The First Snow

For a week, Ben has been diligently following the weather report for signs of the first snow. His wish came true on Saturday! Although the snow really didn't stick on the ground, it still ranked as a snow day in the kid's book. They went crazy outside, squealing and carrying on. I'm sure our neighbors were thinking, "not snow already!" but as for us, it was welcomed with open arms.

I decided to take the kids to a Pumpkin Patch in Santaquinn on this same, very fridgid day, to ready us for our Curtis Family Pumpkin Carving Party - Utah edition that evening. What I didn't know was that to get to the actual pumpkin patch, you have to take a hayride about a mile away. Very windy = FREEZING! I tried to talk the kids into just picking out a pumpkin from the bins at the main store, but no, they wanted the real thing.

We managed to thaw enough to carve pumpkins. Thanks to Uncle Scott, pumpkin-cleaner-outer extraordinaire (he, indeed, can clean out the pumpkin guts in less than 2 minutes wielding an ice cream scoop) and the chief Pumpkineer, Uncle Rich, we had a grand time. We were thrilled to have our Roundy cousins and Robyn at the party too!

The next day, Ben noticed that one pumpkin had been cleaned out but not carved. He and Sarah decided to carve a "Y" on it.

Need I say more?

Row B Stands for Birthday

As per the previous post, I'm taking advantage of all the things available here in Zion (you got it right Liz J...and by the way, I'm waiting for you to "come to, come to us, come to us" a la Oakland Temple Pageant). The one thing I asked for on my birthday was a ticket to see a session of conference which I've never been able to do before. I've stood in line many o' times but have never made it in to either the Conference Center or back in the Tabernacle days.

After hinting to Scott to score me tickets, I had to move on to a reliable cousin of his. She was successful in securing me tickets from yet another cousin who has major connections (lots of cousins on
that Jacobs side). In her pursuit of such things, the kind cousin with connections also got us tickets to a fabulous concert at the Conference Center two weeks ago featuring the Utah Symphony guest conducted by Erich Kunzel (of Cinncinnati Pops fame), Mormon Tabernacle Choir and two guest artists presenting "The American Songbook".


At the outset, let me just say this would be a fabulous concert even if we had had seats on the back row. For my first experience ever in the Conference Center, we had tickets for the front row!!! We got all the way down to our seats where we were met by a hostess with the mostest telling us there as a slight change in our seating for the night. President Monson had decided to attend the concert and would we feel comfortable sitting in the second row, Row B. "Ummm, ya." If the prophet wants me to sit in the lobby to hear the concert I will. Our seats ended up to be directly behind President Monson and his daughter. This is going to be one event tough to top. The music was spectacular! Too many favorites to name but its pretty hard not to love the Armed Forces Medley when active and retired servicemembers stand at the sound of their military branch song. "New Words" a song written by Broadway smash composer Maury Yeston is now a new top song in my itunes library after hearing it sung by Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime fame).

These two pictures were sneakily taken from Scott's iphone on the night of the concert.



















The kind cousin still gave us two tickets for conference, the Saturday afternoon session. Our tickets were once again on Row B. I kind of feel ownership now. I wonder if you can buy a timeshare on conference center seats? Luckily Scott and his dad only made me meet Senators Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch. I don't do so well with hobb-knobbing so I'm glad they took it easy on me.


Maybe someday this kind cousin will get me hooked up with her nephew who happens to be a guitarist for Maroon 5.


So all in all, I ended up being able to do lots of birthday celebrating in good ol' Row B. Thanks Row B. Thanks kind cousin.


Since I can't possibly post without pictures, here are some pictures of Gracie on her first birthday....thanks Susie and Anna for the birthday cake!

You know you're in Utah when....

• Your son comes home and says, “wouldn’t it be cool to have a compost pile.”



• Everything is so close in proximity you never have to get in the car.



• You get angry when you have to drive to Orem because it is just so far away.



• Driving to Salt Lake feels like a road trip.



• The leaders of the school PTA, to show appreciation for the parent volunteers, say at the conclusion of their announcement over the P.A. system, “sure love ya!”.



• You get slightly teary when your son sings the Utah State Song with his school class at a ceremony featuring the Mayor on the steps of the City Library.



• You see cars driven around town that you haven’t seen for 20 years (i.e., Honda Passports, Toyota Celicas, convertible Geo Metros, etc).


• You get to see fabulous concerts on Temple Square for FREE!


• You walk to do your visiting teaching.


• When you are at a musical performance on BYU campus and there is a prayer at the beginning, your daughter looks at you and says pointing to the crowds, "do all these people go to church?"
  
• You beg people to come visit.

