The Shamrocks! Boys U14 City Champs!

Back to back to back! Last year we played the same team in the championship, and won. This year the same team went undefeated all season. They beat us twice in tight games, and tied us once during the regular season. I knew we could beat them, and felt like we had given them all their wins. We won in a great game! The final score was 5-4. Patrick had goals number 4 & 5 for our team. The best part was that the younger boys on our team were all new, and hadn't been on winning teams. I told them to get use to winning at the beginning of the season, and to never talk about losing ever again. We never talk about it. We went 7-2-1 in the regular season. Seeded number two in the playoffs, and won in the game that mattered most. What a team! Go Shamrocks!

Staying on flat roads

I've been trying to run on surfaces that prevent me from stepping on rocks and in holes, but it's tough when there is scenery out there like this close to home to run through. This is from yesterdays morning run.

What makes Suzi laugh?

Suzi loves Lawrence Welk, and Saturday Night Live. Put them together and Suzi laughs hard. 

Hannah Spoke In Stake Conference!

Hannah was invited to speak at stake conference, and she let us know she really wasn't that excited about it! I've never in my life seen anyone her age speak in a stake conference. I'm sure it's happened, but I don't recall it. 

For those of you who are unaware of what a stake conference is, it's a church meeting combining 5-12 congregations. In our stake there are about 10 different congregations, and the amount in attendance that day was 889 people (Suzi called to find out exactly how many people were there). The chapel was filled up, and they gym was filled to the back as well. 

Hannah was a little stress out, but we coached her a little. Sam told her it was a compliment, she didn't think so, at first. I told her that speaking in front of a crowd that size is like a roller coaster ride. "You get a little nervous before speaking just like standing in line at the roller coaster, while your speaking your heart is going to get pounding just like during the ride, and when you finish you get a big rush and you are really glad you did it." 

She did awesome. My favorite part was when she looked up for the first time, and paused and took a deep breath when she saw how many people were there. "It was filled up to the back of the gym!" She said she lost her spot when she looked up and saw how many people were there. She looked a little nervous, but not to the point where I ever doubted she wouldn't do a good job. 

In the end, she did fantastic! She just about made me pop I was so proud of her. I know plenty of adults who could not have delivered that talk as well as she did. Afterward I asked her what she thought of the whole thing and she said "Dad it was awesome!" I tell you that Hannah is a special one!

 

What a great idea for an advertisement

It's an race for a free Dodge truck that's kind of reality showish, and it's online. 

I love Doug's sling box

I love uncle Doug's slingbox. I never miss a Utah game! It is the best purchase uncle Doug has ever made. I can watch all of the Utah games over the internet because of this "sling box", and I have. 

Going for a run

Georgia, and I went for a run together. She rode her bike, and I tried to keep up. This is a picture of the chase. Georgia "Dad I'm not sure your going to make it home." That was when I told her we had just hit the half way mark. Nice huh. Love that girl.

This is exactly what I'm looking for!

I was looking for someone to take my computer to, to get some service done on it. I cut part of their online add and stuck it in here. Heck yes I took my computer to him! Of course I want "some day service!" Why have it today when I can get it done some day is what I always say. Thought you'd enjoy it:

3 Reasons To Call US First, 1) A Live Person Answers the Phone 95% of the Time, 2) Over 90% of Our Customers Receive Some Day Service, 3) We Always Explain in Terms You Can Understand

Hey look what I found on sale! What a deal!

The "quest for perfection"........ starts later. Here's to looking ahead! The t-shirts are on sales for 5 dollars at the BYU bookstore. Here's a couple of thoughts from a great coach. 

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. 
John Wooden 

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. 
John Wooden 

At least they lived a perfect day that day in Texas. 

Hue Test

Oooo, my friend Jeff sent me a color test. Fun! See how well you can organize the colors. I got a 4. I guess Zero is the perfect score, and 1468 is the worst score you can get. I'm guessing 4 is pretty good. I only took the test once. Good luck, and post your score in the comment section you pansy's. Click on here -->Hue color test. 

Red Sox Fans..... they're everywhere!

I walked into my room and found Hannah on my bed watching the Red Sox vs. Angels playoff game.

Hannah- Lets go Red Sox let go! Lets go Red Sox lets go.

Me- I didn't know you were a Red Sox fan.

Hannah- Well, I'm certainly NOT an Angels fan.

Me- Oh...... I didn't know you liked baseball at all for that matter.

Hannah- I didn't know that you didn't know that about me.

Me- Hmmmm. Well, you want me to go buy you a hat?

Hannah- I love hats. I need to wear more hats. Yes, that would be gre..... catch it, catch it catch it!!! Whew.... that was close. 

Who knew?

Happy Faces

Everyone has grown since this photo was taken a month and a half ago. It never ceases to amaze me how fast kids grow.

Schools out!

Kids are out of school for another week, and they are loving it! By the way Sam is faking it, he was doing this for one of Patrick's school projects.

Look out world!

Yep, look out.

