Bingham Ball

 After that tough loss the night before I was so grateful that Will had the Bingham Ball with Hannah to change his focus and have some fun! Hannah works with Will at Swig and the two of them are so silly together!

 Their day date was at the Hogle zoo and Brianne challenged them to get a picture with a giraffe, I know there's more to it than just that, but I can't remember! Anyway, I liked this one with the giraffe in the background!

 This was Will's first dance where we had to get him a tuxedo! We had so much fun picking it out together! And it's funny to me that one of the most exciting parts to my boys about getting a tux is the shoes! But they are pretty cool!!

 I thought Will looked so incredibly handsome in the tuxedo! I'm not gonna lie, I got a little teary when he was trying it on! (I know-no surprise there- haha)

 They made a very good looking couple! I was grateful that someone got some great pictures for me too because I wasn't able to get them myself! But mostly I was just super excited for them to go and have FUN!

They went for dinner at California Pizza kitchen before heading to the dance up at the State Capitol building! They said the dance was fun! And afterwards they all went to a short after party and watched a movie. First REAL formal dance done! And had a blast! Let's hope that there's more to come and more fun to be had! :)

Quarterfinals!!

 Football quarterfinals and once again I found myself needing to adjust my work schedule so that I could attend the events. Time goes too quickly to miss these things! I was able to go and help serve the team dinner again and this time I brought Brianne along with me!

 We both served the team dinner and I grabbed this quick picture before we went home to get our warm gear on and head up to East High School!

 The first quarter was awesome! We were playing great, moving the ball and scoring just as much as East! I was texting Chan the updates because he was still at work. He finally arrived at the end of the first half and we had just gone for a touchdown and had it intercepted in the end zone as the time ran out. It was a terrible way to end the half! Had we gotten it we would have been ahead.

 When they came back from the half it was evident almost right away that our momentum had still not shifted from that interception. We weren't playing our game and unfortunately East capitalized on it and began to score left and right. Before we knew it we were behind by a lot!  The only good thing that came from that was that Will got to go in and play most of the 4th quarter. He actually caused a fumble that we recovered! He also had a couple tackles.

 In the end we were unable to pull out the win. But I was so proud of our boys for fighting until the end and only losing by around 10 points. They also showed excellent sportsmanship and never played dirty- they stuck to their game! After the game was over the coaches chatted with them for several minutes expressing to them how great they did and how proud they were. Will was doing fine until he walked away from that huddle and saw his friend, who is a senior, crying. That was it and he began to cry too. He walked right up to Chan and gave him a huge hug- much like Carter did after his senior season came to an end.

 I was able to grab my phone and capture it! Such a precious moment! I was next to give him a big hug and to whisper in his ear that they had nothing to hang their heads about! They played a great game and he has one more year to bring it!

One of the most tender moments was between Will and Brianne. As soon as she saw him crying she started to cry too! She waited patiently as he hugged Chan and I and then she looked at him and through her tears said, "Corner Canyon Lost" which she knew would make him smile! And it did! He smiled and she threw her arms around him to hug him as she was still teary! Such an incredible thing to see your kids connect like that and support each other. Nothing can make you prouder than that!

Funny story- Brianne has become OBSESSED with football and has the ESPN app and MaxPreps app on her phone. It keeps her updated on college sports (mainly the Utes) and well as the high school standings. She was keeping a close eye on the MaxPreps app during this game because whoever won the Corner Canyon vs Highland game would be playing whoever won ours. When Corner Canyon lost their game in double overtime it was our 4th quarter and she stood up, threw her hands in the air and yelled, "Corner Canyon lost!" Haha! It was awesome! And Chan said, "That's my girl!"

Overall Alta ended up 8 and 3 and all of those three teams we lost to made it to the semifinals in State! So that says a lot about our new program! This new coaching staff is great and I can't wait to see how next season goes! We're a hawk family for life! :)

Brianne's Birthday!!