Random cute photos....

Let the Games begin!

Well from the last post you know that school is in session for just about ALL of us.  As a side note I am loving the MPA program at BYU!  So far so good, and it seems like a perfect fit for me.

One of the side benefits to being a full time BYU Graduate Student is getting student season tickets to the BYU Football home games!

Saturday August 30th was the first home game, BYU played the University of Northern Iowa.  My Dad was in town and as a TRUE  BLUE BYU Fan he nearly jumped through the phone when I invited him to go with me to the game.  

This is My Dad and I leaving for the big game. My tickets are in the student section of course and so we really enjoyed the seats my dad has in hand that hooked onto the bench seats.

This was our view of the game.



BYU played a  good first game, (including a few hick ups) and UNI played well, however the score does not really tell the whole story, there were a few nail biting moments but the final score was BYU 41 UNI 17.  

It has been 14 years since I had season tickets to BYU football. All I can say was that it was really fun being back in Cougar ... oops I mean LaVell Edwards Stadium! 

GO COUGARS!!!!

First Day of School

This a unique year for our family: new schools all around!

Ben on the first day of school last week:

Sarah on her first day of school last week:

Emma's first day of preschool:

And last but certainly not least, Scott's first day of grad school:
Four brave souls!


As for Grace, she is attending the school of making big messes and being as darling as ever. I am just beginning the school of how not to be the hugest mother hen of this brood.

Everything I Need I Can Get at the Wilkinson Center

Scott is about to start school tomorrow and so I have finally resurfaced as a blogger. Well, sort of...I'll try at least!

The Wilkinson Center on campus is proving to be my full-proof, one-stop shopping convenience location. Here's everything I was able to do in one hour yesterday:

• Mailed 5 padded envelopes to my brothers and sister with our family photos DVD at the campus Post Office (Did I mention the workers are so helpful?)






• Got my spouse ID at the ID center





• Bought Emma a treat at Jamba Juice for being so patient while doing the above





• Stopped at the ATM which doesn't charge a use fee





• Bought special school supplies for my multiplicatingly challenged boys at the bookstore....

• Also found the Crayola Expression Mini-Stampers that Ben's teacher had looked everywhere for....

• And my favorite...

Emma got the most adorable haircut ever at the BYU Barber & Salon!

And what was everyone else doing at home while Emma & I were so productive at the Wilk?

Scott did shed a few tears about the loss of over 9 inches of Emma's hair. Sorry, it just had to be done. He is the brusher of the rat's nest and he is going to be otherwise engaged starting tomorrow. Emma would have had dreadlocks if it wasn't for this adorable cut. Emma is so pleased that she doesn't have to cry everytime her hair is brushed!

One last look at those golden locks! (Scott, it really will grow!)

4TH of July as promised

This was our first 4Th of July in Utah. We had a blast. I'm sorry it is now a month and a half since the 4Th, it almost seems like I should just skip it and wait until next year... However I have the pictures and I might as well share, right?

It seems like in Provo that the independence day celebrations last a week or so. For us it all started on the 3rd when we woke up early and saw about 20 or 30 hot air balloons take off. It was spectacular.





On the 4Th they flew the balloons once again, we did not see them lift off, but 3 or 4 landed in the park near our house. The kids and I went to watch and actually helped bring some of them down. It was fairly crazy because a large race was happening simultaneously in the park, so there were thousands of people running, waiting for runners and of course the balloons landing. It was pretty fun.

We then rode our bikes down to center street and joined my cousins and watched the 4Th of July parade street side. This is Nancy and Gracie enjoying the festivities!


I love this picture of the kids standing on the street watching a pipe and drum band go by... Lets hear it for "Scotland the Brave!"


After riding our bike uphill all the way home... we headed over to my cousins house and celebrated the nation's and my cousin Julie's birthday with a fantastic BBQ and cake. Later in the afternoon we headed over to my parents condo and dropped of Emma and Grace while Nancy and I and the big kids went to the Stadium of Fire!

The Stadium of Fire is held at the LaVelle Edwards Stadium on BYU campus and was filled to capacity. Miley Cyrus was headlining along with the Blue Man Group and Emceed by Glen Beck. We were not disappointed.

Here we are waiting for the show to begin.

As the show began 4 F-16's from Hill AFB flew about 1500 feet over the stadium with full afterburners lit. It was like an earth quake it was so loud. After that there were 7 Para-jumpers that jumped from about 10,000 feet and all landed in the stadium. Man it was cool!
There was a great flag ceremony... the flag is being held by service men and women from the Utah National Guard that had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a touching moment.


