San Diego

So, I'm in San Diego to watch my brother's final college football game, and I've come to some conclusions:

1. I'm going to miss watching him play for my beloved Utes. It's really a fun time to go to these games and get to see the team and program on a more personal level. It's been a blast - and hopefully it all ends on a very positive note.

2. San Diego is the perfect city. Seriously - the climate, the cleanliness, the beaches, the food (the best mexican food, great seafood). As most know, I travel very often - mostly internationally. For example, I've been to the Caribbean twice in the past month, and I also travel to Florida regularly. And the only reason I mention that is to emphasize the fact that I'm familiar with various resort locations, and as such, I can safely say that San Diego would be the first place I'd like to live. If it didn't require a 100-year mortgage to buy a house here, I'd move here tomorrow.

As for the bowl game, I think it's going to be a good time. I wish that my lovely wife were with me. As I walked along the Seaport boardwalk as the sun set tonight, I had to call her just to let her know how much I missed her.

Supposedly, there is going to be a full house tomorrow night. They expect a record 47,000 fans - of which, 30,000 will be Navy fans and supporters. Utah will likely have around 12,000. It should be a great atmosphere. Now, I just hope that the game is great. Considering that they run the option, it should be the perfect game for Steve to showcase his talent. He could easily be the bowl MVP, which would be great. I was just watching ESPN, and they were giving a preview of the game, and they said that Steve was their player to watch for - and they said he'd likely be a 5th or 6th round NFL draft pick. Whoa! (for a thorough break-down of the game, and some great featured articles on Steve, go to my Ute blog at trueute.blogspot.com)

Speaking of Steve, he committed to an agent today. His name is David Canter - and he's the agent for big names like Steven Jackson, Stephen Davis, and Eric Weddle. You can see an article that ESPN wrote on him here: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/confessions/agent.html.

Steve was a little unsure as to which agent he should go with, but when David pulled some strings this week to get him into the Hula Bowl, the answer was obvious. Steve's future in football is uncertain, but I think he has the right guy who can open some doors for him. We spoke with Weddle tonight, and he said that he really likes this agent, and he's helped him quite a bit. He got him to be picked in the 2nd round, and Eric became an impact player in his first year, and his jersey is the 2nd highest sold Chargers jersey this year - only behind Tomlinson.

So, I'll enjoy the weather and the football game, knowing that I'll be returning to cold weather and no football. Oh well. At least Christmas is here.

Jelly of the Month Club

So, a funny thing happened tonight, so I had to write about so I could remember it a year from now and get another laugh out of it.

Imagine...

A juicy steak cooked to medium rare perfection encrusted in a savory bleu cheese, bread crumb topping served on a hot sizzling plate. As if this isn’t good enough, accompanying this steak is a dish of whipped sweet potatoes with a pecan crust and hot, yet crisp asparagus with a light hollandaise sauce. No to mention the soft bread so fresh it virtually melts in your mouth. Then to top it all off, a chocolate explosion cake filled with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache (not to bitter, yet not to sweet) that just melts in your mouth. Are you drooling yet? Then I must not have described it so well because it was simply wonderful!

This sums up our meal from Ruth’s Chris Friday night for Dustin’s Birthday. Dustin’s favorite is the Ahi Tuna Stack which is slices of seared Ahi Tuna layered with a hint of garlic, seared just perfectly where the center is still raw, yet warm. However, since he was privileged enough to experience Ruth’s Chris two nights in a row (bachelor party the second night) he opted to have steak with me the first night. The second night he had the Banana Cream Pie with caramelized bananas which he said were amazing. If we had been hungry enough the first night to enjoy two desserts, this would have been the second one. Anyway, I enjoyed Dustin’s birthday immensely! I guess it was Happy Birthday to me too, seeing has how he could have opted for a different restaurant once he found out they were doing the bachelor party dinner at the same place, but he didn't want to disappoint me. Thanks honey!

Dedication

I dedicate this post to my dear life long friend Jennifer, who informed me that my blog was too boring and my posts too lengthy. (This post may be boring, but it’s definitely not lengthy).

And to all of my synchronized swimming friends (the 3 of you that read this)… through all of the years of long hours of practice, various lifts and awkward positions, at least we never had to endure THIS type of pain.

