forgot

I have already forgotten who is in on Dad's gift. I think everyone, but just wanted to make sure. Rich and Buff are good to go. Trent...I owe you. Kim taken care of. MOrgan has been working her share off. Jared, we could swap and call it even. Brad?

No Win

Sadly, we did not win the X-box. Todd shed a few tears, but I think it will be OK. Some dude in shipping won. Anyway, it was good food. I think we should wear whatever we want in the dark color schemes to the pictures. Black, red, brown, navy. that way it wont be everyone in red but the poor sucker in navy. Dark will neutralize everything. Todd, however, did get a ping pong table for Cristmas from his parents. It was supposed to be this big surprise that I was in charge of, but I pretty much ruined Christmas. How was I supposed to hide a 6 foot box? I put a towl over the part that said table tennis. It didnt work. He saw it in the garage. Oh well. Next year.

Grapefruit

We can have Grapefruit every morning! I have my new fridge! It it so cool, I can't eat the ice until tomorrow though. I'll let you know how that is. We spent a few days with the garage as our fridge. First the temps were in the 40's and I thought everything would rot, now its about 1 degree above zero so everything has froze. New update on the family picture. We will do it at the church so small children won't lose any fingers to frostbite. The gal that is doing it is going to build a black back drop so don't wear any solid black or you will be a floating head. she is just starting out but I've seen pictures she did of the Bodilys and OLsens and they are good sooo, here's hoping!
Morgan's basketball team went out on a winning note!! They beat Taylorview by 13 points. I don't know how they lost the first time they played them, too bad they didn't have 10 more games to play. Morgan is practicing now with the SHS Jr varsity team after school, then softball starts after Christmas break. Oh, she is suppossed to be selling magazines for a fundraiser, anyone want Newsweek? Or Better Homes and Gardens?
Mom

The True Meaning of Christmas

We had a family home evening the other day about the true meaning of Christmas. In addition to the birth of Jesus, we decided the true meaning of Christmas included broiled grapefruit at Grandma's house. The girls were upset that we wouldn't be there for this Christmas morning tradition. Could we perhaps have it some other morning when we are there? I know the girls would love it.

Ride to Idaho??

So, Brad and Ali, W will probably be calling you later this week to see about going to IF withy'all . . .if I don't get down there sooner, I'd like to maybe tag along when you go on Saturday.

Saying for Val

Val,
If you want me to cut that saying to put in your dining room let me know and I will bring it up when we come for Christmas. We may possibly be up there from the night of the 22nd - December 31st. So if you want it just let me know - what color, and font. YOu can go to our website and look at the fonts and type in the saying in different fonts to get an idea of what it would look like. The site is www.simpleexpression.com

News

We are hosting the extended Madsen Party on Sat the 23rd at 7pm. Marie's home is still not done, so I get to have it here again. Looks like Brad and Trent can be here. Anyone else in town, Please come! But all you will miss, is a big sandwich and chaos. But it is for us to see grandma and wish her a merry Christmas. I will have her down to our party too on the 30th, which should be a little calmer. In fact she didn't sound that excited about the big party when we discussed it. I have scheduled a photo shoot for the afternoon of the 30th. It will have to be outside, so if anyone owns handwarmers, bring them! (For red noses!) We'll do it at Freeman park. Casual,dressy, I don't care. Just stay with red, black and white. Morgan plays her last BB game today. Tuesday she scored 13 points with a three thrown in there! She did very well. It was a losing effort though. Everyone think good thoughts today, it would be nice to end on a win! Valerie provides the best entertainment at the games. Her best shots at the refs were last game. " What did you guys do? Grow up in Rigby!!? "Do you date the girls on the other team?" I think we could get kicked out. Dad and I usually keep our distance. One of the refs said, "That girl is crazy." to one of our girls as he handed her the ball! Its lots of fun! the team has voted her best fan ever. Maybe they will give her an award at the banquet!
I have finally found a fridge I like that will actually fit in the spot! A plumber is coming to plumb the water line. We might be bringing Rich the fridge tomorrow, might not. Who knows.
Love all your cards, Mom

eh

Well, it's neat becasue everything is decorated for Christmas, and they play christmas music around the park - and instead of "it's a small world", the little anamatronic dolls sing jingle bells in different languages. But it seemed like there were just as many people as if you went in the summer. The time Morgan and I were there (in January?), it seemed like there were almost no lines . . . Ezri had fun, though. She liked the bombardment of noise and lights. I slowly got my first migrane the first day we were there, and nearly passed out when we went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack (picture Bubba Gumps - only with Crab instead of Shrimp, and the music is even louder) Christian said it wasn't really a migrane, because I only almost threw up, and didn't actually throw up - but we got some excedrine and it went away by the morning.
The next day was much better. I convinced Christian that we all needed to go back to the room and sleep at around 2pm, and right when we started to fall asleep, the rest of the family came back too. Everyone slept for over 2 hours!! We went out again in the cool evening and everyone was in much better moods for the fireworks later.

Free Fridge

I got a little unexpected cash from the sale of my HCA stock, so I am going to buy a new fridge with some of it. Would anyone like my old fridge for their garage? I t works and has a pretty fair sized freezer on it. You would have to be willing to haul it away, I'm sure Dad would lend you his hand truck. Let me know.
Mom

Christmas festiva

I was just planning some things to do when Kim and Jared are here and need input. Will anyone be here on Christmas Morning? Brad maybe? How about Christmas evening in time for dinner? I thought we would plan on the gift exchange for Saturday the 30th with food and fun. How about a family picture??? If everyone could be here saturday afternoon I could book a photographer. I would also like to go see Charlotte's Web with the kids. I know most of you have told me when you will be here, but if you could comment back I would have it all in one place!!!
Mom

Lost Stuff

Has anyone happened to come across my black Adidas snow hat, or my red Nike running baseball cap?? I would guess that I left them in Idaho Falls, but they may be lost in toddler outer darkness.

Also do we want to switch the blog over to Blogger's New Version??? It looks like we'd all have to switch over in order to post, but we could prevent others from reading the blog if we wanted to.

