So Long NaBloPoMo

This post marks the end of my 5th year participating in NaBloPoMo. I have to say I have mixed feelings about it. There were several days where I didn't really have anything to say and I just posted something. There were other days where I had a lot to say and didn't have time to really post anything. Here's a look back at what happened during NaBloPoMo:

• Fall turned into Winter
• Halloween turned into Thanksgiving
• My mom turned 70
• I turned the scale the wrong direction by eating too much
• The Utes turned from contender to pretender and settled into victor
• Our floors turned from old into new
• The kids turned our house upside down on a daily basis
• This blog turned from a "must read" to a "can miss"

If any of you read all our posts this month, I apologize for some of the trivial and boring posts.  I can't say the month turned out the way I had hoped.  Still, I guess there's something to the fact that I finished what I started. 30 posts in 30 days.

Full Plate

I think I'm starting to realize that I've put a little too much on my plate for the rest of the year and the early part of 2011. I found out last week that the book I've been working on has been picked up for publication. That's great news for sure, but it means my time is very limited over the next six months. The publisher had originally asked for a summer completion, now they feel that spring would make more sense so they can have a fall release. Wow, this is coming very quickly and I hope I can deliver!

Besides the book, my spring teaching load increased this year as I'll be the instructor for one of the sections of the Foundations of Technology class for undergraduates in the Education program. I'm super excited to get back in front of the college kids again, online teaching just isn't the same. The problem is my day job doesn't get any easier and I keep heaping more and more on my plate. If I can make it to June 2011 I'm definitely going to take a long vacation - maybe an entire weekend!

Til we are 80

Every once in awhile you make friends that you know you will always stay in contact with.  Some of those friends for me are my Snow College softball friends.  I played softball for Snow College over fifteen years ago and some of my best friends came from those two years at Snow.  We spent lots of time together playing ball, but also just hanging out.  One of our favorite places to hang out was at my family cabin.  Over the years, we haven't made it up there as much as we used to, but we finally made it up there again, just the girls.

We made the date two months in advance because it was the only day we could all make it.  Of course, stuff came up, but we all made it work and we finally had our girls night at the cabin.  Angee, Patty, Mary and I were the ones that made it, but we've always been the regulars anyway!  We played games, watched movies, laughed alot and of course, ate alot, just like old times.  At one point we were talking about how we were trying to get our kids to eat healthy and we looked down at our loads of junk food we were pigging out on and all burst into laughter.  We are such good examples!

We stayed up late (almost all night), slept in, had breakfast, went for a walk and packed up and went on with our lives.  It was night to get a night away from kids and life for awhile.  Thanks, friends, for an awesome cabin get together.  Like we keep saying, we will keep doing this until we are 80, right!

Flashback - 1993

Before and After: The Floor

We've finished working on the floor.  It took us about 3 days of pretty hard work, but the results speak for themselves.  I'm really glad we decided to try our hand at refinishing the floors.  It saved us a ton of money and gave us some practical experience.  Let's take a look at some before and after shots.

Before

After

All in all, it was a fun project. Tara was the real hero of this one. She sanded, swept, polished, and stained all through the night. When I was ready to throw in the towel and say, "Good Enough" she went the extra mile to ensure the floor was done right. Thanks Tara - it was great working with you. I hope you like the new floor!

Diary of a Utah Fan

That one was UGLY!

Going into the game with byu this week I felt the Utes had the better team.  Sure,  the past month Utah hasn't been lighting up the scoreboard.  In fact, we've gone from an elite team, to a team that's barely surviving.  Still, last week the Utes showed some heart against the Aztecs.  I thought that victory would help Utah regain their mojo going into Rivalry Week.

I was wrong.

Utah was terrible offensively in the first three quarters.  They didn't score.  They benched Wynn and brought in Cain.  That was one of the worst potential mistakes of the season.  I know things weren't going well, but switching quarterbacks wreaks of desperation.  Maybe we were desperate.  After Cain got picked for the second time, the Utes really were desperate.  Then something started to happen.

The cougars made some mistakes.

Each time the Utes were right there to capitalize.

In the 4th quarter things turned around in a hurry.  The game when from 13-0 to 13-10 in a matter of seconds.  Momentum was on the Utes side.  Then the game stalled for much of the period, but with four minutes left the Utes scored a second TD and took the lead 17-16.  It looked like Utah might just pull out a win.  Til byu drove the ball downfield.  It took the rest of the time, but the cougars were prepared to win the game on a FG with 3 seconds left.  Then something happened.

Brandon Burton happened.

The kick was up and Brandon Burton blocked it!

from Salt Lake Tribune

The Utes won!

They won ugly.

They shouldn't have won, but they won.

This is what the cougars usually do to Utah, but not today.

Today was a UTAH day.

It's a great day to be a UTE!