Living After the Manner of Happiness

Think back to when you got your last pair of shiney white tennis shoes.  Shortly after school started this year, Backman picked out these new shoes.  He loved the shiney newness of them and each day would wipe off any dirt or imperfections, determined to keep them looking new as long as possible.  About a month or so after getting his new shoes, he went to a carnival with some of his friends.  It had been raining a couple of days prior and so the ground was quite soggy that evening.  Without even thinking, he put on his new shoes and headed out.  Once he got to the carnival he realized that it was going to take some work to keep a lot of the muck off his prized shoes.  Somewhere during the course of the evening, one of his friends misstepped and his foot landed on top of Backman's shoes leaving mud and muck ALL over them.  (To Backman's credit, he did not let this put a damper on his evening.)  When he returned home at the end of the evenin...

Backman and a teammate were interviewed yesterday by a local TV station about being selected to attend the National Select Training Camp next week at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  Here is what aired last night on WSAV . Here is the article from another news station in town,  WTOC . Here's the video clip that aired on  WTOC on 10/26/09. Here is the article that ran in the  Savannah Morning News on 10/28/09 Here is the article that ran in the  Bryan County News on 10/31/09.  Here is a clip from the camp.  He is the backstroker in the closet lane when Coach Silver is being interviewed.  USA Swimming

Several weeks ago Coach and I decided that we wanted to do something for Flyboy's 18th birthday that would create a memory. With him going to the academy in June, there really is not much he wants or needs for his birthday other than a couple of pair of combat boots, which he was able to get at freshmen orientation earlier this month. With Backman's birthday just six days later, it seemed to be a perfect time for a big outing. We wanted to surprise them with something they would never guess and so after putting our heads together we decided to take them kayaking off Tybee Island. Coach called and made the arrangements and we were set. Then it got even better and Volleyball girl had some certification that she needed to obtain that was being done on the break between semesters and so she would be home on the designated day of the trip. We told the team to set the day aside and left it at that. It has been fun over the past few weeks to see the guesses that have come in. T...

I have been reading several blogs for a couple of years now. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) . Last December Elder M. Russell Ballard gave an address at BYU-Hawaii and encouraged the students to join the world conversation by using the Internet to share the gospel. While I am not a student at BYU-I, I have had the impression the last few months that I need to join that conversation by starting a blog. Anyone who knows me knows that my faith defines what I am about and who I am. However, my desire for this blog is to be more than just that. My husband (coach) and I find ourselves in the middle of changing worlds. For years we have actively been coaching our team (volleyball girl, flyboy, and backman) and watching them grow and improve, often times stumbling before the growth and improvement comes. We now find ourselves watching as our team is being drafted to other teams. In just a matter of weeks, we will be left with just one member of o...