Happy New Year

2011 was great!  Lot's of excitement for me and everyone around me!

From moving into my downtown apartment in January...

to Adrianne's wedding and my bff from the beginnings of elementary school getting engaged in February...

Netty and Mike's wedding, Cardinals Opening Day and paying off my car in March...

 to Emma and Bball's wedding and Jessica Beaumont having her baby boy on my bday (like I asked her to) in April...

to crossing off another stadium from my list with a weekend trip with my mom to Phoenix in May...

to my one year anniversary at SWA and Utah friends trips in June...

to baby showers, trips to see friends and family, and a big interview in July and August...

This is where Laura is telling me my kicks will be Drewki's favorite gift by far...

to Duck football games in Dallas, my first time to Autzen, one epic end of the season rally run for the Cardinals and one very special Christmas Miracle born in September...

to the World Series in October...

to a fun Hawaiian trip in November...

 

This year has been pretty good to me. I hope it continues on through 2012.  Here's a little video of me popping champagne (for others to drink)

T is for Ten, Tuesday and Tidbits

1. Today I was in line at the bank to deposit a check. Lately I have been depositing them from my phone, but I was out and about all day so I stopped at a branch. There were a few people in front of me and the two people being helped by tellers seemed to have complicated transactions. So I pulled out my phone. Logged into my Chase account. Took a picture of the front and back of the check. Pressed deposit. And proceeded to walk out of the bank. It was as simple as that. Who needs branches anymore these days?!?!

2. Speaking of phones, I got a new one yesterday! I went back to the iPhone. This time with a carrier that is made for the iPhone. No more shady jailbreaking. So far I love it. Siri does everything for me. She's so kind. I had to get a new phone number. If you did not receive the mass text of the new number and you consider us to be friends, then I must not have had your number or screwed up. Message me on my old number and I will give you the deets.

3. Yes I still have my old phone. So apparently on TMobile the cancellation fee is $200 no matter where you are in your contract. In Jan, it will have been a year since my last upgrade. But I am on my parents family plan, so my service is only $10 a month. It's more economical to pay that $10 a month for another year than to pay the $200 cancellation fee. Figure that one out. So I'll keep this phone. Right now I carry it with me just in case some people didn't get the memo. But soon I will only use it to run with. Since it's raining a lot more these days and I don't care about getting it wet anymore.

4. Running is on hold right now. A. it's -20 degrees outside. Ok, not nearly that cold, but pretty dang cold. and B. I rolled my ankle last night in my soccer game. Walking around today running 5 million errands was not good for my ankle. Will need to ice again tonight.

5. At least I scored a goal.

6. I was reminded of my hate for hatchbacks last week. When I was looking for a new car back when, I remember how turned off I was by the hatchback. Especially on the civic. Yuck.

7. I learned that my body won't tan anymore. All my years of beautiful sun kissed skin are gone. I used to be so dark after my trips to St. Louis to visit my dad. I would tan so easily. Five days in Hawaii and all I have to show for it is a heat rash on my hand and a tan chest. haha. Wait, my upper legs were a beautiful brown. But who sees that in the middle of winter?!?! My face probably would have been more tan, but I protected that money maker like crazy with sun screen. I'd rather not have the wrinkles when I'm older.

8.  No offense to one of my grandmas and her sister, but I went to an "Office Christmas Party" and chose to go by the name Barb. Is that an officey name? I thought so. Brooke's roommates put together a fun little party on Saturday night full of laughter, dancing and voodoo donuts.

9. Speaking of VooDoo. I was walking through the Fresno airport on Sunday morning and I saw this:

The funny thing was that I had just taken a redeye from Honolulu the night before and my body felt like I was home, but I was really in Fresno to extend my vaca and visit my cousins. So at first I didn't think anything of the VooDoo siting. But then I realized where I was and had to take a double take, and a picture. While flying out on Tuesday I noticed that there as a Denver tree too. So they must be highlighting different cities that they fly to.

10. I successfully left the Nike Employees store today with only buying 3 things for myself. Most of the things I bought were for other people!  That never happens. I usually spend way over my budget I give myself. This time I was serious. Being Christmas and all I don't have much money to spend on myself. I bought cold weather stuff for running. So no excuses anymore.

Albert Pujols

Everyone keeps asking me my thoughts of the Angels' acquisition of the greatest baseball player. I am so tired of talking about it. From now on, I will refer them to this blog.

