The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

A couple months ago, Jen and I decided we wanted to start a book club, and tonight was our first official book club meeting!  Jen, David, Lance, Carsten, and I met up at Cool Hand Luke's for some yummy food (although the service was extremely slow) and to talk about September's book - The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.  I picked the book because it is this year's campus read at Boise State.  It is a true story of a boy who, amid famine and poverty, finds a book about windmills and decides to build one to produce electricity for his small African village.  I really enjoyed the book and our conversation tonight, and am looking forward to October's book - The Life of Pi.  In fact, I just picked the book up today at a used book store.  I think that's the first time I've ever been into a used book store, but it's only a mile from my house and it was kind of fun getting my like-new book there.

What Kept Me From College GameDay?

Yes, College GameDay came to Boise... and I missed it!  What, do you ask, could have kept me from this first-time event?  Only the largest women's-only 5k event in the nation - the Women's Fitness Celebration!  For the last several years, I have participated on the Cutler Crew team, and I really didn't want to miss this year's race.  I do admit that it was somewhat of a sacrifice though.  I went back and forth, back and forth - College GameDay or Women's Fitness Celebration?  Several members of my race team were surprised to see me when I showed up to carpool down with them because they just knew I would be at GameDay!  I am bummed I had to choose, and that I missed ESPN highlighting Boise State's football team, but I had a really great time at the race.  In fact, I ran my fastest time by over 2 1/2 minutes at 27:22 (this wasn't my fastest 5k time, but was my fastest time for this specific race).  Maybe I should train for next year's race and see if I can improve my time by another 2 1/2 minutes :-)

A Train at the Depot

Last week when Mandy and I were headed to lunch, we drove past the train depot and noticed that there was actually a train at the depot and a bunch of people walking up and down the length of the train!!!  I've never seen a train there, so of course it really stood out as we drove by.  Mandy and I decided to get our lunch to go (delicious salads and sandwiches from Roosters!), have a picnic at the train depot, and then walk around and see what the train was all about.  We asked one of the train operators what was going on and if he could tell us about the train.  He indicated that the only part of the train that was open to the public was the steam engine at the opposite end of the train.  Mandy and I walked to the other end and waited in line, only to finally be let in to what was actually just a souvenir shop!  Oh well, not as exciting as we thought it was going to be, but we still got a picture (of course!).

Another Bronco Victory

Tonight's game against Oregon State (37-24) was a little more nerve wracking than last week's whomping over Wyoming (51-6), but I was happy we came out on top... especially with College GameDay having been here today!  This was supposed to be our second toughest hurdle in our schedule (the toughest being Virginia Tech), so I'm hoping this was a start to another undefeated season.  Great job boys!

And thanks for joining me Lance!  It was fun!

We are ready!!!

Today is the biggest home football game of the year.  Kris, Mandy, and I wore blue yesterday in support of our Broncos for today's match up against the Oregon State Beavers (notice how tall I am - I was wearing 5 inch heels!).  Did you know that Oregon State painted their practice field blue in preparation for today's game?  Crazy - we'll see if that helps them at all!  Should be a good game though and I'm stoked... kick off is in just over 6 hours!

Green Smoothies

Yesterday was Mandi's birthday, so we celebrated with a family dinner on Sunday.  My mom was SO excited for the dessert she had planned - green smoothies!  I have heard all about how delicious green smoothies from Robin, but I'd never actually tried one until Sunday.  I don't know all that was in there, but I know there was some milk, dates, frozen bananas and strawberries, kale, and spinach.  Sounds gross, and doesn't look that appetizing, but it actually was pretty good!  If you want to give it a try, I recommend checking out Robin's blog for a recipe.  Thanks mom (and Robin!) for introducing me to something new :-)

And just a few shots - everyone enjoyed trying the green smoothies!

Dad preparing the green smoothies

The birthday girl

Even Tanner was excited to try dessert

Almost the whole crew - BJ & Rachel, Mandi TJ, & Hailey, Grandma & Grandpa, & Me!  Just missing Mom, Dad, and Tanner.

Washington DC Trip

In the summer of 2007, several of my college friends and roommates met in Boise for a little reunion.  Before they all left to head back home, I promised Tim, Corinne, and Drew that I would visit them in Virginia the following year... Well, the next year I ended up going on an Alaskan cruise with my family, so I pushed back my plans to visit until 2009.  Before I started making trip preparations in 2009, Boise State announced they would be playing Virginia Tech in the Washington Redskins stadium in the fall of 2010 - I just HAD to delay my trip one more year because how cool would it be to watch that game!?!  So I requested my vacation time an entire year in advance and made the trip happen.

I had such a wonderful 8 days visiting friends, cheering on my Broncos, and seeing the sights.  I took a red eye into DC (thanks to the whiny three-year-old on my row, I will NEVER do that again without ear plugs or noise canceling headphones!)... I landed in DC early Saturday morning and Tim and I immediately started our day.  We began with a trip to the Original Pancake House for breakfast.  I had gingerbread pancakes.  I think they may have been the best pancakes I've ever had.  Mmmmm.  They made me excited for fall.  And football.

