Mountain West Football Non-Conference Opponents 2008

Winning non-conference games are the key ingredient to gain respect from the rest of the U.S. for the Mountain West Conference. This year there are 36 non-conference games; 14 against BCS schools, 15 against mid-major schools, and 7 against small schools.

My predictions of the Mountain West for 2008.
Conf Goal
BCS 7-7
Mid 11-4
Div2 7-0
Total 25-11

BCS Schools (7-7)
8/30/2008 BIG 10: Utah @ Michigan
This could start off things with a statement. This game is nationally televised on ABC so many could see if the Mountain West is for real. I'll be watching this one for sure.

8/31/2008 BIG 12: Colorado State vs. Colorado
Colorado State's best game last year was against their in state rival and should have won. CSU's new coach seems like a future great coach, so might as well start off on the right foot.

9/6/2008 BIG 12: Texas A&M @ New Mexico
Rocky Long's schedule attitude is to play tougher teams in order to prepare his team for the conference and no better way than scheduling A&M. They even get them at home. I'm not betting on the Lobos though.

9/6/2008 PAC 10: BYU @ Washington
Most BYU fans think this is a shoe-in win, but I'm not that certain. In fact, I'm a little scared. Washington can't be bad for that long. Remember the last time BYU played Washington, Chris Hale had the game winning touchdown (I think)

9/6/2008 Ind: San Diego State @ Notre Dame
Another nationally televised game, this time on NBC.

9/13/2008 PAC 10: UCLA @ BYU
Ben Olson will be the boos from the unforgiving fans for leaving BYU. I wonder if PAC 10 refs are going to officiate?

9/13/2008 PAC 10: Arizona @ New Mexico
New Mexico won in Arizona last year, and now they have home field advantage. Go Lobos!

9/13/2008 PAC 10: Stanford @ TCU
TCU should win this game.

9/13/2008 PAC 10: UNLV @ Arizona State
ASU should win easily, but I'll be cheering for UNLV.

9/20/2008 BIG 12: Iowa State @ UNLV
I'm betting on Vegas.

9/27/2008 BIG 12: TCU @ Oklahoma
I don't see the Sooners losing to the non-BCS school for awhile, they are still embarrassed from the hook and latter from Boise State.

9/27/2008 PAC 10: Colorado State @ California
I'm hoping for a close loss.

10/2/2008 PAC 10: Oregon State @ Utah
Go Utes!

11/8/2008 SEC: Wyoming @ Tennessee
No chance for Wyoming, but Air Force almost won two years ago at Tennessee, so it's possible.

Mid-Major (11-4)
No, the WAC is not better than the Mountain West.
8/30/2008 WAC: Utah State @ UNLV
8/30/2008 Ohio @ Wyoming
9/13/2008 WAC: Utah @ Utah State
9/13/2008 WAC: San Diego State @ San Jose State
9/13/2008 CUSA: Air Force @ Houston
9/20/2008 CUSA: Houston @ Colorado State
9/20/2008 CUSA: New Mexico @ Tulsa
9/20/2008 CUSA: TCU @ SMU
9/27/2008 WAC: Idaho @ San Diego State
9/27/2008 WAC: Nevada @ UNLV
9/27/2008 WAC: New Mexico @ New Mexico State
9/27/2008 Bowling Green @ Wyoming
10/3/2008 WAC: BYU @ Utah State
10/4/2008 Navy @ Air Force
11/1/2008 Air Force @ Army


Division II (7-0)
NDSU and Northern Iowa are scary.
8/30/2008 Southern Utah @ Air Force
8/30/2008 Northern Iowa @ BYU
8/30/2008 Cal Poly @ San Diego State
9/6/2008 Sacramento State @ Colorado State
9/6/2008 Stephen F. Austin @ TCU
9/13/2008 North Dakota State @ Wyoming
9/27/2008 Weber State @ Utah

Our Garden is Growing!

I love gardening! It is such a peaceful relaxing way for me to start my morning! I love the quiet beauty of the morning when I'm outside working in the garden all by myself. Yesterday when I went out I saw a beautiful thing... the first flower on our pumpkin plant! I was so happy I even took a picture :) Hopefully this year we will be able to have our own little pumpkins to decorate!

I was telling Jared that it's a good thing I started gardening when the kids are young because I'm the only one who really likes the vegetables. It's a good thing because since I'm still learning there was really only enough fruits of my labor for one person to enjoy :) So hopefully in 10 years I'll be a gardening pro and we'll have enough extras from our garden to share with all our neighbors too :)

Yard Sale Jack Pot

On the way to tennis this morning, we were detoured to 3 yard sales; costing us a total of $65.

