fourth and eighteen

My first BYU v Utah game was a blast! We had amazing seats in the south endzone -- which happened to be where ALL of the exciting action happened. I tried to stay warm with my sweet Women's Carhartt beanie and long johns courtesy of my dad's store, but we were in the shade the whole time so it got a little chilly. I also attribute me looking stoned in this picture to the temperature. The game was just great from a defensive standpoint and got really exciting when Max Hall threw a bomb right towards us on fourth and eighteen that Austin Collie caught. I thought I was going to die -- especially when Harvey Unga scored the winning touchdown in OUR endzone. Go Cougs!

The defense pulled through with 38 seconds left and the instant the game clock hit 0, Cody rushed the field. I opted out of the field-rushing because the crowd reminded me of the mosh pit at the Smashing Pumpkins concert. I think that I might have been a little bit safer here, but I wasn't willing to take that risk.

Being brave paid off for Cody. He had the honor of escorting Max to the stage for some presentation because we were the conference champions. By escorting, I really mean hoisting some giant football player onto his shoulders with the help of three other dudes and fighting through the crowd. What a hunk! (Cody, not Max). He also scored this killer picture. Doesn't the crowd in the background make for a stunning effect?

Just so I can have my fifteen minutes of fame, I saw Elders Wirthlin, Holland, Scott and Bednar while I was waiting for Cody outside of the stadium. I guess I was in good company by not rushing the field :)

Anyway, we had a phenomenal time . . .

Ra ra ra ra ra --- GO COUGARS!!!!!!!!

Ikea

On Tuesday, I went to Ikea. This is what I bought:

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for a mother who has instilled a love of home decorating in me and a dad who taught me how to shop. I love you Mom & Dad!

Yee Haw

I spent the past weekend -- courtesy of BYU -- in Austin at a conference hosted by the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students. It was quite the experience. I had dinner with my mom and cousin Paul before I flew out of the SLC airport Thursday night -- it was just wonderful to see them both, especially since I will be in Provo for Thanksgiving. The flight was SO long -- I could have read my In Style magazine about twenty times over. Sick! When I got to Austin, the airport was deserted. It was really creepy. My friend's friend picked us up and we headed to the DoubleTree in Austin. However, there are three DoubleTree hotels in Austin. But we didn't know that until we had gone to all three :) By 2 a.m., we were settled in our room and trying to drift off to sleep.

The conference started bright and early Friday morning . . . we had a lot of fun workshops to go to that helped us come up with some stellar ideas for the BYU Graduate Student Society. We had baked beans at both of our meals. Go figure! And we went to a famous BBQ place called the Salt Lick for dinner. I really liked the boot centerpieces on the table. Greg and Rachel H. kept making me eat a ton of food that I didn't want to . . . and Rachel B. represented BYU well during the square dance instruction. If you look really close at the picture, you can see the sweet Texas Baseball shirt I purchased for $9.95 at the biggest college bookstore I have EVER seen. It was heaven -- except decorated in burnt orange instead of BYU blue!

The next day we had a ton of meetings in the Texas State Capitol. It was a pretty sweet building. The meetings were a drag for a while -- then the mudslinging began! It was pretty sketchy for a while, but at least things got a little more exciting. We had two more delicious meals with more baked beans. By the end of the trip, I was pretty sure that at least 80% of my blood was made up of that sauce that is baked beans. My stomach was crying bloody murder too . . .

Saturday night we went on a cruise of Lake Travis. The conference chartered a bus to take us to the lake via the most windy and foggy road in all of Texas. The bus driver started freaking out . . . I think she said a few bad words and was about ready to stop the bus in the middle of Texas nowhere. By the time we got to the lake, it was all dark. Hence, we couldn't see the beautiful scenery that was so highly touted. We had a great time with all of our new friends from all over the country.

It wouldn't be a good blog post without a good awkward story. Here is a quick exchange I had with somebody from Virginia Tech at the conference. M stands for me.

M: Did your football team win today?

V: Yeah -- do you like football?

M: Totally. My husband called this morning to tell me that Oregon State lost.

V: Whoa! Did you say husband? How old are you?

M: 23.

(Editors note: I am not 23. I just barely turned 22.)

The Rachels give me a weird look.
M: Oh just kidding -- I am 22.

Go team! I really am in grad school!

Roses and Lasagna

I really should rename this blog to 'Doting on Cody' or 'All of the Reasons I Love Cody' or something witty like that . . .

Or maybe I should just come to grips with the fact that he is the only person who reads it, and that is only because I set it as his homepage :)

Anyway,
Yesterday Cody brought me roses because I have been really stressed out. It made me super happy. I didn't really think that I had been stressed. But after three people asking me TODAY if I was okay or too stressed, I am starting to think that I am completely missing the boat. Or acting really stressed. Take your pick.

Back to the real story . . . .
Not only did Cody bring me roses yesterday, but he also made a delicious lasagna for dinner. I think he is the greatest!

Halloween & Hot Chocolate

I love my husband. A lot. Watch the video to find out why:

**disclaimer** I am not tech-savvy enough to get the movie flipped the right way. Please accept my sincerest apologies for any discomfort you might experience while watching.

Cody didn't tell me he was filming -- I just thought he was taking a picture of my sweet Nigerian soccer Halloween costume. What a guy :) This is the same boy who tried to get me to go to the BYU Speech Clinic Halloween Carnival dressed like this:

We crashed the 157th Ward Halloween party earlier this week. Because we are super busy college students, our costumes were simple and really comfortable. My favorite part of the costume was all of the people who told me I looked athletic and asked if I really did play soccer. Funny!

On Friday night, Cody had a open house we went to for his job. It was pretty fun -- they served hot chocolate and doughnuts for refreshments. The the GSS hosted a council retreat a the ice skating arena -- we went to that too. And guess what we had for refreshments! Doughnuts and hot chocolate. That night we were laying in bed and Cody's stomach growled. Then we realized that the only thing we had eaten since lunchtime was . . . . doughnuts and hot chocolate.

NASCAR

This weekend Cody & I hit the road and went to Idaho Falls because the Carhartt sponsored NASCAR car came to my dad's store on Saturday. It was a pretty sweet setup -- the car was cool in and of itself and the truck it came in had a race simulator (which my mom kept calling a stimulator :) Funny!).
Everybody who tried the simulator or looked at the car got a scratch card they could redeem for a prize. Cody, Camille, her friend Casey & I were the prize gurus -- we had quite the eclectic group of people come through and gained quite the education about NASCAR! Several little boys wanted pink bandanas and several of their fathers insisted they got blue bandanas instead. Everyone was in love with the NASCAR racing hats, which I thought were super ugly!
To celebrate this momentous occasion, my mom & I decided to don matching sweatshirts -- not regular sweatshirts, but WOMEN'S CARHARTT SWEATSHIRTS. They are pretty much the warmest and coolest ever and I think that everyone should have the pleasure of owning one.
After the festivities ended, everyone was pretty much pooped out . . . except Cody, who used his mad espanol skills to sell a couple pairs of boots. Sweet.

awkward

I am at school and just ran to the women's restroom -- which is usually a lackluster event. This time, I walked in just in the nick of time to see a woman in her early 50s changing her shirt. To make matters even worse, she was trying to put on pantyhose standing up when I came out of the stall. Yikes! I will never again underestimate the excitement that can happen in the bathrooms at BYU . . .