Tip-Off Eve

So does anyone else feel like it's Christmas Eve? That could just be me since the NBA season tips off tomorrow, but needless to say I probably won't sleep very well tonight. At about 7:30 Pacific time my favorite--and my wife's least favorite--time of year will officially get under way. The Jazz take on the Golden State Warriors in a repeat of last year's second round playoff matchup (which the Jazz handily won). I'm excited for this year's team and think they could at least replicate last year's regular season performance though I don't think they will go as far in the playoffs. A few predictions:

- Deron will continue to emerge as one of the best PG's in the game
- Booz will continue to be an offensive beast and an empty shirt on D
- AK will be better than last year (how could he not?)
- Brewer will be a massive upgrade at the 2 (poor jumpshot and all)
- Memo will add some post-up game so teams can no longer defend him with wings
- Memo and Yeliz will again post the largest ugly/hot differential of any couple in the league (unless Sam Cassell is married to anything resembling a human in which case he would win by default)
- Harp will blow more uncontested layups than any other player in the NBA and end the season in a wheelchair
- Harp will be my official scapegoat for all the Jazz woes; even when he's not playing, I'll blame all the Jazz misfortune on his ridiculous contract
- Jarron will lead the league in flops per minute
- This will be the first year Jarron attempts to jump and never actually leaves the ground
- Gira will get called for the Euro travel at least once per game
- Hart will at times remind us of Milt Palacio
- Price will have some explosive dunks but show that he has little to no PG skills and is basically just a midget 2
- CJ will play defense like he took classes on lateral movement from Jarron Collins and Oliver Miller
- Almond will play less minutes than he should and will probably lose time to a midget 2 (Price)
- Fess will play most of the year in Orem (though he's probably already better than Collins) and lead the league in entertaining quotes
- Deron and Booz will make the AS game
- My wife will lose her mind at least once during the season
- I will say the F bomb more times than I do at any other point in the year (including BYU football season)
- My wife will say the F bomb at me at least once
- Gardner will call me courtside from at least two arenas
- Ster will at some point get us both divorced by buying League Pass
- Rett will send me numerous text messages with language too colorful for children
- Rett will again tell me that Jerry Sloan is his favorite player on the Jazz
- Sloan will play at least one rotation that will make you wonder if he's ever coached a basketball game
- I will break at least one remote control during the course of the year
- My wife will break more things than that
- I will be thankful every night I go to sleep knowing that Derek Fisher is no longer on the team
- Derek Fisher will be my favorite player to watch run the fastbreak in the entire league now that he doesn't play for the Jazz (Fisher on a break with numbers has to rank a solid 10 on the unintentional comedy scale)
- ABells will ask me if I have stat for everything at least once
- Dad will watch one call go against the Jazz and tell me the NBA is worst than professional wrestling and that he's never watching another game
- Trav Dogg will continue to insist that JJ Redick is the best shooter on the planet
- Keem will officially get engaged to Lebron James
- Grandma Henderson will watch all televised games (a real fan that woman is)
- My cousin Brett will inevitably mention that he's no longer a Jazz fan because they didn't sign Britton Johnsen
- I will get at least five post-game phone calls after a big win (typical culprits will include Keem, Dad, Jason, Rett, Ster, Steve and Travis)
- Stacy will threaten to cancel my cell phone
- Stacy and I'll will attend all games the Jazz play in Seattle and she'll ask me why we have to go an hour and a half early at least ten times
- As long as Stacy has some sort of delectable food item in her hands during the game she will be content
- As soon as said food item is gone Stacy will repeatedly ask "Is the game almost over yet?"
- The Jazz will win 52-55 games this year
- The Jazz will lose in the 2nd round

The Great Pumpkin

On Saturday we made a trip up to Snohomish to visit a pumpkin patch which was located on a family's farm. Apparently this farm has become pretty well know in the area for its Halloween festivities and gets quite a few visitors during the fall season. There was a large pumpkin field, a corn maze, hay rides, a small petting zoo, and fishing, among other activities. They also had some homemade produce and we enjoyed some delicious corn as we searched for the right pumpkin.

All of us

Stacy and Lily

The guys

The girls

The Trifecta is Complete

I've been meaning to make this post for a while now but haven't gotten around to it as we've had some issues uploading pictures onto our blog. Fortunately I finally got the pictures to work. Unfortunately they suck.

Anyway, ABells and I went to see The National a couple of weeks ago and they put on a good show. The "trifecta" is in reference to their album being one of my three favorites of the year, along with Neon Bible by Arcade Fire and Antown Graffiti by Pela (though one of these is looking to get replaced by the brilliant new Radiohead album). I had seen Arcade and Pela in recent months, so I was excited to finally see The National live. Bells was in class all night and missed the opening act--St. Vincent of Broken Social Scene fame--but was able to make the show before The National went on. He promised he wouldn't cry when they played Green Gloves, but I had my suspicions. They ended up playing that track as part of their encore and brought St. Vincent and the guitarist from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on the stage to perform it with them. I think he got teary-eyed.

The National



The lovely St. Vincent

Birthday Celebration

Last night we had a little get together with friends at The Garage to celebrate Stacy's birthday. The Garage is a hangout in our neighborhood that has food, bowling, pool, shuffleboard, and plenty of alcohol -- which created something of an interesting dynamic for the night's festivities. Half the group hit the point of being fairly intoxicated, while the other half (which consisted of all our friends from church) was worried about getting up in the morning for General Conference. By far the most entertaining person of the evening was Suzi. Now, she's generally very funny and manages to crack us up with her hilariously animated hand and facial gestures, but last night she was in epic form. Apparently two shots of Jagermeister is all it takes for her to go from relatively reserved yet hilarious law student to full on party animal and wild woman.

We ate, we played pool, we hung out, and we had a good time. We'll see what's in store for Stacy's birthday next year.

Stacy with the cupcake that Suzi gave her (which is actually soap)

Stacy and our good friend Brian

ABells and Sterls

Suzi and Scott playing pool

Amanda, Mel and Stacy

Suzi and Scott

Brandi and Stacy

The Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday to My Beautiful Wife

Today Stacy turns 25. She thinks she's getting old and is certain that new wrinkles are appearing all over her face, but to me she looks just as beautiful as the first time I met her. We haven't done many birthday activities today, but we are planning on having a little celebration with friends at The Garage this weekend. These pictures are actually old (we took them last year at G and Erica's wedding), but I figured I should include some pictures with this post and this was the best I could come up with.

Happy b-day, sweetie.