List of junk we bought:
Snowboard and boats
Weed whacker
Awesome portable CD player
150 articles of kids clothing (all practically new and for 10-25 cents each)
Jen got some clothes
Water vacuum for floods
clown costume (why, I don't know)
a pink softball helmet and kid's glove
girls toys

We loved the last one so much (the one with kids clothes) that Jen stayed about an hour and after we got home, she went back to get more, which means this list can get even bigger. So we never did end up playing tennis.

Pioneer Day/ My Pioneer Research

Today Jen & I went to see the Emma Smith story movie at the dollar theater (inflation has actually increased the cost to two dollars). We liked it.

I liked reading this article about myths about crossing the plains. My favorite part was learning that about 70,000 people made the trek in 10,000 vehicles over the years . Jen and I want to go cross the plains one day just for the fun of it. Actually, it would be more to relive what our ancestors did. I'm talking about Nauvoo to Salt Lake. None of this wimpy 20 mile stuff in Wyoming.

I did a little research about which of our ancestors came across the plains from this Pioneer database. To understand the first column; Pratt, McOmber and Worsley are from by grandparents line and the Smith and Spencer are from Jen's line, which means 5 of our 8 grandparents have some early pioneer genetics. Column two is the ancestors name. Column three is age when traveling across and column 4 is which pioneer company they traveled in.

I looked up everyone and some are not in the database so I left it as "?"

Family	Pioneer's Name	AGE	Company
Pratt	Pratt, Belinda B. Marden	26	Daniel Spencer/Perrigrine Sessions Company (1847)
Pratt	Pratt, Nephi	1	Daniel Spencer/Perrigrine Sessions Company (1847)
Pratt	Pratt, Parley Parker	40	Daniel Spencer/Perrigrine Sessions Company (1847)
SPENCER	Casper, Sarah Anna Bean	18	Jedediah M. Grant - Willard Snow Company (1847)
SPENCER	Casper, William Wallace	26	Levi W. Hancock/Jefferson Hunt/James Pace/Andrew Lytle Company (1847)
SPENCER	Bean, James	44	Brigham Young Company (1848)
SPENCER	Bean, Elizabeth Lewis	44	Brigham Young Company (1848)
Worsley	Alger, John	27	Brigham Young Company (1848)
Worsley	Alger, Samuel	62	Brigham Young Company (1848)
Worsley	Alger, Clarissa	57	Brigham Young Company (1848)
Worsley	Alger, Sarah	23	Brigham Young Company (1848)
Worsley	Pulsipher, Zera	59	Brigham Young Company (1848)
Worsley	Pulsipher, Mary Ann Brown	50	Brigham Young Company (1848)
McOmber	Cox, Isaiah	9	Heber C. Kimball Company (1848)
McOmber	Cox, Jehu	44	Heber C. Kimball Company (1848)
McOmber	Cox, Sarah Pyle	39	Heber C. Kimball Company (1848)
SMITH	Draper, Elizabeth Amanda Melvina	1	George A. Smith/Dan Jones Company (1849)
SMITH	Draper, William	42	George A. Smith/Dan Jones Company (1849)
SMITH	Draper, Elizabeth Staker	43	George A. Smith/Dan Jones Company (1849)
McOmber	Stout, Allen Joseph	35	James W. Cummings Company (1851)
McOmber	Stout, Amanda Melvina Fisk	19	James W. Cummings Company (1851)
McOmber	Griffeth, Patison Delos	27	Harry Walton/Garden Grove Company (1851)
McOmber	Griffeth, Elizabeth Carson	28	Harry Walton/Garden Grove Company (1851)
McOmber	Carson, Ann Huff Hough	57	Harry Walton/Garden Grove Company (1851)
McOmber	Carson, George	56	Harry Walton/Garden Grove Company (1851)
McOmber	Gibson, Aseneth Slafter	55	Joseph Outhouse Company (1852)
SPENCER	Carlile, John	27	Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company (1852)
SPENCER	Carlile, Elizabeth Williamson	30	Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company (1852)
SPENCER	Carlisle, Christiana Spouncer	55	Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company (1852)
SPENCER	Carlisle, Robert	63	Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company (1852)
SMITH	Smith, Asa Downs	6	Isaac M. Stewart Company (1852)
SMITH	Smith, Absalom Wamsley	32	Isaac M. Stewart Company (1852)
SMITH	Smith, Amy Emily Downs	30	Isaac M. Stewart Company (1852)
SMITH	Draper, William	77	Robert Wimmer Company (1852)
SMITH	Tucker, James	23	James D. Ross Company (1860)
SMITH	Tucker, Betsy Valate Lerwill	21	James D. Ross Company (1860)
SMITH	Christensen, Karen	11	Samuel Woolley Company (1861)
SMITH	Christensen, Jens Christian	42	Samuel Woolley Company (1861)
SMITH	Christensen, Kjerstine (we think)	42	Samuel Woolley Company (1861)
McOmber	Clark, Daniel	48	William Hyde Company (1864)
McOmber	Clark, Arthur Benjamin	10	William Hyde Company (1864)
McOmber	Clark, Elizabeth Gower	45	William Hyde Company (1864)
SPENCER	McFarland , Sarah Mitchell	51	Joseph S. Rawlins Company (1866)
SPENCER	McFarland, Sarah Jane	11	Joseph S. Rawlins Company (1866)
Worsley	Price, Eliza Jane	39	Unidentified Companies (1851)
SMITH	Morgan, Thomas Albert	?
SMITH	Charlotta Downs	?
SMITH	Staker (Snook), Rachel	?
McOmber	Janes, Henrietta	?
McOmber	Sagers (Sweet), Amy	?
Worsley	Price, John
Pratt	Phillips, Hannah	?
Pratt	Phillips (Evans), Mary	?
Pratt	Zweifel (Marti), Barbara	?

