This is Carl and I have been a long fan of basketball since I can remember. I used to love watching the Sonics play even when I was a little kid and have done my best to stay loyal throughout all the crappy years. I play basketball on about three different teams and just about drive my wife crazy as I seem to always sneak off every night to get my fix at the gym. It really makes me happy.
This year just might be the end of me though. So many things are happening in the NBA that just might end my love of watching basketball. First off is the freakin' Sonics moving to Oklahoma City. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!!!! This may be the worst thing to ever happen. I don't want to hear about how the city won't fund a new stadium or any of that crap. Bennett has wanted to move this team since he bought it and is getting into trouble for making no effort to keep them in Seattle. This team has been there longer than most teams in the NBA. It have watched as they have traded away all talent in an attempt to tank a season and lower attendance at games. The fact that David Stern the commissioner of the NBA allows this happen is just wrong.
This leads me to my next point. The NBA is full of whiners and babies who can't play basketball without falling down and getting hurt. I have tried to defend this point but I can't anymore. After watching last nights game of the Suns and the "CRY ON EVERY FREAKIN' PLAY AND FALL DOWN AFTER EVERY SHOT" Spurs, I about punched a hole in the wall. I knew that basketball was done after watching that series. If the Spurs win the championship this year, I predict that a VERY large number of basketball fans will move on to other sports. The Hack-a-Shaq thing is ridiculous and cowardly. Spurs fans talk about how great their defense is. What defense? You don't play defense. You found a loop hole that I can't think of anything else to compare it with in any other sport. Yes, Shaq should hit his free throws but he isn't very good at it. Maybe they should make a rule that forces Tony Parker to try and dunk on two people when they foul him away from the ball. Since when in basketball when you grab someone who doesn't have the ball, and then yell at the ref to look at you to see what you are doing, NOT AN INTENTIONAL FOUL!! I thought an intentional foul was when you foul somebody on purpose without any attempt at the ball? Apparently that isn't the case anymore.
This year I was very excited for the playoffs, especially in the West. I was excited to see a rematch of the Suns and Spurs playoff series. Instead, I watched an overweight, past his prime, 7 footer have a free throw shooting competition. I also got to see some of the best acting I have ever seen from Ginobli and Parker. Come on guys everytime you drive to hole you act like a MAC truck just ran you over. I would love to see what the old Pistons would do to a team like the Spurs. I would love to see Lambier lay Bruce Bowen out as he came to intentionally foul him.
This has been an extremely long rant but I really needed to get this off my chest. Please pray for the NBA to make the necessary changes so that I don't have to move to another sport. Baseball actually started to look interesting last night on Sports Center and that really scared me!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
When It's Nice Outside.....
I love to take the girls on a walk. Today was no exception. We set off for our walk around the trail next to our house and it was fun. Ella gets so excited about going that even the word "walk" makes her go crazy. Once that word is said, we better make sure we go or we will have a dog jumping on our legs for the rest of the day if not.
Our typical walk goes something like this: We get to the trail, Ella does her business(poop, I'm sorry thats gross, but its true) then I let her off the leash and let her run free. She usually wears herself out and in about 5 minutes she is running from shade to shade and lying down as she waits for me to pass, then she runs ahead to the next shaded area, lies down, and waits for me to catch up again.
We repeated this game of stop and go pretty much the whole walk, until I have to put her back on the leash to cross the street to go home. It makes me laugh. All the while, Hayden is usually sleeping and missing out on the fun. What a life.
Once we get home, Ella is usually so exhausted and dirty, she is out for the rest of the day. I love my girls!
Our typical walk goes something like this: We get to the trail, Ella does her business(poop, I'm sorry thats gross, but its true) then I let her off the leash and let her run free. She usually wears herself out and in about 5 minutes she is running from shade to shade and lying down as she waits for me to pass, then she runs ahead to the next shaded area, lies down, and waits for me to catch up again.
We repeated this game of stop and go pretty much the whole walk, until I have to put her back on the leash to cross the street to go home. It makes me laugh. All the while, Hayden is usually sleeping and missing out on the fun. What a life.
Once we get home, Ella is usually so exhausted and dirty, she is out for the rest of the day. I love my girls!
Hayden
This little girl is a joy in my life. It's so funny how scared I was to become a mom and what a selfish mentality I had to think my life was never going to be the same or better yet, that MY life would be over. But here I sit, trying to remember what life was like before Hayden was born, and it's hard to imagine. Although my life is different, I wouldn't have it any other way. Of course it would be nice to sleep in sometimes, or to just get up and go whenever I wanted instead of planning things out with feeding times and what not, but that is definitely worth sacrificing to experience this little miracle. I have mentioned before about her little conversations she has with us, so I wanted to share one with anyone who wishes to listen. This video is at a funny angle because as soon as she sees the camera, she gets distracted and loses focus, so I have to hide it. Too cute!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Spring in Utah
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Does anyone else wonder why Utah has such confusing Springtimes? We took this picture last year in the spring, and while it is a beautiful picture, it's sad at the same time. Those blossoms just want to bloom, not be covered with snow!!!
