TRUE BLUE!!!

One of the reasons Darren was so excited to move back to Cache Valley was so that we could go to ALL the Aggie games! Yes…we are football season ticket holders despite the fact that the Aggies are just not that good! It is good wholesome family fun, and I enjoy football too, so I can't complain...at least not yet! When the temperatures start dropping, I might not be so happy about it! So, the last few weeks, much of our time has been devoted to Aggie football! GO AGGIES!

Darren and Logan both attended the opening Blue and White scrimmage. Rylee and I were really sick that day, and Darren had been sick earlier, but I guess it wasn’t enough to keep him away! Logan had a blast playing on all the blowup toys and seeing Big Blue and cheering for the Aggies, but his favorite part was running on the football field! Now he thinks he should be able to run on the field after every game and gets upset when he can't.

Before the first home game of the season, they had some fun family festivities on campus. The kids loved climbing on this giant tractor and Logan thought it was fun to do the Aggie football toss and run all over the Quad.

Rylee showing us some dance moves!

They were both also fascinated with the water fountain on campus and Rylee loved the flowers. We tried REALLY hard to get some pictures on the A, but they weren’t too cooperative!

So, the first 2 games of the season were quite different…. Game 1 was against the U. This game is known as “The Battle of The Brothers”. In Darren’s family, this is pretty true since almost all of his brothers have gone to the U. They all came up for the game. We were a little outnumbered by all the red!We went to dinner first and then headed to the game. My kids were so happy that their cousin Parker was there to play with - even if he cheered for the wrong team!Darren’s dad went for a neutral look – I thought he was pretty funny in his Utah shirt and USU hat!

Logan's very favorite part of the game is when the players come out and we sing the fight song! He LOVES it and was going crazy jumping up and down and clapping and singing along! He LOVES anytime they play the fight song or The Scotsman. He tired himself out before the game even started! Go Aggies, Hey! Hey! Hey!

Rylee likes to clap for the Aggies just like Brother!

We scored first, but there wasn’t much to cheer about after that for the Aggie fans! The final score ended up being 58-10 and if the Utes didn’t fumble the punts so many times, we might not have scored at all! Arent' my little Aggie fans cute?We somehow managed to spill 4 or 5 Diet Cokes all over the bleachers during the game, so I’m sure the people in front of us really appreciated that! Logan does great at the games once he has a snow cone! I think I am the only one excited to see Big Blue in this photo! Rylee is TERRIFIED of Big Blue! She spends most of the games looking for him just so she knows that he is not too close! She says "Big Blue?" and holds up her hands like "where is he?" It is very cute! Just don't let him get TOO close!

Game 2 was a much different story – It was called “The Pillowfight of the Week” since it was against Idaho, who is also listed as one of the worst 10 teams in college football right along with the Aggies! The first half was pretty rough for both teams, but the Aggies dominated the second half and came away with a VICTORY!!! Yes, that is right…the Aggies won a game! And not only did they win, they scored 42 points – Who knew the Aggies could do that? That also puts them on top of the Conference standings…for now… The kids LOVE the games and had so much fun with our friends, the Sanders and their cute boys Spencer and Dallin. It looked like were were going to get rained on, but it only rained a little bit. It would start and I would get all of our rain gear on, and then it would stop and warm up so I would have to take it off, and then it would start again. Rylee loves to wear her Princess poncho!

Here are the kids in between the rain when the sun came out. Don't they look cool in their shades?

Rylee loves to cheer and both kids thought that the railings were great fun to play on – I was pretty stressed about Rylee. I was worried she might fall through or try and climb all the way to the top, but we made it to the end of the game without any accidents.

Rylee giving a Go Aggies cheer! So cute!

Logan blowing on his whistle like a coach! He thought that was so cool!

Rylee LOVES to pose for me!

I was so happy that my old roomie Amy was there and I was able to see her, and we saw our friends the Olsons. We always love going to the games, but it was definitely more fun to win this week!

We also went to an Aggie volleyball game tonight. It was so much fun and Logan and Rylee both really liked it! Logan was watching pretty intensely...Logan was really excited to go and liked saying "Bump, Set, Spike" and cheering for the Kills! Rylee was so happy to have her very own chair! She loves that for some reason. She also liked watching everyone - especially the cheerleaders. The kids were also very excited that Aunt Vanessa came along with us!Big Blue tried to play Peek-A-Boo with Rylee for awhile, but she was NOT amused! In fact, she was terrified! Logan was happy to see Big Blue and give him a five!The Aggies dominated the first game against Nevada, but then almost lost the match! It was pretty intense, but they ended up winning! Yeah Aggies!