Happy 1st Birthday Rachel!!!

Today my baby turned one!! This past year has flown by and I'm so happy Rachel is a part of our family. She is such a sweet heart and is learning how to hold her own with her two sisters :) She started walking a little bit almost a month ago and is now walking a little bit more than crawling. The other day we told her to fold her arms for prayer and she did! I was surprised she understood what that meant and that she was able to do it! Rachel is such a fun little girl and I just love her tow-head/ platinum blonde hair. I told Jared before she was born that I hoped she'd have blonde hair because I thought a Rachel with blonde hair would be so cute. I got my wish :) Happy Birthday Rachel! It's been a great year and I look forward to all the things you'll learn this year!! We love you!

Ward Campout 2008

We went to Grayback Gulch near Idaho City for our ward camp out. It was our first 24 hour camp out with the three girls.

Highlights:
-All of us swimming in the creek
-Catching a snake and having all the girls hold their first wild snake
-Eating with the ward
-Sitting around the camp fire until midnight (the girls were all asleep in the tent)
-Going on a nature walk with the girls in the wagon
-Taking the long way home through Horseshoe Bend to see the beautiful mountains

Memories of Us

This is our 200th post!! That's a pretty big accomplishment I would say! I love blogging and all of you bloggers out there. It's so much fun keeping in touch like this!

I saw this on my friends blog and thought it would be fun to do on mine...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Sound like a lot of fun! I'll be anxiously waiting for your memories :)

2008 Mormon College Quarterbacks

Here is a list of Mormon quarterbacks that have potential to start D1 football 2008.

NAME................COLLEGE....MISSION..HOMETOWN
Jacob.Bower......Tulsa............Wisconsin...Meridian,.Idaho
Inoke.Funaki.....Hawaii..........DR..............Kahuku,.Hawaii
Max.Hall.............BYU.............Iowa...........Mesa,.Arizona
Andrew.Hatch....LSU.............Chile...........Henderson,.Nevada
Nate.Longshore..California...--.................Santa.Clarita,.California
Ben.Olson............UCLA.........Canada........Thousand.Oaks,.California

Ben Olson

Andrew Hatch

Nate Longshore

Quinceanera Fiesta

Last Saturday, my next door widow Mexican neighbor asked if we wanted to go to her niece's quinceanera party, and by the way, she needed a ride too. So of course we went. We were basically the only Caucasians there. It was really fun; dancing, free food, and fun music.

A quinceanera is the 15th birthday for Mexican girls and it is a huge party. These guys spent more money than we did on our wedding.

We spent most the time making sure Aliza did not go run off. She did escape us once and went right in the middle of the festive dancers that were being filmed. Oops. Sorry. But Jen ran and got her.

We only spent about 90 minutes there and it was great to learn more about Mexican culture, since probably 20% of the population of where we live are Mexican.

Fun Hair-Do's

I found this cute website awhile ago on hair styles for kids and I just love it! It's so much fun having lots of different ideas for ways to do my girls hair.

My College Football Loyalty Rankings

This is my top twenty favorite college football programs. One way to look at it was if a game was on TV, which game would I watch. It doesn't necessarily mean which team would I cheer for.

