1 and 5

Football has been fun this year. We are currently 1 and 5. (1 win and 5 losses) In spite of this the boys are having a great time. We no longer get blown out. The games are much closer and the skill level much improved. My favorite thing is to see the boys that are not so good at the first of the year get it and become these great little football players.

This shot is of Daniel. He looks great, don't you think. He is not so big of course but man is he ever fast. If he can break away from the pack there is no catching him. However when the pack catches him he still gives them a good fight.

We run a play called the 24 lead. As you can see we open a hole big enough to drive a car through. We send a lead blocker through the 4 hole (between the right guard and right tackle) and the running back follows him through. It is almost allways a 6 yard gain on this play. It works better on the right as our right side of the line does a better job of blocking. Once the other team figure it out they stack half their team in front of that hole and it slows us down.

Sometimes we clobber them and sometimes they clobber us. The cool thing about this kind of football is that it is a very exciting game. There are lots sudden changes and break away plays that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Coaching is a lot of fun for me. Nobody ever realy took the time to coach me in football. All the coaches I ever had simply took the most talented guys and used them the best they could. In all my years of playing none of my coaches ever tried to develope their players. They did not take the time with the less talented and help them become good ball players. I was a big strong farm boy so I was able to hold my own but if I knew then what I have learned now I think I would have been more effective as a player and had a lot more fun.

Thomas S. Monson

My aunt was one of president Monson's missionaries when she served her mission in Canada. She was an awesome missionary and stayed in touch with him and the other missionaries over the years. On Monday the 14th of September my aunt died and I attended her funeral on Monday the 21st. While I was sitting there talking with my relatives in walked Thomas S. Monson, president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later day Saints. He greeted many people who walked by and shacked his hand. There was a family just in front of us who took a long time and just as they were finishing the funeral was to start so I did not get a chance to shake his hand, but we turned together and payed attention to what was happening. I stood shoulder to shoulder with the prophet of God. He did not shine with a glorious glow nor was there some magic about him. I was fascinated with the humble man that stood next to me. He had greeted my family members with kindness and grace. He had a natural way about him that made everyone comfortable. I guess we all kind of look at the prophet as near immortal but he was just a man, no different then my grandpa or my father. It made me stand a little taller to know that he was nothing of a super man just a good man who made many righteous choices. He cared enough to come to the funeral when he was very busy. The really neat thing to me was that he seemed to be interested and feel for each person that was there. He wiggled his ears at a small boy, waved at Krislyn and in genuine concern and love took each he greeted by the hand and took time with them. What comes to my mind is when the savior came and met the Nephites. I think it was much the same. When I picture the savior doing that I picture the exact same kind of person. It makes me want to be like that. It is an experience I will always remember.

Pay it forward.

I participated in a blog post on a friend's blog and as a result, that friend will make something and give it to me. I'm rather curious about it and wonder what it will be. However, there was one condition which was that I had to offer the same deal on my blog. So here I go...

The Giveaway

The first three people to post a comment on this blog posting will get something made by me that will be especially for you.
There is some fine print associated with this deal:

1.I make no guarantee that you will like what I make (but I hope you will).
2.What I create will be just for you.
3.I have a year to get it to you.
4.You have no clue what it's going to be. It's a surprise to both of us at this point.

There is a catch! You must repost this same offer on your blog and offer the same deal to the first five people who do the same on your blog.

Sweet 16, well kind of.

I set this to auto post at 6:15 am on Sept 12th but obviously I did something wrong. Anyway, enjoy.


Today my oldest son turns 16 years old. I don't know that I would call him sweet but he is 16.It has been a long time since he was born. I still remember Lisa's labor and delivery. The hospital we were in at the time has since been torn down. At the time I remember watching the doctor sit and visit with my mother in law While I was helping Lisa with stuff. I said to him if I'm going to do all the work here do I have to pay you? He replied that he only charged for office visits. When It came time to cut the cord, I was not to sure but when he told me he would charge me if he did it I jumped right in. It was a few moments later when they had cleaned him all up and I was holding him that I was hit with the realization I was a dad. Those little eyes just looked up at me and he seemed to listen to what I was saying. He had stopped crying and was so content. Of course that didn't last to long and before you know it he was wrestling on the floor and running through the house before I knew it.



Probably the funniest story about Kenneth as a kid dealt with a "johnny jumper." It was a seat that he could sit in and it had a spring so that he could jump in it. He was about 1year to 18 months old. Our townhouse had a big wood beam that ran through the middle of it and he would go to hopping with those fat little legs and get him self swinging all around the room. He would pick up his feet and just fly. Kenneth may not do a lot of sports but don't let that fool you, he is about as athletic as anyone you will ever meet. I could see that in him when he was launching himself in that swing. None of my kids ever did that again. He was my only flying infant.

Anyone who knows Kenneth can attest to his great qualities. He is a good brother, student, priesthood holder and friend. He is becoming a well rounded and reliable man. When I look at Kenneth I see the hope of the rising generation. There are young men out there who will have the character and strength to carry us forward into the future. I would go on and on in my admiration of Kenneth but he reads my blog and I'm afraid I might embarrass him. But seriously, I have nothing but love and respect for this boy that has become a man.

Ps. Your cars are in luck, he will not be able to drive on his own until December so the streets are safe. However I can not say as much for your daughters. He has been given a license to date. If you have a daughter who is 16 let her know Kenneth is eligible. However, don't wait to long for him to ask you out, you might have to do the inviting to get him going.

