Diary of a Utah Fan

Football season officially started this afternoon in the state of Utah. Each season begins with every team feeling like they have a chance and by the end of the first Saturday, half the teams are out of the hunt. Today Utah had the opportunity to play their first game at Michigan, the Big House. There were 100 thousand screaming Wolverines, all cheering against our Utes - but it didn't matter. Utah came away with a 25-23 win, even though there's nothing really to brag about.

The games started great with the Utes forcing a 3 and out. Problem is, the punt was fumbled on the 24 yard line. Still, two plays later Utah picked off an errant pass - only to see it taken back due to pass interference. Within a minute or so, the score was 7-0 for the Wolverines. No matter though, the Utes offense was clicking in the first half. Johnson threw over the middle time and time again and by the intermission it was 22-10 for the Utes.

The second half was another matter altogether. Nothing worked well for the offense. I think the Utes gained less than 60 yards for the half. If it wasn't for the terrible play by Michigan the Utes would be 0-1 for sure. Still, in spite of themselves the Utes got the "W" and now it's on to week 2. Let's just hope that this was a opening game test and the Utes passed - even if it was with a C-.

He Gets It

Last night I was very excited to watch history as Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. This is something that many people never thought they'd see in their lifetimes, but there it was. It's no secret that I really like Senator Obama and feel that he should be the next president. Last night reinforced that judgment even further.

Obama addressed all the points on which he's been criticized: Lack of experience, no foreign policy background, too young, tax and spend liberal, and others. I can't say whether or not the speech turned people to the Illinois Senator, but they can't claim that they don't know who he is and what he stands for. As he ticked off a list of reason to avoid McCain and the Republicans, Obama claimed, "I get it". And he does, Obama may be slanted by the opposition as an elitist who is out of touch with Americans, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

This will be a close election come November, but Barack Obama's nomination has changed the game in our country. I truly believe that America is moving closer to it's promise of equality for all people. Citizens from around the country can see themselves reflected in the ideals of Senator Obama, now let's just hope we have a chance to celebrate on November 4th.

Kennedyisms

I need to do a better job of writing down some of the great things that Kennedy says and does. Here are some of the most recent:

"Don't bother me with those details, mom."

"You are distracting me, mom."

The other day I was hopping out of the shower and of course Kennedy came barging in the bathroom.

"Mom, will I grow boobs like yours when I grow up?"

"Yes, Kennedy, you will."

"Mom, will I grow a big bum like yours when I grow up?"

"I sure hope not."

There's nothing like the honesty of a 3 year old to make you feel great about yourself!

Yellowstone Part II

Saturday started out great. The kids slept til 8:30, which was an hour and a half later than Friday. My dad, Jason, and I went out early and found several geocaches around West Yellowstone. We just couldn't let a new state come and go without finding some of the local hides. Everyone was ready for a fun day at the park.

We started out with everyone's version of Yellowstone - Old Faithful. I'll say the the geyser has it's ups and downs, this time it was kind of a downer. As we were waiting for Old Faithful to erupt a park ranger warned us not to get sucked into taking pictures and video of the pre-eruption. So when the geyser started to blow I held off snapping any shots. After a minute I took one shot and I'm glad I did - it was all over 10 seconds later. There weren't any 130 foot sprays, this time Old Faithful barely made it to 70 or so. Still, Kennedy and Alex couldn't look away from the mighty geyser.



We finished up at Old Faithful around 5 pm and there was a decision to make - finish driving the lower loop or drive to Jackson, Wyoming to celebrate Liam's birthday. I argued on the side of the lower loop - the kids could see more animals and we could celebrate in West Yellowstone. My sister wanted the group to go Jackson - a mere 5 hour round trip. Needless to say we went to Jackson. After getting to our stop around 7:30 we ate pizza, gave presents, and turned around for the 3 hour return trip to Montana. I'd like to say that I enjoyed the drive, but I didn't. I wanted to have family unity, so I kept my mouth shut (more or less) - but I will never do that again.

