BYU College Game Day

You would have thought we were heading to Maui if you would have seen how excited Justin was to attend ESPN's College Game Day at BYU. He wanted it to be a family affiair, so we woke up early Saturday morning, and headed to Cougartown.

The highlight of the morning for Bowen was seeing his best friend, Cosmo the Cougar!

The highlight for me was being in the vicinity of Kirk Herbstreit. Justin bribed me down there with a promise I would get to meet him. Needless to say, I still have yet to meet Herbie.

Even though we didn't get to meet Herbie, Justin did pull through with at least a picture with another famous person. LaVell Edwards happened to be walking through the parking lot where we were standing. So, Justin grabbed Jackson and Bowen and chased him down. He was really nice to stop and let us take a picture with him. What a proud daddy!

Can little girls wear blue BYU hoddies?

Jackson wowed the crowd with his catching skills. Justin kept the boys busy with BYU footballs during the downtimes.

Go Cougs!

Hello Fall!

When we welcome FALL at our house, that means we are welcoming a new season of FOOTBALL. This year seems more intense because now Bowen is old enough to be right in the thick of it. He loves Cosmo, but only from a distance. To hear him talk about Cosmo, though, you'd think they are best friends. Jackson got Cosmo's autograph, along with some BYU football players, at the Cougar Kickoff.

Jackson and Bowen scrimage in our living room every night--tackling and everything. Bowen yells, "Blue 19, Set, HIKE!" Then Jackson chases him and tackles him. Justin also has Jackson running some plays, the most famous being "Fake and Go." He's pretty good at catching passes on the run. What is a little girl going to do in our house? Is she going to survive?!

Fall just wouldn't be Fall without the St. George Marathon. We are so proud of Justin, Megan, and Jake. They did awesome! I love that Jackson and Bowen watch their Dad accomplish something as great as a marathon, let alone his 10th. Justin is now officially in the 10 Year Club!

Alison and Chris also ran in the Marathon this year, but because of a crazy morning, I didn't get to see much of them. They both qualified for Boston!

Visiting the witches at Gardner Village is always a lot of fun. (Just ask Teylor. She only went once or five times already this year.) Going with cousins makes it that much funner! They take a great picture, don't they?!

Posing with our pumkins from Ballard Pumpkin Patch. We love this place! We got all of these pumpkins for $11! The kids get to walk around and pick their pumpkins right off the vine.

This Fall, Jackson played Coach Pitch. He had to play with 1st and 2nd graders because they didn't offer Coach Pitch for kids his age. I was a little nervous to have him play with such bigger kids, but he did awesome! He is quite the hitter!

Bowen playing Football at Jackson's Coach Pitch games. This guy is a trooper for going to all of Jackson's sporting events each season. Pretty soon, he'll be playing in his own games!

Since Fall just began, I guess there is a lot more to come. But I think we are off to a good start!

Kick Off, Riding Bikes, & Back-to-School!

It's an exciting time of year around our house! The BYU shirts, flags, car decals, and footballs are out. I actually don't know who is more excited about the start of college football--Justin or Jackson! Justin took Jackson to BYU's opening game last Saturday. They had a great time. Justin said Jackson chants, "Go Cougs!" pretty much the whole time. Add all-you-can-eat treats and its definitely a great time! I wonder if I'll ever be invited to go to a game...

That's right! No training wheels! The past couple of weeks, Jackson's training wheels kept sliding back so they weren't being very useful. Eventually, we realized he wasn't even using them. Justin took the training wheels off, and immediately Jackson was riding around our circle doing tricks: riding with his eyes closed, trying to do wheelies, and going down everyone's steep driveways. There's something about the first time your child rides a two-wheeler bike...we were so proud of him! And who do you think he wanted to tell first? BLAKERS!

Bowen got so caught up in the excitement of Jackson riding his two-wheeler bike, that he decided to do something new himself--go down our pretty steep driveway on his bike! It was actually a pretty scary moment. He usually stops halfway down, so I took a picture when he started his descent. After the picture, I had to step in and stop his progress at the bottom because he was losing control. If you can enlarge this picture, you can see the panic starting to seep into his face. Poor guy!

Jackson started his first day of pre-school yesterday. He was so excited! His teacher is Miss Kristi at Corner Canyon Academy. He's excited to make new friends and learn how to read. We went to the mall last week, and he picked out a "first-day-of-school-shirt." Weird that he chose football... When I picked him up, his teacher said to me, "Is he sweet enough! I love him!" I love that he loves to go to school. We are so proud of him!

Cosmo's #1 Fan!!

Cosmo, Justin and Jackson(aka Cosmo's #1 fan)

Touchdown COUGS!(Jackson looking for Cosmo)

Two great Cougar fans

Yesterday was the first Cougar home game of the year. We took Jackson with us, and had a great day. Our tickets this year are on the east side so we were in the sun all game long. It wasn't too bad, but a game in the crisp fall air will be welcomed. After we bought Jackson a Cougar football at halftime, he kept trying to lure one of us out of our seats to go play catch with him on the lawn. His tactic was to tell us he was "coldie" and that he needed to get on the grass to get warm. All in all, he had a great time, especially because he got to hang with Cosmo the Cougar! As for the game itself, I was pleasantly surprised with the overall performance . The offense was good and the defense was dominant! The kicking game left a bit to be desired, but not too bad for week #1. The real test comes this week when we(I am on the team) go to the Rose Bowl to play UCLA. I am nervous, preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. I will have my ankles taped for the game on about Thursday afternoon. Jill says she is preparing to take the boys out of the house during the game to avoid the yelling and profanities that will be coming from the cave (pictures of the cave will be posted soon)!

Justin and Jill