In other football news, we have also attended a few High school football games. Yes…just going to College is not enough for us! We have been to watch Sky View High School twice. Darren’s business partner is a big booster for them and is always bugging us to go. Sky View is really good, and the kids actually think it is pretty fun! High school football is pretty big here in Cache Valley and to get seats you have to go DAYS (yes...I said DAYS) in advance! It is crazy - I have never seen anything like it! People go days before the game and duct tape their blankets to the bleachers - I guess that is a sign you live in a small town!Logan is happy as long as he has a snow cone there and Rylee is quite interested in all the people, especially the cheerleaders and dancers. She even started touching her toes throughout the game -just like the cheerleaders do - We may be in trouble! Rylee was even chanting "ky Vue" (Sky View) and "Go, Go, Go" and "Get Him!" by the end of the game! This week was Homecoming and was a fun game. When the game was over, Logan told us he wanted to meet a football player. Luckily, we bumped into one on our way out, and he was the player who scored all the touchdowns. He was really cute and talked to Logan and gave him five which totally made Logan's day! Sky View is the high school our children will most likely go to if we stay here, so I guess we might as well start cheering for them, right?

We have also been to 2 Northridge Sophomore games to watch Uncle Jeff. The kids think it is so fun to watch Uncle Jeff in his football gear. He started off the season as the 3rd string QB, but has since changed to Wide Receiver and Free Safety. He didn’t get to play too much in the games we went to, but in his game on Thursday he played almost every play! We were bummed we missed it! Way to go Jeff!

This post turned out much longer than I planned it to, but that usually happens with me. There will probably be lots more posts of Aggie sports to come, since that is how we spend lots of our family time. We are excited for this week's game against BYU! We have lots of family and friends coming up to watch the game with us, so that should be fun! We are a little nervous about the score - BYU hasn't let anyone score on them for 2 weeks, so we could be in trouble! After the USC-Oregon State game this week though, who knows? Anything can happen! No matter how many we lose by though, we will still love our Aggies!!! Utah State, Hey! Aggies All the Way!

For A Great "Mann"

On Saturday morning, my step-grandpa, Renny Mann, passed away. He and my Grandma had been married for almost 8 years, so he hasn’t always been a part of our family, but he was a great guy and we enjoyed the time he spent with us. He was always there for all of our family functions and made my Grandma very happy. He has been quite sick the past few months. At his funeral on Wednesday, each family of grandkids was asked to share their memories of Renny. I was nominated from our family…I have no idea how that happened given my speaking history… so I thought I would post all of the memories that my family shared about Renny, mostly for our own family records.
My dad actually remembers being just 15 and going out to Plain City for the square dances that Renny used to call. (Renny is a world-famous square dance caller...seriously!) My dad admits that he went mostly for the girls, but he said that Renny was a great caller and made it fun. He also said that Renny was very thoughtful and kind and that he really enjoyed a good conversation and was great to have around.
My mom remembers how much he loved his dog, Toby and that he always had him in his lap when we went to visit; how much Renny liked to belt out the Christmas songs at our Christmas program on Christmas Eve; and how kind he was to Grandma.
I remember being a Freshman in College and he and my Grandma were just dating. He would call square dances at the Senior Center in Logan and invite me to go. It was quite interesting but always fun! Those cute square dancers loved young blood and were so excited to have me there and always made me feel welcome and included! There was always lots of hugging! Sometimes I even took a date with me and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, my grandma and Renny would take me out for dessert and they were like teenagers - they were so in love!
Darren remembers that Renny was kind to everyone all the time.
Dean remembers that Renny and my Grandma were always there on Christmas Eve and that during the Nativity program, Renny would sing so loud, which was good since the rest of our family doesn’t really sing! Dean could tell how much Renny loved music!
Heather and Jay remember taking Grandma and Ren to dinner. They had lots of fun and Grandma and Ren made for a great double date. Ren got spaghetti, and they found out it was his favorite. It was so fun to just hang out like friends and share stories. Ren told Heather and Jay about when he and my Grandma were dating. He said they'd fog the windows...
Heather is a big dog lover and will always remember Renny's relationship with Toby, who is their dog. They were best friends and did everything together. Ren loved Toby very much.
Heather also remembers Ren always offering anyone the orange spongy circus peanuts. We all thought they were gross but took them anyway.
Jay remembers Ren always teasing us when we were dating saying here comes the two love birds.
Vanessa remembers the Thanksgiving at the Hillstrom’s house. We all went for a little hay ride in Huntsville and then Renny called and taught us all square dancing in their family room. Our family doesn’t really do dancing either, but it was a lot of fun!
Jeff remembers all the stories he had about hunting and fishing.
Brad remembers all the stories about when he served in the military.
Kyle remembers ( with tears) that Renny came to his birthday party last week when he has so sick.
Logan remembers seeing Renny at the hospital last week. I had taken the kids to Ogden to meet a friend at the Dinosaur Park (post still to come…) and stopped to see Renny at the hospital. Logan was SO good to stay quiet while Renny was sleeping, but as soon as Renny woke up, Logan started chatting his ear off! He wanted to tell Renny all about the dino park and that he was going to play soccer soon. They were a great pair – Logan was going on and on, but I don’t think Renny could hear much of what he was saying so I don’t think he could get too bothered. After awhile, Logan noticed all the things Renny was hooked up to, especially the oxygen tube in his nose, and became very concerned. He kept saying, “What is going on here Renny? What is going on at this office?” He was so worried for him! When we told Logan that Renny had passed away, he was pretty sad that Renny wouldn’t be able to come to any of his soccer games. When we told him Renny had gone to live with Heavenly Father and that he wasn’t sick anymore, Logan was so glad and wanted to be sure he didn’t have “that tube” in his nose anymore! Such a sweet little boy!
We are all glad that Renny is in a better place and grateful for the time he shared with our family.

