Drivin' me nuts!

What a weekend! The NFL regular season began, which is exciting around this house. Jarom managed to squeak by Alixa in their fantasy football matchup, although it was closer than expected and came down to the Monday night games. The college football season, despite being only two weeks old is already shaping up to be a great one. I have decided to become an East Carolina fan, because I like how they keep upsetting ranked opponents and I want to be a pirate.



The most emotional moment of the weekend happened while I was watching the BYU-UW game, which was on cable TV here in Knoxville. After a marvelous fourth quarter, capped by 76-yard drive that ended with an amazing QB rush into the end zone for a chance to send the game into OT. It was at this moment that the worst call I have ever seen in any athletic competition occurred. UW’s QB was so excited after scoring the TD that he jumped to his feet, threw the ball in the air and went crazy with his teammates. He was flagged for excessive celebration and the extra point became a 35-yard field goal, which was blocked. That sent BYU’s entire team pouring onto the field from the sideline, demonstrating perfectly the kind of behavior that should get a penalty. It was an unfortunate incident of refs not allowing the players to decide the game. BYU probably would have won in overtime, as they seemed to be the better team, but that isn’t the point. To read a good article about the incident, click here.



In other news, Lixi got a job that she started on Monday. She is a receptionist type person for the local emergency response company (Ambulances). She wants to get paid more, but at least she has something to do during the day now. She will keep her eyes peeled for better opportunities, but she feels lucky to have this job right now. Jarom and Alixa made friends with another young couple in the ward over dinner and Settlers on Sunday evening. They seem to have many similar interests, and they even liked me, so hopefully it will stick. Alixa also joined the ward softball team, which plays in a local church league against the Baptists, Lutherans, etc… I guess we will see which church is true soon enough.

Jarom is enjoying his classes and likes his teachers. He has two foreigners who speak spotty English and enjoys hearing the silly things in the English language that we usually take for granted. One example that made him smile yesterday: his teacher was talking about why people play sports, and he used the phrase “play skiing” in a sentence. On the surface it isn’t too far off, but it sounds ridiculous. Those are the sorts of things that keep him paying attention during his nearly 3 hour Monday evening class.