here's your sign

8 minutes left on the clock, Grace says, "Mom! I need some paper and a pen. Quick!"

(It reads, "Lets go cougers! go Beat the Aztecs! Belive in yourselve!"

the backside sums it up in two letters - GO")

royal blue

Big night last night: Jimmy's first BYU game. The Cougs came to SD and we were there! Thanks to a very generous sports fan (who also happens to be one of the docs with Nate) the four of us had some awesome seats to last night's game.



Here is the play by play:
We arrive in plenty of time to learn the stadiums in SD have outdoor concessions, not indoor. Quite different from us folks who come from places with real, actual winters.

We also learn we are there on rally night and everyone is given a rally rag (sort of a towel) with the SDSU fight song on it. We shortly learn thereafter that none of the SDSU students seem to know their own fight song. Good thing we know ours! Jimmy and Grace practiced all day and they were ready! (J's version begins: "Rise all Royal Cougars," and he has taken to calling the team The Royal Cougars). He was so excited he kept hitting the gentleman's (read: a Marine or very tough Army-man of sorts) seat in front of us. He (the gentleman) was none too keen.



During warm-up Jimmy couldn't get enough of 'those Cougar guys' and 'all of those BASKETBALLS!!' He then decided he was going to be a Cougar. Sounds good to me!

Grace used this time to scout out the crowd. She found our cousins across the arena and wondered 'who that boy is' our 17 yr old cousin was with. Grace said, "I don't even know him!" (Turns out he's 'just a friend,' for those of you wondering the same thing).

Next we were treated to the presenting of the Colors and the singing of our national anthem. Grace decided to sing along (again, seems that most SDSU fans were clueless about these words too) and our Soldier-in-Front turned around and complimented her on her singing. We were fast friends after that.


The game was a close one, the Cougars pulled ahead (really by the skin of their teeth, but probably more because of Nate's stadium-seating-coaching (see, in the picture below you can see the coaching staff conferring amongst themselves wondering 'what would Page do?)).

I'm sure SDSU thought their student section would have the goods necessary to pull them ahead, but they were too busy fussing with their ties to be any real challenge. Seems they thought what better way to taunt the Cougars than to dress in white shirts, ties, and bike helmets.


GO COUGARS!!!!!!



ps sorry to those of you in the silly student section - you had to wear a tie during the whole game - hah!

pss for you non-Cougs out there, the words are generally, 'rise all loyal Cougars'

under the rainbow

We had a glorious three day weekend (read - Nate was off all three days!), during which we watched The Wizard of Oz (we also took a mini-road trip, ate at a fabulous institution, stayed next to another one, and had quality family fun). Grace could not get over the different parts of the movie that were in black and white verses the main part in color. This seems to go along with her question to me earlier in the week, "Did the world used to be in black and white?"

And then yesterday it started to rain. And by rain, I mean sheets of water pouring forth from the sky. It has rained more in the last day and a half than it has the whole time we've lived here. This made me realize that my trusty umbrella has been misplaced (or left in STL).

I think a lot of San Diegans don't bother with an umbrella. You just don't need one much here. Today though, many caved in and bought up all of Target's bounty. I was one of the lucky ones and scored one of their remaining golf sized umbrellas. Of course it is a beauty - completely bright and rainbow hued! Seriously, I'm afraid it might be making some kind of political statement.

Oh well, at least I'm dry!

old news, new news

Well, I'm still hanging in there. In fact, I'm better - but still not up to full lung capacity. I'm still easily winded. As much as I love my grandmothers, I really don't enjoy breathing like some of them.

We're also trying to iron out contract difficulties for the new job. Most of the difficulties have come from finding the right lawyer, tossing out the incorrect lawyer, and then getting the other lawyer to work (I guess they have lawyer hours and not doctor hours). Really, if you want to make lots of cash and have a nice life where you are home with your family or can have hobbies, please don't be a surgeon.

It has been through these trivial matters that Nate and I have come to an important decision - its high time we finally go on that trip for two to somewhere tropical. We're headed to Hawaii in May!!!! Our 12th anniversary is approaching and though it is not a multiple of 5 occasion (such as our 5th or 10th or whatever (certainly you can count by five?)) it seems the most opportune time to go and it also seems like the time when we can really lay back and relax (big decisions made and boards over (and by boards I mean the big ones - yikes). We were going to go in the middle of the month for 6 days, but then Nate's cousin changed her wedding date and Memorial Day weekend is now open. That allows us 7 days! Think we can manage to be away from life and children for 7 days?

happy

Thought I'd mention our two end of the year miracles:

1. The car was fixed and returned to us within 4 hours of breaking down. We feel incredibly blessed.

2. I'm breathing better than I have in weeks. I've decided that breathing is something I've been taking for granted all these years.

Wishing you a Happy New Year. Mine already is Happy.