Homies and lovelies

I wanted to get some pictures with my phone of the kids. People ask about them and I never had pictures. Well I couldn't get a picture of the boys without one of the two or the both of them poseing. So I gave in, and joined them. But aren't those girls just awesome! So are the boys of course.

Sam flies!

What was his mom thinking letting him cliff jump with me! Boy did we have fun! FYI, the camera doesn't show it, but the water is very clear, and slow moving. Whereever we jumped we could see right down to the bottom of the pools, and count the number of little tiny pebbles if we wanted too. It was extremly clear.

Playing at the beach

"We've been having fun all summer long! Won't be long till summer time is through, not for us now!" Thought I'd toss you a little Beach Boys lyrics. I know it's getting cold where some of us live. Still in the 90's here! YIPEE! We took a trip to the beach last weekend with the youth from church. Had a great time

Looks like flying on Southwest, or riding on Greyhound

Saw this and thought you might enjoy the reading.

Caution....super star at play

Doesn't she make soccer look fantatic! Even when she's just standing there!

We get along fine...lovely even

Shamrock Soccer

My last year to officially coach Patrick's soccer. From here on out it's high school ball if he continues to play. The end of an era, we've had a great run together.

Makes me kind of sad when I think back to tiny tot soccer when Puff was just a tiny little 5 year old guy. Then up to Layton for four years, and I've coached his team a couple of times here in Lodi. I've coached the other Kelly kids too, and I'll get to continue doing that with them, but for Puff and I this is our last big year together.

Time fly's by so fast. There is no second chance to play with my little ones, to get involved in their life and do these things that are so fun and so worth my time. If it were an investment, (and it is) I'm certain it will pay big rewards through the teen years and into adulthood and hopefully my grandchildren will reap the benefits as well. Not to mention it's fun to play with them!

So Patrick, and I have had a good time together. Sometimes, a not so good time together. I'm certainly not always the nicest coach a 12-13-14 boy can have. Just ask him, somebody talks while I'm talking, kicks a ball and hits someone, screws around and it bugs me, they all go for a run. Every single time. They run a lot! It's the only way to control the madness. That's one my favorite things to be honest. "Hit the fence." I ask nicely when someone is goofing off. "COACH WHY?!" As they run away. "Hurry or you'll all run 2, ______ was goofing around. Talk to him about it." Then I thank them as they come back to the huddle quite, and tired. Works beautifully. I'll learned to never try and talk over boys. They are much louder. Anyhow....

Good fun, and good coaching that always translates to wins, and right now the "Shamrocks" have 6 wins, 1 tie, and 1 loss. The loss, and the tie went to the same team. We'll get them next game, and in the playoffs. That I'm certain!

Shooting for the championship for Patrick's last year. Regardless of our wins and losses through the years (and he has been extremely fortunate that he's had very, very, very few losses) every moment with him is time spent perfectly.

Beware! Run with a phone!

For the first time in my life I ran with my cell phone. I never ever carry my phone. I took my phone with me this time, and tucked it in my sweater pocket. I usually run with my old ipod, this first time with my iphone. I didn't really want to take it, but because I could tuck it in my sweater I felt ok with taking it. 

SO, I was out on a canal trail behind a neighborhood. Dogs were barking like crazy because I was running on the side of the canal where I was close to homes. If I had chosen to run on the other side next to the grape fields, maybe the dogs wouldn't mind so much. Anyhow, a couple of very large dogs were barking at me, and I looked up from the canal levee I was running on and said "shhhh" to the dogs. As I said "shhhh" I stepped on a large rock sticking out of the dirt. The ONLY large rock I'm sure within miles of where I was, and my foot found it! It was a good sprain! I knew it before I hit the ground. I swore a couple of times, and waited for the pain to release me before I even worried about the fact that there was no access to me by car. 

Thank goodness, I had my phone. I called Suzi, and asked her to come find me. I hadn't ever run on this canal trail before. She picked me up on a corner close to where I stepped on the rock. I had to walk about a half mile to get off the canal, that hurt.

My ankle is swollen, but I was back on the elliptical trainer this morning. Walked on it all day today, and it's going to be fine. It will be a week or so before I run on it again, but I'll be on the elliptical trainer again tomorrow. Here's where I was when I found the rock. Thank goodness for the phone, and thank you Suzi for picking me up. Take your phone when you ride, run, or hike. Maybe keep your eyes on the trail too. 

Maybe one of the best movies of all time!...........maybe

Science and Religion....

...maybe they do cross paths! Check this one out.

So simple I'm surprised this experiment wasn't thought of earlier.  

My Team

I'm coaching Patrick's soccer team with one of my young men from church. We had a good night tonight. We played to a 2-2 draw. We are 5-1-1 over all and sitting in second place. 

The only team we lost to, we played to a draw tonight. Thought we had them. We out shot them, by probably double again, but some how they lead most of the game again. They got a couple lucky goals, and we play from behind most of the game. We got a game saving tie goal less, than 30 seconds before the final whistle. Quite an exciting game. 

The boys shot selection gets a little desperate when they play from behind. They forget to make that last pass, and instead taken a shot that puts the ball right in the gut of the goalie. 

Patrick had the first goal of the game. Needed one more from him. He was VERY close on a couple of balls. Not tonight though. That's OK, we have a lot of season before the playoffs. I expect that this will be the team we face in the championship game. Might want to mark your calendars for that one. Should be an exciting game! 

Who me?

I got the weirdest phone call the other day. 

A number I didn't recognize called, I picked up and they asked "Is this Sean?"

I said yes, and he began to tear into me in a furry of swear words. Words that I don't hear that often, and certainly not being directed at me. Something about me driving "the kids around town in the car drunk." Me being a non drinker, I thought the whole thing was rather weird so I began to laugh.

Caller asks "Are you laughing at me?" I answer "Yeah, should I not be?" He responds "Not if you knew who this is, and what I'm going to do to you!" He included a few expletives that didn't necessarily make his point any clearer, just more humours. 

He asked me "Do you know who the @#$%^ this is?" 

Me "No, I have no clue who this is." 

Still laughing a little, but now thinking this isn't a practical joke. 

Caller, "This is your brother in law Danny." 

Me, Long pause "Danny........I've got a lot of brother in laws, but I don't think any of them are named Danny." 

Caller, another long pause "Is this Sean?" 

Me, "Yes this is Sean"

Caller, "Kendra's boyfriend Sean." 

Me, "OH, you're so close, but no my friend I'm not Kendra's boyfriend. I think you've dialed the wrong number and got another dude named Sean. That's kind of funny!" 

Caller, "You're not Kendra's boyfriend, is you're phone number ***-***9?" 

Me, "No, you're off by one digit." 

Caller, "Oh, sorry......" 

Me, "Yeah no problem, have a good night!" 

Caller, "Yeah"

I loved that I got the chance to wish him a good night. He was so worked up the whole time, until the last couple of exchanges. Anyhow, the last digit he dialed should have been a 9, and my last number is an 8. Too funny. 

Happy Birthday Georgia!

Georgia loves this song! She saw it on Erin Brink's birthday when I sent this link to her. Happy Birthday Georgia, my 7 year old baby!

Georgia is

6 years and 364 days old.

Pandora Radio

Ever wish the radio would play the songs you love, and you could skip all the garbage songs inbetween your favorites.

What if the radio could figure out what you like when new music comes out, and only play songs it knows you'll dig?

Guess what it's here! Pandora Radio, you must set this up on your home computer, go buy an iphone and set it up there too. It's one of those things where technology has really just lived up to it's billing. You will love it!

Map your walk, run, or ride

I was talking to my friend Chris Bowerbank, and he showed me a website that I absolutely love! Those of you who like running/biking are going to dig this as well. Ever want to know how far your running, or want to run a certain distance, but never really know until you drive the route, or ride it. Check this site out! You can map your run in advance, or after your done check out exactly how far you traveled. It's really easy to use. 

Not that I think distance is the most important thing. Just getting out and moving for an hour or more is what matters. However, it's still fun!

Happy Valley Labor Day

Happy Valley Labor Day part 2

Need a laugh?

The boys and I were driving home from being at the river. We had headed up to the river to do some cliff jumping with the cousins. We were all quite and sleepy and a word hadn't been said in 30 minutes during the drive home. We were also listening to the comdey channel on the drive. This guy came on doing this skit and Patrick, Sam and I were laughing hard. Thought you might enjoy it.

Grand Island Mansion

The Grand Island Mansion.

J Mac Delta Ferry

I was out on a ride in the delta when I passed this ferry. A not to familiar site with all the bridges that have replaced ferries in the delta. There are 52 large islands in the delta, and an "uncountable" amount of small islands (I'm quoting a travel website that was talking about the delta), I'm sure someone has counted them. The delta is a region that stretches from the SF bay out to the sierra's. Lodi sits in the middle of it and we have a nice breeze in the summer that cools off town in hurry after our very hot summer days.

I found the ferry as I was making my way to the Grand Island Mansion. I found a website that gave me a little bit of information on the ferry.

"The J-Mac Ferry is a cable-drawn ferry that crosses Steamboat Slough. It is sometimes referred to as the Steamboat Slough Ferry or Grand Island Ferry, but almost all the locals call it the J-Mac. It got its name from the CalTrans Engineer/driver who first designed and drove it, a Mr. MacMillian, or similar name like that. Not much else is known about this one, except that it is very reliable and runs all the time, even in flood times! A map dated 1913 found at the Rio Vista Museum shows a ferry at the same location, named the A.J. Weise. The J-Mac is smaller in size and can only accommodate 4 cars or trucks at a time, along with ski boats or PWC being towed behind the vehicles. But RVs should stay off this ferry, as the on & off ramps are very steep, even at high tides.
(A caution to boaters on Steamboat Slough: Do NOT speed past the J-Mac when the red lights are flashing! There is a metal cable just at the water surface, and you could flip your boat and kill or injure everyone in it if you hit that cable at high speeds! The 5 MPH signs are there for YOUR safety!)"