USC wins big

USC 52 Virgina 7

USC looked like the nation's number 1 team today. Our QB, Mark Sanchez had a dislocated knee just a couple weeks ago, but you couldn't tell today. He was on fire. He threw three touchdown passes today and 6 different players scored. The outcome was never in doubt. Fight On, Trojans!!!

Also congrats to BYU today who has now won 11 straight. They beat Northern Iowa today in Provo.

Happy 26th Birthday, Andy

Andy survived a match against Ernests Gulbis from Latvia who also celebrates a birthday today. Andy lost the first set and was losing the second, when he had to dig down deep. The US Open second round match started on Friday night and didn't finish until the wee hours of this morning. I turned it on right before the comeback (I'm not taking credit). But to watch Andy fight and claw his way back was good to see. Keep fighting Andy!

Well it's not Mitt Romney

John McCain picked his VP Running mate today. It's Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. All I know about her is what the press has reported thus far.

she has been governor for 2 years

she was a mayor

she helped run a small business

5 children- one going to Iraq, one with down-syndrome

conservative

reformer

pro-life

Washington DC outsider

I don't know a lot about her, but so far so good. I like what I have heard from her speech too.

I really wanted Mitt Romney, but McCain went another way. I actually feel good about the ticket and plan to support the GOP. I would have had to sit out the election if he chose Mike Huckabee, so I am thrilled about Mike not getting picked MORE than who got picked.

My reaction on the Democratic Convention:

1. The only good speech was that of former President Bill Clinton- have never supported him but he made a good arguement to vote Democrat.

2. All the crying people during the Obama speech, was just strange to me

3. The huge crowds in the stadium for Obama was SUPER IMPRESSIVE

4. Obama just sounded like a typical Democratic nominee in his acceptance speech to me. I was expecting a lot more.

5. I get a kick how they say "Bush-McCain" to tie McCain to Bush. My impression has always been that they really didn't like each other too much. And guess what people, Bush is not running again!

6. I didn't think the backdrop looked like a greek temple, it looked like Washington buildings to me.

7. Obama has cute kids.

8. Democrats are too bitter and promise the moon, but never deliver

So what do you think?

Rafael Castillo

Sean has been in Argentina over a week now and on Tuesday we got his first email. He sounds terrific. I have to say I am much more excited now that he is in Argentina. When he was in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, I just flat out missed him all the time. But now it is like living his adventure with him in Argentina when I hear from him and I can't wait to hear what he has been doing and experiences he is having.

These are pictures I found on Google of Rafael Castillo, Argentina. That is the city he is in right now. His first companion is Elder Torres from Paraguay, and the guy doesn't know any English. Wow, if that doesn't make Sean learn Spanish, I don't know what will. However, Sean really likes his companion and sounds like they get along good. His companion goes home to Paraguay in 5 weeks. There are two other Americans that live in the apartment so at least Sean has some translators. Two funny things in his letter: there are millions of dogs on the street, andhe can understand the 3 year old children, so he likes to talk to the kids.

Rafael Castillo is a big city just outside of Buenos Aires. He is not too far from the Buenos Aires Temple either. There is a Ward in Rafael Castillo and he has already had to get up in Sacrament Meeting and bear his testimony. He can bear his testimony, pray, and share the Joseph Smith story pretty well in Spanish.

It's winter in South America and the water drains counter-clock wise instead of clock wise down there.

We are very happy and excited for Elder Gilmore!

Olympics are over

The Olympic closing ceremonies were on television last night. Kudos to China!!! The games were fantastic and China was a good host. Too bad their government is so oppressive. Maybe their protesters can be let out of jail now that the world is gone? ok enough politics.

My top 10 olympic moments:

1. Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals! Unbelievable. Every race I was holding my breath wondering if he was going to make it. He usually not only won, but broke the world record in the process. There were two races that were nail biters. You know which ones!

2. US Men's Water Polo wins silver! Ok, they didn't win gold, but they surprised everyone even making it into the gold medal game against Hungary. Hungary has a professional team made up of 30 year olds who have played together forever. The USA team is made up of 20 year old college students who don't usually play together as a team, so to get silver is fantastic. Besides I have secretly wanted to be a water polo player..... if I was in good shape.....

