1000 Mile Road Trip - Utah Valley

After being away from Utah for 4 years we had lots of people to see and things we wanted to do, in addition to the Parkinson family reunion plans. We spent an evening with our good friends, the Herlins, and then went from there to the Woolley's for dinner. We also visited the Bean museum, bowled with extended family at the BYU student center, swam at the Spanish Fork Rec Center and squeezed in a visit to the aquarium. We have no regrets moving to Texas, but also have many fond memories of our time in Utah and it was fun to revisit some of our old favorites.

Our kids getting to know Ruby and Lucy, Todd and Tiffany's daughters

Davey flying high in the Woolley's pool

Getting to see all sorts of cool animals at the Bean Life Science Museum

As a WT employee, Dave needed his photo with this hairy guy - Go Buffs!

While we were in the museum, massive amounts of smoke from wildfires in the west settled over the valley. It was clear when we went in, completely hazy when we came out. The dramatic shift was a shock to discover. We didn't linger long outside and instead hurried over to Brick Oven for lunch.

Bowling with all the Parkinsons - I had one of the best games of my life and won the lane!

This busy boy was all over the place and loved the ball return and storage racks

Davey and Charlie quickly abandoned bowling when they discovered the Pac Man game was unlocked and didn't require coins to play

We lived across the street from the Living Planet Aquarium when Sophie was little and spent many days here. Even though we were busy, we found an afternoon to fit in a visit.

Sophie sure has grown since her first visit

Dave's Trip to Washington

At the end of September Dave went on a trip to Washington with his dad and brothers. Without me. I am still forgiving him for doing that. Actually, I was invited, but it was just too much work/money to factor and the kids into the travel plans, especially since we are already booked to fly up there as a family in just a couple months for Christmas. While he was gone it was hard to think of him having fun at my house, while I was home with the kids, but I am glad he was able to go spend that time with his family.

The main reason for the trip was the BYU vs. UW football game. A few years ago the boys all went out to Michigan to watch the Cougars play the Wolverines, and we lost spectacularly. Sadly this game wasn't much different, and even though BYU went into the game as a ranked team, they lost 35-7. Luckily the Howe men did several other fun things and were able to make some good memories up in the Pacific Northwest.

Dave surfed, wakeboarded, kayaked, and road the wave runner

Dave and Greg in their wet suits - the water gets pretty chilly in late September, and this was the first time Dave could be convinced to wear a wet suit. 

At Gasworks Park, looking towards Seattle

Cirque du Soleil was not part of the plan, but when they looked for events in Seattle happening that night, they found a show happening at Marymoor Park, which is just minutes from my parents, where they were staying. Dave said it was amazing!

Doubles pickleball - Dave played with Tim and Greg played with dad. I asked if they wore coordinated t-shirts on purpose, but it was just a coincidence. 

Great seats from which to watch BYU breakdown. My dad, Derek, Faye, and Jeremy also went with the to the game. 

BYU Basketball Game and Temple Square

My uncle Alan offered us his family's tickets to the BYU basketball last Saturday. BYU was playing Hawaii in Salt Lake where the Jazz normally play, and it was an afternoon game - perfect!! This was Sophie's first basketball game and she was mesmerized by the giant tv. She also loved the clapping and would join in whenever BYU scored, which was a lot - go cougars!

Failed attempt at a family picture - silly girl!

After the game we walked over to Temple Square to see the lights and the nativity sets. It was such a nice evening (54 degrees!), which was like heaven to me. My memories of Temple Square at Christmas normally involve boots, hats, gloves, scarves, 3 coats, and a longing for hot chocolate. This year we all had our jackets unzipped and then got ice cream afterwards. 

Sophie was able to find the baby Jesus in every nativity. She also liked looking for the "daddy and mama" - Joseph and Mary. 

The temple makes me so happy! I'm so glad we were able to go walk around and enjoy it at this beautiful time of year!

Great seats for a disappointing game

On Friday my aunt offered us tickets to the BYU vs. USU football game. It was a late game, so we arranged for Sophie to go to bed at my other aunt's house (hooray for awesome relatives!), and then left to meet my brother at the stadium.

We were super excited for this game for a few reasons - it was a surprise night out without Sophie, we had good seats, BYU was having a great season, and BYU demolished USU last year, so this year would be be the same. Right? Wrong. It was such a sad game to watch. Our offense couldn't put anything together, the defense couldn't stop anything, our quarterback went down with a season-ending injury and with him went BYU's chances of anything special happening this year.

