Christine's Concert

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

My little sis has some amazing pipes. She discovered this talent during high school after taking private voice lessons and getting involved in her high school choir. Now that she's in college, she sings in the institute choir and works at Heritage Park during Christmas in a carolers group. I have missed more performances than I'd like to think about - and now that we are back, I am thrilled to get to attend some of her concerts and performances. One of her first ones after we moved, was a Thanksgiving concert at the U of U institute. I brought Natalie with me and we were not disappointed. It was beautiful! Natalie thought it was a little long. After just one song, she was ready to go up and give aunt Chrissy a hug. We loved it and it was so fun to get a little tour of the building with Christine. In my years at the U of U, I spent countless hours at the institute. It was my hang out spot with all my college and sorority friends. I LOVED the "tute" as we called it. I was a little sad because the building I knew had been torn down and replaced with this new building. It was fun to see what is now Chrissy's stomping grounds. The picture above is "her" calendar that she was keeping up last semester.

Thankful

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Just a week after moving into our house, I got a scary phone call that my dad was in the hospital. He had an acute case of diverticulitis that had gotten to a dangerous stage and was hospitalized for several days until the doctors felt he was stable and beyond risk for infection. That first day, before we knew how bad things were going to be, I was so grateful that Bob* could take most of the day off and I was able to spend the afternoon with dad and mom. It was so much better than getting updates over the phone -which would have been the case if we were still in Oregon. And that is precisely why we came back. To be closer for the good and the bad times. I felt relief seeing that my dad still had his sense of humor and was able to joke around (although I could tell he was in a lot of pain). I also enjoyed going to lunch with my mom and visiting over Subways.

Unfortunately, the hospitalization forced my dad to miss the much anticipated home "blackout" game with TCU. I decided to come watch some of the game with him at the hospital to cheer him up. He had his Shakey "mask" above and all kinds of U of U paraphernalia in his room. Unfortunately, it was the worst game of the season for the Utes up until that point. Well, there was only so much cheering up I could do after that game. But at least he had someone to mope with.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Later in the week, we all came for a visit. The girls were very worried about grandpa too and were so happy to get to see that he was okay. We were all feeling very thankful that dad was okay and that we were close enough to visit him as much as we wanted. Love you dad.

The amazing thing was that the next week, dad was able to go on his much anticipated trip to the U of U vs. Notre Dame game in Indiana that he and my mom had planned months before. When he first realized how serious his condition was, I think he was more worried about missing that game than anything else. (o: Happily, he got to go . . . Sadly, it ended up being a terrible game.

But that's not what matters most. I still feel very thankful.

A Utah (wo)Man Am I!

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Now that we were back in Utah, my chances of getting to attend a U of U football game in person went WAY up! (o: I lucked out when my aunt Jill called to tell me she had an extra ticket she wanted to let me use for the Colorado game. I think it was Colorado State. I was so excited!! It was a rainy day - we joked that I must have brought the Oregon weather with me. But the soggy weather didn't dampen my spirits one bit. It was so fun to attend a game with my family. When I walked into the stadium for the first time in over a decade I got the chills! There's something so exciting about attending a football game in a huge stadium full of fans. All the beautiful red, the smells, the excitement, I was loving it! The first quarter was slow and disappointing - kind of the pattern the Utes followed a lot this season. But in the second quarter they picked up the pace and things just got better from there! It was such a FUN game.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

As the sun came out and the rain subsided the game got better and better. Look at all of those empty seats - Utahns don't like sitting in the rain apparently. It was kind of miserable and cold at first, but when your team is playing well - who cares?! Jumping up and down always warms you up.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Mom and Tina and I trying to keep warm.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Andy gets pretty serious about the games. (o:

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Russ in his fancy shmancy football blanket poncho thing. He was prepared.

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

Poised for a touchdown on our end of the field! I don't remember the final score, but it was a blow out. It was 31 to 6 at the beginning of the third quarter and I think we broke 50 if I remember right. (I just checked - it was 59 to 6!) Normally, I feel a little bad when there's a blow out, but I couldn't get enough of cheering for those touchdowns! (O:

From Blog Favorites Sept.Oct.

We didn't get to sit by Chrissy because she is sits with the MUSS (Mighty Utah Student Section). I think Chuck* was the one that told us he saw Chrissy on TV. So we came home to check my parents recorded version of the game and sure enough the cameras went to these goofy guys about 4 times during the game. Believe it or not, there ARE some kooky U of U fans and Chris sits right behind them in the MUSS. (o: She's the one in the white poncho looking straight ahead behind the goofy "naked" guys. And she's right next to Hailey my cousin and Lauren (my other cousin's girlfriend) who are talking. Pretty funny.

10 and 0 Baby!!

I found this "poster" on google and had to add it!
LOVED the "Back in Black" theme in Rice Eccles Stadium Thursday night. Cool. Wish I could have been there!


Waahooo! I meant to write this Thursday night, but I had a huge headache from biting my nails and stressing out during the U of U game against TCU. The girls thought it was hilarious watching me cheer, groan and yell (for good and bad moments) during the game. Sarah lectured me, "It's just a game mom!" and Natalie followed with a, "Yeah, mom". They did not understand that in all the years of cheering for the Utes, (which has been probably since I was a fetus - because I think it is genetic in my family. (o: ) that this has been the most amazing season the U of U has ever had! It brings back warm memories of the year we had Urban Meyer coaching - when we went to the BCS Fiesta bowl and won. This season has been even more amazing, so far, and the game against TCU was a HUGE win for the Utes. We are now ranked at number 7 (BCS poles) in the nation and ready to break into yet another BCS bowl game! If we can just beat those pesky BYU Cougars who would LOVE to ruin the Utes perfect record. Trust me, I know because I live with one of them. Oohhh the BYU/U of U game could get ugly in our family this year! (o:

GO UTES!!! Yahooo!