Team Down South ("TDS") Rivalry

After spending this past Saturday tailgating with the Crimson Club at the BYU game, all I can say is,

"BEHOLD, MY FUTURE:"

Saturday I received a little taste of how Mike would really like to spend game days: Hanging with the Crimson Club while they tailgate, play "corn-hole," and drink all day (minus the drinking, right Baby?).

Mike had to work, so basically, it was up to me to entertain myself. Mike wanted me to go around and make friends with some of the members of the Crimson Club so that when he doesn't have to work, we have people to hang with during tailgates. But that would have meant I would have been doing exactly what he wanted me to do and I just couldn't do that. His assistant, Sean, wanted me to "use my femine wiles" to get free drinks for him. When I refused to support his drinking habit, he resigned himself to teaching me how to play Corn-Hole (you know, that game where you have a bean bag and you throw it at the board with the hole in it) instead.

Those of you who know me well can atest that I hate losing. I freely admit that I'm a terrible loser. If we're playing a game, we play until I win. That's just how it works.

Well, after an hour of losing to Sean at Corn-Hole (he was really good, I'm pretty sure he scammed me!), I finally gave it up. I never got a single bean bag into the hole. Yes, my head is still hung in shame.

I should have tried to play with these guys instead: It's hard to tell, but these men are playing a rowdy game of "Ho-Shoes." The man with his arm in the air has just thrown a stiletto heel and is aiming for that bucket in the background. 2 points if you make it into the bucket, 1 if you manage to hit the bucket.

Ho-Shoes.

Hilarious.

I was also slightly saddened by this, because some of their stilettos were pretty cute and it seemed a shame to be wasting perfectly good shoes in this fashion. Still made me laugh, though.

Then the team arrived: Yes, these fans are in the middle of the street and it's really lucky that nobody got hurt. Keep in mind that for many, tailgating = major amounts of alcohol. Or maybe they're just that stupid. So, being with people who believe that tailgating = alcohol, I'm saddened to report that I was a victim of theft! Mike and I think that someone was either slobbering drunk and didn't realize what they were doing, or someone is extremely mean.

I had my red scarf stolen. STOLEN!

And I lost my lucky earring!

Adding it all up: I was mercilessly beaten at Corn-Hole, lost my lucky earring AND had my red scarf stolen.

All in all, the tailgating was not a great time for me.

And then of course, there was the game. But this is what I spent most of the game looking at: Yes, that is the man in front of me's back. The row in front of us was a group of soliders dressed in their fatigues and, of course, I'm sitting behind the one who stands the whole damn game. And how do you tell a man who is willing to die for my freedom to think about the people behind him and sit the hell down?

Or he could have at least taken a hint from his comrade who sat in front of Mike. That guy was really tall, but he kept ducking down because he knew that the people behind him couldn't see. Very nice of him.

The game sucked. The refs were HANDING the game to BYU! Anyone ever heard of a "disconcerning" penalty? Me either. I know I'm new to understanding the game of football, but we received twice as many penalties as BYU. Sorry, this picture is from Mike's camera phone. But, after overtime, the score was 23-26.

Yes, we lost to BYU.

Oh, well.

Next year.

Go UTES!

San Diego Game

Once again, we braved the cold (and supposed snow) to watch our beloved Utes play against San Diego this past Saturday.

Tom and Stephanie drove all the way from California just for the game (and Thanksgiving). They're here until after the BYU game, and I know Mike has been happy to spend some time with his closest brother. (Inside fact about Mike's family: Mike is the youngest of 9. Yes, 9. And there are 10 years between him and Tom, and then 10 years between Tom and the 7th child (which I can't remember who that is at the moment; sometimes it's hard to keep everyone straight in that family; I think it's either Elaine or Alan.), so even though Mike is the youngest of 9, he still was basically brought up as an only child. He also has siblings that are older than my parents. That really freaked me out in the beginning.)

