20 October 2025
WE BEAT THE UTES!!!!! Cody and I had an absolute BLAST watching the latest edition of the Holy War! The intro really set the tone. The fact that we had watched Arizona State take down previously-undefeated Texas Tech meant that if the Cougars won, they'd be the lone undefeated team remaining in the Big 12 (though Cincinnatti is undefeated in Conference). The Cougars scored first and were able to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room at halftime. A quarter later, the score was the same. Utah took a 10-14 lead about a minute into the 4th quarter, which was something that Cody and I had worried about -- the Utes' ability to come alive in the 4th. Fortunately, the Cougars retook the lead 3 minutes later (17-14). What felt like an eternity later (but was actually about 7 football minutes), BYU scored another touchdown, to stretch the lead to 10 (24-14). During the course of the game, the BYU defense had done a stellar job in keeping Utah contained and forcing some 4th down stops when the Utes were in the Red Zone. Down by 10, though, the Utes made some good passes and were able to score a touchdown (24-21). I know the odds of recovering an onside kick favor the receiving team but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about Utah somehow getting the ball and stealing the win. It seemed my nightmare was going to come true when Utah DID get the ball! I did wonder how in the world the ball had jumped that far down the field since it was kicked rather shallowly and didn't look like it was going to go the requisite 10 yards. Fortunately, the BYU coach knew exactly what had happened: one of the Ute players had touched (kicked?) the ball too early. WHEW! BYU retained possession and was able to kneel the ball to end the game.
There were a few things that made watching this game extra special:
- Watching it with Cody. The game was just as important to him as it was to me. Being the only ones home at the time (other than the cats who were hiding upstairs), we could be as loud as we wanted. My watch at one point said that we were in a "loud environment" (defined as >90 dB). How fun!!
- The hubby joined by phone for the last few minutes. He'd been on a visit with Marisol (more on that in a minute) but had pulled over to stretch his back when there were about 3 minutes left in the game. Knowing how important this was to us, he called and tried to make sense of our screaming, random half-sentences as we responded to what we saw on the screen and talking over each other. What a guy!
- The VICTORY!!!!
I'll just take that, thank you!
The Cougars are now ranked #11 in the AP poll. Next stop, Top 10?
As mentioned above, the hubby spent the day with Marisol as it happened to be the required "visitation" day. She showed him around, he got a brief update from her teachers and then they were free to leave campus for 7 hours. She had a few friends come to spend the afternoon with her and a good time was had by all. She seems to be doing well and is still determined to get those credits. I can't believe how neat and orderly her locker is below because her room is NEVER that clean. She likes to do this side-eye thing.
Guess I better catch up on the other fun things from the first part of this month. The first was Cody's birthday!!! He had some friends over after school and a dinner of spaghetti and pizza. Very fun party. I think his Zelda cake turned out a bit better than Marisol's Tangled one.
The next day, we went to a friend's 25th birthday party - which was a MarioKart 8 party in a theater. So, we got to play on the BIG SCREEN! What made it even cooler is that Cody and I got to go up to the projector to do the setup! Turned out it was a good thing we brought our own equipment because the Birthday Boy forgot his Switch at home (face palm)! The tournament was a lot of fun! Two wonderful birthdays in a row!
Not long ago, I went to Costco because we needed some stuff, including spaghetti noodles. Cody was very eager to help carry them in! I don't think we'll run out anytime soon. What do you think?
16 October 2025
An article on SI.com says that "there are three types of BYU fans during Holy War week: those that attended BYU for school and watch just because it’s on, those that organize big watch parties to playfully banter with their friends from work, and those who are so anxious during game week that they are better off watching the game alone in a room with four padded walls." Boy does that author have me pegged!! The game isn't for another 47 hours but I'm already anxious about it. Will the explosive Cougars be able to pull out a win or will they self-destruct? Oh I hope we win! Even better if they can do it slightly less dramatic fashion than last year when they kicked the winning field goal with 4 seconds remaining after the game looked like it was over when the BYU quarterback was sacked on the other end of the field.
5 October 2025
BYU has risen to #18 in the AP poll, in spite of the fairly sloppy play they displayed against West Virginia. Hope it gets cleaned up before they take on Arizona this weekend!