Rich.

"Certificate of Achievement"

I have been taking a cake decorating class and last night was our final class and "graduation". I am now a "certified" cake decorator, and I have the certificate with the official sticker and my name written in purple marker to prove it!

This was my final project with roses. We worked on roses the entire time and then had to use them on our final cakes. It actually was a lot of fun.

Madsen Games

Brad, I suggest you bring Command and Conquer - Generals to the Christmas gathering again, as well as 1942. Or perhaps some other more stategy related game. 1942 is a good first person shooter type game, but I really enjoyed the strategy aspects of last years experience.

Cash for Car

We ended up buying an 04 Sienna. It is white with tan interior. WE like it. I figure it is just like yours (Jared). WE don't have any extras, but it is tons better than anything else we've ever had! We sold the Cavalier after one day on the corner of Skyline and Broadway. We actually had people lined up to drive it. Suckers!! Just kidding. I guess it was a good little car. Nothing like getting a wad of cash after a conversation in broken english. At Todd's work party there are a bunch of raffle items..one of wich is the X-box. Todd has high hopes, but neither one of us has ever won anything, let alone something cool. Maybe we are due. We actually rescheduled the trip to Denver in order to be there!

When you turn three..

On the big 3rd b-day Riley threw away her blankets. No more bad-breath, wet, suck on all night blankets. She has been just fine since, hasn't even asked for them, but she has woken up the past few nights and we have to go in and sing a song, lay by her, or something like that. The first night without the wet blankie, I caught her nibbling on her sheet. I said, "Riles, if you suck on the sheets then we will have to throw them away too."
She replied, "I'm just tasting it a little bit."

Princess Birthday Party

One of my friends just turned 29 and wanted this to be her BIG to do party not her 30th! She told her husband all she wanted was a "Princess Party" with her closest friends and luckily I fall into that catergory. Her husband planned his extravagant surprise to all of us princess party. There were 14 ladies total in the group. He arrived at each house to pick us up in a stretch hummer limo , he was holding a tiara crown on a pillow for each lady to where ALL day long and had a champagne glass with sparkling apple juice for each lady as well. We all laughed and talked as we rode in this awesome hummer limo to Salt Lake where we started the full day (10:30 - 5:30), expenses all paid, day of princess pampering. We ate lunch at the Garden (at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg.) and then returned to the limo where we had chocolates and drinks as we drove to the day spa where we each got a pedicure and then back to the limo where we had appetizers and drinks as we drove to another restaurant for desserts. Her husband had games planned and prizes to give out. IT was definetely a day to remember and so much fun! I really have a great group of friends down here in Clearfield and we have a lot of fun doing stuff together. I didn't get any pictures but my friends did and I will try to get some and post them so you can see the hummer - it was awesome!

use the blog

Hey, email comments need to move here. Kylie, I would also like you to do my hair over Christmas. Let me know if that is possible, or if you will be taking a true vacation and not working :) When will everyone be in IF?

Kylie's board

Kylie,
I have the board done for you and we are coming up to Logan tomorrow for a Christmas Party - is anyone going to be around about 5:30?? or we could and probably will drop it off after the party on our way home which will be more like 8:30 - 9:00pm We will give you a call - but I think Trent's cell # is the only number we have for you guys. What is your address again? 5th West 5th South?? I think when we saw the house we'd remember.
Buffy
As far as payment goes - I would like more blonde put in my hair and so maybe we could work a deal over Christmas break in Idaho Falls to add some blonde and I could pay you the difference? What do you think? Maybe you won't want to do hair over the break?? We'll be there on Friday the 22nd and then again for New Year's weekend.

My Car is Invisible. . .

I was driving to Reed's after dropping Alison off at work on Tuesday. I came to an intersection intending to turn right. The lane was a straight-or-right-turn lane and the only car in the lane was sitting to the far left and was not signaling. I pulled up on his right and signaled and waited for either a green light or a break in traffic. After about 10 seconds, the car I pulled up next to (the car on my left) decided to turn right. He hits me, I lay on the horn and curse, and the other car drives off. I pull over and somebody stops and gives me the license plate number of the car that drove off. Apparently, somebody else followed the jerk and called the police. Long story short, the driver was 16, unlicensed, but the car appears to be insured. The cops I talked to suggested that once they caught up to him the would not be nice when in comes to citations and tickets. Damage to the car is a busted side mirror, messed up fender, and torn front bumper.

After your car gets hit this much, you start to wonder if you are doing something to cause it. I would be more concerned about it if either I was found at fault, or my car was moving when it gets hit. But what I have concluded is that my car must have some kind of active camouflage that makes it near invisible to people. I imagine that when I drive it I look like wonder-woman in her invisible air plane. Anyway, I thought you would all find some humor in the story. Morgan was in the back seat, but she just smiled and giggled the whole time.

brad

USU Football makes the Albuquerque News

I almost forgot, but USU football highlights made it to the Albuquerque news on Saturday! Any publicity is good publicity right? Why did they make the news you might ask? They got beat by the New Mexico State Aggies out of Las Cruces. It was the first time NMSU had beaten a division 1A opponent in like 2 years. Go Aggies! They actually showed some film from the game in Logan.

Unofficial report of Official Results

The Madsen 5K was a soaring success.

Rich finished in 25:44 seconds.

Brad finished in 26:00

Morgan game in at 26:01

Everybody else finished sometime after I had showered, changed, and had a snack. It was a near suicidal dash at the end that put me in front of Morgan. I had to come from about a block and a half back.

brad

Only about 2 weeks left for Christmas Cards by Kim

I don't have a picture for Christmas cards, yet, either -
but to get cards done before I leave for Idaho/Utah -
if you want to do some this year,
send your pictures by Dec. 11th

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kylie - web address

Sorry if it has been a while for me getting back to you - I sometimes forget to check old posts for new comments and just saw your comment today. Our web address is www.simpleexpression.com and then go to the design center and you can play around with colors and fonts -but don't order online because it will be more expensive than I will charge you. Just post what you want when you decide or call me. I am coming to Logan on December 1st for a Christmas Party so if you let me know soon I can make it when we get back from Thanksgiving and bring it up to you. Just for an idea on length a typical door opening is 3 feet wide so judge off that how much bigger or smaller you want it. We have board sizes cut at 5" or 6" wide by as long as you want.

