BYU vs NEVADA

We got a phone call from some friends from Sacramento on Saturday saying that they had extra tickets to go to the BYU football game, "did we want them?"  Well, ummmmm, let me think about it......YES!  We were really excited to be able to watch a BYU football game live from the stadium and yes, it was quite a treat, that stadium is enormous and it was very exciting to be part of the crowd.

It was awesome to be there and just look at the amount of people who were there.

Luckily you cant read the score board...it wasnt good:(

We were sittin in the sun for the first half of the game which was NOT fun.

And these were the good seats in the shade the whole time...oh how I wish we had been sitting there.

The sun was a killer!

Bryce had fun taking pictures of the game and everything else going on there.

Stephen and Brittany...she is the one who got us the tickets...we love her!

Brycie and Mom

Mom and Dad

On our way out the band came marching by..that was cool!

It was fun....until my car got towed away...but I wont spoil it by talking about the

$250 I had to pay to get it back!!!

GO BYU!

What's he up to?

So, just in case you were wondering what Mike is up to these days....don't worry I'll show you.

He's busy finishing off a basement...for his cousin.

(here's the front door to the salon (picture left)...yes, the hair salon)

This is what you see, so far, as you enter.(picture right)

Then as you turn to the left around the corner...

You see this.  Enter into the theatre room/family room.(picture left)

Mike is walking by the entertainment area where the TV will be.

Then you go past that and you come to the kitchen area.(picture right)

Around the corner is a bathroom and bedroom.

This is Mike tileing the bathroom....he's such a stud!

And here's a close-up of his tile work...pretty huh?

Dont worry, I'll show you more as he gets further.

And in his spare time...this is what he is working on..

 the design for our house....he's soooo excited!

Fall = Football

Lately our lives have been all about football.  Stephen plays for all 3 teams at the high school. 

First game of the week:   JV team 3:30 pm Thursdays

Second game of the week:   Sophomore team 6:00 pm Thursdays

Third game of the week:   Varsity team: 7:00 pm Fridays.

Last week was homecoming week and they do it up pretty big here, parade thru town the night before, the burning of the "S" on the football field etc. In addition, each of the boys on the team is honored with a poster placed on the players house like the one above.

(Stephen with his good buddy Karson after the game...I love that he has a bunch of good friends who love football just as much as he does!)

Of course we kicked butt at the game....that always helps!

Then there is this cute football player!

I am so proud of Bryce for sticking it out in football this year.  

Football is new to him and I know he wasnt quite sure what it would really be like.

However, he has made quite some progress and is doing great!  I love watching him make the tackle...it's sooo much fun!  

Fourth game of the week:  Wednesday night or Saturday

(sometimes he has to get up as early as 6:30 on saturday morning to get to the field by 7:00..guess who else gets to get up that early to take him?)

But what's even more enjoyable to me is seeing him relate to his team mates and make new friends. 

This year his personality is coming out more and more and he is such a sweet caring young man.

His friend here got hurt on the field and this is Bryce helping him off the field.

(of course Stephen would say "pshh, suck it up, it's football!)

But Bryce stayed by his side while his Mom checked him out.  

What a sweet boy and a good friend.

I just love that  boy!

It's all about Football these days!





Gearing up for Halloween

Bryce has been getting really excited for Halloween this week.  So, he made this scary guy today.  He has also been begging me to take out all the decorations and costumes so we finally did that tonight.

Even Mom and Dad are gearing up for Halloween!

Still Standing

Yesterday I attended a R.S meeting where we had mini classes on journaling, blogging, scrapbooking and photo taking.  I loved it because I love to keep memories.  But it got me thinking about my blog and how I really want to be able to save all of the things that I post here about my family as a record of all that happens in our lives.  But I also want to have a record all of the things I am doing and learning personally.  Well, I realize that many people are really not intersted in all of that, but just may want to see what is happening with our family.  And then on the other hand there may be some who just want to read about what I am doing personally.  Well, either way, I want to keep those 2 things seperate since I will be downloading and keeping all of it for myself.  So, I have decided to start another blog called "Still Standing".  So, if you're interested go here and you can read what I have been up to.  I just started it today so it may be a while before I really get it up and running.

Anyway, have a lovely Sunday!

"Tia Rose"

My Mom is the only memeber of the church in her family who have all since passed. Niether of her 2 siblings had any children of their own.  She is now serving in the Genealogy Library in downtown Salt Lake and she just discovered that she has a great- niece who is a member of the church and lives in Mexico! They spoke on the phone yesterday for a very long time.  She asked Mom if she could call her "Tia".  Mom said "I've never been called Tia before because I dont have any neices or nephews, I was so honored to be called Tia".  Mom is turning 75 this year.  "Tia Rose" 

Love you Mom!

Love this girl

If you dont Love her, you dont Know her! 

We had a great 5 days together last week. Denisa and I get together at least once a year to just be girls.

She flew in on Thursday night and left to go back home on Tuesday morning.  As usual we had a great time together.  Whenever Denisa and I get together, the one thing we always plan is not to plan.  We just take things pretty much as they come and how we feel each day.  We are so much alike in this way.  Another thing we always do is we walk extremely slow.  Cracks me up because it is so noticable to both of us that we can just relax and neither one of us cares.  It's a nice break from rushing and taking care of everyone.

We did look up 2 old friends from our single adult days from Sacramento and had a fabulous time visiting with them.  There are still more people we want to see that have moved here to Utah, but we have lots of time to do that now. The highlight of our visit together is always going to the temple.

