The Racing Adventure

So, my step-dad Fred is notoriously difficult to buy for. The man quite literally doesn't want ANYTHING. So when he mentioned in passing months ago that he thought it would be fun to race a car...we looked into it (which is to say my mother looked into it). She managed to find a company that would allow him to race a car around their track and promptly went about arranging for it to be a surprise. 

I can honestly say, I had been looking forward to this for months. We even managed to keep it a secret. My Mom ordered shirts for all of the family that said "Houston Racing Team" and there were about 20 of us that showed up to watch Fred race. What a hoot! 

Fred seemed to enjoy himself and "only" got up to speeds of 114 mph and his instructor was encouraging him to go faster...what a crazy. One of the really fun things was seeing all the boys drool over the cars. Louis HAD to get a picture in front of this Mercedes Benz...which truthfully I can't even tell you what model it is or even make. I thought it was a Porsche until Louis corrected me (sorry Dad...I know, what an embarrassment!). 

It was pretty entertaining, because we were all wearing the matching t-shirts with the "Houston Racing" logo on it and the staff kept asking us what type of racing we were affiliated with. Frankly, I think they were curious why we were willing to pay them to race around their track if we had our own facilities, cars etc...which of course we don't!

Regardless, everyone had a blast being together and getting to try something new and different. Though I still think one of my favorite moments was when Louis leaned over to me and said, "I don't want to race around this track for my birthday. Ok?" : ) Not quite Louis's style...or mine! 

 

Voting

We participated in early voting this year.  Today was the last day to do so.  When we got there, the line was quite long.  We probably stood in line for 15 minutes or so.  Apparently it was also a day for people who don't like wearing pants to come vote.  While standing in line, I saw a guy get out of his car and then put his pants on.  That is right, he was not wearing any pants when he got out of the car.  Like I said, it was a long line, so he had an audience.  As we got closer to the trailer for voting, we saw a man with his pants sagging.  I don't mean sagging and you saw his boxers.  I mean there was a full moon showing.  He did not care one bit.  Again, a long line, and his backside was facing said long line.  This was not a young teenage boy.  He was in his fifties.  The first guy probably forties.  So the question is, what is it about voting that makes people not wear pants?

The End of Soccer

Well all, we did it. We survived my first season coaching soccer. I say "we" very literally. The last 3 months have been an exhausting blast. Poor Louis has really been picking up my slack around the house. I have learned so much. For example:

1. Coaching is REALLY hard.
2. Coaching is NOTHING like teaching.
3. It is a BLAST to interact with students in different situations and see them in a new light.

I didn't exactly learn this, so much as I was reminded of it, but

4. Louis is amazing!

It was so much fun to get to teach Louis all about soccer. He is such a sweetheart. He came to my games to watch and cheer just to support me...he has even been learning all about the rules of soccer. It's been quite nice that he is going in to nutrition as well. A lot of my girls don't really understand the necessity of eating, especially when exercising. He took the time to look up in his old Sports Nutrition books exactly the kind of muscles and skills soccer players need so that he could try to advise me on what to tell my girls to eat so we didn't spend 8 minutes of a game trying to get a girl off the field due to a muscle crap because she hadn't eaten all day....silly girls.

Over all the season went well. We started out recruiting and desperately trying to get enough girls together to actually have a freshman team. We succeeded, but naturally our team was made up of a lot of beginners to soccer. One of the things that I loved most was being able to watch the girls improve so much. I loved that we would work on a skill one week and the next game I could see them actually using that same skill. It's unusual to see that kind of progress so quickly in teaching so it was gratifying. One of the parents actually approached me at the end of our last game and commented, "I wish they could just see how much they have improved this season. They are a whole different team!"

Our last game was away against our rival school. Just 3 weeks before they beat us 3-0 and we managed to pull off a competitive game and walk away with a 1-0 win. You just can't beat that. It was also fun to see Louis respond and help me learn to be a better coach. Our dinner conversations often turned to "How do I deal with this?"  and he would respond with one of two responses usually: 1. WWGD (What would Gibo our head coach Do?) or 2. Make them run!