First of all, I am ok. Haven't shed a tear. "I won't cry, I won't cry. No I won't shed a tear." I was slowly getting over Pujols this past season. For some reason, I just knew we wouldn't be able to keep him. So I was prepared. Personally, I am glad the Cardinals did not go broke over him. Ten more years is a long time for Pujols to be playing. He'll see soon enough why the Cardinals weren't willing to take that financial risk. It was smart of him to go to an AL team, so that a few years down the road, he can just DH. And I am pretty sure he'll be good at that. But probably not 25 million good. Pujols making 25 mil a year makes me realize how little I make. hmm. At least I can fly for free right?? Right??

I will still consider him one of the greatest players of all time. Those great years were spent in my ballpark and for that I am happy. He will do well in LA. And I am sure the fans will love him immediately. But always know this, we were the fans that never boo'd him for not running out a ground ball. We were the fans that loved him on his 0 for days. I will always be a fan of Pujols.

One more thing: Glory Glory Hallelujah, Pujols is not wearing a big, blue C on his jersey. I wouldn't have given up baseball if that had happened.

Good luck to my good friend Craig Berrett and your Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

p.s. Freese is the new Pujols. Just saying...

This is an interview my favorite sports broadcaster, Rene Knott, had with Pujols and Deidre. p.s. Rene agrees with me on the above statement.

Look It's Tuesday Again

1. I should be asleep right now. I have to get up in 2.5 hours to catch a flight to san jose to catch a flight to Maui! This trip with my parents started when we bought our tickets to the BYU v. Hawaii football game. Now I really could care less about the game, but more excited to spend a few days in the sunshine. We leave today and I come back early Sunday morning.  I am hoping to catch a redeye Saturday night after the game.

2. I haven't talked to my cousins about this yet, but I am actually hoping to go to Fresno right when I get home. The flight leaving Honolulu at night either goes to Seattle or to Phoenix. I would get in early Sunday am and both cities have nonstops to Fresno. I don't have to be back at work til Wednesday afternoon so I thought I could spend my last days of my vacation in the No seeing my cousin's new baby!

3. I may not have a single picture to show of Hawaii. The camera on my phone died a few days ago. I am trying some fixes from some internet sites for droids, but if this doesn't work, then I won't be taking any pics. I hate having to carry my camera everywhere. And as I think about it, I don't even know where it is at the moment.

4. Reason why my phone is slowly dying? Rain. It has been raining a ton here lately. But I'm not letting it stop me from getting my run in every day. I have grown accustomed to running with music lately, so even when it's pouring, I still bring my phone for music. This would be alright except on one particular day of heavy downpour (sideways rain and wind literally pushing me off the path at one time) I learned that the jacket that I thought was waterproof was merely only a windbreaker. There wasn't a dry spot on me, and my phone sat in some water inside my pocket. I tried the whole sit in rice deal but I guess the water got to the camera.

5. I'm sick of my droid. I considered going and signing up for the iphone and service with Verizon today. But I got distracted by other things thank goodness. I don't really want to be paying a large phone bill right now.

6. Last night during one of our rainiest days, the drivers side window of my car decided to stop working halfway up! I realized this just as I was getting into the employee lot for work last night. Because it was raining hard, I decided to go park undercover in the long term garage. I figured it was worth the $16. I also removed as many valuables from my car as possible. Luckily when I got back to my car after work, everything was still there. I took my car into the Clutch Doctors today and they fixed it. Free of charge!

7. I love Clutch Doctors. They are really the best! I called them this afternoon to see if they were busy. Heather there said they were kind of swamped but I could bring my car in and they would take a look. I got there and there were 3 people waiting on their cars. I knew there was no way I would get my car back tonight. I told her take her time, I would be gone for a week so I was in no rush. She gave my an estimate of what the problem was and that they would need to replace parts. I go home, get a call about 2 hours later. They are done. No parts needed to be replaced. Just a little fix. They finished the oil change and everything. I had a coupon for the oil change and when I pulled out my card to pay they said no charge, they just put the labor under the oil change. Any other place would get you where they can with labor. These guys are the best. Take your car there.

8. I worked on Thanksgiving for one reason only: The food. We have our holiday meals catered by Beaches. They make the best stuffing and mashed potatoes.  And that's all I ate all day at work. Stuffing and potatoes. And then I went home, napped, ran, and ate lots and lots of yams. No turkey for me on turkey day. Didn't want to fill my stomach with the boring stuff....