I love BYU football and I love Christmas. I recently decided to order a small blue Christmas tree for my home office. Cody insisted on one too when he saw what I was getting. We got some blue and white LEDs for them (the lights that came with them are battery operated and we didn't want to be constantly changing batteries) and now my BYU-themed home office looks even more so! I love it, especially at night when the glow is bright.
In Church news, President Russell M. Nelson passed away last week. He was 101 so it wasn't exactly unexpected. I find mysef in an interesting postition because those Apostles that I remember being newly called when I was a teenager (and actually started paying attention to such things) are now at the top of the seniority list. The "Apostles of my youth" are almost gone. Only President Oaks, Elder Holland and Elder Eyring remain. President Oaks is 93 and the other two likely won't outlive him given their current health challenges. President Oaks will likely be called as the new Prophet within the next two weeks (after President Nelson's funeral on Tuesday), and chances are good that the next prophet after him will be one that I remember being called as an Apostle. Guess I'm just feeling my age a little...
13 September 2025
We got a letter from Marisol this week, indicating that she has all As and Bs in her classes at OYCP. That's a pretty big deal because an A is like 94% and above, not 90%. She came home for a few days over Labor Day weekend and wasn't particularly excited to go back. But, she steeled herself and walked back into the facility because she knows what she's there to do and wants that diploma. I'm so proud.
The time has officially come when we are all expected to be back in the office. There were a number of issues with getting my desk set up (such as it being stuck in the lowest setting) but eventually we got it all worked out. Now it's just as good as it was back in March 2020 when we were all sent home due to COVID. I have added a plush cougar to hold my headset for me. Cute, yes?
Cody and I spent this last week dealing with a pair of colds. He also had an ear infection but the antibiotics seem to be taking care of that. At least there has been football on tv for us to watch while we've been recuperating. My mom was in town last weekend and was supposed to watch the Stanford-BYU game here with us, but my non-sports-loving brother convinced her that he had to leave to take care of his dogs when the game had only been going for 4 minutes!!! So the man is in the doghouse for the foreseeable future. THE DOGHOUSE!!! Mom watched the rest of the game from her hotel and we texted about it. So there, bro!
Cody and I have also been playing Donkey Kong Bananza. I'll admit, at first I was not at all interested in a game where I control an ape who can destroy the landscape. But a friend said it's a lot like Super Mario Odyssey, which I do like, so I opted to give it a try. It is SOOO much fun! There are a lot of objectives to find/accomplish -- but the whole "destroying everyhing" thing is also really FUN! Give it a try! The DLC for Kirby and the Forgotten Land also came our recently and that has been quite enjoyable as well. We are looking forward to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, coming out in November -- which is earlier than we anticipated!! So, things are going well on the video game front. Here's the latest screenshot of my progress towards getting all the Korok seeds in Tears of the Kingdom
6 August 2025
This morning, I noticed something dark in the corner of my closet. Fearing a hairball from one of the cats, I turned on the light to find... a little frog! He jumped away when I tried to catch him, which caught Burrow's attention. Fortunately, I caught him and safely released him outside before she could catch and hurt him. Given he wasn't injured, I've been wondering how he got in. If one of the cats had carried him in her mouth, he'd be dead. So, I've decided he must have hitched a ride on top of one of them. Having some fun with that idea, I had Adobe Firefly generate an image of that for me. Here, ladies and gentlemen, is my first AI generated image! As you can see, I picked Burrow as the vehicle.
24 July 2025
Marisol is doing great at OYCP. She greatly dislikes the Boot Camp phase but that will end tomorrow and things should get better after that since everyone knows the routine and expectations now. Several times she's expressed a desire to just get on with the schooling that she went there to do. I think that starts next Monday.
The rest of us took a quick trip to Utah last weekend to see/meet some of the hubby's Ukranian friends before they return to Europe. Since we were in the area, we had to go to BYU's campus. Among other things, we got a picture of Cody and me with the Cougar outside Lavell Edwards Stadium. It brought to mind a similar picture taken of me when Mom and I went to check out BYU in summer of 1997. What do you think?
