For those of you that actually read this blog, (i'm not sure a lot of people even know I have one) Merry Christmas! I hope you have a great holiday and enjoy the time with your loved ones. It's this little guys first christmas, and I'm stoked I get to be a part of it!
This is Caleb "opening" his first Christmas gift ever!
I can now say I am officially done with Fall semester 2011! It feels a bit surreal, but so amazing!
Now I can catch up on all the movies I haven't watched due to studying, and catch up with friends, and of course listen to this group particularly this song over and over :)
It has finally reached the end of the semester click here to what is going on in my head when I think about it. (I love this song!) But as I have been studying I oft times find myself thinking things similar but not quite like this:
Last night I went to the season opener for the University of Utah Men's Basketball. It was so much fun! I got to see good basketball from both sides, some I watch basketball with really don't like that I have this view. I figure that since I love and respect the game I cheer for whoever is playing, yes, I did cheer for my Utes, and yes we did win, but San Diego Christian College played really well and I was very impressed with their low post players!
Enough with my opinion of basketball, my friend Kristie and I are members of the MUSS and had planned to sit in the MUSS section, however, as my awesome roommate Des decided to join us (she isn't an official member of the MUSS) we decided just to sit in the general admission section or so we thought...
We walked into the arena and scanned the open seats, Des pointed to a section and said something like, how about this section? Kristie and I agreed so while Des went to get some food we went down to about the 4th or 5th row and decided we would sit there. I am so glad we did! The U decided to pick a row of season ticket holders to be the "season ticket holder row of the night". We were all watching the game when they announced this and I looked up and saw the people at the other end of the row with Swoop and turned to Des and said, "that's our row..." indeed it was! We got a free meal (which they took our order and brought it to us), free mini basketball (a legit basketball, not a plastic rubber ball) and an awesome card with the Coach Krystkowiak's signature on it! It was awesome!! I'll admit, I was feeling a bit guilty to get the stuff as we aren't season ticket holders, then Des pointed out that we likely bought the stuff with our tuition money (we pay close to $10,000 a year for instate tuition! ridiculous!!) Needless to say, I didn't feel too bad after that, and am loving my free stuff!
Here Des and I are holding up our loot! ( you can't see the basketball or our awesome reusable cups!)
This is what our cups look like (Des has two as she had previously bought a drink... in hindsight, not sure she needed to buy her dinner earlier) ;)
To sum up the night; Cost of the game=free, mid-game snack=free, mini basketball=free, card with coach's signature=free (if we play well this year and in the future it may end up being worth a lot of money), Picking our seats=priceless! and of course; spending time with friends=fantastic, especially since it too was free!
Life is good! Check this out for another awesome description of our night!
I had the opportunity to attend this years Blackout game vs. Oregon State. It was so much fun! Kristie had never been to a live college football game before, and this needed to be changed, what better game to attend then the blackout game?
Just before kickoff :)
We had pretty good seats!
One of the many sacks on Oregon State's QB :)
"haha, wait what....?!"
"Jerk! You took my picture?!"
3rd down jump!
We won 27-8! First Pac-12 win and I was there!
We even had a visit from some former Utes who have a bye week this week. Matt Asiata (front) and Shaky Smithson (back).
The game was really fun, and worth braving the cold to watch it live! (It wasn't nearly as cold as I thought it would be.)
and of course, you can't not see the football team singing Utah Man with the MUSS, you can only hear a few of the words, but it was awesome!
Sorry for the horrible quality, but it is from my phone.
As John Denver wrote in his song This Old Guitar;
"This old guitar taught me to sing a love song
It showed me how to laugh and how to cry
It introduced me to some friends of mine
And brightened up some days
It helped me make it through some lonely nights
Oh, what a friend to have on a cold and lonely night."
I first read this quote when it was over the door of my high school guitar teachers door. Since the time I first touched Willis, my acoustic guitar, (yes, I named my guitar I think it helps me appreciate it more) I have loved the guitar, especially the acoustic! It was during this class that I began to love country music. I mean really, what other genre has an emphasis on guitars both acoustic and electric that are pleasing to the ear the entire time. There are some songs out there that have amazing guitar solos such as Led Zepplin and "Stairway to Heaven" or Elton John and "Funeral for a Friend (Love lies bleeding)" which is one of my all-time favorites, more for the piano and guitar than the lyrics, but I do really love most, emphasis on most, of Elton John's music. Back to country music. I was introduced to Brad Paisley from my cousin and he immediately became one of my favorite country artists. As such, I was stoked when the song "This is Country Music" came out!
How true the lyrics are! His entire album "This is Country Music" is amazing! Granted like any album there a few songs that I would consider let downs, BUT overall it is a great album.
Best part of being able to play the guitar, is I get to watch videos like the above and pick them out on my guitar, make my own music from them and they almost always turn out much better than I expected!
As John Denver said, "What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night." Willis truly is one of my best friends, I sure am glad I invested in him those many years ago, I definitely wouldn't have the same love for music without him! :)
I know I'm biased but I really do believe that I have the best church calling, it may be due to the fact that I get to play all the time, but I think it's more or less due to the people I work with. You are guaranteed a smile whenever you are around them, and as Lindsay and I have discovered, we start to act like the high councilmen too...which of course always results in laughter. :) Here are a few picture from this last Tuesday at stake volleyball.
I mean really, how many callings let you eat cafe rio while reffing a volleyball game? If you look close in the background you can see that we got popsicles too!
See we do take it seriously sometimes...
Then not so much...
We even make faces at each other to keep things interesting.
