BYU vs University of Texas

We had the opportunity to go to the BYU/UT football game.  They were playing in Austin, TX which is just 2 hours from where we live.  

We left the boys soccer game at half-time and headed to Austin.  It normally would have only taken 2 hours but 100,000 people were expected to be at the game and we had to deal with the traffic that comes with that many people coming to the same spot.

We finally arrived and found parking.  Then we started walking.  We do not know our way around the UT-Austin campus.  When we had walked a few block, we realized we had not written down or taken a picture of where our car was parked.  We wrote down the information that we could remember from that point and kept walking.  

We had bought BYU tail-gate tickets in an air conditioned building and we arrived about 30 minutes before the party ended.  We were able to see Cosmo and get a picture of him with the boys.  

After the tail-gate party, we walked over to the stadium.  It was so hot.  W stayed down in the tunnels until we had to go up top to our seats.  There were water stations with ice cold buckets of water and free towels.  We each got a towel wet with ice water and put it around our necks.  

I enjoyed the game once the sun went down.  It was just too hot to be outside.  

statistics of the game

One interesting thing that happened...  Mark got up to take the twins to the bathroom.  A lady leaned forward and asked me where Mark had served his mission.  I told her Equador.  She said she thought she had served her mission with him.  I asked her what years she was in Equador.  They were there at the same time.  When Mark got back, I had him talk to this lady.  Sure enough, they had served together.  

This was one of the really great plays of the game.  

We beat UT last year and everyone said it was a fluke.  We really beat them this year. 

First Day of School

4th grade

The boys were excited to start 4th grade this year.  I think they were a little bored.  They are in the same class this year.  We decided to keep them together at school.  They have Ms. Cota for their homeroom.  This is her first year teaching.  They have Mrs. McFarland for Science and Math.  

Richard

Robert

Bridal Veil Falls

We decided to go on a hike to Bridal Veil Falls in Utah.  It used to have a tram that took people to the top but that was destroyed in an avalanche many years ago.   Mark and I went on our first date to Bridal Veil Falls.   

Rebecca with all the boys up above her.  

Robert and Richard

Matthew, Robert, Richard, Me, and Rebecca

Matthew

This was up at Squaw Peak near Bridal Veil Falls.  

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Four Corners

We decided to stop and see Four Corners while we were driving to Utah.  The boys thought it was neat the way 4 states touch each other.  I couldn't believe we had to pay to see the monument and was disappointed with it.  

The monument is also out in the middle of no where and I don't quite trust my GPS.  We didn't have cell phone coverage so I had to follow the GPS.  We didn't see another car for miles.  We finally did get to a town.  I checked where we were and figured out what road we needed to be on to get to Manti, Utah.  My GPS was not correct as I suspected.  We were safe and all ended up working out fine.  

Storm

On our way to Utah, through West Texas, I saw this up a head of me.  I took a picture and had Rebecca send it to Mark so that he could look on the radar to see what I was fixin to drive into.  He called me back and said it wasn't a very big storm and I should be fine.

The hail started.  It was big and was hitting hard.  I slowed down but kept moving.  I was afraid to pull over.  There were signs on the side of the road that said the shoulder of the road was soft sand and cars would get stuck.  The rain was quite heavy and flooding was starting on the side of the road.  I kept moving very slowly.  I was about to pull over on a side street when there was a flash of lightening and a tree that was next to the road fell over.  

I told the kids to start praying that our windshield didn't break because of the size of the hail.  Then a car next to me lost their windshield.  The hail broke it.  

It seemed like forever, but I know it was just a few minutes.  We finally made it out of the storm and pulled over to see the damage to the car.  

I was not able to get good pictures with my phone.  The whole top and the hood are damaged.

Mark had the thought to tell me to pull over for about 15 minutes when I sent him the picture.  He didn't relay that message onto me.  Because of the direction of the storm, that 15 minutes could have made the trip a little less dramatic.

The FHE before Becca leaves for college

The kids really wanted to go to Main Event for our last Family Home Evening before Rebecca left for college.  When we got there, we found out that there was a special for that evening.  We were able to have unlimited bowling, laser tag, ropes course, and video games for $20 each.  

the waiter didn't get a great picture

We ended up staying till past midnight that night.  Not the original plan, but how could we pass up playing all night?  More than 8 hours of family fun is an awsome way to spend our last pre-college Rebecca FHE.

Rebecca's Graduation

Clara, Rebecca's best friend, and Rebecca

The boys played on the playground in their suits.  They had fun

Rebecca graduated # 28 in her class.  She graduated with honors as Magna Cum Laude, National Honor Society, and Mu Kappa Phi. 

Grandma Swensen, Grammy Su and Grandpa Bob came to Rebecca's graduation.  

We were very proud of Rebecca and her accomplishments in high school.  We know she will do great in college.

Rebecca was picked to sing at graduation.  She chose a song from EFY and did a fabulous job.

Rebecca and Blood Poisoning

Rebecca went to a graduation party at a friends house.  She was running around bare foot.  One of her guy friends commented that she needed to have shoes on.  Right after the comment, she stepped on a stick.  It went into her foot.  She pulled the stick out and kept going.  Sand volleyball, swimming, etc.--  All the fun things to do at an outdoor graduation party.  

The next day her foot started hurting.  By the afternoon, she had a small red line starting to travel up her foot.  I decided we needed to go to Urgent Care.  Graduation was the next day and she had to sing a song and walk the stage.  The pain was getting pretty intense and so we headed to Boerne Urgent Care.  

Cleaning the wound

Antibiotics and a nice clean wound.  

Grammy (Su) and Grandpa (Bob) got to our house that afternoon.  Rebecca's foot was still quite painful and she need crutches.  I couldn't find ours.  We made a trip into town on the way to Rebecca's birthday dinner, to buy some crutches.  Now we have 2 pair because we found the others.  

Grammy holding Rebecca's leg in the air so it didn't hurt as much

Rebecca did take the crutches to graduation practice.  She was able to walk across the stage unassisted.  

Shelves

I decided I needed more food storage shelves in my food storage closet.  I borrowed a miter saw from a friend, measured how much wood I would need and began my project.  It took me several days to complete the project.  

I was so proud of myself when I finished the shelves.  I had never done anything like this before.  The problem is I now want my own miter saw.!

Sea World with Bonnie and Family

Bonnie and Jarom and Sage came to visit.  We went to a restaurant called Po Po's.  It has yummy chicken fried steak.  Sage did really well at a real restaurant that takes a while to cook up and serve your food. 

When we got home from eating, Mark went into our bedroom and stepped into water.  Our room had flooded while we were gone.  The hot water heater in our bathroom had rusted out the bottom and drained into our bedroom.  We spent many hours cleaning up water and trying to get the water turned off at the back of the house but still have water in the rest of the house.  We all got cold showers the next day.  No hot water for a couple of days.

We went to Sea World with Bonnie's family.  

I couldn't believe they let Sage have cotton candy.  Jarom is a dentist, after-all. I let my kids have it too since Jarom okay-ed it for his daughter.   All the kids loved the cotton candy.  

Robert, Rebecca, and Richard

Mom and Robert

Steel Eel

Sage, Robert, Richard
Bonnie, Rebecca
Jarom
(I took the picture)