The Book Thief

I just finished one of the most remarkable books I have every read.  The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is stunning not only in its story and perspective, but I have never read a book where the language is so descriptive and simple.  I honestly would find myself often sitting in awe of a small phrase or description of a common action, wondering how the author came up with such an amazing way of portraying it.

The book is set in Germany during World War II, and it tells the story of a young girl.  I won't tell you all the details, but I will say it is written from a truly unique perspective.  It is emotional, it is fun, it is sad, it is gut-wrenching, it is light, it is human ... all wrapped up in one.  While I love WWII histories from a military standpoint, I'm NOT one to normally read a lot of books from that era dealing with the Holocaust, but I'm very grateful I read this one.  For me, this book transcended a story on pages and became something that provoked thought and helped me see who and what I want to be.  I highly recommend it.

At a time of Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for many things.  I won't list them all because the list will be too long, and I'll inevitably forget many people and things I'm thankful for.  Suffice it to say we're very blessed, even with trials and adversity, and we're finding a lot of 'joy in the journey', as the Prophet counseled us to do.

We love you all and are grateful for you!

Normal stuff

Kennan's sick today with a fever and what looks like the start of a cold and cough.  The kids are really good about not really wanting to stay home from school unnecessarily, so we know when they do stay home they're really not feeling well.  She'll most likely read her book, watch a little TV, maybe get on the computer if she feels better, and she'll rest.  Kennan recently had an appointment for us to learn about braces for her ... great, here we go.

Brig's found his 2-year old rebellious streak.  He is cultivating such terms as "I don't have to!" and "NO, I WON'T!" when asked to do certain things.  He's a headstrong little guy and it's not a great thing when he sets his mind to wanting something that he's not going to get.  Oh well, he's still a cute kid and lots of fun to play with.  He's also in a phase where he really just wants his Mom almost all the time, although I can get him out of that pretty easily by playing with him.

Angela's been busy lately.  Aside from helping out with Micah's play, she's got meetings every week for the school and her duties there.  She's started running/walking again now that her knee's feeling a bit better, and it makes her happy to get exercising.  We cleaned out the garage a few weeks ago and it's now a very nice little exercise area with our treadmill set up, as well as my bike trainer.  Now if only we could get cable hooked up out there...  Ang went with some girlfriends to the Twilight movie over the weekend and even though she came back saying it was "ok", I think she secretly loved every minute of it. 

Micah's sort of in a mode where she's not sure what to do with herself now that she's no longer got play stuff 24/7.  She and I are looking forward to reading together over the break, and she's been catching up on sleep.  Thankfully she's also found plenty of time to spend with her best friend over the course of the last few weeks so there's no real catching up to do there.

Morgan's really just doing her normal stuff.  She still swims a couple times a week and she likes it, although it's tougher to get her out now that it's not summer-warm.  She will probably stop during December, but hopefully will pick up again in the new year.  

We all loved having Grandma and Papy visit for the weekend.  They came to watch Micah's play, but we also enjoyed other things like lunch at In-N-Out, Madagascar 2 movie, Papy singing and playing piano with the girls, Vietnamese dinner, and just having them around.

uggh

Let me just say that game yesterday was NOT on my Top 5 BYU-Utah games list.  Oh well, a little humility never hurt anyone or any teams.

Now back to other, more important, blog topics...

And the winner is...

You already know what it's going to be - how could you not?  Every single person with any interest in the rivalry knows all about this one, for better or worse.

#1

Caught for the Touchdown!!  Caught for the Touchdown!!

