START THE SEASON!!!

No doubt about it! I spend more time watching sports than anything else. I watch every Jazz game during the season. I watch a lot of football games every Sunday during NFL season. I watch the last few rounds of tennis majors, golf majors, College Football, MLS game of the week on Thursdays, and English Premier League soccer matches. I recorded and watched every world cup soccer match this year! When the games are over, I switch over to ESPN to see the highlights of the games that weren't on TV. I like to watch Sportsnation, Around the Horn, PTI, or any other sports show when I have time. Alyssa is good to tollerate my sports obsession. She's even watched Sportsnation with me a few times.
My sports watching always hits a snag in the summer months because all the decent sports are out of season. NFL and NBA are my two favorite things to watch, and they're both in the offseason right now. Watching ESPN is torture right now because it's just a bunch of lame baseball highlights. If baseball isn't exciting enough, NASCAR is in full force right now (does NASCAR even have an "offseason?") I usually flip to EPSN after Alyssa goes to sleep and watch for about 5 minutes until I realize there's nothing going on in the sports world right now.
Luckily the NFL talk is starting to pick up some steam. It's most just discussion about guys not reporting to training camp, holding out for more money, or how fat Albert Haynesworth is.... but at least it's something!
This is the time of year I start getting excited about Fantasy Football, Andy Rhodes' pick em' game, and just watching good sports in general. The pick em' game is probably my favorite thing about the NFL season. A bunch of friends put $20 in a pot at the beginning of the season and everybody predicts who will win each matchup every week. You pick the game right, you get a point. The people with in the top 3 at the end of the season get the money. I've been involved in this pick em' game for about 9-10 years now and it makes the NFL regular season tons of fun.
I feel like I used to always be a threat to win, but the last 4 years have been a disappointment. I have been out of the running a little earlier on than I'd like! I did win once, and the amount of satisfaction I got from that victory cannot be overstated. I'd like to feel that satisfaction again, so I hope this year goes better.
I'm also excited about the Jazz again. We dumped Boozer the useless pile of crap, Korver the defenseless man, and also lost Wes Matthews. I was momentarily crushes by all the players leaving, but that went away pretty quickly when the Jazz signed Al Jefferson and Raja Bell. I like the direction they're going and can't wait until the Jazz talk picks up again.
RSL is having a great season. I have a harder time following them because games are once a week, and I don't get most of them on TV. I do read all the news articles and have an AP on my Ipod that helps me keep track of them, but it's just not the same. TV coverage just isn't what it needs to be. When the playoffs roll around I'm sure I'll be watching.
I know this isn't the most exciting read, especially considering mostly women read blogs. I'm just trying to verbalize my excitement to myself.

Busy, busy, busy

Wow! Steven and I are two busy bee's. I feel like I never get to see my husband! During the week Steven and I see each other for about 2-3 hrs per night and for us that is not much time at all. Usually during those few hours we are doing some type of homework which makes our time even less. This semester has been a busy one for both of us, I am student teaching and working, and Steven has some demanding classes and works. So we are extremely ready for a break! Why is it not December yet?! I mean, no I am not ready for Christmas, but I cant handle being a nobody, not having time for anyone or anything, and not having energy to do anything! I can not wait until we are finished with school and can spend quality time with each other. And heck, summers off together.. nothing is better than that!
So as you can see, we haven't had a lot of time to blog or do other things that I want to get done. Another reason I haven't blogged in a month is because nothing too exciting has happened to us. We have done some fun things like go to the ReAL playoff game on Halloween, we also went to a fun Halloween party that my sister in law throws every year, we have had a lot of fun playing with our nieces and nephews, and we are still playing indoor soccer, which the past year or two has become my favorite sport! I LOVE IT! It helps to have the most supportive husband that will boost you up even when you know you shouldn't have missed that shot! He is so great to play with which makes it fun for everyone!
Student teaching is going well. The kids are crazy, but fun. I have learned so much from this experience that I would never learn from a classroom, so I am glad I get to gain that knowledge. But, I will be even more glad when its over!!!!!!!
And in other news.. The Jazz started last week which Steven and I are extremely excited about! So hopefully we will save our pennies and get to go to a few games this year.
Well Happy November! I cannot believe it is already the end of the year, it freaks me out! But hopefully next year will be as happy as this year has been! I am one lucky girl to have a wonderful husband and family!

