Bump Off!!

We have this game in my family called, "Bump Off". It's a lot like the game "Sorry". It's been in my family for as long as I can remember. I remember playing it a lot with my Grandpa Newman when he would come to stay with us. You can play with a partner or just be on your own. My dad made each of us siblings our own board so I have been playing it with Noah from time to time. It's a fun game. I figured since it has been around so long and that we all love to play it, it is considered "blogworthy" right? We all seem to play it a lot more around the holidays when the games come out of the closet.

Go Jazz!!

Last month, Noah and I went to a Jazz game. It was the free tickets we got for going to the Larry H. Miller sing a long in December. The seats weren't great but we had such a blast being there. The fans get so into the games and its such a fun atmosphere. I decided after that game that I wanted to try and get some tickets and sit in the "good seats". I've never been able to sit close and I knew Noah would love it. I splurged and got some tickets from someone off KSL. He game me a pretty good deal and we were just kiddie corner from the basket. We had so much fun. They played the LA Clippers and won. The game was a little iffy at times but the Jazz pulled it out. We got to the arena pretty early and the Jazz bear was signing autographs so Noah had him sign his jersey and then the bear asked me if I wanted to take a picture of him and Noah together so I did. I've started becoming a little more of a Jazz fan since Noah has gotten so into lately. They are fun to watch but so much more fun when you are actually there.

Deron Williams #8-Noah's favorite player

Jr. Jazz

Today, Noah had his last Jr. Jazz game. He has had such a great experience and has really grown to love basketball. He has really gotten to be a great player. Kent coached this year also and it turned out to be a great experience for both Noah and Kent. The parents and kids really liked Kent and a lot of them told him that they wanted him to coach again next year. He was very positive and fair with the kids. We only picked Zach Mccleve to be on the team and the rest of the kids were just random but they were all good players. We had a pretty good team and only lost 3 games.

Noah, Zach and Tyler






The whole team

Happy Retirement Part 2

This past Friday night was my Dad's 65th birthday. In honor of his birthday and retirement, we all went to the temple and did a session. It was so awesome. All of my siblings were able to come and my sister in law Cherish was able to come too. It had been a long time since I had been to the temple. It was such a wonderful, beautiful experience. I hope I am never without a temple recommend again. After the session, we all went to Lonestar Steakhouse for dinner and to celebrate my Dad's birthday and retirement. After dinner, we went back to my parents and got all the kids together and had cake and ice cream. It was a really nice day.
This is all of us siblings outside the Jordan River Temple

Happy Retirement Part 1

So my Dad is officially retired. He had his big retirement party with his work today. All of us siblings were invited to go and have lunch with his coworkers to celebrate his retirement. He has worked at various places over the years (all for the government) including Tooele Army Depot and Hill Air Force Base but his last 15 years have been at the Bureau of Reclamation in downtown SLC. The luncheon was at Little America. It was great food. All of the siblings were able to go except Kenny. We missed ya Ken! It was so fun to meet the people he has worked with for so long and to hear some of the things they had to say about him. All of them really seemed to like him and kept saying how much they were going to miss him. They gave him a little scrapbook and a bunch of golf stuff. My Dad also stood up and introduced each of his coworkers and told what their job title was. I was so impressed he remembered every ones name. There were about 20 people there. He seemed to be very well liked. I love my Dad so much and am so proud of him. He was always such a good provider for our family and taught us all the value of hard work. Congrats Dad!! You deserve it. I'm sure he'll be doing plenty of golfing(:

They knew what a big BYU fan he is so they gave him a BYU golf towel along with money and gift cards to a golf store. They know him too well.
After the luncheon was over, I opted to go back to my Dad's office and see his desk. I had never been there before and wanted to see where he had been working all these years. Better late than never I guess. They had U of U confetti all over his desk to tease him. They also had picture up all over in his cubicle telling him happy retirement.

Girls Weekend

This last weekend I got the chance to go see my sister, Tara, who lives in Las Vegas. Thanks to my other sister, Kristi, who came also. She was able to give me a buddy pass. We flew out there on Friday night and then drove back to SL with Tara and her boys on Sunday. Tara was coming to town for our Dad's bday/retirement party. We thought it would be fun to have a girls trip and go see her house and then help her drive back. It was a fun time. We went shopping and out to dinner and had some good chats. Her house is so beautiful. They just moved in there a couple of months ago. We had a great time. I didn't really get any pics. The only picture I took was of my cute nephews, Drew and Luke. Sometimes its just a drag to have to deal with the camera. Raleigh was good to watch the kids while we went shopping and out to dinner. I'm already for another girls trip.

Nostalgia

A few months ago, I reconnected with a long lost roommate from Ricks College (aka BYU Idaho) on Facebook. We have talked for quite some time about getting together and finally found a day to work it out. She invited me to her house for dinner. They live in Layton. It was so good to see her and her cute family. It has been so long. we were trying to figure out when we saw each other last and we think it was at our other roommates funeral. (Our roommate, Christy, died of Cancer about 7 years ago) We don't even live that far from each other but life just gets so busy that sometimes you just have to slow down and make time for things. We had dinner and then had a nice time visiting and talking about old times. I can't believe it has been 20 years since we were roomies at good old Ricks. It was nice to visit. We are talking about doing a little roommate reunion some time this summer if we can get all of us together again. I was really lucky and had such great roommates and it would be a lot of fun to see all of them and their families again. On the way home, I stopped and showed Noah the house I lived in when I was a little. It was off Bennett St. in Layton. Layton has changed so much that I couldn't find it without calling my mom to help me with directions. It was weird seeing that house again and remembering some of the things from when I was really little. We only lived there until I was 7 but I still have a lot of memories of that house. I made Noah get out and I took a picture of him in front of the house. It was dark so the picture isn't that great but it was so strange to think its been 30 years. I couldn't believe how small the house was either. I also showed him the school I went to, Lincoln Elementary. Talk about nostalgia. This is me and my roommates 20 years ago. Yes, I'm blinking in the picture. We had a running joke that I always blinked in the pictures.



Me, Marie and her husband, Mark

Our old house (it still looks the same as I remember it)