Take Me Out to the BYU Game

It's been a fun past few days here in Utah! The weather has been perfect, and I snapped this picture of Mt. Timpanogos when we were on our way to take Rich to work the other day. Isn't it beautiful with the snow?!! It did snow in the valley the first Saturday I was here, which wasn't great, but it's great that Timp still looks so pretty all covered in white. For the past few days, we've been getting Mom and Dad's house ready to sell (they actually did all the work getting it ready already, but we were just spiffing it up for the realtor pictures). If you are in the market to buy a really, really nice house in Orem, you can check it out here--the new pictures will be posted soon. They are moving to a really, really nice condo in American Fork, so it's all quite exciting.

Yesterday evening Dad took me to a BYU baseball game--it was SO MUCH FUN!!! It was the most perfect evening for baseball, and as you can see when you click on this image of the baseball field, it is the most ideal location in which to play baseball that you can possibly imagine.

In the crowd at the game was Vern Law, former pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cy Young Award winner in 1960 when the Pirates won the World Series. He has to be one of the most famous Mormon Major League players! He is the father of Vance Law, the BYU baseball coach. I decided to be brave and ask Vern Law to sign a baseball for me. He was very nice and ended up writing a lot on my baseball. It says: "Pirates 1950-1967 Vern Law Cy Young 1960." What a keepsake!

BYU did really well and ended up beating Seattle University 13-3. BYU just kept hitting home runs! The only thing was, when a BYU player hit a homerun, they would play a tornado siren over the loud speakers--that sound kind of makes my nerves tense up. I guess you can get away with using a tornado siren at a baseball game in the West--it could cause big problems in the Midwest :-) The best part of the game was just spending time with Dad!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day!!!! Happy Mother's Day to all mothers! I know I am a bit biased, but I have the BEST mom in the whole world. I am so grateful for all that she does for our family and for the wonderful example she is of everything that is good. She and I have always been best friends :-) Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Utah: Week 1!

It has been a fun, exciting, and eventful first week here in Utah! The excitement began at the Chicago airport last Tuesday when I walked past Mike Wolfe from the TV show "American Pickers." I had some time to kill, so after buying a soda, I decided to go see if I could find him, and I passed him again! Only this time he was walking really fast. So I inconspicuously turned and followed him. He stopped for a moment at a ticket counter, and then he began sprinting through the airport. He either knew I was following him, or he was in the wrong terminal for his flight. :-)

Once in Utah, I enjoyed spending time with my family--especially going to visit Grandpa Taylor on Wednesday for his 93rd birthday! He is such a wonderful example to all of us who are lucky enough to be in his family. We had a very nice visit with him. On Thursday and Friday I spent time helping my sister Sarah with her cute kiddos Eliza and Leo. Sarah is here for the summer teaching a class at BYU, and her husband Joel is teaching a class out at SIU in Illinois--so he'll be here as soon as his spring class ends. Mom and I also spent time on Thursday and Friday gathering up a cute, professional outfit for my second interview with BYU which took place on Monday. I think it went well, but I won't hear anything until next week--so I'm anxious!

On Saturday, Camden was in a GREAT play! She is a wonderful actress. You can see here here, front-and-center, in the light green dress as one of Cinderella's stepsisters. The play was "Alice in Wonderland," but it had some other fairytale stories mixed into the main storyline. It was quite the intriguing play, and Camden was the best actress on stage!


Then on Sunday we had a fun dinner here with all of the kiddos--the Agates and the Barretts. Here is Mr. Ben, who was just a new baby the last time I saw him, all grown-up with Grandpa! I have such cute nieces and nephews.


Speaking of cute nieces and nephews, today was Leo's big #1 birthday!

Now here's a guy who is happy to be one. He loved all of his presents. Can you guess who gave him the St. Louis Cardinals clothes? :-) He had his main party before I got out here, when his dad was here before heading back to SIU, but we did have some fun celebrations tonight with pizza and cupcakes. It has been so much fun out here so far, and I am looking forward to two more weeks!