My summer of craziness begins now!

As much as I would like to say I am happy it is summer.. I just cant get all the words out. Yes, I am happy it is May, and I am happy that I am one semester closer to graduating, but this summer only means one thing to me at the moment and it is this..CRAZY!! So I will apologize ahead of time for if I am negative in the next 3 months of blogging, or if I don't comment on your pages like I enjoy doing. Why is my life going to be crazy you ask?? Well let me just tell you! As you all know I work at the Weber County Jail (Kiesel) I work there full time and I enjoy it enough there. This past semester I was working full time, going to school full time, and I had 5 hrs of labs a week, besides making everyone in my family happy with seeing them enough. The semester ended last Friday and it feels AWESOME to have that done! I did really well and I seem to be surprising myself in what I can do and handle. I enjoyed my labs (Childrens school at Weber State) and I am looking forward to Student Teaching next semester with those cute kids. But enough about that.. Starting today will be the start of me having no life! I officially started my second job today at Creative Times Academy. I will be working there during the summer so I can complete a class I need for my major. I have to work 135 hrs during the semester. So here is a picture of me in the wonderful stained shirt!

So I will be working there 10 hrs a week and I dropped a few hours at the Jail so I will work a total of 46 hrs a week. Summer semester starts next Monday and I signed up for 14 credit hours. So if you add that all up.. it doesn't really equal out to anything fun!! So that is my summer life!
I have a ton of things to look forward to that will get me by this summer.. I am going to Yellowstone with my family and my sister Megan's friend Emily, she went on our last cruise with us and she is way fun! Steven wont be coming with us, so I am sad about that!! At the end of June is our annual Bear Lake trip.. My family and Steven's family goes up and we just spend a few days camping, playing games, and swimming! It is always fun! At the end of July we are going to visit my Dad's side of the family that we haven't seen in more then 6 years.. They live in Illinois, so my family (except my bro Trav and his family) is going to Nauvoo, the family reunion, six flags, the St. Louis Arch, and to Iowa to visit some of Megan's friends. So that will be an awesome trip! I'm extremely excited to go see the Nauvoo temple and actually get to go inside this time! YEAH! Then of course our long awaited for trip at the end of September on a cruise with Steven's family! Yes we LOVE cruises!! We are soooooooooooo excited for this and are counting down! We are going off of Los Angeles on a 8 day cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. Fun fun time that will be. So as you can see I have plenty to look forward to.. its just getting there is the hard part!
Everything else is going well for us.. we are getting our garden ready for the summer and hopefully we have some better luck then last year.. if you don't remember.. I blogged about it every week! So hopefully we will get some good veggies this year!
Well that's it for now! I hope your summer is nice and relaxing.. I'll try not to be jealous!

Steven and I at the sad Jazz Playoff game.

Jazz Game and Jaxson

Monday we got a chance to go to the Jazz game! On our normal years we usually go to quite a few games a year, but this year we seem to be out of it or something! Don't get me wrong.. we still go to plenty of games, just not as many as we are used to! So we were excited to go to the game on Monday! We got to go with my parents, sister Megan, and her "friend" Chris. It was a lot of fun.
Here are some pictures of us at the game. And of course we will be rooting on the Jazz tonight!! Hopefully they win! GO JAZZ!!
Steven being mad because I wouldn't let him take the picture. ha ha
Myself, my cute dad, and cute sister.
My mother and sister after the game.

My amazing sister Megan is a great photographer! She took Ryker's announcement pictures when he was born and they looked awesome, and now she did Jaxson's announcement pictures. Here are a few cute ones that my sister did. It's kind of funny because Laura (Jaxson's mom) went to go pick up the pictures Megan took and they made her sign this copyright thing because they said it looked too professional. I'm hoping my sister will take some cute pictures of Steven and I for our Anniversary which is next tuesday!! Anyway, here are the cute pictures of my adorable new nephew Jaxson Terry Shaw!

