The Arizona Palmers Take 2

As most of you know or at least I thought you knew, my parents and sister are in Arizona and for some time have been referred to as the Arizona Palmers. That however, is about to change. I have accepted a position with a new copper mine and our family will be moving to Arizona as well. We will be in the south east portion of Tucson about 45 minutes from my folks and about an hour plus from Linda's. We are very excited about the opportunity, not just personally but professionally. I have been offered the HR Manager position and will have a great group of folks to work with. We will miss our friends here in San Antonio, and Zachry has been a tremendous growing opportunity for me. As a great friend of mine and current boss always says, "Never pass up an opprotunity" and I particularly believe you should never pass up a great opportunity. On with the week.

Spurs Game

From time to time I have friends and co-workers that help me out with tickests to events. We've gone to basketball, hockey and football. this time I asked a friend for some tickets to the Jazz/Spurs game and I greedily asked for the courtside tickets. He had offered before, but I turned them down so he was very willing to allow me to use them for a game I was this interested in. I took Hunter with me and we had a great time. As normal we arrived way early hoping to get a photo or autograph of a player or two. I had purchased a Tim Duncan jersey in hopes tha maybe we'd get lucky and he's sign it for Hunter. We got there as they opened the door and were allowed to stand next to the tunnel. Hunter got the first spot next to the tunnel where the Spurs players go in and out. There wasn't really any room for me which was fine because I was watching the Jazz players shooting. When the teams warm up they do so on the opposite basket of where their bench is, so we were standing on the side where the Spurs would sit but where the Jazz warm up. I noticed one of my favorite guards growing up was a coach on the Jazz so when he approached the bench I went over to get an autograph. Of course, I left my Jazz hat at home because, "Like I'm going to get any Jazz autographs." All I had was the little freebie program with Spur's players info in it, but he can sign the back of it. I went over to get it and he very polietly signed it and I got Gordon Hayward and Evan's autographs as well. At which point an usher suggested that I go to the other tunnel and get other Jazz players to sign it. Hunter was cool on his end and had already gotten a few autographs on the jersey so I went to the other side. Since he was in front I could see him fine and since I'm 6'5" and was in a bright yellow shirt he never lost me. Anywho, I was standing next to a couple Jazz fans when the San Antonio big three Duncan, Parker, and Ginoblli, came out to warm up. I got some ok shots with the cell phone and camera and then out of nowhere Duncan heads to my tunnel. I flip to his page in the little program I have and bam I got his autograph. A few minutes later Ginobilli comes our way and bam bam got his too. A little while later Parker heads our way and bam bam bam got his as well. Not bad for being on the "wrong" side of the arena. I got Al Jefferson from the Jazz and Hunter ended up getting George Hill, Matt Bonner, De'Juan Blair and a couple benchers. We were sitting a few rows from the corner next to the Spurs bench for the game and as the time went down we moved to the front row thanks to a guy I met at the game. The pictures included are from the front row and the one picture is of me taking Hunter's picture from the telecast.

Hog Hunt

A friend of mine and I took a couple guys hog hunting as part of the scout auction. We had baited the area for a few weeks and knew that they had been showing up around 9:30 pm. We got there at 7:30 and began to set up. One of the individuals got on his phone walking around talking and the other decided to talk to a man about a horse. As these two things were going on Brad sees a herd of pigs heading right at us. We get everyone back to the guns to find out that one them could not find his bullets and one of the guys did not bring a gun. So the first "customer" got his gun and steadied himself the other could not find his bullets still so I gave him my gun. They got ready I told the second one that the I had put the safety on when I gave it to him and told the first to pick a pig and get ready. I asked if they were ready to shoot and had a good broadside shot. Yes and yes!! One.....Two.... Three......BANG. The ears stop ringing, the smoke clears we look at the bare grassy area and no pigs. Shayne airmailed his shot over the back of the pigs, and Troy forgot to take the gun off of safe. We searched and searched, but no indication of a hit. We sat for four more hours and never saw another pig. It was fun though.

Award Ceremony

Each quarter the kids elementary school does an awards ceremony for each of the grades. Students can receive awards for perfect attendance and for earning all A's. We are fortunate to have kids that are incredibly healthy and that also tend to get good grades, so Linda got to attend awards ceremonies for each of them. All four of them had perfect attendance and Hunter and Taylor both had all A's. Also, Hunter and AnnaLynn both received word that they have been accepted into the National Elementary Honor Society chapter that the school is starting. They were both thrilled--Hunter even gave a little fist pump.

Book Fair

One of the school districts top fund raisers in the annual three day book fair. This is no run of the mill new book book fair. This is Texas! Each elementary school is responsible to collect as many used books as they can and turn them into the district. Then books are sorted and organized into sections. Children's (Picture, elementary, series, and young adult), Sports, Humor, Romance, Mystery, Classic, Fiction, Non Fiction, Biography, Travel, Art/Culture, Texas, Reference, How to, Hobby, and more. Then to keep the math simple all, yes I said all soft bound are $.50 and all hardbound are $1. Needless to say there are some professionals that come, no I am not referring to those that bring a wagon, sack lunch and water. I mean book resellers that scan each book to know the value and inventory that the store has. Then there are those that think they will look for one or two specific books in the somewhat organized chaos. We were in the middle. I took a long lunch from work and met Linda there. We knew series that the kids liked or thought they would like, topics that they might have an interest in and authors and subjects that they liked. We went through the endless tables and rows and picked out some great books. At the end of the day we had found some old school Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys (hardback), new school Nancy Drew (Soft), Star Wars, Spiderman, Magic Tree House, Magic School Bus, Wizard fo Oz, book on insects, books by Janette Oke, Phyllis Whitney, and Mike Lupica (Hunter's favorite author), and many many more. In all we bought 100 books. Some real favorites of mine were a softcover book on how to run the west coast offense (for Hunter and his coaching desires), a 10th anniverary Far Side book (soft) and a book of quotes by Yogi Berra. Linda's favorites were the Snow Treasure, a very nice Little Women copy and a Series by Beverly Lewis (3 books). We also got a Disneyland tour guide book for $.50 for our upcoming trip.

Singing for Relief Society

I (Linda) got a call this week asking if the girls would be willing to sing at a Relief Society Auxillary training meeting on Saturday night. Both girls were thrilled to do it and so we ran through the song a couple of times and then showed up at the church a couple of minutes early (thanks for that good training Dad!). A few other children were singing with them and everyone was right on time and ready to go. Unfortunately, the sister presenting was not aware of the time. The children waited patiently and sort-of quietly in the hall for their turn. Twenty-five minutes later she finished and the kids went in to sing. I played the piano for them and they sounded beautiful.