Roddick knocks out Djokovic

Great match last night between Roddick and Djokovic. THe #9 player beat the #3 player in the world. Way to go Andy Roddick. The Australian Open is going on right now. This win pushes Andy to the semi-finals against Roger Federrer. That is going to be a tough match. It got to 133 degrees on the court yesterday. Andy was winning the match, but Djok quit in the 4th set due to the heat. Andy looks good this year. He has lost 15 pounds this year and in great shape. I hope he can upset Roger. I am very happy for Andy.

Let it snow

We had a nice snow fall Saturday evening and night and woke up to a blanket of white

of course, we had to go to church so I had to get into my winter clothes and go out and shovel the porch, walkway, driveway, and side walks. It doesn't help that we live on a corner so I have sidewalks on two sides of the house, plus a little sidewalk along the back. And to add to my fun, I decided to shovel the neighbor's driveway and stairs to her front door. I know, I am a good boy scout!


Look, and I am still smiling after all that work

Utah Getaway

This past weekend, Page and I took a few days off to getaway and spend time together. We chose Utah. It is close and has fun things to do. And a chance to do some shopping in the big city. On Sunday morning we went to Salt Lake City and heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during their weekly live broadcast from Temple Square in the Tabernacle. We go to sit way down front. Afterwards we saw the Joseph Smith movie in the Visitor Center and the beautiful Christus statue.

Here we are in Temple Square with a view of the Salt Lake Temple.

We also stopped by to see a few of Sean's BYU friends. They let us film them talking to Sean. We sent the tape along with some messages from Page, Lacey, the Ludwigs and me. We also sent some Valentine goodies to Sean today in the mail.

Here is a picture of Sean's friends in their apartment at BYU

Back- L to R: Emily, Kitty, Natalie, Alex

Front- Page

We also had lunch one day at Tango House in Provo. It is an Argentine restuarant. We had empanadas, milanesa and gnocci. And to top it off we had flan covered with Dulce de Leche.

Here is Page with the owner of the restuarant, Andrea and her daughter Antonella. They are from Buenos Aires, Argentina. They moved to the USA when Antonella was 11. They first lived in California then moved to Utah. They were so nice and of course we told them all about Sean and they talked about Argentina. They are going back for a visit in March and offered to take anything to Sean we wanted to send him. Isn't that cool? We only met for a few minutes, but we could tell they are great people.

Our trip was a lot of fun. We had fun talking and hanging out together. I have to admit I pooped out more than Page did. By 5 p.m. everyday, I wanted to take a nap. We got to see our friends the Ludwigs, although not for very long, but they all seem to be doing very well. I finally got to eat at Cafe del Rio. For the past 5 years I have been wanting to go and every time we are in Utah we never make the time to do it. Well, finally Page and I went. I had the pork burrito and it was AWESOME. I will go back there again sometime.

We made it home safely and both of us went to work today, but we are already thinking about when we can get away together again.

I love this picture

Here is a picture of Sean with Elder Sabey (who also was in his BYU ward last year and lived down the hall in his dorm). Elder Sabey isn't his companion but they are in the same zone (Catan). They are at the mission Christmas Party in Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina the week before Christmas. The missionaries had a white elephant gift exchange and Sean got a pair of women's sunglasses and he wore them all day.

Doesn't he look great and happy!?! And look at his hair! I can't believe he has a part in it now. Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can get a good look at him....

Crowned

I finally got a crown on my tooth this afternoon. I broke off a piece of a tooth last April when Page and I were driving to Utah to pick up Sean from BYU. I remember the incident well, I was in biting into an egg mcmuffin in Lander when I thought I was chewing on some hard grisle only to discover half my tooth broke off in a couple of pieces. After that my toungue kept getting cut and I still had to get to Utah, pick up Sean then drive down to California so Sean could go through the LA Temple. When I got back, I couldn't find a dentist available to fix it. I finally got established wiht a dentist in October and now this has been the earliest I could get into to get a crown.

Anyway, I am numb, sore and tired. So much so, that I don't have any desire to watch the rest of the BCS Championship game between Florida and Oklahoma. The best team (USC) got jipped anyway......

USC and Black-eyed Peas

USC 38 Penn State 24

Rose Bowl Champions: USC TROJANS

Another exciting Rose Bowl game today. The USC Trojans proved they are one of the best teams in the country. First time in history that one team won three consecutive Rose Bowl games. 7th straight BCS bowl game, 7th straight Pac-10 championship. Our QB, Mark Sanchez broke the all time completion record in a Rose Bowl game today. It was a wonderful game

For the 46th consecutive year, I had a bowl of black-eyed peas. Nobody in my family really appreciates this tradition the way I do. Growing up, my family had black-eyed peas every New Years Day since I was a baby. Now that I have my own family, it is basically me cooking black-eyed peas and everyone grumbling, so I doubt this family tradition will go beyond this link of the family tree, but as long as I draw breath, I will have my black-eyed peas on New Years Day for good luck. (My mother also called to make sure I had my black-eyed peas today)

We started out the day at the stroke of midnight with a treat. Powell is celebrating it's 100th birthday in 2009 and they started it off with a huge fireworks show. It lasted 20 minutes and we could see it right from our front window. I thought that was fantastic and it put a smile on my face.

Happy New Year !!!