Saturday, January 14, 2017

Cole's football game and Aubrey dancing

Since I treated Tucker and Gunner to a BYU football game, I decided it was Cole's turn to go with me. My dad, mom and I all went together to the BYU vs Mississippi State game. Cole was in heaven getting all of that personal attention.



As I do with all the kids, I got him a cougar tail. He loved it. It ended up being a wonderful game for him to attend. The weather was quite warm for an October game and BYU pulled off the upset victory in double overtime.

Aubrey has been performing at various locations with her dancing class. She is so cute.

She loves to dance and is so good at it. Lisa is surely smiling down from heaven.

BYU vs Michigan State

Back in May I was talking with a few of my buddies from dental school. We were mentioning how we would love to go to a BYU football game on the road. They mentioned that since Lisa had passed away their wives were feeling sympathetic to me and that we should capitalize on that sympathy and plan a guys only road trip. We looked at our calendars and decided that the BYU vs. Michigan State game would be the best for all of us.
We all flew in on a Friday evening and went to our hotel. That night we went to Buddy's Pizza to get some Detroit style pizza. It was so good. On Saturday we decided to hit up some local touristy things in Detroit before heading up to East Lansing for the game. Our first stop was the Ford Museum. It was really cool. I had to take this picture for my son Tucker.



Here's the first photo of all of us together. Me, Jarom John, Rob Leale, and Brandon Jergensen. Jarom flew in from Fort Collins, Colorado. Rob from Spokane, Washington, and Brandon from San Diego, California. It was so good to get together with them again.

After the museum we went into Detroit and got a view of Ford Field where the Lions play and Comerica Park where the Tigers play. Such a cool looking ball park.


While we were dowtown in Detroit we had lunch at Coney National Hot Dogs. Another famous Detroit eatery that didn't disappoint. From there we headed on up to East Lansing. Their stadium is beautiful and huge, seating over 70,000 people.


 Before this game BYU was a heavy underdog. They didn't really have much of a shot of beating Michigan State in East Lansing. The first half started out slow for both teams, but BYU really started to pull away in the second half.


The fourth quarter was really fun as a BYU fan. We beat MSU on the road despite the odds. It was so exciting to experience that with my friends.

While there I ran into one of my friends from Cougarboard, Jared Kohl. This was the third game we've watched together. We have watched two together out in Washington DC when I've been out there.

One of the highlights from the trip was the conversation we had one evening while going to sleep in our hotel room. The four of us friends had some great spiritual conversations. Some very uplifting and motivational discussions. At one point Brandon Jergensen and I were chatting about how life has ended up harder than we thought it would be. He was discussing some of the challenges he's had raising a son with Down Syndrome. I mentioned that I could empathize because of how difficult life had been watching Lisa pass away from cancer and becoming a single dad. There was a moment of silence and then Jarom said, "well, I have 5 daughters." All of us burst out laughing. It was pretty funny. You win Jarom!

Enjoying the fall weather

Kamille and I took all of the kids up Snake Creek Canyon back in late September to enjoy the fall colors. We took the RZR on the trail all the way to the top. I love the views from up there.

You can see this type of green rock up there. It means there is copper in the rocks. 

Midway in the fall is pretty spectacular. The colors are quite vibrant.

Monday, January 2, 2017

BYU football game and conference Sunday

I took Tucker and Gunner with me and my dad to attend the BYU vs Toledo football game this year. It was Gunner's first time attending a BYU game. We went early to experience all the pre-game festivities like the cougar walk and the marching band. It was really fun.

We bought our dinner there at the stadium, but I did happen to sneak in some drinks to the stadium for the three of us.

I've always enjoyed the games I've been able to attend with my dad, and I'm enjoying taking my kids with me too.

No BYU football game would be complete for kids without a cougar tail- an 18" maple bar.

That Sunday was General Conference, so we loaded up the kids in the Suburban and went for a drive up the Mirror Lake Highway. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped off at the Upper Provo River Falls for a photo.