2006, back and forth game, amazing plays by Harline, blah blah blah.  Let's cut to the chase...  Utah takes the lead, 31-27, with 1:19 remaining on the clock.  I think it was Brent Casteel who caught it, and I think I hate him, wait, I know I hate him.  He was busy bowing to the crowd while BYU's offense was preparing itself for possibly the greatest drive in recent BYU history.  84 yards to glory.  A few key plays that I can replay in my head from memory: a key pass to Bryce Mahuika where he had the first down, then gave up ground, then dove forward to regain a critical first down.  Curtis Brown catching a short dump off pass and breaking a tackle to get to the sideline and stop the clock.  A fourth down conversion to Jonny Harline that was vintage Beck - patience, consistency, laser throw.  A beautiful pass into coverage to freshman McKay Jacobsen to set the team up on the 14 yard line where they eventually ended up with 3 seconds left in the game.  So it all comes down to one final play (I'm hyperventilating ... hold on a second).  The Utes rushed two linemen and dropped 9 players into zone coverage.  Beck went through his reads quickly, but of course nobody was open.  He drifted to the left, directing traffic with his left hand, trying to keep his receivers moving.  He had all day, but eventually one of the Utah linebackers, #44 to be exact, had had enough and rushed at Beck.  At the last second Beck darted right to avoid 44, and as he ran to the right, the entire flow of the defense followed him.  The TV also followed him, so we couldn't really see what was going on in the endzone.  As he was running right, he also took pressure from one of the D-linemen, and just as he was about to get hit by the big guy, he whipped the ball all the way back to his left, across his body (that's hard to do), and the entire world stopped rotating while the ball hung in the air...  Jonny Harline, slid to his knees (hence the "Answered Prayer" moniker), all alone in the endzone, and cradled the winning touchdown.  Two things happened at that point.  I jumped and screamed so loud that Brig thought the world had come to an end, and I also banged my hand very hard on the ceiling (which would hurt much later, but not even noticed at this point).  Sheer pandemonium on the BYU side, shocked disbelief on the Utah side.  Whittingham looked like he was going to cry, Mendenhall started jumping around, and the replay ran over and over at our house for the next 6 months.

For an AMAZING first-hand account from John 

Beck, follow this link: 

http://deepshadesofblue.com/john-becks-account-of-the-final-2006-drive/

Also, these YouTube videos are fantastic (I recommend Kleenex and a sound-proof room):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioPt9D90Lx4&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKQm9-fwlO8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OFf7vqzcSk

GO COUGARS!!!!!!

Numero Dos

It was very hard for me to decide between the #2 and #1 games.  It's almost like 1 and 1a...

#2

Brandon Doman and LaVell's last game

My good friend and rabid Utah fan, Jim Cowley, shocked me by inviting me to go with him to the Utah-BYU game in 2000.  I reminded him who I would be cheering for, promised to be polite, and there we were on game day in the North endzone of Rice-Eccles stadium.  It was cold, the field was a weird shade of non-green, and I was sitting/standing in a sea of red season ticket holders.  BYU played very well for the first three quarters, amassing a nice 26-10 lead.  The U then inserted disgruntled QB Darnell Arceneaux, and for some reason, it became a new ball game.  Utah scored 17 unanswered points throughout the fourth quarter, the last of which was a pass to their wide open tight end right in front of us (maybe his first catch that year?!) to go ahead with like 2 minutes remaining.  You should have seen the derision and abuse I took from the drunk U fans all around me.  So BYU gest the ball back and it was not going well, finding themselves on 4th and 13 from their own 17 yard line.  I remember Doman on a designed roll-out to his left (I remember thinking, "don't roll that way, that's where the pressure's been coming from!") and after a brief pause, flinging the ball down the left

 side of the field.  I was amazed that he threw it long, knowing he should have just been trying to get the first down.  But lo and behold, Jonathan Pitman had broken free and was coming back for the ball and a 34 yard first down.  At that exact moment, I knew we'd won the game.  Our kicker was nails that year, and I had no doubt we could win.  The next play Doman went up top again for Pitman, this time completing a 36 yard pass with a tightrope catch down the left sideline to move us down to the Utah 13 yard line.  The refrigerator door was all but closed...  Two plays later, Doman swept right, broke a couple of tackles, and powered the ball over the goalline for a victory in LaVell Edwards' last game.  I actually think I was still polite to the U fans around me, but you could say it was a very LOUD polite.

