Birthdays and Basketball

Lots has happened in the past few weeks.  SO celebrated her 9th b-day, and got a hamster as the grand gift!! Why I allowed a rodent inside of my house, I will never know except that when you have kids you end up doing a lot of things you never thought you would.  SHO and I purchased the little rodent the day before.  I reminded him that he couldn NOT say anything at all to SO, not even talk about the hamster.  Fortunately, he couldn't pronounce hamster very well, and several times when SO got home from school, he said, "SO!! Aren't you going to see your rat??"  I told the rest of the kids to not even react when he said anything about it, but we had a hard time not giggling.  SO had no clue why he was saying that.  It was truly a surprise for her the next day, and that was fun. 

 

She is growing up so fast, I can't believe she is 9.   We put trick candles on her cake, too-- hee hee.  The hamsters name is Pepper, and we have already had a slew of friends come and meet it.  I lucked out and found a great cage at Petsmart on clearance, or this little guy could have been a great expense--- and with a life span of only 2 years, I don't know if it is worth it!! It runs on its wheel in the middle of the night, and one night we thought a truck was idling outside our house-- the wheel was vibrating the floor just right.  I don't know if that means my floors are a little scary or that is one powerful rodent. 

 

 

And, yes. This is LL sleeping with a basketball.  There is a nice story behind this.  The girl loves basketball-- and I suppose she comes by that honestly.  I could put all the blame on her dad, but when I was her age, I was crazy about basketball.  I wasn't half as good-- I was much taller, but I absolutely loved it.  I followed the CSI games and went to the basketball camps, and I remember watching the NJCAA championship game with our local CSI team on television at a babysitting job-- biting my nails and jumping up and down-- all alone mind you, the kids were in bed.  Not to mention, if it weren't for USU basketball, I probably wouldn't have met my husband.  I went out with his roomie a few times who was on the team.  That is how I met Rich:)  ANYWAY-- enough about ME-- this story is about my kid.  LL has inherited an avid love of the game-- taking stats at all the USU games she goes to, and cheering like a maniac.  Fortunately, she has her dad who is a great ball player to coach her on the finer skills that her mother severly lacks.  LL is a great little ball player.

On Saturday, the girls and I went downtown for some fun.  On our way back from buying a USU t-shirt for the football game, we stopped at the deli for a cup of soup.  While eating our soup, LL's eyes got really wide all of the sudden, and she patted my shoulder excitedly.  In a half whisper, half squealing voice she said, "Mom!! Mom!! That is Brady Jardine!!!"  I looked up and there he was with his wife,  all 6 feet 7 inches of him.  He was with another ball player, but we didn't recognize him-- Brady is her idol.  He played for USU for a few seasons, and then because of a foot injury, he ended last season early.  The sad thing we heard was that he wouldn't be able to ever play again.  The guy can jump higher than any white guy I've ever seen and is a fantastic player all around.   Not to mention, he is from TWIN FALLS.  That makes him even cooler. 

I teased her about going up to him, and she wouldn't.  I finally jumped up, to her embarassment, and walked over to him.  I asked if he were indeed Brady Jardine, and he smiled and said yes.  Then I told him my daughter was a big fan of his, and he came over with his wife and friends and sat by us.  He talked to her for a little while, and she was so star-struck she couldn't talk.  I had to answer for her.  When we left, we bought him and his wife some cookies, and LL went up to him and said, "Thanks for being my favorite basketball player ever."  The whole table let out a collective, "Awww!!!"   Then we left.  

We were all loaded up in the car, and all of the sudden, Brady came running out and tapped on LL's window.  He asked where we lived and when he realized we were out in the boonies, he asked if we could stop by his house in a half hour-- that he has something for LL.  LL was so giddy she couldn't focus for the next half hour.  The time came to go to his place.  LL walked timidly to the door.  When he answered, he bent down under the door frame and handed her a signed basketball.  He talked with the girls for a little bit, and then they floated gleefully to the car, squealing with delight.  

That night when Rich and I got home from the football game, we check on the kids, and there was LL sleeping soundly with the signed ball and her favorite stuffed animals.  What a nice guy-- I have to say.  It is great that there are good role models out there-- and KIND at that.  Not only is he a super athlete, but he his super kind.  I am glad my kids can have heroes like that. 

If your aren't totally bored yet-- here is a great little article on hero/athletes-- it mentions Brady...
http://news.hjnews.com/opinion/article_be1a9328-f228-11e0-9055-001cc4c03286.html