Madsen Turkey Run

After some discussion with the wife, I realized it is not the Madsen way to donate money to charities on Thanksgiving. Rather, the Madsen way is to bypass the poor and set up your own free fun-run. Unless for sure we can get enough guys together for some good b-ball on Turkey day morning, we should map out a course and do a family 5k run/walk. Who's in???

Tree House Museum

I took the boys to the Tree House museum in Ogden the other day. They love it there! It is so cute and very fun for them to imagine and play. Here are a few pictures of them playing on some of the different things. Ty loves the cash register - that was his favorite thing to do. Of course they both tried to climb through the log at the same time and didn't quite fit. It is a very fun place to go!

Tested out

I got done taking the GMAT today. I've concluded that it would have been best to take it in the summer when there was little going on to compete for studying time. Having three tests last week and a test the day after the GMAT (tomorrow) made it difficult to focus on studying for the gmat.

It's a computer adaptive test so I got my score back right away. I did good enough to get in to USU, probably Boise State, and if it were to snow in summer BYU. I scored a 580 (65th percentile) and according to the BYU stats of students, 83% scored 600 or better that are in the MBA program currently. I was shooting for a 600, but I'm not too worried about. It's one test I really don't want to take again.

Address Updates

I am really trying to be on top of things this year and have all my christmas cards packaged and labeled but I do not have an updated address for:
Kim and Christian - You've already seen the card! :)
Val and Todd
Brad and Ali

SO - if you could post your current address I'll send you a christmas card in a couple weeks.

ALSO-
Kim I am working on your board right now and will hopefully get it sent before Thanksgiving. Thanks for the cards - I love them! You did a great job and package them so cute.
Ali - if you could tell me the fonts and colors you want in the next day or two I could get yours done before Thanksgiving and bring it up to Idaho.

Vanagon

Jared, what year is your Sienna? We are looking at an 04 right now. I am thinking that is what you have...any qualms? Any input is appreciated.

Small World

The law school has a program called "Feeding With the Sharks." Lawyers in the SLC area sign up to take a student to lunch and offer them advice. It sounded like a good networking opportunity, so I went into the Career Service Office to sign up. I was looking over the list and saw a lawyer from McKay Burton & Thurman. MBT is the firm where Katie Abbott's (Reed's wife) father is a partner. I figured "Well, that is the only firm I recognize, so what the hey." I signed up, called the attorney, and made an appointment. I found the firm without much trouble and met with the attn. in his office. I kept an eye out for Katie's dad, but didn't see him. We went to lunch with a newer attn. Over lunch, the newer guy was talking about his experience interviewing with MBT and he mentions his experience with Steve Rupp. I about sprayed the drink in my mouth all over the table. So at this one firm Jared's father-in-law and Reed's father-in-law are both partners . . . which means every attorney in SLC that I have ever met works at one firm.

We actually bumped into Mr. Rupp on our way back to their office. I said hi. He recognized me. So, Jared, does my association with you hurt or help my prospects professionally? I wonder the same thing with Reed . . .

that is all

brad

Turkey Day

We are planning a progressive thing again. So hopefully you all can attend all the courses, but if you have dual feasts, you can pick your courses. We will start at Grandma C's around noon with appetizers and salads. The meat and potato course will be here at Madsen's at 2pm. Then when we feel up to it we will go to Todd and Val's for dessert. So far, Val, Rich, Brad and families will be here. Karma and all her kids, Uncle Jim and his family. Also Coach Schmidt encourages all of you to run a 5K Thanksgiving morning!!! More details will follow when I get them.
Mom

California

Kim,
We arrive in San Jose at about 12:30 on Monday. I figure we won't be out of the airport till 1:30. So, we could be to Daly City by 2:30? Is that early enough to do anything before you have to go to work? It probably the only day we can make it up. I'll be in a conference every other day all day. Friday our flight leaves at 2:30. How long is the drive from your place to Monterrey?

Thanksgiving Plans

We are planning on driving up for Thanksgiving on Wednesday night and spending Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls and the day after Thanksgiving. Friday night we will drive up to Driggs for Saturday and Sunday. Val we'd like to go look at the land with you guys while we are up there if you guys are going to be around and I'd like to go see that model home you like so much. They'd probably be open on Friday after Thanksgiving??

Knudson Tax Cut!

Thank you for the tax cut, Kim and Christian! This Dem Party ad tries to convince me the tax break AND the budget surplus are bad. Riiiiiight....those dirty Republicans managed the budget so well that there was a billion dollar surplus, and then they want to pass the savings on to me, and I am supposed to be peeved?! Yeah Mr. Knudson!

brad

Morgan Does Halloween

Morgan was a Teletubie for the holiday. Everybody at law school thought she was a lightening bolt. They had a party were people brought thier children and dressed up. It was fun. Lots of kids! That was about all we did for holloween. We didn't get a single trick or treater!

brad 

Candy Candy Candeeee

We only went ot about 4 houses, but each house loaded us up with handfulls of candy! We didn't run into any other Trick-or-Treaters . . . so I think the people were excited that we were brave enought to go out. The people we did trick-or treat at were soo friendly! And the houses were decked out with spooky jack-o-lanturns and goulish decorations. I htink our neighborhood is really nice - maybe we just started early (6:30? it was totally dark by then -) but it made me sad that kids weren't running all over the streets.

Texas vs. Texas Tech

Did anyone watch the Texas vs. Texas Tech game on Saturday? Not since watching a USU game have I seen a team try to give away a win as much as Texas did. They turned the ball over twice in the last 5 minutes in their own side. Fortunately, Texas Tech could not convert on 4th down either time so Texas won. I saw that BYU won, dare I ask how USU did?

