down in the doldrums...

we haven't posted any pictures of when my family was here because we were set at camera ease with gabrielle and stevie snapping all those photos. in short, we forgot to take any pictures.

we are sadly coming to grips with life without our families here. nothing can express better how we feel than amy's expression below. this was taken on our trip to california adventure with an abby who probably got a bit sicker because we pushed a bit too hard in the hot hot sun.



we thought of libby (and the deej) as we watched the high school musical cast members do their thing...

we thought of stevie as we watched jared zabransky pull off the statue of liberty on the last play of overtime against oklahoma...

we thought of lafey as a boy heelied his way into disneyland next to us...

we thought of hannah as our phone doesn't text anymore because the three and the seven don't work...

we thought of jonny (and mewinda) as michael was sounding out words and he read J.O.N. as 'jonny'...

we thought of grandpatty as we had the last of the french toast sauce on our sweet, sweet grandma sycamore's bread...

we thought of grandpappy as i continue to live as a resident in california (namely night shifts all this week)...

we think of you often and hope all pull out of the new year doldrums without consequence...!

michael's utah players...

the spoon is the football..?

christmas eve pajamas...

christmas eve excitement!

merry christmas!

the video above demonstrates the excitement felt in our home this christmas! michael and brinlee have thick as thieves, and are nearly inseparable. Here is their Christmas Eve feast.


It was great to have all of Amy's family here. This was our Christmas eve pajama party, one of the many good times we had.


Here are the boyz in their matching pajamas...Amy and I had a hand in picking these out.


That night Santa came and Michael's layout was sweet.


With all to be found in his Christmas haul he spent much of his time with these cars pens given him by grandma risenmay.


The girls weren't sure what to think of it all. They put plenty of toys in their mouths and escaped the day without swallowing any inanimate objects.


After things wrapped up some in the house we headed out for a bike ride. Michael did pretty well for himself on the bike. He enjoyed it.


Probably deserving of a separate post is our experience at the BYU Las Vegas Bowl Game. We met up with Dad and Lafe. There was tailgating, bratwursts, highlight videos, hot chocolate, duck fans, rushing the field. Overarching all of it was the blowout. BYU beat the previously #11 ranked Ducks and the game was never close. Exciting way to end the season!



Lafey and I found the trophy amongst the crush of the crowd and got this picture. He got an autograph later from Manase Tonga.


Congratulations to BYU, and Merry Christmas!

walmart...bringing christmas to the common man.

if it weren't for walmart we'd be bah-humbuggers. however, thanks to the $2.98 per strand icicle lights (eat your heart out chipster), we are basking in the glow of christmas spirit at our house.



amy has a christmas tree light show she likes to try out on visitors...ask her about it when you come over.


as you can see, we went to disneyland recently. the trip was great and mickey's christmas additions are nice (as was the weather).


michael was lucky enough to ride the rides with his best friends. here is nanny pushing the boys. michael somehow finagled his way into her stroller spot for much of the day. it was another first this day as michael rode in the haunted mansion car without his parents. he said the scary wasn't too bad.


in preparation for our families' arrival, michael has been reflecting on his most recent trip to utah. some of his most recent antics have centered around lafe. he has taken to running around the house in his underwear--when questioned regarding his state of dress he assures us he is dressed 'wike wafey'. this must be a common practice for lafe in the mornings when i am still asleep and michael comes down to practice with him?


his next antic made a little prouder. he told us at the dinner table that when he is bigger, but not all the way big, like lafey's friends he wants to ride on a board on the snow like them. i assured him that i would support him in that. we discussed wearing a helmet and he assured me i could come with him.

as you can see, the girls are not as excited about santa coming as michael. at the ward christmas party the other night michael was running around the halls with the younger kids and hadn't been up to see santa (he is still a bit shy around the guy). santa was headed out the door and i grabbed michael as he hadn't told santa what he wants for christmas. with a look of dismay in his eyes he yelled down the hall, "a bike, a bike, i want a bike!" santa was kind enough the stop and talk with michael about his choice and requested good behavior. michael agreed. he lives up to his end of the bargain most of the time...



