This is just a quick post/rant about my former employer: First Magnus Financial. They abruptly closed up shop and filed for bankruptcy last week leaving MANY employees WITHOUT their last PROMISED paycheck - me included.
My partner and I have setup a website where FMFC employees can sign up to be apart of a class action lawsuit against them. If you are interested, please visit www.suefmfc.com right now.
Yesterday was one of the saddest days in my life.
My 98 year old grandfather passed away suddenly. I spent most of the day in the emergency hospital room at St. Marks hospital with my uncle Gary, aunt Linda, cousins Mindy and Chris and my cousin-in-law Allison. We all watched as my grandfather passed peacefully.
He went the way he wanted to go. Even at the ripe old age of 98, he was still living independently, driving and even golfing with me this summer. Last Wednesday, during our last lunch together, he was even a little worried because his driver's license was going to expire this year and he was afraid they wouldn't give him another. We all know he would have passed the test with flying colors.
There aren't enough words in the English language (that I know of) to explain what a father, grandfather and GREAT grandfather he was - emphasis on GREAT. I already miss him dearly. It is going to take a long time for me to get a new Wednesday lunch routine that comes remotely close to the good times I was able to share with him over the last two years. I cherish every moment I spent with him and consider myself the luckiest of his grandchildren to have that time.
I will continue to post stories and "Hollyisms" as they come to mind. Speaking of "Hollyisms" my cousin-in-law Allison remembered another one while we were sharing time in the emergency room. I've added it here .
My grandfather was a man who will be talked about, quoted, and admired for many generations to come. The State of Utah and the city of Salt Lake will never be the same again.
In loving memory of my grandpa Holly, who to the great joy of my beloved grandma Myrtle returned to his Heavenly Father yesterday.
It has been SIX years since my knee surgery that replaced the ACL in my right knee with the center piece of my patellar tendon. Here's a picture of my knee about a week after surgery (at the same time my twins were born). Thought I'd throw that in here just for kicks.
… And since I blew my knee playing the game I love so much, it has also been 6 years since I stepped on a soccer field with cleats and shin guards in a REAL attempt at playing in a REAL soccer game.
The wait is officially OVER. Last night I was invited to fill in for "Ben Beasley" on an "Over 30" mens competition league. I mention Ben because I looked most like him and had to use his player card (illegally?) to check in so I could play. 
How did it go you ask? Let's just say they've invited me back to play full time. We were down 2-0 at half time. Shortly after the restart, I found myself on the left wing all alone. I took a beautiful cross and found nobody to beat but the goalie. Course, my superior goal mongering skills kicked in and I cut the deficit in half with a well placed shot into the right corner. A few minutes later I took a volley at the top of the box and sent a rocket 6 inches over the cross bar… it would have been a sweet goal.
We did manage to tie the game and send it into a SHOOT OUT. Yeah, I thought it was strange too, but in this league they don't do any overtime periods. They took us straight to a shoot out. I was a little surprised when they asked me to take a shot in the 4th position out of the first five since this was the first time I met the team… I guess they figured I could handle it after seeing me play.
Course, none of them knew I was the PK specialist on my college team at South Mountain. The guy on the other team who went before me missed wide left so the pressure was on me to make it. No problem. I hit my ball hard into the ride side netting (not back net) about chest high. No goalie in the world could have stopped it, even if they guessed correctly and dove that direction.
Anyway, our keeper Hunter (who invited me to play) ended up saving the next kick and sealed the deal. We won on PKs 3-2. All in all, I was surprised my legs and feet still remembered how to play, and I didn't hurt myself or suffer a heart attack in the process. Course, I'm not moving too swiftly today…
A few months back I promised to have a video of my grandfather reciting his (and mine) favorite poem. He's getting up there in years so he almost forgot how it went… but here goes. It's always funnier when he does it.
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/beggar-poem.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
Yes, this is another post with photos of the new love of our life, Maya! Ethan wasn't around for her birth, so this first photo is of him holding his new baby sister.
Wednesday, we took Maya on her first trip to see Great Grandpa Service. I think he was tickled pink. The twins think grandpa is a crackpot.
And one last shot of Maya AWAKE and wearing her new hair bows and favorite outfit. Do you REALLY think daddy does her hair?
Okay, this post is specifically for Natalie since she BEGGED me for more pictures of the baby… Enjoy!
And here's one last picture of Maya being held by Avery. You're going to have to wait to see Maya with Ethan… he's in Arizona visiting his Grandma Jackie. He'll be home in 2 days, so we'll be sure to post him up here too.
In the meantime… here's a few more videos. Toby was being a good boy, so we let him come out front with us to enjoy watching the twins ride their bikes. Course, he kept wanting to chase them down and bring them back home. Goofy mutt. He's amazingly gentle around Maya though. Who'da thunk?
