Still a kid at heart

We decided to go for a drive up the canyon this afternoon.  It was such a nice day today with the sun shining and the temperatures not too cold.  So Kyle and I drove in his truck up to Snowbird ski resort, it is a beautiful drive and only about 20 minutes away.  When we arrived at the resort we pulled into a circle by one of the lodges to turn around.  As usual, Kyle could not help himself driving into the mound of snow, he thinks the truck can go over anything.  Well not knowing the level of the ground under the snow, the layers of ice under the snow, and not having a large area to turn around, we-I mean Kyle proceeded to get stuck!  We tried to think back if this had ever happened to him before.  I remember trying to drive while Kyle pushed the car and I remember doing the pushing while he drove to get a car out.  We could not remember the last time he had to have someone come and pull him out.  I was getting quite the laugh out of it.  Once we were out of the big holes Kyle created I could see why we were stuck..

Does not look too bad in this picture

Kyle in the hole the tire made

Another Teenager in the House

Happy Birthday to Kylie!  It is official our baby girl is now a teenager!
She started out the day by going to breakfast with Melissa and Alex at Karl's Cafe, then the girls went shopping for clothes.
She had a birthday party at the University of Utah today. She planned this all herself, it was in the indoor practice facility and around Kyle's office.  There were 13 girls and they played games, had pizza and cake, and watched a movie.  It lasted almost 7 hours, way over the limit we gave her.  Our family, plus Dawson and Gael, turned out to help her with the games, and I always appreciate the family support!

Breakfast

Tyler is chasing Alex, we actually played Duck, Duck, Goose

Relay races

Opening of Gifts

Red Velvet Cake

Breakfast of Champions

Alex had Matt Aiken and Josh Hicks sleepover last night.  They stayed up late playing Halo.  I came downstairs this morning about 10:00 am to find that Kyle had made them breakfast which included omelets, quesadillas, and hash browns.  One of Kyle's skills, unknown to many, is his ability to put together leftovers to create the best meals... Breakfast is his specialty!

Valentine's Day

We figured over dinner that we had spent 34 Valentine Day's together, that is a lot!  Neither one of us is really big into Valentines but we did go to dinner.  I just wanted a Salmon taco from Cafe Rio.  We did not want to wait in line at a restaurant.  Kylie was at home sick so I did not want to be gone long.  Cafe Rio was pretty crowded.  After we ordered and were watching them prepare our food through the glass Kyle said "Notice how the worker just wiped the counter with a dirty rag and now was making our food in the same gloves."  He almost ruined the meal for me.  I would never have paid attention to something like that, but he does.

After our dinner we went to Smith's grocery store to get some ice cream.  When we were leaving the parking lot (we were in Kyle's truck), Kyle heads over to the giant mounds of snow so he can spend 5 minutes 4-wheeling over them.  He has loved to do that since he could drive.  Any mound of snow anywhere, or any puddle of water just attracts him and he can't help himself.  We almost got high centered on this hard, old pile of snow but that did not stop him from enjoying himself!
These are the good old days! We had been dating since 1976.  Where has the time gone?

Kyle 1977

Jamie 1981

Cowboy Casserole

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Beef

1 lb Bacon or Ham (I like the ham diced small)

1 onion, diced

15 oz. Butter Beans

15 oz. Red Kidney Beans

15 oz. Pork and Beans

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Ketchup

2 tsp. Vinegar

1/2 tsp pepper

15 oz. diced tomatoes

Brown beef with onion then add beans with the juice,

stir in tomatoes and seasonings.  Simmer 20 minutes.

One Diced Onion

Brown 1 pound lean hamburger and onion

Drain any obvious fat

Add diced ham (I prefer the pre-diced very small packg)

Add 1 can butter beans, 1 can kidney, 1 can Pork and Beans, undrained.

add 1 can diced tomatoes

add 1/2 C Ketshup, 3/4 C Brown Sugar, 2 tsp Vinegar and Pepper

Simmer 20 min, then serve with bread or over some rice.

Super Bowl XLV

The opportunity came up for Kyle and I go to the Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, on Feb 6, 2011.  Pittsburgh Steelers against the Green Bay Packers.  Through Under Armour the plane tickets were free and our hotel was free.  Kyle and Alex went to the Super Bowl last year but I had never been.  
Friday night Kyle and I went to an ESPN party, Kyle had to walk the red carpet they had going in, it was  kind of funny to me.  I did not recognize anyone at the party but Kyle saw some former Pro players and a former team mate of his from the USFL.  Urban Myer was there so we talked to him for a while..  Kid Rock started playing late so we only stayed for one song.  Others in our group went on to another party until 4 am, much, much too late for us.

Kid Rock

Saturday we just worked out at the hotel and I had a nice facial at the Spa there, thanks to Under Armour.  Then we went to dinner with a group of Under Armour people.  Auburn head coach Gene Chizick was also with us and Auburn's AD.  We went to eat at a restaurant named Campisi. On the eve of the Kennedy assassination Jack Ruby, who killed LeeHarvey Oswald, dined at the Original Campisi Restaurant.  There is a lot of history around the Dallas area.
Sunday we left about 5 hours before the Super Bowl was supposed to start.  It was a drive from where we stayed and we went to the NFL Pregame Tailgate party.

There was so much food at the NFL tailgate party.  Notice I focused on the sweets.  The picture does not do the whole things justice! They also had Keith Urban playing and Maroon 5.  There were other groups playing that I did not know.  
I had a few to many of those yummy caramel mini cupcakes.  (Being mini makes you think you can eat a lot of them to make one big one.)

Maroon 5

We went into the game at least an hour early and just watched the warm ups of both teams.

It was a great experience!  The worst part was leaving stadium and waiting in the cold rain for a shuttle to the parking lot where the bus was.  That was a 3 hour ordeal, so not so fun!  We were cheering for the Steelers because there were 2 former players from Utah.  They lost 31-25, but it was great to see Sylvester Stevenson play, along with Chris Kemoeatu.