OUCH!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yes.. my mom and my husband have the same birthday (Dustin's post is below). I am sure that Freud would have some things to say about that, but hey, it works for me!

Anyway… Happy Birthday Mom! One of these days I will spend a birthday with you, but at least I get to see you in 5 days… I am so excited!

I truly have the best mom in the entire world. I feel so blessed and so lucky that she is my mom. Just the other day I called her to find out how to approach a certain situation and of course she gave me the advice that I needed. She is my friend (even though she made it perfectly clear as a teenager that she was my mother, not my friend), my moral compass, my personal Dr. Laura, my comforter, and my biggest fan. I can’t wait until I can make her a Grandmother, because she is going to be the best grandma too. (Right now her church calling is in the Nursery (with 18 month to 3 year olds) and she has about 15 or so kids and they all just adore her, of course).

Mom, you have been there for me through everything in my life. If I could go back and change one thing as to how you mothered me; I wouldn’t change a thing. I could not have asked for anything more from you. I love you so much and I hope that you and Ash have a great time at Sweeny Todd tonight!!! I wish that I could be there too. Thank you for all of the wonderful gifts and opportunities that you gave to me and thank you for being my mom. I love you!

Happy Birthday DT!!!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life (as I like to call him)! Today is Dustin’s 31st Birthday, and since he is on his way home from a business trip in St. Lucia and I don’t get to see him until late tonight (actually not until tomorrow), I wanted him to know how much I love him and that I hope that he has a very Happy Birthday… even if it is spent on a plane and in airports. (He is currently enduring a 5 hour layover in San Juan... ouch!)

There are so many things that I love and cherish about Dustin. I look at this past year and all of the things that we have been able to enjoy together, some of things that we have been able to overcome together and some of the things that we are still enduring… together. But through it all, he has been a strength to me. He has given me hope and helped me to look at the positive when it has been hard for me to do so. He also continues to challenge me in ways I don’t always feel like being challenged and I have been known to push back, but I know that he always wants what is best for me.

I love you DT! I know that you were the one that I was supposed to end up with and I am so grateful that I finally “saw the light”. I feel so blessed to be able to share my life with you and I cannot wait until the day we can add to our family of 3 (we can’t exclude Quique). I love you always and forever!

The Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment

Sound familiar? Then you too must listen to Glenn Beck. For those of you not familiar with him, he is a radio talk show host (conservative of course). Don’t get me wrong, Rush Limbaugh is the Godfather and Sean Hannity has his moments, but there is something about Glenn Beck’s quirkiness and genuineness that just reel me right in. I can be laughing and crying within minutes. He also has a show on CNN Headline News, but I prefer the radio show. I guess I’m just a talk radio geek. My mom got me listening to Rush and it just spiraled from there.

Last year Glenn Beck brought his Christmas stage show to Salt Lake. Since April is my partner in crime and also adores Glenn, we decided to have a girl’s night out and see his show. It was awesome! The stories that he tells are seriously beyond belief. Beck’s producer on his radio show had the opportunity to meet Beck’s family and tried to find out if in fact these were true stories or if there was some Beck fabrication involved. All of them were true… even his crazy step mother sawing off the arm of the couch to get a better view of the TV. And that is only one of many stories.

Anyway, it was so awesome last year that April and I decided we couldn’t pass it up this year, knowing that it was pretty much the same show. And yet again, it was fabulous! He is an animated storyteller so even though I knew the stories, he still had me laughing. He sums up the show with the true meaning of Christmas. He talks about how it’s more than the birth of a baby, but that Christmas is about the life that Jesus Christ served, His death and most importantly, His resurrection. In other words redemption is the true meaning of Christmas.

If that didn’t get me even more in the Christmas spirit, then I don’t know what could. After the show in Salt Lake, he shared the story of his conversion to the LDS church. Initially, when I first started listening to Glenn, I had no idea that he was Mormon, but after a couple of months and a few references to his religion, I put the pieces together. It was a beautiful story, not only about his conversion to the church, but also about friendship, his family and how God does in fact place certain people in our lives. I am a firm believer that certain people have been put in my life for a reason, almost like guardian angels and I am so grateful for each one of them.