Five years! Where has the time gone.

5 Years ago after having 4 boys in a row Lisa had a little girl. I was not aware of her gender until she was born. I did not want to know and Lisa did. It made for an interesting pregnancy. However nobody ever slipped and so I got the surprise of my life. Lisa thinks I should have cried but why cry on such a happy occasion. I had no idea at the time what it meant to have a little girl. I thought babies were babies and gender didn't have much to do with anything until puberty, boy was I wrong. It is like we had some kind of different species. I guess being married to Lisa should have clued me in but you know me, kind of clueless in those things.

Lisa and I are not the only one who loves her. Her brothers watch over her like a mother hen and I pity the fool who picks on Krislyn Stock. He just might spend the rest of his life without arms or something. She adores her brothers and thinks the world of them but when push comes to shove she will hold her own. Just ask Daniel about that.

for the last 5 years I have seen the most sweet little thing grow and developed into the sparkle she is. Everywhere she goes she seems to bring sunshine with her. Maybe it is just the fact that I am her dad and so I see her as I think she is but any way you look at it the world is a happier place because my Krislyn is in it.

Line in the sand

I debated on this post as it is someone elses words and opinions. However Lisa and I were having a conversation the other day about how things in America seem to be heading south, and I don't mean to Mexico. The question we were talking about is where is the line in the sand that we draw and say we will not comply with what the government says to do. For example if they said you can not store food. Would I refuse and store anyway or if they wanted to take my guns, would I turn them over or use them in my defence of the second amendment. This article is one that really makes you think about where the line is.

Gun control and the Mexican excuse
Published August 24th 2009
By Bob Confer of the Niagara Gazette

Two weeks ago, President Obama met with Mexico’s Felipe Calderon and Canada’s Stephen Harper in Mexico for a get-together of North America’s leaders. Since the inception of this annual meeting during the Bush presidency in 2005, many have rightly believed that the heads of state have used this powwow to sell-out the rights of their peoples in an effort to foster North American unity while forsaking national sovereignty. This year’s meeting was no different. Barack Obama, never the fan of our Second Amendment, said for the umpteenth time that the U.S. must assume responsibility for the weapons that have accounted for 4,000 murders so far this year in Mexico. He believes, as does Calderon, that the vicious Mexican drug cartels are outfitted solely with American guns and by controlling guns in the U.S. the federal government can control the violence in Mexico. So committed is he to this far-fetched pursuit that, following the leaders summit, Obama directed Homeland Security’s Janet Napolitano to sign an agreement indicating the U.S. will work hand-in-hand with Mexican law enforcement to, among other things, track the guns, even going so far as to share information which includes state handgun registries. This is a disturbing development. Sharing gun ownership information with a foreign entity is unprecedented, if not illegal. Data about who owns guns in the United States should be none of Mexico’s business. Quite frankly, it should be none of our government’s business either. The gun owner should be the only one who knows what he owns. Our leaders have been so willing to deny our privacy because they have succumbed to false statistics. Popular ATF and media reports indicate that 90 percent of all guns used by Mexican cartels come from the United States. This number is only partially correct: In one study, 90 percent of all traceable guns (taken from a managed statistical sampling no less) lead to the U.S. Not all guns — especially long guns — are traceable. The only weapons that are truly traceable are handguns from states with pistol permits. Most of the guns used by the cartels are not of American origin. This is a fact, not hearsay, according to a detailed analysis conducted by ATF agent William Newell. He found that just 17 percent of guns confiscated by the Mexican government are actually from the U.S. The remaining 83 percent of the cartels’ firearms come from Mexico’s southern neighbors as well as the Mexican government itself — many of them are assault weapons that came with the more than 15,000 one-time Mexican military men who have jumped ship to the higher-paying cartels. Nevertheless, Obama and the gun-control lobby don’t see it that way and, when their statistics fail, they prefer to use fear-mongering anecdotal stories about Mexico’s violence spilling over into the streets of America. Take the guns off our streets and you’ll take them off Mexico’s streets, which, in turn, will keep them off our streets, they say. They believe that restricting the ability of an individual to buy guns is the best way to curb this violence. When President Obama was Senator Obama, he constantly trumpeted this cause (even without Mexico in the equation), calling for strict limitations on who can buy guns and ammunition and how much of both.He and his followers fail to understand that you can never regulate lawbreakers. Gun control does not work. Mexico is proof positive of this. Among the North American countries, it has the strictest gun laws and, of course, it has the highest percentage of gun crimes because the gun-toting predators have the advantage over their straight-laced weaponless prey. Gun control (against the law-abiding) is so rigid in Mexico that there is only one gun store in the entire country of some 109 million people and it is run by the Army. Only a few very lucky souls are licensed to own a gun, and they face limitations on how much ammo then can buy and where they can take their firearm. This has done absolutely nothing to curb violence: 14,000 Mexicans have been murdered since Calderon took office in 2006. Taking all of this into consideration, we cannot allow ourselves to be duped by the Mexican myths that are used by the Left to foster support for gun control. Mexico’s gun problem is Mexico’s gun problem. Not ours. We as the United States have a long history of being a freedom-loving people who believe in the natural right to self-defense. Our nation was created from that right. We cannot allow a neighboring nation to directly or indirectly strip that right from us.Bob Confer is a Gasport resident and vice president of Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda. E-mail him at bobconfer@juno.com.