3. Argentina wins gold medal in soccer. YEAH Argentina!!!! I was more thrilled when they beat Brazil to get into the gold medal game against Nigeria, but I was so happy that Argentina defended their gold medal from the last Olympics in Athens. Doesn't hurt that Sean is living in Argentina for me to support them.

4. Nastia and Shannon- USC Girls Gymanstics- all around- gold and silver. First time in history that USA won gold and silver in this event. Kept China from a clean sweep.

5. Federer wins gold for Switzerland, Mens Doubles Tennis. I haven't been the biggest Roger fan, but with the tough year he is having, glad to see him win a gold medal. He even got emotional on the podieum.

6. US Men win Volleyball gold. Amazing how they rallied and stayed focused after members of coach's family were murdered in Beijing.

7. US Men win bronze in Team Mens Gymnastics. They weren't even expected to medal. We lost our two top guys to injury, yet they showed heart and were on fire to beat out Germany, Russia and South Korea for bronze.

8. USA's Torres wins some silvers in Women's Swimming. She almost won gold, lost by a fingernail. And she is 41 years old! Enough said !!

9. China wins all diving gold medals in men's and women's diving. Now that is dominance.

10. US Men's basketball wins gold. Back on top again. USA is back on top after being knocked off the last couple of olympics, and they did it in convincing fashion. Of course, our team is full of professionals. I think I liked it when we had to play amatuers, but they won the gold with Kobe, LeBrone and the gang. I was also happy to see Spain win silver (I lived there for 2 years) and Argentina won bronze (Sean living there now).

Of course, there were hundreds of other great moments. I loved the olympics from start to finish. All the athletes and all the countries came together and there were many more great stories.

What were your favorite moments?

We got to talk to Sean !!!

Well, Sean made it to Argentina this morning. The American Airlines website said the flight landed at 9 a.m. (6 a.m. Mountain Time). So I can just imagine he has got out of customs, hopped in a mini van and arrived to the mission home already. I can't believe my son is in Argentina.

Yesterday was a great day. Sean was able to call us for about 10 minutes in the Salt Lake City Airport before getting on his flight to Dallas. Then about 4 hours later he called again from Dallas because he had a two hour layover. He sounded so good, and I loved hearing his voice. I was able to speak Spanish with him and he was doing very well. This was a kid that took 5 years of German in school, and just started learning Spanish two months ago in the Missionary Training Center.

He was excited to go to Argentina. He is very prepared to serve this mission. I just got such a boost talking to him that I have a great idea for the missionary department..... you should allow missionaries to call home once a month, even if for only 15 minutes.... well, I thought it was a good idea.....

EIGHT

Michael Phelps won his 8th gold Olympic medal today in Beijing. He has done what no other human has done in the Olympics (of the modern era). He broke Mark Spitz record of 7 golds in a game and he has more gold medals from all olympics (14 golds) than any other athlete. He broke 7 world records while he was at it too.

I am really enjoying the Olympic games. Especially the swimming and gymnastics so far. So what's been your favorite moment?

Army of Helaman

Click on this pic to make it bigger ! Mindy Maxwell, mom of Elder Maxwell (on the right end of picture) sent us this. These four Elders have been sharing a dorm room for the last two months learning Spanish and preparing to go to the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. They leave on Monday and arrive early Tuesday morning.

They truly are as the Army of Helaman.....

(from Left to Right): Elder Stokes, Elder Sabey, Elder Gilmore and Elder Maxwell

Going to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We got a letter from Sean from the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Utah. He met with the Consul for Argentina on Tuesday and got his flight plans. Our baby boy (well, is 19 still considered a baby?) will be flying to Buenos Aires on Monday afternoon. He will be in Argentina for 22 months. We won't see him for two years, but he will get to call from Dallas, TX during his layover before the last leg of the flight to Buenos Aires. Then only email/letter contact once a week for the remainder of the two years. He will get to call us two times a year on Christmas and Mother's Day, so we will get 4 phone calls!

He is excited to serve a two year mission for our Church and has learned a lot of Spanish over the last two months in Utah. For his Mom and Dad, we feel Argentina is so far away, but we hear it is a beautiful country, with friendly people, delicious food, tango, gauchos, and awesome futbol.

Juan Miguel (Sean Michael) we wish you a safe journey. WE LOVE YOU !!!

