frozen grassland

twenty and eight

The Suns win! The Suns took on the Knicks for the first time this season, and won 108 - 86. A 22 point victory was a good way to end the at-home games this calendar year. The game wasn't even a contest. The Suns came out with a 34 - 14 opening quarter, and kept up the pace the rest of the game. The Suns are getting much better at keeping the lead that they get early and pushing it through to the end. Kurt Thomas had a great game, with 12 points, 9 rebounds, a block, and an assist. The Knicks had a hard time shooting the ball. Marbury made only 5 of 17 field goal attempts. The Suns will play one more game in 2006, on December 31st, in Detroit against the Pistons. Should be a pretty good game. The Suns can do it. GO SUNS!

fourth anniversary

Amy and I have now been married for a glorious four years. How lucky am I? Go ahead, tell me. Amy's gorgeous, she's able to stay home and take care of Aidan, Aidan's now 9 months old and loves to clap, Kate is maturing in the womb and will make her debut in another 5 1/2 months: life is good. Some fun to talk about regarding the day Amy and I spent together. We've made it a tradition to head up to Flagstaff for our anniversary, ever since our second anniversary. (We honeymooned there, just so you know.) We hit Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, then headed out of town up the 17. There was a winter storm warning in effect until noon, according to the 511 service that I called. As we found out on our way up the hill, it was snowing very heavily within 30 miles of Flagstaff even at 2:00 pm. It was snowing so hard that the visibility was down to under half a mile at best. We got ourselves behind an SUV from Oregon and followed them all the way up the hill. They obviously knew how to drive in those conditions, and not many others did, as we passed many Arizona plates on the way up. As we would change lanes, the ice that was building up where no tires had been traveling made it to where we seemed to slide a little. The Lord kept us safe the whole way up, and it was a fun drive, praise Him. I truly enjoyed myself on that drive. Before the snow and the bad weather, just as we were coming down the large mountain that leads to Camp Verde, I was caught by DPS driving 76 in a 65 mph area. The road sign changed to 75 just tens of yards away from where the officer was camping out to catch speeders. I did get pulled over. We pulled off the road in Camp Verde (which we were going to anyway because it was time for lunch). The officer was the nicest man in a uniform that I've ever met. He told me how fast I was going, asked me where we were headed (I told him "Flagstaff, for our anniversary"), and he told me that he wouldn't ruin our anniversary by giving me a ticket. I wasn't afraid at all, and I didn't even have anxiety, and he just let us off. I couldn't believe it. We then went to the A&W/KFC, ate lunch, then headed back up the hill to follow the Oregon SUV. We made it up to the Barnes & Noble (as we do each time that we go) in order to get our regular journal purchase. We got a lot of board books (which were on major sale) for Aidan, and even got a stuffed animal dragon, too. We got some other books, too, like Eragon and a guide to poker (since I'm starting up a regular game, hopefully). I also got to buy a couple journals for me to take sermon notes in. My parents gave us money for our anniversary, so we used that for the purchase. We then went around NAU's campus and took some pictures of the winter weather on the trees and overall campus. It was gorgeous up there. We had a nice time up there in Flagstaff, even though we didn't go up past Flagstaff to take pictures in the aspens which we normally take (because of the weather and safety). We headed back down the hill earlier than any other year, but it was a good idea. The roads didn't get any better with the weather continuing to snow and rain, depending on the elevation. Again, the conditions made it hard to see, and the Arizona plates really didn't know what to do with the snowy conditions, but we were still able to enjoy the road home. It was solid rain or snow the whole way down the mountain: almost 150 miles worth of solid clouds without a break. We got back into town, we to Cucina Tagliani, ordered to go, went to Walmart, went back to pick up the food, headed home, and enjoyed our dinner while watching the Suns battle the Mavericks for a little while. We had left Aidan with the Ogles (my parents-in-law) for the day, very generous of them, and so we went to pick him up when we finished with dinner. The Ogles told us that Aidan was good and slept all of his normal naps. That was great to hear. We told him about what I've told you, and then we headed home. That was our fourth anniversary.

nineteen and eight

In the last four seconds of the game, the Suns fell to the team with the best record in the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas is now half a game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs. The Suns had a struggle when it came to allowing offensive rebounds for Dallas and turnovers, but they were still in the game until the last few seconds. The Suns lost this heart-breaker by two because of Nowitzki's four-seconds-to-go jump shot, 101 - 99. I got to listen to about half of the game and watch only about a quarter, since I was out looking for poker chips for a poker game that I'm gunna try to get started with some friends from church. (No gambling...the winner won't have to pay for his pizza!) The Suns take on the NY Knicks for the first time this season tonight in Phoenix. Should bring us to 20 wins tonight. And, so far, we've got the early lead. GO SUNS!

nineteen and seven

We won the game back on Tuesday against the Trail Blazers at home in Phoenix. The final was 110 - 87. The Suns had a solid lead, and kept it. The bench came out and kept up the lead, allowing the Suns to rest their stars and still add a W. GO SUNS!

lubbock christmas

It is Christmas Eve, and I am writing this from my cousin-once-removed's iMac in Lubbock, TX. My wife, along with my mother-in-law, are out getting pedicures from Amy's Aunt Leah -- Francy's sister -- and I elected to stay at Ross and Leah Sides' house with Uncle Ross and my father-in-law, Mike. We already did the Falbo Christmas exchange yesterday -- Christmas Eve Eve, as my mom called it in a text she sent me yesterday -- and the best thing, at least to me,that I got, was a pitch pipe from Santa, aka Grandma Nel Falbo (Aidan's great-grandmother on Amy's side), aka Nanny. It was nice being with the Falbos. I enjoyed almost everything about it. The 13 hour car ride to get here, compiled with Aidan's hour of crying (the last hour of the trip), was definitely not exciting, but we did get some awesome pictures of a frozen field of dead grass, covered in ice,as the sun was setting in the West. The fields simply glowed, radiated of breath-taking light. I was awed. Maybe I'll post a couple pictures once I get home and have the time. Getting to spend time with Uncle Richard, his girlfriend Esther, and his daughter Bella, was also very nice. I'd only met him once, and I'd never met his daughter, nor Esther. Esther was very nice, and Bella adorable (moreso in person than in pictures). We talked about it, and we think that Esther brings out the best in Rich. He also enjoys The Wheel of Time series as I do, and when I get the time, I will talk more about the series and why I enjoy it. Alright, Aidan's crying, so it's time I go. I will post more later. Merry Christmas!

eighteen and seven

No matter how much I hate to say it, the Suns' winning streak was ended on Friday as they hosted and Washington Wizards and lost in overtime, 144 - 139. I wish I could have seen it, but I was in Lubbock, TX, with my wife's mother's side of the family: the Falbos. I would have loved to have watched this game. Sounds like it was a fun one. Another very high scoring Suns spectaular, but this time ending the wrong way, with a loss. The Suns are still atop the Pacific division, as the Lakers are 18 - 9. The Suns now stand fourth in the West, behind San Antonio, Dallas, and Utah, all superb teams this year. The next game is Tuesday against the Trail Blazers in Phoenix at US Airaways Center, I mean, and prefer, AWA. GO SUNS!