The Blue Man Group was excellent, I would love to see them again. Miley was ok. I don't think I will jump to see her again. Once it got dark the fireworks started choreographed to music from the movies. I have seen a lot of fire work displays including quite a few in Washington DC and I have to say that the Stadium of Fire was the best firework show I have ever seen. It lasted about 45 minutes and it seemed like there were about 7 or 8 finales. When the finale came there was no doubt it was the last hurrah for the evening.

Pictures of fireworks can be really disappointing and the above one is admittedly disappointing and does not capture the feeling at all, but there it is anyway.

What a fun day we had, and we are determined to go to the Stadium of Fire next year again. It was a long day but very memorable. We can't wait for our second 4Th of July in Provo next year.

Going, Going...

Going, going, but not quite gone. Of course I am talking about Gracie. I'm sure if it was up to her she would sign up for the Provo canyon half marathon. She is up and walking and even trying to run. For weeks she would take a step or two and then move back to her speed crawl. In the last week those steps turned into a much more confidant spurt of walking, but crawling was still the fastest way to get where she wants to go.

As of today (8/11) walking has become her preferred mode of transport. This little video was taken at Kim and Shirley's house.

Nancy was there for my cousin Emma Lee's bridal shower last Saturday. Click here to check out Emma and Jed's engagement announcement blog.

The kids were excited to see and take a picture with Emma. They were excited because Emma plays the character and voice over for "Foofa" on "Yo Gabba Gabba" It is a fun kids show on Noggin and Nick Jr that the kids love. (I understand that there are some BIG kids that like the show too... Hey Kyle V I'm a fan too!) Emma just returned a week or so ago from Hollywood where they just finished the last episode for their second season. Congratulations to Christian, Emma, Parker and the rest of the crew we can't wait for the next season!

"July she will fly!"

As the Simon & Garfunkel lyrics describe July did fly! But first things first. I promised pictures from Ben and My trip to the Y.



Going back to June 24th, this is of course Ben at the Y gate at the trail head to the Y.




This was the first view we got of the Y on switchback number 8 out of 10.



WE MADE IT!





This is the view from the top of the Y looking down on Provo and BYU campus.





We took a camel back filled with cold water and a little lunch we ate up at the top. It was a nice hot day, but really fun to spend some good father and son time together.



Next installment "The 4th of July"... hopefully before the end of August!

Cutie Pie

We have now been in Provo for 3 weeks. Wow how time flies. We are having fun as a family, however in a short 7 weeks the honeymoon will be over and I will be up to my neck in graduate courses. So we are having fun while we can!

It has been some time since I last updated our blog. It is much easier on our computer and especially now we have high speed Internet set up. Yahoo!

I do have some ideas as to what I want to blog, one of those entries will document the rite of passage that Ben and I took part in earlier this week. What was the rite of passage you ask? Hiking Y mountain of course. We made it and I Will blog about it with pictures and all later.

Today I was inspired to blog by a photo I took on my i phone this evening. But first we have to get there. We had lots to do and we got most of it done. But somehow we ended up at University Mall in Orem today. We were on an errand to pick up some cat food (which we did)and started to head home but ended up at the mall. I still think I fell for the old bait and switch deal. The objective of our trip was to complete a task, unknown to me the covert plan was a outing to the mall. Somewhere along the line I must have subconsciously complied with a subliminal message. I must have agreed once we arrived because I knew Sarah needed new Sunday shoes. Excellent that will be a quick trip.


We ended up walking the entire length of the mall, from Mervyn's to Nordstroms with a few stops in between. Sarah, the one child that needed new shoes could not find any, but it turns out that Ben also needed shoes which found along with a new outfit for Nancy. The trip was a success.

Why all the fuss about the Mall? It all stems from the fact that I hate shopping, especially clothes shopping. Sorry that is just the way it is. I think generally I would rather be Mike Rowe's lackey on Dirty Jobs than go clothes shopping.

Well in the end was it all that bad? Not really. I am just glad that there were padded seats strategically placed through out the mall.

Back to the inspiration for all this mess. I had my i phone and while the rest of the gang was inspecting the public rest rooms I snapped a couple of shots of our little Gracie. She is nearly 10 months old and changing so quickly. Isn't she a cutie pie!

The Eagle has landed!

Well the Eagle has landed indeed. We have officially lived in Utah for one week today. We are almost unpacked (note to self: throw away or burn all belongings before next move!) Really I would rather burn all our belongings than move them again.

Unfortunately our TV / Internet will not be installed until Thursday - Ack! I am updating via my i-phone. More to come when we get totally set up.

We are excited to be here and at the same time missing NorCal.