Lacey takes me out Star Gazing on the plains of WY

Here are a couple pictures I promised to post of me and Lacey up on the bluffs above Powell, WY, star gazing. It was really cold, but we stayed out for about an hour. The sky was clear and you could see the Milky Way.

It's freezing out here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Page and Sean came to Powell for Christmas. They arrived on Friday afternoon. Saturday we finished our shopping and that night went to see "A Night at the Museum" which was really funny. Sunday we went to church and then relaxed at home. I made a big taco dinner for Christmas Eve. It was really good if I do say so myself. Christmas morning Sean woke us all up at 7:30 a.m. That was a lot better than past years when we could expect him bouncing in at 3 a.m. After the presents, I made a breakfast of cinnamon roles, eggs, sausage and piggy pudding. The rest of the day we snacked on cheese, cut meats, crackers, shrimp and Christmas night we had apple cobbler with ice cream. I think we all got plenty to eat. Page took the kids back to Livingston on Tuesday (26th). So I will be alone all week and plan to go to Montana on Friday night to share New Year's with them.

First Day of Winter

Happy First Day of Winter. Today we had a nice snow fall of a couple inches, don't know if it will stay on the ground long enough for a white Chirstmas but winter came in to northern Wyoming with snow. Page and Sean braved the snow and made it from Montana today for Christmas. Lacey and I went up on the bluffs last night away from the city lights to look at the stars. They were beautiful. We saw a few shooting stars like the picture above. Lacey made some hot chocolate and we bundled up pretty warm. Lacey took a few pictures of us and once she downloads them, I will try to post a couple. HAPPY WINTER!!!

A BYU Blowout

Las Vegas Bowl: BYU 38 Oregon 8

Congrats to the Cougs! They dominated Oregon all night, last night. I am suprised at Oregon's collapse at the end of the season. I'm sure they never recovered from the USC loss.... hehehehe. The Vegas Bowl was rocking last night. The biggest sell out in it's history, and you basically saw a sea of BYU Blue. After the win, BYU fans stormed the field and the BYU QB, Beck, lead the crowd singing the BYU fight song. I'm happy for BYU. This was their first bowl win in the last 5 tries. I think they have their program back on track and can't wait to see what they do next year. Hopefully they will be good for Sean's freshman year....

Eragon

I got into Livingston last night, with Lacey, at about 8 p.m., and we noticed that Eragon was playing in the local movie theater. We had to go see it! Eragon is adapted from the Christopher Paolini's novel of the same name. Paolini is from Livingston and a little older than Lacey. Sean was playing in the pep band at the high school basketball game, so we called him and told him to meet us at the theater at 9 p.m. The place was packed. A lot of buzz in this small town about Eragon, with the Livingston connection. The 7 pm show must have been sold out becuase hundreds of people were pouring out of the theater. The most common quote we heard "You won't like it if you read the book". I was prepared for that. I have read the book. I remember Sean and his friends being a little dissapointed with Harry Potter after reading the book, since you can't put all the detail into the movie that is in the book. Let me just say, I agree.... the book is so much better. When you know all the details in the book, you notice how the director skips over things you thought were important and you wonder how people who didn't read the book are going to know that. It also is wierd how at times the director will totally disregard what is in the book and change it a little. However, I did like the movie. It did seem like a low budget film compared to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings... my two favorite movies. So I was a little dissapointed in that. My favorite character wasn't even human. I think they got Saphira, the dragon, right. She was just as I pictured her in my mind. The movie was only about an hour and 40 minutes long, so they had to rush everything. Not enough time to really bring out the struggles of Eragon and his preparation by Brom and the development of his use of magic. Oh well, and I hate to be rude, but I thought the fairy princess would be a lot prettier. I also don't thing the movie did a good job in introducing some of the characters. If I didn't read the book, I would not have known a lot about who they are. I guess when they film Eldest (book 2) they will draw these characters out more, I hope. I would say it's worth going to see this movie just to see Saphira. What a dragon!

Getting Ready for the Winter Formal

Sean took Chelsea Bowden to the Winter Formal tonight. They looked wonderful. We had a little trouble with the corsage today and it took three trips to the flower shop to make it acceptable if not completly right. Sean went with a group of kids from Church. They had dinner at the Carters before heading over to the high school.

