This and That

So today I have a bunch of random thoughts in no particular order...

SPRING HAS SPRUNG--today is the first day of the vernal equinox and I couldn't be happier to welcome spring here. Can't wait to soak up some sunshine, spend time working in the yard, get some dirt under my fingernails and see a few of these beauties around! I planted a ton of bulbs last fall and they are just starting to poke through.

KENT'S TROPHY--Last night Kent and I went to the state 4A/5A basketball all-star game. One of Kent's players (Big Steve) was invited to play in it...he ended up being the leading scorer in the game, it was fun. Immediately following the game was an awards ceremony, Kent and the Fremont High School coach were each called down to the floor to accept a huge trophy on behalf of their team making it to the final four. It will look great in the school trophy case.

STAKE RACE--Our stake sponsored a 5-K race this morning. I convinced Braden and Stefanie to run it with me. There was a pretty good turnout of all the running enthusiasts of the stake, Braden came in second! I came in towards the back of the pack but I was just happy that I finished. Although I exercize almost every day I haven't run for months, I can already feel it in my legs. I'll probably be limping tomorrow morning.

OUR POOR PETS--We are not doing too well with pets lately. We haven't seen our cat, Snowball, for over two weeks, we are beginning to believe he probably won't be coming home. We've had him for several years, he was a big mean tomcat who loved getting into fights, he was always coming home with battle wounds. I think he finally must have lost the fight. Our two parakeets, Kiwi and Zazu, both dropped dead one afternoon last December. We moved them into Stefanie's room to make room for the Christmas tree. Stefanie had a scented candle burning in her room, the bedroom door was closed, the aroma was very strong, and the next thing we knew they were both lying dead on the bottom of the cage. Sorry guys! And now we are down to only two fish, we've flushed three of them down the toilet in the past few weeks. At the rate we're going, we're all very worried about our little dog, she may be next!

SOCCER AND LACROSSE: Rachel is on her high school lacrosse team, Braden is on his high school soccer team (as a 9th grader). They both love it and are very busy with practices, tournaments and games. I am not a fan of outdoor spring sports, they're too darn cold!

FOUR STARS: Kent and I don't get out to too many movies between the months of November and March. I think we must be the last people in America to see the movie Avatar, but we finally went and saw it last weekend. Wow, it was one of the most impressive movie experiences I've ever had. It was shown in 3-D on an enormous I-max theater, it was amazing. We both loved it!

MARCH MADNESS: Kent took the day off work Thursday to watch the opening day of the NCAA tournament. Rachel decided she should get to do that too, so she went to her first class and then ditched school, drove to the midde school to check out Braden, then drove to the elementary school to check out Stefanie. They ordered pizza for lunch and spent the entire day watching college basketball. I was the only one at school that day, but they all said it was worth it to see BYU get their big win in double overtime. Good times.

Braden's Eagle Project

...and life goes on. After being consumed by high school basketball for the last five months--this year more than any other year ever--we now find ourselves in a bit of a daze, and not sure how to fill all this sudden free time and brain space. It's been a difficult week.

Thankfully, our kids are all very busy and involved in lots of good things which gives us opportunity to focus our thoughts elsewhere. One of the activities that has demanded the time and attention of everyone in our family is Braden's eagle scout project. He has joined forces with an organization called Soles4Souls to collect used footwear to be distributed in needy countries around the world. So far he's collected about 200 pairs of shoes, his goal is 500. Here are a few statistics...

*Over 1.5 billion pairs of shoes lay idle in American closets.

*Over 300 million people around the world are without shoes.

*Since 2005, Soles4Souls has distributed over 5.5 million pairs of shoes to people in over 125 countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Uganda, Peru, and Thailand.

Braden's shoe drive will continue through March. He will then tie the pairs together or place a rubber band around each pair, place them in boxes and mail them to a warehouse in Nevada where they will be sorted by representatives of Soles4Souls and shipped internationally. This is such an efficient and noble cause, we are proud of Braden for taking on the challenge.

(If you have used shoes you'd like to donate, we have Soles4Souls collection boxes at Willowcreek Middle School, Copper Hills High School, Saratoga Shores Elementary, West Lake High School, and the foyer of the 1500 North church. Braden has organized a door-to-door shoe drive by the scouts from his troop in our neighborhood on Saturday, March 27th, or you can drop them off at our house, or if you contact him, he will come pick them up at any time. Thanks for the support!)

Final Four

Wow, it's been a wild week! The Grizzlies survived the second round of the State tournament last Tuesday against Brighton. It was a crazy game, we went from up twenty in the first half to down two in the third quarter, but thankfully we pulled off a victory in the end. It was way too close for comfort though. I swear I get ulcers at these games and Kent...well, I have no doubt that he's lost years of his life from the stress of coaching. Good thing we both love it!

Yesterday afternoon was the quarter finals against West. Tragically I had to miss this game because Rachel had a lacrosse game (she won) and Braden had soccer tryouts (he made the team) but I knew what was going on the whole game because Kent's team manager texted me updates, and I was following an online live feed. No stress there, Copper Hills dominated from the start. (Whew!) Here is a link to a recap from the Deseret News...as well as a video link of highlights from the game.

Tomorrow we face Davis in the semi-finals, they are the team that took us out of the tournament last year. Here is a preview. Our fingers are crossed for another victory.

Update: Ahh, we lost a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, down-to-the-last-second game against Davis, 44-42. It was an incredibly tough loss, but we could not be more proud of our boys. Here is a recap. There has been an outpouring of support and appreciation for Coach Smith; several touching email messages, online comments from fans, and his phone has not stopped ringing and buzzing. It was an awesome, unforgettable season.