Dallas Trip Part 1-BYU Game

At the End of October we got to fly to Dallas to be with friends and family. We'll post more on that, but I'll post on the Game.

BYU and TCU had a big Friday night game on ESPN in Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Going to the Stadium is worth the ticket price alone. It cost 1.3 billion dollars to build. Its got a giant video board that has to be close to the biggest in the world. It holds over a hundred thousand people.

The lobbys are posh and its a great stadium to walk around to just enjoy the opulence. It has a retractable roof that we got to watch open up:

It was fun to go with Branagan and Claire who we also stayed with in Dallas.



This is my lovely wife, and our boy In Utero.

Oh and there was a game. BYU opened up by giving TCU 14 points in the first quarter and they lost by ten.BYU has 3 turnovers and some really bad punting that doomed them. This is their 4th straight loss to TCU. I hope one day in my life time BYU can beat TCU again. TCU was unfriendly to BYU fans, didn't announce BYU at the beginning of the game and showed only TCU stuff on the jumbo tron. All the BYU fans started booing the jumbo tron when they showed the TCU cheerleaders tussle their pom-poms every 5 minutes in the 4th. Overall it just stinks to lose to a team that has been so good recently.

We ended up wandering around the stadium most of the third quarter. At least BYU scored more points than when we flew out for the 2008 game. Here is one of the last plays that ended up making sports center for BYU

I guess there is always next time...

Super Quick September Utah Trip

(Written by Ryan) The last week in September we made a super quick Utah Trip. We flew in on Wednesday Night and out on a Sunday Morning. On Wednesday and Thursday we spent time with Bick and Poppy and stayed at their house. The first night we had Sam sleep in a closet:

Visit with Deenie

Fun with Bicky

The next day we were able to get a great tour of the Conference Center by one of it's newest volunteer tour guides, my Dad. Dad gave a great tour and knew a lot of details.


On Friday we went down to BYU to see them win in the the last few seconds against Utah State. We had a great group: The Andruses, The Hills, and the Whitakers.



Lots of people rushed the field. We walked down a few minutes later and took this picture :


We spent the night and part of the next day with Craig and McKay and Eddie.
Sam spent most of the night before chasing the dog around the house and shrieking. This picture wasn't representative, but I love the look on both of these dudes faces.

We spend some more time with the Hills and Grandpa and Grandma Lindgren. They showered Sam with Elmo gifts and even dressed him up as Elmo. Sam is 100% obsessed with watching Elmo. Here is Elizabeth and ElmoSam playing the Piano:

And here is Sam and Grandma playing a tune:
On Sunday we spent some time with Gunnell's and then we were off to the airport.

Chistmas 2011

It is pretty late but worth documenting. Christmas was so great. Santa made it just like we when we were kids. Santa also knit stockings for all of the new additions to our family.

It is our tradition to line up from youngest to oldest before we see what Santa brought. Finally McKay has people in front of her… and Craig makes sure those behind him cant be seen.

Now you can see us.

Claire made Sam an alphabet book about each person in the family. It probably took her 400 hours. She is so thoughtful and talented. When I saw the page for "F" (Forever Family), I burst into tears.

Christmas Eve 2010

Per tradition, on Christmas Eve we reenacted the nativity scene. Sam had to go to bed and missed his debut as baby Jesus. Dad was the traditional donkey and McKay was nice enough not to sit on him as his knees are getting bad. I am sure I don't need to point out who is playing what part, except for Branagan who was a great Inn Keeper.






Here we are singing and playing Christmas songs. Dad has a melodica, keyboard, and ukelele. He gave Mom a guitar and she gave him an amplifier and microphones. He is ready to turn us into a band.


The best Christmas tree EVER.

Family Forever

It was so nice to be together (although we were missing Brady and Elizabeth who were in Chile and Thailand respectively). We made the most out of every moment….

Christmas Caroling at the Square

Hiking

Taking some family photos with Sam

From Collages

Canoeing/Kayaking with Cyprus trees and tree houses