This May Have Been a Family Reunion

Two weekends ago I flew out to Utah to hear my dad speak at BYU as a Distinguished Graduate being honored at Homecoming. For me it was an exciting opportunity to finally learn what my dad does at his job!

It was a weekend rife with VIP treatment

Ah, BYU!

Grandma telling her "How do you who likes you more, your dog or your wife?" joke

Mother of the speaker

You know you're arrived when BYU rolls out the donuts for you

Preppin' the Powerpoint

Waiting for the intro

Here we go!

It wasn't JUST about his job, there were some life-items in there, too

Here's Dad saying "That's why I'm glad I live in Chicago" (you had to be there)

Jeff and Jamar came!

Mom is always glad for an update on Dakota

Grandma wins for having stolen the sign about Dad

Grandma eyes the contraband

Then we went to a lunch where all the honorees were honored

Daughter-in-Law duties

Somehow I wound up at the table with all Kristen and Cory's kids and they were over there with like aunts and uncles and stuff

Can you guess what's grossing out Rachel? It's rye bread!

The honoring. There's the president of BYU over there

Looking up to Dad. Literally and figuratively.

Spying on Dad being interviewed by BYU Magazine.

And waiting for that interview to end

Family stretching at the BYU Guest House

Later that night: A family-only celebration dinner at Bombay House

Assorted Snacks: favorite appetizer since 1999

Never forget: when you ask Bombay House to make it spicy, they make it SPICY

Friday: Early morning show of Shaun the Sheep in Spanish Fork

And then lunch for everyone at Don Joaquin's

Preppin' those tripas for the big day ahead

Then Friday night: Everyone heads to the Marriott Center for the big BYU Homecoming Spectacular

Right over there: Elder Christopherson. Also the new presiding bishop. And a couple of rows down from us? Gary Crittendon. 

The big deal about this spectacular was David Archuleta was there. Singing.

Then it was back once more to the BYU guest house.

It's like a fancy Utah house, but each bedroom is a hotel room. 

AND there's a coffee maker (with coffee) in the kitchen.

Saturday Morning: Niece and Nephew soccer games.

Soccer games are for sticks

And then, Saturday night, I'm reunited with Matt after, I don't know, seven years?

He's back in Utah and he's got all his paintings with him!

We had dinner at El Morelense

With Andrew

AND Celeste

Me again

Sunday: Didn't take many pictures. But here's Ellie dressed up for church. Everyone else: You're not dressing fancy enough for church.

For dinner we made gnocchi (not pictured) and caesar salad (not pictured) and played D&D (not pictured) but Owen made barbecued carrots and here they are!

2207 Stover Hall Forever

Mid-September to Early October: Certain Items

Wow, more than a month since my last post? Do you want me to start another post talking about how much I've been working? But let's celebrate a chilled out Sunday evening with a little look at some things I've done and eaten here and there.

Around the corner from my work there's a new Otto's Tacos with a Tatooine landscape mural. So, yeah, I'm there pretty often.

The famous burger at Joe's Jr. As good as diner burgers, and other burgers, can get.

Plus one of the last places I know still doing the glass and cup milkshake thing.

Superiority Burger might be the number one restaurant opening of the summer, even better than all them chicken sandwiches. Dope veggie burgers and killer veggie sides.

AND, as their chef is a James Bear winning pastry chef, trust that their gelatos and ices are some of the best frozen treats in the whole stinking city.

Nat came back. From Utah.

East Village stuff.

There was this one weekend when the Almonds were in town. We went over to Mission Cantina for a nice little dinner.

I tried their gourmet Crunchwrap Supreme, a super-deluxe interpretation of the Taco Bell modern classic.

Judging from the Burrito-themed murals in the basement, I think Mission Cantina's all-burrito menu angle is here to stay.

Now get this! The next day after the Almonds I met up with Kirk and Leslie from my sophomore year of college! I went with them and their kids to Peep where we caught up on the last, uhh, 15 years?

Oh and then there was a night when I went with Robert and Natalie to Fuku+ in midtown where, along with the chicken sandwich from downtown (actually there's is a smaller version) you can get Mission Chinese-spiced chicken strips and a pizza with the Ssam Bar's spicy sichuan sausage for sauce.

Here's some "around the town" kind of pictures.

One night I went over to Andy's for some chicken McNuggets and heavy bro-time.

This torn up ad stares me down each day on my way to work.

Oh and here, this is a real good cake we had after church one Sunday.

A Week Full of Friends

This past week I had some opportunities to socialize, so do you know what I did? I socialized!

Tuesday night there was a farewell gathering in the park for Nicole. Of course I didn't get a picture of Nicole, but look! Here's a picture of me!

I can't exactly remember if Ned said he wanted this picture on the internet or not. He probably said he did.

Then the next night Tara organized a trip out to Fu Ran in Flushing for a friendly Chinese feast. I didn't take pictures of any of the food! I was too busy eating. We had amazing cumin lamb ribs and a whole fish in spicy bean sauce that had the flavoring of tacos al pastor...wonder what was going on there, scientifically...and a lot of other great stuff. We even got to eat in the party room.

Then Saturday night was Ty and Emily's 20's-themed engagement party. Like a genius I didn't get any pictures of the couple, but you can see what they look at a Chinese restaurant in the above photo. And here's Emily right here.

It was a great opportunity to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while, like Chris

And Joe and the Sowards

But Jeff was there, too. Looking just like James Joyce.

Oh here's Ty

and there's Brook

And here's Chris again

What was everyone doing over there at the table?

Just checking out all the Polaroids from the photo booth.

oh and here's my boss Kristin

On the way home, Marge behind bars on my block

And then, as if that wasn't enough, late Sunday night I met Bryndee and Helen (in from Salt Lake for the US Open) for bedtime tacos at the El Idolo truck.

Ok, well. there you have it. Let's hear it for friends!