Texas Snow!

ATTENTION: It does get cold in Texas! North Texas was hit with a record snowfall today. DFW airport reported 9.4 inches as of 9:00 PM and the snow is supposed to continue into the night. It has been fun to see snow again. My friends and I even made a snowman after work complete with a cowboy hat :)

It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow which is perfect since I need to run 11 miles this weekend for my half marathon training. I have about a month until my first half marathon, the Dallas Rock ‘n’ Roll on March 14. I've enjoyed the running and am already looking into what my next run is going to be. Anyone want to run one with me??

Neal and Courtney are also making a trip down to Fort Worth for their spring break in a few weeks and I hope they get some nice weather. I’m trying to think of fun things for them to do while they’re here. Billy Bobs, the world’s largest honky tonk, might be a required stop!

Hope everyone is doing well! Miss and love you all!

Tournament time

Alaina played her midseason tournament last weekend in Lawrence. In Kansas, the boys take a week off in the middle of the season for a three-day tournament, followed by the girls the next week. Alaina's team came in second out of eight teams, which is the school's best showing in many years. It should be noted that the tournament field was pretty weak, but, hey, so is the American League Central and Tigers fans aren't complaining about that.
Her team beat a KC area school the first night (led 18-0 to start the game) and a team from suburban Wichita in the semis (led 11-0). They played the host school in the finals, which featured a 6-5 center who is being recruited by the Big 12. She was sort of thin and Alaina bodied her up and pushed her farther from the basket then she likes (think Bill Laimbeer and Kevin McHale). She only scored two points (two free throws) and threw an elbow at Alaina because she was getting frustrated. Alaina scored 11 points but her team lost 35-33. Alaina averaged 12 points and 8.7 boards for three games and made the all-tournament team. Her cousins from Kansas City and their spouses came down to watch her two of the nights, which was fun.
Tom spent his free time in Lawrence meeting with J-school faculty and students at the University of Kansas. It's reassuring to know that so many students still want to get into print journalism. Several of the faculty are former Knight-Ridder people who were familiar with dad.
Laura, meanwhile, played her second club volleyball tournament. Her team's first was pretty tough because most of the girls had never played in one and were nervous. They didn't win a game the whole tournament. The second one went better. They won a pair of games and were competitive in just about every other match. They have several girls who are decent and a handful who are dreadful. Unlike baseball, you can't hide somebody in right field in volleyball. With such a small court, the ball always seems to find the worst player. You know the team is improving because they are getting better at all the little cheers you do in volleyball after you score.

Home for the holidays

Conor is winding up his holiday break before heading back to Minnesotah on Saturday. He spent part of his break working as a winter intern at The Eagle. He wrote a very nice long obit on a 51-year-old firefighter who died, leaving behind eight kids and eight grandchildren (what are the odds? He was Catholic). He also covered the opening of the new Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and the RV and Trailer Show (always a big event). He also helped cover the opening of our new 15,000-seat downtown arena, which drew a sell-out crowd for Brad Paisley (this is Kansas, after all). Conor helped monitor traffic and parking, which was tough duty since it was 8 degrees outside that night. Fortunately he had most of his cold-weather gear from up North.
Alaina's basketball season has resumed. They had a funny week: won by 42 (NW 65, West 23) and then lost by 38 (Heights 81, NW 43). Heights is ranked No. 2 in the state and is ranked nationally in some polls. It also recruits pretty heavily. Alaina played OK (team-high 12 points, 12 rebounds against two Division I players inside) but it was a train wreck. Her team is 6-2 and both losses are to ranked teams.
Laura plays her first club volleyball match this weekend for the Chaos. She is starting to grow some (mostly her legs) and already has improved her game after several weeks of practice. We're not sure how good her team is, but we'll know more after this weekend.

Remembering Mom

Hi all,

We posted an "In Memoriam" in today's Free Press for Mom. You can see it here.
Tom and Peg say I have a future at Hallmark if my day job goes south.

Love you all,

Dan

Bride updates

Hey all-

So Mark and I are less than 90 days out, things are getting crossed off and ADDED to the "to do" list every day.  Planning is starting to be a little more fun, I dare say I'd enjoy it if I had free time :)

We took Mark's mom and step-dad to Vince's for dinner last night, they loved it and we're definitely going to have our rehearsal dinner there.  Yay!

Thanks again to everyone for the beautiful shower and gifts--I'm so lucky to have an awesome family.

Love, Sara

Look at all this loot:

The holiday break

Alaina's basketball team hit the holiday break at 5-1, its best record in several years at this point. After losing its first game 46-41 to Carroll, one of the better teams in the state, Northwest won its next five. Its last game before break, against another Catholic school, was its best so far. Kapaun played man-to-man, which was a change from most of the zones Northwest has seen. Alaina had 15 points and didn't play in the fourth quarter. I felt bad for the girl guarding her, who was just a freshman. Alaina kept calling for the ball and taking it to the basket. The girl got two fouls in the first quarter and was in foul trouble the rest of the game.
All five starters from last season are back. The key will be developing some depth off the bench. They are three or so deep on the bench, but need to get more quality minutes from that group. After break, Northwest plays the worst team in the league and then plays the No. 1 team in the state, Wichita Heights. That will be a good barometer for where they stand.
Alaina is averaging between 11 and 12 points a game and between eight and nine rebounds. She likes her new coach a lot better than the one from last year. Her new coach, Jim Mernagh, is from Portage, and despite the fact he's a Notre Dame fan, he's a good guy. Very positive, upbeat, encouraging. Her coach the last two years was a screamer and the girls didn't respond well to that. He is now coaching a nearby rival suburban school. They came to Northwest for a game earlier this season and the girls really wanted to win. Alaina had 17 points in that one.
Laura, meanwhile, is preparing for her first volleyball tournament. She is playing club volleyball for the first time. She is starting to grow a bit and judging by the length of her legs, probably isn't done yet. She is doing well and her coach, a guy, has played a lot of volleyball and does a good job of explaining the game. Her first tournament is Jan. 16 in Wichita. Most of her tournaments will be here with one of them out of town. This should help her next year when she tries out again for the middle school team.

A sad day in Tulsa

As many of you have heard, our nephew Kyle Herren was killed the other week in a motorcycle accident near Tulsa. Sharon spent much of last week in Tulsa with her sister, Lisa, and her husband, Kent. She went down a week ago Sunday with her sister, Donna, and sister-in-law, Julie.
Kyle was 22 and had just graduated from OU last May with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was working in Tulsa and starting to look for his own house. He was just starting to enter that next phase of his life when he died.
The girls and I went down to Tulsa last Tuesday for a viewing at the funeral home. The funeral was Wednesday morning. All of Sharon's brothers and sisters and most of the Kyle's cousins were able to make it (Conor could not). It was a tough service. Kent spoke, as did Kyle's girlfriend and his younger brother Zach, who is a sophomore at OU. They were pretty close and hung out together at OU last year when Zach was a freshman.
Lisa and Kent have a lot of good friends down there, who took a lot of the Bohn family in Tuesday night. We spent the night at the house of a woman who it turns out grew up in Windsor (I asked her whether she was Canadian when she kept telling her dog to get "oot" of the kitchen while we were eating breakfast). She is a big Red Wings fan and knew where Stoney Point is. Like all Canadians, she was very gracious.
Please keep Kyle and his family in your prayers.