our newest cougar

This weekend Megan got the news she has been waiting months for...she has been accepted to BYU.   I'm not going to lie...I'm already feeling a bit sad at the thought of her leaving but I wouldn't want her to stay.  We are excited for her and all that awaits her as she heads to college in the Fall. Congratulations Megan. We are so proud of you!

stan is the man

I'm not sure who Stan is but his little hole in the wall burger joint is a family favorite.

image via flickr

Usually after our traditional BYU bowling trip we head over to Stan's for a bite to eat. Derek ate here often as a student and then as a young married couple we ate here as often as finances would allow (which if I remember right was not as often as we would have liked)  Our kids now love it as much as we do and I'm sure it will become a favorite place to eat when they are at BYU.

We kept burgers, etc. to a minimum and loaded up on the really healthy stuff - fries, fry sauce and shakes.

The fries are amazing - click on the picture to enlarge and you'll be able to see all the seasoned goodness.  

The fry sauce is an always welcomed trip treat.  I'm still at a lose to figure out why all of America hasn't embraced fry sauce.  Why must we go to Utah to enjoy the pale orange tastiness?  Occasionally it is available at a local Target and others say make your own but it's just not the same.  What is wrong with the fast food world?  We want fry sauce, we want fry sauce!  Join with me in bringing fry sauce to the masses.

a family trip tradition

My mind doesn't compute in order therefor the next few posts of our family vacation will be out of order.

As is tradition for our family when traveling to Utah, we always go to BYU to bowl.  It is cheap, allows you to escape the horrible heat (Summer) or frigid cold (Winter) and we all have a fun time.

The last few times we have gone we started taking a bowling shoe family portrait (photo below from our trip in December)  We thought we were being so creative with the number 6 on the ball since there are 6 of us in our family but we soon realized most of our "bowling shoe family portraits" will all look the same.  Oh well, we still do it anyway.

But hey, look at this - the ball from this Summer's traditional bowling trip says 12, we have a different portrait - Yippee!

We happened to run into the Webber's (who live by us) and some of the Udall's (that used to live by us) in the BYU bookstore so we challenged them to a game of bowling.  Everyone was up for the challenge except Wendy and Beth, something about not eating all day and needing food. Do they not know that truly dedicated bowlers sacrifice their nourishment needs for the game? I happen to think they were just scared - the food was just an excuse. 

We played on 3 lanes, adding up each families score so that one family would be crowned the ultimate winner.  Since this is my blog I feel justified in saying the Bakers swept the floor with the Webber/Udalls.  If you talk to any of the Webbers or Udalls and they tell you different just know it is because they are bitter poor sports.  It was a Baker victory all they way.

To protect the innocent (and the bad bowling scores) names have been changed.  Most of us went with the Harry theme although there were constant name changes on one of the lanes - each time someone would finish bowling they would look up to check their score on the screen and find there name changed yet again.

It was another fun trip to the bowling alley, made better because we got to be with good friends.  Thanks Webbers and Udalls for hanging out with us!

beth, who?

I don't know who this Beth Udall person is but she seems to need some sort of shout out (see comments from previous post)

Love ya Beth!

Sorry I didn't include you!

I love you just as much as I love Wendy!

In all seriousness Beth, I was only concerned about Wendy laughing - I have to see her on a weekly basis - you? I don't see near as often and I'm totally ok with you laughing behind my back.

And to my other readers...I do know Beth - she is a friend that used to live in California before she abandoned us for Utah. She owns Blackberry Paper - visit the site and buy stuff from her so she'll forgive me :)

for my friend wendy

NO LAUGHING!

Thanks for hanging out with us today. It wouldn't be a trip to the BYU Bookstore without you guys there.

she's off again

First Girls Camp now another trip with more trips to follow. Megan always seems to have a busy Summer vacation schedule.  This week she is off at BYU enjoying Especially for Youth.  

She looks so alert and happy in this 5 am photo taken right before we headed out for LAX on Monday.  

There have been a few texts back and forth and a brief phone conversation tonight to let us know that she is having a lot of fun and enjoying every minute of it - we knew she would.

A big thanks to Grandma Wood for delivering sheets, blankets, pillows, towels, hangers and a bunch of treats and goodies to Megan and her friend Kenzie - they sure appreciate it.

black widows, trojans and cougars

Today was the season opener for soccer.  We started our day at the fields at 9 am for some practice before Luke's 9:30 am game - Black Widows vs Red Dragons.  

The picture below cracks me up.  The Black Widows has just scored - notice the smiles on everyone but the one Red Dragon kid in the middle.  His expression makes me laugh - he looks totally outraged by our teams goal.

While Derek and I were in the parent tunnel Emily snapped this great shot of Luke running though - good job Emmy!
When Luke's game ended Derek, Emily and Luke headed off to the Oakley family picnic and I took Megan and Nate home for a quick change into Nate's soccer uniform and then we were off to the next field for an 11:15 am call time.  By the time the game started at 12 pm we were roasting - it was so terribly hot here today.

Nate looked sharp in his Trojans uniform and he had a great time playing.  Both he and Luke have never played soccer before so they are learning lots but I was impressed with how well Nate did.


Love the action shots.  Because of the heat a lot of boys on our team were not doing well. We didn't have kids to substitute in so they all got worked hard but everyone managed to finish the game and I'm sure everyone was happy to climb into air conditioned cars.
We eventually met up with the rest of the family for the picnic until 4 pm and then it was straight home so Derek could plant himself in front of the tv to watch his beloved Cougars.  It was a very sports filled day.