Next year Glenn (we’re on a first name basis) will be doing a different kind of show called “The Christmas Sweater”. It sounds like quite a production. A sweater on Christmas day was the last gift that he received from his mom before she committed suicide and so there are a lot of feelings and deep meaning that go along with this sweater. I could go on and on about Glenn Beck. As Dustin puts it, he has College Football and I have Glenn Beck. We all have our quirks right? Thanks to April for sharing a fun evening. We laughed, we cried and we were entertained through it all. We are both counting down until next year!!!

Bear Hugs Christmas

Dustin and I both have the amazing privilege to work with the youth organization within our church. Yesterday morning, we had an opportunity to take the young men and young women in our ward (for the third year in a row) to volunteer with the Bear Hugs Christmas.

This is a very special event set up by the Utah Jazz. Each year the Jazz Bear and his committee (aka Luke) work to raise money. In December, they take that money and they set up this great even that allows some of the under-privileged kids in the area to each have $90 to spend at Wal-Mart for their Christmas. We have to pick up the youth at about 6am in the morning since we have to be there by 6:30 and we have yet to hear one complaint or one groan about it. The youth get so excited to participate every year. Each volunteer then gets matched up with a kid anywhere between 4 and 13 or so. Since the youth in our church range from 12-18, some times they do get matched up with a kid that is similar in age. The kids then enjoy some breakfast along with some type of entertainment. This year some dancers from High School Music came to teach the kids some moves. (Here is Dustin and his buddy breakin' it down). Then the Jazz Bear comes to get the kids excited and we're off to Wal-Mart.

The interesting part is that we load up into buses and then there is a police escort that takes the 7 or 8 buses to Wal-Mart. Leading the way is the Jazz Bear on top of a Fire Truck so that all the kids can see him. Even though this is my third time doing it, I still get choked up watching the kids lighten up and get excited as the 12 or so police cars with sirens on lead us and stop traffic to lead us as we go through red lights. Even if it's for a short time, they feel so special.

When we get to Wal-Mart let's just say that the toy section is a mad house. Kids and carts in every aisle; first bikes being ridden and dolls being admired. The interesting part is that each of these young kids has $90 to spend on themselves and yet they are usually buying things for their mom or a sibling or their dad. Some leave very little, if any money for themselves. The young men and young women are touched by this every year as am I. This beauty of selflessness is almost overwhelming when I think about it. But it is also the sad stories that we hear as we walk and talk with these kids. One told one of our young women that she and her brother sleep in the car sometimes. Another said they didn't need to buy anything for his dad because he was in prison. Another was ducking when the police escort started. When asked why he was ducking, he said "because that's what my mom always does when she sees the police". Then one of our young men got up in church today to talk about his experience. He is 12 so it was his first time doing it this year. He said it was hard at times trying to keep track of his kid and buy certain things and he was a little wild. But at the end he said the bus ride home was really fun and he said he gained "another best friend". Priceless.

It truly is an amazing experience that I am so fortunate to participate in each year. My sweet friend was 5 year old Diego. He was shy and refused to dance, but was so excited about the Jazz Bear and Wal-Mart. Santa was there too, but apparently Santa didn't even begin to compare to the Jazz Bear. Diego knew what he wanted and we were done pretty quick, but as we were going through the aisles making sure he got what he wanted, he kept pointing at things and asking if I wanted to get that for my sister. And then he was asking what I wanted to get. This sweet 5 year old boy who barely knew me, let alone my sister, wanted to make sure that we were taken care of too. He did end up buying two of something so that he and his friend could play with them together.
This was a reminder to me of how blessed I am in my life. I have been given so much and does my selflessness even compare to these sweet children? I don't think it does. But it sure does give me inspiration and motivation each year to be a better person and to try and give back even more for all the amazing blessings that I have received. I think Dustin's little buddy summed it up best for all of us. "Today is my luckiest day!" Thanks to Luke and April for giving us the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful event!