Our trip was over as we drove back to Salt Lake through Idaho. I have always said that I didn't want to have a DVD player in the car, the drive home made me change my mind. I've never had a worse drive with our kids. Kennedy was tired and grumpy, yet she refused to sleep (until we got off at our exit in Holladay). Alex was bored and frustrated at being in his car seat for hour upon hour. Tara and I were both at our breaking points and took turns driving so we could avoid the war zone in the back seat. Let's just say the trip didn't end as we'd hoped, but it was still worth it - kind of....

Yellowstone Part I

For the past few years our family has gone camping during the month of August. While we love our trip up to West Fork of Black's Fork, we regretted the fact that everyone didn't come with us to the mountains. A couple of months ago we decided to take the entire family on a trip to Yellowstone. We set the dates, found a condo, and headed north to Montana.

It was a pretty uneventful first day as we drove the 5 hours through Northern Utah and Idaho to arrive in West Yellowstone, Montana. About the only interesting stop along the way was in Pocatello. I've never been to this city before and I'm not sure I want to go back. The city is arranged with the downtown area located quite a way from the freeway, so you are forced to drive through neighborhoods to find places to eat. Even worse, once you're ready to leave you drive around on one way streets until you finally make your way back to I-15.

Yesterday we woke up and headed into the park. For Day 1 we decided to drive the northern loop of the park. The kids absolutely loved seeing all of the hot pots and mud pots as we walked around the pathways. Kennedy wasn't too sure about the geysers, but she really liked the colors and the bubbles. I don't know that I've ever seen her run like this before!

The other big event of Day 1 in Yellowstone were the Upper and Lower Falls. These are really amazing and it was fun to take the kids to the lookouts to watch the water course off the rocks. I think everyone couldn't believe how much water is in the rivers of Yellowstone. Kennedy and Alex have only been around Utah water, which is mostly lakes and swimming pools, so this was a huge difference.

As we were driving back to the condo, we realized just how wild Yellowstone really is. Tara spotted a bison hanging out on the side of the road so we hurried to grab some video. I know it's nothing great, but Dede had the line of the day - "Why is that buffalo peeing?" Ah - Yellowstone.....

Bronze Medal

For the past two weeks everyone's been a buzz over the Beijing Olympics. Phelps mania has struck the country and it seems that our nation is on hold whenever a medal ceremony begins. Except me I guess. I really haven't been that interested in watching the games this time around. Don't get me wrong - I want the US to do well and it's great when our athletes bring home the gold. There's just other things I'd rather be watching than trampoline gymnastics.

You heard me. Trampoline gymnastics. It seems every time I turn on the games I am exposed to a bunch of sports that I don't care about and would never watch. Here are a few: Speed Walking, Table Tennis, Badminton, Rhythmic Gynmastics, Shooting, Fencing, Handball, and many others. I guess I'm not patient enough to sit through these kinds of events to watch Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Swimming, Track, Tennis, or any of the other sports I would watch. BTW - How can the IOC get rid of sports like Baseball and Softball and keep speed walking, it's an outrage. They're cutting down Jenny Finch and Cat Ostermann in their primes....

Two things I did get to witness that were amazing - I saw Micheal Phelps win his 8th gold medal to set the modern record. He is incredible and it was neat to see someone reach for their dream and get it. Another amazing accomplishment was watching Usain Bolt shatter the 100m and 200m records. I've never seen anyone that fast in my life. Those are short races and this guy seriously had time to coast to victory. It was awesome.

Now that I've gotten this off my chest all I can say is:
U-S-A, U-S-A.....

Faith and Politics

Being a political junkie, I've gone through a bit of withdrawal since the primary season ended. There have only been minor stories blown way out of proportion due to the lack of new information. Saturday, we finally had some substantive news as both Barack Obama and John McCain participated in the Saddleback Forum.

Each man was given an hour to answer questions from Rick Warren, author and pastor of the Saddleback Church. It was really interesting to hear responses to questions like: Does evil exist? When does life begin? What is your greatest moral failing? This forum focused on faith and leadership and encouraged the candidates to share who they really are. It was nice to hear some positives from each man and to find out more about their spiritual cores. While I thought both candidates did a good job, I will say that I found McCain's answers a bit too declarative, while Obama seemed vague at times. Still, it was good to hear some new political news and to find out more about our next President.

