USU vs. La. Tech

I think the real purpose of parent's week is to fill the football stadium - it worked. We bought tickets. We bought Aggie gear. We bought stadium food. The Aggies won and we had fun. Darren's attending USU has created fans out of all his brothers and sisters and now they are talking about going to school here.

Parent's Weekend at USU

Kristi, Taylor, Tyson, Camryn and I piled into the car this weekend and made the short trip north to Logan for the annual parent's weekend at USU. We were all excited to see Darren. I think the longest length of time that has passed without seeing him has only been three weeks, but it feels like a reunion each time he comes home or we go to Logan.

Our kids love every hotel pool. Even when we go to Lake Powell and spend the entire day in the water, they always want to play in the hotel pool that evening.

Darren recommended a great Italian restaurant called Calloway's in Smithfield, just outside of Logan. The food was fantastic!

The Big Apple

I'm in New York City this week to get some required training for work. Everything here is fast paced, hectic, bright, busy, tall.... I'm not sure why anyone would want to work and live here, but I guess about 30 million people do. Looking out the 42nd floor window of my hotel on Times Square, you'd think that several million of them are still milling about on the streets below (and it's currently 11:00 pm).

Where other than New York would you find a ferris wheel inside your local Toys R Us.

For dinner tonight we hopped on the subway and headed over to Little Italy. If the section of the town has Italy in it, the food must be good. I wasn't impressed. Our meal was okay at best - we must have made a poor restaurant selection. The forced (and in my opinion fake) accent of the waiter didn't help sell the authenticity of the restaurant. We'd have been better off dining at the Olive Garden on Times Square.

Holiday Benefit Concert

Hilary has once again agreed to perform at the South Valley Sanctuary's holiday concert. Thank you Hilary - its great to have a famous sister. The dinner and concert will be held again at LaCaille restaurant. We are looking forward to the evening and hearing some of Hilary's new Christmas music.

South Valley Sanctuary Recognition

The domestic violence shelter for which I volunteer was recognized by the LDS church yesterday at a luncheon held in the Joseph Smith Building. The church public relations group recognized five not-for-profit organizations for their contributions to the community. Our shelter and staff have done fantastic work over the past several years so it was nice to see them recognized. The shelter has 13 rooms which are always full of domestic violence victims and their families.

In the News

Tyson and Camryn were thrilled to see themselves on television for a recent local news feature on the school districts efforts to make school lunch more healthy. Camryn was included in a close up in the lead in piece and played a stand in role during the main story. Tyson was shown in two close ups making quick work of the new and healthier food options. Tyson confided in us later that while the food may be healthy, it tastes like crap. It took the full measure of his acting talent to smile while downing the baked fish sticks. As you can imagine, the texts are rolling in from classmates and friends who were watching the news.

Keith Urban Concert

If you are a country music fan and have a chance to attend Keith Urban's concert, you must do so. Kristi and I attended his concert in SLC this past week and it was excellent. We loved his music and were impressed with his ability to entertain. By the end of the show he had the entire crowd at Energy Solutions Arena in a frenzy. Early in the show he crossed the arena through the crowd on the floor. As people reached to touch him, a platform and railing on the end of the arena tipped over and about eight people fell head first to the arena floor. Several people had to be administered first aid and Keith stopped the concert briefly to make sure the injuries weren't serious.