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.

Feels It, Fires It, Fills It

On Nov. 12, I attended the annual Philanthropy Day Dinner at the Dearborn Hyatt to hand out the Neal Shine Media Award for Commitment in Philanthropy. This year's winner was the voice of the Detroit Pistons, George Blaha. He has raised nearly $1 million for a women's shelter, and also works with a few local basketball-related groups in and around the city. He was very nice and had kind words to say about Dad. So did some of the other honorees (Art Van and former GM chair Lloyd Reuss) as well as emcee Mary Kramer of Crain's Detroit. (FYI - Members of the Pistons dance team, Automotion, did not accept the award with George).

"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"

While Kim was trying to get an email sent out, she let Maeve play with the phone. A minute later she could hear this faint voice saying "Hello? Hello?" She thought Maeve had hit redial and it was me on the phone. When she picked it up and said hello, the woman said, "This is 911. What's your emergency?" Kim quickly explained what happened but the police are still required to answer the call. Sure enough, there was a knock on the door a moment later. When the cop was satisfied with Kim's explanation, he called off the other two cars that were speeding to our home. Bad, but perhaps not as bad as when Juliana hit the 911 button on the cottage phone and the poor OPP cop had to drive out to the cottage from Belle River to make sure all was OK.

Tigers black eye

Thought I'd share mine and Mark's Halloween costumes this year.  People who got it loved them, people who don't follow the news or sports mostly asked if we go beat up.  Sigh.

And in action:

State of despair

The Northwest volleyball team's trip to the state tournament was short but sweet. Northwest lost all three of its matches and didn't advance to bracket play. Alaina had a good time, even though she was playing on an infected pinkie toe. The team got to play in an arena that holds about 8,000 people, which was cool (there were plenty of empty seats.)
Northwest lost in two games to Olathe South, 25-19 both times. The other team had a 6-foot girl who was just a stud. Whenever it needed a point, she got the set, either in front or the back row. Against No. 2 Manhattan, Northwest led 22-20 but lost 25-22. It lost the second game 25-23. Manhattan wound up finishing third in the tournament. In the final match, Northwest won the first game against Blue Valley North 25-22. In the second game, it trailed 17-15 when Alaina made a service error (her only one of the day). It came at a bad time and Northwest sort of unraveled after that, losing 25-16. The team looked tired in the third game and got pounded 25-11. Of course, the fact that it was 10:30 p.m. might have had something to do with. Tom, Sharon and Aunt Donna didn't get back to Wichita until 1 a.m. Alaina and the team spent the night. Laura spent the night at her friend Hannah's house so she would be well rested for her soccer game the next day (it must have worked; her team is now 6-0-1 this fall). Alaina will take a day or two off and then start basketball conditioning. That season begins Friday, Dec. 4, against rival Bishop Carroll.
The photo is from last year, but Alaina likes it because it shows off her guns.