Rank	Team	Comment
1.		I've closely followed BYU all my life. I went to the game when BYU beat #1 Miami when I was 10 and I've been hooked ever since. Thanks Dad. Plus, BYU is where Jen and I went to school. Pretty much everyone good athlete from my high school went to BYU. Current player Wayne Latu was in my ward growing up.
2.		You are suppose to hate your rival. But my dad went to Utah and I enjoy watching their football team. Other than BYU, the Utes are my most preferred football team to watch. Sorry to all those Ute haters. I'm a Kyle Whittingham fan and hope he succeeds, except against BYU of course.
3.		I joined the band wagon when I moved here, which was before the Fiesta Bowl. I listen to Idaho Talk Radio which only talks about Boise State football, even during basketball season. Also, if I want to talk sports with co-workers, I better be up to date with the Broncos.
4.		ASU is high on my list because I like the Phoenix metro. When I took the ACT, I sent my score to ASU as a potential school for me to attend. John Beck, Max Hall, Lee Cummard, Danny Ainge, Brooke White and Stephenie Meyer all come from this area, although all most went to BYU.
5.		I proposed to Jen in Lincoln, so there are some memories. More importantly, if I didn't like the Corn huskers, I might get the wrath on the in-laws. I'd rather keep my in-laws happy and support Nebraska than get kicked out of the family. Plus they husk corn and I work in Agriculture.
6.		Logan is a beautiful and peaceful city. It's the best of what Idaho and Utah has to offer, a perfect mix. If the Aggies ever start winning, I'll be happy. I actually felt bad when Riley Nielson announced he was transferring, since he seemed the hope for their future. Jen and I may live there someday.
7.		I'm happy that UNLV represents the MWC well during the NCAA basketball tournament. With the fast growing Las Vegas metro, it's only a matter of time until UNLV will have a football team that's a contender. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.
8.		Exciting to watch. I like when you drive by Morgantown, you are in the middle of nowhere and suddenly you come upon a huge stadium. While I lived in D.C., many people poked fun of the people of West Virginia, like they are uneducated and hicks. I'm a fan of the underdog and it only made them more likeable to me.
9.		It was fun seeing them beat USC last year. Stanford seems to be less resistant to sign players out of high school who plan to go on missions. The only two current Mormon NBA players went to Stanford (Mark Madsen & Casey Jacobson). Plus, Stanford was an area on my sister's mission.
10.		I like watching Polynesians play football, probably because BYU football has about 20% Polynesians and it seems that they are so tough. I am still awaiting the Haka face off in pre-game when Hawaii and BYU play someday. That would be something I would pay to see.
11.		It seems Tennessee is on TV all the time. I liked watching Erik Ainge last season. I still don't know why I like the Volunteers, but I do.
12.		They are a neighboring state. I like the cowboy mentality of being independent and taking care of yourself with little government interference, and it seems like people of Wyoming have that mentality more than others, although they are mean to BYU fans.
13.		Another school with potential of getting really big in football. This year I think they could beat both Arizona and Texas A&M. I enjoyed watching JR Giddens last basketball season.
14.		I would vote to bring Fresno State back in the same conference as BYU. When they were, they were competitive and exciting. Plus their baseball team just won the national championship. I like the aggressiveness of there coach, scheduling many powerhouses in the same season, but so would I if I was in the top heavy WAC.
15.		People in Boise follow Oregon sports so I too have followed Oregon a little bit.
16.		They have Norm Chow. My Grandma went there along with Utah. If they ever start getting really good, they will drop off my list. Ben Olsen should be good this year.
17.		I have to follow Vanderbilt because my fellow co-worker next to my cubicle went to Vanderbilt. Therefore, I make sure to see their scores on the scoreboard. I didn't even know they were in the SEC before two years ago.
18.		I have two friends going to Texas Tech. They have an LDS coach. They are high scoring.
19.		Before I liked football, I always wore a Michigan Wolverines sweater. Because of that, I turned into a fan. But over the years, it's worn off. Be careful mothers out there who buy clothes for there children. I really hope Utah takes down Michigan this year.
20.		I like Dan Hawkins. His son is the starting quarterback and he is played high school football in Boise. If Colorado and BYU were in the same conference, it would be an intense rivalry.

Aliza Second Birthday Movie

Aliza had birthday number two. Enjoy the video.

Happy Birthday Aliza!!

Aliza was born (by my choice) on the 4th of July and I'm so happy we have a "firecracker" baby. I think her personality fits a fire cracker. She's so fun and happy and brings the life to the party :) I made her a crayon cake (the crayons are just covered ice cream cone halves), she had fun opening presents... her favorite present was a set of baby bottles from the dollar store :) She also really liked the little doll picnic set from my parents. It was funny because she opened up the bottles at the start and wouldn't put them down so she said she wanted me to open her other presents. We let Madeline open the presents instead, and Madeline wasn't opposed to that :) It was a fun day relaxing and having fun as a family. We love Aliza so much and are so happy she is in our family. She is a great girl and so much fun!! We love you Aliza!

After we put the girls to bed Jared, Madeline and I got on our roof to watch the fireworks. It was AWESOME! There were trees kind of blocking our way, but we got to see tons of different shows, and didn't have to worry about our girls running around :) I think It'll be a new tradition.

Happy 4th of July!!!

The fourth of July is probably my favorite holiday! I am so thankful to live in America! I love singing all of the patriotic songs, they always bring a tear to my eye. I love the 4th for a lot of reasons... I love the church breakfast we always go to, fireworks, swimming, barbeque's, AND it's Aliza's birthday! I love America and I love Aliza :) Happy Independence Day!!