Thanksgiving Break

Hello everyone!  I just got back to Provo.  I was in Boise for the weekend visiting my family and enjoying all of the comforts that home brings with it.  As Kevin put it: "Paul, how happy are you to be back in Provo on a scale of 1-10?  Because I'm at a negative 4." Well said.  Here were some highlights of the weekend:

-Seeing Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Peter.  I haven't seen Grandma and Grandpa since I got off my mission, so it was good to see them again!  Along with telling me some funny stories about the latest things going on in her life, I was also able to enjoy some incredible, authentic Italian stuffed mushrooms that Grandma made.  Amazing.  It was great to see them.  As a side note, Grandma is the most loyal follower of this blog.  Love you Grandma!

-Free laundry.  This may sound petty, but having good quality, free laundry facilities is a luxury for a poor college student.  Imagine the look on my face when I woke up one morning to find all of my laundry washed and folded in my suitcase.  Thanks mommy!

-Food.  My mom's home-cooked food is absolutely incredible.  I know everyone says that about their mom's food, and sometimes it's true.  I have a lifetime trying other people's home-cooked food and sometimes it's pretty good.  But never as good as what Amy's Kitchen consistently provides day in and day out.  No one else can deliver like that.  It goes without being said, but Thanksgiving dinner was incredible.  The leftovers were also amazing.  And the downstairs fridge had unlimited cream soda and caffeine free Dr. Pepper.  I probably gained 10-15 lbs.

-Family.  Seeing my family is so much fun.  My mom is always caring and dad is always funny to talk to.  Upon my arrival, I immediately taught my brother Josh how to play Super Smash Bros.  Later, Travis, Tristan, Micah, Josh, Mark, and I all played indoor tackle football in our padded room called the "Riley Room" (named after my cousin Riley who has been known to be destructive to non-padded rooms.)  The football left everyone injured and crying.  Even I jammed my finger while I had 3 boys try to tackle me.  They almost succeeded. Almost.

-The baptisms of Travis, Rachel, and Tristan.  On Saturday, I got to see my little brother Travis and my little cousins Rachel and Tristan get baptized.  It was awesome to see them go in the water.  The highlight, however, was their confirmations.  You could tell that my dad was close to the Spirit as he confirmed them members of our church and gave them special blessings.

-BYU Basketball. Noah Hartsock made a clutch jump shot in a double overtime win over South Florida and the team later won the South Padre Island Invitational Championship when Jimmer made a last second 3 point shot close out the game against St. Mary's.  Good weekend for the basketball team.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  I'm glad I got to see my family and enjoy the weekend.  Here are a couple more tidbits to end off the post:

-Today is Andrew's birthday.  Andrew is currently serving a mission in the Ivory Coast and will celebrate his birthday in a hut made of straw that lets continuous rain pour in while he shivers in the cold with malaria and no food to eat..... just kidding.  He actually looks to be very spoiled out there despite the humble circumstances.  Happy birthday big guy.  See you in 7 months.

-3 more weeks before I head out to Oakland for Russell's wedding!  Russell was my mission companion and is now my roommate and one of my best friends.  He met the girl of his dreams, Claire, who is one of the sweetest and funniest girls on the planet.  They are both lucky and I can't wait to be one of the groomsmen in the wedding.  After the wedding, I'll fly back to Boise to enjoy the rest of Christmas break under my mother's care.

-One of my other best friends, Trent, will also get married on the same day as Russell!  I wish I could be at two places at once!  Congratulations to Trent and Star, whose wedding theme song should be "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift.  Told you so Trent.

-I FINALLY got my online class done!  Physical Science 100 online was a beast, but it has been slain.  I just need to take the final and the class will be out of my life forever.  Thank heavens!

-A quick note on the BYU game... I don't want to dwell on it for too long, but I can't think of a bigger tragedy than losing a game against someone you clearly outplayed for 4 quarters because of a bad call.  When the entire world, including Utah fans, saw Brandon Bradley's knee touch the ground before he had the ball stripped from him, everyone thought the game would pretty much be over.  But when the called fumbled stood, Utah scored and BYU lost the lead it had held 56 out of 60 minutes.  Granted, BYU just had some terrible luck in that game, including a punt hitting an unaware player, a tipped ball being intercepted by Utah, dropped balls that were perfectly thrown, etc. But the call the ref made was inexcusable.  Utah made a great block at the end of the game, but the events beforehand should never have led up to a block winning them the game.  As you can imagine, I'm devastated over the loss.  It truly was a heartbreaker.  BYU now awaits a New Mexico Bowl bid and it will probably be against Fresno State or a rematch against Nevada.

-New music for the blog is Christmas music!

That's all for now!  Check back for more posts later.