Put me in Coach!!

With all the buildup for the Superbowl on Sunday, I'm reminded of my last football outing.
A few months ago I was playing football with some friends from school and guys from their ward, and when we went to pick teams, I didn't get picked first. No surprise, right? Well, I didn't get picked second, third or even last (as embarassing as that would have been).
I DIDN'T GET PICKED AT ALL!!!!!! They chose teams, and I was the last one left, but then they all just started running out to the field. I was just standing there, so I picked a team myself and made them have me as a teammate. I know I'm not a physical specimen, but to have the pimply, scrawny 13 year old picked before me was a slight blow to my manhood. Ah well, there's always basketball, tennis and golf, right?

On a happier note, well, no, just on a different note, I got a parking ticket the other day up on campus. I parked in an empty area in one of the lots, thinking it was okay (there was no "no parking" sign here), but came back to my car to find a $50 ticket on it!!! The crappy part was that I seriously got there 1 minute after they left the ticket, losing my chance to plead my case. Let's hope they grant my appeal.

Finally, I got a new calling in church. Not only do I get to accompany the primary, but now I get to be the ward choir accompanist as well. It doesn't look like I'll be able to just go and sight-read this stuff like I could for the primary songs, but it will give me a chance to practice the piano. The trick is going to be trying to get any men to sing in the choir (it currently consists of one 15 year old). Wish me luck!!

Here's our piano we got for Chrismas

You know you're not in Utah anymore when....

the "second storm of the century" hits and the entire city shuts down. So the news is telling us it will snow like 5-8 inches today/tonight, so what right? Oh no, not here. My office started calling patients to cancel this afternoon and tomorrow morning appoitments when it was just flurrying outside all before lunch time! I get to go into work tomorrow 2 hours late, just merely in anticipation of the snow. (keep in mind that there is maybe 2 inches on the ground right now). You would think these people had ever seen snow before. I got home and my neighbor was brushing the snow off her car with a broom. Have we ever heard of snow scrapers? All of the school closures are going across the tv. I think all these people need to live in Logan for a month or so in the winter to learn how to be Eskimos!
I hope we can survive this natural disaster.

A typical friday night.......

So last night was a pretty typical night for us. Chris is taking a big immunology test today, (right now in fact, good luck hon.) so last night he studied while I watched tv and read more of Eclipse (Will it ever end? Jacob, Edward, Jacob, Edward. Will she become a vampire or not, come on!). I finally got him to take a break to go and get an oreo shake from Hardees. YUMMY.
My favorite moment of the night came when we were laying on our bed talking and laughing and Chris said, "isn't this the best part about being married." It's so true, it's the little momments you get to spend with your best friend that make life so great!

Black Ice

So I thought I would share my graceful moment of the day.....I was getting ready to go to work this morning and when I wake up the first thing I have to do is look outside to see if there is frost on my windsheild, if so, I know I have to leave time for a car warm up. Well, I had started my car to warm it up and decided to take out the garbage while I was waiting. So I grab the bag and start walking toward the dumster in the parking lot and then next thing I know WHAM. I am on my back. I thought that my right buttock was broken for sure. That's right, there's something out there and it's called black ice! I was laughing/crying and while still on the ground called chris to tell him what he had just missed. He opened the door to come and help me up. Yep, my grandpa karren always told me to be more graceful, I guess I never really learned how.
(I am secretly hoping this post gets the garbage man in our house back on track so the garbage woman can take a break!)

Our escape from Missouri

We thought it was about time to put some pictures of christmas up before January comes to an end! We had such a wonderful time seeing all the people we miss. Thanks mom and dads (both pairs of you) for being such great hosts and showing us such a great time. We also both had the chance to get together with our friends and decided that anyone that has a Wii is a friend of ours!!! (especially if your names are Kathryn and Dave)

Oh Paige. She is becoming quite the 3 year old. She knows just what she wants. Hatty made her this beautiful Princess quilt (she whipped it out in like 1 hour I swear, it's amazing how that woman works her magic). Paige loved it. We had so much fun playing with you Paigey.

Here's Gabe, Emily, and Sophie (somehow we missed taking a picture of your bunch at the Santa party). Gabe astonished us with a breathtaking whistling performance of Zippity Do Da during the talent show at the party. It was worth the trip just to hear that. If you want to see some great pictures of Sophie and Paige you should visit the Utley blog, my camera didn't do these 2 sweathearts justice.