The Grand March

They have a "Grand March" before the dance. All the bleachers on one side of the gym are full with parents and friends to watch the couples make an entrance. They had 171 couples. Sean and Chelsea were #125. They get announced and everyone claps. When Sean and Chelsea came out in their lime green, you could hear an audible sound from the audience in delight! Anothter interesting observation... only the Mormon girls had their shoulders covered in the evening gowns.

Sean and Sant

Sean and Sant at the Winter Formal

Sean and Chelsea at the Winter Formal

Sean and Chelsea posed for pictures

and we had to grab a couple shots for ourselves too. It was a fun night and it was nice to see Sean go to a formal dance at school, his first!

Trojan Defeat

USC 9 UCLA 13

Oh the agony. What an ugly game! Our cross-town rivals beat us in the Rose Bowl today 13-9. It was such a low scoring game... a real defensive battle. Have to hand it to the gutty little Bruins. Their defense was on fire today and killed our late drive to win the game with an interception. I knew anything could happen in a rivalry game, but we did so well against Oregon, then Cal, then a huge win against Notre Dame.... it may have just been too much to sustain. We have 15 Freshman starters on this team and we had 9 injuries of veteran players over the season. Yet we were only a win away from playing in our 4th straight championship game. But it hurts to lose to a rival. I hate that more than missing out on the BCS championship game, I mean, we still are going to the Rose Bowl! We are Pac-10 Champs for the 5th straight year ( a Pac 10 record). However our 63 games 'scoring over 20 points' streak, a NCAA record, was broken today, our 7 game winning streak over UCLA was broken today. Give all the props to the Bruins, they played great. How in the heck did they lose 5 games this year? Looks like we will play either Michigan or LSU in the Rose Bowl. Both teams would be fun to play. Under Pete Carroll, loses have been very rare, haven't had to deal with it too much. Good thing I had Sean's winter formal to keep me busy tonight.

USC beats Notre Dame , 5th straight time

USC 44 Notre Dame 24

What a game! We totally dominated the Irish tonight. Booty was a little shakey in the 2nd quarter, but came back strong in the second half. Jarrett was on fire tonight, he must finally be healthy, catching three TD passes. We had to win big to impress the polls to move up in the BCS. I think we did that tonight. I would expect us to move to #2. That means if we beat UCLA next week, we could be playing Ohio State for the national championship. Wasn't this supposed to be our rebuilding year? We have a chance to win a national championship 3 out of the last 4 years? Unbelievable. This is a great time for Trojan football. FIGHT ON, USC... beat the bRuins!!! And if we don't make it to the championship game, we still will be in the Rose Bowl. Not too bad if you ask me.

BYU finally beats Utah

BYU 33 Utah 31

ok, with our big BYU visit this week, Sean and I watched the BYU-Utah game on TV. It didn't look to good for the Cougars, but with only 3 seconds left BYU scores the winning touchdown and wins the game, to the shock of the Utah fans. It's been a few years since BYU beat Utah, so I am happy for the Cougars.

New Rexburg Temple

On our trip to Provo earlier this week we drove through Rexburg and I was amazed how far along the new temple contruction is. You can see the temple up on the hill from all directions coming into Rexburg. It sure is pretty!

Salt Lake Temple

On Wednesday night we stopped in Salt Lake to see the new Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy Theater. It was wonderful. The Church does such a great job on their movies: Legacy, Testiments and now the Restoration. I hate how they always make me cry. I'm glad they give you tissues before you go in. I am so grateful for the restoration of the gospel and that the Lord called a prophet to open the last dispensation. After the movie we stepped outside to see the beautiful Salt Lake Temple all lite up. Another testiment of of the faith and hardwork of the early pioneers.

Christmas at Temple Square

The lights on temple square were not being turned on until Friday, but a few trees in front of the Church Office Building were on.

My friend Karie

Poop-Magoop-Scoop!

