Since everyone was still here this weekend from Thanksgiving, mom wanted to take our Christmas card photo...& I'm just glad there wasn't to much family drama (if you know what I mean) & happy that everyone could fit this moment into their busy "schedule" & other "plans". It turned out good (even with dad's ridiculous looking hat, and nice slippers Felicia!)... although it is missing two very important family members... the dogs, Copper & Koda. Mom won't usually allow them in the family pictures... she claims she's not very fond of them, although I know deep down she loves them. So I added a cute picture of both of them! :)Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Today I was doing one of my daily crosswords in the USA Today newspaper & if any of you have ever done a USA Today crossword there are also other games, for instance a word search, sudoku, etc. There is one that is called "Don't Quote Me" that is one of my favorites. You may ask what it is, well let me tell you... They take a topic and a quote from someone and they give you a number of words and then have a sentence with blanks. You have to take the words they give you and figure out the quote. Today the quote went along well with this weeks upcoming holiday so I decided to share it with all of my awesome blog readers. I'm not going to give you the answer cuz that would just be boring... so figure it out! (It's actually a pretty darn easy one compared to some of them I have done in the past.)
November 25, 2008 USA Today "Don't Quote Me" Instructions: Rearrange the words to complete the quote Quote comes from columnist Erma Bombeck, talking about food.
BEVERAGE COME CONSIDERED FAMILY FROM GRAVY I "__________ _________ __________ a __________ where _________ is __________ a __________."
My lil' sis Felicia got married this last week! She married a great guy that is exactly like her, so they are hilarious together! I am so happy for her & Neil, they are so incredibly happy & I absolutely love seeing her so happy!! CONGRATULATIONS FELICIA & NEIL!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!
PUMPKINPIE!!!My lovely Grandma was an amazing cook and passed down her skill to my amazing mother. One of the best recipes that we have from my Grandma is her famous "award winning" pumpkin pie. Yes I said award winning... it has won awards... that's how amazing it actually is!If only you were so lucky to taste how award winning it is... I like to call it "celestial kingdom" food.
Only10days and counting... :)
Real Mashed Potatoes & Home Made Gravy (none of that fake stuff) Although I love the fabulous potato flakes from the church cannery, I love mashed potatoes made from the potatoes themselves even more. Also, the gravy made from the turkey drippings!
Potato Salad My amazing Grandma also passed down the most delectable recipe for potato salad also... and although it took my mom a few years to perfect it (says my Dad) she did, and it is just awesome! And of coarse last but not least TURKEY!!Turkey is good... not my favorite, but it is a must at least once a year. My favorite part about turkey is that something always seems to go wrong... it takes to long to cook... the little red thing doesn't work, so it doesn't pop up when it's done, etc... you all know what I mean. :)
With the semester winding down here in a few weeks, I find myself very unmotivated. So today I was searching on Google images and typed in motivation and found these pictures. One of them pretty much shows all I want to do right now, (and I think that's obvious seeing as I am so unmotivated) and the other two I just thought were funny when thinking about having motivation. *Images courtesy of Google*
This week the UVU Review's issue was soley all about the sports section (Go Sports Staff!!). We did the men & women basketball preview for the 2008-2009 season. Not only was the sports actually able to be featured on the front of the newspaper, we had a huge section. 8 full pages! Which is more than double what our section usually is. It turned out amazing! The entire staff did an excellent job in contributing and our designers did an amazing job and made it look awesome! When I picked it up before staff meeting on Monday, I was blown away by how good it looked.
I wrote a lot for this issue... not only for sports, but also for news. I was able to write a news story that I came up with from walking around campus and observing something that bothered me. It was a fun article to research and write. The finished product was more than I thought it would be and I was excited for it to be published in this issue. Plus it made the front page and the photo that our photographer got for it was pure brilliance! This blog post is going to be super long cuz I decided to post all 3 of my article on here rather than putting the links to them on the website. They will appear in this order. News story entitled: Either brave the cold or make the detour, Sports story entitled: Expectations high for wolverines, and Sports story entitled: Cross country men and women finish season strong. Enjoy!
Either brave the cold or make the detour
By Kira Terry
When students returned for fall semester, they found that the high traffic hallway between the computer science building and the old library was closed off. The hallway was converted to temporary offices, making it harder to get around campus without going outside but not impossible.
UVU's campus is unique because it allows students to get around campus without going outside. During the cold winter months, students definitely take advantage of being able to stay inside. Even with the current changes, it is still possible, but students will have to make a major detour.
Recently with the weather turning colder and wetter, students have seen the effect the closed off hallway has. "Today I was sopping wet. I wasn't happy," said Jordy Kirkman, a freshman from Logan. "I won't be walking across campus as much. I'm going to avoid it like the plague."
The temporary offices in the converted hallway have replaced offices that were in the LRC building, which is being remodeled into the new career success building. "During the remodel of the LRC there won't be any heating in that building," said Frank Young, the senior director of space development for UVU. "We wanted to have space for those people to office where they could be comfortable, so we built that for temporary use and will tear it down in April and the hallway will be opened up again."
