Karate Kid

So Nick started up karate last night. I can’t remember the specific type but it is some Korean form. But he really loved it. It was fun watching him go through all the movements they taught that first night. They also did a relay race of sorts at the end where they would punch or kick a pad across the room then reverse crab crawl back to the line to tag the next person. He was even good about following instructions and yelling, “Yes, ma’am!” where appropriate.

We talked him into karate when he decided he didn’t want to do soccer this fall. Becky had to show him a video of someone demonstrating karate before he finally decided it was cool enough for him to try it out. He seems to really like it after the first night. And for his homework he is supposed to say “Yes, Mom!” or, “Yes, Dad!” immediately after we ask him to do something at home. That lasted for a good hour after we got back, but we’ll take it. Now it’s off to go purchase a gui for our little ninja. Oh, and he told me that night when getting in to bed that his yell is the same one that Link makes when he swings his sword (see any Legend of Zelda game to hear). Now me and him can spar and just claim its “practice” when we’re asked to stop.

And not to leave out our little princess, but she starts dance this Friday and she can’t wait. Luckily, we’ve already got the clothes she needs for that.

Show me those Brigh-ands

Take the quiz. Get your name. ARR!

My pirate name is: Iron Jack Roberts

A pirate’s life isn’t easy; it takes a tough person. That’s okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Two things complete your pirate persona: style and swagger. Maybe a little too much swagger sometimes — but who really cares? Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Christmas Gift Exchange

OK, I was talking to Chris and we realized we hadn’t drawn names yet for Christmas. He mentioned everyone else was probably waiting for me to do it. Whether that’s true or not, I took the initiative – I had a few minutes to kill before the end of the day. So here’s a reminder – the limit is $20 and no one gets their spouse. I couldn’t find last year’s list, so I don’t know if anyone drew the same person as last year. If you did, then I apologize and please feel free to swap with someone.

The following is the list of who drew whom:

Jere has Melissa
Becky has Laurie
Melissa has Trish
Justin has Andrea
Laurie has Josh
Will has Justin
Trish has Leah
Catherine has Will
Chris has Catherine
Leah has Becky
Josh has Chris
Andrea has Jere

Happy shopping and the following is my Christmas Wish List. (JK)
Love to all!

Liss

Deja vu, boo

Is it just me or do I remember myself talking about too many turnovers a couple of weeks back? It’s not like fumbling the punt return with under a minute to play to give your team (with 3 timeouts left) the ball with a chance to win the game was enough, but we then had to toss an interception (granted it was tipped) to end the game. This was after the defense I thought played pretty good in the second half. And you can’t deny the fact they put the offense in a position to win both in the fourth and during the overtimes. But hey, the fun doesn’t stop there, let’s miss a makable field goal in the fourth quarter and another in the first overtime when we can’t catch the snap. All these mistakes with the game on the line. This is making me crazy! And I haven’t got around to complaining about penalties. I’m almost regretting now not being too burned out of football by the time the weekend rolls around from not covering a high school this year. 1-2, it’s a great start, rah-rah, rah-rah-rah, go Cougars.

Well it’s off to watch the Wolverine game. If they can keep up the whuppin’ they’re putting on the Irish right now (up 27-7 midway through the second) the day won’t be a total waste…

News on us

Hey ya’ll

This is Josh. Just wanted to give everyone an update on our lives.

First of all, yes we stayed for the end of the BYU-Tulsa game (with Chris and Leah). Except for the wet and cold, it was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see the team put a licking on someone.

Also, for those who haven’t heard. As of a couple weeks ago, Andrea and I are now ward missionaries serving in the Spanish ward for our stake. So we’re still technically members of our ward, but we go to the meetings with the other ward. So that’s fun for me, but hard for Andrea, since the meetings are all in Spanish. So that’s interesting. On the same church-y note, there was a regional conference today for all of Utah and Wasatch counties, and President (of BYU) Samuelson, Elder Wirthlin and President Monson spoke. It was really neat.

As for me, school started this last week. I’m applying to the School of Communication this month, and I can’t take any more Comms classes until I get in, so I’m mostly taking Spanish classes, plus New Testament, Portuguese 101 (just for fun), and… Concert Choir.

The Concert Choir thing was kind of an accident. I originally only auditioned for Men’s Chorus, but Sister Hall (the director of both) asked if I was interested in doing Concert Choir. I hadn’t even considered auditioning for it, because it’s the second-highest choir at BYU, but I said yes. Then I made callback auditions, and I made it. So it will be a fun semester.

Anyways, that’s life from here. Have fun everyone!

Go Cougars!

‘Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin killed

I sad bit of news I came across while surfing the web this evening. Steve Irwin, the ‘Crocodile Hunter’, died today while filming off the coast of Australia. Becky and I love watching his shows and it’s always sad to see such a positive and excitable individual go. Here’s some links to some stories and pictures (via BBC):

‘Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin killed
Obituary: Steve Irwin
In pictures: Australia mourns Irwin
In pictures: Steve Irwin

Game On!

The first full Saturday of college football is on. We got started around noon with our home town Wolverines taking on Vanderbilt. Nick watched most of the first half cheering on the maize and blue. The kids love seeing the big M either saying, “It’s Daddy’s work!” or, “That’s where we live!” Nick actually asked if we could go to a game some time so we may try to do that this year. Becky thought is was funny that as soon as half time of the Michigan game came, several lawn mowers in the neighborhood fired up (including ours). Becky even did her best to show her support (she hates “American” football) as she and Nick would keep me up to date on the game while I mowed the lawn. Nick also spent part of the second half building a flying maize and blue lego car. Not much excitement in Michigan’s win (Hart is still the heart of the team) as well as the early games.

But now I’m getting ready for the BYU game in 30 minutes by listening to the pre-game show on KSL via iTunes while flipping between the Georgia Tech v. Notre Dame, UAB v. Oklahoma, and USC v. Arkansas, all turning out to be very close games. Mostly I’m watching the USC game as I’ve got to support the QB from the last top 10 Cougar football team. We’re lucky tonight as BYU will be on TBS following the UAB/Oklahoma game so I’ll stay up to watch most of it.

Notre Dame looks like a shell of it’s former self in the first half, barely getting on the board as half-time rolled around. Oklahoma is clinging to a seven point lead with 4 minutes to go in the game. And Arkansas looks like they’re about to get on the board against USC just before the half. Arkansas is doing their best to try and get routed and USC is doing their best to keep Arkansas in the game. The weekend gets capped off by the Monday night showdown between Florida State and Miami.

Hopefully BYU can control the ball and limit the turnovers, and we’ll see how the “new look” defense holds up. Don’t worry, all this football excitement will probably wear off after the NFL starts next weekend. I may just be going through minor withdrawals since I’m not covering a high school this year.

*** UPDATE ***
Almost forgot, count me in as a fan of the new clock starts as soon as the ball is set after a first down rule. I’ve been arguing that college games have been too long for awhile. The Michigan game today took a very NFL like 3 hours 22 minutes to complete. Nothing like shaving an hour off the length of the games.