Here is my great friend, Karie Ludwig. She fed us a delicious meal when we arrived in Utah on Tuesday. She even made me scones.... which were so delicious. YUMBO. Karie and I have known each other since I was a little kid in California. She lived 4 houses down from me. We were in the famous Lakewood Lancer's Marching Band together, she taught me how to dance all cool during the disco craze, she got me interested in singing and trying out for the school musicals after her stunning performance in the Sound of Music..... I got to come to Utah for her wedding to Karl and have seen her family grow. She is now a grandma too! wow. She has two married children already and a son that just went on a mission. A long way since our Lakewood days.... She may never know how special it was to our family when she named one of her girls, Konnie, after my sister died too. Looking back, it's so nice to stay in contact and be a part of somebody's life that you have known for almost all your life. I was thinking about it this weekend, and she is the only childhood friend that I am still close to, knowing who her children are, what is going on in her life, and also when we do get to see each other, things are still good and fun between us. Love ya Karie! and all the other K's in the Ludwig family....

Sean Tours BYU

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We went to BYU this week so Sean could check out the campus and see if he really wants to go there. It was a great trip. The campus is wonderful and we had a nice tour. We got to see the different academic buildings and spent some time in the bookstore. We also checked out the tennis courts and Hellaman Halls where Sean wants to live. I think Sean is hooked, if there were any doubts, they are gone now. He wants to be a BYU Cougar.

Go Cougars!

It's rivalry week so everything is wrapped to protect property from the pesky Utah Utes.

Sean outside Lavell Edwards Stadium in front of the Cougar statue. Rise and Shout, the Cougars are Out!!! or is that wrapped?

Brigham wrapped

Well, we can't come to BYU and not take a picture of Brigham Young, even if he is being protected from red paint. Sean already looks like a BYU student with that Y hat on.

USC beats Cal

USC 23 California 9

All the experts said we didn't have a chance against Cal at the beginning of the year. In fact, the last four games were out of our reach. Well we beat Oregon, and now Cal. We have Notre Dame this saturday in Los Angeles. What a game that should be. This game was great against Cal. Our defense was awesome. Now there is talk we may be back in the championship game against Ohio State, if we can win our last two games. Exciting times to be a Trojan. We clinched our 5th straight Pac-10 Championship with this win. This is the first time any school in the Pac-10 has won 5 straight. We break another record! Pete Carroll has only coached 6 years at USC. We are assured a spot in the Rose Bowl with this win too. FIGHT ON, TROJANS beat the Irish!

Montana Weekend

I had a real good first week of work in Wyoming this last week. There were a few staff issues that seemed petty but necessary to give attention to. I have so many meetings, more than anyplace I have ever worked. In fact, I never had to go home or buy a lunch last week since there were lunch meetings everyday with a meal provided. At least my food bill will be better. On Friday afternoon, Lacey and I packed up the truck and headed north to Montana to spend the weekend with Page and Sean. I found Page not feeling well and she spent the whole weekend in bed or on the couch, poor thing. I was able to get the fence up for the dogs and fix the latch on the gate before the snow hit on Saturday afternoon, so at least that is done and the dogs can be let outside without supervision. Sean and I went to church today and it was good to be back in the Livingston Ward. It feels like home. My records are in Wyoming however, so should be interesting how they can put me to work this year. On Wednesday I went with my Bishop in Wyoming to the Stake Priesthood meeting in Cody. I met a few people, but it will be hard to really get involved in the Ward there with Page up in Montana. Friday night, as soon as we got here Sean was off to a Stake Dance and Lacey was off and running all day Saturday. But Sean and I had fun watching the USC game late Saturday night together. Page made some Taco soup to fill us up today before Lacey and I head back down to Wyoming.

USC Roasts the Ducks

USC 35 Oregon 10

Everybody had written off the Trojans. After the loss to Oregon State, the close wins at Arizona, Washington, Washington State, etc. this team could not beat the mighty Ducks or Cal or Notre Dame or UCLA...... blah blah blah. Well those doubts have been pushed aside as the USC Trojans killed the Oregon Ducks last night in front of a homecoming crowd in Los Angeles. It wasn't even close. The Ducks got their only touchdown on a questionable call. Even our coach, Pete Carrol had a few choice words about it..... it was great to see the Trojans play the way they did. I feel a lot better about our chances of winning the Pac-10 and getting to the Rose Bowl. A lot of top teams lost yesterday, Texas, California and Auburn. That will push us way up the polls. I've missed watching the last two games since I was busy with the move or had no television. Next week will be another tough test against California.