#3

For those of you who don't care about the BYU-Utah game, or have more important things going on in your lives, thanks for your patience with me as I indulge myself in this unique week.  There's not a lot of "family" packed into these blog posts, but I promise I'll swing back the other way after this week.

#3

Magic Happens

Austin Collie's taken a beating in the media for his comments along the lines of "if you're living right on and off the field ... magic happens".  Good for him for saying what he believes.  And good for him for helping BYU win a thrilling rivalry game just last year.  A newspaper story started out with the line: "For BYU, it was fourth down and 18, but it might as well have been fourth-and-hopeless."  That was the situation for BYU with a little more than a minute to play, ball sitting at their own 12 yard line, down 10-9 to the hated Utes, Max Hall playing with a sprained shoulder, and zero momentum.  Max took the snap, stepped up in the pocket, slid to the right and found some running room, and uncorked a long throw down the sideline to a wide open Austin Collie.  How Collie got that wide open I have no idea, but my guess is the defense was guarding the first down line, and he ran right past it.  A 49 yard completion to Collie, and the Cougs were back in business.  I remember thinking "we better get closer because our field goal kicking has been spotty at best this year", so by no means did I think it was over.  The next play was a pass down the sideline to Dennis Pitta, and in typical Utah fashion, the DB unloaded on Pitta's head well after the ball had sailed out of bounds...15 yard penalty.  After a couple more plays it came down to a run to try and set up the field goal team with about 30 seconds left, but Harvey Unga was having none of this field goal business.  He went off right tackle, cut back hard, ran over "The Mouth" - safety/loser Steve Tate, and found himself standing alone in the endzone holding the ball and the win in his hands.

Check back later today for #2 - I'm going to post the rest of the list before the end of the day today.

$2.21 and 2001

I stopped on the way to work this morning to get gas.  Two amazing things happened: 1) I filled my tank for less than $30 - $2.21 a gallon - I mean, I don't remember gas this cheap since well before we moved to California!  and 2) The guy who came out to fill my gas tank was NOT a Utah grad (the guy said in broken English that the U grad was in the back cleaning the toilets but hoped to move up to "pumper" by the end of the year) ... OOOOOOHHHHH!!!

#4

Staley, Nose Bleeds, and Pandemonium

The Cougs were 10-0 and ranked #8 in the country - you can imagine the expectations!  I truly was sitting in the nose bleeds of Cougar Stadium that year.  I was in the corner of the East stands, about 150 rows up, and had a great view of, well, nothing.  The game did not go well for the first 3 quarters and most of the fourth.  BYU found itself down 21-9 with about 3:30 left in the game, and they had driven 85 yards to keep hope alive.  Doman took the snap at the 7 yard line, scrambled around a bit, and found Luke Staley breaking free on the sideline right in front of us (although far below) for the touchdown.  A Staley 2-point conversion brought the Cougs to within four, and then the BYU defense held Utah and forced a punt.  With 2:11 remaining, BYU got the ball back, and drove down the field.  It seemed like things were stalling in the face of a staunch Utah D, and BYU needed something big when they got down to Utah's 30 yard with 1:16 to go.  Doman called the patented option to the short side of the field, and the play began.  It's hard to describe exactly how it worked, but you had Doman and Staley matched up with three unblocked Utah defenders.  Doman jitter-bugged a bit because there were clearly no openings for either him or for Staley, and in that moment of hesitation, he succeeded in drawing the two nearest U defenders to him.  He then flicked a pitch out to Luke, and the last U defender, who had also been leaning toward Doman, looked like a statue as Staley exploded down the sideline(again, right in front of us) untouched for one of the greatest touchdowns I've ever seen AND heard.  You should have FELT the stadium erupt...it was sheer pandemonium.  I nearly broke an ankle jumping around on the bleachers, hugging everyone in sight, and celebrating wildly.  As BYU was up 24-21, Utah still had a chance, and the put together a drive of their own down to BYU's 30 yard line.  Then Jernaro Gilford picked off a Lance Rice pass and the game was over.  Beautiful...

