fter missing three straight home matches (wins over Arizona, Utah, Colorado), we weren’t going to miss our last chance to see South Africans Shaun Davies and Dylan Lubbe and the other seniors (including Miles’ favorite: Mikey Su’a) at South Field.

Even better than the drubbing the Cougars put on the Bruins was helping Miles get autographs after the game. They were all really nice to him, asked his name, and made sure rugby was his favorite sport. Miles was just in awe.

Ben put it best as we climbed back in the van: “Mikey’s looks really big and mean on the field, but he’s actually really nice.”

Here’s why he was worried that Mikey might be mean:

Update: BYU won a close match at Life U today to move on in the tourney. They’ll play Arkansas St. for the national championship at Rio Tinto in Sandy, Utah, next week. It will be broadcast online on ESPN 3.

iles was the only child behaving well enough to go to the BYU baseball game last Thursday. (We got season tickets for signing the boys up for Little League.) The problem was that Brooke had a baby shower to attend. So, I called Miles’ Uncle Thomas (who works on the stadium’s grounds crew) to see if Miles could sit with him until Brooke came home.

So, I loaded all the kids in the van, but I only dropped Miles off at the ballpark.

When I came back ninety minutes later, Miles had already collected two foul balls and one home-run ball. How? Well, most of the fouls land in areas that are restricted to the spectators, but not to the grounds crew. They had literally spent the first five innings tracking down balls as frustrated pre-teens looked on. “Hey, how did you get down there?!?”

While I was there, they got two more, but gave one to a sad looking little boy.

e took some time – during the hottest Saturday of the year – to help Brooke’s father put a new sprinkling system in her grandmother’s yard. Oh yeah, her lot is about 1/2 an acre. Working in the heat – real, baking, dry heat – and bright sun gave me my first migraine in a few years. Man, I’m getting weak in my old age.

Toddlers and heavy machinery: A healthy mix?

Me: "Dad, I started cutting into that pipe you said was dead and water started dripping out."
Dad: "That's just leftover pressure. It's fine."
Me: "OK."
It turns out the pipe was still very much alive.

Even Thomas, who does this sort of thing for a living, was feeling the heat.

es, BYU dropped an exciting match to Stanford, who then lost to UC Irvine (who had upset USC). The NCAA Final Four was USC, UCI, Penn St., and some team you’ve never heard of (Lewis). UCI tore through the tourney beating Penn St. in 4 and sweeping USC. Even though BYU was 3-1 against Final Four teams, their wins against UCI were early in the season; I don’t think they could have beaten them. So, congrats to the Anteaters.

The silver lining is that only one collegiate player was invited to Team USA’s camp: Taylor Sander of BYU. It was just announced that he made the team, which bodes well for next year’s Cougars. They’ll also get Ben Patch, a high school senior who has a chance at making the Junior National Team.

So, why is Sander so good? Take a look at this pic Brooke snapped of him during the fifth set against Long Beach State. If my math is correct, he’s about three-feet off the ground and, as I look at the video of this spike, he’s actually coming down.

iles was so excited on his birthday that he asked his mom to take a nap because, “Days always go by slow when she takes a nap.”

Two days of family over, plenty of presents, cake, and ice cream, made for an awesome celebration. He was so set on it never ending that he wouldn’t get in his pajamas or climb into bed. He ended up curled on the floor clutching his new youth-sized rugby ball.

he twins love their uncles.

This episode showcases the twins’ unique personalities. Asher will win at all costs, including taking a swipe while in retreat. He also will gloat as evidence by his triumphant yell at the 26-second mark. Isaac just wants to have fun and is too sweet to be competitive.

rooke’s parents took the older boys for a night during Spring Break, leaving us with just the twins. BYU was playing Penn St. in volleyball, so we headed down to the Smith Field House. While we were waiting in line, an older gentleman asked Brooke if we were looking for two tickets, and then offered us two he happened to have. We wouldn’t say no to free stuff.

We parked ourselves up high so the twins would have room, and we had a great time finding Tom Holmoe and Lavell Edwards in the crowd, coaxing Cosmo to come high-five the twins, and watching a 4-set victory for BYU.

The twins’ favorite part was after the match when they went through the stands and put up every seat. The janitors were very appreciative.

f you search this blog for the Peaks Ice Arena, you may discover that I used to work there… many moons ago. I used to teach youth hockey and manage their website (the first they ever had). I also supervised VIP services there during the 2002 Olympics. Ah, memories.

I think it may be a sign of my growing old maturing, but I didn’t have the slightest desire to skate fast, dart in-and-out of the crowds, etc. I was very content to coast backwards in front of Ben and Miles, encouraging them and giving evil eyes to the punk kids who were being reckless.

We only had one bad fall, when Miles tried to grab the boards and missed. He slammed his noggin pretty hard. There’s a picture of the bruise below.

I should also mention that Miles was wearing our double-runners.