Random Reunions...

This is my attempt to catch up a few things from this somehow that I never got around to posting! Now that we are back in Utah, we are enjoying being able to see some old friends that we haven't had a chance to see over the last 4 years. Over the summer, I was able to see lots of friends from high school and college.

In June, I got together with 2 of my very best friends from high school, Emily and Melissa. It had been a REALLY long time since all 3 of us have gotten together and it was so fun to chat and catch up! Melissa's little boy, Ryker, is just 3 days older than Logan, and Emily's little girl, Kendall, is just a couple months younger than Rylee, so it was fun to watch our kids play. We went to lunch and it was a bit of a fiasco with all the kids, but so much fun. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures, which is very rare for me, but it was a lot of fun - We need to do it again soon girls!!!

In July, I met up with 2 of my very oldest friends, Marci and Allison, who I affectionately refer to as "The Twinners"! We have been friends since our Kindergarten days in Mrs Bubock's class. I distinctly remember one of them crying in the coatroom in Kindergarten about getting their tonsils out. I have no idea how I remember this... We played basketball together all the way to High School and then they decided to go to Layton High - Traitors!!! - but I forgave them and love them anyway! I hadn't seen them since my wedding, but I got in touch with Marci on Facebook and she was in town for a visit so we arranged a lunch and we had a great time! They can make me laugh so hard! I love those girls! We have some great memories together. I think our lunch could have gone all day, but Allison had to get to work. I did remember to take a picture this time, although it is not a very flattering one!

Also in July, one of my old roomies Summer had a little backyard BBQ for her birthday! It was great fun and I got to see a few old USU friends - Summer was my roomie in college, and another roommate Becca was also there, along with a good friend Katie from the Pine View days. I love to listen to both Katie and Becca - They are hilarious! It was so fun to relive the old Pine View days and Summer and Dave treated us to some delicious food - Summer even made herself a yummy birthday cake to share! I LOVE these girls!

Then in August, I had a little reunion with some of the girls from the days of "The Yellow House"! That was the year that I lived with 8 girls - there was a lot of drama, but even more fun! I was so happy to catch up with them since it had been so long since I had seen most of them! Amy was not able to join us, but was in Logan that same morning for a wedding. I watched her sweet baby Charlotte while she was in the temple. She is such a cutie! She is so tiny and sweet - I loved hanging out with her for a bit. Here are me and Amy and little Charlotte at the temple!

The rest of us (Angie, Melanie, Trine, Katie and I) met at Angie's house in Provo for a BBQ and lots of catching up and laughing! These girls are so fun and quite the combination and we have a great time together. Angie and her husband treated us to delicious food and the kids loved the pool in the backyard. I think we could have chatted and reminisced all day! It was fun to meet some of the spouses and babies and all of that. We really missed Brooke and Amy though - Maybe next time! I am so happy to be back in contact with all these girls - Yeah for Facebook and blogs! A few weeks ago, I got together with Summer again and another old roommate Camille. We took our kids along the River walk trail here in Logan. The kids had a great time! It was a good work out for me, since I rarely exercise these days and we were able to do lots of chatting while pushing the strollers. At the end of the trail, we let the kids throw rocks in the river and they loved that! Logan was especially into it and I had to keep a close eye on him that he did not just jump in! After our walk, we had a little picnic in Summer's backyard. It was such a fun day!

Logan loved throwing rocks

Rylee finally got in on the rock throwing too.

Isn't he a cutie?

Camille and her little boy Tanner

Sky and Summer's legs...

Isn't this a pretty place?

It is fun to have a few close friends here in Cache Valley. We also love to see our good friends the Lifferth's who also live close by! It has been so fun to see and catch up with so many friends that we have missed the last 4 years. We still have a few more that we are trying to catch up with, but we are so happy to be back home!