 On November 2nd my youngest turned 14.... wow! It still seems unreal! My kids are all getting so big!!! On this birthday there wasn't much out on the counter for "gifts" because we had already given it to her! Her cell phone was on it's last leg so a couple weeks before her birthday I took her to get an upgrade :) She was in heaven!!!

 But I did get a few of her favorite things, mainly gum! You can't go wrong with GUM! Haha!

 I also made her orange breakfast rolls and got her a couple small trinkets. One of which was a ring I found for her at Deseret Book. Funny fact about Brianne is that she is terrified of rings! She's afraid it's going to get stuck on her finger! haha! But I found one that is adjustable, and very cute, with a sweet message. And she's been wearing it!! Huge improvement! :)

 Her choice for dinner was Red Rock Brewery! I thought that was so funny! But they do have good food there! And we always have fun when we go out together! We were laughing and being silly- it was FUN!

 Had to get a car selfie on her birthday! :)

 On the Monday after her birthday Halle wanted to help her celebrate too so we met her, Brittany and Maverik up at the outlet mall to eat a burger and do some shopping. We had so much fun!

 Halle bought her this sweatshirt and got one for herself too so they could be twinners! :)

 Brianne also bought a REALLY cute black sweater with music notes on it! It is SOOOO her!!

The last thing we had to do that week was to get her the ice cream cake she wanted from Diary Queen! It was so yummy too!!! Hard to believe my princess girl is 14, but she is an absolute delight and I love the young woman she is becoming! Love you Briannie!!! Hope your day was all you wanted!

Halloween 2015

 Halloween this year was fun. Brianne decided at the last minute she wanted to dress up. She saw this idea on social media and had to do it! I bought her a plain white shirt and she painted on cow spots and I also got her the halo and wings. She didn't wear the wings because they were uncomfortable but can you tell what she is?.................That's right- A "Holy Cow!" Haha!

 On Halloween night we ended up having everyone over to our house to celebrate. We were supposed to go to Annie's but they didn't have a way to watch the Utah football game so it got moved to our place! Yay! We had some yummy taco's before taking the little's out to go trick or treating!

Brianne loves to go out with them! We walked quite a bit of the neighborhood and loaded up on candy before heading back to the house. We had fun and the Utes got a win! It was a great night!

Playoffs!!!

 The day before Halloween it was our very first playoff game! We were going to play Kearns so we needed to help the boys prepare with a nice pre-game meal! I went to the school to help serve- it was fun!

 The boys got checked out early and ate their team dinner at 11:30am since their game was at Kearns at 3:30pm. Since it was an early game I changed my work schedule so I could be there! I wasn't going to miss any of it!!

 It was SOOO cold too! You can't really tell that from the photos but it WAS! I had on three layers that day! Kearns was not one we had played in the regular season but their record and ours was very similar and they also had a similar style of play. It was going to be a tough game and that was evident from the start!

 This game was literally like one you would see in the movies! It came down to the last minute- we HAD to score at least 3 points or we would lose the game. We made a drive to the end zone and got all the way down to the 10 yard line but didn't get in the end zone. It was 4th down and we were relying on our kicker to get a field goal. Our kicker has only been with the team for a few weeks too- our senior kicker got injured and was out for the season. This kicker was a soccer player that the coaches recruited to play! This game rested on his shoulders!! When they were setting up for the kick I turned to look at Brianne and she was crying! She was so overwhelmed with the pressure and wanting to win! She put her head in her hands and couldn't watch! But she looked up just as the ball flew and made it!!!

 We were screaming like no other!!!!!! We got it!!!! But now Kearns was getting the ball back with 40 seconds left on the clock. We knew we had to hold them for the win. Their player catches the kick and began running the ball when he got hit so hard the ball popped out, Mitch picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! 10 points scored in 10 seconds and sealed the win! Unbelieveable!

 Such a fantastic win by our players, great effort by all who played! Now it was time to go to quarterfinals! And we found out later that day that we would be playing East!

Such a fantastic season for Alta! Now bring on East!! :) Let's go get 'em!