Needless to say, I've learned a lot. Coaching is truly a lot of fun. Though I will confess, I am really looking forward to coming home 3 hours earlier every day! What am I going to do with myself?

Homecoming

Shadow Ridge had their Homecoming last weekend.  Brielle was asked to chaperone, and she asked to me to help her.  We went and policed the outside part of the dance.  It was quite entertaining for us.  Kids who tried to hide in the dark corners to make out were our responsibility.  We would stand near-by and just talk until they moved.  They weren't going to do anything with us standing so close.  There were some couples who would sit close to each or on each other on benches.  When they did and started getting too physical we would be there making things awkward.  I wanted to sit on the bench right next to them to make it as awkward as possible.  I figured I would only have to do that a couple of times before it stopped completely.  Brielle wouldn't let me do that though. Though she laughed at the thought. Something about how the kids needed to enjoy the dance.  I just wanted to make it memorable.  I also wished that I could either lose 1/4 pound (a full pound would have killed me off) or get a dollar for every time I saw a girl pulling up the top of her dress to keep from falling out.  I would either be really skinny, or be able to take my wife out to a really fancy restaurant if my wishes came true.  We just laughed at the outfits that we saw that evening.  They included dresses so short that the girls were actually sitting directly on the benches because there wasn't enough fabric to cover their hind-ends and the tux with colored sneakers look for the boys. We also watched lots of drama unfold (including the rival school egging Shadow students coming out of the dance).  Why do people ever want to go back to high school?  We had fun though and are glad that we did it.

Stake Day of Service

Our stake did a service day last Saturday.  It was a service project for the homeless teenagers in Vegas.  It consisted of tying fleece blankets and scarves.  Brielle took part in the cutting aspect of the project, while I participated in the tying.  I sat at the same table as Bishop Tebbs.  I worked on one end while he and his daughter, Tori, worked on the other.  It was fun to visit with our bishop and get to know him better.  We also had other members of the ward pass through and help a little at our table.  I had to be there early to help set up.  It was funny to hear all of these men talk about moving tables and chairs, but not setting them up properly.  It didn't matter how we set them up it would probably be wrong.  And sure enough, we had to move everything several times.

General Conference Weekend

General Conference weekend was great.  We went up to Bunkerville to visit Brielle's family.  Another benefit of going to Bunkerville was that Brielle made jam.  Raspberry-peach.  Mmmm.  It was fun to just go and visit and enjoy one another's company.  We consumed lots of good food.  We enjoyed the spirit of conference.  What more could we ask out of the weekend?  Well, that wasn't good enough for us.  On our way out of Bunkerville, I slowed down as we going around this huge bend in the road.  Little did we know that there would a surprise for us on the other side of the bend.  We came around and there was a herd of cows in the middle of the road.  I didn't have time to stop, so we hit a cow.  Luckily, we were able to slow down enough that we were not injured.  The cow ran off.  When the highway patrol officer got there, he looked at the front of the car and said, "You hit a cow."  Followed by, "She even crapped on the hood.  That's just not right. I guess you scared the crap out of her." We were glad that he was so calm and brought humor to the situation.  The tow truck came and after loading up our car, the driver got in the truck and said he has another tow on the way to Vegas.  He wanted to know if that was okay with us.  So we go to meet some new people on the way home.  Their car had broken down.  On our way home, we passed several people who were on the side of the road.  It was the night for accidents and car problems.  We passed at least 5 cars that were on the side of the road.  I have never seen so many cars on the side of the road in such a short stretch of freeway.  Jason, the driver, dropped us off at the Cannery and Brielle's old roommate Abbi, came and picked us up and brought us home.  We counted our blessings.  We are so glad that were protected.  We said many prayers of thanks that night.

Pets

I feel like putting an entry on our pets today.  Mainly because we got two new pets yesterday.  First, about our first pet.  Wonder Woman is a female betta that we bought as a back up fish for our wedding reception.  We wanted  a blue betta swimming around in a bowl by the sign book.  We bought her in case we weren't able to find a blue male betta, since they have the big pretty fins.  So we had Wonder Woman as a back up.  She survived the week or so before the reception and then survived the trip from Bunkerville to Vegas.  That is how she got her name.  We were surprised that she survived that trip.  She is doing fine.  She is still a very active fish that provides great entertainment.  Sorry we don't have a picture of her, but she is hard to photograph.

