Even ESPN knows...

This is the logo for "ESPN U," the ESPN college sports network:

Does that U look familiar? Even the world-wide leader in sports recognizes what's important in college sports. The college football world is about to flipped on its head, and even ESPN knows it. No longer can the Utes be discredited as a "small conference school." No longer will our undefeated seasons be ignored. ESPN had countless options when designing their logo. The U didn't have to be red. It didn't have to have the sharp edges and flat top that the Utah logo has. There are limitless fonts and colors to choose from, and ESPN chose that. Coincidence? I think not... Their logo could have looked like this:

And I don't see any ESPN logos that look like this:

And I don't think we'll be seeing this anytime soon:

Look out PAC 10 teams. Your comfortable little conference is no more. It's only a matter of time until even your conference decides to change its logo...

Rompin' in a Wheelin' Wonderland

My friend Nic just bought a Jeep, and he's got the itch to get out and put it to good use. So, of course, when he asked me to join him, I couldn't resist. Yesterday, we spent most of the morning and afternoon exploring our little corner of the world. We ventured into the mountains above mine and Steph's new neighborhood, just north of the Kennecott Copper Mines, and then we headed down into Herriman and cruised up into Rose Canyon, deep into the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley. It blows my mind how a 30 minute treck up a dusty road can take you into a whole different world.

If you're going to drive up a mountain, you might as well stop for a couple of poses...

A lot of people wonder why someone would want to beat up their vehicle, burn gas, risk rolling over or breaking something, and "waste" a day driving up a mountain. Well, aside from the thrill and excitement of driving on things that most vehicles couldn't even drive around, how about this?

That view exists about 20 minutes west of my new house (well, my new lot, but whatev...) And trust me - this camera phone picture does it no justice. And how about this?

Somewhere west of Salt Lake and east of Tooele, we drove up the middle of a group of about 70 or 80 wild horses. I took that picture out the window of my FJ as I drove by, so that's why there's one and two-half horses kind of in the shot (no, two halves don't always make a whole). I assume they were wild because 1- There were no fences anywhere to suggest that this was someone's land for grazing horses, 2- This would not have been a convenient chunk of land to access for horse grazing, 3- There was a lot of freakin horses - likely more than one person would own, and 4- They just had a wild vibe going on. In addition to the horses, we saw deer, squirrels, birds, oh yeah, and bugs. A lot of bugs. But clear up there, somehow, even the bugs are cool. But seriously, the views... Again, these camera phone shots do no justice, but from one peak in Herriman, we could see:

The entire Salt Lake Valley...

The Great Salt Lake (I know you can't see it in this picture, but I promise, it's there in the distance, and we could see it):

And Utah Lake (Again, it's there, just over those hills):

All three of those pictures were taken from the exact same spot. Maybe you had to be there to really enjoy it, and to those of you who weren't, I'm sorry. You missed out.

Oh my Incubus...

So, I knew that Incubus was coming to town, but I had no intention to attend - for reasons mainly monetary. However, yesterday, my good friend, Nick Stocking, called and invited me to attend with him and his kick awesome girlfriend Brenda. Brenda had obtained free tickets through one of her various hook-ups. I was thrilled, and I went with them. Our seats were fantastic.

And Incubus was even more fantastic. Words can't explain what they can do. Each member, individually, is among the best at what he does, and when you fuse these musical geniuses, the result is indescribable. I can only apologize to those of you who were unable to attend. But it gets better...

The amazing Brenda and her amazing hook-ups landed the three of us backstage passes. That's right, I went backstage at Incubus. We only met Brandon Boyd (the singer), but he was painfully friendly, sincere, and real. He seemed more honored to meet us than we were to meet him. He was a very humble person, literally blushing at our praises - as if he hasn't heard it millions of times before. Overall, this was my favorite concert experience to date. Next time Incubus rolls into your town, GO.

A few minor changes...

So, in my blogging absence, a couple of changes – ranging in importance from very to insanely – have occurred in my life. Allow me to catch you up.

In January, my long-time significant other and I became engaged. The proposal went as follows: One snowy morn, I awoke to find our cars buried in snow and ice. I called my boss and said something along the lines of, “Hey, is it cool if I come in later? I’m gonna get engaged.” He, of course, granted permission. Next, I kissed Steph “goodbye” and headed outside. I hid my car on the side of the house so that when Steph came outside to leave for school, she would think that I was, in fact, at work. I then called Steph and said something along the lines of, “Hey babe, I scraped your windows, but they’re still a bit iced over, so you might want to head out about ten minutes before you have to leave so you can run your heater. Also, you should leave early because the radio just said that traffic sucks.” I then proceeded to scrape her windows… sort of…

I hid behind Steph’s car, ring in hand, waiting for her to come outside. And then I waited some more. Keep in mind, it was about 3 degrees outside… Steph was supposed to leave for school at about 7:30am. I waited behind her car until 8:10am. You see, after I talked to Steph, her mom had called her and mentioned that traffic wasn’t bad at all, so Steph no longer needed to go out to her car early. Perhaps I should have given her mom the head’s up about what was going on. Anyway, Steph finally came out, I walked out from behind her car, got down on one knee, and she said hell yes.