Youth Stake Conference

Right after that crazy intense football game, AND Lagoon with Halle, Brianne had to sing the next morning! Given how much she had been yelling, her voice was pretty hoarse! And the Youth meeting was at 9am! YIKES! So I got up early and made her some hot lemon/honey water so that it would loosen up a bit! It helped a bit and then we went over to the chapel and went through the song a couple times before the meeting began.

When they initially asked her to sing they said she could choose the song and after looking through the Hymn book we weren't sure what she was going to sing. Then later that night I spoke to my sister Heather on the phone and she gave me a great suggestion that we ended up using! She chose to sing "The Miracle" by Shawna Edwards. It's a beautiful song about the miracles Christ performed and that the best is the miracle of the atonement. She only practiced it a few times before performing, but she did an amazing job! I was so proud of her! Music really brings the spirit and I am grateful that she was asked to do that. Nice job Brianne! :)

Girls Lagoon Trip

On the Saturday after the Alta vs Corner Canyon game Brianne and Halle made plans to go to Frightmares up at Lagoon. She and Halle made the plans way in advance and she saved up her babysitting money to go! They decided to take the frontrunner train up and back too! It was an adventure!

 These two are truly like sisters! I know I say that a lot but it's TRUE! They had SO MUCH fun together! They ended up not going in the haunted houses because the lines were crazy long, but they went on rides and had fun!

 Not long before coming home they decided to have dinner and by then it was dark so they used their cell phone flashlights to light up the table! I thought it was quite clever! :) One of Halle's friends ended up hanging out with them for a while- she is the other girl in the picture! It was a super fun night and I think they'll be more like it next year!

Rivalry Game!!! Corner Canyon vs Alta!!!

This is a game we have waited to happen for YEARS! When Corner Canyon was built in Draper a TON of our Alta students moved over there. It was tough to see so many of our Alta family change over to CC. The rivalry was STRONG between us even though we were in different regions, well until THIS year! It was our FIRST ever game against them and the smack talk was BIG! Whoever won this game would have bragging rights FOREVER of being the school to be on top first!!

The games began with JV at 3:30pm at Corner Canyon!! Will was SOOOOO excited to play! He could hardly stand it!!

 Brianne was just as excited!! She was chatting in this photo with her friend Taylor who she cheered with in little league football days. Taylor is now going to CC and Brianne was NOT happy about that! Haha! But they remain friends and like to tease each other!

 Our JV boys were playing tough!! Will had a fantastic game! He had many solo tackles including two goal line stops! It was AWESOME!! Here he is grabbing him....

 And here is the take down! :)

 This shot was one of the goal line stops! I was so proud of him! He was playing with more passion than usual because of the intense rivalry! I told him he needs to play that way ALL THE TIME! It was awesome!

 Another tackle! The JV played a great game, made few mistakes and came away with the WIN! The first Alta vs CC game and we took it! YES!!

 We enjoyed watching the game- it was a pretty day too! :)

 Will was ALL SMILES after the game! Very pleased with his own play and with the win! Now on to the VARSITY game tomorrow!! THAT was the BIG game!!

The morning of the Varsity game Will went to school and saw that it had been vandalized, badly. Spray painted profanity all over the place. It was made to look as if CC kids did it. It was a rough morning because people were getting very upset, understandably. Our coaches came out quickly with a social media message to our players to remember three things; Poise, intelligence and maturity. I loved that!! And as the day went on it was discovered that the people who did it may not have gone to either school- they just wanted to fuel the rivalry. Just stupid!!! And I also noticed that a lot of the CC kids took to social media to say that they didn't want a few kids to represent their school and that they didn't agree with what they did. That was nice to see too. Anyway, it all got cleaned up quickly and it was time to move on....

 Before the game the parents had a tailgating party! We all met out on the soccer field and ate some yummy BBQ sandwiches and sides. It was a bit colder that day than all of us were expecting and was windy too, but we made the best of it! We were all just excited for this game!