Here's something just for fun:

Snow Friends

So it's been a couple of years, but a few of us old Snow College softball players were able to get together on Saturday. I was amazed at how 15 years seemed liked yesterday. Everyone still seemed the same, except we have at least 20 kids between all of us. It was great to chat about the old days and what we are all doing now.

The 2 years I spent at Snow College were probably two of the most fun of my life. While playing softball and volleyball, I made some of the best friends I've ever had.


Snow was so small that it was like being in high school, except we didn't live at home. From spontaneous camping trips to Halloween night hideouts from coaches to Beverly Hills 90210/Melrose Place pizza nights and even a little studying in between, we had a blast at Snow College.


Our party on Saturday was held at Jenn Cook's parents house in Moroni. We were all excited for Burl's famous Sanpete turkey which turned out to be Coscto chicken. I guess since we didn't know the difference until Jenn fessed up that they had made the switch, it didn't matter too much. It was still dang good "turkey".


After lunch, we watched a great video that Cath had put together about the trip that Mary and she took to Zimbabwe and South Africa in January. Cath did a great job and it was neat to see the people that they met and helped while they were there.

After the video, we reverted to our younger years and jumped on the trampoline for awhile and took a few pics of the old clan. We almost had our entire starting lineup there.



A few people had to leave early, so Pats, Ang, Steph and I headed back to the big city to hit a flick. Of course we had to find a chick flick with all of us together and we ended up at the traveling pants movie (can't remember the name-it's kind of long). With fries, drinks and ice cream in hand, we watched a movie that was okay, but with Steph there laughing at everything, it was even better. I will go to a movie anytime with you, Steph!

It was a fun day and nice to catch up with some old friends.

I'll Take Anything

Over the past few days we've had a massive cleanup aroun our house. After we cut down the pine in our front yard, we spent several hours cutting down the stump and stacking the wood. Even with all the trimming the stump still ended up weighing well over 300 lbs. Saturday night I was trying to figure out how we'd get the stump into the dumpster Monday afternoon.

While discussing possible solutions with Tara one of neighbors walked by and I asked his opinion. He wondered if we had a wagon that could hold the stump. The weight could be distributed between all the wheels and we could use a ramp to get the tree into the dumpster. "Or," he continued," Your neighbor around the corner has some guys doing work in his yard. You could probably offer them 20 bucks and see if they'll take it for you."

Sure enough, for 30 dollars we had the stump removed.

Monday rolled around and when the dumpsters arrived the neighbors descended with their garbage. Trees, branches, poles, all made their way into the containers. Usually, it's a free for all with everyone rushing to ensure the removal of their piles. This year something different happened. A garbage truck pulled into the neighborhood and two county workers offered to help everyone with their stuff.

"I'll take anything."

That's all he said and then we decided to put him to the test. Eeva brought out her old awning. Dave found a bike. Sally wheeled out her broken down ATV. Then Tara asked about something we had in the basement.

"I'll take anything."

Ever since we bought the house we wondered how we would get rid of the water softener that my mom's parents used. Even though it was still hooked into the plumbing, it hadn't worked for years and the valves were long since closed. I had cut the softener from the rest of plumbing a while ago, but there was no way to get it from the basement. Until this week that is. We decided to see if they really would take anything.

Sure enough they did. I can't believe it, but the softener is gone. This has to be the best haul we've ever made with the dumpster - a 300 lb stump and a 300 lb water softener, unbelievable!

From the Inbox

MEN ARE JUST HAPPIER PEOPLE

NICKNAMES

If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah.

If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

EATING OUT

When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY

A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS

A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel .

The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

ARGUMENTS

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DRESSING UP

A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.

A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL

Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING

Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!

99/100

Every time we visit the doctor with Kennedy we're amazed at her growth chart. Rather I should say her growth off the chart. While Alex is in the 12th percentile for his weight, Kennedy is holding strong in the 99th percentile for her overall size. In case you're scoring at home Dede now stands 43 inches and weighs 46 pounds. I only wish I had the same weight to height ratio....