In case you're wondering, I wore Boise State clothes pretty much the entire trip :-)

Next, we took the metro into downtown to see some of the monuments.  I asked someone to take a picture of Tim and me in front of the Washington Monument.  I could tell by the angle of the camera that he only got like an inch of the monument in the picture.  Seriously?  The monument was the entire point of the picture!

After our picture taker walked off, I asked someone else to get a picture.  As he handed the camera back to me, he informed me that the monument was coming straight out of my head.  Um, thanks???  I would have been more than happy to take a step sideways!  Oh well.

Next up was the World War II Memorial.  I thought this memorial was beautiful - it was definitely my favorite.  It was new since the last time I was in DC.  There was a pillar with a wreath for each state.

We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial.  I should probably mention that the entire day we saw TONS of blue and orange.  Boise State was definitely represented in DC.  I proudly said "Go Broncos" whenever I saw fellow fans :-)

Saturday evening, Tim and I went to a polo match!  I was excited to watch this sport, as it's definitely not something I can see out west.  It was interesting to watch (although we couldn't see that well and it seemed rather slow... at least compared to the football game we watched a couple days later!)  It was especially fun to meet up with Jen and her brother Morgan - they were also in DC to watch the game and visit a friend.  After the polo match, Tim and I wandered around Clarendon and Georgetown - DC sure has an exciting nightlife!  We met some Virginia Tech fans (one of which didn't want me to go inside a club because of my BSU shirt!) who admitted they were nervous for the game.  I was definitely nervous too...

The next morning, we visited the temple grounds before church.  The Washington DC temple sure is beautiful.  And the grounds were amazing too.  I would love to go inside... next time!

Monday was game day.  Tim and I proudly drove around with our Boise State car flags flapping in the wind.  We spent the morning in Old Town Alexandria.  My favorite part was watching this man play music with glasses of water - it was really incredible!  I should have taken video, but a picture will have to suffice.

And I absolutely loved the art gallery area (not really a gallery, but more a collection of little shops housing different artists).  I bought some cool coasters as a souvenir.  The stairs in the gallery area were my favorite:

That night was the game (of course!).  It was definitely the highlight of my trip.  I cheered so much, I sounded like a man for the next couple of days.  I am still smiling about the win.  In case you didn't see it, you should at least watch the final drive.  And if you did see it, it's definitely worth watching again (and again, and again)!  I loved how the top twitter words the next day were Kellen Moore, Boise State, etc.

Tim and I celebrated the Bronco win the next day by getting Georgetown Cupcakes.  I loved how Tim wanted to leave the Boise State flags up on his car :-)  And can you see my blue and orange fingernails in the picture below?  And my Boise State watch?  Anyway, I thought I was in heaven as I bit into the Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcake... I know, it doesn't sound very good, but I wished I had about 100 more.  Yes, it was that delicious.  We also got some to share with Corinne and Drew, since I would be heading to their house later that night!

I ended my time with Tim by driving by the White House (next time I'll have to schedule a tour way in advance!) and having lunch at the Founding Farmers restaurant - a restaurant where the food is locally grown and organic.  I had the salmon - SO good!

I spent the next few days with Corinne and Drew and their kids.  We had fun shopping and talking and catching up.  My last day in DC, Drew and I went to Mount Vernon.  It was such a neat experience visiting the home of our first president on the anniversary of 9/11.

The property was MUCH larger than I expected, and everything was just beautiful.  We saw everything from the gardens to the "Necessary" (toilet building that had enough room for three people at once!), the stable, the tomb, etc.  Drew and I liked this "Riding Chair" - it was kind of funny picturing President George Washington sitting on that chair!  Reminded us of Santa and his sleigh :-)  We also visited the Gristmill and Distillery and learned all about how George Washington made his money! 

On my flight home that night, there had to have been about 25-30 Boise State fans (at least!).  I loved how the flight attendant gave a special welcome to all the BSU fans.  Of course we cheered.  Then one person called out "Boise" and the rest of us responded with "State" - and we repeated this a few times.  I'm sure the other passengers were thrilled :-)  Thanks again to Tim, Corinne, and Drew for letting me stay with you - I had a lovely time!  Oh, and Go Broncos!

Bronco Victory!

What. A. Game.  I know it's been almost a week now since Boise State beat Virginia Tech in the season opener at the Washington Redskins stadium, but I'm still thinking about how awesome the game was.  With over 86,000 fans in the stadium, the energy and excitement were off the charts.  I have never been to a game that big, and I had the best time... especially considering my Broncos pulled off a 33-30 win with a perfect touchdown pass the last minute of the game (isn't Kellen so cool under pressure!)!  It was also great to cheer on the Blue with my Virginia friends - Drew, Corinne, and Tim.  Thanks for coming to the game with me guys!  I had the best time!!!

More to come later on the rest of my DC trip (I just got back in town at 11pm last night).  For now, I'll leave you with my favorite picture of the trip!