Denisa ( I love that name, I mean how many Denisa's do you know?) joined the church when she was 16 years old.  She grew up in Florida. She moved back and forth from Cali to Flori a couple of times before I ever met her in 1982 when we were 19 years old.  We had a lot of mutual friends from the huge YSA group we hung out with.  I learned very early in our friendship what a huge forgiving heart she had and how she seemed to understand me better than anyone else ever could.  So we became closer and closer  as we got to know each other better and realized that we had something very important in common, and that was our love for our Saviour and the same desire to have in our lives what we mutually lacked growing up.  

The other thing we had in common was our craziness ( okay well, she was/is crazier than I am) and love for having fun and making people laugh.  We also seemed to be drawn to the same kind of guys except she really liked the dark ones and I really like the light ones....I guess opposites attract.

Anyway, those were the good ol' days.  So, here we are 28 years later and we have not missed a beat in eachothers lives.  We both lived in the Sacramento area for many years and in fact even lived in the same ward for 1 year, but we were always at least within driving distance from eachother.  Until about 5 or 6 years ago when she moved to St. George Utah.  And then last year she finally moved back to California, but this time it was a bit further....Redding...where her husband grew up.  And then what happens but we moved to Utah....dang! I mean what are the odds?  However, we wont let that stop us from continuing to get together and have our one on one time.

The best part about getting together with Denisa is just talking about anything and everything that pops up. Telling eachother our deeepest darkest secrets, wishes and dreams, and realizing that we have almost parrellel lives in so many ways.  I guess since we were born the same year and month might have something to do with that. Or it could be that I really believe that Heavenly Father brought us together. 

So,when Mike and I first married I remember he did not exactly love Denisa and I spending so much time together mostly I think because he did not understand the need women have for other women in their lives. But since then Denisa has won him over a hundred times.  He now loves her and considers her his sister. It does'nt hurt that she dotes on him, cooks for him and compliments him on what an awesome guy he is.

And then there is my family, both my own family as well as my extended family on both sides, they love her and she truly loves them too.  She always goes out of her way to make everyone feel special and important to her. 

I say that her husband is one blessed man and that her children are the luckiest people alive. 

Like I said, if you don't Love Denisa, you don't Know Denisa...

My Best Friend

Girls are like Apples

So, a very good friend of mine who is a high school english teacher and librarian, has been trying to get my 12 year old son, Bryce, to read this book called "Flipped" for a while now and he just has not been interested.  So, tonight Denisa and I went to the theatre to see a movie and we saw that the movie was out so we went to see it and we absolutely loved it!  I highly recommend it.  I will be buying the book for Bryce very soon.


On the way home we talked about the movie and young love and I was reminded of this cute verse that I read a few years ago when I received it in a text message from one of my young women....and here it is...I love it!

Go see "Flipped" you wont be dissappointed!

Falling

Is it Fall yet?...because today it feels like fall and I am falling:

Falling in Love with Utah

Falling into my new life here

Falling more in Love with my boys

Falling in Love with my extended family here in Utah

Falling into a new routine with the kids back in school

Falling more and more in Love with my husband these days

Falling into another phase of my life

Falling into my middle age....and loving it!...Surprise!

Falling into a new beginning with a new season.

Falling deeper into the gospel of Jesus Christ

Fall is all around us! Fall into it!


 Love it!

Elder Nelson in Wollongong Australia

Just got some pictures from Michael!  This was my favorite!  Go here to see the others and his latest.

Sure miss him...only 9 more months!

Going down hill...

I woke up this morning feeling a sense  of urgency and a feeling of going downhill.  Yesterday someone asked me how long our missionary has been out and I realized that it will be 15 months on the 17th of this month already.  Which means that Michael has only 9 months left on his mission and then he will be home.  His second year has just started and already I can see him coming home.  So, suddenly I feel this sense of urgency to get on with life and start planning and preparing for his return.

In addition to this Mike and Dad have decided to build the 3rd house on this lot and put us in it.  This way they/we can build it for just the cost of the materials and our sweat equity.  And then this house that we are in now will be sold.  So, Mike and Bryce have been busy at creating plans. ( I think Bryce will end up being a builder like his Dad.)  It will make buying a home much more affordable for us.  However, that means I really need to hustle and get a job soon.  Mike has some side work and a remodel that he will probably be starting in a couple of weeks.  However I am thinking that most of his time will be spent building our home.

The neat thing about it is that Mike's dream has always been to build his own home.  But we had finally put that dream aside and figured it would not happen and maybe he could one day build homes for our boys, but it looks like Mike's dream is going to happen afterall.  He is thrilled!

Well it looks like it is all down hill from here....I better hurry up and start preparing for the next 9 months...I know it is gonna fly!

Football Player's for Lunch

Last friday I had the chance to make lunch for these bunch of good looking football players.

Let me tell you what I learned about them...

1.  They made sure to say a prayer before they ate...wish I had a picture of that.

2.  These 5 boys along with one other boy are the only sophomores who play on the varsity team at Springville High school.

3.  Every one of these boys comes from a family of all boys ...except Karson #88 also has 1 sister.

4.  Everyone of them loved my lasagna and thanked me mutiple times.

5.  They refused to let me take their plates to the sink....I had to fight them and I did not win.

6.  They are all very cute and funny and talented athletes.

7. Two have brothers on missions right now and 1 has a brother that just came home from his mission.

8.  They are all good mormon boys!

9.  Stephen has found a bunch of boys who are just like him...didnt think it was possible.

10. They can come to my house anytime and I will gladly feed them again.