The original
The sequel
16 July 2025
It feels like it's been a busy month. There's the normal stuff that this time of year brings, such as summer vacation from school. We also had some other excitement as Marisol announced that she wanted to attend the Oregon Youth Challenge Program (OYCP) in Bend to recoup some credits and ensure that she graduates on time from high school. We're already familiar with the program as Jake went through it as well. When Marisol first mentioned it, I thought it was just something she was casually considering -- but she'd actually already decided to go if she was accepted. We went through their process, she was accepted and now she's there. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first letter in the mail from her. She doesn't have email there so the only communication from her is via the postal service. We can send a letter via a form and they'll print it out for her so we can get messages to her a lot faster than she can get one back to us. The downside of that form is we can't include any pictures or anything so I'll probably do a mixture of the "quick to get to her" messages and letters that go through the mail to her.
Until somewhat recently, our neighbors have had a large population of barn cats. Sparks was once one of them but the other cats didn't let her stay there so she adopted us instead -- and then we adopted her and her kittens. Apparently, the neighbors have decided they didn't want all the cats anymore (which makes me even happier that we adopted the three we have, potentially saving their lives!). Since the cats have disappeared, we've noticed an increase in squirrels, bunnies, gophers and mice outside. Sometimes, small critters make their way into the area enclosed by our catio... which our cats don't seem to mind at all! They'll happily catch said critter and then - to my consternation - bring it in the house!! Sometimes we are successful in saving the critter's life and sometimes we aren't. The worst is when the cat lets the thing go and it runs under the bed or the couch or some other difficult place from which to extract it. Recently, Cody and I were in the living room and he heard some kind of scuffle from the other side of the wall (where the catio is). It was dark outside and we couldn't see anything. No sooner did Cody comment offhandly that it was probably just a mouse being caught than one of the cats proudly ran downstairs with her prize. A day or two ago, I was working on a puzzle when I became aware of one of the cats coming inside and running by. Nothing unusual about that. When the other two came tearing in after her, that's when I knew the first one probably had a mouse -- and sure enough, she did. Not 10 minutes after we got it from her (Burrow), Potato came in with one of her own, as if to say "Look! I can do it too!" OY! I've told the cats repeatedly to just leave the critters outside but they don't seem to pay attention. It's like they are cats or something! This is all on my mind because today the cats kept indicating there was something under the couch -- and we found a chipmunk! One of the cats must have brought it in during the night and it escaped and hid. It took a while but we did eventually shoo it back to the relative safety of the outdoors.
I've been enjoying Mario Kart World a lot, especially the Knockout Tours. They are just so chaotic!! I love it! I also played (and beat!) Majora's Mask, though that was only possible due to following an online how-to guide. I remember trying to play that game before and just being incredibly confused about where to go and what to do, so I gave up on it. With the guide, I could actually just enjoy the game rather than worrying about what's next. Meanwhile, Cody beat Wind Waker and then sped through the second playthrough. Something about how he wanted to beat it twice before I beat it once (bear in mind, he kept me distracted with Majora's Mask or some such thing). During my first playthrough, I got almost all the figures. I thought I'd missed one of the Wizzrobes with limited opportunity but apparently I got that one. The guy wouldn't take my picture of the normal Darknut until my second playthrough, saying he'd already made it -- when he'd actually made the figures of the other two types of Darknuts. Must be some weird bug in code there, but at least I could get it the second time. I apparently was stupid and forgot to get the picture of one of the bosses during the first playthrough and didn't realize it until after I'd beaten him in the second one, so I have to wait until I get to Ganon's Tower to finish up the collection. Oh, I've also been getting back into Tears of the Kingdom with the aid of Zelda Notes. It's an app that connects to your game on the Switch 2 and shows where objectives are located. Shrines, Korok Seeds, Sage's Wills, chasms, etc. Some categories I had already completed but with 1000 korok seeds hidden through 2 levels (ground and sky), my progress was painfully slow. Most of them are hidden, so you'd basically have to traverse every inch of the world to have even a chance of finding them all... and even then you'd probably miss some! Can you guess which area of the map I've been focused on by looking at the picture?
8 June 2025
Time to catch up on some of the exciting happenings!
