vacationing kids can take before starting to fall apart. I don't think they're falling apart, but we can tell that it will be good for them to return home and get some structure and organization back in their lives. They're great kids and we're really thankful for them.

A couple of tips to make your life easier:

• 1-800-GOOG-411 is a free phone directory service that will connect you to the business once you've done a voice activated search for it.
• On Google maps, if you're looking for driving directions and you're not happy with the route you get, you can easily move the line by just dragging any point on the line to a new street to try out new routes.
• You can download Google talk (along with Gmail obviously) onto your blackberry and thus always be online...some people don't actually want this, but it can be nice.

Have a nice day and a great week.

And So It Begins!

This is the greatest weekend of the summer from a somewhat limited point of view - Fall football practice begins for the Cougs! It's the culmination of online prognosticating and blah-blah-blahing...finally there will be real reports of real action. Yeah, I know there's a month until the first game, and the first couple of games are going to be very, very tough. But last year provided many of us with that one thing we have been lacking the last few years at this time - real hope. Not just the hope that somehow this year will be better than years past; not just the hope that someone, somehow, will shock us with a few clutch plays and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat; not just hope that we won't be as bad as the national media thinks we will be... Nope, real hope.

Real hope that we will continue progressing, even with younger players in certain key positions; real hope that some good early returns will set us up for an outstanding finish; real hope that even if things don't go great in our first couple of games, we can turn it around for our conference season and finish as we did last year. I'm stoked. I'm pumped. I'm excited. And I'm also nervous.

I know this is a family blog, and there are a few of our readers out there who couldn't care less about the Cougs. So don't worry, it's not going to become all football all the time. We will still share the most important things about the family, but this is a big time of year for me, and for a few of you as well.

More on the Cougs to come later.

Wednesday

Congrats to Dan, who started his MBA program today at Wharton. Big couple of years ahead of you bro - you'll do great! Let me just say to Hailey right now...Angela feels your pain.

Report on my bachelorhood activities: played golf, revived the dying plants and nursed them back to health (Angela will be so proud), rode my bike on a real ride for the first time in a year, ran and swam laps, worked late, Sunday dinner at a good friends house, read a couple hundred pages of Harry Potter, and most of all, missed my wife and kids.

Brig's been sick and miserable these last couple of days - poor little guy and poor Angela. Week from tomorrow and I'll be with them to help again.

Lastly, I'm really enjoying the 80 degree weather after the much hotter Utah climate. I haven't broken into a sweat once since getting back. In fact, I slept without the A/C last night and was just fine. I know it's been said before, but it's pretty great out here!