Halloween Party

Kade and Ty's little neighbor friend had a Halloween party the morning after we went to Barney so we had Riley come to the party with us while Val and Todd and Macie went shopping. Despite what Kade's costume might look like - he is not dressed up as a member of the KKK he is a ghost! He was insistant on being a ghost and this is all we could find - but he loves it! They had fun at the party - they played games, ate pizza and cupcakes, danced around and ate candy.

We Loved Barney!!!

Ali, thank you for the Barney tickets - we loved it! It really was fun. It was really loud and interactive not to mention our tickets were on the 4th row which made it even more fun.
Ty hated meeting Barney - he screamed a lot! But he loved the show and was entertained the entire 90 minutes. Here is a picture of the kids eatting the popcorn the kids in front of us spilled on the floor - gross, I know - but they enjoyed it! :) and we didn't have to buy popcorn! Thanks again Ali! We loved it!

Oops!

Kylie, Of course I forgot to pay you for the gift card. I remembered when I was in the bathroom at Mandarin. I tried to catch you, but you had left already. Anyway, I'll put it in the mail tomorrow. Thanks for getting it.

We are excited for Barney tomorrow. It will be quite the adventure. We will make sure to take plenty of pictures so those of you who can't/won't attend won't miss anything!

In other news, I have put the dream house idea on hold. We were out in the Fairway Estates subdivision looking at the lots for sale. We drove by a house for sale and got the agent write up on it. It was for sale for 329K, but the property taxes were $5099 a year. SOOO, those of you who dream of living in Idaho Falls can dream no longer. Not that my dream house would cost that much, but it did put things in perspective. I remembered why we decided to buy in the county. The swells don't seem so bad now. What would that be? Like 425 a month in taxes!!?? Idaho Falls really is lame. Just thought I let you know.

29 years old

Happy birthday, Kim !! Oct 23rd, 1977. I remember when you were born and Aunt Luella took Jared and Rich to her house and brought them back with the chicken pox! such fun, a new baby and two sick kids! Actually, I think she kept the boys until they were scabbed over. I mailed your present on Friday, so there is a slight chance you will get it on your birthday, watch for it. Have a great day, hug Ezri for us!!
Mom

Everyone Loves Barney

Val and Buffy,
I mailed the letters to you guys today. You have to bring the letter with you in order to get into the meet and greet. Your tickets are at will call under your names and you can pick them up at the concert. I had them put your seats together so you can sit by each other.

Val - if it isn't going to work out for you guys just let me know but I wanted to make sure you had the letter in time.

Buffy - from what we understand the meet and greet is basically you go through the line, get your picture taken and you're done. So it looks like there would be time for you guys to get dinner in between the meet and greet and the show.

If you guys have any other questions or anything just give me a call. Enjoy the show!

Rose's Gift

I have been talking to Rose and I am going to do a board for her babies room, so I will not be going in on the gift card.

We are planning to be there around 11ish and staying a couple hours and then going to Trent and Kylie's for Kylie to do my hair while Ty takes his nap. Then the plan is to go out to dinner for all that are around and want to go.

Halloween costume already?

If anyone wants to do a quick halloween card, I have time this week and next week.

Family Special:

$20 for a cd - with my e-mail in front corner of design
or printed 75cents each with my e-mail on the back

A life of Tests

I got the top score on my last test in my international finance class. I decided it would be a good time to sign up for the GMAT as confidence was high. I hope that I can be as lucky on it and start applying to Grad schools... My professor also announced he's looking for a few students to sponsor in the CFA exams. The first level would be free, I figure I might as well go and talk to him to see if Ican get one of the scholarships to take a test. I am sure there will be more tests followed by more test in the future.

Angel's Landing

The ledge behind us is one of the scary parts of the hike we took in Zion's Park last week. There is a chain to grab on to at certain places. It really was awesome and we should do it (the adults) together some day. I had a hard time sleeping that night, when I would shut my eyes I'd see the drop off and be scared!

Rose Baby Shower

Girls, How does a gift card to the Stork Landing sound for the shower? It is a cute baby store in Logan. Anyone who wants can go in 15 with Kylie and me. Buffy, you can, but you should give her vinyl stuff! :) Post back if you are in, we will have Kylie get the card for the shower. Kylie, is that ok if we all pay you on Saturday?

ALi, I forgot to ask if you found some good deals at the Children's Place store last week. Did they still have some stuff?

Huntsman Senior Games

Anybody heard anything from the games? The website doesn't have any men's results listed yet.

Kids Christmas Exchange

I drew names for the kids for the christmas exchange - I don't know how you all want to do it, with my family we usually put a $10.00 price limit on the gifts so it doesn't get too expensive for those with multiple kids. If you have ideas or suggestions please post them.

Here is the list of who the kids have - the name on the left is the kid and the name on the right is the name they have to buy a gift for.

Lydia - Morgan
Brooke - Ty
Michael - Macie
Alex - Ezri

Kade - Alex
Ty - Riley

Ezri - Michael

Riley - Brooke
Macie - Kade

Morgan - Lydia

The good 'ole van

Val,
Darron said that they bought the van with 70,000 miles. It's only had one other owner who traded it in at the same dealership he bought it at and just got the new model. It gets 20-24 MPG. He said he'd cut you a deal and not to worry about Trent's commission (sorry Trent, we'll talk about it later). If you have any other questions I'll pass them along or I can just give you their phone number and you can talk to Sara.
Ky

Red Neck Pride

Your not "Idaho" until you grab a couple cans of spray paint and add some school pride to your car.




brad

Emotion Bowl

Skyline 28 Idaho Falls 21

Best Birthday EVER!

Happy Birthday, Rich! Todd told me you got the coolest give from mom... The Tremmors movie gift set!? Is there something I don't know? A childhood fascination? A secret thing for Kevin Bacon?...or was mom just way off base? :) Hope you had a good day.

Ty is smokin' the peace pipe!

Ty has had really wheezy breathing the last 2 days and I took him into the doctor here in Driggs today and she has him taking a steroid for the inflamation in his lungs and on breathing treatments on a machine called a nebulizer? It looks like he is smoking a peace pipe - he really hates it and gets so mad he bites down on the pipe part and just bites so hard he shakes. And on top of all that he has an ear infection. Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon.