THE SANTA PARTY

Yep, we got to go and see Jolly Old St. Nick (and by see, I don't just mean see, I mean sit on his lap and tell him what we want for christmas). We asked him if he could get Chris some cheaper tuuition (he said he would see what he could do, I think that means no). Mr and Mrs Claus did make us this really cute seasonal decor thing. We love it.

What is a Saturday with my mom if it isn't spent shopping!!! We decided to try on some styl'in hats at American Eagle. They really were quite warm.

To keep Joselyn entertained (and himself from going crazy) Chris came up with a game at the mall that animals were stuck inside the clothes racks and chasing after us. It was pretty cute to hear Joselyn yelling to watch out for the snakes and lions in the middle of Nordstroms.

Who doesn't love the Christmas morning pictures where everyone is all greasy and gross.

(I know you are all wondering who the weirdo is in the hat. Yep, Scotty got a new hat for christmas and just didn't want to take it off.)

These were my 2 favorite shots of Joselyn. She is so stink'in cute (well, except for the haircut that Dustin tried to give her!) I guess Dustin was watching them while Shayla was at work and Jos asked him to cut her hair. Instead of being a normal dad and saying no, he pulled out the scissors and tried to give her an A-line cut. Usually it's the kids giving themselves the rotton cuts! She also has it in her head that Mommies can't play guitar hero. She kept telling Shayla that and wouldn't let her play with us.

Kylee is getting more beautiful everytime we see her. She is quite the gamer, it's hard to keep up with her. For Christmas she got guitar hero 3 (it was my carry-on on the plane, I guarded it with my life)

Kylee calls Chris MO-Jo (I am still not sure where she got it from) but a few months after living here we found an auto mechanic shop called Mo-Jos. We love you kyster.

Why did the Grinch steal christmas?

My mom is always coming up with creative ideas for christmas eve. This year she got my cousin Ryan to dress up like the grinch and recite the grinch poem. It was a hit! (a few of the smaller children were slightly disturbed and cried)My favorite part of his outfit are the cowboy boots!

-One of the funniest moment this year was on Christmas Eve and my mom comes down into the bedroom that chris and I were sleeping in at like 1:00 am looking for the bag of all the candy that she had bought for the stockings. When we woke up she gathered us into Kylee's room and starts crying that this year will be the christmas without candy! It was hillarious how emotional she was about it. I guess she kept my dad up all night worrying about it. Needless to say, I found the bag of candy a few days later under some blankets in that bedroom. You gotta love Colleen.

So we are at my parents and my dad comes out with this bag of about 100 Farmington Fire Department sweatshirts. Let's just say that chris is now the proud owner of one.

Jaxton has gotten so big. Chris got a kick out of him because his new favorite book is Going on a Bear Hunt and he couldn't get him to read anything else! He is also very addicted to his bottle.

It was so good to see my mom. She looks so cute, she is now bravely going none wig style. We went and saw "PS I love you" and after the movie was over all she had to say was, "I need a new hat. Do we have time to shop around for one?" Hillary Swank did wear some really cute hats in that movie.

We went to breakfast on Christmas Eve morning with the Brown's to Market Street Grill. I think we got enough food to feed an army! Sophie tried to eat a pancake larger than herself, it was pretty darm cute. (she is the small infant way in the back there) Our waitress was a piece of work to say the least. We asked her for our O.J. and she acted like we had just asked her to give us her first born. About 3 hours later we finally got our food. Good thing the good company made up for the poor service.

Green Bean Casserole and Root Beer!

Question: What is the one thing that has the potential to ruin a delectable batch of Green Bean Casserole?

Answer: A 1.5 inch chicken bone that Wal-Mart snuck into the "Cream" of Chicken soup. I got a disgusting surprise when I took a big bite of it the other night as we were having dinner. We plan on filing a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for a few million to repair the emotional damage and extreme pain and suffering caused by the incident. Looks like we found a way to finance our education!!!!

On a less-disgusting food note, we went out to dinner on Saturday night with our friends Judd and Jackie Allen to a restaurant called Fitz's. It's a very good burger place that's been here for ages, but the best part is the bottomless mug of root beer or cream soda or any other drink they have on tap...even better than A&W. Anyhoo, we just might make you go there when you come out to visit us, so it's something to look forward to!

WICKED!!

On January 2 we got to go and see Wicked at the Fox Theater in Saint Louis. After years of anticipation, it lived up to all of Chris' expectations. We were able to relax and enjoy the show after making the trip from the parking lot to the theater without getting mugged! The theater was beautiful, and the musical was as good as any on Broadway.