rivalry week & september

"it's rivalry week. we sleep in our gear."

-sean gibson

{the big byu/utah game is tomorrow. GO COUGS!!!}
{our flag is already flying}

....

walking down the stairs yesterday morning brennan says to sean,

"mom's been freakin' me out lately."

what the?!?

funny kid.

i wish it could be september all summer long.

the days are warm.

some even hot enough for sunscreen.

but usually i'm just too lazy to put it on all of us by now.

the nights cool by 6 o'clock.

i love leaving my windows open in the afternoon while i make dinner. 

to let the breeze fill my home.
with the smell of trees and roses.

the flies and bees buzz around my kitchen.

they annoy me.

the cool air at night lets me cover myself in every ounce of my down comforter.

it makes me not want to get out of bed in the mornings:)

we watch the birds eat the sunflower seeds out back.

our man made bird feeder.

so proud:)

i pick the tomatoes less and less.

the sunflowers are so big, 

i am sure the birds think they are sitting on the branches of a tree.

we love to watch them pick out the seeds from our dinner table with the back door open.

the big and fat blue feathered ones are my favorite.

their long elegant tales are beautiful.

the days are shorter.
the mornings are longer.
or darker at first.
whichever.

i'm starting to cook soups, chilis, and bake things in my oven more.

i have no desire to water our lawn or turn on our air conditioner anymore.

i can hear the kids chattering and running to the bus stop in the mornings. 

i never knew i had a love obsession with september.

until now:)

note to self: next year buy 2 cans of spray paint.

the annual rivalry breakfast.
at the family yard.
we eat.
we sing out team fight songs.
we heckle.
and then we shake hands and wish each other's team well.
full well knowing we really mean we hope we win and you lose.
with a big smile on our face.
it was not pretty.
it was down right ugly.
but i still love my cougs.
and the sport of it all.
i just wish they wouldn't have slaughtered us so badly.
we will never hear the end of it.

the coin toss.

for which side sings first.

when i ran out of spray paint at the end i should have known it was a sign.

next year cougs.
next year!!!
(note to self: buy 2 cans of spray paint. 1 is not enough.)

i wore royal blue to church today.

there was also a tri-tip steak sandwich involved in the evening.

extra sauce.

notes to follow.

things i learned at this year's game:

i still get car sick in traffic.

tri-tip sandwiches are better with extra sauce.

glad i learned this the easy way.

by asking.

trend setter, wait and see.

very satisfying.

hot chocolate is better enjoyed when it doesn't burn your tongue.

still haven't learned this lesson completely.

my tongue is not uncomfortably burned, just slightly "cinged."

not enough to affect drinks and food today.

i'll consider that an accomplishment.

quarter backs can say really dumb things in post game interviews.

husbands are happier when their team wins.

i knew this already.

having family and friends to watch your child is priceless.

i should be a MasterCard commercial.

eating pizza at 9:30pm tastes better than at 6pm.

barges root beer is better from the bottle than the fountain.

this is not true for most sodas.

cold weather puts me in a good mood.

i knew this already.

so did you.

the scout master is handsome.

i knew this already too.

as noted previously, the cheerleaders made me want to grow my hair out.

i'm undecided this afternoon.

it's better not to talk about rivalry games at church.

everyone should know this already,

yet every year someone breaks the unspoken rule.

in the foyer.

and the halls.

trust me, it wasn't me.

just saying,

someone did.

i heard them.

walking around cougar stadium for a tri-tip sandwich and multiple bathroom breaks makes me one tired pregnant woman the next day.

i love college football.

especially when my team wins.

jumping up and down, while pregnant, with a full bladder is not recommended.

says me.

the end.

boo hoo hoo hoo hoo,

i'm blue

...

seriously, max hall, what's up?

...

next years guys, next year.

"we've got spirit, how 'bout you!?"

to get ready for the BIG game

my cousin's hosted the

1st annual byu/utah game day breakfast.

the boys were playing a mock byu/utah game...

eating and mingling
lots of casseroles to go around.
my egg one was not too big of a hit with the kids, but i loved it!
oh lety,
please forgive me for posting this picture of your husband!!!
the "most team spirit" award.
yes folks, rourke is a true blue fan.
he shaved his chest hair in a "Y"
and then painted it blue.
bree, wilder, brennan, me
awww, see, utah fans and byu fans really can get along;-)
the boys talking about the big game...
"if so and so can put pressure on so and so...i hope pitta plays...
our offense this, our defense that..."
you know, stuff like that...
our little
cougar blue family
both sides had a chance to sing their team's fight song

we won an award for

"best singers!"

lalalala..

this was our award:

(thanks andrea)

like crafts like this?
click here to see more!

...

go beat 'em cougs!!!

nie nie home in time for byu vs utah

this is how i sent my husband off to school today.

he called it,
"old school day 1."
tune in tomorrow for,

"old school day 2."

of course, he used some other fancy word for "old school" that i had never heard before and can't remember now. sorry dear.

also, i am still ALIVE and KICKIN' after not washing my grapes yesterday.

hmmm...

but, the most exciting news this morning...

(other than brennan sleeping past 6am for the first time since the time change)

was what i found on cjane's blog. cjane is stephanie nielson's sister. if you've read my blog at all in the past month you know that i have been following stephanie's story and even did a fundraiser of my own!

anyhoo, back to the

most exciting news:

stephanie and christian were transported

home to utah

yesterday.

i know.

exhilarating!

rivalry week

rivalry week

if you are not from utah, let me introduce you to the biggest rivalry west of the mississippi:

byu vs. utah

rooting for byu or utah is part of the culture in utah. i think it's on the residency application when you move here: who will you root for? byu or utah? j/k seriously, families, friends, and wards are divided every aug. when football season begins, sean doesn't even like me to dress brennan in red on sundays from aug.-nov. the winner of the last game of the season gets bragging rights for the rest of the year (and through the entire following season). byu has won the last two;-)

grown men turn into prank pulling boys, decorating utah houses with byu colors and vice versa. the news stations put aside any kind of unbiased journalism and let their team pick be known. it is hilarious. we are of course a byu family. sean's parents have had season tickets in cougar stadium for over 30 years. the amazing part is that they have only lived in utah for 10 of those years. the other 20 were spent in california. the family would pile into the car friday night, drive all night to utah, go straight to the game at cougar stadium, eat dinner with grandpa gibson to let the traffic die down, and then drive all the way back to california that night to make it to church the next day. crazy, i know, but these are true cougar fans.

i LOVE it.

there's something magical about the big white Y. all season we root for byu to win, but the most important game of them all is the last game of the season against utah.

go cougars!!!