Happy fans before everything went wrong

I'm still in a bit of a funk from last night's depressing loss, but Conference has been a good boost for my soul. We enjoyed today's sessions and are looking forward to more tomorrow!

BYU vs. Texas

Last Saturday my grandma Mimi shared her football tickets with us so we were able to go down to Provo to see BYU play against Texas! We thought this would be the perfect game for Sophie because it's early in the season so the weather would still be nice, and the start time was 5:00, so we would get home early enough to put her to bed. Well, we were wrong on both accounts....

After eating an early dinner in Provo, we went over to my sister Natalie's apartment so I could feed Sophie before the game. As soon as we walked in the door a HUGE wind kicked up and debris started flying everywhere. Just a minute later, the clouds burst open and rain started dumping. It was like a mini hurricane. The power went out, and there was so much rain that some of the first floor apartments started flooding. Crazy!

I was just so grateful that we were somewhere warm and dry rather than trying to seek shelter at the stadium. Eventually the game started after a two hour delay and it was a GREAT game!! Sophie was stunned for the whole first quarter and just sat there taking it all in. After getting over the shock of all the lights and sounds, she seemed to enjoy herself. I'll admit I went in hoping for the best, but expected BYU to loose, but we WON! . Go Cougars!!

Before going to the game we stopped at our local pet store and Sophie held a puppy

Playing with some electric candles during the power outage - she thought these were awesome!!

Loyal, strong, and true BYU fans!!

True Blue BYU Fans

When Dave got accepted to the University of Utah, we always thought that with time we might become Utah fans, but now I don't think that will ever happen. All our love is for BYU, although it was tough to love them after the Boise State game. Ugh. My heart hurt for a few days after that.

On Friday we got tickets to the game against Hawaii (thanks grandma!) It was a beautiful night and BYU played great. It was nice to finally see us score a touchdown, or two, or seven :)

Almost as entertaining as the game, however, was the woman in front of us. She had a churro and would first lick every groove, then suck on the churro like a popsicle, then bite off the end, and then lick the paper. It was very thorough, methodical, and strange...

Right on the 50 yard line - Go Cougars!

BYU Creamery

At one point it seemed like we would be in Provo forever, but now we only have a couple months left here before we move! Although we're really not moving that far away, we thought it would be fun to take advantage of all that Utah Valley has to offer before we head north.

Yesterday I drove to the Tanner Building to pick Dave up, and when he got in the car, I said, "Drop your stuff and get back out. We're walking over to the Creamery for dinner!"

Did you know they offer the best kid's meal ever?? For $3.50 you can get a made-to-order hamburger on a big fresh bun, fries (I get cracked pepper, and Dave gets spicy), a refillable drink...

And ice cream for dessert!

Two Degrees Down, One to Go!!

Dave graduated from the BYU MBA program on Friday!! My parents, his parents, and his sister Elizabeth all joined me at the Marriott Center for the big event (and big it was - there were almost 1,000 graduate and undergraduate students walking).

We are both so glad he decided to go back to school and can't believe how fast the last two years went by. It was a great experience! According to Dave, however, finishing the MBA program for him was kind of like graduating from middle school. He has completed one more step in his education, but still has the final big step to complete - the PhD. University of Utah, here we come!!

The graduate student robes have strange sleeves, kind of like a dementor, don't you think?

The academic hood that looked a lot like a tail before we figured out how to put it on correctly

He's done - I am so happy and so proud!!

BYU Basketball and a Birthday

Saturday was our niece Anne's second birthday. Ever since we took her to a game a few months ago, Anne has been obsessed with BYU and basketball. Since we had tickets to the game the day of her birthday (thanks grandma Mimi!), we decided to take her with us.

Meeting Cosmo (aka Beast) - she was a little shy when he first came over, but was all smiles after he left

The huge Cosmo we found when we left our seats at half time to run around and get some wiggles out

During the second half Anne suddenly became very affectionate and would hug Dave, and then hug me, back and forth and back and forth. I guess she like her birthday?!

Towards the end of the game Anne started to get a little restless, but Dave has a unique talent for inventing ways to keep kids entertained. This game is called Feeding Frosty and it turned eating one goldfish cracker into a minute long process. She ate a lot of fishies this way - no one ever said pez dispensers are exclusively for candy!