Lacey's Birthday

Lacey turned 22 today. She hs really grown a lot this year. This year she started a good job at the hospital, moved into a little house with her girlfriend and bought a car. She is really becoming independent and it is hard to let our little girl go, but we are so proud of her and the person she is. We hope you had a wonderful Birthday today, Lacey.

Lacey came over after work tonight and opened up all her presents. Then we had a fun dinner at Skyline. Here are a couple purses we got her. Purple and Green. She loved them. We got matching shoes for both purses and a green party dress too. She almost ended up with a pink one too, but we restrained ourselves.

Grandma Sherry framed a couple sweet pictures of Lacey with her Grandpa Art when she was a baby, plus sent Lacey a little troll that was a favorite of Grandpa's. These were her most favorite gifts of the day.

If you are wondering why Lacey's eyes are a little puffy, she got a little emotional thinking about her Grandpa. She was Grandpa's girl and she misses him so much.

Here are the purple shoes Lacey got- will go great with the purple purse and purple stripped shirt we got her.

Got to have a pair of red ones !

And these are called "Mudds" and they also were a big hit. She also got purple flip-flops and a pair of green flats, and that was only a part of what she got today. These kind of Birthday's are exciting.

At dinner we had fun remembering back the day Lacey was born, and all the fun Page was having..... Thinking back on the day that this girl came into our lives has brought to mind how blessed we are that Heavenly Father sent this precious daughter to us to raise.

We LOVE you, Lacey !!! Our little sugar womps, our digger diggies!

County Fair

Saturday morning Lacey and I headed down to Park Street to line up for the parade. We were walking in the parade for the hospital. Lacey was a wolf. I just wore my good ol' hat.

Nice Lacey, you look just like a wolf. We threw candy and t-shirts down the parade route. It was fun.

Saturday night I went with Lacey to watch the Demolition Derby. Brad was in the herby derby- made up of smaller cars. Lacey helped paint his car and she was really proud of it. Hard to see but on the trunk is a picture of Garfield the Cat, with a steering wheel, saying "Eat my Dust!".

Unfortunately Brad didn't win, he had a little bit of car trouble. But he did come in third place.

Lacey was wearing the team colors in the stand. We enjoyed the derby and sipped on a couple Texas Twisters and then I went home with a corn dog in my hand. The fair was a lot of fun this year.

Pioneer Day Activities

Today is Pioneer Day. 161 years since the Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Well here in Powell, WY, they have the Park County Fair the same week as Pioneer Day, so what better way to celebrate than me and Lacey taking or lunch break from the hospital and run over to the county fair to eat a corn dog and hve a sasparilla. OK... maybe that isn't a traditional Pioneer Day thing to do, but the corn dogs were great!

After work I went back to the Fair by myself to have some good food and watch the mini-bull riding. Kids riding bulls. How fun is that? I saw a lot of peole I knew and watched the bull riding with the Coguills.

The best part of the Fair for me is the food. Tonight I had an Italian sausage sandwich, a black cherry soda, corn dog, funnel cake and dippin dots. You can only get this food one time a year at the Fair so I might as well make the most of it.

So that is how I spent my Pioneer Day today (besides working). I hope you all had a great day too.

Demolition Derby

I went with Lacey to see a Demolition Derby this afternoon. It was up in Bridger, Montana, not too far from Powell. She wanted to see her friend Brad. This is Brad in the black car. He did really well and won his group and moved onto the championship round.

Brad's brother Shawn was in the yellow car.

So we watched a bunch of men driving around in circles and smashing into each other. I learned some things about Derby. You cannot smash into the drivers door or you are disqualified. When you are out of commission you take down the flag that is taped to your door. And you can't keep your bumper secure with a chain. The winner of the event was disqualified when they discovered he had chains holding up his front bumper, so the prize money went to the second place guy. Brad didn't win. His car stalled and got stuck in a dirt mound.

Lacey told me that she LOVES derby now. There is another one next week at the Park County Fair in Powell, then after that there is one in Basin. I think this red-head will be in the stands cheering.

This derby was packed with fans. We had to sit on the stairs in the bleachers because every seat was taken.

The best thing about the Derby for me, was spending time with Lacey. She is so fun to hang around with.