Rivalry Week

I know a few of you have been waiting patiently for me to bring up this topic.  Finally, I have succumbed, and the BYU-Utah football game this weekend is finally on the table.  Sorry Matt and Sam, I'm not going to add fuel to the fire of this already ridiculous rivalry by predicting a BYU win.  I'm not going to badmouth Utah and everyone who went there.  I'm not going to sing the praises of BYU and everything about it.  Instead, I'm simply going to share with you over the next few days some of my favorite BYU-Utah moments...5 of them to be exact.  I gave extra weight to games at which I was actually in attendance.

Here then, is the beginning of my Top 5 BYU-Utah games of all time.

Tie: #5

The Kaneshiro Klank

This was a tough game to watch at times.  Angela and I were with my brothers, Spencer and Dan, and a bunch of their buddies, sitting in the north endzone of Rice stadium for the game.  We were decked head to toe in blue, and the buddies even had their blue "cone-heads".  The game see-sawed back and forth, with BYU finally taking what seemed to be a big enough lead at 26-17 with under 3 minutes to play.  Utah proceeded though to run back the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and then they held BYU on their next posession.  Here's where the fun started. Utah's first play from scrimmage is a 54 yard pass completion to about the BYU 20 yard line.  In classic Ute fashion, the receiver then felt it necessary to tell the BYU guys what he thought of them, and he got a personal foul penalty.  A few plays later, it came down to this: BYU 26, Utah 24; 22 seconds left; 32 yard field goal attempt by kicker, Ryan Kaneshiro, to win the game.  In my mind, it was over.  My pride was swallowed, my crow was before me on the plate ready to be eaten, and my tail was tucked.  We happened to be in the endzone behind the goalposts where the kick was happening so we saw it all unfold.  The kick was up, and despite the roar of the Utah crowd's premature celebration, everyone could clearly hear the "DOINK!" as the ball hit the right upright squarely, and bounced harmlessly away.  I'm not sure what was better - the fact that we'd won, or the incredulity of the Utah fans to have defeat snatched from the jaws of victory in such a manner.  It was particularly satisfying to rub it in the Utah fan's face who had been elbowing Angela all game (I didn't find out until later or there would've been a problem).  And to cap off a brilliant outcome, the Richards clan got their picture in full color, front page and center, of the Provo Daily Herald.  I actually have the picture at home, but couldn't find it online for this blog edition.  Good times Cougar fans, good times.

Tie: #5

1989: Detmer...

There was a stretch of 23 years under LaVell Edwards that Utah only won two games.  Once in 1978, and again in 1988.  The 1988 game was painful for me.  My East High buddies and I snuck into Rice Stadium and made our way down to the blacktop behind the North endzone to watch. I was, of course, the only one of my friends cheering for BYU in 1988, and I paid for it as Scott Mitchell led Utah to a big win.  So come 1989, I was anxious to not have a repeat of the 1988 game, and boy was I in for a treat.  Long story short (too many highlights to share here), Detmer was magical, and Utah's humiliation was complete with a 70-31 victory that didn't even feel like it was that close.  Think we can replicate that this week...?  Me neither.

And check out the video on this site for a little background if you're new to the rivalry:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=635&sid=4843349

Opening Nights

Micah's Sound of Music production opened on Saturday with a spectacular 3-hour production.  She was fabulous, the whole cast did well, the sets were amazing, and Brig fell asleep on my shoulder for the second half - all was good.  Micah did very well, and as usual had many friends there to support her and the other kids.  We are very grateful to all our friends for their support, and for the flowers - Micah had a literal armful of flowers after the performance.  We have great friends.  Micah had another performance last night, and then there's a break until the final three performances this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Grandma and Papy LeBras will come out for the Saturday show, so it'll be fun to have family in attendance.

