The yearly pilgrimage...and a sad day in Provo

This past week, Matt and I were able to visit all of our wonderful family in Utah. It’s really only once a year that we get to do this, so we made sure to make the most of it!

We planned the trip around BYU’s Homecoming game against Mountain West arch-rivals, Texas Christian University. It was to be my very first time attending a BYU Football game-or as my sweet husband likes to say, a “REAL College Game since San Diego State doesn’t count”! We flew in on Saturday morning, drove down to Provo and were ready to root on the Cougars at the 5:30pm start time, looking a lot like this:

Well, I hate to knock you, BYU, but this was NOT the best game to fly to Utah for!! The Cougars literally had a complete melt-down in the form of a crushing 38-7 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs. Read about it here if you care, and do it fast before Matt removes this post as we are not allowed to discuss this tragedy in the Woodland home.

Oh! I also have to mention that all of this losing was accompanied by a nice sprinkling of rain. Extra fun. So here we are in the third quarter amidst the rain clouds both in the sky and on the field...
At least we could soften the blow with two more AWESOME days spent with Family.
We were able to attend church with Mark, Lauri Anne, and Baby Emma at their ward in Spanish Fork. I must also comment on the fact that in Spanish Fork, Utah the leaves know that it's fall and thus they turn all sorts of yummy colors:

Doesn't Spanish Fork look good with my husband in it??

After Spanish Fork it was off to American Fork, Utah to visit the fantastic, the wonderful, the awesome Carruth Family. David and Mindy (and little Petes) kept us busy almost all day which we capped off once again at Flour Girls and Dough Boys (aka the Yummiest Bakery in the World!) I am literally in deep, deep love with this place. This bakery-cafe combined with the pull of Kneaders may actually be the only two reasons to ever consider moving to Utah...but I digress.

From American Fork, it was on to family dinner in North Salt Lake with the Hackett Family where we had tons of fun with these guys:

That's right, Matt and I got to hang out with Winnie the Pooh, a Fireman, and a Ladybug all day!!! We are so super lucky to have such adorable nieces and nephews. The best was this shot I got of Jayden and Katelyn in their favorite spot (much to mommy's chagrin):

Daren and Alicia, I would watch out for this tendency in the future. They seem right at home in enclosed spaces behind bars...

So, want to know a secret?? Matt and I are not-so-stealth about our White Trash tendencies, and this only seems to magnify in Utah. We have a favorite frozen yogurt place that we can only go to in Utah, so every trip we stop at least twice for....Maverick *Gas Station* FroYo!!! It's Sososososososooooooooo good! Case in point:

That's a smile folks! And just to show you how serious Matt is about his sweets, this is the look he gave me on our last night in town when I didn't cut him the "right" amount of Brownie to Ice Cream ratio, and then asked for a taste. I guess that's a no??

We had such a great time, and now that we are headed into the holiday season we get to see most of these smiling faces again really, really soon!!

We love you all!