The game was boring. Why? This was the score at halftime: You might think that it would be exciting to be up 38-0 at halftime, but in this scenerio it just made the game last even longer. I mean, there was zero excitement. ZERO. All we did was score touchdown after touchdown with no returns by San Diego. BORING. (Amazingly, I actually like it when there's some conflict during the game.) But, then the Sun Devils(?) (is that the mascot for San Diego?) rallied in the 2nd half and made one whole touchdown! Which made the final score: Wait a minute. We never scored in the 2nd half during this game? No wonder the 2nd half was even more boring than the 1st.

It was FREEZING! So cold, in fact, that Sarah and I had to buy new headgear to keep warm. Lucky for Sarah, she had Ryan to keep her warm, but I only had Mike next to me to block the wind for 1/2 the game. Anyway, we won. GO UTES!

Next week is the TDS RIVALRY! (TDS = Team Down South)

New Moon Premiere

Yes, it's true. We went to the New Moon Premiere. At midnight. I'm sure lots of you out there have seen it and can't think why this would be so special. So, allow me to enlighten you.

We went to the New Moon Experience. Yes, EXPERIENCE.

Let's start at the very beginning (and in the words of Julie Andrews, "a very good place to start"):

About 2 months ago, Sarah called me up and asked if I wanted to go to New Moon at midnight. Now, I had my reservations. Mainly because it was on a Thursday at midnight and I knew I would have to work the next day. But how could I say no seeing it at midnight and with Sarah, Jill and Annie? I couldn't! So, I didn't. (Yes, I went to work the next day, and yes, I was exhausted.)

But I wouldn't have traded it for anything! So, Sarah booked me, Jill, her sister, Annie, and herself tickets to the New Moon Experience, Edward-style. Yes, Sarah loves Edward. So, naturally, we went to an Edward-themed theater. (Later, we found out that Jill is Pro-Jacob. Now, being one who would take either in a heart-beat, I tried not to take sides. Just call me Switerzland. I also sat between them during the movie, just to make sure no there was no squabbling. I had to play referee more than once!)

Sarah and I decided we needed to buy shirts to wear that night. It was really fun walking past people and hearing them read our shirts out loud. I have to say, mine is very true. It says, "I was pale before Twilight made it cool," in case you're having a hard time reading my boobs. Sarah's is a little more naughty, "Edward can Bust my headboard, Bite my pillows, and Bruise my body anyday!"When first we entered the Experience we immediately had to get jeweled and feathered-up courtesy of some hair school:

Annie getting "Sparkled."Jill getting "Sparkled."

Sarah getting "Sparkled." And the final shiny, be-jeweled product:
Then we wait. Sarah is a genius and thought to bring Phase Ten to pass the time.

Now for the fun part. The goody bags! We actually got a lot of really cool stuff, all Twilight-themed, of course. There was a license-plate cover that said "Faster than a Speeding Cullen," a t-shirt (Jill asked if she could have a Jacob t-shirt instead, but the Twilight nazi's refused her. The meanies.), a button with Edward's head on it, some sun-changing nail polish, and lots of other really cool stuff.

Then we were allowed to take our picture with Edward and Jacob!Notice how Edward is staring right at Sarah and Jacob is staring right at Jill! They were both so happy.

Our goody bags also came with (of course!) FANGS! We had a really good time and can't wait to do it again in June! (Yes, can you believe that Eclipse comes out in JUNE?! And June, as in, 6 months from now!)

(Oh, yeah. The movie. it was MUCH better than the first one. It's amazing what having a decent budget can do for special effects.

But, cheese with money is still cheese.

And, boy, are there some parts that are cheesey!

Example (Spoiler Alert!): When Alice is showing the Volturi that she sees Bella as a vampire, it shows her vision of Edward and Bella running through the forest. In slow motion. Seriously reminded me of Baywatch. The whole theater laughed.)

