Well Andrea and I decided that it would be better to consolidate our Blogs.  This is due largely to the fact that I have been so busy at school that I haven’t taken the time to write.  So hopefully merging our blogs into one HUGE blog will be helpful.  It should be interesting to see what the two of us come up with so come back often and check us out.

I do have some good ideas for blog posts, so keep an eye out for them.

Last week was so busy! We had something every night! It reminded me of being in school and having to cram to fit in time to do a load of laundry. Tuesday night we went to a performance of Rob Gardner’s “Joseph Smith the Prophet” at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake. It was amazing! And we got complimentary tickets from a friend of mine who sang in the chorus. They were filming it for a DVD, so there were no kids allowed and we all had to be super quiet, which made the performance even more awe-inspiring. The music is beautiful and the singers and orchestra were so great. The next night we went to the opera at BYU. They put on Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”, which I have never seen but always wanted to(well, I felt I should because I was a music major). I got tickets for Jessi and I, because Zac didn’t want to go and I didn’t want to force him to, just to listen to him complain all night. Well, he ended up going with us to get extra credit for a class he is taking, and we all loved it! BYU has such talent, from the singing to the costumes and scenery. It was such a fun experience, and it was a funny play too. It helped that a few of my friends were in the cast, so it made it fun to watch. Here is a picture of “Figaro” and “Susanna”, his bride.

Thursday night we went to Institute to learn about the Pearl of Great Price (we are institute representatives in our ward). I swear our teacher knows every page of scripture and church-related book by heart. He quotes from tons of books and knows the page numbers! Crazy!. Saturday we went to Tucano’s for lunch with the Hegerhorsts, and of course we stuffed ourselves so full of all the delicious meat and assorted salad bar items. My favorites were the garlic tenderloin, bacon-wrapped turkey, and mashed potatoes. Maybe I am just a meat and potatoes type of girl after all….good thing we are moving to Texas:)

Well, this week promises to be just as busy, with Halloween, American Heritage movies (remember those?), and the Taylors coming into town! Should be fun!

This is our last year in Utah. In many ways, I am excited to leave Provo and its college-town ways. But there are some things I will miss, and I’ve started compiling them in a list. These are in no particular order.

1. Good friends and the memories made with those friends

2. Cafe Rio and Zubs

3. The plethora of colors on the trees in the fall

4. The beautiful “first snow” of winter

5. The view of the mountains in the winter

6. Snowboarding

7. Cheap entertainment

First Half of the BYU football game last Saturday.

Second Half of the game. We left before the snow really started coming down, and we were still soaked by the time we got home. Fun!

We went to the BYU Surplus sale this week at the Office of Information Technology. If you have never been to this event, you need to see it. We went looking for a flat screen monitor for our computer desk, or anything else cheap that looked cool. We were definitely NOT expecting to look for parking for 15 minutes and wait in a 45 minute line just to get in the door. The place was jumping! There was a line full of nerds waiting to buy the parts to build their own computers or just add on to the one they already owned. Maybe an extra screen or two for those oh-so-important computer games that need more than just the standard 15″ screen to really feel the full effect. Once we finally got in, they told us we only had 20 minutes to shop, and all of a sudden it was a madhouse. Nerds were pushing and shoving just to get the prized cables, motherboards, and CD drives that were on sale for ridiculously cheap. I wont lie, I wanted my flat screen monitor just like the next guy, but when we finally got to the shelf with the flat screen monitors, we were heartbroken to see the sign below them that said “Broken things”. I guess we’ll just have to live with the “beast” (a 50 pound monitor that we picked up at DI for $10 last year) for a little longer. It’s too bad we wont be in Utah for next years installment of the Surplus Sale.

We also went golfing yesterday, as it was a very beautiful day. We were matched up with these other two guys that we didn’t know, and they asked us if we were going to hit from the Blue tees (Men’s) or the Black tees (PGA level). We looked at each other like, “oh crap these guys are professionals” and answered, “oh probably the blue tees”. Well, after one slow and awkward hole, we just decided to let them play on and we’d just follow behind. We were glad because they were good and we were just there to have some fun and snap Zac out of his post-test-taking depression. And it might be the last beautiful and warm day before winter comes. Do you like my golf shoes?

Today we will be going to the BYU football game in the rain and wind and freezing ice weather. But we are still excited because, although many people may disagree with this, we are “fully invested” fans. No, we did not buy the Tshirts, but you know what, my BYU pride does not depend on which shirt I buy and don’t buy. This picture is from the last home game, and we will probably look similar at the end of todays game!

I am grateful for my family. My parents and sister came to visit us 2 weeks ago just for the heck of it. I love it that my parents are in a time in their lives where they can just pick up and leave for weeks at a time, especially to come visit me!

We spent time golfing, eating out, going to BYU sporting events (football AND volleyball), and just hanging out with each other. Then, last week, Zac’s parents and brother came to visit for conference weekend. We got to attend a few sessions, which was awesome. Don’t you always see some long-lost friend when you go to conference? We saw a few, even some that we didn’t really know! We ate lunch on Saturday at the Olive Garden, where the Never-Ending Pasta was going on. What we didn’t know was that the Never-Ending Wait for a Table was going on too. We were there for at least 2 1/2 hours, but I think that yummy alfredo sauce was worth every minute.

We also got a visit from Kami and Tara this weekend, who are pretty much family. They watched the last session of conference with us, even though we talked through some of it. Don’t worry, it’s TiVoed (real word???) so we can watch it for real later. Ooh also this weekend, my first Kneaders dessert run. They have amazing desserts there! We had a cinnamon caramel apple, which I HIGHLY recommend, and a neapolean, which is basically this fluffy cream thing with a crust. It was good as well. Soon I will have to go back and try the rest of the menu.