The BYU vs. Utah football game is bad for my health

Scores for games I have either been at or watched on TV:

1993 - BYU 31, Utah 34
1996 - BYU 37, Utah 17
1997 - BYU 14, Utah 20
1998 - BYU 26, Utah 24
1999 - BYU 17, Utah 20
2000 - BYU 34, Utah 27
2001 - BYU 24, Utah 21
2002 - BYU 6, Utah 13
2003 - BYU 0, Utah 3
2004 - BYU 21, Utah 52
2005 - BYU 34, Utah 41
2006 - BYU 33, Utah 31
2007 - BYU 17, Utah 10
2008 - BYU 24, Utah 48
2009 - BYU 26, Utah 23

I have highlighted the games that were close, usually these come down to the last play of the game. (Like today's overtime game)

I stopped getting season tickets years ago, after it started getting too expensive to get more than two sets of tickets. (Kate always wanted to go when she was little, but never wanted to stay for the whole game, which was a problem if Tara and I wanted to go. It started getting easier to just not get season tickets.) Since that time I have gone to a couple of games, wither buying tickets off someone, or having Drew give me tickets.

I wasn't planning on going today, but one of the families I home teach called 30 minutes before the game started and asked if I wanted tickets to the game, someone gave him some, but he had another commitment. I ended up taking their 11 year old boy, Isaac to the game. (Rich was telling me that Isaac was excited to go, and all our kids were in their rooms 'taking a nap'.)

We ended up sitting about 30 rows up in the North East endzone. Not bad seats at all. (Much better picture from those seats than the picture you get on TheMtn TV.) Directly in front of us were 6 Utah fans, one of which was pretty obnoxious. The dude took a drink cup, tore out the bottom, and was using it as a megaphone all night long. Late in the third quarter, I got tired of him turning and yelling at me, and almost snatched the cup out of his hand. I very nearly did it once, then stopped myself again. I figured there were 6 of them, and although Isaac may have made an ok wingman, he was only 11...

The guy had been chanting "cheater, cheater" all game long when BYU got a penalty, after I resolved not to take his cup, I started shouting over his 'cheater, cheater' chant with "Dirty Ute Fan" as loud as I could. Everyone around me liked this, and the guy stopped his 'cheater' chants after two of my 'dirty' chants over his, which was nice.

How did the game end this year? Utah scored three times in the fourth quarter to tie the game and go to overtime. Utah scored a field goal in overtime, then BYU scored a touchdown. Thousands of BYU fans stormed the field. The annoying Utah fan high fived all of us behind him after, congradulating us on the win, so I guess it was a good thing I didn't snatch his cup. (But it would have been funny.) Isaac and I didn't storm the field with everyone else, we walked back to the car.

Sometimes I don't know why I watch the BYU/Utah football game. It's bad for my heart... If I ever develop some sort of heart condition I will definitely have to stop watching.

The trees

The house was still relatively clean today, so we set up the Christmas trees. It might be a record.

A couple of years ago we got two trees for $5 from Sears. (90% off after Christmas.) I made space for both of them this year, so the girls were able to hang all the ornaments we have on the trees. (They didn't all fit last year.)

Lily and Adam have already tried going after the trees, hopefully we can condition them to stay away soon...

Surviving Thanksgiving

We appear to have survived another Thanksgiving. Tara's Mom took care of the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pies. (Emma said that Grandma's pumpkin pie is best, mine is number two. I use 'real' pumpkin, not canned. It's just nice when Emma eats...)

I made less pie than last year. In addition to pumpkin, we had chocolate, banana cream, apple, and berry pies, and a pistachio cake, that you can see below. I also made a savory butternut squash pie that was pretty good. (No one touched the apple or berry pies yet, I assume they are good, but sometimes you have to wait to see with Thanksgiving...)

Tara's parents came over, Tom came over, and my cousin Emily came over. It was the first time meeting her, even though she's been here in town for 3 1/2 years. She seemed nice, she's an English major, and works in the same English writing place Tara used to work in. Hopefully she enjoyed the visit, the kids were a little crazy a couple of times. Anyhow, it was good to meet her.

If I was hungry at all right this very minute, I would load up some mashed potatoes, corn and gravy int he microwave. Good thing it will still be there tomorrow. The kids are looking forward to "pie for breakfast." Skipping naps, and making them play outside for an hour before dinner, resulted in them all going to bed and going to sleep tonight. Added bonus.

Also tomorrow - the annual "cursing at the Christmas lights."

I call it "Exhibit A"

My pistachio cake skills need a little honing. Anyone here by 2:30 or 3:00 today can have a piece...

Heaping helping of Shepard's Pie

We ate it last week. And the leftovers are gone, sorry. Does this classify as teasing?

Proof that the boy can stand, if no one is watching him...

...but only when "Go, Diego, Go" is on TV...

Bohemian Meepsody

Tithing Settlement - 2009 edition

Tithing settlement last year was - shall we say, 'interesting'... The Bishop was telling me this morning that he recently re-read the blog entry remembering that interview.

We went today, things went a little bit better this year than last, I think. Maybe it was because Lily and Ruth spent the hour before chasing each other through the house and were tired. Maybe it was because they had something to eat before we went over. Or maybe, just maybe, for once this weekend they listened to us when we told them we wanted them to behave...

Anyhow, the Bishop asked Ruth if she was a full tithe payer. Ruth told him she was four. At one point, he was talking to all the girls, and Lily's shoe fell off. She said "That was just my shoe". The Bishop didn't hear her, and asked what she said. Lily's response? "Just kidding."

