Basketball Weekend: BYU - Utah !!

For Christmas, my family usually draws names and gives gifts to that person only. This year, Holly and I had drawn my father's name. Instead of doing some cliche gift - a tie, a book, or a gift card to Home Depot - Holly and I wanted to give my dad a trip out on the town. We decided to give him two tickets to the BYU Utah basketball game on January 30 [one for him and one for his girlfriend -my mom :) ].

The game started at 7:00p, but Holly worked until 5:00p. Students have been camping out for this game since Monday morning, so naturally we were worried about getting into the game with my parents. BYU decided to only let 6,000 students into the game, so we knew we had to get there early. Luckily, that morning Adam came down to play ball with Seth and I at the RB. After playing for a few hours, we made friends with some of the other guys there. They informed us that they had been camping out at the Marriott since Wednesday. Because of how good Adam was playing, they invited us to stand in line with them to get into the game that night. Good thing Adam is a baller.

I went and stood in line at about 4:30p, and waited until my parents could drop Holly off at the stadium. But it was worth the wait. This game has probably one of the funnest BYU basketball games that I have ever been to. Jimmer played phenomenally, Abouo had the sickest dunk that I have seen from a college player in a while, and BYU won! But there is one point that I wish to dwell on for at least one blog post more.

The '09-'10 seasons have proved pretty controversial for BYU and Utah in the heat of the rivalry. There were things done by Utah fans, words said by Max Hall, and probably countless other things that we will never know about. But the one thing that I still can't comprehend is how Utah fans have taken Max's comments so seriously. Do they honestly think that they can put BYU's logo on a toilet seat, use explicit language to talk about the church, even make death threats to students and their families and it is all OK? But as soon as Max says they are 'classless' or that he hates them then the line gets drawn? It just doesn't make sense to me. But at least Max chose the last game of his last season to say what he did. He played it out smart. There are less intelligent athletes who should have thought it through a little bit better, and one of those guys is Marshall Henderson.

You could feel the hatred this kid had for the rivalry, even though he has only been associated with it for a few months. This freshman chose the first rivalry game of his freshman season to make the worst mistake possible. He put a target on his back for the BYU student section and any heckling BYU fan in attendance. Twice during the game, as the ball was flying out of bounds, Henderson jumped up, grabbed the ball, and violently hurled the ball back at Jackson Emery, causing the ball to go off of Emory, and the Utes to remain in possession. But late in the 4th quarter the situation was unfolding a third time. As the ball bounced off the rim, it was touched by a Utah player last, and was moving quickly out of bounds. The ball, consequently, hit the line - meaning it was already out of bounds and out of play. Within the same split second, Henderson jumps out of bounds grabs the ball, and hurls it back at Emory and Tavernari. That was the first mistake. Then as words are exchanged by the three players, Henderson flails his left arm towards Emory, connecting with his face, and sending him hard to the ground. That was mistake number two.

Classless Henderson made the worst mistakes of his collegiate basketball career last night. He is going to be taunted, made fun of, heckled, mocked, ridiculed, and dumped on long after he leaves the University of Utah. By taking a cheap shot at Jackson Emory during the game, BYU fans will remember his as one of the most classless Ute's, and they will not let him live that down.

Read more...

Snow Shoeing

This semester has been really fun for me because I have three classes with one of my best friends from my freshman year. Taylor and I lived on the same floor in Helaman Halls. It has been fun to reconnect with him. Not only are we constantly doing homework with each other, but this past weekend he invited me to go snow shoeing with him and some of his roommates while Holly was at work. It was quite the adventure. The day before we went Provo got about six inches of snow, so the trail at Vivian park that we hiked was so white and pretty. But before we got there, we ran into some trouble.

On the way up to Vivian park, we got Taylor's Honda Accord stuck in the snow, after about 30 minutes of pushing and maneuvering, we finally got unstuck. One of the guys that stopped to help us told Taylor that we got stuck because of his California license plates, and that if we would have had Utah plates on, we wouldn't have got stuck.

We had rented snow shoes from the Outdoor Adventure place on campus for the day. The snow shoes that we got weren't fancy at all, but seemed to work really well. I would rent from them again anytime. I was so glad that I was able to go because it was fun to take pictures of the snow and have some time away from all the homework I have been doing this semester.

Taylor and I about halfway up to the springs.

The whole way up we followed a little stream that ran into the Provo river. The snow on the banks made it look really cool. I could have hiked up there for hours because it was really pretty. For the most part, we stayed on the trail and since a few people had gone up before us, the snow was pretty packed down. A few times we tried to make our own trails, but the snow came up past our knees just below our waist.