I Voted Republican

o.k. President Bush, I did my part and voted GOP today. Not sure if it will do any good, but I'm keeping the faith! I just moved to Wyoming this last week, so not a lot of political clout in Wyoming, and I think the GOP was looking good in Wyoming anyway. I was able to go to the polls and register to vote right on the spot.... that was pretty cool. Even if I didn't want to vote Republican, it would be hard not to in this part of Wyoming. In most of the county, city and school board races, the Republican was running unopposed. I guess it's hard to find a Democrat in these parts. Now if I was up north with Page in Montana, that would be a fun place to vote to see if Burns retains his senate seat and keep it in the GOP column or if the Democrats gain a seat there. Anyway, I won't even know what the election results will be. We do not have TV yet, so I cannot watch any election returns... but if the pundits are right, this may not be a good night for the Republicans.

Moving Day is Here

I don't know when I will be posting anything again. We are right in the middle of packing up our household. And the fun part is we are packing to send everything to two locations! Page and Sean are going to Montana and Lacey and I are going to Wyoming until after Sean graduates from High School, then we get to move all the Montana stuff down to Wyoming. It has been really slow going since Page hurt her foot and we are cleaning out all the junk.... that takes a lot of time vs. just throwing everything in boxes. Some ladies from Church came over this morning to pack our kitchen. We are so very grateful to them. Bekins Moving & Storage arrive tomorrow morning and the packing begins. Then on Sunday morning we head north, stopping in Kansas the first night and Wyoming the second night. We should be at the house in Wyoming on Halloween afternoon.... waiting for our stuff. Then once the movers arrive- we head up to Montana to drop off more stuff, then it's back to Wyoming to start my new job. The computer is going with Page and Sean. Poor Lacey is going to have withdrawls. Lacey and I will use the computer at the local library, I guess. So be patient for my next exciting post.

So you gonna vote?

Foley (Republican) Scandal- hitting on young male Page's, now Webb (Democrat) is exposed in writing some pretty shocking novels that include raunchy porn and bizarre pedophelia? I guess there are bad apples everywhere. I know you have to look at issues, and who is supporting the issues you believe in, but is it unreasonable to also want those representing us in the government to be of high morals and character? After Clinton, it was refreshing to bring in Bush. Less than two weeks until the election and the mud is flying- I wonder how it is going to turn out?

Remember the Alamo

Sean and I made a quick trip to San Antonio

a couple weeks ago. Sean has always wanted to see the Alamo and we had to do it before we moved from Texas. It is a 5 hour drive from our house. We got up early on weekend and drove straight to San Antonio, toured the Alamo, looked at the River Walk and ate down at the Mercado (the Mexican market). Then we got back in the car and drove back home. We had a lot of fun.

Went went down to the River Walk

We also went to the Mercado for Mexican Food

Heart Attacked!!!!

Look what happened.... Page got Heart Attacked

We took our helpers to Sonic for dinner after working so hard cleaning out the garage. When we got home we found all these hearts in our yard. Page got heart attacked by some of the young women in the Ward. Page was so excited. They are really going to miss her. We make good friends everywhere we go.

messages of love were written on the hearts

Last Sunday in Texas

We had a little surprise yesterday at Church. The speakers from the Stake didn't show up, so the Bishop had a great idea for the Gilmores to get up and share our testimonies. So we got to speak afterall, even though I thought we had gotten lucky and dodged the farewell talk. We have made some really good friends in Texas and we are going to miss them. Below are some pics of the Youth in the Ward.

Today we have been packing the garage. What a job! Sean is out of school this week to help, and the "other three muskateers" go to another high school and had they day off and they were nice enough to spend the day helping us clean out the garage. Now we are ready to get packing. The movers come on Friday to haul everything up North. How what fun we are having....