I also went with a group of buddies to the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, on opening night.  Let me tell you, that's a hugely entertaining show!  I love Daniel Craig as James Bond - none of the pathetic pansy boy Pierce Brosnans as Bond - this guy is awesome.  While the show is aggressive, action packed and intense, it is also violent, so maybe not for the squeamish, although I'm going to take Angela and I'm sure she'll be fine.  One great thing is that other than the typical Bond intro montage, there are surprisingly few bond girl "make me nervous" scenes, or even innuendo.  It was refreshing and welcome how much of the movie focused on real action, and not on other "action".

79 and sunny...

Ahhhh, the chill of fall in the air, or at least of the ice cold drink in my hand.

79 degrees, sunny and clear...

Weekend fast approaching...

New James Bond movie tonight with the boys...

Micah's opening night tomorrow of Sound of Music...

BYU football on my very own TV tomorrow...

It's all good.

Opera a La Carte

The kids' school has the fairly unique opportunity of performing an opera with the San Francisco Opera traveling company at their school.  Micah featured prominently in this year's production (surprise), and here are a few pictures.

Our travels over the weekend seem to have inspired a touch of the cold/flu for me, and I've been trying to fight it off since Saturday.  I think today I'm finally succumbing...

On a different note, I'm currently reading a John Grisham book called The Last Juror.  It's been a very long time since I read Grisham because there was a period of time during which that was basically all I read.  Of course I got tired of his books, but since it's been so long, I'm enjoying this read.  It's a different style than I've been reading lately and it's a refreshing change.  I've also been reading periodically from a book called Himalayan Quest, by 

Ed Viesturs.  It's about his quest to climb all the world's tallest 

mountains - 14 of them - over 8,000 meters tall.  The photography is amazing, and the stories are chilling.  If I had to narrow my list down to two 

things I'd never do, it'd be climbing Everest, and riding a bull.

It's chilly today...when's spring?

Grateful for Family

It was very rewarding to spend time with much of our family over the weekend as we attended Anne's wedding in Utah.  We had everyone from the LeBras side together for most of the weekend, and we even got to drop in on the Richards for an awesome lunch with Matt, Spencer, and Dave's families.  Overall for the weekend, we ate too much good food, we enjoyed hours of catching up and good family time, and we took a lot of pictures (ugh).  Congratulations Anne and Brandon!

One interesting thing that came out of our trip to Utah is rather than getting our fix of family, it really just gave us a taste and made us realize we should probably go for Christmas (yes, this has been up in the air).  I won't say the decision is final yet, but there's a good chance we'll be packing up and making the snowy trek East at some point this holiday season.  

I got a call from Delta airlines this morning saying they had one of our bags containing our video camera and digital camera.  Interestingly enough, we didn't even realize we had left it... I guess when you travel with four kids, and some of the family is in panic bathroom mode when the flight lands, it's easy to leave items behind.  We're very glad we put our name on the bag (I distinctly remember telling Angela, "you don't have to put our name on that, we'll have it with us the whole time"... good thing she doesn't listen to me!), and that the airline found it and not someone else.  We would've really been scratching our heads when Micah's play rolls around this weekend wondering where our camera is.

And randomly, we finally got around to watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and I think it's quite possibly the WORST movie I have ever seen.  I fell asleep during it, and I NEVER fall asleep watching movies.  Don't rent it, don't borrow it, don't even talk about it - it's that bad.

Airplanes and Brigisms

We're all jumping on a plane and going to Utah for the weekend for a family wedding.  Angela's sister, Anne, is getting married and we're all headed there to be part of the festivities.  Should be fun, although short.  It can be stressful to fly with kids, especially young ones.  But I don't feel the same level of anxiety that I would if it were a longer flight and we didn't have lots of helpers for Brig (not to mention movies, books, candy, snacks, toys, and child valium).  Will be good to see family even for a couple brief days.