This is the picture of some of the people that went with us up near the springs. There is so much snow, but it is so pretty!!

I had a blast, but my only disappointment was that Holly had to work and she couldn't come with us. I wish she could have been there to see how pretty nature was that day. It was such a testimony to me that God lives. What an amazing place He has created for us to live and learn!

Read more...

- DogSitting -

This past weekend the Sorensens went out of town to visit the Taylors up in Meridian. They asked us if Holly and I would be willing to dogsit Skooter for them. It has been a blast, but it has really opened our eyes to how much time it would take to have a dog, let alone children. I guess the morale of this story is that I gained a lot more appreciation for my parents, and all parents everywhere.
Don't get me wrong, having Skooter around all day was an adventure. I got to walk him around our neighborhood, try to teach him how to fetch (unsuccessfully), and be with in my own apartment! I love the companionship that he provided for Holly and I. Actually both Holly and I admitted to actually talking to Skooter when we were at our apartment alone. He is such a loyal dog, and a great snuggler. The past few nights he would crawl up in bed with us, dive under the covers down around our feet, and kept us great company all night. Holly didn't even have to turn on her space heater because he kept us warm! He didn't even trick-fart once!
The problem came when Holly and I had to go to class or run to work. Who would stay home with Skooter? Who would take him outside? We even had to wake up early Saturday morning to take him out. But this was just a dog! I can't even imagine waking up every few hours to feed a newborn. It's going to be hard to start a family. Because of this weekend adventure, I have gained so much more respect for mothers and fathers around the world. Thanks for all you do and raising your kids with love, passion, and dedication.

Read more...

My husband can juggle!!

Today I went grocery shopping.  I bought a huge bag of Navel Oranges.  I keep them in a bowl in our kitchen and after dinner Jake picked them up and started to juggle! I told him....I didn't know you could juggle! I think that is sooo cool that he can! So he taught me how to juggle....lets just say some of the oranges ended up a little bruised! ooops!

p.s. don't look at our messy living room!

Read more...

Pot Roast Experiment

I want to start of this post with the disclaimer that the Sorensen girls have got to be the greatest cooks on the face of the planet. Seriously, eating your food is that good. Holly has inherited so many great qualities from her mother and sisters, but one skill that she practices often is her art of cooking. Holly wanted to expand her cooking skills and learn how to make a pot roast. She also wanted to utilize the crock pot we received as a gift for her wedding and thought that this would be a good way to do that.

The process started at the beginning of this week while we were walking down the aisles at Wal-Mart grocery shopping. She whipped out her phone and rang her mother, excitedly inquiring how to go about this desire of hers. As I practiced my shopping cart stunt skills, Holly explored through the different meats until she found the perfect specimen... and the rest is history.

Following are pictures of Holly and I preparing the dinner where she made our first Pot Roast. She prepared it most of the day, while I only made the salad and set the table. Caution: don't lick your computer.

Cutting up the onions that went in the roast.

She's so good she doesn't even have to look at it when she dumps it in.

I'm a goof.

Starting to look yummy!!

Setting the table.

The final product. Doesn't that look GOOD!?!

I have the best wife. She treats me so well and keeps me plump by making delicious meals like this. I am so thankful for her and all she does for me. I love you Holly ;)

Read more...

Hiking the "Y"

These pictures are old but I just loaded them from my old camera onto my computer. Jake and me went hiking to the Y with Jakes family. We went before the football game one afternoon and when we got to the top we could see the stadium and we could hear the band playing! It was really neat because their was such pretty fall colors. Jake's Mom, Dad, brother, and grandma Bell went hiking with us!!!

Read more...

The Blog Assignment

Its the first week of classes, and that means a whole new set of classes, getting used to your schedule, homework load, teaching styles etc. Classes that I am taking this semester include: Accounting 210, Accounting 241 (Business Law), MFG 202 (History of Creativity), Bus M 301 (Intro to Finance), and M Comm 320, which is a business communications class that is required for the business school. So far I have really enjoyed M Comm. Our teacher is witty, funny, and sarcastic. He seems like he really cares about what he teaches, so that translates into care for his students. But on the first day of class, my professor gave us the assignment to write, and write often. To fulfill this requirement, he assigned each student to write in a blog at least once a week. He told us that we can blog about anything and everything. So I hope to be able to update you all about how Holly and I are doing, and what we are doing. Nothing should change except the frequency of posts (which is a good thing). Anyways, look forward to continual blogging about the Higgins Family and what we are up to!

Read more...