Tyson's Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Tyson's 8th birthday with a camping theme. Which means the kids fished off the balcony:

Here's Dad and Kaylee looking on: And Aimee made this really awesome cake that looks like a camp fire. I'm was extremely impressed!

Since the boys were all busy, I played with Kaylee most of the time. She really loves Mike (he's tickling her, that's why it looks like she's trying to get away, I promise). Kaylee wanted to show me how well she can brush her teeth.
And then she was patient and waited through the delay on my camera to let me take this one: Tyson got the one thing he's been wanting since he was about six years old:

A Nintendo DS.

The kids were supposed to be able to play outside around Aimee and Trent's firepit, but the weather didn't corporate that day, so they set up a tent in the basement and a blanket on the kitchen floor.

I gotta say, my sister is a genius when it comes to improvising at the last minute!

Happy Birthday, Tyson!

Happy Birthday, Tyson!

Today is my nephew, Tyson's, 8th birthday.

Tyson is special to me because his hair was redder when he was younger and whenever I took him anywhere, people always thought that he was mine. But being so special to me, I also spoil him way too much and he knows that he can get me to get him whatever he wants.

I'm such a sucker for his freckles.
I can't believe he's already 8!

My favorite thing about him? He can look so adorable and like such a sweet boy . . . but there's always mischief brewing beneath that redhead. Happy Birthday, Tys!

FIRE!!!

Yes, fire. Literally.

After church on Sunday (yes, Mike and I actually went to church), we came home and decided to make hash-browns. So, I put oil in the pan and turned the stove top on and we ran upstairs to change "real quick." (It was REAL QUICK. There for no hanky-panky of any kind, but thanks for thinking that, DAD.) All Mike did was take off his church pants and replace them with his jeans and then he went back downstairs. That's when I heard this:

"OH, S**T!!!" (Yes, Mike swore, but I believe the situation called for it.)

And then the smoke detectors started going off. At least we know they work now. And we know how much it would really suck to die of asphyxiation. Smoke inhalation really burns.

Yup.

We were very lucky. The only causality was the pan (which I loved and I'm really sad has passed on).

And I can't rave enough about those Magic Eraser things from Mr. Clean. The front of the microwave was BLACK and I scrubbed and scrubbed and just created a bigger, blacker mess until inspiration hit and I decided to try one of those Magic Erasers. WOW. Again, we were very lucky.

Luckily it was Mike who found the fire and not me. I'm sure I would have panicked and thrown water on it, whereas he had the good sense to smother it.

So, besides the pan and the house now smelling like burnt french fries, there was no damage.

But this incident does remind me of The Fire of 1990. Same sitatuation, different house. And way more (but not quite enough, if you ask my mom) damage:
My mom was trying to do a nice thing and make enchiladas for someone in the ward and she thought that she had turned the pan with oil on the stove off, but in actuality, she had turned it UP. We had metal cabinets and a gross kitchen counter at the time (both of which were probably full of the stuff that gives you cancer in the long run), which my mom hated. But, of course, after the fire, they were the only things still left standing.

Such is life.

The things you really hate never seem to go away, but the things you love are always the ones that are consumed by the fire. (NOTE: I said things, not people. Please don't take this that I only have people I hate surrounding me, SO not true.)

Does anyone know how to get burnt french fry smell out of a house?

In other news, the Utes lost to TCU on Saturday. But we knew this would happen. TCU is ranked #4 and the Utes are (or were, probably we dropped in the polls after our loss) #16. Final score was 28-55.

But we did better than BYU when they played TCU. I believe their final score was 47-7, or something like that. At least we made more than one touchdown.

The New Mexico Massacre

Sarah and I realized something this past Saturday.
We've become exactly what our husbands want us to be.

We've become Ute fans.

I know what you're thinking:

What? I thought they were always Ute fans? What the hell are all these football posts about if their NOT fans?!

Let me explain:

This past Saturday was a home game against the New Mexico Lobos. And Ryan couldn't come to the game. So, Sarah came anyway and brought her sister, Annie.