MTC Hump Day

Sean has been in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) for one month now. Today is his MTC Hump Day! It seems like this month has dragged on. I asked my Assistant at work today if she felt like this last month has gone by slow. She said that it seemed like we just dropped Sean off yesterday, and she can't beleive how fast the month went. WHAT????? I swear this has been the slowest month of my life. But hey, Sean has been out one month, so only 23 more months to go! He is doing very well for the most part and we love getting his letters about what he is doing. We sent him a box of cookies that will be delivered today to help him celebrate.

Birthday Weekend

Page's birthday was on Saturday (so was my sister Hope's). Not a lot of fanfare this year, but Lacey came over and gave her a Mary Englebreit watch, and I got her a music system that plays albums, CDs, tapes and AM/FM radio. We let her open her present a day early on Friday then I took her for steaks at Topolos.

On Saturday, Page's actual birthday, Page paid for a space at her work's garage sale across the street from the bank. It was her birthday so we let her sleep in as Lacey and her friend Jenny, manned the table and tried to sell a few things. We got there at 8 a.m. and stayed about 10:30 and actually sold most of our stuff. Lacey and Jenny got to keep all the money. They are using it for a big birthday bash they are hosting for Lacey's birthday in a couple weeks. Everyone invited has to dress up. It's going to be a fancy garden party at Lacey's new house.

After the garage sale, Page and I had plans to go to Livingston, MT for the weekend. However, we did wait around until the mail arrived, expecting a letter from Sean. Yep, a letter arrived for the both of us, PLUS a birthday card for Page at around 11:30 a.m. It was perfect timing. We then loaded up the car to spend the remainder of the weekend in Livingston. We stayed at the Quality Inn, but as soon as we arrived in Livingston, we headed over to Bozeman and watched a movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and ate at Mongolian BBQ. Plus of course a little shopping, then headed back to Livingston.

This morning we got up and headed over to the Livingston Ward to hear Elder Chris Cox give his homecoming talk. He just got back from the California Los Angeles Mission.

Wow, Chris has become a very confident young man and speaker. He shared a few experiences from his mission. Caleb Claar also gave his first talk this morning and it was really good. Then he was followed up by Matt Cox, Chris' Dad. Then it was Chris, followed by a few remarks by the Bishop. The Bishop reminded everyone that since he moved in over 8 years ago, Chris was the first missionary to serve a 2 year mission. (Of course Blatters served 18 months, their daughter, Jenn served 18 months, Ander and Landon both served shorter missions), but Bishop mentioned all of them, and Elder Dustin Harvey, our Elder, Sean, Sister Kim Larsen, and soon to be missionary Ken Fawcett. It is amazing to see the flood of missionaries that have come from the Livingston Ward lately. What a blessing for Livingston!

Here is a picture of Chris, His Mom, Diane, and little sister, Lindsey. Diane was holding her two year old too, but of course our camera broke yesterday, and we could not see in the LCD screen, so I guessed that I had everyone in frame when I snapped the picture. I'm actually lucky I got most of them in the picture since I had to guess what I was shooting.

I had to get a picture of Sean's missionary plaque on the wall. It wasn't on the wall yet when we were in Livingston for his farewell, so it was a thrill to see it up on the foyer wall for everyone to see.

After the meeting we went and changed and checked out of our motel room and headed over to Steve and Karen McCann's for lunch. We had a very nice visit and shared Sean's letters with them and were well fed. We also told them how to get on Sean's blog to read all his letters. Karen is like a second Mom to Sean and she has already written him, which I know Sean was happy to get.

We then drove home the back way through Columbus, Joliet, Red Lodge and Belfry. We are having such great weather and the views are so majestic!

Happy Birthday, Page !!!

Missionary Dinner

We had Elder Flake of AZ and Elder Journey of KS over for dinner yesterday. First time we have had missionaries over for dinner since Sean has left for his mission (almost 3 weeks now). We have had sister missionaries in Powell like forever, but they just changed them out for Elders last month. We knew Elder Flake from Livingston when we were up there a few times in May for graduation and June for Sean's farewell. Elder Journey is a friend of Joseph Naylor, who just started his mission in Las Vegas, and was a good friend of Sean's at BYU. They were in the same floor at Merrill Hall and in Freshman Academy together... small world. Anyway, Page made her yummy crockpot chicken, corn, salad, rolls, and watermelon. For dessert she made an ice cream sandwich dessert where you layer ice cream sandwiches then chocolate sauce then whipped cream then another layer of ice cream sandwiches. Elder Journey loved it so much, he had to helpings. Lacey came over for dinner too.