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/maya-toby.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
And a few gas bubbly smiles…
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/maya-smiles.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
I should have taught them how to ride their bike LAST SUMMER, but I decided against it. Now that we've had our official night of learning, I'm glad I waited.
That was the easiest time I've ever had teaching kids to ride a bike. In fact, Isaac pretty much just jumped on and took off without me. It was GREAT! He proceeded to ride circles around his brother Owen until I could get him up to speed.
It only took Owen 3 or 4 runs before he was rolling too. Course, he's not quite up to Isaac yet after one night (he can't turn around yet) but he'll get there. We've all decided we need to get them new bikes for their 6th birthday. Enjoy the videos!
Isaac - the prodigy genius bike rider:
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/isaac-bike-master.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
Owen - learning the brakes:
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/owen-braking.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
The twins are having fun on their bikes!
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/i-and-o-bikes.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
Okay… this rant is about tournament rules for breaking a tie between two teams.
Here's the story. This week (the same week Maya was born) we had another soccer tourney. After two games we were 1-1 and tied with another team as far as points went… and we were about to play that team. The winner had a ticket to the championship game on Saturday (today). The team we were about to play had beaten us in 3 prior tournaments, and this tournament was being played on their home turf. Sounds like we were primed for an upset right? Kind of…
We played them to a 3-3 tie after regulation time. We were stoked. We had them up against the ropes and they were tired. We were going to take it to them in overtime. WRONG! I come to find out that the tournament rules only allow over time periods and shoot-outs after 5 different sets of criteria are met that keep the two teams in a tie. We already met the first criteria by being tied with points in the standings. The second and third criteria is where I have issues and the whole reason for this rant.
"Goal differential" … that is the magic phrase. And I could live with with that phrase if this particular tournament understood what it meant. Tie Breaker Rule #2 gave the win to the team with the least number of goals scored against them throughout the tourney. If the teams were still tied, then Tie Breaker Rule #3 kicked in which gave the win to the team with the most goals scored on the other teams during the tourney. What's the difference here? And why do "defensive" goals (rule 2) outweigh "offensive" goals (rule 3)? Shouldn't a TRUE goal differential take into account BOTH equally?
For instance… we LOST our game because the other team had 2 less goals scored against them than we did. However… if you throw in the number of goals WE scored against other teams, we scored 3 MORE goals during the tourney than they did! The TRUE goal differential gives our team a +1 advantage in goals against vs goals for. Does that make sense to the rest of the world like it makes sense to me?
I guess that's what you get when you go play a tournament in po-dunk "Hooper" Utah. Rant over. Please comment and tell me I'm not crazy.
On a happier note… if we would have played in the championship today, I would have missed taking Maya home from the hospital. So I guess things work out for a reason. :)
Sorry it took so long to "follow up" on my last post about Maya, but it has been a crazy day. She's been home about 5 whole hours as of right now. She eats (well), poops, and sleeps… and that is about it. Just like I like them.
Here's a few more photos and even a few videos (at bottom of post) for your viewing pleasure.
I'm not going to write much more, but if you have any questions about this whole adoption thing, feel free to email Sage or myself. Calling or stopping by the house is permitted as well.
I will tell you that Utah (or Utard as my Aunt Judy says) only has a 24 hour waiting period before the birth mother can sign papers relinquishing her rights. Well, those papers were signed yesterday around 2pm. So there is no going back now. Technically, Maya is a ward of the Adoption Agency until we can go to court in 6 months and finalize the adoption. But she gets to stay with us until then… and then she is ours forever. What a crazy ride!
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/maya-1.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/maya-2.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
Okay, so she isn't officially a "Service" yet… but she's HERE none-the-less!
At around 12:30pm Mountain time at Jordan Valley Hospital she arrived via C-Section. I was kind of bummed because I had to miss the actual birth due to the fact that I had to referee a soccer game at the tournament we are playing this weekend. And then, my wife (with all the chaos) forgot to call me until TWO HOURS later! Luckily we were at half-time of Avery's first game (which we won 8-1) so all was well with the world again. Avery and I buzzed over to the hospital after his last game of the day (we lost 6-3) and I got to hold her.
Ethan is in Arizona with his grandma Jackie, so he'll have to wait a week to see her. The twins will get their first glimpse tomorrow morning when we go back before Avery's next game.
She was 6lbs 10oz (see pic on scale) and 19 inches long… smaller than everyone thought she would be. Since she came via C-Section and a few weeks early, they are keeping her in the nursery to monitor her oxygen and make sure her lungs are working.
She's absolutely beautiful. Birth Momma wanted to add another middle name to the mix because all of her other children have two middle names. I picked the spelling though. Like I said before, she will most likely just go by Maya.
What a CRAZY DAY! I don't think it has sunk in yet… she's actually here. I'm going to stop writing this post now, but I will update again tomorrow night with more pics and maybe even video… we'll see.
