Sports

Wow, does Buff have intution or what?
Following the theme of the great chocolate debate, I snagged some super high quality chocolate, imported from France. One each of Dark (76% cocoa) and Milk.
The winner will get to compare them both. These ain't no Hershey bars!

Michael did great at the State Cross Country meet. You can see a couple of clips of him here. What a group of runners and a wonderfully difficult course. Michael ran with confidence and strength and I believe ran his best race ever. Congratulations. Unfortunately for Mountain View the top runner was sick and the second runner was also dragging...so the top two finished like 4 and 5 rather than 1 and 2 so their hopes of a repeat championship didn't happen. But there is great hope as the number one finisher for Mountainview was a freshman! Watching Michael run has been a great inspiration to go after a goal and work hard. Thanks Mike!

(click on the picture to see the finish)
"What a great day to wear red" were the words we heard from the coaches and others as Mountainview took first in the region for both men and women's cross country. Our favorite runner, Mike, finished 15th overall, 7th for Mountainview...so although he didn't score for the team he added points to the other teams scores by displacing their runners. 7 of the first 15 finishers were from Mountainview. For those that don't understand cross country (the scoring...not why you would run!) the team with the lowest score for their first five runners wins. You get points based on which number you finish. So a perfect score is 15, that is you have guys that finish 1st through 5th 1+2+3+4+5=15. You can have 7 on your team. Next week at 10am is the State Cross Country meet. Mountain View won it last year for the first time. It will be very close but we think they will take it again! Go Mike!

On Saturday, Mike ran again in another invitational. It included many teams including the ones that beat him last time. But not today. Mike got his first "first"! And he looked good. Too bad I didn't have a camera. But I did see someone from our stake there and I borrowed his camera and got a clip of the finish...click on the picture to see it!

Mike ran an excellent race today. There must have been nearly 200 kids running. Mike finished 6th. MountainView dominated finishing 1,2,3,4, and 6. A few more right after that too! Here is a set of pictures of Mike during the race. The start is at the right and the finish at the left. Way to go Mike!

Here are some pictures we took on the return trip. Click on the picture to see them.

Picture of Elder Free participating in a marshmallow fight (an occassional pastime of the mission home staff in Fukuoka). If you look carefully, you will also notice Sister Free in the background, having just fired off a round. (Pres. Gottfredson)

Hey, I just got back from participating in the 2005 Rex Lee Run. Note my running companion safely tucked away in my pocket. ?

I don't know if many of you are familiar with the Airzooka that my dad got, but this is even better. I just had to post this one. These are so fun! The Airzooka shoots out air towards where you are aiming. It is especially fun with pets, not saying I've tried it before :). This bad boy is the upgraded Airzooka, complete with a scope, trigger, second handle, bigger chamber, and a locking device. Obviously, when you pull the trigger, the locking device comes off and the air blasts your cat...I mean...those papers on the table. The extra handle is for steady aiming. It also comes in a sweat color.

Daniel had a soccer game tonight starting at about 4:45-5:55pm...it was cool to begin with but when the sun went down we were glad to have blankets with us. You can see Diana all bundled up in the Levi blanket she made me. I know to all of you in the northern climes 40-50 degrees is not cold...but to us it was very cold. Daniel's team won, by the way.

The Kino Kolts lost on Friday despite Jake's battle for this rebound (he's in the green and gold). I tried to get him to pose for a picture afterward so you could his face, but he wouldn't go for it. Next time I'll have to sneak up on him.

It pays to be a runner at Mountain View High School for Michael Free. On the morning of Thanksgiving, Michael went to the annual Coon's Turkey Trot. The Turkey Trot was 3 miles long, and he won it with a time of 16:43. Michael was suprised by his times, but even more was his winnings. In the picture, it shows Michael with a very nice Sony CD player, Hershey Mint Chocolate Cookies 'n Cream bar, and a 100 dollar bill! You should have seen his face when he opened the envelope up with the money. Michael did pay his tithing and mission money and is ready to spend most of the money on Christmas presents.

After a long and winless football season, Jake's Kino Kolts posted their first win on the hardwood against South Mountain last night. Jake played some good minutes, scored four points and played a key role in helping his team break a tenacious full court press. Sorry, no pictures from this one but we did get our digital camera going again so we'll shoot some on Friday at his next game.

When we went to the park after the big turkey meal we saw a family having a great time "turkey bowling"! I wanted to record this so next time we can do it! They set up a plastic tarp and bowling pins. Then they roll the frozen turkey to knock over the pins. Too fun. (I guess they got the pins by just asking a local bowling lane and they were free!)

This is me swimming the backstroke at a swim meet in Idaho. My fastest time this year was a 1:04. I ended up taking 4th place at championships in the backstroke!