I love a parade!

Actually, I'm not really much of a parade goer. They are usually way too long and too hot and I have no tolerance for bagpipe music. But if the Utah football team is involved it is a different story.

Matt, Becca and I went downtown yesterday afternoon to the Utes Victory parade. You Coogers may mock, but hey they won every game. What more could they have done? Doesn't the only team that wins every game win the championship? See this article if you have any doubts.

The day was a bit brisk, but the sun was shining on us. King Louie was high-fiving and signing autographs.

Brian Johnson holds up the hardware, as coach Kyle Whittingham looks on. I have a really good, sensitive camera and I swear when I went back to look at my image that trophy was in Brian's hand. Guess it was meant to be Heh Heh...

Confetti flew at the City / County building where they held a rally after the parade. A bunch of boring politicians spoke along with coach Kyle Wittingham, Brian Johnson, Louie Sakoda and the U President Michael Young and Athletic Director, Chris Hill.

Football is over until September. I know I have posted a lot about the Utes, but wow it was a fun year.

Are the Holidays Over?

I have been a slacker the last few weeks as far as blogging goes. Just haven't felt like it. Guess it was all the ham, toffee curls, crackers and cheese, ham, chocolate oranges, sparkling apple juice, numerous types of candy and ham that made me sluggish and not want to post. But the Holidays have come and gone and they were a nice break. Getting back to the reality of work, school and actually having to get up in the morning before 8 am is tough. Here are few items to catch me up:

A parent likes to see the kids hugging after giving each other a gift. I think these two adore each other. Nicky was heard to say the other day: "Becca, how do you know everything?" after she helped him do something on the computer.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, Mom and Dad treated us to a meal at the Golden Corral buffet. Afterwards we went to their house and exchanged gifts. Christian was all over the wrapping paper.

Jen makes a really good breakfast on Christmas morning. Even this monster Christmas storm wasn't going to keep people from showing up.

The kids were happy when they got a Wii. As you can tell, Nicky really gets into the boxing (back away form the TV!!). Becca kicks my butt in bowling almost every day. Matt and Taylor get more into the tennis and baseball.

At the annual nativity play at Grammy and Wolfgang's house, Becca was Mary (with Baby Alive playing the part of Jesus). Nicky was a Shepherd.

It can't be Christmas without the famous "Grammies Jammies" picture. I guess Nate was too hot to don the jammies for the picture.

The day after New Year's the Utes took Alabama, yes, Alabama to the woodshed beating them 31-17 in a Sugar Bowl that was not as close as what the score reads. They are the National Champions. The BCS can go suck on an egg.

The Polar Express

Okay, so it wasn't the Polar Express - it was Trax and it was packed last night. No one danced in the aisles and served us hot chocolate. I haven't ridden Trax for a few years - I thought public transportation was supposed to be cheap ($4.50 each for a round trip ticket downtown - luckily we could buy the family pass for $16.50). Last time I rode it was like $1.50 for a round trip. Oh well, it was fun - the kids loved it (especially Nicky). We rode the train all the way to The Gateway and had dinner at Rumbi. Then we ventured over to Temple Square to see the lights.

There were a lot of people at Temple Square. The temperature was cold, but not bone-chilling. We saw the Nativity Program and then went up to see the Christus Statue and the Luke 2 movie. They were shuffling people through pretty quickly so they could accomodate everyone.

The tabernacle was open so we went in and sat down and listened to a guy playing Christmas music on the organ for a few minutes. I don't think the kids had ever been in there before. I remember going there for General Conference when I was a kid and getting packed in there like sardines. That place seemed huge back then, but last night it seemed pretty small compared to the new conference center. It was a pleasant Christmas Eve eve (or Christmas Adam as the kids call it). Beats doing last minute shopping!!

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Nicky gave his first talk in Primary a couple weeks ago - all dressed up in his suit and all. We wrote his talk down (so dad could remember), but he didn't really need any help. He was able to give the talk based on the pictures we would hold up. Before he gave the talk, Taylor asked him what his talk is on and he said "paper".

He got some "Hulk Hands" as a gift at the Davis Christmas party. We figured he wasn't hitting people nearly enough and needs some incentive to do some wallopping of his siblings and parents (at least it is softer now).

Jingle Bell ROCK

Becca had her Christmas tumbling program yesterday. Her group did their routine to the song "Jingle Bell Rock". It was a great performance. Becca had her moves very polished - any time we heard the song she would break into her routine. I understand the people waiting in the waiting room at the dentist's office got a little preview earlier this week.

Here are a couple of video clips. Thanks to my wing man, Matt, for running the video camera for me (I'm too much into the still camera these days). Nice shooting, Mattman.

Happy Holidays!!

I have been to New Orleans 4 times in the last 5 years, but I can't quite swing a trip down there for New Years to watch the Utes play in the Sugar Bowl. I regret not making the trip 4 years ago when the Utes went to the Fiesta Bowl, and vowed that I would go the next time they made it to a BCS Bowl. Well, I was hoping for Arizona again this year - maybe "once in a lifetime" will happen for the third time in the next few years. New Orleans is 2000 miles away and the flights are over $1,000 round trip (they were about $500 each time I went there on business - those airline price gougers!!) I guess I could always hop on one of the charter buses to the Big Easy and spend 50 hours on a bus with a bunch of drunk strangers (cue the drunk Ute fan jokes).

Well, I hope the Utes do well against the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide. It will be a huge challenge for them, but I think they are up for it. It will pretty much be a home game for Alabama, since it is about 300 miles from the Alabama campus (Tuscaloosa, AL) to New Orleans. That's about the equivilant of driving from SLC to St. George.

And good luck to the Cougars of BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl and TCU against Boise St. in the Poinsettia Bowl. Holiday cheer all around!

Turkey Bowl 2008

Another Thanksgiving tradition is the annual Turkey Bowl. Usually it is the Cougars vs. the Utes but we all know how one-sided that would be so this year we picked teams with Matt and Jake as Captains.

In order to avoid injury, we use flags instead of playing full-on tackle football. In the above scene JJ drops back to pass (with his Hannah Montana Jersey on). Jake is pretty open on the right side, but do you think he would throw that way?

Emotions can run high in this hard fought battle and sometimes we have to remind certain people to just pull out the flags and stop the body slamming. Oh, and by the way, if you have the ball and come anywhere near Raini, you can take it to the bank that she got your flag. She has perfected the two-handed flag grab.

The game ends when it is too dark to play anymore and we go in and eat pie. This year's game featured a fumbled kid, several pick-sixes, and even a hook and ladder for a TD. I'm sure Jake and Matt are already going over the films and scheming for next year.