Wednesday night found me sitting outside of Best Buy, waiting for the "late night" opening for the release of the new Nintendo Switch 2. Since it was all coordinated to be at 12:01 am Eastern time, it was actually 9:01 pm locally so it wasn't really that "late", but I don't think anyone was complaining. Cody insisted that I go pick up my preorder on Wednesday night in the hope that he would be the first to play it, realizing that Thursday was his sister's birthday and fearing she would use that as leverage to play first. I got there around 8:20 and took my spot outside the bookstore next to Best Buy, since the line had already stretched that far. I enjoyed doing some people watching and reading a few chapters in my book before the store opened and we were allowed inside, a few at a time. It ran pretty smoothly from what I could tell. It didn't take long before it was my turn to go inside. I walked up to a register, showed my ID to the worker and he went to find the items with my name on it. He put my purchases in a bag, handed it to me and I headed out. After I crossed the parking lot, I looked back and saw the line to pick up preorders was still stretching around the corner.
Smiling, I went to my truck and climbed in. As I started the car, I glanced at the GameStop across the parking lot and saw the line was fairly short, so I figured I'd see if they had any extras since Cody had earned a Switch 2. I'd been planning on getting it when I got an invite from Nintendo but if I could get it on launch evening, so much the better! If they were sold out, no harm done. Standing at the counter inside, one worker asked another how many extra systems they had left with the result being "two or three". A quick count indicated that I was in spot number 3! I might get one!! Sure enough, when the two customers ahead of me were rung up, there was still one left and I got it! Hardly daring to believe my luck, I took my receipt over to the corner where they were fulfilling the orders. The man gave me a system in a plastic bag and wished me a good evening. I walked to the truck, put the bag inside the one from Best Buy, climbed in -- and started whooping like a maniac! I'd gotten Cody's system on launch day!! I didn't mention anything via chat to the husband since I'd just gotten a message from his phone from our daughter and couldn't be sure that she didn't still have it -- and I didn't want to risk her getting the message and spoiling my surprise. So, I drove home. Whooping like crazy at random times and brimming with anticipation. A few minutes from home, I saw a message on my watch from the husband asking for an update, which I ignored since I was driving and almost home anyway. When I got there, I carried the Best Buy bag inside and was met by an eager teenager. I handed him the bag and told the hubby to start filming. Fortunately he did so without question - so he captured as Cody took the GameStop bag out, put it aside, pulled out the system I'd gotten from Best Buy with a grin on his face... and then stopped. He looked back at the bag he'd put down, looked at me and asked what it was. "Open it" was my response. He immediately did and started whooping with excitement as he realized I'd somehow gotten his system too. After a quick message to his friends and a hug for me, we started setting them up. Marisol came down and was admiring them ... and every once in a while asked what time it was. She decided to stay up until it was officially her birthday. We all went to bed late.
The next day was Marisol's 18th birthday. While she was at school, I went to pick up the cake she'd ordered. She'd been envisioning the following picture from Tangled but that wasn't quite what she got, as you can see. Nailed It!
What she envisioned...
What she got...
Fortunately, that seemed to be the only hiccup. She had some friends come over and we all tried out the new Mario Kart World before doing cake and presents and eventually taking the birthday girl out to dinner. Then she and her friends went off shopping while the rest of us headed home.
Meanwhile, in Norway, my grandmother was finally laid to rest. She'd wanted to have her ashes placed next to her parents so that's what was done. Until we meet again, Lalla.
26 May 2025
For the last several years, Cody has been enjoying monthly build boxes from KiwiCo and CrunchLabs. They are designed at a level where he's been able to do them all by himself except maybe pushing some connectors together or something like that. He's certainly been able to do all the electronic stuff by himself. With a few exceptions, he's greatly enjoyed the finished product -- and so has his dad who has taken some to his office at the college, usually to Cody's chagrin. A little over a year ago, CrunchLabs announced a new line of boxes designed for teens and adults, though they only happen every other month rather than monthly. You build the kit but then you can customize (or completely change!) the code and make it into whatever you want. Well, I signed up. I haven't always built them as soon as they arrived but I've now completed the first 7. For fun, I thought I'd comment on them. I do confess that I haven't done much in the way of customization since the kits have been pretty cool out of the box.