9. The search for a new apartment has begun.
Conversation I had with my Grandma tonight:
Gma: "Why did you leave your old apartment anyway?"
Me: "The lease was up and I didn't like the kitchen anyway. Plus, Heavenly Father told me to leave because he knew I would be spending all my rent money on baseball and have nothing left over."
I am mainly looking in NW Portland but have also ventured into SE area to look. Anything North of Powell would be acceptable. It's hard to find something in my budget when I want to live alone. Everything is cheaper with roommates. But it's just not worth it to me.

10. Black Friday shopping this year kind of let me down. Although I did find a fun holiday dress. But the movie selection at Target and the overall deals weren't as good as last year. It was still fun to carryon the tradition with Dagny of seeing a movie TG night and then going shopping. We even got our Shari's breakfast in. Love traditions.

Ten Tidbits Tuesday

First of all, I am almost all caught up on Desperate Housewives on Netflix. Now that I am on Season 7 I was wondering what would be my next show to start on. Until... I saw that Gossip Girl Season 4 is now available Netflix. Heaven! I have missed this show so much. Working on Monday nights has put a serious dent in my Gossip Girl watching days. I just got out of the habit of watching and now I am so behind! Now is my chance to get caught up and bring Chuck and Blair back into my life!

"We don't need tickets. I'm Chuck Bass." 

Unfortch this YouTuber disabled the embedding. Lame.

Second, I am signing up for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Portland in May. Now is the time to get back in the habit of running daily. I went for a run yesterday. I explored new parts of my neighborhood. That's the best part about running outside. I can't stand to run on a treadmill so I need to get outside before it gets too cold!

Third, I am planning two (maybe) trips to Hawaii for this month. I might meet up with a friend in Oahu on Sunday. I am trying to get an Alaska guest pass so I can bring a friend, but that's proving to be harder than I thought. Then I am going with my parents at the end of this month to Maui. My first time to that island. Can't wait.

Fourth, my computer battery lasts about 45 minutes and it makes me mad. Maybe soon I'll go get a new one. I spent all my moneys in October though.

Fifth, Frank on Real World is crazy.

Sixth, I was in St. Louis so much last month. Each time I would stop at the news station that I used to intern at  few years ago. I was there so much that people were asking if I still worked there.  Not only was I there so much, it was consistently on the same days so I would see the same flight attendants on my flights. They remembered me and my love for the Cardinals each time. Not that it wasn't obvious from my clothes and my backpack.

Seventh, my jaw is in pain. It started a few weeks ago and hasn't stopped. I have been to the dentist twice already to get my bite fixed to see if that helps with the pain. I have tried to stay on a liquid only diet. My blender has never been used so much! But I have cheated a few times. I feel the pain the next day when I do cheat. It hurts a lot when I talk, so I try not to. Luckily I have had 4 days off in the past week due to starting a new schedule so I can actually stay away from people and talking. It's my excuse to catch up on all my favorite shows on our DVR.

Eighth, I like the Singoff. And I was really excited for last night's episode because they had to do a country song. But everyone did new country! I was so disappointed. I wanted to hear the classics. It was lame. BYU's group, Vocal Point is really good.  I'm slightly obsessed with Tanner- the kid with the buzz cut. He's cute.



Ninth, Thor is a slightly cheesy movie. Watched it last night. While drinking a pumpkin milkshake from Burgerville. Oh Em Gee. I feel like the shake alone deserves it's own subject. So good. On a side note, we went to a McDonald's to rent the movie and get shakes. But they don't have pumpkin anymore. Who stops pumpkin shakes in November?? I bet theirs isn't any good anyway.

Last but not least, I was introduced to this band last night. They are hot. And have English accents. And are hot.

Woops

I had a problem with showing myself in the Rangers fan's pictures during Game 7. Although I think I made the photos better. The guy got a kick out of it and text the pictures to me after the game. What a trooper.

This last one I didn't even realize I was doing it. Even though I was staring right at the camera while he was taking the picture.

11 in '11

My friend in St. Louis made this video. I love watching it!




I still can't get over that the Cardinals won! I'm sad Tony LaRussa is retiring. Anxious to hear who the new manager will be. Hope this doesn't mean Pujols will leave. Wonder what games will be like next season without all of Tony's double switches and millions of lineup changes.

World Series Champions!!

The St. Louis Cardinals are World Series Champions, and I was there! It was so fun experiencing it with my family too. Morty, Nate and my dad made it out to St. Louis for the game!  We got 4 seats together 3 rows up from the Cardinals bullpen. Allen Craig's homerun was literally right in front of us!  A very nice Rangers fan took this video right when we won and emailed it to me this morning!


