Little Monkey

The most recent general conference of the Church was held a couple of weeks ago. The weekend before that, the Church also held the first-ever women's meeting, and all LDS women aged eight and older were invited to attend.

(Yep, I have some catching up to do yet again here on Electric Bassoon.)

At any rate, while the women in the family were attending the women's meeting, Ben, Steve, nine-month-old Christian, and I had a guys' night out together, first enjoying dinner at Sizzler together, then going over to Ben's and Adi's place to watch the Real Salt Lake soccer game.

As a nine-month-old, Christian has a bedtime much earlier than ours, though Ben gave him a bath before putting him down to sleep. His bathrobe resembles a monkey.

Day 289: Jackson's Soccer Medal

Jackson just completed his first season playing recreation soccer, and it was a very successful one. I didn't make it to most of the games, but from what I understand from his weekly reports, he regularly scored multiple goals in each game.

Following Saturday's final game on the schedule, he paraded around both his soccer jersey and his medal, which reads "Winner," that he was given.

He also wore it (the medal) to church yesterday.

Day 271: Soccer Time with Kylee

My 14-year-old Kylee, although only a ninth grader, made it onto Layton High School's Junior Varsity soccer team this year. I have not been too consistent in attending her games, though I made it to this evening's matchup against Davis.

Kylee played about half the game and gave a great effort as the team's left forward. Layton went on to prevail 2-1, evening their record on the season to 7-7.

Day 245: RSL Beats D.C. United

Last night, Mike invited me to join him, Jana, and the kids at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy for my second Real Salt Lake MLS match of the season. RSL games are always a blast to attend, so of course I accepted without hesitation.

The weather was not exactly cooperating, and after the clock had reached only 3:15, officials suspended play due to lightning strikes near the area. We, along with many other fans, waited for the storm to pass for more than an hour until the game resumed by about 8:30 p.m.

At halftime, Kylee and one other fan were involved in a competition to be named that evening's "King of the Game" (a Burger King promotion), based on their cheering and overall enthusiasm and such. As judged by Leo the Lion, the team mascot, Kylee was declared winner and not only appeared on the video screen of the scoreboard but also won a miniature soccer ball, as well as an RSL scarf.

As for the game itself, RSL really hung in there with the rain, which came and went multiple times throughout the evening, and escaped with a 1-0 victory. Especially impressive was goalkeeper Nick Rimando, who made several crucial saves to protect the slim lead.

Day 225: Kenna's Medal

Olympic athletes weren't the only people who earned medals over the weekend.


Kenna and her soccer team won medals - as she demonstrates here for the camera - for a tournament they competed in Saturday and won.

Day 208: Goooooal!

Earlier tonight, I finally made it out to Rio Tinto Stadium for my first Real Salt Lake soccer game of the 2012 season, thanks to an invitation from Robyn to attend It was a warm, not hot, summer evening and really pretty good soccer-watching weather. Sitting five rows back in the northwest corner, we enjoyed watching the home team cruise to a 2-1 victory over Vancouver.

RSL's first goal, putting them up 1-0 in the first half, was scored by Alvaro Saborio on a penalty kick when a Vancouver player purposely deflected the ball with his hand to stop what was sure to be a goal. I captured the moment from our vantage point in the stands.

He lines up to shoot . . .

. . . and scores! It was a great game.

Day 192: Family Soccer Game

By nature, we're a very competitive family - individually and, when we face off against each other in games or sports, collectively sometimes, too.

In last week's post on our family's Fourth of July activities, I mentioned in passing that we (my siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, and I) participated in a soccer game together, and I figured it deserved its own post and pictures. We love soccer. My siblings and I grew up playing recreational soccer, and both Kylee and McKenna currently play on competition teams.

As a result, this was one of those times when the competitive side came out in more than one of us. Fortunately, it was all in good fun.

Another fortunate thing: I do not have a photo of the moment when I tore a large hole in my pants.