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This is an IR turret. It shoots soft darts when it detects movement or if the button on the remote is pushed. To use the remote, you have to enter the right code. If you enter a wrong one, the turret actually shakes as if saying 'nope'. All in all, I really like this one. Unfortunately, so does Potato. She's destroyed most of my darts. Fortunately, the company will send me more if I ask... |
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This machine sets up dominos in a pattern that you specify. Cody actually built something like this in one of his boxes. I had trouble getting this one to work properly as the dominos kept getting stuck. I probably did something wrong in putting it together. |
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This is a label maker. You tell it what to write/draw and it puts that design on the tape. I think I did everything right with this one except the part that holds the pen, because it's not holding the pen worth a darn. |
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This one has been my favorite in that this is something I can set up in my home office and actually enjoy using. This uses a magnet underneath to move the ball to create various designs in the sand. |
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This is a laser tag kit. It actually comes with two sets of glasses/guns. When one is 'hit', the glasses turn the polarized lenses so the victim is actually blinded for 10 seconds. Cody absolutely loves that bit. |
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This is a robot that balances itself. Maybe not overly practical in terms of using it every day but a really cool bit of engineering. |
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This is a must for game night, a card-dealing robot. It is already programmed with several games but you can also teach it other ones. In typical Mark Rober (the Crunch Labs founder) fashion, it can be hacked to cheat. |
24 May 2025
I've always admired those who voluntarily serve in the Armed Forces. In some countries, military service is an obligation but here in America, military service is voluntary - at least most of the time. While I've never felt a particular desire to join any branch of the military, I have always admired the discipline, work ethic and resilience of those who serve. In high school, I'd see the JROTC kids in their uniforms, though I admit I felt a little sorry for them being required to wear fancy clothes at school on a regular basis. I've gained a better appreciation for the sacrifices their families go through during my married life because one of my brothers-in-law was active in the Air Force before retiring and I saw how often their family had to move and how much they missed him when he was deployed.
The other day, a story about the Plebe (Freshman) class at the US Naval Academy working together to scale a 21-foot monument so they could replace the Plebe hat that was perched on top with an Officer's hat came up on my Facebook feed. Did I mention that the upperclassmen covered the monument with 200 pounds of lard? Apparently that challenge is the final hurdle of Plebe Year, which is known to be notoriously difficult at any of the Service Academies. Anyway, it got me thinking and wondering a bit about military life in general. Obviously the Service Academies are for those who want to be Officers but that's certainly not a requirement to serve. It's possible to simply enlist. Jake has previously mentioned that he'd like to serve in the Navy and I think he would thrive in that highly structured environment like he did during his time at OYCP. He hasn't taken that step yet and only time will tell if he actually does.
This weekend, we honor those who not only served in the Armed Forces, but gave up their lives doing so. These are the people who died so that our freedoms could be preserved. I think of the young men who stormed the beach in Normandy. If they knew or suspected what kind of bloodbath they were storming into, they didn't let it deter them. They saw a very real threat to freedom and were willing to give everything to preserve it for their families. I wonder if, as a generation, today's youth would be willing to do the same. They live in a much different world than the 1940s. Many of them are growing up with different morals than did those soldiers of old or, worse, no morals. There's a much greater emphasis on "me" than "we". Obviously there are examples of young people today who are willing, but I'm not sure the generation is as willing or if they even understand how fragile these freedoms are.
Just a few of my thoughts this Memorial Day.
17 May 2025
Recently, I was slowly waking up. My first thought was that I was hungry and should get up and find some food. Before I could do that, I became aware of a pressure and warmth on my leg and realized that Tater was snuggled up with me. How long I lay there, torn between my desire for food and enjoying the comfort of my feline companion, I'm not sure. All three cats like my bed, though Tater is the only one who sleeps on my blanket. Burrow will sleep on the husband's blanket (not as thick) while Sparks prefers laying on a blanket on the headboard. Sometimes, having Tater curl up next to my leg can actually make it uncomfortably hot but in this case, it was just perfect. There we were, just snuggling.
This morning, almost as soon as I got out of my bed, Cody climbed into it with his kindle. He likes my blanket too and has already called dibs on it in the event of my passing. I'd like to think that both Tater and Cody like my bed because of me but I think it's actually because of the blanket. Take what you can get, right?
