MV - Lehi Basketball Game 2/23/11

Last game of the season was Mountain View against Lehi. This time Lehi beat us 48-43. Lehi actually beat all of the 3 teams, so it was a triple whammy to MV. Alex didn't play because his ankle just got better on Monday, so the coach spared him. I think Alex would have been happy to play, but such is life.

No more practices, no more games, and now we relax.

Sweethearts' Dance 2-19-11

It is a fact of life, that when you have a boy, you don't get to see the girl all dressed up for a dance. That is the case in our lives. All I can do is fuss about Alex's tie and shirt and shoes and pants, and give last minute advice like "take the corsage and take it out of the box and then slip it over her wrist", "Be a gentleman to her at all times", "ask if she is thirsty", "ask her dad what time they would like her to be home", "shake the dad's hand", "say, hello Sir", "be very polite to the parents", "pay for everthing", "be very attentive to her"...type of things.

Alex had a good time at the dance. I'm hoping to see some pictures later on that they had taken at the school. I will post them if I ever get to see them.

The boy's growing up.

MV - Orem Basketball Game 2/18/11

Alex didn't play in the rivalry game because of his ankle, but the team beat Orem 39-37 at the buzzer.

Here is Hunter singing the National Anthem before the Varsity game (which we lost by a point)

MV - Timpanogos Basketball Game 2/15/11

I was told that Mountain View beat Timpanogos. I don't know the score because I wasn't at the game. Why, you ask? For obvious reasons. Alex sprained his ankle on Sunday night while playing basketball with his friends at Riikka's house. The sprain is pretty bad. The trainers call it "Subluxation" or structural displacement of sorts. Alex received ultrasound treatment yesterday, and the ankle feels better now.

Alex has been wearing a walking boot since Monday morning.




That's an ugly dancing shoe if you ask me. Hopefully the ankle feels better before Saturday's Sweethearts dance.

Pigs are Flying at our House

Alex received his answer for the Sweethearts Dance from Kaitlynn last night.


This big box was waiting outside "Alex, I'll go to the dance with you when pigs fly! Take box inside before opening".


Alex is ready to open the box.


These pink balloons flew out of the box. On the balloons, Kaitlynn had drawn on "yes" and pig faces. So cute.

There's the flying pig.

3 days until the dance.

There's going to be 6 couples going on Saturday. First they are having a day date at the laser tag place and then dinner at Gandolfo's and then to the dance. What a fun time in Alex's life.

Jana is making a wristlet corsage for Kaitlynn. I'm sure it is going to be so beautiful.

Finnish Circus at BYU

Riikka, her kids and I went to see the Finnish Circus at BYU last night. I must say that I guess I'm not artsy enough to understand what was going on. It was the weirdest entertainment I've ever attended. Riikka and I kept looking at each other wondering if we were missing something when the audience was laughing and there was nothing funny going on. Why did we have to watch ball juggling for 10 minutes straight and nothing else was going on. I can't even start to explain how strange this whole thing was. Must be Finnish humor. I didn't get it.

Valentine's Day Dinner at Sundance

First, there were supposed to be 9 people for Valentine's Day Dinner last night. My cousin Tommi canceled his trip from Florida because his best friend's mother was dying. He didn't dare leave her side. The other 5 was Riikka's family. So we canceled the dinner because Tom was not coming... except I kept a reservation for 3 people. Us. We went. Had a great dinner and entertainment provided by Alex.

Happy Valentine's Day! Love you!

Friday Night at the Jazz Game

Rod had received some tickets to the Jazz game for Friday night and after scrambling through sick friends and young people who didn't want to go with us, we asked Kent and Tori to go with us. We had such a great time at the game, although Jazz lost to Suns. Kent and Tori are so much fun to hang around.

MV - Westlake Basketball 2/9/11

We lost 61 to 66 to Westlake on Wednesday. Alex played some but didn't score.

Could this basketball season be over already!!

Super Bowl Sunday 2/6/11 at Jennings'

Our Annual Super Bowl Party took us to Jennings again this year. Tim and Dianne are our great friends when we used to live on Main Street many, many years ago. Thanks for hosting again! It was a great party once again, even though I didn't bring back the trophy this year.

I was out of the game during the 1st quarter when Packers scored twice. My prediction was Steelers 17-Packers 9.

The final score was Packers 31 and Steelers 25.


Tai having a Super Bowl feast on her plate.


Brooke is keeping me company while I ate.


The Ladies: Dianne, Tai, Brooke, Sarah, Danika and me


Mike (on the couch, picking his nose) and Andrew and Sarah and Tim in the chair.


Andy and Mike watching the game. Andy is sitting on the "loveseat" where he used to make out with Brooke.