Who could forget the high councilmen's daughters, the men I work with have awesome families, and I've had the pleasure to meet all but 4 of their kids.
My awesome roommate! :)
Another awesome roommate!
Sometimes we get confused while scoring and it takes two of us to keep things straight.
And yet, we still smile :)
I hope I get to keep this calling for a while *knock on wood* it really is the best! Thanks guys for making it a blast every week!
I really don't have much to write these days as I stay busy with school, work and other various responsibilities I have. I also, recently (about a month ago) found out I can't eat gluten, my body just doesn't know how to process it anymore. It makes for interesting meal times, but it is fantastic to be able to eat and not have to hope and pray I won't feel sick when I eat. Back to my family, they have been great by being Guinea pigs and trying new or adapted recipes so they can be gluten free meals. Thus, here are a few pics of what we look like now, well kind of, we need a new pic as Dash has graciously joined us, but for now these are my favorite pics we have now.
These awesome people took these pictures!
and of course no post is complete without a picture of this dashingly handsome man!
I realize that I post a lot about these two on this blog, but I guess it's because I really like their music! I am not a big fan of the original version of this song (I know, i'm weird), but I really like this version, it brings a freshness to the song. Enjoy!
My friend Kristie and I went to the Jon Schmidt concert last night at Thanksgiving Pointe and it was incredible! Steven Sharp Nelson was the guest artist with his cello, they were amazing together! They played this song:
Steven wrote this entire song, I think I really really like the cello now! They played a song combo with "Don't Worry Be Happy" and "Phantom of the Opera" titled "Don't Worry Be Physco" it was hilarious or the "Death Star will come out tomorrow" combo of "The Sun will come out tomorrow" and "The Imperial March" it was hilarious!
These pictures are kind of bad, due to how far back we were, but just click on them to see the musicians at work. They seriously play so fast, that it looks like their hands aren't moving! So amazing, I am definitely going to go to another one of their concerts. For one of the best (in my opinion) duets between Jon and Steven click here it'll change your life forever. K, well maybe not, but it's still a masterpiece nonetheless! They concluded the concert (before the encore) with this song one of my favorites!
Caleb Jared Smart aka my little stud muffin as I affectionately call him decided to finally grace us with his presence. He was born August 31, 2011 at 12:08 pm. 7 lbs 10 ounces 20 1/2 inches long! Perfect in every way! Heather did awesome with the labor and delivery, only 4 hours! She was a rockstar and did it all natural! So incredible! Here are a few pictures:
Grandma and Grandpa seeing Caleb for the first time.
Daddy (Jared) being shown how to do something for Caleb.
Mommy (Heather) just chillin' letting us all "play" with Caleb.
Grandma holding Caleb for the first time.
Grandpa holding Caleb for the first time.
Uncle Ammon meeting Caleb :)
Aunt Liz bonding with Caleb.
Close up of the Stud muffin! Isn't he handsome?
More bonding
Honorary Aunt Kristie meeting Caleb :)
Caleb is awesome! He doesn't make a big fuss about anything unless he is really uncomfortable or trying to tell you something, but isn't that what all babies do? We love Caleb so much! Thanks for joining our family little stud muffin!
We are 2 days away from one of the best parts of fall! College Football season kicks off!! Wahoo!!
But of course the best news is that I will be an aunt tomorrow!! If you remember this post, scroll down a ways and you will see the ultrasound of my nephew, he has decided that he is ready to join us here and we couldn't be more excited!! I'll post pictures here soon :)
School has started again and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it... I'm stoked that I am that much closer to completing one of my life's biggest goals in obtaining a college degree. So far so good, too bad I already have quizzes in my classes next week! Crazyness I tell ya!
On a happier note, we are less than 7 days away from the beginning of UTAH FOOTBALL!!
I am so excited to see how the Utes do this season!
In regards to the title of this post.
This is seriously one of my new favorite quotes, it always brings a smile to my face. :) My good friend Kristie saw this shirt at Walmart and kindly sent it to me. I tend to say "Holla" a lot when I am excited...strange I know :) but it tends to fit the context of my conversations pretty well, hence the use of the word.
I need to find the other pictures that other people took to make this post even better, but for the time being these will have to do.
This is Sabrina and I flying in front of the waterfall at the Conference Center.
Here's Heather, doesn't she look like a model? Would you guess that she is 8 months pregnant?
This is Veronica and I at This is the Place, we had so much fun together!
This is Sub and I being "Chinese tourists" one of our favorite poses :)
Here is Scott and Alyssa, great teammates! Loved their poses!
View of the Salt Lake Temple from atop the Conference Center roof! Would you ever guess that the pumps located on top of as well as on the side of the Conference Center have the pumps closed twice a year to clean out the money and they donate it to Primary Children's hospital?! Cool huh?! Last year they donated A LOT of money from the waterfalls/pumps! Pretty amazing if you ask me!
Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday I attended the Smart family reunion. We went all over Salt Lake city for the various attractions. Such as Snowbird, the Hogle Zoo, This is the Place, Red Butte Gardens, Temple Square, Discovery Gateway, iMax theatre, Clark Planetarium, Lion House, Dino Museum, Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was busy, but so much fun, I will use a few posts to document it.
I love monkeys!
and giraffes!
This is my favorite picture of the whole trip, I don't think I could get this picture if I tried!
His name is Gibbs, do you think he looks like Gibbs from NCIS? He never smiled...and wouldn't take nonsense from anyone...sounds like similar traits to me haha for one of my favorite clips of Gibbs and Abby from NCIS click here