Now for our next two pets.  We just got them yesterday.  Countess and Polgara are mice.  We have been talking lately about how we wanted to get a new pet, like a hamster or rat or mouse etc.  We went with a small animals since we can't really have a cat or dog right now.  So we decided to use some of my birthday money on either mice or a bigger fish tank.  I decided on mice since we can actually interact with them.  They have cute personalities.  Right now they are cuddled up next to each other asleep.  Polgara is dark gray with a white stripe down her chin and chest.  Countess is creamed color and white.

This is  Polgara.  So named from a character in the books The Belgariad.

This is Countess.  Brielle referred to this mouse as a vampire mouse, and since I always think of count with vampires, she is Countess

Visit

I got a call from Bob last week saying that they were going to be passing through Vegas and they wanted to stop and see us and introduce us to there new baby.  Unfortunately, Brielle was not able to join us for our brunch at Mimi's Cafe, but I had an enjoyable time visit with Bob, Janae, and Graham.  Graham is a very cute little boy.   Very active and smart for a five month old.  I just wanted to post a little thing about our visit because I so rarely see them that I thought it worth mentioning.

Birthday

So Brielle decided that, yes, we did infact need to celebrate my birthday.  Since the weekend before my birthday was a long weekend, Brielle decided to make my birthday cake early.  I had told her three different kinds of cake that I liked and thought looked good, and she picked from there.  She made a rollo cake.  It was a tasty cake that tasted like a rollo.  However, she had some adventures in making the cake.  The cake itself was a yellow cake with caramel mixed in.  She made that from scratch, no problem.  She then had to make caramel.  That is were the issues came in.  The first time, the sugar formed rocks.  The second time, the mixing spoon was killed.  The third time, perfection.  I will let the pictures say what I can't about the cake.  It was delicious!

ROLLO CAKE!

Es Good.

It was very rich.  We could only eat small slices.

The casualty of the caramel making.

Bambi also came down to visit.  She had a wedding on Saturday, but spent Friday celebrating my birthday with us.  We went to Islands for dinner.  I had just discovered that there was an Islands restaurant in Vegas. They have really good burgers and fries there, so that is why I chose to go there.  We went to Bed Bath and Beyond after that to finish using up our gift cards from our wedding.  We got some new mixing bowls and I got a new stirring spoon, since my favorite one had bit the dust as you can see in the picture.  

School

So we are officially into the full swing of school.  It is a great thing obviously.  See, there is my positive attitude coming in.  Brielle is liking teaching just one subject this year.  She is only teaching world history, and she loves it.  She has come up with all sorts of new activities for this year to keep the children interested and engaged.  She is liking coaching as well.  She had her first game last week, and her team won 5-0.  That is kind of a big deal in soccer.  She is pleased with how her girls played and that they had excellent sportsmanship.

I am liking my classes for the most part.  My math class I won't say anything about except my professor has a hard time with the English language.  The grad student who teaches the discussion part also has a hard time with the English language.  I am taking a women's studies class.  I am taking it because I can knock off two requirements with this one class.  The discussions are actually pretty interesting.  I am also taking a history of rock and roll class. So that involves me going to class and listening to music and learning about the different artists.  My last three classes are nutrition classes.  I enjoy them the most out of all of my classes.

The last class I want to mention is my institute class.  It is the Book of Mormon part I class.  I have enjoyed it because I have learned lots of new things from it.  I am taking it so that I can some calm in my life.  Take a break from the craziness at UNLV.

The End is near

Sad but true.  Summer has come to an end.  Brielle had to go back on Wednesday for meetings about teachers not hitting children, etc.  How ever she has been going to the school the past couple of weeks for soccer practice.  That is right.  Brielle is now the coach of the freshman girl soccer team.  She is also going to be sophomore class adviser.  She is going to be quite busy.  She will be getting students on Monday.