Whatever. At least they enjoy the opportunity to pay tithing.

An Evening with a bored (or boring) guy

We have a standing babysitter every Thursday night. This is kind of nice when we want to go out to eat, or to the temple, or to a play, etc. The problem is that Tara sometimes has things on Thursdays that leave me out on the street. (Book clubs, things like that, where men are not exactly welcome.) I think I have gotten boring, I have a hard time figuring what to do. One week I took Lily to the library and an ice cream. One week I sat at a buffet reading magazines.

Today was one of the days where I went out looking for something to do. We have someone in our ward moving to China in about two months, I sent him a message earlier in the day, to see if he needed help with his house, he didn't.

Tara and I went out to get something to eat, but she had a limited time to get something. There is an In-and-Out that opened here today, we drove past there, there was a giant line out the door, and an even longer line to the drive through. (I'm guessing more than 50 cars.) Tara got something from Teryaki Stix, I passed and took her to her book club.

I went to a furniture store to look at recliners. My recliner is starting to show it's age. (It's kind of falling apart. I'm thinking about starting a "John Payne recliner fund") The place I went had a bunch, some were nice. I texted Tom to see if he was hungry, he was on a date, eating.

I left the furniture place, and drove around looking for a place to eat. The Smokehouse was closed. Are they permanently closed, or just early? I went to Tommy Burger, they were open, and I waited in the place, but no employee showed. It's a really small place, no room to hide really. Not sure what the deal is, but I didn't rob the place while I was there. Or get any Chili fries. There were one or two other places I thought about, but the next was closed, so I gave up.

I drove up to Orem, and decided to stop at Kohl's. I have been sort of looking for a particular type of pie plate for about 3 years. I found one in New Jersey 18 months ago, but my luggage was too full already. No deal at Kohl's, either. Anyone use a silicone baking mat? Are they nice?

5 Guys Burger and Fries is near there, I drove by, there were something like 300 people all standing around the movie theater. I didn't know what the deal was, but just kept driving by and stopped at Costco. I got pistachios and olive oil. (That's what I am thinking about having for dinner at this point.)

After Costco, I thought about trying 5 Guys again, still people all over the theater, the signs around them said "New Moon". I avoided the first movie, (was there a second, or is this it?) I plan to avoid this one. 5 Guys was full of people. I kept driving.

Am I a boring person? I used to have friends around I could hang out with anytime, but they are all gone now. Maybe I should try harder with some of the people I know, but there is also the possibility that there's just nothing around here to do. I can stay plenty busy sitting at home, or sitting at work, or sitting at the church, but outside of that, not so much.

Maybe it's time for a mid-life crisis...

Restaurant Review

Chuck-a-Rama

On Friday night, Tara had an all evening Relief Society activity. For Halloween, someone at work was giving out free kids meal passes to all the kids. After Tara left for her thing at 4:30, I marshalled all the kids together, and told them if they had all three of their bedrooms cleaned by 6pm, I would take them out to eat. Off they went. This gave me time to do a load of dishes, put away some laundry, and watch the day's recording of PTI before I had to do much, kids wise.

The kids got done at 5:30pm, so off we went. (It turns out this was a perfect time to go, when we left the restaurant at 7pm, there were about 75 people waiting in line to get in. There wasn't a line at 5:45pm...) With the free kids meals, the total bill came to under $12 for 7 of us, which is quite the deal.

Anyhow, some people might think one guy taking 6 kids ten and under to a restaurant by himself was crazy, and maybe it was. Turns out the kids were very well behaved. It was amazing enough to the people around us that all the old ladies kept coming over to comment. I like to think the kids were just hungry.

The funny thing about being there was the looks some of the people around me gave as I was getting the kids food. I would go up and get a heaping pile of fries, and six fried chicken legs, and take it back. Funny looks from people because of the volume of fries and chicken. Go back and get a full plate of potato salad, and six giant rolls. More funny looks. It was kind of humorous.

I am not sure I have ever been in the place on Friday night, but they had a Friday night Fish fry thing going on. I really liked the seasoned fries, fried shrimp, and fried fish they had out. It was the majority of what I ate that night. I would definitely recommend the place for a Friday night. (Every day they have a different speciality. Thursday is Taco Taco Thursday, or something like that.)

I think the girls enjoyed it. Tara and I had planned all week to take Mary out to lunch for her birthday. (Mary actually demanded it. Her sisters got the same treatment this year for their birthdays, and Mary is not one to let that kind of thing slip by unnoticed...) Tara asked Mary where she wanted to go Saturday morning, Mary told Tara she wanted to go to a different Chuck-A-Rama than the one the night before. I braced myself for a trip back, and off we went.

Saturday is Italian day. I think Mary enjoyed it. I watched for the people piling on huge plates of food, then going back for more a few minutes later. There were at least two people doing that then. I guess you can always pick the parents of little kids out of a crowd at the buffet...

A perfect example of what the day after Halloween looks like

She's actually crying because she's missing some sort of toy, but I am sure it is enhanced by lack of sleep and too much sugar...

One good thing about a big pile of Halloween candy - the crash after the sugar high. We are on our second day of children actually going to sleep when they are put to bed. Perfect way to break up the daylight saving time change problem... Some people ration out their kids Halloween candy, we let them at it, it gets it out of here, and you don't end up with little wrappers all over the house for the next two months...