 Brianne and I got our seats early because we knew it was going to be NUTS! And I am so glad we did because there was more people at this game than I have EVER seen!

 This is a picture of the visitor side. It is rare for that side to be full- but it was on that night!! And the game was a GREAT one! Alta came out strong and actually scored a touchdown on the very first play!!! It was a HUGE statement! And our crowd went CRAZY!! It was electric! After that Alta and CC went back and forth through the half, but we held the lead the entire time.

 Here is a picture of Alta's student section that night! It was loud and FUN!! The administration told the students if they had more than 2000 kids that they would give them an hour lunch the next week! Haha! It worked because they got it! :) Haha! The second half was some great football! Exactly the type game you want to see- exciting play! And in the end.....

 Alta W-O-N!!!!!!! 45 to 31!!!! I insisted that Will take a picture just like his brother had when he won the rivalry game against Bingham! This is exactly how he felt too!! :)

I loved this picture of the boys after the win! They did the Haka and then were presented with the Rivalry trophy and belt! They are proudly displayed now at the school! BEST FOOTBALL GAME NIGHT EVER!!! :) We are Alta and don't you forget it!!!

National Anthem.... again!!!!

Back in September auditions were held to sing the National Anthem at an NBA Utah Jazz game here in Slat Lake. Brianne and I had talked about it several times and she was planning on going. Unfortunately we found out that the auditions were being held on the exact day that I was leaving to go to Oklahoma to visit family. Brianne was SUPER bummed. So I went online to see what the details were and I discovered that you could send in video auditions! It did say that in person was best, but that they would accept a video audition through email. So I decided what the heck! I sent in the video of her singing at the Bee's game and told her afterward. She thought that was great and we didn't think of it again until weeks later when I got this email:

Congratulations!  You have been selected to perform the National Anthem at a Utah Jazz home game during the 2015-2016 NBA season.  By performing the anthem at the EnergySolutions Arena, you are representing your country, yourselves and the Utah Jazz, and we hope that you will take great pride in this performance.

We would like for you to perform the anthem on Friday, December 11th.  On your performance date, please arrive at the Energy Solutions Arena at 4:00 p.m. for a sound check.  You will be given four tickets to the game.  Additional tickets for family and friends, may be purchased by calling Dustin Dehlin at 801-325-****.

Please remember to dress professionally (no jeans) and arrive on time.  We also expect that the rendition of the anthem that you sang at auditions will be the same rendition you perform at the game, absolutely no changes.

We are excited to have you perform for the Utah Jazz this coming season.  Go Jazz!

Sincerely,

Carly Robbins

Director of Game Operations 

Utah Jazz

WHAT?!!!!!!! I got this email while I was at work and I about fell out of my chair!!! Is that not the most awesome news EVER!!!!! I immediately called Chan to tell him and he was equally stunned! And while I was on the phone with him I checked to see who they play that game and they will be playing the Oklahoma Thunder! That is a HUGE game!! It is so exciting!! Brianne is SO excited too! She couldn't believe it! This is going to be the BEST DAY EVER! We cannot wait! :)

Alta vs Timpanogas

 This game was the week of fall break and the Orem team didn't have a JV squad so that meant only one game. I was hopeful that Will would get some varsity time since there wasn't a JV game but I had no idea what to expect from this team. When we arrived the home team was charging down the field and were playing REALLY well. They scored on their opening drive and I was certain that this was going to be a close game. But as soon as we got the ball that all changed. Our Alta boys took charge after that and just KILLED them! By the end of the 2nd quarter we had already scored over 50 points!

 Because of the drastic change of events they put in the secondaries! So Will went in to play in the second quarter and played the rest of the game! It was great and he played well!

 This was the final score! It was crazy! It would have been higher but we missed the extra point after a touchdown!

Sydney and Halle Skinner came to this game since it was down south and we had a blast sitting with them and chatting! It was a HUGE win and made for a fun night! I was glad that they could share that with us! And Chan had a blast sharing our old college stories with the girls too! It was a super fun night! Way to go Will!