Christain gets a job . . . kind of

So, he finished this one for his dad, and gets a call the same day from some random guy who wants a portrait of his wife done! So he will be busy for a few weeks. I think he has one more request for a family portrait before Christmas, too. It's all very exciting!!

I got a little brother for my birthday!

I went to my mom's house after work yesterday and had the best birthday present I could ever want. A little brother! No my mom's not a medical marvel having a baby with out any of us knowing, My younger brother got sent home from his mission for hernia surgery. The poor kid was all drugged up and looked like he was in a lot of pain, he broke out into a grin and said "happy b-day Ky!" I feel bad for him but its nice to see him in the middle of his mission. My little sister told all her friends that he's home because of a porn problem and Trent keeps calling the hernia Hemroids. He's got all the mormon movies lined up to watch because he still has to live like a missionary. The stake Pres. came into the dentist office to tell my oldest brother and I that we have to live like missionaries too because we will have to "Bradley sit" and be his comp because my dad and other brother are in Canada this week. Its all just really random!

Run Faster, Morgan!

Here are a few pics from the greater IF Region.

Holiday Card examples are coming soon!

Weekend Review - Traffic, meat, football

This weekend I took Kylie to the Hale Center Theatre to see Beauty and the Beast for her B-day. We left Logan at 5:00 and arrived in SLC arounf 8:30. Traffic was unaccomidating to our needs and we missed half the show. The theatre was sympathetic for our late arrival and offered us 2 drinks on the house. From what we saw, the show was good. We got home a little after midnight.

We started the following morning with new vigor as we headed to the Ag BBQ. We were slightly dissapointed as there was a no-show by Todd and Val, but felt they were the ones missing out. I am proud to report that I had 4 different animals on my plate after the first round; Lamb, Beef, Pork, and Turkey. Oddly enough, chicken was not to be found and thus I was held to the 4 animals. Maybe next year I can reach 5. The animals, milk, and onion rings quickly began to disagree with one another in my stomach so we abruptly left the BBQ grounds. There was a feeling similar to that after eating the black beans in my Southwest Chicken Wrap at Citrus Grill, I think Rich will best understand this feeling. Maybe Brad too in Brazil.

A few lighter pounds later, I headed to the football game. Ah yes, Aggie football. What could be better. The joy of the first Aggie touchdown constituted a phone call to Brad. My excitment was tamed as he explained BYU had beat 15th ranked TCU. Aggies scored again quickly and were up 14-0. They later self imploded and lost 41-21. Dale also felt the need to proclaim the first touchdown as he called near halftime. There were 2 events that stuck out in my mind from the game.

1) On the 29 yard line on 4th and 9 the Aggies line up for a field goal. The hike was made and the place holder stood up and punted the ball...... 11 yards later, boos were heard echoing Romney Stadium. The fake field goal punt on the 29 yard line with the score 17-14........right....
2) They played Our Freshman QB who was going to Red-shirt this year.Maybe this will bring new hope to the team. He looked good for his first collegiate plays.

Trent

Cell Phone Lost and found (Again)

Morgan came home from cross- country practice yesterday and told me her pants had been stolen! They were in the Skyline locker room and had money and the cell phone and her activity card in the pockets!. Schmidt and the team looked in the garbage cans and everywhere but there were no pants! Kerry Martin said he would review the security camera films. I went to the school today to see if anything had been found, but alas, said Schmidt - nothing. He was very sorry, but what are you going to do? so once again I called and suspended my service. Shortly thereafter, I get a calll from a girl in the ward, Kristie Barker, she says to me I just opened my volleyball bag and there is a pair of pants in here with Morgan's activity card and alot of money!! I was thrilled! She was mortified. She showed me her pair of pants and belt that did look just like Morgan's, but a larger size. she just stuffed them in her bag and went to Madison to her volleyball match. If her mother hadn't insisted on her cleaning her room before going to the football game, who knows how long they would have been undiscovered! So the phone is found again. I feel much better about security at SHS.

Baby Blessing announcement

Kim,
We just got the baby blessing announcement for Sarah and Shane's twins - the announcement turned out so cute!! Great job! I am planning on getting family pictures is the next couple of weeks and then we will hopefully be able to use one of them for a Christmas card. I have mentioned the christmas card idea to some of my sisters too and they thought they'd probably have you do them as well.

christmas exchange??

Is anyone interested in doing a gift exchange for the kids at Christmas?? There are enough of them now that we could actually do one. Just a thought!

Todd's still in the know

Logan, (UT)--Utah State University Aggie football practice was delayed nearly two hours today after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Brent Guy immediately suspended practice and called the police and federal investigators. After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance unknown to the players was the GOAL LINE. Practice resumed after the special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again.

Brian Carter
Daily Herald / Home Choice Magazine

Recap and Box Score

We had alot of fun seeing everyone and watching the game. Everybody showed up at our place around 11 and we had pizza, loaf, rootbeer, some really nasty carrots and alot of fun. Rich brought his co-worker who wore more BYU gear than me and even sported a BYU cast on his arm.

The game itself was even less-than-predicted. I, as well as others, figured USU would score somehow. BYU was without 2 starting lineman and by the end of the game was playing with a 3rd string freshman center. Also, BYU's starting QB was sidelined with an ankle sprain(on Sunday, he was still wearing a boot). USU did get good field position out of it a few times in the second half, leading to the most dramatic moments in the game, USU's field goal attempts. Let me recap.

The first attempt looked like it was going to be a sure thing. USU was close and kicking from the left hash. We chanted "Block that kick". I think the USU kicker was frightened, because he proceeded to drill the ball at about chest level into the line of scrimmage. Perhaps he is prone to hypnosis or subliminal messages. Somehow, we were able to direct his actions with our chanting.