At church today, we also talked the Bishop into letting Page and I be in charge of the missionary bulletin board. It hasn't been updated in a long time. In fact three missionaries are not up on the board that could be, and one of them is Sean, so we had a vested interested in taking over the missions board. I'm sure we will have that thing updated in a week.

Wimbledon Epic

I really wasn't on planning on writing about Wimbledon after Roddick was knocked out but the men's final was EPIC! Some say it was the best in Wimbledon's history, others say it was at least one of the top 2 best finals. Nadal of Spain beat Federer of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7, in the longest Wimbledon final in 4 hrs and 48 minutes (longer if you count the two rain delays) yesterday. Both had chances to win it. It truly was a match that you hated to see either one lose. Nadal because the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since 1980 and if Federer would have won he would have been the first to win 6 straight Wimbledon championships in the modern era.

This is a good year for Spain in sports. Spain's soccer team won the Euro Championships last week and now a Spaniard won Wimbledon for the first time since the 1960's. Nadal, after his win, ran up to the royal box and greeted the Prince and Princess of Spain who was there, then ran over to hug his family. I am very happy for Nadal.

Fireworks

To end the day, we went and watch the city's fireworks display at 10 p.m. This year we went over by Lacey's new house, since it is right at the edge of town and not far from where they shot off the fireworks. We took out lawn chairs and sat with Lacey at her friends house across the street from Lacey. We had an excellent view. Only thing we would change next year, is to bring some recorded patriotic music that we could play as we watched the pyro-technic display. On the way home we were craving ice cream, so we bought a couple boxes to have ready whenever we wanted to eat some.

Happy Birthday, USA !!!

Independence Day BBQ

After all the excitment of Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest, it was time to get my won Independence Day festivities going. I bought a grill yesterday and put it together today. Then I ran to the store and picked up hamburgers, hot dogs, potato and macaroni salads, watermelon, cantelope, stuff to make home made ice cream and of course, apple pie. Oh yeah, and corn on the cob. Here is a picture of all the things I made set on the table ready to eat.

Lacey came over to eat the BBQ with us. It was great to have her over for dinner.

After dinner we played The Settlers of Zarahemla, and thought about Sean a lot since he taught us and introduced us to the game. This time Mom won. We sent sean an apple pie to the MTC yesterday so he could have it today for the 4th of July. Hope he is enjoying it. He hasn't been feeling well. You can read all about it on his blog.

Way To Go, Joe

Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut were the top two contestants in the Nathan Hot Dog eating contest at Coney Island. Takeru has won the event like 5 straight years until Joey de-throned him last year. There was a lot of pressure for Joey to win it and keep the championship here in the good ol' USA. They changed the rules this year from 12 minutes to 10. Last year Joey won it with 66 dogs. This year at the end of 10 minutes, these eating machines both were tied at 59 a piece. Real drama! Now they have an eat off, who can eat 5 dogs the fastest? Joey downed his 5 a little faster than Takeru and he won it by one hot dog. I swear they both looked like they were going to throw it all back up. You could tell Joey was really hurting. But way to go, Joe! You made every American proud keeping the championship here, especially on Independence Day. Now go take some pepto bismal and enjoy the rest of the day.

The Reign of Spain

Spain did it! They won Euro 2008. They are the reigning champions of Europe. The Spainish have been known as underachievers for so long, but not anymore. The last time Spain won a major tornament was 44 years ago when they won the European Championship in 1964. The last time they made it to a final was in the Euro Championships of 1984 when they lost to France. Spain becomes only the third European Country to win the tournament more than once. Germany has won it 3 times and France 2 times, and now Spain 2 times.

My favorite player, Fernando Torres, scored the only goal 33 minutes into the game. He had another close shot too that hit the post. Villa, the top scorer of the tournament was out with an injury, so there was a lot of pressure on Torres. I think he liked that position because he went out and played hard and was the only player from both sides to score a goal today. Spain won 1-0. TV showed people cheering in Madrid. I heard 10,000 Spaniards agreed to shave their heads if Spain won. A lot of haircuts tomorrow! King Juan Carlo and Queen Sofia were in the stadium to see the boys of Spain win. It was a great match and the better team won today.

VIVA ESPANA