St. Louis was CA-RAZY after the game!  The streets were LITTERED with beer bottles and cans! At Mike Shannon's Bar you couldn't even take a step without stepping on a bottle or can. I high fived way too many people!  I hope no one has any diseases... The whole game I was up and dancing around so by the end of the night I was completely exhausted.  What an experience. I love my job for giving me the chance to be here. I got tomorrow off so I will be staying out here for the Championship Parade! How could life get any better??

Oh by the way. I text a certain player on the team at 3:30 last night. He responded this afternoon... Then I realized that I made no sense in my text. The grammar was way off. I should have double checked before I sent it! Oh well. It's over now and he responded. Dream Come True! :)

Postseason Magic

Hoping this post will bring the Cardinals luck today as they take on the Rangers at home in Game 6. We need to win tonight to secure a Game 7. I couldn't get work off today so I won't be able to make it. If they win tonight, I will be on the first flight out to St Louis Thursday morning for Game 7! Go Cards!

Pictures from the World Series Game 1 and 2:

 Rally Towel

 My World Series shoes. Only been worn to World Series games at Busch Stadium. Purchased in 2006. 

 One of my favorite parts of the World Series

 Post Game celebration in the streets. People were going crazy after the Game 1 win!

 The All Star game Arch

 Budweiser Clydesdales pre-game. 

Game 2. Sporting my World Series swag that Brian made me get. 

Field Trip

Last Monday I felt like a 5 year old. I got the day off work and headed to the zoo with some friends. Five "kids" in their 20's roaming the pathways of the Oregon Zoo probably isn't the best idea. We ventured to the Great Northwest area first. Is it just new, or have I been deprived of this section of the zoo for so many years? I definitely discovered some fun new parts of the zoo.

This is a snakes view. White is the hottest and blue is the coldest. Obviously Mike's first reaction was to lift his shirt to see how hot his stomach is. Dagny and Max both had cold hands so they stuck theirs on his stomach for a few seconds to see if it would leave a handprint. Sure enough, it did.

The zoo was followed up by Little Big Burger, Blizzards and pumpkin carving. Best day off.

Maui

So... I am going to Oahu with my parents for a football game in December. I've only been to that island whenever I go to Hawaii so I want to try something new. I've been thinking a friend would be a nice addition to the trip. Play with friends on Maui and then meet up with my parents in Honolulu for the football game. So who's up for a few relaxing days in maui or another island? I'm working on getting an Alaska buddy pass or two. Nov. 28/29 thru Dec. 3/4. Or Dec 2/3 to Dec 8/9.

White sandy beaches anyone? With a buddy pass on Alaska you pay 10% of the full fare. 

Taking Everything Literally

Literally coming at you from left field today... As I was sitting at the game on Thursday (Game 4 of the NLCS) a thought came to me. I am in left field. I should do a blogpost right now so I can say I'm really live from left field! But... seeing as how any kind of 3g/4g, edge or anything doesn't work when there's millions of people close by trying to post pics to fb, I was having a hard time posting from my phone and gave up. Remember the days when the whole world wasn't on Facebook so it was easier to post in crowds or even less cluttered... ahhh the good ol' days.

The Cards ended up losing this game. I have decided that I am bad luck. We have tickets to the world series home games if we are in it, but I am concerned my presence will screw everything up yet again, so I don' know if I will be making it out to St. Louis again.

We just have to win tonight! p.s. I am CONVINCED that God changed the game to 5 tonight so I could go to church today. Game was originally gonna be at 1, but with the Rangers and Tigers not playing tonight our game got moved. Last week I chose all 3 hours of church over the Cardinals ( I didn't even bring in my phone to get updates!) and that didn't go my way, so I was reconsidering the need for all 3 hours again today. But now I can go to church and then come home and watch some Cardinal baseball!. The Brewers pitcher has a 12.64 ERA in the post season. Hope we use this to our advantage!

Go Cards!

As Chip would say, Win The Day!

p.p.s. Remember when I was started obsessing over this guy and everyone thought I was out of my mind?? Yeah, who's leading the team in HR's and RBI this series?? David Freese. That's who. I hate all  these bandwagon Freese lovers. I am his only true fan!

