All Kinds of 'Football'

Halloween marked the end of the Fall soccer season for Samantha and Bean. Samantha is now playing soccer at an older age than any of my other kids, and the game is changing quite a bit. They now have an inspection of players by officials before each game. They are very stringent on the rules. And the coach takes the whole thing quite seriously. That is why I am an assistant coach, and not a head coach. My role on the team is more the equivalent of a defensive coordinator. I spend most of game time on the defensive end, telling the girls where to be and when. Samantha didn't score any goals this year, but that is not indicative of her skills. She had a lot of assists, and has a nose for the game.

Bean did score one goal this year. It has been a joy to watch her grow. At the start of her first season she stood around, not quite sure what to do. Every now and again she would accidentally make contact with the ball, which excited her. By the end of the season she was playing quite well, and figuring the game out. And after scoring her goal she ran over to me an exclaimed "I told you I could do it!"

The other football that we've been enjoying this year is the Utah Utes. In their farewell tour of the Mountain West Conference, they have done well. That is, they were doing well until Saturday, when they were trounced by TCU. But it's like my old Grandma used to say 'You win some, you get embarrassed in some...' Anyway, with the Utes ranked in the top 10 facing 3rd ranked TCU, ESPN's College Game Day came to town, so I took the kids up to the stadium for the party. And a good time was had by all, until kickoff.

While Samantha and Bean have been playing soccer, Patrick has been playing tonsil hockey. Okay, not really, but I needed a sports theme to help me with my transition. In May Patrick had to take antibiotics for an abcess in the back of his throat, that we at first thought was strep throat. This past week it happened again. Only this time, it was worse, and after the first bout of meds (by shot in his leg) the abcess got even bigger. The doctor was worried about it closing his airway, so we ended up in the emergency room at Primary Children's Medical Center. The ENT doc performed a minor procedure right there, draining the abcess and cutting it open to be exposed to the antibiotics. Fortunately Patrick is on the mend, but will soon need his tonsils out.