It took a year, but the company finally came through with a work vehicle. Yes it’s a dorky Ford station wagon, but it’s FREE. Gas, repairs, insurance…paid for. Shannon can drive it, too. We pay taxes on personal miles, but only a fraction of what the gas alone costs.

Life is returning to normal. The kids had no sports, no recess and lunch inside all week because of the smoke in the air from the fires. They were climbing the walls!!! (literally on Saturday morning at the climbing gym.) Our friend Peggy came to town Thursday afternoon for the weekend. She went to the Getty and around LA Friday with Shannon. Friday night we had the annual Trunk R Treat Halloween party at church. There was a HUGE turnout. Saturday Gavin and Grace had a costume piano recital. They both did great. Dylan made the rollerhockey all star team. They played Saturday night against the older kids and lost in a good game.

It’s getting pretty scary around here with all the wind and fires. Our house is miles from danger, but the smoke and ashes are spreading far and wide. During the day the smoke puts kind of an orange cast on everything. It smells like a campfire outside. I’ve seen at least a dozen semis rolled or tipped over from the wind. The air is noticeably drier as the Santa Ana winds blow air in off the desert. They are supposed to calm down a bit today, so hopefully the firefighters can start getting a handle on the situation.

Gracie’s team dominated yet another game. She scored one of her signature, low speed goals: slow motion, one foot per minute, is it going to make it…YESS!! She declared after the game that she “Just loves playing soccer”.

Gavin’s team is in 2nd place out of 16 teams. They keep getting better every week. Gavin was supposed to play goalie the final quarter, but the coach pulled him out to put their top scoring player in so they didn’t run up the score too much. Gavin likes playing goalie, so he was VERY disappointed.

The Canucks, Dylan’s roller hockey team, played a great game Saturday afternoon. Their regular “Lights Out” goalie wanted to skate out, so Bobby (Dylan’s cousin) was goal keep. He played great and they ended up winning 6-3. Dylan scored, the regular goalie scored and another kid had 4 goals. Two players didn’t make it, so the heat and lack of relievers made for some tired kids.

Took a quick trip to Portland for work last week. It was 50 degrees, windy and rainy, but the fall colors were abundant. Our former house remains unsold. The end of the street has been cleared for townhouses. Ouch. Stepping off the plane into the warm 90 degree So Cal weather felt good, but fall colors? Nope: brown, brown and brown.

Saturday my brother-in-law Jim and I went to the Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley. It’s VERY cool. They have the Air Force One that he (and 6 other presidents) flew around the world. The library sits up on top of a small hill, so getting it there was quite a feat. It was flown into San Bernardino, partially disassembled, then hauled ~110 miles on LA freeways at night, then re-assembled to flight ready condition. It sits on pillars that are drilled down to bedrock and rated to withstand a 9.2 point earthquake (we had a 4 pointer early Tuesday morning). They even let you inside to check it out. So the Reagan library is 1 hour from our house and the Nixon library is 30 minutes away. The Reagan library is more impressive, but I found the Nixon library to be more interesting and educational. Nixon is a more fascinating character, too.

Dylan’s roller hockey team had their first lost last night. Dylan looked TIRED. Most everyone else was a little off as well. The other team got 2 goals in the first 2 minutes. Our guys scored with a minute left and outplayed them, but ran out of time. Dylan fell and accidentally knocked a kid on the other team over. They ref stuck him in the penalty box for the last two minutes of the game for tripping. He was MAD.

Disney is pumping $1 billion into the California Adventure part of Disneyland over the next 5 years to try and give it some “Magic” that it lacks. It will become “Pixar-land” with lots of Pixar movie based rides. Attendance has been way below expectations.

Margo, Jim and the three youngest Ferrins came to town Thursday. Yesterday we went to Disneyland. It was PACKED, but still lots of fun all decked out for Halloween. We picked up annual passes, so we will go back when it’s not so busy.

There was SNOW on Mt Baldy Saturday morning. It is 10 miles up the road from our house. There is a tiny ski resort there. Most of the snow melted by the end of the day.

Grace wasn’t feeling 100% this week, so she didn’t play as aggressively as usual. She still managed to get right in the mix and move the ball around.

Gavin had a huge save playing goalie. The coach said he saw Gavin grow and inch in a split second to grab a high shot. The Bone Crushers are undefeated.

Dylan’s rollerhockey team (the Canucks) is also undefeated. I am assistant coach for Shannon’s brother Dave. Yesterday was their toughest game yet. They were down 0-2 and came back to win 4-3 in the last seconds. Dylan scored 2 goals and had an assist. Dylan’s cousin Bobby is one of the strongest players on the team and played great defense. There was even drama with screaming parents, coaches and an extended ref conference with the commissioner.

Friday I worked 2-9 AM then flew to SLC (2-9 PM) for Mike and Chris’s sealing. It was a GREAT day!! Mark Eubank JR was forecasting snow on the valley floor for Saturday.

Dylan had his first So.Cal roller hockey game Saturday. Uncle David is his coach and cousin Bobby is on the team. They played great!! Both scored goals and the team ended up winning 8 to 1. It was 80 degrees, playing in an outdoor rink, so Dylan got hot in all the gear.

Gavin’s soccer team had their best game yet. They passed well and played aggressively. Their coach is amazing. Grace had a good game as well. She somehow tweeked her knee, but it seems to be getting better.

The company bought the Portland house last week. What a relief! The market there has slowed dramatically in the past 6 months. There are something like 260 houses for sell in a 6 mile radius in the same price range. To celebrate we got a 65″ HD DLP big screen TV. It’s AMAZING!! Not sure I can go back to watching football on a regular TV. The Ducks still lost to the Bears, but they sure looked good.

DISH and DSL are hooked up, so we are back in the 21st century. The “E-Mail ME” links at the top of this page are hooked back up thanks to my buddy Tom, though he threatened to “Kill the blog” when he saw that I went to a BYU football game.