Hanging With the Liver

Saturday night after work I was deciding what I was going to do. I had two different options of things going on. So the logical thing was to skip both and call Brooke. Lukcily she was home. Luckily she left me in her home. Luckily she was watching Arrested Development. I was so tired from working that I fell asleep in the second episode (sorry!) As soon as it was over she suggested we go get a treat. I jump (literally) up and exclaimed, "Let's go to random order!" A few months back I was reading the Spirit Magazine on the Southwest planes. This edition was all about pie - mmmm. In one article they were listing the best places in the country to get pie. I decided I would go try one of these places. On the list was Random Order Coffee House right here in Portland. I had never heard of this place so I was a little skeptical, but I have been dying to try it. So off to NE Alberta we went. We got ourselves some pie - I chose peach blackberry pie and she chose pecan. This is what was left:

Next we decided to stop by a friend's birthday party. Fire and Ice was the theme and we both randomly fit the part. We are that good. After the party Brooke was wanting some coke, so we headed to China Town. Backspace had to high of a cover charge so we went to Ground Kontrol and drank (cokes). And played Pac Man. And dominated Pac Man.

Finished the night off with a free donut from Voodoo thanks to Brooke's new roomie who works there. Love hanging with my Liver. 

Southwest Deal

Many of you have asked me about Southwest deals. I don't get discounts and I am not usually one to know about specials going on, but I did stumble upon this today. Two of my favorite things have come together - Groupon and Southwest Airlines. Take advantage of it! It's available from Portland, San Francisco and San Diego!

Southwest Airlines – Portland

$40 Toward a Roundtrip Flight from Portland to Las Vegas

Honor Flight

Oregon World War II vets arrive in Washington to see 'their' memorial

I was working the gates at work when these Veterans came back from D.C. It was an honor to be able to thank them for their service so many years ago. Despite different opinions about war these days, there wasn't a single person in that boarding area that wasn't clapping in appreciate for these men. As they came off the plane, it was great to see the smiles on their faces to know that they are appreciated.  We have the freedoms we do because of them and clapping for 5 minutes was the least we could do to thank them for that. I love being apart of such an awesome company that supports so many amazing organizations!

Go Ducks!

Thursday night I made my first trip down to Autzen for a Oregon Ducks game. It's funny, I've been to the Rose Bowl game two years ago, the Oregon/LSU game in Dallas this year, and I was about to board a plane for the Natty in Phoenix last year, but I still hadn't been to Autzen til this week.

It was amazing!  We stopped at the Duck store at Washington Square first. I wasn't liking what I was wearing so I splurged and bought a jersey and shirt. Then we headed down to Eugene. The whole experience was amazing. NOTHING at all like a BYU game. NOT. EVEN. CLOSE.  From the tailgating, to the attire, to the excitement level of every single fan in the stadium. I definitely chose to the wrong school to go to as far as athletics are concerned. I missed out. But it's alright, I can experience it now.

Although it never rains in Autzen, it started sprinkling right before the start of the game. Then it became heavier. There were a few moments of downpour, but it really wasn't that bad. It stopped for the second quarter. We were all dry by the end of the game. The ducks were losing at the end of the first half, so the superstition in me decided to change things up and go sit with Kelli and Brian for a bit. I stayed with them the whole second half because we were actually winning and I didn't want to ruin that.

Besides the whole LaMichael James getting hurt, it was a fun game. Makes me want to go to more now!  Bring on ASU this Saturday! It's gonna be fun.

Meet Me in St Louis!

This has been the week of sports sports sports! 

Monday I got off work and flew to Las Vegas to hang out with my brothers. Tuesday morning we rose early to head to St. Louis for the Cardinals game that night!

After the traditional pre-game meal at J Bucks, we headed to the rally across the street from the stadium.

We had heard they were giving away tickets to the games and thought we could maybe score better seats. Instead I scored this...

They said the first person to show a ticket from another game would win it. We pulled one out of the bag Morty had and I started jumping up and down waving it in my hand!  I think I was the only one who had one, so there wasn't really a need to freak out about it. I went to the front and collected my prize. Now, what to do with it??

Although we lost, the game was still exciting!  There was lots of rally towel waving. We came so close to pulling ahead so many times. 

After the game we met up with Jennifer for another tradition: Ted Drewes!

I've mentioned their pumpkin pie concrete before. It was delicious as always. A trip to St. Louis is not complete without a little Ted Drewes. I am so glad we got to see and stay with Jennifer. Her trip to Napa this week fell perfectly with my trip out there so that we could hang out, go to the game and watch the sing-off together at night. We love our shows!

Here's to hoping I can get a ticket to the game on Thursday. I am making the trip no matter what. I can't miss the action!

Go Crazy Folks!