New Apartment
Every now and then I get in a mood to decorate and spend lots of money on our house. If you know me, then you know that this is a very rare occurrence, but today is one of those days and I'm in one of those moods, which might not be a good thing. Unfortunately, I can't do EVERYTHING I would want to do, but maybe we can get something done. We have moved from a very small basement apartment into a more spacious 3 bedroom apartment, and I love it. Hayden finally has her own room, instead of having to sleep in the living room like before. We are actually excited to have people come over and stay with us instead of worrying whether or not they would constantly be hitting their heads on our ceiling, like before. Carl has been brought to his knees on a number of occasions in our old basement from hitting his head on certain parts of the ceiling. But that is no longer the case! Here are the top reasons I love our new apartment:
1. It's bigger!
2. We now have a dishwasher, and let me tell you it is amazing!
3. We have our own washer and dryer, so I can leave clothes in it and not feel bad.
4. We have a place for a dining room table, and we have a dining room table now!
5. Walk in closet
6. Hayden's own room to sleep in and not be disturbed
7. A guest room and bathroom for friends and family to stay in and use
The list could go on and on. My parents were kind enough to give us a mattress they had and weren't using, so we just got that today for the guest room. That will be very nice.
We are so grateful for what we have and we are excited for our family and friends to hopefully feel a little more comfortable when visiting us!:)
1. It's bigger!
2. We now have a dishwasher, and let me tell you it is amazing!
3. We have our own washer and dryer, so I can leave clothes in it and not feel bad.
4. We have a place for a dining room table, and we have a dining room table now!
5. Walk in closet
6. Hayden's own room to sleep in and not be disturbed
7. A guest room and bathroom for friends and family to stay in and use
The list could go on and on. My parents were kind enough to give us a mattress they had and weren't using, so we just got that today for the guest room. That will be very nice.
We are so grateful for what we have and we are excited for our family and friends to hopefully feel a little more comfortable when visiting us!:)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Please Read!!!!
We paid our taxes like everybody else all before April 15th. We were hoping for a big return to help pay for Hayden or maybe help us get some furniture for our new place. Well as I am sure you can guess we got snuffed and had to pay $25 to the wonderful IRS which isn't too bad.
Well this morning I got an email from the "IRS" saying that I was eligible for a return of $185! I thought, "I knew that something was wrong when I fill out my taxes." I opened the link that it told me to go to and the IRS logo appeared on the top of the screen and everything looked very official. The webpage said that it needed me to fill out the following information in order to receive my refund. It asked for my SSN and my credit card number (so that they could directly deposit the money in to my account). Something just didn't feel right so I started checking out the site. All of the links led to other pages on the IRS website but I still didn't feel right. After having seen the faux-Snoop-Dogg-is-a-Mormon-CNN link I knew it was possible to make anything look legit. I found a number for the Tax Payer Advocate Service and asked them about this email. The lady immediately informed me that this was a scam and to avoid it. She told me that the IRS will never ask for your SSN on a page like this because they already have it from your taxes. Plus they would never ask for your credit card number unless you have to pay your taxes. The website was completely fake!
This is my first run it with Identity Theft and I cannot believe how good they were! I was so close to giving away our entire life. What is funny about this story is that this morning, during my prayer, I asked God to reaffirm my testimony. I do this every so often to help me stay on top of my game. I think it is good to question yourself because God will never let you down. As soon as I read the email, an immediate feeling came over me. My heart started pounding and I just didn't feel right. Even though I wanted the money I really felt the urge to check it all out. Thank goodness that I listened to that prompting! Dev and I really couldn't afford to deal with Identity Theft right now. How grateful are we right now that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and watches out for everything we do. I could not feel any more blessed than I do right now.
If any of you receive emails that seem fishy and weird regarding your taxes, forward the emails to phishing@irs.gov! Do your part to help eliminate Identity Theft!
Here is the link!
http://0x7C.0x3.0x3A.0x85/www.irs.gov/taxrefund.php
Can you believe how real it looks!
Well this morning I got an email from the "IRS" saying that I was eligible for a return of $185! I thought, "I knew that something was wrong when I fill out my taxes." I opened the link that it told me to go to and the IRS logo appeared on the top of the screen and everything looked very official. The webpage said that it needed me to fill out the following information in order to receive my refund. It asked for my SSN and my credit card number (so that they could directly deposit the money in to my account). Something just didn't feel right so I started checking out the site. All of the links led to other pages on the IRS website but I still didn't feel right. After having seen the faux-Snoop-Dogg-is-a-Mormon-CNN link I knew it was possible to make anything look legit. I found a number for the Tax Payer Advocate Service and asked them about this email. The lady immediately informed me that this was a scam and to avoid it. She told me that the IRS will never ask for your SSN on a page like this because they already have it from your taxes. Plus they would never ask for your credit card number unless you have to pay your taxes. The website was completely fake!
This is my first run it with Identity Theft and I cannot believe how good they were! I was so close to giving away our entire life. What is funny about this story is that this morning, during my prayer, I asked God to reaffirm my testimony. I do this every so often to help me stay on top of my game. I think it is good to question yourself because God will never let you down. As soon as I read the email, an immediate feeling came over me. My heart started pounding and I just didn't feel right. Even though I wanted the money I really felt the urge to check it all out. Thank goodness that I listened to that prompting! Dev and I really couldn't afford to deal with Identity Theft right now. How grateful are we right now that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and watches out for everything we do. I could not feel any more blessed than I do right now.
If any of you receive emails that seem fishy and weird regarding your taxes, forward the emails to phishing@irs.gov! Do your part to help eliminate Identity Theft!
Here is the link!
http://0x7C.0x3.0x3A.0x85/www.irs.gov/taxrefund.php
Can you believe how real it looks!
Earth Day
As my brother Jeff once said: HIP HIP HOORAY, IT'S EARTH DAY!
It is a beautiful day. I am grateful for this earth we live on, and I hope we can all do our part to keep it as clean as possible, even if that means picking up trash you see on the ground. Little things can help. We love you, World.
It is a beautiful day. I am grateful for this earth we live on, and I hope we can all do our part to keep it as clean as possible, even if that means picking up trash you see on the ground. Little things can help. We love you, World.
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