Terriers and Titans

Just a couple of things going on lately:

First of all, as I mentioned in my last post, we got another dog. He’s a rat terrier and his name is Riggins (Mike chose the name, egged on by my whole family). He is otherwise known as Riggs, Baby Riggs, or Rigg Daddy. Classy, no?

I never thought I would own a small dog since I always thought of them as sissies, but after our friends Megan and Travis bought a rat terrier a couple of years ago we realized that they were legit. And Riggs proved himself by champing his first hike yesterday:

Plus, as Best in Show so eloquently teaches us, God loves a terrier.

As for Lola, I think it’s safe to say that she loves her new pet:
Matt and Mash were so taken with Baby Riggs that they adopted his brother, so now Riggs and Gunther get together often for puppy playdates:

Here are Smash and I holding our brother dogs at the Olympus football game a couple of weeks ago:
Which brings us to our next topic: Titan football. Smeegs surprised us all this year by deciding to break out of his ski bum, lacrosse-player mold to give football a go his senior year. We were all a little nervous that Smeeglet would end up riding the pine all season and we would have to feel bad for him, but lo and behold the kid got himself a starting wide receiver position. Going to his games with the family every Friday night has been one of my favorite things this fall. It would be even better if the Olympus field hadn’t been under construction all season, but unfortunately the city of Holladay is hell-bent on destroying any and all vestiges of my younger years. At least Mr. Felt is still the announcer.

Last week was the Olympus-Skyline game, or, as it is known by us local folk, the “Battle for the Rock.” It also happened to be the region championship and Olympus won in a nail-biter of a game in which Smeegs made a crucial catch in overtime. We got to meet up with him and snag a picture afterwards (sadly we didn’t get one with the in-laws before Smeegs had to get on the bus).
It was by far the best game of the season and brought back memories of the Olympus victory over Skyline during my own senior year. All together now, class of 2004: “we got the rock, we got the rock…” how did the rest of that cheer even go? I remember it sounding pretty awkward.

Why hello October, I've missed you

One rainy afternoon last April, Butch and I sat in Chipotle taking a break from our Saturday errands and daydreaming about the upcoming summer. It had been a rough year for husband, consisting of lots of early mornings, late nights, homework, and other miscellaneous stresses that meant only one thing: we were both ready for some fun in our lives. As we finished our chips and salsa, we made a list of all that we wanted to do this summer, and, even though we fell a little short of our grand schemes, we still managed to soak up every last ounce of the season’s goodness.

Our summer adventures began and ended in Lake Powell. We took a trip down with my family in early May and ventured down again in September with a random group of family and friends. In between came a vacation to Costa Rica and a major house project, as well as the activities on our Summer must-do list: camping, hiking, lots of weekend trips to the cabin, an RSL game with Megan and Trav, campfires, tennis matches, many a snow cone run with the Ragsdales, an outdoor concert or two, girls camp (Butch came up for a night), boating, fireworks, and plenty of backyard barbecues. In short, ours was a summer of excess. We stayed up way too late, spent too much money, ate too many s’mores, let our house get way too dirty, and put way too many miles on our trusty old subaru. We loved every minute of it.

But like most periods of indulgence, this one came to a crashing halt in September with a new school year for Mike and a cold for me. It was the first time I’d been sick in over a year and a half, so at first I was in denial of the situation and carried on with my normal routine, which resulted in the cold turning into a sinus infection and me spending hours on the couch whimpering that my head was going to explode while the rest of Utah was busy enjoying a beautiful Indian summer.

This is all to say that this year I was even more ready than usual for the arrival of my favorite season, since donning thick wool socks and sipping a cup of hot herbal tea (as is the Preo way when you are sick) doesn’t sound nearly as appealing when it’s 80+ degrees outside.

Luckily I was able to get my first real taste of fall when we ventured up to Bear Lake this weekend. The air was cooler, the skies were brighter, and Logan Canyon was positively aglow in my favorite fall color combo: bright yellow aspens against dark green pines.

(I realize these photos are totally pathetic, but they were the best I could manage while driving).

The atmosphere at the cabin was more slow-paced and autumnal as well, as we spent the weekend sprawled on the couch watching General Conference, taking walks along the lake, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery.

I even channeled my inner Mormon housewife by baking some pumpkin cinnamon rolls and making this wreath out of the extra felt I had left over from our Harry Potter costumes. Special thanks to my sister-in-law for helping me cut out all those circles.
And on our way home on Sunday we stopped to pick up this little guy:

Yep, October’s been good to us so far. I’m excited to see the rest of autumn unfold.