Lufkin Ward Youth

The Four Muskateers

The Priest Quorum

Page and the YW Presidency

Livingston says Goodbye

The staff at Livingston invited me down for a party.

Only two days left of work. I am really going to miss the staff at my clinics. Livingston had a lunch for me yesterday. They are a great group. We were missing Dr. Perez and Annie in the picture. Also Soozi's funeral was last Friday and we all miss her very much. Here I go moving again, leaving behind good friends. L to R: Rose, Julie, Dr. Bui, Shalana, Angela, Dr. Neuman, Jean, Lisa, Sherrie and Nita. (andf of course, I'm the big guy way in the back).

Matt Leinart did not look or play like a rookie

There is nobody I like to watch play football more than Matt Leinart

He led my beloved USC Trojans to so many victories. Now he plays for the Arizona Cardinals. They were on Monday Night Football against the Chicago Bears last night. Nobody gave them a chance against the #1 Bears who are destined to win the Super Bowl. Matt came out on fire and scored two touchdowns in the first quarter. The Bears had a lot of turnovers and the Cards were leading 20-0. Unbelievable. But then the Cardinals became "the Cardinals" and lost the game 24-23. However, Matt was unbelievable. His 2nd start, a rookie, and he seemed like a seasoned veteran out there. It was great to watch him play again. The Cards shouldn't have won the game.... but should have won the game.... know what I mean? He fell to #10 pick in the draft this year. People criticized his arm strength, his lack of focus "Mr Hollywood", etc. He is answering his critics now. I bet there are a few teams wishing they picked Leinart now. The Cardinals have a great new stadium, a great new Quarterback, now they need somebody who can run more than 2 yards a carry and a better play caller and maybe they can do something this year.

Matt and Cardinals had a bad night

Tornado Watch

Boy have we had a lot of rain today. Our County is under a tornado watch until 7 pm tonight. They have closed the Hwy between us and Houston today due to flooding. My clinic in Livingston is right in the middle of the flooding and some of the workers couldn't get back in to work after picking up their kids after schools closed early. My workers in Jasper are nowhere to be found. They called at 8:30 a.m., afraid of tornados. I've called at 10 am and 2 pm and no answer, so I'm sure they decided to close down and go home. Last year at this time we were dealing with Hurricanes, now we are dealing with Tornados and floods. I'm sure we will have blizzards once I move to Wyoming..... just my luck. But we are all ok. Not too fearful, but things like this put people on edge. It's just a Tornado Watch, meaning conditions are ripe for tornados. If it was a Tornado Warning, that would be more serious, that means funnel clouds have been spoted in the area or tornados have touched down. My clinics are trying to close down early once they see all their patients..... yes, patients are still coming in to the clinics fighting the aweful weather. I'm trying to wrap things up. This is my last week of work. Friday is my last day.

USC beats Arizona State and still undefeated

USC 28 Arizona State 21

We had another close game yesterday. No big blow outs this year. Our hero was Chauncey Washington. Our Running Back saved this game for us. He took it upon himself in the fourth quarter and with about 10 straight carries took it into the end zone. He was dragging Sundevils along with him down the field. It was unbelievable. We were leading 21-0 and let them back in the game. We have to get a lot healthier and efficient if we are going to beat Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame. Lucky for us we have a bye week next Saturday to heal. Today the BCS rankings came out and we are #2. We are also 6-0, not bad!This season is a lot different from the last two, but I am really enjoying all the nail biting and cliff hangers. FIGHT ON, TROJANS!!!

Ace!

Sean makes a save

Sean played his last match in Texas on Thursday. Team tennis played Magnolia down near Houston. Sean and Kaz (doubles) lost a very close match. It started to rain in the third set and a kid from the other team refused to play in the rain (light rain) and so they sat for about 10 minutes until the rain stopped. Sean's team had the momentum before the rain delay, but couldn't hold onto the lead when they resumed.

Lacey says: "Go Trojans, beat the Sundevils!"