2 May 2025
I went through and made the picture pages that I've been neglecting for the last year, including our trip to Norway! Check 'em out! While doing that, I came across a picture of my children together. It's about a year old so Cody is certainly a little taller now than he was, but here they are. The loves of my life.
29 April 2025
I realize I haven't done an update in quite a while. Didn't even update the site for the new year until now. I've wondered if I want to keep posting on this site since it's mostly for my family and I talk to them all the time so is it still useful? I think it is... even if only to get me to put down my thoughts once in a while. Not sure why that would matter to anyone but it seems to matter to me. Knowing that I have a place to put some thoughts helps me look for the good things that happen in daily life, even if I don't post anywhere near daily.
Probably the biggest event since my last update is the passing of my Norwegian grandmother, the only grandparent I still had in mortality. I am beyond grateful that Cody and I went to go see her last summer instead of waiting for her 90th birthday, which was just a few weeks ago. Had we waited, we would have missed the opportunity to see her in person. I confess to being slightly miffed that she was too self-conscious near the end to keep up our weekly Skype chats. I wouldn't have known that it was time to say goodbye, given how suddenly and unexpectedly it happened, but I would have liked to help alleviate her lonliness during that time. I would have liked to remind her that I love her and maybe put a smile on her face a few more times. As it turns out, what would have been her 90th birthday happened to be Easter Sunday. Somehow, that was rather comforting. I know that through the Atonement, my grandma is not lost to me. When I see her again, she will have a perfect body, free from the ailments of old age that she'd been struggling with prior to her passing. But more importantly, she will still be my grandmother.
The family had fun with my birthday, doing basically an Advent-calendar type countdown for the 15 days leading up to it, called the "Ides of April". I'd open a door on our normal Advent calendar to find a paper with a clue to a location where a present was hidden. It was quite enjoyable, getting a present every day! Cody would tease me that he knew where the next day's present was going to be hidden and refuse to tell me when I'd try to good-naturedly trick him into telling. It was nice to feel special, which everyone needs from time to time.
We had some unplanned excitement on my birthday when the hubby heard some sparking in the walls. He thought it was coming from a light fixture but couldn't figure out why it was still happening even after each of the fuses in the breaker box which were labeled anything relating to outlets or lights had been turned off. His little device that flags if there is electricity flowing indicated there was current in the wall!, not even just an outlet. Turns out that the wire for the water heater had gotten worn down and was the culprit, and of course we hadn't thought to turn off that breaker. An electrician friend, who we knew as a neighbor kid when we first moved here, came over to make the situation safe - though we were without hot water for a few days until he could come back and do the proper fix. Thank you, Andy!!! I'm so grateful we didn't have a fire as it was much too close of a near-miss for comfort. Cody is now convinced that my birthday is cursed.
Marisol is eagerly anticipating her 18th birthday in a few months. Realistically, nothing much will change at that time (or even shortly thereafter) since she still has another year of high school to complete but she will be going to Hawaii with a friend, with grandparent supervision. I remember going on a road trip from Utah to Alaska with my best friend, though that wasn't until after a few years of college. It's good to have an experience like that I think. She's still happily in love with her boyfriend of more than a year. Hopefully soon she'll get a job (had to give up the summer job to focus on grades after school started) and learn to drive so she can get herself to said job without relying on us. Gotta help this little bird stretch her wings and get ready to fly...
Cody is looking forward to the 7th grade field trip to the zoo tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure how I got roped into being a chaperone. I think it had something to do with Cody looking at me with big doggy eyes, a technique he learned young from his father. He was ordained a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood last January and has been performing his new duties admirably... perhaps the most important of which is to remember to bring the sacramental bread each week. So far, no issues at all and he even seems to be enjoying leaving class a few minutes early to prepare the Sacrament since we have class time first. He's very excited for the new Switch 2 to come out, especially the new Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment game, though I think it's not being released until winter while the console itself comes out in June. To earn a Switch 2 of his very own, he is working on memorizing a bunch of seminary scriptures, something Marisol is doing as well though she's taking the cash we offered instead of a game console. He is still obsessed with otters and loves Jake Retzlaff, the BYU quarterback.
My cute family