My friend, Remmington, from work and his friend, Carly (I love her sunglasses), came over to visit with us before the game started.
This is us "working" the camera.

And when Kim came: Sarah also brought her brother, Ryan, (not to be confused with her husband, Ryan) and his friend, Mark (maybe? Can't really remember). But they didn't last past the first half. Because they were kicked out. For bringing alcohol into the game. HA! Definitely made me laugh and I don't even know them! (Kim was careful with her fun flask this week.)

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: The delicousness that is Cowboy Corndogs! Sarah, Annie and I all thoroughly enjoyed our Cowboy Corndogs.

Mike came around eventually and we took the usual picture. (I've noticed that all of our pictures together at the game look like this. So this could really be from a different game and how would you know?) Anyway, back to the reason why Sarah and I are true fans now:

We're sitting there in the 4th quarter and it's freezing. Also, the Utes are up 45-7. So, the probability of a win is in the bag. Sarah leans over to me and says, "I can't believe we're still here. It's freezing and we've obviously won the game. Crap. Does this mean that we're real fans now?"

Me: "You mean we're here when our husbands aren't forcing us to be and we're having fun? In the freezing cold weather? Wow."

Anyway, for those fans who figured that since the win was in the bag and left early, the Lobos did score another touchdown. With 16.9 seconds left in the game. Give it up people! So, the final score was 45-14. Go UTES!

And, I totally found Mike's birthday present for this year! We saw this guy while standing in line while waiting to partake of the yumminess that is Cowboy Corndogs: Won't he look adorable?

World Champions!

And it feels so good.

The Black-Out Game

Halloween Night.

What else would we want to do but freeze our butts off at a football game? Saturday night was the 2nd Annual "Black-Out Game" for the U. That's when the team wears black jerseys and I have a hard time remembering which team I'm rooting for. It's all so confusing when they switch colors up on me like that. But it is pretty cool, because the crowd looks like this: Wyoming was the first on the board. And then we missed a field goal. Crap. But we made the next attempt and Wyoming answered with a touchdown. Needless to say, at the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 9-10. And all of our points were field goals. FIELD GOALS. Were we going to win this game by FIELD GOALS? NO! The Utes finally scored 2 actual touchdowns in the 4th and the final score was 22-10.

Go UTES!

I finally remembered to bring my "game faces" for the game so Sarah and I really got into the spirit. Like my new beanie? Mike bought it for me especially for the Black-Out Game. He's so sweet.

Sarah has a fancy hat with a "bedazzled" drum and feather on it. It matched her shirt (which you can't see in the picture), and it felt really cool.

This was also a special occasion, because Jen finally made it to a game! Ed and Jen missed most of the first half because they were busy registering at Smith & Edwards. Heidi and Jessie bought matching beanies. If they didn't look like twins before . . . Mike was able to come and sit by us most of the first half this game. Which is really nice, because I miss him when he's not around. Anyway, Kim, from my own personal Hell on Earth (aka WORK), claimed my tickets again and I had so much fun sitting with her. Kim really is a great person.

At one point during the game, she dropped something. And this is the ensuing conversation:

Me: Kim, you dropped something.

Kim: Oops! (And she hurried and snatched it up.)

Me: Kim! Is that a FUN FLASK?!

Kim: Shhhhh!!!

Yes, Kim snuck a fun flask into the game. If anyone deserves to have a fun flask, it's Kim.

So, the Utes win again. In other (and more important, to me, anyway) news: Yankees lead the Phillies in the World Series 3-1! Last night's game was very exciting. In the top of the 9th inning, Johnny Damon had a base hit that put him on 1st base. When he stole 2nd, the 2nd baseman missed the throw and Johnny stole 3rd with the 2nd baseman chasing after him. It was like Johnny was saying, "Ha, ha, you can't catch me!" I'd never seen anything like that before.

Only 1 more win!

Go YANKS!!!