Brig has been cracking us up lately.  This morning he came in and told us he might fall out of the plane, and he's also worried that his movie, Cars, will also fall out and get broken.  Yesterday as his buddy Sam was leaving our house, he said "Mom, can I PLEASE go to Sam's house - I never see him!" (they see each other literally every day - for hours).  He also came up to me this morning and announced that he wasn't cold any more because he was wearing his backpack.  As mentioned, he absolutely loves the movie Cars, and he thinks he is Lightning McQueen, or just McQueen as he calls himself.  Apparently I'm Mack, the semi, and Angela's Sally the blue Porsche (although Brig calls it the Mommy car).  After breakfast this morning he picked up his bowl, walked around the table to where I was sitting, and asked me "will you wash this now?"  That's all I can think of right now, but it's a constant stream of funny things.  I'll try to remember more later...

Have a great weekend.

Seems like there's something I should be doing today...

I have done my civic duty and delivered my votes today at the Hillview Community Center.  Truthfully, I had already filled in my votes on my vote-by-mail ballot that I didn't actually get around to mailing, so today's delivery was sort of anticlimactic.  But filling them out at home gave me the chance to take a little more time and try to really think through the issues.  What I realized though, is that there are many candidates and propositions that I just have no idea on.  You hear advertisements and see signs up to vote for or against certain things, but in reality it's actually very difficult to understand the true long-term effects of a ballot item.  So Angela and I just voted by what sounded good for our family.

I've had quite a few discussions recently about Obama v. McCain, and about Proposition 8 here in California.  I've written before on the blog about my personal feelings for McCain (not real favorable), and none of his politicking has done anything to change those.  However, what has become clear to me through the course of both campaigns is that I really do believe strongly in some key aspects of the Republican party.  So even though Obama is personally impressive, and I think he's going to win anyway, I decided to cast my vote not necessarily in support of an individual candidate, but in line with a party that closely matches what I believe.  I'm glad though that each person can vote as he or she sees fit, and I hope we all do that today.

Proposition 8 is a very polarizing issue here in California.  Most of my friends and close acquaintances are in favor of the proposition, but there are many people in the area who are strongly opposed.  It's been interesting to see many large Silicon Valley companies (including my own, which is no surprise) come out in support of, and donate lots of money to, the effort to defeat Prop 8.  Nonetheless, I think that measure will actually pass.  I've been wrong before (usually about sports outcomes), and it may get defeated, but there's been a huge grass-roots effort among many churches and conservative groups to pass 8, and I think it will pay off.  We'll see...

My final political thought.  There are a lot of people stressing about outcomes.  Truth is, you can't control it, and it's not worth the tension.  Opponents will celebrate, fingers will be pointed in triumph, and then the country will be back to trying to solve its deep problems.  As for my family, we will pay attention today, and then we will get back to the business of living and trying to be righteous.  Not much will change in our daily lives based on today's elections.  Thank goodness.

Have a great day.

Halloween and Rain

We had a great Halloween and weekend overall.  The kids all got barrels of candy, and in accordance with my fatherly duties, I'm doing my best to eat as much as possible in order to spare the kids' teeth.  The threatening rain held off until late Friday night, so we didn't get wet as we feared, and we had a great time trick-or-treating with friends.  As you can see from the pictures, we were all Peter Pan characters...see if you can guess who was whom.

The rain on Saturday (really from Friday night through Sunday morning) was pretty amazing.  It rained, and rained, and never really let up for any sustained amount of time.  There were some real benefits of a rainy Saturday.  Because we couldn't go out to a lot of our normal outdoor activities (soccer, swimming, tennis, bikes), we spent most of the day indoors.  We got a LOT of good work done around the house - cleaned the garage, cleaned the house - good stuff.  We also had some fun friends over for dinner on Sunday, so that completed a great weekend.

Busy week ahead of us, I'll check in when I can.