Major event #2:

This morning, Steph and I bought a house. Sort of. We’ve been looking for houses for about three months now with our AWESOME realtor Bryan Hurd. (If anyone is in the market for a house, let me know. You need to call Bryan.) Anyway, we looked and looked and looked, and we saw a lot of houses we liked, but nothing that we really loved. We looked at countless short sales, a few bank-owned properties, and a handful of good old-fashioned private seller homes. There were some good deals on some short sales, but almost all of them needed work – everything from new carpet, to sheet rock patchwork, to paint, to yard work, to all of the above. The bank-owned properties were mostly disasters. None of them were great houses. Then Bryan, having a feel for what we were really looking for, brought us to Sunset Hills. Sunset Hills is a new community way out on the west side of the Salt Lake valley. 6600 South and Bachus Highway. We wandered through the two spec homes, saw the pricing, and Steph and I knew we were home. We realized that we could build our home our way, for dang near what we were planning on paying for some short sale fixer upper. So, this morning, we went under contract on our new home. This isn’t our exact home, because it’s not built yet, but this is the exact model and layout. I give you, the Canyon at Sunset Hills:

That will be our home by the end of November! (If all goes as planned…) So basically, life is moving really fast, and I'm just trying to keep up with it!

So, there’s a little update. Sorry for the delay!

Yes we did!

So, others have said it much better than I can, so I won't waste your time. But I still wanted to say it...

HURRAY!!!

Look what I found!

After a bit of rain yesterday, we woke up to this today. It was even better first thing in the morning, but I didn't take a picture until after the kids had a chance to have their way with the first real snow of the year. Nothing's quite as awesome as the first snow. I was actually excited to sweep the mounds of snow off of mine and Steph's cars this morning. This snow was a little unexpected because it hit so hard so fast, but that's part of the fun! It's even better when you have a couple of eight-year-olds and an eleven-year-old to use as an excuse to act like a kid in the snow again. 

We built forts, threw snowballs, and even spent a little time just rolling around. My dog, Tucker, has always been a snow dog. I think he even gets more excited than me!

He made the girls pull him around on that sled for hours! I wish I could have filmed him. He's nuts. So I guess this is kind of a continuation of my thanks to Utah. However, a big, unexpected snow storm isn't entirely a good thing...

Maybe I needed to be a little more prepared...

Thanks Utah!

So, anyone who's ever lived in Utah knows that quite a bit of Utah-bashing goes on - both by residents and by the rest of the world. Other states see us as "Mormons," and I put it in quotation marks because I'm not referring to actual Mormons, but rather, I'm referring to what most of the world thinks a Mormon is. Interpretations vary greatly, but I've found that, more often than not, outside interpretations are a far cry from realistic - anywhere from polygamists, to horn-bearing beasts, to cults of anti-Christs. But I digress; any interpretation would be unrealistic, as we all know that to define a person by their religion would be ridiculous. Anyway, I've gotten off topic, but you get the idea about outsider opinions of Utah.  And those of us who live in utah often have complaints about the state. Granted, many of these complaints have bearing - liquor laws are unnecessary, life comes to a hault on Sundays, and winter can be pretty terrible - but I'm afraid that we quite often overlook the wonder that actually is Utah.

Now, this crappy camera-phone picture cannot begin to explain what I'm talking about so much as the story accompanying it can. In the midst of one of the worst days of work yet in my life, I caught a quick glimpse of the view that I take for granted every single day. The giant mountain overlooking my carwash was covered in red, yellow, orange, green, and brown - yes, even the brown was somehow breath-taking. Tiny snowcaps on the peaks stirred excitement for winter, drawing nearer everyday. Cheesy though it may seem, the subtle realization that I like where I live was enough to turn my entire day around. 

Steph and I have discussed on many occasions where we want to end up when she finishes school. We've toyed with paradise locations like Santa Barbara and Hawaii, and city-life areas like Washington DC. But the more we talk about where we want to go, the more we've realized we're happy right where we are. No doubt, this winter will piss me off on several occasions, and scraping the ice off my car windows will grump me up more than once, but I don't know what I would do without the contrasting seasons, extreme hots and colds, and unpredictable weather. Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without the chili nights, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the snow and cold, and spring wouldn't even be gratifying if it weren't taking the place of a bitter winter that has worn out its welcome. I wouldn't mind a pina colada with more than an ounce of rum in it, but I think the pros definitely outway the cons. So, thanks Utah.