 I will also be going to classes on Monday.  I am so excited about it.  Brielle has told me I am supposed to positive and happy about school, so Yeah, School!  How I have missed the drive to UNLV, but not for much longer.  There is nothing like a long drive in traffic to calm one's nerves.

To celebrate our last week of freedom, we invited Marcus and Rachel over for dinner on Thursday.  We had been wanting to do a dinner for awhile, but with all of the traveling, it just didn't happen.  We also had invited Jordan and Elizabeth over, but they were out of town.  So I guess we will have to have another party with them.  Brielle had made pasta primavera and I made french bread to go with it.  For dessert, we did fondue. It was a fun night of just visiting and having fun.

Last Trip of Summer

Our last trip for the summer was going to St. George and visiting with Maranda, and boys and Linda.  Maranda invited us to come up and see Aladdin at Tuacahn.  Aladdin is a great show.  The actors did a fantastic job.  Brielle and I both loved it.  It seemed that the boys enjoyed it as well.  We got to just sit and visit with Maranda and clan on Wednesday before the show.  Thursday morning was just being bums.  We went to Bunkerville Thursday afternoon so that Brielle could make freezer jam with Michele and Kenzie.  We now get to enjoy the fruits of their labors so speak.

Cedar City Trip

We went to Cedar City for the weekend just to visit our friends.  We stayed with Joe and Tricia while we were there.  We spent the weekend playing games, eating good food, and chatting.  Friday we went to the Green Show at the Shakespeare festival and had pizza with Joe, Tricia, and Bambi.  We spent the rest of the night just chatting.  Saturday we went to the Hong Kong Buffet with Joe, Paul, Kylee, and Bambi.  It was fun to take part of our tradition.  It has become tradition for my old roommates and I to go to the buffet and visit.  That was why Brielle and I wanted to do it.  Saturday night we used up some punch cards and point cards for places that are in Cedar but not Vegas.  After dinner we went to Paul and Kylee's to play games.  Saturdays was more games and watching movies.  Clinton came up from St. George and it was a blast to play charades with him, Bambi, Joe, and Tricia.  Monday we left early enough to be able to visit Oma since it was her birthday.  We then spent the afternoon with Michele and Fred.  It was a fun little vacation to just spend time visiting.  There was nothing pressing that needed to be done.

Yellowstone Trip

We spent five days in Yellowstone with Brielle's family.  I have never been to Yellowstone and it has been years since Brielle has been, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to see some sights together.  We had to drive through Yellowstone to get to the house that we were staying.  So as we were driving to the house, we decided to stop and look at one of the waterfalls and stretch our legs.  When we stopped, I noticed a couple that looked very familiar, then I realized that it was Brother and Sister Jensen, whom I met in Stroudsburg, on my mission.  It was my first area, so I haven't seen them in almost six years.  It is truly a small world.  They were nice enough to take a picture of our entire group for us.

Louis, Brielle, Michele, Fred, Kenzie, Elese (Kenzie's friend)

The house that where we stayed on our vacation was about three miles from Yellowstone.  Michele found a website where someone can rent a house while on vacation instead of staying at a hotel.  It is quite nice to vacation this way.  It was nice to have a kitchen so we didn't have to eat out for every meal.

The living room

We spent two days traveling in the park.  We enjoyed seeing the wildlife, such as bears, buffalo, elk, deer, sheep, and antelope.  A couple of times the buffalo were so close, you could have stuck your hand out the car and touched them.  They are some impressive animals.  It was also fun to see the antelope running around and playing.  

Antelope were literally running around everywhere.

Baby!

Must have been the chicken's day off.

A bear.  Far away and not eating us.

Not just stopping to smell the roses, but eating them too.

Baby big horn sheep.

We also saw lots of hot pots, geysers and waterfalls.  

Hot pot.  Literally.  The steam made things unpleasant, as did the stench.

Little geyser.

Big geyser.  AKA Old Faithful.

Artist point.

We had a blast on this trip.  We are so glad that we went.

The first post

Brielle and I have decided to give blogging a try.  We may not post on a regular but we will update on the big things at least.