Politics

Why does everthing have to be political? I have been a political junky my whole life and even I am getting sick of all the fighting between the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats hate Bush so much they cannot rally behind him to protect this country. North Korea tests a nuclear weapon the other day and immediately Hillary, Reid and other Democrats start blaming Bush. Bush is the evil one! No- maybe the crazy North Korean leader is the evil one? Can we rally together as Americans to solve this crisis? I know I am being very nieve. Political Power is more important with these people in Washington DC. And it is so phoney watching the Democrats on the Foley scandal. Of course the majority of Americans would be horrified, but to make this a Republicans are evil and we, the Democrats, are morally outraged and superior...... then to find out one of their own seduced and had relations with an underaged Page when they were in power and the guy didn't even resign and the morally superior Democrats didn't do anything is so unbelievable.... wait, it is totally believable. The Republican resigned. The Democrat didn't. This has been the same pattern with many sexual scandals throughout the years between Democrats and Republicans. I have a feeling, people who are for older men being able to have relations with minor boys are overwhelmingly Democrat and not Republican... but I could be wrong. Why do I get the feeling this is all about winning an election and not really about protecting the Pages? But average Americans are outraged, and very well should be, so the Democrats are smart to use it to overturn power in the country.

But when I think about what Democrats and Republicans stand for in regards to national security, war on terrorism, supporting our troops, tax policy, economy, I have to stick with the Republicans... and I will vote. I am not discouraged by the Democrats. Liberals may win, but I am not going to help them. I hope people vote on issues and not on what a Republican congressman did and is now paying dearly for his mistakes. But I have a feeling that many Americans, no matter what side they are for are getting sick of all the fighting, division and unwillingness of the parties to work together for our good. That is the true travesty.

House Hunting in Wyoming

Page and I have been in Wyoming and Montana for the last week. It took us 3 days in Wyoming until we found a house to rent. We were sweating bullets, but finally found a nice house. Once we got that out of the way, we headed up to Montana to get Sean enrolled into school.

On Sunday we got to go to the Livingston Ward. It was so great to see everyone. People seemed excited to see us. We were really excited to see them. Here Page is holding little James Melin. He was blessed on Sunday, so we were lucky to see it. During our 3 days in Montana, we went and saw the Melins, McCanns, Gordons, Larsons, Bowdens, Blakes and tried a couple times to see the Cotants. However we got to see everyone (too many to list but loved seeing all nevertheless) at Church on Sunday when we extended our stay in Livingston. We went back to Wyoming on Sunday afternoon.

This was taken after leaving Church in Livingston. It was overcast, but you can still see all the fall colors. There was a lot of yellow, orange a red in Montana and Wyoming this week.

They have a new statue in Sacajawea Park. I assume this is Sacajawea.

Here is a picture of the Shoshone River in Wyoming, near where we will be living.

Washington Heart Attack

USC 26 Washington 20

This is the second week where if there was more time on the clock we probably would have lost the game. USC is coming up with the wins, but just barely. The thought that this team will go undefeated is very remote. But we are 5-0 at the moment, so I'm going to savor that fact. I got to watch this game in a motel room in Livingston, Montana. Jarrett started the game to my suprise but was pulled the second half due to his injury. Then Steve Smith our other WR was injuried in the second half. This team has had so many injuries, I think that fact will cost us any chance of getting back to the BCS championship. Some of our best players are sidelined with injuries. FIGHT ON!

USC almost mauled by Cougars

Time for a heart attack!  USC barely wins this one 28-22 up in Pullman, WA.  Washington State never let up and if time hadn't run out could have pulled the upset.  Thank goodness that didn't happen.  The Cougars had the ball last and were poised to score, but USC with no time left intercepts the ball and we walk away with a win.  I sure hope things get a little easier for us, but I have my doubts they will.  These guys are fighters and because of it, we are still undefeated.  FIGHT ON!

Steve Smith picks up for our All American, Dwayne Jarrett who is injured and may be out a few more weeks.  Steve had two touchdown catches in the game.

Props to BYU.  They beat the defending Mountain West Champions, TCU, on the road in Fort Worth.  Sean and I wanted to go to the game, but it was on a Thursday night.  BYU has a shot at the MW Championship this year.  TCU was ranked #17 before the loss.  BYU has turned a corner, beating its first ranked team since 1999.  I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON~