Utes 48, Utah State 0

The Utes are now 2-1. They played a hard-fought battle with Utah State on Saturday night, barely squeaking by with a 48-0 win in Logan. I debated on whether or not to go to the game, but the temperature at the start of the game was only 48 F and it only got colder. The game was put away early with the Utes returning an interception for a touchdown on the second or third play of the game. For the Aggies, it was only downhill from there.

They finished the game with a total of 6 turnovers and less than 100 yards offense. Even I, as a Utah fan, felt bad for the Aggies and was hoping that they would at least make a good play sometime. They did get insied the 10-yard line once, but the runningback fumbled the ball and, of course, the Utes recoverd. So now Utah has 2 wins over extremely weak opponents and 1 loss to a very good UCLA team.

What that all comes down to then is that we have no idea how good or how bad Utah really is. We know they aren't horrible, Utah State is horrible. That makes this weekends game against San Diego State pretty important for the Utes. Many people consider this game a patsy, but I'm still not sure how good Utah is. Either way, it will be a fun game to watch.

Now BYU on the other hand, they should be 3-0, but instead they are 1-2. If they would have made it through the first 3 weeks with 3 wins, they would be ranked and their game against TCU (#16) would certainly be a big game to watch. In my opinion, David james said it best here (Top 10 Reasons BYU Lost to Boston College).

In other news, Ada is now more than 8 weeks old. She is smiling a lot more and will follow you around with her eyes as you move about the room. It's fun to have her more attentive to our movements and more responsive to our cooing. She is certainly a doll.

Ada at 8 Weeks!

Look at what a beautiful girl we've got on our hands. Ada is now 8 weeks old and a sweetheart to boot. This is the outfit that she wore to church today. Isn't she just a little doll?

Utah 45, NAU 7

Utah got their first win of the year over the weekend. Granted it was over a Division II school, but they certainly needed the practice. The Utes looked really good during the game and were able to put together a handful of good drives. My only gripe is that they didn't put Grady (back-up quarterback) into the game until almost midway through the fourth quarter and by then it was too late to allow him to make any passes (I wanted to see him throw the ball). Anyway they can get it, it was a good win for the Utes.

Remembering 9/11

Today is the fifth anniversary of 9/11. I can't believe that it's been 5 years already, but in hindsight, it does seem like a distant memory.


5 years ago, I was living in Voronezh, Russia. I was about in the middle of my two-year mission for the LDS church. Because we did not use the internet, watch tv or read the newspaper, everything that we ever heard came from word of mouth.

My companion at the time was Elder Jackson from Arizona. He was also our district leader. At about 6:00 pm (Voronezh time) we went to a small indoor pool to meet with the owner to see if we could rent it for a baptism. We met a branch member (Anna Tichinina) there because she knew the person that we needed to talk to. While Elder Jackson and Anna were renting the banya (pool), there was a tv on with the sound turned down. The television kept showing pictures of the burning World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the White House. I had no reason to think that it was anything but a made for TV movie. I wasn't paying the closest attention to the TV because I was studying some Russian words that I was trying to learn for the day.

Once the banya was rented we went with Anna to her family's house for family home evening and dinner. I don't remember anything unusual about our visit that night. When we returned to our apartment that evening and were preparing ourselves for bed, the AP's (Assisstant's to the President) called and told us that there had been terrorist attacks in the United States. We were told only the most basic details and that anywhere from 10-50,000 people had perished.

It was quite some time before we knew that the number killed was actually quite smaller than that. What a relief. That night, Elder Jackson and I prayed, cried and prayed some more. We prayed for our families, humanity and the families affected by the tragedy. It was one of the very few nights that I was not in bed by 10:30 (as I was supposed to be). We stayed up late talking to each other and writing in our journals.

The next couple days we were not allowed to proselyte and for more than a month after that we were not allowed to wear our nametags for fear of retribution and anti-Americanism. We did not notice any specific threats or problems because of the attacks.

I still pray for the families and for humanity. I wish there was a way for us all to learn to get along and live peacefully in this beautiful world.

UCLA 31, Utah 10

Well, Utah lost over the weekend to a fabulous UCLA team. The game was at the Rose Bowl (I was there! - more on that at a later date). The starting quarterback for the Bruins was Ben Olsen, who actually went to BYU for a year before leaving on his mission. When he returned, he snubbed the Cougars and signed with the Bruins. After seeing him play, I'm sure that BYU wishes they had him for next year because, he was amazing

Utah on the other hand... They managed to only convert once on third down, going a dismal 1-11. They had one really good drive at the end of the first quarter, and to build on that, Kyle put in a different quarterback. Call me crazy, but it sure felt like a momentum stopper to me.

It was horribly hot at the game and maybe the heat affected the team in some way. I'm not sure. There were probably 8-10,000 Utah fans there though, easily, 15-20% of the people there. The good news is, UCLA vs. Utah in Salt Lake City next year. I'll be there!

Fall 2006 School Schedule

School has now been going on for about a week and a half. It's going to be a busy semester, but it shouldn't be a bad one. I've got to prioritize my time a little better because it is awfully hard to study at home with a new baby here. On the converse, It's not terribly fun to not be home either because she is so cute! Here is my schedule for the semester (you can click on it to enlarge it).


As you can see Wednesdays are my long days. I have Microwave Engineering I and Bioengineering I on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Semiconductor Physics on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My Senior Thesis class on Tuesdays is actually just a time that I will meet with my senior project advisor. It won't necessarily be at that time on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays I also have a lab for Microwave Engineering I, and a lab lecture and lab for Semiconductor Physics. Friday afternoon is my lab for Bioengineering I.

This semester I am also taking a testing lab (on my own) in which I test a chip that I designed last semester and I've got to find time to work on my senior design project. I will just have to squeeze these into my schedule when possible.

I am also planning on working 20 hours a week during the semester. I will mainly work on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 8 hours each and then 4 hours on some other day... Now that I am a senior in the program, I also got a raise. I was previously making $17/hour and now I will be making $18.50/hour. It's a better rate than any other internship that I know of. What a blessing!

I leave with mom and dad for the UCLA vs. Utah game tomorrow. Hopefully the Utes will be able to get the W.

Ada's Blessing Day

Yesterday (Sunday, August 27, 2006) we blessed Ada in Church. She is still just the most adorable little girl that you have ever seen. Here she is in her blessing dress.

The blessing went well. My parents, Alison's parents, Jeff, Cheryce and girls, Rachelle and Shelby, Spencer, Korrin and Ella, Hyrum and Angie, Abby as well as my grandma and grandpa Squire, grandma and grandpa Dickson, grandpa bateman, grandma Bateman, Brett and Kim Hampton and Dan and his friend Jody were all there. It was quite a crowd, but it was sure fun to have family there for such a special occasion.

After the blessing everybody that could came up to our apartment and we had a little pot luck lunch in the grassy court area. Everything just went so well. Ada was such a good girl, during the blessing she was wide awake and just looking all around. I'm sure she knew that something special was going on.

Alison and I have also sent out announcements of Ada's birth. So far we have only sent them out to immediate family that was invited to her blessing but we will probably also send them out to our aunts and uncles as well. The announcement that we sent out is below.

We made the announcement in HP's Photosmart Premier software program. It has a photo collage option that we used and it sure made it easy to come up with the announcement. Alison and I were running short on time and we needed an announcement that could be made up quickly. I think that it turned out fantastic.

Well, school has now started. I will give a run-down of my new fall schedule in the days to come.

Huntsman Cancer Institute Golf Tournament

Well it was a pretty busy week this week. On Monday I spent the day at Thanksgiving Point hobnobbing with the stars. It was the annual Chairman's Tournament hosted by Ron Boone, and I was a volunteer. There were quite a few big names there from Michael Doleac (Miami Heat Center - who now has a championship ring) to Kevin Sorbo aka Hercules.

My dad and I spent the day on the 14th hole (the KJZZ hole) running the long drive competition. It seemed that every team that came through had at least one person capable of hitting the long ball. Most had more than one. The eventual winner of the long drive was a high school kid that drove about 350 yards. The second place drive (about 332 yards) was also hit by a high school kid. It's amazing that these kids could outdrive former and current NBA stars and NFL stars.

Here is a partial list of some of the names that I recognized from the tournament:
Arnie Ferrin (from the Utes 1944 NCAA championship team)
Bill Child (President of RC Willey's)
Bill Marcroft (former Ute announcer)
Tom Holmoe (BYU athletic director)
Gale Sayers (youngest inductee ever to the Pro football hall of fame, scored 6 TD's in one game, scored 22 TD's as a rookie, and on and on)
Nate Williams (former NBA player)
Ike Austin (former Jazzman)
Danny White (former Dallas Cowboy quarterback, Utah Blaze coach, Arizona athlete of the century)
Bubba Gilliam (from "Blazing Saddles")
Don Nelson (former Bucks, Mavericks, Warriors, Knicks coach, jersey retired as a Celtic, 3-time NBA coach of the year)

As you can see there were many stars. I don't get paid time-off at my job so I worked 4 ten-hour days to make up for my time off. If I had been able to volunteer on Tuesday as well then I would have also met Keith Van Horn (he's been there the last 2 years as well) and Julius Erving.

Ada is still doing well. She can be a little fussbucket in the evenings. I guess I need to regulate, eh?

More photos of Ada

We have been working hard to get Ada to smile. She has been trying hard to oblige. Here are some of the best new photos that we have been able to take.





She has been a pretty happy baby lately. She even has been sleeping better at night. She gets a little fussy in the evenings, but once we get through that part of the day then we are smooth sailing.

Oh my Gosh! What a loser!

I saw this picture on the internet the other day. I think that once I graduate Alison and I will move nearby this school so that our kids can go to a school that is obviously more progressive than most others.

I can't wait for football season. Only 20 days until I will be at the Rose Bowl watching the Utes season opener. Hooray!