Westmoreland Asays

We spent most of Saturday in Oregon's Emerald City. We met Meg's sister Melissa (and her five kids) and Jared/Charlotte (and their two boys) at the Science Factory, across the street from Autzen Stadium . I think the boys had a good time, although they approached us first about leaving (instead of us dragging them out kicking and screaming). We then drove to Jared's house in outer-Springfield to wait until the game started. Meg's brother Jared had tickets to the Oregon/USC men's basketball game at night, and he invited me to attend with him for the last time (he is taking a new job, so no more free tickets to Ducks football/basketball games). The Ducks played poorly throughout much of the game. A lot of people began leaving with about three minutes left and the Ducks trailing by a dozen, and it looked hopeless when they were down by 10 with less than 90 seconds left. But they finally hit some 3's, earned some foul shots, and USC missed free throws to let them ba

We attended a baptismal service for the child of a friend tonight. I've taken Aaron to a baptism before, but this was Edward's first experience. When the curtain to the baptismal font was opened and the children were invited to witness the baptism up-close, Edward walked up with the rest of the kids. But he didn't just sit down behind the other kids; he maneuvered to the front and leaned over the foot-tall plastic barrier, getting as close a look as possible. I was standing nearby and encouraged him repeatedly to sit down. But he kept firing back at me, "Dad, go swimming? Dad, go swimming?" I honestly thought he was going to fall head-over-heels into the font, breaking our family-held tradition of not swimming on the sabbath . But he eventually planted his rear on the floor and escaped the service without incident.

Our church ball season kicked off last week, and we drilled the Salem 4th Ward's team; one of their team members, Cary Takara , actually spent about four months with me in the Okayama Mission Home (they were his last, while I was somewhere in the middle) (his oldest son is also in Aaron's pre-school class at Sprague, but they will both attend South). He wasn't my assigned companion, but in our Mission Home we switched companions all the time, so we worked together often. I'll never forget the time he and I (and two others) drove north to Tottori to help the Elders there move into their new house (the previous companions had burned their apartment to the ground). I was driving our Toyota van through some of the mountains between Tottori and Okayama, when I accidentally strayed from the main road. I ended up on--I exaggerate not--a road through some rice paddies that wasn't much wider than our van. Everyone was sleeping in the back, but Takara woke up at this point a

Aaron and I were watching one of the non-important bowl games (i.e., anything but the Duck's awe-inspiring victory in the Sun Bowl), and he noticed that one of the players wasn't getting up after the play. Aaron : "Dad, why isn't that guy moving?" Michael : "He probably got hurt on the play" Aaron : "Oh, people get hurt in football games?" Michael : "You bet." Aaron : "I think I want to play basketball instead. I don't want to get hurt" Both A-Ron and The Word love playing football over any other game/sport, so I was surprised to hear Aaron say this. But it also makes sense, as Aaron is more timid to do new or potentially dangerous activities (and he's never been hurt much in our backyard gridiron brawls). Edward (again yin to Aaron's yang) has always had the mentality to jump first (and blindly trust that Mom or Dad is looking to catch him as he flies through the air or down a flight of stairs) and pick fights w

WeThreeBoyz got a portable basketball hoop for Christmas. Unfortunately, it came in a big, heavy box unassembled; but we have Meg the Builder for a wife/mother, so no worries. New Year's Day proved to be rain-free, although quite chilly, so after taking down the Christmas tree and sundry decorations (and putting away everything in the attic, thanks to my awesome new ladder), I started the build process by dragging the box out of the garage and into the driveway. I organized some of the parts and completed some of the simple steps until Meg took over and finished the remaining 98% of the job. It took several hours and numerous numb body parts, but we had it up and working before bedtime. Aaron and I tested it out for a few minutes before retreating from the cold night air. The hoop can adjust anywhere from 7.5 to 10 feet, and it was great that Aaron could make baskets at the lowest level. Some men might feel intimidated that their wives are more mechanically-inclined than themselve