Alex was comtemplating what he was going to eat

Alex and his girls: Rylee, Danika, Kailee, Lana, Brielle and McKenzie

Mike, Andrew, Andy and Tim

Rod watching the game.

The Score sheet...actually a t-shirt. The winner got the t-shirt.

Bill, Rylee and Kate having lunch

Jordan and Nikole (Nikole's birthday was yesterday)

Tim and Dianne. Our lovely hosts and great friends

Hilary made this beautiful birthday cake for Tai (turned 30), Rod, Nikole, Hayden and Isaak. Thanks Hilary!! Sorry you couldn't make the party.

"The Hand-Off", from last year's winner to the new winner...from Marja to Tim. Congrats Tim. His motto that was "engraved" on the trophy is:"The Pack is Back"

Tim's victory kiss.

Thanks for a great party Tim and Dianne! See you next year.

Twins' 46th Birthday Dinner

Rod and Whitney turned 46 yesterday, on February 6th. We celebrated their birthdays at Sundance on Saturday night. Just four of us. It was a lovely dinner.


Whitney and Craig


Rod and I


The birthday girl and boy

Rod's present from Whitney...a keyboard for his iPad. He loves it!

Whitney got a Victoria's Secret gift card.

Sweethearts Dance Invitation

Alex wanted to ask Kaitlynn to the Sweethearts Dance at the High School which will be on February 19th. Here in Utah, and maybe some other parts of the country as well, it is a custom that the invitations are very creative. So Alex called his good friends for some ideas. McKenzie came up with the t-shirt idea: Write an invitation on the t-shirt with a permanent marker and then on the back-side of the t-shirt, write all of the random boys' names with washable markers, except Alex's name would be with a permanent marker. Then she would have to wash the t-shirt to find out who asked her.

Very creative. Alex went to Evy's house to complete the task. McKenzie joined them.

Here is the result.


The question


Random boys' names from school.


Instructions on the bottom of the gift box


Lovely gift box that the girls helped Alex to paint.

Then McKenzie and Evy drove Alex to Kaitlynn's house, he rang the door bell and ran and watched while Kaitlynn picked up the box from the front door.

The answer has to be as creative, so later, on Saturday night Kaitlynn washed the shirt and texted Alex the informal answer of "yes" but told Alex that she will answer properly.

Now we wait. Hope she is not going to toilet paper our house as an answer, because she is known to do that.

My Shoes are Meant for Dancing

After Alex's basketball game and the Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser on Friday night, Rod and I headed to The Dance Club for our first ballroom dance lesson. You may remember that I got a pair of Capezio dancing shoes for Christmas. Now it was time to put them into good use.

First up was Cha-Cha-Cha. I wish we would have a video tape of us dancing because we could probably send it to "America's Funniest Home Videos" and win a grand prize. Luckily we were not the worst dancers. There was a guy who had no idea what rhythm was. He was stiff as a dead body. We felt bad for his wife who tried to make him dance. Then there was a Robert De Niro impersonator who had a perpetual smile on his face. His wife was clearly from Russia and was a much better dancer than him.

We came up with our own dance counting system. Rather than counting 1,2, cha-cha-cha, we came up with a less evasive mm, mm, mm-mm-mm.

The next dance we learned was Foxtrot. That was basically like Texas two-step or Finnish Humppa except a little variation. Much easier to learn and keep the count except when it came to the side step and me trying to figure out when Rod comes out of the side step by reading his arm movements and facial expressions. He was totally a man of mystery and we or should I say "I" failed on many occasions. But we finally learned the basics and we able to enjoy the music and ask each other the compulsory questions like: "Do you come here often?" and "are you single?" while not focusing so much on the dance steps.

Next week, more Cha-cha-cha and Foxtrot with a two-hour dance party at the end.


The Dance Club where the magic happens on Friday nights.

My Capezio dance shoes.

MV - Provo Basketball Game 2/4/11

We played against Provo on Friday, and we came out with a loss. Mountain View 38 - Provo 56. We are now 9-6. Alex played but didn't score again.

MV - Timpview Basketball Game 2/2/11

Remember a month ago when we lost to Timpview? Not so yesterday. The Sophomore team beat Timpview 55-52 after us being down 11 points at the half. It was a nice comeback from our boys.

Alex didn't get to play.

But, look who came to see the game with us. Greg.

Rod and best friend, Greg. So good to see Greg again.

MV - Lehi Basketball Game 1/28/11

Our Sophomore boys didn't fall for Lehi and came out winning the game 60-48. Both JV and Varsity teams lost miserably to Lehi. Varsity by almost 50 points. Ouch!

Alex got to play a lot, and got a few 3-pointers off but they all bounced off the rim.

Alex going for a 3-pointer.