So proud of my Cardinals!  Never giving up. Thanks to the Braves downfall we had a chance. It came down to the final game of the season and we were able to pull out the W with a Braves big fat L. Post season here we come! I accidentally picked up a shift tomorrow night at work. But I am confident the game will be over by 4 here.

{Don't even try to use this ticket. The barcode is missing...}

Can't wait for Tuesdays game in St. Louis!  Let's get it done in Philly so that we can celebrate a Division Championship on Tuesday night with some Ted Drewes! :)

Sunday Funday?

Everyone these days is using the term Sunday Funday. This obviously implies that Sunday is a day of fun, right? I wished so much as a child that Sunday could be another play day. But my religion strongly believes that we must use Sunday as a day of rest. 

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" Exodus 20:8

When I was a kid and my grandma would come over for dinner, I knew I had to stay in my church clothes or I got a lecture from her. Back then I didn't see the point - it was a race for me and my siblings to see who could change out of their church clothes the fastest as soon as we got home. But now I definitely feel a difference when I choose to stay dressed nicely. It reminds me constantly that it is still the sabbath day and therefore I should be acting differently than any other day. 

So the point of this rant... Last week was the first Sunday in a long time that I was able to fully enjoy. I didn't have to work. I wasn't waking up early in a different city to catch a plane home. I didn't have plans with friends. I was able to wake up in my own bed and get ready for church without being rushed or preparing a change of clothes for my activities afterward. I knew that I needed to take advantage of this day because starting this Sunday I will be working on the weekends again. So I won't be able to attend my ward. 

 

But while sitting in church listening to some Family History specialist spew off stats about ancestors, temples and such I got a text from a friend -yes I look at my phone in church, who doesn't?- asking if I wanted to join her and another friend on a drive to the coast later that day. I was totally in. My only stipulation was to leave a little later so I could stay for church. While explaining the Keep the Sabbath Day Holy aspect of my religion to another friend, he didn't understand why going to the coast was any different than meeting him at a restaurant later that night. I argued that it is completely different. But is it really?

Is a walk along the beach breaking the Sabbath Day? I think not. I called it enjoying the creations. God gave us this beautiful earth. And I took the time to enjoy it on Sunday. 

We parked at the first beach entrance we came to in Cannon Beach and walked all the way down to haystack rock. The tide was way out so the tide pools were fun to look at. Lots of mussels and starfish were hanging from the big rocks. The weather was perfect. It had been raining in Portland so we were unsure of the weather at the beach. But it turned out to be so perfect. I love days like this. Sometimes I find myself thinking that the coast is too far away. But for just an hour and a half drive I was able to enjoy one of my favorite scenes. I need to take more advantage of that. 

Go Cougs

Two weekends ago (yes I am behind) I had planned on spending my Saturday watching football and organizing all my stuff at my parent's house. I hadn't really touched any of my stuff since I moved at the beginning of the month. But on the way home from work on Friday night circa 11pm I decided that I would rather attend a football game then watch it on TV. So I made arrangements and set my alarm for early the next morning. Saturday I woke up and no sooner was I heading to SLC. (My coworkers tease me that SLC is the only place I go to. Yes, I may fly there a lot, but I go many other places too!) I met my brothers in the airport. Their flight from Vegas got in an hour after mine. Then we headed down to Cougar Town for the BYU vs. Utah football game - The Holy War or The Desert Duel as some like to call it. We stopped at Grandma's to drop our stuff off and visit. Then we met up with some friends at Costa Vida aka Cafe Rio copycat. My Guru's suggestion got knocked down. I was not happy about this. Sometimes I crave those sweet potato fries. If only there was one in SLC, I would be flying in just for lunch at that place. So good. 

After lunch we headed up to campus to get some stuff at the bookstore. I love my little visits back to campus. Especially with Mallory. After nap time and some more visiting we were on our way to the stadium with streamers in hand for all the touchdown celebrations we expected. If only we'd known...

Minus the fact that we lost, it was still fun to be there with friends and family. It was to be able to meet up with old friends that I no longer get to see anymore. Plus we got a picture with Cosmo! 

My plan was to fly out early Sunday morning to get back for my church in Portland, but I decided Saturday night to stay and fly out later so I could go with my brothers to my sister's house for dinner. Finally got to see their new house. Their girls were fun to play with and Bill and Heidi made bomb dinner as always. Plus we were treated to some of Bill's famous apple pie!

Fun weekend. Love my job. Can't wait for the next trip!