New Furniture

It took quite a bit of effort to finally get all the furniture in the house and assembled. We didn't realize how much work it was actually going to take. But the furniture is in and pretty much all of our stuff is moved over. It is so nice to finally have bedroom furniture that we picked out ourselves. We had been using furniture that my parents gave me for Christmas when I was 5 or 6.

We stayed with Andrea and Brent again in St. George on our way to and from the tournament. While in Vegas we stayed at the Rio and even made time to hang out by the pool for a little while. It wasn't quite warm enough to swim in the pool, but we did take a dip in the hot tub.

On the basketball side, BYU lost to UNLV in the semi-finals. It was a tight, hard-fought game. I hate it when I feel this way, but I truly feel the refs decided the game in the final minute. They weren't great during the game, but were even worse in the deciding moments. On the other side, BYU played their first round NCAA tournament game today and won...99-92 in double overtime. They fought hard and we able to come out victorious over some adversity.

Busy Times

I really will get better at posting. We're headed down to St. George and Vegas this weekend for two purposes. We are going to St. George to pick up the furniture we ordered last month. We're then going the rest of the way to Vegas to watch some of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament. BYU has a tough road this year. Assuming we make it to the semifinals, we'll face UNLV on their home floor. If we make it through that game, then we'll most likely have UNM in the finals (just the #8 team in the country).

While we're down south I hope we get to see Lauren and Jimmy's new baby boy (Julian). It always seems as though we are running too and fro. I'll be sure to make more time to write moving forward.

St. George Weekend/Valentine's Day

We had a great trip down to visit our friends in St. George. We stayed with Brent, Andrea, and little Gabriel. He has become such a cute kid. When Ade and I would eat cereal for breakfast, he would alternate between us asking "please" in sign language to give him a bite of our cereal. It was adorable so how could we resist?

Part of the reason for the trip was to finally use the $250 gift certificate for Ashley Furniture we won last year. We finally (after 10 years of marriage) decided on a bedroom set that we both liked the style and the price. We also got a couple of end tables and a coffee table for the front room. We'll have to post some pictures later when they make it to our house.

Sunday was Valentine's day. After going to church with Andrea and Brent we headed over to the Todds' house. It was great catching up with everyone there. Tiffany and Colby's kids are getting so big, as are Tyler and Brooks. Lauren is due with her third on the 2nd of March and Jimmy was gracious enough to take some photos for us. I think I'll end with some photos that he took. Keep in mind, these are the unadjusted versions. He was going to send us some touched up later.

Catching Up

We've been running all over like usual. A friend gave me a couple tickets to the BYU basketball game against TCU. Ade couldn't make it but Dan came and it was a blast. The seats were way up high, but we had the whole row to ourselves so we could spread out and be comfortable. The best part? BYU won by 20.

Too bad they ran into a buzz saw last Saturday. UNLV whooped us pretty badly. They hit their first 9 three-point shots. Even their center was draining shots from down-town. BYU is a good team, but there are just some nights when the other team just can't miss.

Thursday night we are heading down to St. George this weekend to have a little getaway. We won a $250 gift certificate to a furniture store last year...and just haven't had time to use it (since it is in St. George).

BYU Volleyball and Physical Therapy

On my birthday, Adrienne gave me a "Voucher" that promised she would take me to a BYU Volleyball game. Last Friday she made good on the promise and we went to see the BYU vs Stanford game. It was a blast. We got there early and were able to sit right on the baseline. Normally we are in the first or second row by the net, but this offered a whole new perspective. You could see just how much the ball moves on those rocket jump serves. The best part was that BYU won!!!

I've been doing physical therapy for right knee tendinitis over the past 3 weeks or so. My therapist believes in "soft tissue remodeling" to help build your body back the way it needs to be. It's truly not a pleasant experience, but it does seem to help. Also there are exercises and stretches that I do to help the overall process. The good side of enduring the physical therapy is that I am now able to play volleyball again, but I have to stop if it hurts again. If you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about...do a google search on ASTYM or Graston physical therapy (two different ways to do the "soft tissue remodeling"). I don't think you can understand just by seeing it online just how unpleasant, and painful, it is.

Fun Date Weekend

After a long week of work and busy-ness, we got a nice night at home playing cards and eating dinner in the family room.

And on Saturday we were able to go to BYU with some friends to see the Living Legends, an ethnic dance group. We went with the right friends too because our friend Dan who is half Navajo and half Apache recognized most of the Native American dances and could tell us about them. We also took Jason to Olive Garden and finally converted him to the diverse tastes of the pasta palace. Who can resist alfredo and bread sticks? Not me!

Jason is slowly taking care of his painful knee. Too many days without volleyball and basketball have finally pushed him over the edge and he can now be found with a thick rubber band doing thigh-master type exercises. We are both hoping the process will be worth it so he can join the family traditions of sports again (and not just watching them on the sidelines with Adrienne and friends).

We wish congrats to BYU football for ending 12th in national rankings and to BYU volleyball for starting their season out strong. We can't wait to see you next weekend against Stanford. GO COUGARS - HIT IT HARD!

-- Thinking of you all, Adrienne

CPR Certification

Adrienne and I got certified in CPR a couple days ago with Heidi and Trevor. It's pretty nice to have a friend that is an official instructor. We should get our cards in the next couple of months.

My new work is changing offices at the end of this month. I'll finally have my own space and it will be much better for all the employees.

I'll try to write more in the weeks to come, but we've just been so busy lately.

BYU Bowl Game

Well, this is a little late, but I wanted to make sure I did a post about the BYU bowl game this year against Oregon State. We came in as 3 point underdogs, but won 44 to 20. It was a crazy windy day and our team adjusted to the conditions much better than our opponents. Oh yeah, and it was FREEZING.

Here is a photo of the flag they used during the Star Spangled Banner. The band and cheer leaders had to come out and help the servicemen hold it down because the wind was blowing in gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

The second shot is just to prove I was there. You can see the far sideline is emptying out because the game had gotten out of hand by this point.

Temple Square and a Bird

A couple weeks ago Ade and I went up to temple square for dinner and to see the Christmas lights. Here are a couple of pictures from that night.

This first picture shows statues of Mary, Joseph and Jesus (in the manger).

Here is a photo of some of the lights and a fountain on temple square.
This is a copy of the Christus statue by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.

And finally, we had a bird fly in the house. It must have come inside while I was shoveling the front sidewalk. About an hour after we came inside it flew out from the front room. The next 15-20 minutes were spent laughing as we tried to get it to fly back out the front door. We made sure to get a photo for memory's sake.

Florida Friends Visit

Mark and Ginger came out to Utah for a few days and watch their daughter, Bailey, perform in the Nutcracker in Ogden. She didn't have a large role (it was her first time dancing with this company), but her performance was fantastic. She and her friend really stood out among all the dancers.

We ate dinner up in Ogden at a nice Italian Restaurant named Zucca Trattoria. We were really impressed with the food...but slightly disappointed by the service (think molasses).

Our friends didn't know anyone else out here so we had them over for Sunday dinner. The Salmon, Chicken, and Spaghetti Squash all turned out great! It was quite a bit of fun to reminisce about our Lake Powell vacation from the summer.