Good Times

Kelli and Carlson and Jaclyn and Ryan at one table at lunch on Sabbath.
Grant, Carrie and mom at the other table! We had a great Sabbath lunch and of Spaghetti, salad, 5 loaves of Garlic Bread and a Cheesecake courtesy of Jaclyn!
The whole crew Saturday night plus the addition of Adam playing Settler's of Catan.
Mom and Renee going over the rules of their game, Station Master.

Adam, Jaclyn and Carrie as Carrie explains the rules of Settler's to Adam. Jaclyn had a 2nd Wedding Shower in 2 weekends yesterday at the Smith's house that my mom, Carrie and Mrs. Smith put on. So hopefully Jaclyn has room for all her presents now from 2 Showers in 2 Sundays! Jason and my dad Sunday morning during the shower. Jason and I played basketball for 2 hours Sunday morning and my dad took a few great videos, too bad I can't post them on my blog!My dad took a ton of concrete from the downstairs foundation of the house down the street for hours Sunday and worked all day on different projects. It was great to have Carrie here for the last 2 straight weekends and I'll be headed over to Highland next weekend as it's a busy one for Carrie with a school day on Sunday. They have the Picnic in the morning and then Academy Days in the afternoon and evening. There are now only a short 5 weeks left in the school year and then 1 week until our wedding, so it is a busy and exciting time!

Raptors vs. Magic in NBA Play-Offs 1st Round

Jessica and Eric came over to shoot some hoops and talk on Tuesday, April 8. I had only seen Eric 1 time in about the last 6 months until the last 2 weeks. We've played basketball about 5 or 6 times in that span, so that has been fun.
Eric follows through on his shot.
Friday morning, April 11, Ryan and I headed over to Southern to play some tennis while Carrie and Jaclyn worked on stuff for the weddings.
I took a few pictures before Ryan got there. We had all eaten breakfast at Jaclyn's Friday morning.

Carrie came to Collegedale for her last home leave of the year from Wednesday, April 9 through the weekend. It was great having her here and we got a lot done on the wedding and clothes. We were shopping on Friday when Jaclyn called us and informed us about a tree that had almost fallen on the top of her and Ryan as they were about to head to Jaclyn's Wedding Shower in Charlotte! Here is the tree.A self-portrait while we watched the scene unfold infront of Jaclyn's house, waiting to move Carrie's stuff from Jaclyn's.Carrie poses next to the tree.Clearing the tree out of the road.

We got to see Carrie's relatives again, Stan and Ruthie at CA's Alumni Weekend. We went to Sabbath School and Church and then ate lunch in the gym.Ruthie, Grant and Carrie pose after lunch before we headed up Sunset Rock on a beautiful afternoon.Carrie, Holly, Grant and myself on the way up Lookout Mountain Saturday afternoon.Another great picture of us on top of the Rock! It was a little cool up top with a strong breeze whipping us around!
The view from the Craven's House on our way down.Sunset after we got back and before we headed to Taco Bell. The Toronto Raptors are in the 1st round of the NBA Play-Offs and will be playing tomorrow night on NBA TV at 7:30 Eastern. If any of my friends has this TV please call me and I'll pay you to record the game and mail the DVD!! They are only on NBA TV again on Thursday night so the same goes for that! Go Raptors!

Raptors Robbed in Atlanta

On Wednesday, April 2, I headed south to Atlanta with Jason to see my Toronto Raptors take on the Atlanta Hawks. We got to Philips Arena by 5:20 for a 7 p.m. tip only to find that the arena doesn't open until 1 hour before opening tip. The view from the side of the arena.
During the wait to get in, we discovered the inside of the CNN Center. They have a hotel it appears and a huge inner shopping area with restaurants and memorabilia shops.
Even a Humvee was spotted!
A veiw of the world and the windows, which had been reported to have blown out during the tornado a few weeks ago.

Chris Bosh warms up with around 54 minutes 'til opening tip. I found my usher friend Carlos I met 4 or more years ago while going to Southern. We talked with him for a long time before the game.The jersey Grant bought me at Christmas! Bargnani, #7, scored 14 points in the first half and had a rare good game!Bosh signing autographs before the game. I got his autograph as well as their injured centre, Jorge Garbajosa. Notice the girl to Chris's right wearing his jersey and the guy just above his head with the Jose Calderon jersey. They were both from Southern and the girl had gone to Kingsway. There were tons of Toronto fans in attendance and Canadian flags waving through the audience. I felt right at home.Carlos took this picture of Jason and I. If you look close enough on my program, you can see Bosh and Garbajosa's signatures.

The Raptors stand during the Canadian National Anthem.Raptors on the court from right to left; Jamario Moon, Bosh, Rasho Nesterovic, and T.J. Ford.Raptors in the huddle with no zoom from our 4th or 5th row seats. We could almost hear what they were saying!Nestervic, the centre who used to play for the Spurs, hit his first 3-pointer of the season at the first quarter buzzer!
Mike Bibby gets ready for the play. He had an amazing game and hit the game-tying 3 point shot with 0.5 seconds left in the 4th quarter that tied the game at 107. The Raptors blew a 17-point 3rd quarter lead as they only scored 2 points over the last 5 1/2 minutes. With 0.5 seconds left, Toronto threw an alley-oop from half-court that T.J. Ford scored as he caught the ball in the air and Toronto won 109-107!! But wait, the officials reviewed the play for over 5 minutes and then waived off the basket and took away the win. Replays and ESPN analysts later came to proven evidence that the score keeper started the clock 0.1 seconds early, which meant the shot did beat the clock and Toronto did win. But as the game went into OT, the Hawks came out on top 127-120 in a game that the Raptors won but still got a loss in the standings for.The Sky Hawk sitting next to us in the 4th quarter. He performed a front flip off a trampoline and snatched the basketball off a stand in mid-air as he threw down the dunk!The 4th quarter winding down.The buzzer sounds on the Raptors win. Even though Toronto was mathematically proven to have won the game, they should have never blown a 17 point 3rd quarter lead to the Hawks. But it was certainly an exciting finish. The Atlanta Braves also were playing in ATL on Wednesday as they lost again to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Also on Wednesday night on ESPN 2 the Blue Jays beat the Yankees in New York 5-2 behind a 2-run homer from Vernon Wells and a solid game from starter A.J. Burnett. On Thursday night the Nashville Predators clinched a play-off spot in the NHL! With the NBA Play-Offs just about 2 1/2 weeks away, the Western Conference is still wide open. If the Raptors don't improve their play, they will be headed for another early exit from the Play-Offs. With their next win they will clinch a spot, but they already lost again, this time in Toronto, to the Charlotte Bobcats 105-100.