Whats been going on..

Well we have had a fun filled week or two so I thought I would blog about it! Valentines was nice.. we had a fun time together watching a movie, making delicious dinner and desert and spending time together. Sometimes my favorite Valentines/Holidays are the ones where we just stay at home and relax together. So it was very nice and relaxing. I gave Steven Jazz tickets and it was row 6 in the upper bowl.. which was the lowest we had ever sat.. (sad I know!) But he was thrilled.. So we went on tuesday to the Jazz game and had a blast! We usually dont get any treats there.. but we decided to get some Moose Tracks Ice cream.

This week Jimmy(our dog) has been a little sick. He has been very weird with his food and decided that he no longer liked his dog food and only wanted to eat certain pieces. So he walked around the house leaving a trail of the dog food he didn't like. Oh and did I mention that he threw up all over the house.. in the kennel, in the living room, dining room. It was soo gross to pick up, we were both ready to barf ourselves! But so far he has been feeling better since then! Thank goodness!

Here is Jimmy pushing all the yucky food out of the way.

If you look closely you can see all the dog food in a trail. He did this all over the house.
On Friday my mom gave me two tickets to "Aint Misbehavin" the Broadway show. So I knew Steven wouldn't be interested in it, so I asked my sis-in law Rachel. I knew she would be excited and that it would be fun.

This is Rachel and I after we had ran half a mile because we were late! Oh man, all I know is I am extremely out of shape!

This is a picture I took of Rachel when we got to the Broadway.

We made it to our seats in time!

This is the show, there was only 5 singers in the whole show! Ruben Studdard played a main part and he did awesome! He is a great singer!

This is us outside Kingsbury Hall after the show.
We had a lot of fun! Thanks Rachel for coming with me! :)

Today my brother Travis and sis-in law Laura are moving into their new house! YEAH!! So I volunteered to watch Ryker while they were moving. So we are having a nice date together today! He is soo much fun! I haven't gotten to play with him for a very long time and I miss my Ryker time! So I went and picked him up and we went and visited one of my good friends Brittany. He seemed to enjoy seeing her and talking to her! Then we went to visit Uncle Steven at work and go to lunch at Costco. He seemed to enjoy hanging out with us. He even got up from the table and said "I'll be right back!" and then walked away. ha ha.. it was funny! Now we are at my house watching "Cars" and falling asleep! It has been fun to play with him!


Ryker and I watching Cars!
So that is my week, everything is going well for us, we are almost halfway through the semester and we can't wait for Spring!! We are getting major Spring Fever! Come On SPRING!!

Two Posts in One!

So I decided that there was two things I wanted to post today.. one being Steven's bonus night for work.. and another short one about my few autographs I have. So we will start with Steven's Bonus night!
Steven works for America First Credit Union and every November they hold a bonus night for all the employees and spouses. It usually is kind of boring, and long, but this year they had a whole new theme.. "Utah vs. BYU" (College Football). So we all got to pick what team shirt we wanted.. which is kind of cool! Well we got there and there were sooooo many people there.. wow! But they had numerous types of buffets like.. popcorn, nachos, soft pretzels, cookies, a few types of chicken, fish, hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, chips, lots of pop and juice, and well.. I could go on for awhile... So they had about 5 huge huge tv's around and everyone just did what they wanted. Everytime a team scored they would do a drawing for a prize. Well of course we didn't win anything.. but thats okay! We met up with my friend Hayley and her husband Nick who is Steven's friend, so that was fun to see them.
So the whole night was an overall fun time.. its always nice to go out and do something different. We left stuffed and happy. Steven's bonus wasn't as good as last year, but it was still very good, so I am happy for that. Here are some pictures of the night..

Nick and Hayley Banz

Can you believe all the people?!