Day 186: Cul-de-Sac of Fire

This year, it was the Plowmans' turn to travel down to our cousin Scott's house in Lehi for the annual family Independence Day shindig. Joining us were Claudia's parents, who are always good to see, and her cousins from Argentina, who are visiting the States and, thus, gave Mike, Dave, Summer, and me plenty of opportunities to dust off our Spanish-language skills.

The afternoon began with a barbecue, and the hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, and other dishes that were provided were delicious. That was followed by a family soccer game on the field just behind the backyard.

Following the soccer match, we went out into the street for what Scott called "Cul-de-Sac of Fire," in which all of the neighbors participated, as well. This part, of course, was especially fun for the kids.

Happy Fourth of July, everybody.

Soccer Time with Luke

This autumn, my four-year-old nephew Luke began his first season of playing recreational soccer. Earlier tonight, I finally made it over to Woods Cross to see one of his games.

One thing I discovered is that few things are more entertaining than watching eight four- and five-year-olds running around on a soccer field, kicking a soccer ball. The sight may be something comparable to a swarm of bees going from one piece of food to another at a picnic; nobody plays a position, and there are no goalies, but it's not really crucial to this level of play, anyway. The kids have fun, and, again, they're four and five years old.


Luke (#4, in green) played as hard as he could and ran himself ragged all over the field throughout the game.

Here, Luke takes a well-earned breather during halftime:



Much like Brian Regan's comedy routine about playing Little League Baseball mainly for the snowcone that comes after the game, the kids on Luke's team also look forward to their post-game treats:


Random Fact That I Swear I Am Not Making Up: One of the kids on the other team was named Anakin. (Congrats, universe. You beat me to it.)

All told, I enjoyed watching the game very much, and I look forward to attending more of them.

RSL Wins the Cup!

This past weekend, our very own professional soccer team, Real Salt Lake, edged Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Posh Spice, and the Los Angeles Galaxy in penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie in regulation and overtime to win their first-ever Major League Soccer cup.

It was quite the amazing accomplishment, especially when you consider that RSL had a sub-.500 record during the regular season of play and that teams from our state, well, rarely win things like these - ever. RSL was an underdog in pretty much every sense of the word. If you listened to the ESPN commentators, they were basically rooting for L.A. to win, too.

Assuming you live in another galaxy, of course, this would be a news flash.

Taking home the championship to Utah is rather cool stuff, I must say. Having spent many years playing soccer while I was growing up, I have been a fan of the sport for a long time. Having also spent a couple of years working part-time in the Real Salt Lake ticket office when the team still played at Rice-Eccles Stadium, I have basically been an RSL fan since they became an expansion team five seasons ago.

Now, if only the Jazz could get on board this championship thing. . . .

A Real, Good Time

A few weeks ago, my brother Mike finagled, haggled, or lucked his way into a rather sweet deal on Real Salt Lake soccer tickets, buying a large chunk of $60 seats near midfield for a mere $8 apiece and then selling them off to family members and friends. As a soccer fan - and as a former RSL ticket office employee - I jumped at the chance to attend this game, in which Real faced off against the New York Red Bulls Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy.

This was my first time setting foot in Rio Tinto, and I must say that I was very impressed with the place. Nowhere in the stadium is there a bad or obstructed view. It is a locale much better suited than Rice-Eccles Stadium, RSL's former home, for soccer.

Just before the game began, a handful of local soccer teams were honored on the field for various accomplishments. One of those teams was that of Mike's older daughter, my 11-year-old niece Kylee. I may be biased here, but Kylee is easily the star player of her team.

As you can see in these pictures, she led the pack onto the field and was, in her grandfather's words, "hot dogging it" out there. That's her on the far right.



The game itself was very entertaining, ending in a 2-0 victory for the home team. Both goals were scored in the final 15 minutes of the match. RSL fans, I may add, are quite enthusiastic and vocal - especially the lady sitting behind us who kept shouting at the players in Portuguese - and it was fun to cheer alongside them.

This soccer season is nearing its end, but I hope to make more trips out to Rio Tinto next year.