Lawrence, Kansas and Kirksville, Missouri

This last week, Matt had a med school interview in Missouri. Matt's older brother and his family live in Lawrence, Kansas, so we got to stay with them for a few days. It was a lot of fun to see the world outside of Utah and remind ourselves that it really does exist.

First of all, come on Utah. Seriously? The gas is 2.49 in Missouri and falling. Let's get with the program here.

This was the tiny plane we flew on. I had to take a picture because I've never been on a plane that was small enough that you had to walk out on the tarmac to board. When we came home, they didn't even put that nice little ramp up. We walked down those little stairs, and I thought to myself, "No wonder the Presidents of the United States have fallen down these steps before. They're tricky."We were welcomed with a lovely sign...

Went to the pumpkin patch,

went on a slide,

and attended "A Night in the Phog"
where we saw Bill Self,
the old basketball court,

the trophy from the Orange Bowl,

and the trophy.

We also got to sample some of the famous Kansas City Bar-B-Que. Needless to say, Kansas City, Kansas is kind of scary. Kansas City, Missouri, from what I hear, is better. We got to see a lovely tour of the slums of Kansas City because of the police officers who kept blocking off the streets we needed to be on for what I'm sure was a sudden slew of simultaneous gang related drive-by-shootings. Or something like that. Whatever it was, we were sure that if we hung around any longer, we'd wind up on an episode of COPS.
I had no idea, but Missouri was beautiful. We didn't take many pictures on interview day, because we were inside the whole day. This is the sunrise coming into Missouri, though. The interview went well though, and we expect to hear from the school late this week.

So you think you can dance?

On Tuesday, So you think you can dance was in Salt Lake on tour. My mom, my sisters, and I went--and it was AMAZING! If you think the dances are good on TV, you should see them live. It was the absolute best dance concert I've ever been too. Growing up dancing, it's one of my passions. It was fun to watch it with my sisters who are also big dancers and who understand the emotion and skill that goes into dance. So now I'm officially the biggest Mia Michaels fan--she has choreographed some of the most amazing dances. They were absolutely brilliant. I could go on and on about how great it was, but I'll spare you the boredom. This concert though, was SO LOUD. The music was almost deafening. My ear drums still hurt. But despite the sound, it was the best, the best, the best. Here are some pictures I took, and some videos that I "borrowed" from youtube. Some of them are not very good because I couldn't figure out how to get this to upload the higher quality versions. I just wanted you to see some of the Mia Michaels pieces that I thought were brilliant. I put them my order of favorites:

This one wasn't choreographed by Mia Michaels, but I still like it. The bottom two are.

The Finished Project

Our bench is now finished! Didn't Matt do a good job? Notice how the legs of the bench are tapered just like the legs of the chair and table? Special thanks go out to Uncle Glen and Aunt Paula, Glen's workshop, Paula's yummy bread, and the garden vegitables they gave us!

Riker for the Touchdown

One of Matt's fastest players is Riker, and here he is going for a touchdown.

New Bench

Matthew is currently building a bench for our table. Once it's finished, we will be able to have more people sit with us. We will stain it espresso color to match.

Coach Matt

This fall, Matt has a team of 8 and 9 year old flag football players. So far, they are doing quite well. Here are some pictures, video to come soon...

Utah State Fair

Since we couldn't go to the Idaho State Fair, we decided to go the Utah State Fair instead. Last year, at the Idaho Fair, Matt tried to win a basketball game with over-inflated basketballs and undersized rims, but to no avail. This year, Matt wanted to redeem himself. (Sorry for the bad picture quality, our camera resolution is set too high.)

This is what he won...

This is what I got. Much better.

Addendum...

Earlier this summer we went to Disneyland with my whole extended family to celebrate my Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary. Well, I didn't have any pictures of my grandparents until now, so here they are! Happy anniversary, we love you!