Christmas Tree

Dustin and I shared two different traditions growing up. Dustin's family always had a fake tree and mine always had a real tree. The first year we were married, I gave in to Dustin's frugal plea and we did a fake tree. As long as the next year we did a real tree. The year after that, our friends had a great idea to get a Christmas Tree Tag, that way we could cut down our own tree. This is by far our favorite way to do it! It's the ultimate Charlie Brown tree with it's own special character. And if you think a tree from the tree lot down the street smells good, just wait until you cut down your own. The fresh pine smell fills the whole house! Then last year rolled around and we decided not to do a tree since we had just moved. Yes it was across the street, but the last thing I wanted to do after that was unpack boxes to take out the Christmas decorations. I guess you could say that the Christmas spirit wasn't as alive and well as it we like it to be. Plus with Quique running around chewing up everything, we thought it would be best not to do a tree or too many decorations for that matter (oh wait... she's still running around and chewing up things).

Anyway, since time was pretty slim this year, we just went down the street to the tree lot we had been a few years before. It was great, we were in and out of there in about 15 minutes. I think that I have finally sold Dustin on the real tree because it is so nice to have that fresh smell in your house. A candle can't do it justice. When we were putting up the tree, however, we did recall that our tree stand wasn't that great. I recommend not buying a tree stand where you use the screws to stand it up straight... it doesn't work! So Dustin was on his back holding up and screwing in the tree and Quique was wagging her butt licking his entire face. It was so cute! Anyway, the tree is finally up, the lights are on and about half of the ornaments. I know that I am driving Dustin crazy without having all of the ornaments up, I just can't figure out what to do. Anyway, the Christmas Spirit is alive and well in the Tate Household this year! I love this time of year!!!

August Rush

On Saturday evening after a good dinner at Market Street and strolling downtown, we met up with some friends and saw the movie, August Rush. This was a movie that I have wanted to see from the first time I saw the preview. My mom and sister saw it the first weekend it was out and loved it. I thought that I was going to have to pull some teeth to have Dustin see this one with me, but Mark called and asked Dustin if we wanted to go. Mark proceeded to tell Dustin that his dad and two of his brothers had seen it and it almost brought them to tears. Dustin was sold! Of course, I never have the power to persuade Dustin, but his friends can persuade him in a heart beat. Oh well, whatever works! (I do like the sappy movies, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this one).

Without giving away too much, it was a very touching story of 2 musicians, a Julliard Cellist and a Rock Band Singer who fall in love. She (Kerri Russel from Felicity, loved that show) has a baby, but the baby is given up and she is told that he didn't survive. The boy (Peter, from Finding Neverland, great movie) has an amazing sense of music and feels that he can find his parents through music. Robin Williams also does an amazing job. The acting is phenomenal, even by a few of the kids in the movie. The actors have a way of speaking to you through their eyes and it is so powerful! It is touching, inspiring and beautiful! Even Dustin liked it! I was crying before the beginning credits and it pretty much continued through the entire movie. I do have issues in regards to crying in movies, but that was a record for me. I highly recommend it. So Rush... to see August Rush! I promise, you won't regret it.

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas...

So Saturday was an interesting day. With so many things going on in the month of December, I was excited to actually have some of a Saturday to get some things done. I had a schedule of everything I had to accomplish. I woke up at 8am to start my checkoff list and the snow was just coming down. There was already white everywhere and more snow coming down. I couldn't get stuff done in all that! Well, it continued to snow for the next 6 hours... grrreeeaaaat! So there went all of my dreams of getting errands done. Well, once it stopped, it really was beautiful! I am a horrible photographer, but I loved this picture of our apple tree, with some of the fruit still left on the tree with the snow.

Anyway, it ended up being a nice day. We went to dinner with the Tate's to celebrate some birthdays and then walked around Temple Square to look at the lights. It was the first time all year that it really felt like Christmas. It was crowded downtown, the horse-drawn carriages were in full spring, there were Christmas lights everywhere and everything was covered with beautiful white snow. Even though, I grew up in California, it's amazing how much I equate Christmas with snow. Growing up, my family came out to Salt Lake every year for Christmas (except for 2 in the Caribbean), so snow and Christmas go hand in hand. I never realized it until this weekend. All of a sudden, I felt the Christmas spirit. I think that looking at beautiful lights and Nativity Scenes from around the world probably helped too. Anyway, the countdown begins... 21 days 'til Christmas, but only 14 days until my Mom and sister come! I can hardly wait!!!