Okay, now my second post..
I wanted to personally say thanks to Matt Raider (even though he doesnt read my blog!). Matt has been our go to guy for anything ReAL that we want.. He has given us major discounted tickets on ReAL games, and even some free tickets to games.. like the playoffs. So we have been soo grateful for his generosity! We love ReAL and loved the chance to get to go lots this year! So anyway.. I asked him over 7 months ago if he could get an autograph of my favorite ReAL soccer player.. Kenny Deuchar

He is my favorite player because he reminds me of the way Steven plays soccer, they are basically the same person.. he is also a doctor.. yes a real doctor.. How awesome would that be to be amazing at soccer, and as a doctor! So anyway.. I asked him, thinking he wouldn't think anything else about it and I would never get his autograph.. well last friday my brothers texts me and says he has a signed soccer ball for me.. and you can only imagine my excitement!! Of course I made sure I had it that night! That was pretty awesome, and made my year! So thanks Matt for thinking of me! Here is a picture of me and the ball, and also just the ball.. yes I know, Im crazy!


So then I decided to just post most of my autographs here.. Its pretty cool, we have gotten pretty lucky with some!!


This is Fes autograph from the Jazz

Fes

This is Mr. Kyle Korver.. Rachel and I got his autograph and picture! Thanks friend!


My all time Fav.. Peyton Manning!

Peyton's Autograph!! Peyton was the nicest guy ever!! He stopped to sign my football even though he was hopping in his trailer, and his security guard told him not to sign it and just leave.. but he stopped and signed it for me! And I love the Colts! He really is one of the nicest guys!!

And last but not least.. Deron Williams real shoe with his autograph.. now this one isn't mine, it is my brothers, but Steven and I helped him get the autographed shoe.. so I claim it as a victory!
Well thats it for my two posts! I am planning to do a post for Thanksgiving, so stay tuned!! And if I dont see you or talk to you.. Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!! And thanks for being our friend!!

Happy November!

I seriously am shocked that it is November! Where has the year gone?! There is not much left of the year... which is good and bad at the same time. I really cant believe how fast this year has gone. So now that it is November, I have to start thinking about Christmas shopping!!
Well last night was quite a fun night! I bought eight tickets to the Jazz game and asked Steven's friend Kurt and his girlfriend, my brother Travis and Laura, and my parents. We were planning to ride the FrontRunner down (we ride for free!) and ride home with Kurt, but about 12:30pm yesterday I got a call from my brother Casey's good friend Matt. Matt works for ReAL SL and knows that Steven and I LOVE to go to the games. Well Matt had two extra tickets and asked if we wanted to come to the first playoff game (ever!) for ReAL. Well of course we did!! So we figured everything out so we could make it to the soccer game and the basketball game!! The soccer game was at 4pm and the basketball game at 7pm.
We made it on time for both and had an awesome time!! The soccer game was awesome and we scored in the last minute or two which led us to a win! That new stadium is amazing and there is no bad seat!!! As for the Jazz, it was awesome as well!! We got to be there when they turned off the lights and it was soo cool, it got all of us pumped up! And so we ended the night with both our teams winning! Yeah! So here are a few pictures of our day..

UTAH JAZZ Here we come!!!

Okay.. so Saturday afternoon was the Utah Jazz intra-scrimmage game.. and of course we were there!! My mom and I rode the Front Runner down to SLC, ate at the Gateway, then headed to the Energy solutions Center about 1 1/2 hours before the scrimmage was to take place.. of course it was pooring rain and we were outside waiting in line (it was free). So finally they let us in, I go running past all these people, run down the stairs and find a nice spot 4 rows from the court in the center! They were sweet seats! So we saved the family seats. It was a lot of fun.. we got to watch interviews and see how they warm up, and then they did the scrimmage. Then when everyone was leaving, Booze and D Will grabbed their shoes (signed) and threw them out to the crowd! Well my brother Casey really wanted it, so he jumps up and grabs it.. then this red headed kid starts fighting for the shoe (grabbing caseys arms and trying to get the shoe) So Steven jumps in and starts wrestling with the kid..and then I jump in and start puling the guys arms away so Casey can get it for good. So it was a pretty entertaining thing to watch (I would imagine). Anyway.. finally Casey got the shoe! The kid was pissed and complained to the security people.. Casey had scratches all over his legs, and a jammed finger, but it was all worth it!! So that is our exciting story! Oh and the kid that complained didnt end up with anything but an ice pack! If you look close on the picture with me and the shoe, you can see the kid staring at me, all mad. So check it out!