Albion Basin

One of my first posts on this blog was about spending time with my sister Charlene. Well, not much has changed since then. I still don't post much, but I still love hanging out with my sister.

We usually go to Char's house on Mondays, when Jared is working. This past Monday was no different. We decided to get out of the heat and head to the mountains to Albion Basin. When we left the city, the thermometer read 99 degrees. When we parked to have a quick picnic with the mosquitos, it was 76 degrees outside. Love that!



After the picnic, we took a little hike in search of wild flowers. We found some beautiful flowers, lots of deer and great views.


We did not see the elephant that Kennedy insisted we would see in the mountains, but we will look harder next time. We snapped a few pictures and stayed until dark. We didn't want to leave the beautiful setting, but it actually got a little chilly, so we headed home.




Another fun Monday with Aunt Char.

Timber, Again!

Last year we trimmed our neighbors trees to keep our pine tree alive. Too bad though, it didn't help and the tree was slowly giving up the ghost. Sure it may have hung on for a couple more years, but the dumpsters are coming on Monday and it was time to take it down.

I went back up the tree yesterday and starting cutting it down, branch by branch. Of course many of the neighbors heard the noise and came out to see what was going on. After Verl came by I gave up my sawzall for his chainsaw, and my rope for his atv with a winch. Sure enough after one pull with the atv, Rob came over and offered to pull the rest of the trunk out with his diesel and a chain. Boys will be boys - someone always comes out with a bigger toy.

With one mighty tug, the trunk came out (as well as my lights and a good chunk of sod - the price you pay). It was pretty cool to watch and it saved me a ton of time. I think I'd still be digging out the roots if it wasn't for the help. What a great neighborhood - it took less than two hours to take down the entire tree! Now we'll spend the rest of the weekend hacking up the branches and trunk before the dumpsters come on Monday. Anyone need some firewood?

Diary of a Red Sox Fan

It's been a while since I've written about the Sox, but with the events of the past week I couldn't keep quiet any longer. Boston has the fourth best record in baseball, but the month of July couldn't have gone any worse. Injuries, inconsistent play, and incompetence have plagued the Red Sox and the biggest culprit is Manny Ramirez.

I know that Manny has been a big part of the Sox recent success, but he gave up on the team about two weeks ago and things weren't going to get any better. Still, the question kept coming up - can you really trade a Hall of Famer who is still in the good years of his career? Even knowing there's no way you would get equal value in return I am so glad they dealt Ramirez. Watching Boston lose 5 out of 6 a week ago cemented the fact that this team wouldn't make the playoff with Manny in left field. Too many distractions, too much animosity, too little heart.

I don't know if the Red Sox will still make the playoffs, but I do know this - Manny can be Manny somewhere else....

Long Gone

You know you've been gone a lot lately when you have the following exchange with your two- year- old:

"I've got to go now."

"No"

"Alex, I have to go work."

"Uh Uh"

"Come on little guy."

"Daddy no go"

"Do you want to go with me?"

"Go"

Alex may not say a lot, but he spoke volumes this morning. All he wants is to spend time with his Dad. It's time to spend more time at home - thanks for the words of wisdom.

Movie Review: Swing Vote

As part of my retreat to Logan, Tara came up to the UCET dinner and worked it out so she could spend the night. After a wonderful dinner at BlackStone, we decided to take advantage of our night out and we went to the movies. Rather than a summer blockbuster, we headed to the small opening of the latest Kevin Costner flick, Swing Vote.

I'll be the first to admit that Costner movies aren't what they once were, but this one was a pleasant surprise. I don't want to play the spoiler, but watching Kelsey Grammar and Dennis Hopper flipflop from one position to another to get Bud's vote is hilarious. Even though this movie is billed as a comedy, I think there is a thought provoking message at the heart of the film that makes you consider what your role is in the American political system. Some questions you face in the movie include: How far are people willing to sell themselves in order to get what they want? What does a good parent look like? How important is it for the average American to understand the issues facing the Nation? Can one person make a difference?

I really liked this movie and think it's a great watch during this election year. I know it won't win any oscars or break any box office records, but the last twenty minutes will really make you think and you just might get a bit misty...