The second "kick" was from further out and had Trent on pins and needles. He informed us that the PK range was around 30 - 35 yards and that this kick was at the limits of reasonableness for him. I wonder if he talked to the snapper. The ball was hiked and flew over the place-holder, over the kicker and then 30 yards in BYU's favor. The kicker got to it after a short jog and covered it. Some people are thinking the snapper must have believed they were punting, not kicking a field goal. That would be the best explanation for his actions, but who lines up on the 25 yard line and thinks they are punting? I guess USU does have a small issue with the reefer, maybe some thought-inhibbiting substances were passed around at half-time. Trent took it pretty well.

Aunt Morgan and Grandma Madsen slept though parts of the game. The sun was out and it felt hot. Because of forcasts for cold and rain, some people had brought their arctic wear. Fortunatly, they were able to use it as nesting and bedding. Baby Morgan slept through the third and fourth quarter. Once the score gets out of hand, she loses interest.

brad

this is the one I did for the Wilde-Behren's announcement

It was mounted on black cardstock and folded into a card.
They turned out very nice.

I thought the dad with no shirt and a cigarette was classic . . .

5 Better, Free Tickets

Family,

We started asking around for extra tickets. Here is what we came up with.

Reed's Fiance is not going to be able to go. We can have her student ticket. It is right next to Ali and I and Reed. If you do not have a student ID from an institution of Higher Education, you would have to pay 5 bucks to use this. Or, you could trade tickets with Trent, who has a Student ID and also has a General Admissions ticket.

Also, Alison asked her Boss if the station's tickets were being used. They were not. He gave her Four sideline tickets (together) on the westside on the 39th row (Sec 2 row 39 seats 23-26. They are in the lower half of the west side, on the south end of those seats.) Assuming that you don't mind being close to the field and somewhere between the 15-30 yard line. Click to See Seating Chart

Anyway, we would LOVE for somebody to use these tickets. If we can't think of anybody, we will probably give the student ticket to a friend. Mom, Dad, Trent, Trent's wife, if nobody else wants to come you could have these tickets and try to sell yours. However it works out, great.


So, Val? Todd? Emily Bateman? Aunt and Uncle Bateman? I would guess that hierarchy would go from imediate family to extended family, so let us know who is interested.

You might be asking "Hey, why did we even buy tickets!" None of this was expected, sorry.

Freakishly, the weather forcaste is for Cold, with a small chance of percipitation.

brad and Ali

The weather's fine

yeah-
since we are not into football - and nobody is going back to school this year (Thank Goodness!!) This season is all about enjoying the weather and saving up for a trip to the mountainous regions of Utah and Idaho this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Ezri is up each morning at the crack of dawn singing and scooting around in her crib - much to the delight of her father, she is happy alone in her room for about an hour until the singing and babbling becomes whining and grunting for someone to wake up and get her. She is so strong and happy - we are very blessed that she is a little girl who loves to laugh - at anything and everything. It's like a game to figure out what she's laughing at so we can duplicate it for her entertainment. Yesterday it was undetermined the exact thing that was so funny, but she laughed like crazy while I was getting ready to go to the post office? I couldn't find my glasses and was looking all over. She laughed and laughed.

I had an order for announcements from a non-relative. It was a huge order!! She even ordered a 3 panel card with a custom design. It was so much fun to put together and she was so happy with it. Any ideas on promoting this little busuiness?

My new work schedule starts in 3 weeks, and I am not going to be getting up at 3 am to go to work anymore. This is good. We miss you all and love you all and are planning on traveling out there this November.

Craft Fair/Babysitter???

Pat,
My sister and I are doing the Burley craft fair again the end of Oct. and since all my other sisters had babies in the last few weeks we are not going to have any help in our booth and will probably need our husbands to come help us - but then we don't have any babysitters. If you guys are going to be around that weekend would you mind watching the boys?? Or Morgan if she is going to be around. I am a little worried it might be the same time as the Senior Games. It is the weekend of the 28th of Oct. We need to be in Burley Friday the 27th in the late afternoon and the craft fair is all day on Saturday the 28th. Will you let me know if you guys will even be around and if you could watch the boys. If you are going to be gone I may ask a huge favor Val!!

BYU v. USU (NOT A LEGAL CASE!!!)

Aight.

Richard asked what the plans for Saturday are. May I suggest:

We would love to have people over for some kind of pregame tailgate-food. My suggestion would be take-and-bake pizza's. We can get Family Sized Pepperonis for 7 bucks and Family Sized Perfect (Half Pprni, Half Hawaiian) for 8 bucks. I really like this pizza, too. A family sized pizza will easily feed four hungry adults. If space looks like a Problem, we could actually tail-gate in our parking lot. But unless anyone else has a plan to feed us pre-game, everyone is invited to show up.

After food, I think the best thing to do is drive from our Apt. to the Indoor Practice Facility and park on the north side. We did this last time and it worked well. We left home about 1/2 hour before the game and didn't have any problems with traffic/parking. The walk from there to LaVell Edwards' Stadium is just a couple blocks.

IF anyone is showing up earlier than 11:00 (kick-off is 1 PM), we could go play Frisbee Golf. It is like real golf. But Free. And played by nerds. I can round up some PDGA discs for anyone that wants to play. If we left our Apt. around 10-10:30 we could have a foursome play 18 holes in about an hour. The park with the course is south of our Apt. and has tables and kids toys. We could feasible plan to eat at the park and play Frolf and then leave from there to the game. Suggestions Welcome.

I might be able to find an extra ticket or two, is there anyone else that would like to come? Todd? Emily B.?

brad

One to forget

For some reason I was under the illusion that this year Utah State football could pull out a few wins and be over 500 for the first time in aobut ten years. After tonights 48-0 loss against Utah, I am thinking I will see some history. The first winless year in a while. The game did have some good news as I was able to win 50 bucks during the tailgate pre-game party. THey had a jeopordy like game and due to some minor technicalities I was the first one to 5 points and won the game. I really only had 4 points, but the score keeper had some issues, and the contestants thought I had 5 too. They gave me the money too quick to explain the situation. I would have won anyways, I was cruisin to the lead.

