I Told You So!

Can I get a woo, woo!? The Utes rock. Six turnovers by the Cougars? Are you kidding me? Maybe it was just that Max Hall doesn't know his team wears the blue jerseys. Tee hee hee. I can't wait for some Utah bowl action.

I started to get worried this morning when we pulled up to my parents' house and saw their yard bedecked in blue and white streamers, spray paint, and all sorts of Cougar pollution by our loving and neighborly BYU fans, and Amber said, "I want BYU to win!" I couldn't believe my ears. She may as well have told me she was quitting our family. Fortunately, she's still young and can still be taught the right way. Gotta love indoctrination!

I Can't Wait for The Game!

Lest you English enthusiasts out there criticize my capitalization of "The" in this title, let me remind you that in only 48 hours, the college football game of the century will begin. Any matchup between BYU and U of U is certainly a game worth watching, but this year will be extra fabulous because both teams have actually cracked the BCS' shell of good-'ol-boy SEC domination. Hooray!

I am counting down the minutes to the certain Ute victory and am developing a great menu of tailgate food I can cook on my George Forman grill inside my kitchen. I've already washed my best red shirt, found the ultimate hue of red toenail polish (yes...they are good as new!) and Rex's U of U onesie is ready to go. I think I must have an absurdly abnormal penchant for football games because I get so excited and panicky and worked up that I actually jump up and down and scream at the TV (note to parents: cheerleading may lead to this kind of behavioral issue...think twice before enrolling your daughters). I even heard a great scripture last night at one my scout meetings that clearly points out that Christ is a Utah fan (I hope I don't get struck by lightning). This is gonna be good.

I'm also devilishly curious to see what the BYU fans in our ward do to the Ute fans' yards. Better yet, I am beyond excited to be able to respond with some great crimson retribution. I'm glad the folks around here are passionate about football (albeit one game, but hey...it's Utah) enough to do some crazy, fraternity-inspired hijinx, because that makes the big day even better.

Red and White forever...Go Utes!

Meltdown Commencing in 5...4...3...

Do you ever have a day where several unpleasant events occur and seem like small annoyances until you realize you've had so many of those events that by the end of the day, you're ready to scream and tear out all of your hair? Today is that day, and I am exercising my right to revolt by silently delegating the seventh tuck-in of the night to Adam and blogging about my abysmal, non-pedicured toes instead of actually fixing the problem (perhaps I'll be awake long enough to do both. Ahh...catharsis).

Today actually started with me wanting to finally do my toenails now that it's been four weeks since my last paint job and I haven't EVER gone this long with chipped polish in my entire life. Don't ask me why I've let them go like this. Our random and spontaneous trip to Oregon definitely played a part; I didn't think to grab my pedicure kit and I even had to trim my toenails with the polish still on (Sacrilege!). For some reason, every time I sat down today to remove these hideous remains of month-old polish, someone needed something from me. On the bright side, though, I did trim them last week so I don't have talons. That's good.

Rex is cutting teeth, so he's extra grumpy, won't eat much, and wants to be held all the time. Adam has begun the 12-hour-a-day Bar Exam preparations, so I'm back to being a semi-single parent and having a hard time readjusting, Karli is STILL potty training, Amber is ultra-sassy and defiant these days, and I'm pretty sure I just attended my eleventh scout meeting in November. Normally, I can handle these conditions, but I think I'm having a month-long bout of PMS since my body has still not completed its postpartum regulatory cycle so I'm extra irritable. Add to this equation thirteen tweens who are generally adorable but strangely distracted today and aren't ready for their upcoming competition (my 8-year-old cheer team that I coached this afternoon) and the result may be frighteningly akin to Steve Martin's grocery-store episode in Father of the Bride (hey, I'll take any opportunity I can to use the word "superfluous", even if it entails screaming at a grocery store manager, he he).

Thankfully, though, I did not end up in jail. The day is over, the kids are finally asleep, and I just may be able to fix my forsaken toenails tonight. I only have three more cheer classes to teach before Thanksgiving, and the weather was blissful today. Things are looking better already.

Wow...I feel so calm.

Hamilton, Stoiko, Boitano, and Clark?

While in Oregon, we took advantage of the amazing ice skating rink at the Running Y Ranch. An NPO called Klamath Ice Sports runs the place and charges very little for admission and skate rental fees, so Adam, Karli, Amber, and I went two nights in a row. Amber has always had an ice-skating obsession and Karli turned out to be quite the little shredder. Best of all, though, was that Adam is totally a closet champion; he could carve, spin, and maneuver better than anyone I've seen. To make me feel even dumber as I wobbled around, clutching the walls, this was Adam's first time on ice skates.


Adam has a spinal fusion, so risking an injury is a big deal for him. I almost had a heart attack when I saw him do two face plants on our last night in K. Falls. Fortunately, all he sustained was a bunch of stiff muscles and a few bruised ribs. His back is fine. I must admit that I did garner a bit of satisfaction when he wiped out shortly after taunting me for being a slowpoke. Just kidding.

Amber didn't like the actual skating as much as she did sitting by the fire place and sipping hot cocoa...I guess she has more of an ambiance-driven personality.

Karli, on the other hand, had a grand time being pulled around the rink. She'd yell at the top of her lungs, "I'm having so much fun!" and "Look! I'm ice skating!" to anyone who she thought would listen. It was so adorable.

We can't wait to go back!

Check out these darling hats and gloves we bought at the town's happenin' shopping spot: Wal Mart. You can't beat $1.50 a piece, especially when it makes the kids this happy.

Lake of the Woods

After hearing Leslie rave and rave about this place, we figured we'd better check it out. It's called Lake of the Woods and it's gorgeous. We all drove there and planned to have a grand time together, but Karli and Rex both fell asleep on the way. Thankfully, Leslie said she'd stay in the car with them and Amber, Adam, Greg, and I got to get out and explore. The water was nice and cold and the air was crisp...perfect lake weather.

Amber loved taking off her shoes and socks and wading in the frigid water.

The view was amazing.

Adam and Amber had fun rocking the dock.

Amber and Grandpa Greg looked for fish but didn't see any much to Amber's dismay.

Bright sun and large gusts of wind make for less-than-wonderful portraits, but they do great things to the clouds in the trees.

Alpine, Utah to Klamath Falls, Oregon: Land of a Thousand Trailer Parks

Monday morning, we woke up and Adam said, "Let's go to Oregon!" His parents are splitting time between Alpine and Klamath Falls, so we figured out a plan to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Clark and took off on Tuesday around noon. The 660 mile drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; I must say I expected the worst. I mean, how nice can a drive on westbound I-80 through a barren desert be, right? Aside from the gazillion trailers we saw, sights like this made it fairly amusing:
This lovely monument is in the town of Battle Mountain, Nevada. Since Adam and I are eternal seventh-graders-at-heart, we got a big kick out of it and couldn't figure out why any town in its right mind would advertise its initials when they also stand for a bodily function. Crazy.

Here's the magnificent view from Greg and Leslie's back porch. They live at an amazing resort called Running Y Ranch and it's spectacular! We loved seeing all of the beautiful plant life, woodland creatures, and water features. We were sad to leave that beautiful place, but were glad that the car ride home only took us 10 hours instead of the 12 hours it took to get there.

Cheese, Please

This is one of my favorite pictures. Whitney, Karli, Rex, and Amber are fairly jovial and all have the biggest, cheesiest smiles all the time. They love to play together!