Even though it is a temporary situation, students are still affected. Students wanting to stay inside during the cold weather still can but will have to take a longer route. "It's really frustrating. I only have 15 minutes between classes, but I'll make the detour because I don't want to go outside in the cold," said Weslie Graham, a freshman from Provo.
To remain inside, students can go to the 6th floor of the CS building and over to the GT building. From there they can go down through the GT and down into the business building, a detour that will take students longer than normal. "I think it's going to be a pain," said Michael Ward, a freshman from Michigan.
The study tables and chairs that lined the hallway will also be put back in place after the remodeling is complete, but where can students study until then? "There's the 6th level bridge between the CS and GT buildings, where more tables were put in," said Young. "They also recreated the calculus lab at the end of the automotive building on the west end, but a lot of it is still in storage and will be put back when the hallway is open again."
As for the risk of using the outside walkways during the cold, snowy weather, Young says, "We hope that students will stay inside during bad weather, but we'll make sure the outdoor walkways are all salted and shoveled and safe to use."
*Photo Credit: Trent Bates*
Expectations high for wolverines
By Kira Terry
With some seniors ready to play their final season as Wolverines, some returning sophomores and juniors and a few freshmen, the women's basketball team is ready to show what they can do.
As a team their goal will be about what they can achieve this season. "The goal is to reach our potential, and this year I think we probably have more potential than we've had in the past," said head coach Cathy Nixon. "My goal every year is to help them become what they are capable of. I think we are a very good team, and I think this can be a historical year for Utah Valley women's basketball. And I think the stage is set for that."
"We feel like it's a year where we have the talent to compete nationally against some of the top teams, and we've really aligned those teams on our schedule," Nixon said. That talent Nixon talks about includes Robyn Fairbanks, a senior from Raymond, Alberta. Fairbanks will play her final year as a Wolverine this season. "Fairbanks is a special player," Nixon added. "She obviously will be a focal point in what we do in many ways. I anticipate that she is going to have a fantastic year."
Returning guard Sandy Marvin-Wall, a senior from Spring Lake, will also play her final year at UVU. "I'm excited for Sandy," Nixon said. "I think that this is the year that she's going to put it all together. She's made great strides in every year that she's been here. I know she's going to be a big impact for our team."
Julie McMurray, a junior from Cardston, Alberta, is a returning player this year who is looking to show great potential. "I think Julie is going to have one of those breakout years," Nixon said. "She's stronger, more confident, and I think ready to compete and play at this level in a way she hasn't done in the past."
"I really see that Nakayama will have a big impact on our program this year as well, and I think she is going to have one of those years that we've known she could have," Nixon said. Asumi Nakayama is a returning junior from Saitama, Japan.
Two freshmen starting in the program this year are Erika Newbold from South Jordan and Jenna Johnson from Salem. "We're really grateful that they're in our program, and I foresee both of them getting playing time and making a contribution," Nixon said. Their season starts Friday Nov. 14, when the Wolverines host Montana State. "The kids are just ready for the gate to open," Nixon concluded.
Cross-country men and women finish season strong By Kira Terry
Wolverine cross-country men and women rocked the Great West Conference by placing in the top two for the last meet of the 2008 season.
The GWC meet was held at Lakeside Park in Orem last week. The women's 6k race took place first and the wolverine women finished in 1st place and were crowned the first ever GWC Champions.
"I was excited to have both men and women finish in the top two today," said cross-country coach Scott Houle, who was awarded GWC Coach of the Year for the women. Krystal Harper, a freshman from Orem, was UVU's top finisher placing 6th individually.
"I started to fall back, but brought it back. So I'm pretty happy about it," Harper said. Harper was also awarded GWC Newcomer of the Year for the women. After receiving the award she said, "It was surprising."
Harper has had an excellent season being a freshman and feels like she's met her goals. "It's my first year, so I didn't really know what to expect, but I have no regrets," she added.
Since it's only Harpers first year, she is ready to take on another season returning as a sophomore. She said her goals for next year are, "For this meet I want to get top 3 and I want to definitely be top 3, hopefully top 2 runners on our team."
The men ran an 8k race and the Wolverines came away with 2nd place as a team. Joshua McCabe, a freshman from Springville, and Jared Keller, a sophomore from Orem, were UVU's top finishers placing 4th and 5th individually.
Keller and McCabe stayed together and kept their pack tight for the entire race, and were both very pleased with their results. Keller said, "I was glad I stayed up there and kept myself in position. I couldn't have asked for anything more."
McCabe was awarded GWC Newcomer of the Year for the men. "I felt good about it. I didn't really know what to expect because it is my first season, but it turned out really well and it was a goal of mine, so I felt pretty excited," McCabe said.
Being McCabe's freshman year, he is pleased with his first season, "I couldn't have hoped for better," he said. "I feel really good about it. I finished the way I wanted to and I'm ready to stop running for a couple weeks."
Both the men and the women had excellent seasons this year and finished the season strong. "We're satisfied with it. We all gave our best and can't feel bad about that," McCabe said. "I think we showed good progress. We're ready to go get them next year," Keller added.