I also attended the USU Business college scholarship banquet this week. Elder Tom Perry was the key note speaker, he was awarded some type of distinguished alumni award. His talk was short and sweet. They fed us spinach, I warned the table of the E-coli outbreak and saved some lives.

Disney Info. for Jared

Jared - As I was cleaning things today I found all my Disneyland hotel information. We stayed at the Portofino Inn & Suites Ph. #714-782-7600. It was in walking distance of Disneyland but they also had a shuttle that ran every 20 min. We had a 2 Bdrm. suite ( 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 King beds and 2 pull out queen beds) for $169.95/night. They had a mini fridge and microwave in the rooms. They also had an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub.

When we went to Sea World we stayed at the Staybridge Suites in the Rancho Bernardo Area. They were really nice. It is about a 30 minute drive (15 miles) from Sea World. There ph# 858-487-0900. We had a 2 Bdrm suite for $189.00/night it had 2 bathrooms and held up to 8 people. It had a full kitchen (fridge, oven/stove, microwave, plates/knives/forks) They also had a very nice/big free breakfast, free parking and an outdoor pool , No hot tub as I remember. There were lots of restaurants and stores around this area.

We were with other people and this was the cheapest way for us to stay - you probably can find cheaper rooms but we enjoyed these hotels and would recommend them.

Good Luck!

Scentsy Candles

To all the ladies out there - I am having a party with the Scentsy Candles. I gave one to Pat for her birthday that you may have seen. They are really neat! and if you like candles and having the smell of candles they are awesome. They are candle warmer that are heated by a 25 watt light bulb not a heating element so the wax never gets hot and will not burn your kids if they touch it or spill it on them. Plus it can be a little lamp or night light or whatever. They are so neat - and you'll never have to worry about having an open flame or remembing to blow it out. You could leave it on all night if you wanted to. You only have to buy one warmer and then you can buy the candle wax bars to change for whatever scents you want and change with the seasons. If you get sick of the scent you have you just melt the wax put it back in the original container and let it set up and you can reuse it again later and put a different scent in your warmer. Or now they have the candle wax bars that have break apart squares so you can choose how ever many squares of a certain scent you want to use and then when it is done you can change the scent or add more of the same scent. I think they are the greatest thing invented - as far as candles go. A warmer ( and they have so many to choose from) is $21.00 and then the candle wax bars are $4.99. So you only have to buy one warmer and then you can just buy the different candle wax bars for $4.99 when ever you want a different smell instead of buying a whole new candle for $20.00. They have a website www.scentsy.com that you can go to and see their different candle warmers and the different scents they have. It is hard to pick a scent that you can't smell. If you are interested I have all the scents here at my house and I could tell you the ones I like for Fall, or Christmas or Summer or everyday. If anyone is interested or around when I have my party it is Sept. 28th at my house. They also have air freshener and car air freshener too in some of the scents.

Grassy Knoll

We tried to do a before and after photo of the lawn, but the 'before' photo didn't quite work out. Just wanted to give those who slaved on a very hot July day - a little sense of accomplishment.

Grass Progression

Grandma Carver's heart

Well, its been a long week! I took Grandma C to the Uof U last Tuesday to have a new generator and lead put in her pacemaker. When they got into it they decided both leads needed to be replaced, so the pacemaker was moved to the other side of her chest. That means the leads move under her sternum over to the heart. It went well the Dr said, but after being moved to the floor, her blood pressure suddenly dropped and it was scary. I buzzed the nurse,while screaming at MOM to BREATHE!! I almost slapped her, but contained myself. Susan on the other hand did not contain herself and went out to the nurses desk and screamed at them! Alot of white coats came in and put in IVs, put her on oxygen, raised her feet and she came to with no recollection of it all, than kheavens.
Well, she came home the next day with Karma and Susan. They stayed here that night and went home on Friday. A couple of hours later I went over and she was not doing well, she said all of a sudden she was very weak and shaky. Being the expert diagnostitian that I am, I said she was just tired out and we should watch a movie!! Which we did - New York Doll, you should see it. when i put her in bed I realized just how weak she was and thought I should take her blood pressure, it was fine but her heart rate was 45. I then took her to the ER and they were so great- of course- its EIRMC. They hooked her up and tested the pacemaker and it wasn't working so they made alot of calls to SLC at midnight and got everyone up and made some adjustments. Today we went to her cardiologist here, who by the way sent her to SLC. One of the leads must have moved or come out or something so they have to go back in and fix it. She and I are very sad at this news, we have had enough of hospital stays/ but a Dr from SLC will be here on WEdnesday and will do the procedure. I wish the DR here could do it, I have alot more confidence in him., but because he wasn't the one to put the original in, he can't touch it. Say a prayer for her, she is pretty weak right now.
Love, Mom

Disney Trip - Reunion?

Adri had decided that for Christmas this year we are getting a Disney vacation. This is a surprise for the kids, so don't tell them (when would you?). Anyway, we thought we would let everyone know in case they wanted to join us. Our plans are very tentative at the moment, but this is what we are thinking. We'll be in Southern California for the first week of February. We're thinking of getting a Southern California City Pass (3 days in Disney, 1 at Sea World, 1 at Universal Studios, 1 at San Diego Zoo). We're thinking of staying for about 8 nights and spreading out the activities enough so that the kids (or is the parents?) don't go crazy. We chose February because it's considered the 'off season'. As a guide, it looks like 3 day Disney passes are $129, the City pass is $199 for adults, $159 for kids under 12. Kids under 3 are free.

Anyway, start thinking about it. We would love for anyone who can come. We wouldn't be planning activities for everyone, but I'm sure we could coordinate things if others were around.

Another day, another...

Law School plods along. Yesterday was interesting because of all the different classes and seminars. Theys started at 8 am with a 'make up class' because of Labor Day. 9 am was Property Law, 10 am Torts, 12 we had a Student Bar Association meeting. 1 pm was a Skills Training course. 2 pm was Civil Procedure class 3pm was a Academic Success class, 4pm was a review for the Civ Pro class and then I had a meeting with a TA at 6 pm. Inbetween all this you read and eat and write. It is a real grind, but I am going to take off today around 2 pm to go play Frisbee golf, so it isn't all bad.