well, merry christmas. we are excited to see many of you very soon. i bought a wetsuit on ebay. we could use another wetsuit or two, so if you know anyone with an extra then bring it along!

of fiction and fantasy...

my proposition is that quality fiction (whether poetry--a nod to the hipster--or good prose) is superior to the text of a history book.

my reasoning goes something like this: a fictional writer who truly understands humanities' struggles can better instruct and inpsire regarding motivation and emotion than the history writer who gives a supposedly neutral telling of what actually happened. no telling is neutral and no historian actually knows what the person felt and experienced. the story comes up short. the dates and times may be correct, but the compelling turmoil that wrought the story is missing.

if i am ignorant, please enlighten me.

it doesn't snow in LA...

I've just been thinking about all of you coming out for Christmas and gettting excited. I'm not sure what all is planned, but I've just been thinking about California, Family and Christmases past. Just an hour to the northwest is Magic Mountain. Amy thinks it may even top her beloved King's Island...don't salivate on the keys please.

I know the Amy's side of the family has been known to get a little crazy, but that's all part of the package and I can't wait to have them storm the castle. We'll miss those who can't make it and will have to intiate those who do.

My side of the family has been known to get a little wild themselves and this picture proves it. I wonder what color our pajamas will be this year...?

If anyone wants to go biking, they'd better bring their spandex...(or wet suits for surfing)

Michael will keep all the crazies in line.

And we can sit around the fireplace, sip hot cocoa and bask in the glory over and over and over...

Merry Christmas. We look forward to seeing all you who are headed our way in a few weeks.

victory...!

Our trip to the Utah BYU game was one to be remembered for a long time to come. Tickets were not easy to come by, but we owe our tickets to Robert Hall (thank you again Rob). In all we had Jonny, Mel, Libby, the Deej, Hala Paongo, Amy and Paul in the group. We piled into our banner adorned transportation at Mom and Dad Frandsen's house (who graciously took the twins and made the trip possible).

Michael was beat. He came to the airport to pick up Dad the night before and didn't get to bed until after 11 pm.


We found parking, put on our BYU paraphenalia (a decision hotly debated as we would be sitting in the student section...) and walked to the stadium.


Michael was fascinated by the 'life size' players and fans to be found in Jonny's binoculars...

The game was filled with frustrating times...


Sweet passes...


And Exciting times...


Much has been written about the greatest game in the storied rivalry, and I won't attempt to wax poetic. The final quarter was PACKED with intrigue, excitement and frustration. We were booed, taunted, mocked and jeered. We were loud, enthusiastic, boisterous and excited. As the last minute wound down I felt tense, hopeful and dejected all at once. I watched the sea of red below us and wondered if we would get out of the stadium without event--regardless the outcome. As we watched Beck dance back and forth behind the line of scrimmage it was surreal...


When Harline caught the ball and we realized what had just happened we erupted with emotion. We were hugging people we had never met. We had a mosh pit of hugging BYU strangers in the middle of which were Michael and I. He was squooshed and lost his gum. It startled him and things were not set right until we replaced his gum. After the drama we celebrated and celebrated. We didn't leave the stadium until we had snaked some poms poms as souveniers, sung the BYU fight song, reveled and yelled at the stadium and generally had our fill.

Thanksgiving in Utah...

Happy birthday to AJ on the 22nd, Jonny on the 23rd. Happy Thanksgiving to all...

Michael enjoyed the Turkey Bowl (that was not football but soccer) in the place of his father and uncle Stevie. He didn't pick any fights, however. Fabulous talent was displayed on and off the field.

Five full tables of fabulous food. The girls had their first taste of, well, a lot of things. Their doctor = Grandpappy said it was okay. My favorite was mom's salad.

Too many pies to count... I sampled 4. I can't believe how much whipped cream this family eats.Great company and lots of cute kids everywhere. Michael loves playing with his "cousins." They now know him as Hala Paongo, and Michael has Zach calling everything a racecar.

Everyone froze during family pictures. Perhaps we'll photoshop some people into the picture?We watched old school home videos into the night... my how everything changes after a decade +.

I simply love being around family. I'm glad we made the trip. A good time was had by all.

rivalry week...!

To kick off rivalry week I post excerpts of a conversation with a Utah fan a few weeks back over electronic mail. His response--a well educated LDS Utah fan--speaks volumes about Utah fans the world over...

I said, "For some reason, your comments about Bronco's defense as a gimmick and your parody of cougartown and BYU tradition stuck with me. The writing has been on the wall since Utah lost to Ben Olsen and UCLA, but I can't help but think that the gimmick in the MWC this year is Utah's offense. I say this all in good spirit and good fun as I endured the type of play exhibited by Utah for the last 4 years from my beloved TDS.

Sorry about wyoming. The bright spot is Weddle...What a cool guy."

He said, "if you will take a look at your current success, you will recognize that it came once bronco pulled his head out and realized that his gimmickdefense was worthless. maybe you haven't noticed, but your belovedcougs no longer run that daunting 3-3-5 that allowed the utes, and manyother teams to punish them over the past few years. nice to see thatthe cougar coaching staff is able to finally realize when a good thingis actually benefitting the rest of the league.

as far as your beloved cougs go. i am sure that life is rosey in cougartown.i got a chill the other saturday and i thought it was from the cold weather. then, i realized that i was feeling the spirit of cougartown and i shed a tearof joy. i can't wait for the next proclamation to the world from your inspiring mayor. maybe he will announce to us that ice cream from the cougareat will shipped to the whole world and we will all be able to enjoy the love that can occur when a 21 year old rm and an 18 year old chosen sister connect over a shared bite of luscious vanilla cream and kindle a relationship that will last into the eternities. i check the provo website every day waiting with bated breath that next proclamation.

as far as i know, i and i look deeply into these things, john beck is yet to cry this year in front of the cameras. i am sure that trend will not hold true though after their visit to rice-eccles stadium. good luck with the rest of your season and congratulations on confirming my earlier statement about your worthless defense. i'll take it as a compliment as opposed to the shot you intended."

My rebuttal, "Good to hear from you. It's nice to see you've been following the cougars. You seemed to have overlooked that two of your wins against teams that we beat came because we injured their star players. See Ballard and Wagner of TCU who are now dominating again. See UNLV's quarterback woes who came into rice eccles limping.

The 3-3-5 was a problem. The coaches did the right thing in switching. However, it is the same guys. They didn't lose many from last year and the new scheme is looking pretty good. I'm suprised to hear your thoughts on strength of schedule as you have beaten utah state, a I-aa team and BYU inflicted injured teams.

What did the 21 yo/18 yo comment mean? Do I sense an anti- 'utah-mormon' sentiment in your words?

In the end you're right. Things will be back to normal if the salvation of your season comes from a win against BYU.

He ended with, "spoken like a true cougar fan!!! although i would have expected a reference to the 1984 championship year or the year when you went 12-0 with doman (i'm sorry, i meant 12-2). or maybe you could have made reference to the team as the armies of helaman as mendenhall did last year. i know that your team has been fighting fiercely and bravely for the freedom of and pride of cougartown. if you will read back through my email, you will see no reference to the strength of our schedule or about how well we are doing. i am actually quite disappointed to see that we are doing so poorly, but still remain a true and optomistic fan. congratulations on your feat of injuring the players of other teams. i guess that is one way to get a victory, but i never knew that it was something about which was worthy of bragging. and if you will also read through my email, you will seen no reference to your players, only a flawed defensive scheme.

i am sorry that you were offended by my "anti-mormon" sentiments. as you well know i was never smart enough or spiritual enough to get into the Lord's university. i just struggled through my classes up on the hill and was lucky that they let me go on a mission. i mean, after i got home from my mission, i joined a frat, picked up alcohol, and never went back to church. the only thing that i can think of to explain the discrepancy in the number of kids is that too many ute fans got drunk at the football games and then went out and got their girlfriends pregnant. as one who has lived in the dorms with all of the sinners, maybe you could offer up a better suggestion.

...being away from utah i had forgotten how arrogant and annoying byu fans are..."

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