One interesting thing has been the 'learning by doing' method. All it means is that they give you assignments, have you fail them, and THEN teach you how to do the task. For instance, they assigned us a legal Memorandum to write. We all tried, turned it in, were told we did it wrong, and then taught how to do it. Well, at least it gets your attention.

brad

KBYU

Ali, Teton Wireless switched from KBYU to Idaho Public Television for about two weeks. It was very distrubing since sesame street was no longer on at 1:00. After two weeks they switched back to KBYU. We were very happy. Do you know why?

First Day of Preschool!!

Today was Kade's first day of preschool. He was very excited to go and loved it!! Ty wanted to be just like Kade and had to wear a backpack - thanks to Ali we had this little one he could wear! Kade's teacher did call me after school to tell me a kick grabbed Kade's neck and scratched him - but Kade did seem to affected by it. I am just glad it wasn't him picking on the other kids.

Labor Day Fun!

We enjoyed our weekend staying home. We were very busy though. Friday I took the boys swimming, Saturday we went to Hogle Zoo with some friends and then to dinner. Sunday was a nice relaxing day, finished with a campfire at the neighbors where we sat around the fire and made smores. Today we did some yard work, exercised and finished the day off with a picnic and swimming. Very fun filled weekend! We hope you all had an enjoyable long weekend!

Some Rocket Pictures

Not a bad morning for Kodiak, there was even some sun later in the day.In this close-up you can see the ignition has already melted the hoses that run up the mast to supply heat to the rocket. You can also tell the rocket has moved a little bit because the heater blankets (the cover with the decals on it) has started to peel away near the top.

Fast for Hannah

Alan's daughter, Hannah has nephrotic syndrome. I think it is an auto-immune thing that usually occurs after an illness. Her kidneys are putting off alot of protein and she is retaining water and swelling up. she has been put on an IV of prednisone and diuretics. This has been going on for a couple of weeks. She went to Hawaii to see a specialist but he said to continue this treatment for awhile lnoger. If she doesn't improve she will go back and have a biopsy of the kidney done. I just spoke to Alan on the phone and he said there is some improvement and the swelling has gone down, but he would like us to fast for her tomorrow. Any one who would like to is invited to do so. thanks,
Mom

Week One Done!

Well, I never cried. Evidently, lots of people cry the first time a Prof calls on them in class and starts asking them lots of questions that they don't know the answers to. I supose a life of incompentence has prepared me for the abuses a 1L student experiences. Indeed, more than one noted speaker has said that getting use to inadequacy and failure were important steps to becoming a good law student...I think that means I have a leg up on the rest of the class. Hasn't phased me yet...

Actually, I think things have gone pretty well. I'm obviously not the smartest person to walk the halls of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, but I'm betting that I won't be the dumbest person to graduate from here, either. The point is, it is certainly possible. More than anything it is just alot of reading. We have the same classes everyday so you never have more than 24 hours to prepare yourself. Lots of people do look pretty freaked out. Truthfully, I don't know that I have ever been more comfortable with my situation. Did you know that only 3 people from the class of 2005 were unemployed three months after graduation, and that the average salary was 75k? Hey, its never been my intention to get rich, but those stats are ALOT more encouraging than the stats for Soc Students (I think I may have been the high-wage earner from my graduating class...).

Morgan is, reportedly, doing well with the baby sitter. Cindy is the sitter's name. She has a little boy who is just a few weeks older than Morgan. She also watches a 3 year old and a 8 month old from 3-5 everyday. She says Morgan is a peach and hardly fusses at all, but that she just kind of looks at the older kids in disbelief when the get riled up. I guess going for walks 3-4 hours a day with Dad didn't really prepare her for social situations.

that is all

brad

Huh?

Morgan, what happened to the "Grizz Girls" blog? I miss reviewing the intellectual conversations you had with your friends. Rock on Chubby Bunny!

80s themed prom!

We went to an 80s themed prom party last night. It was held at a hotel in one of their banquet rooms and we had 80s music and a buffet of food and desserts and drinks. There was a place to get pictures taken. A group of our friends put this together and sent out invitations and it turned out to be really fun. There were about 20 people there and everyone was dressed up in 80s attire.

USU Game and my new Carrel

I have spent 2 days at BYU Law Orientation. Law School is going to be intense. Maybe for no other reason than the expect me to read a few books a day. They did assign me my own study space with locking cabinets and drawers. It has a very 'lawyerly' feel to it. I had never seen them before yesterday, but everyone told me they were the bombshizzle. I don't know that they make us law-nerds any cooler, but they make us feel important.

Mom and Trent asked me about the BYU/USU game that is going to be in Provo and wanted to know about tickets. The game is Sept. 23rd at BYU. Kick-off is at 1pm. The best way to get tickets is to go online to www.byucougars.com and click tickets on the left and then follow the links. Student ticket (any University ID will work) are 14 and in the endzone. It looks like the only single-game tickets for this one are endzone seats for 17 bucks a peice. There are some goofy charges for ordering and delivering that they don't tell you about untill the very end, but there is no way to avoid them. You could also call the ticket office at 1-800-322-2981. We would be happy to pick up tickets for anybody at the ticket office, but I am pretty sure it is not any cheaper and you can actually print your ticket at home now.

The only other recomendation I could make is you could call up a season ticket holder and see if they plan on using their seats and offer to buy them from them. Or, I am sure you could buy tickets the day-of from a scalper...prices are usually very similar to face value and you could probably get better seats but there is a chance BYU could be winning and USU could be losing by only a touch-down or 3 and the ticket could be a real hot commodity. I'll start asking around to see if I can find a student who has tickets who just won't be there and is feeling generous, but if you really want to plan on comming I would just say buy tickets. We live about a 30 minute walk from LaVell Edwards Stadium. We have thought about either walking or biking to the stadium. We would be happy to do some sort of food at our place before the game should anyone decide to come.

brad

Goon Pics