Thursday, September 11, 2008

Rise and shout!

Rise and ShouT the CougaRs (Garricks) are out!
(**Warning! travel post= extremely long post with lots of pictures- but I swear not even a fraction of what I took!!**) 


For Labor Day weekend we took a quick trip to Utah for the BYU Football home opener. It was so exciting to be back on campus- especially when all of the students are coming back to school. We spent Friday (dragging the kids) around campus. Jackson LOVED the bowling alley in the ELWC, and just couldn't get past the fact that we were not going to go bowling.

We let them play a few arcade games, but then went up to the bookstore to get some new BYU gear! The kids liked it there- well, except for Jackson who kept screaming to "go bowling!!" Then we attempted to walk around campus in 95*+ heat looking at the latest changes to buildings, etc. The SFLC looks amazing- so much better than the old days. The kids didn't find it too interesting, just hot, boring and tiring.

We decided to go down the hill to Legacy Grill for lunch which is where we met up with Sunny & Hyrum.


(I was lucky enough to get to carry {41 lb} Jackson up these stairs after lunch! Ugh!)

I was afraid Hyrum would be a little overwhelmed with all of us and our excitement to see him, but he warmed up fast. After eating we went to Legacy Hall which is basically a BYU athletics museum full of memoribilia.

Everyone had to compare their size with the famous athletes.

(Hyrum has a way to go to catch up with Shawn Bradley!)


(Reagan's hand, Jillie's foot)


(We were excited to see a display about Ryan Denney- a current Buffalo Bill and a member of our ward!)

We had to go over to Lavell Edwards Stadium for the obligatory pictures with the Cougar of course!


We took some time to hang out with Hyrum & Sunny at the hotel

and then went to Derek's office to check out his pretty cool set up there at Omniture and then off to dinner at...

where we met up with a bunch of returned missionaries who served in our OP Ward. It was so much fun to see all of them again!
The highlight of the night for Jillie and Reagan was when Sister Ripplinger and Sister Meredith invited them to hang out after dinner! They took the girls bowling at Fat Catz and out for ice cream. They had a blast hanging out with the college girls! We just love them for doing that!

And by the way- a big thank you to Derek who helped a grumpy Jackson to quit laying on the restaurant floor and cheer up!

Next up: **GAMEDAY!!** WOOHOO!

Man was it ever hot! It was 100* up there in the stands, but oh so fun!

walking to the stadium...

the new Hinckley Alumni Center beautiful & really changes the look of campus
 
Did you know the touchdown cannon is called, "George Q?" :)
...Tangren's
Sunny brought us some BYU blue fingernail polish.
the kids "with" Cosmo


Greg in one of his "happiest places on earth."

Kobe was excited that the band played the Indiana Jones theme at half time!!

a happy afternoon for all!

And for any Cougar fans who wished they could've been there, watch this & sing along...

(You can see in this video how happy Jack Jack is to be at the game.)

And finally: The Last Day

Derek & Sunny invited the kids to sleep over at their place Saturday night- Jillie and Kobe went. Reagan opted to stay with us and keep Jackson company. We went to their ward on Sunday morning and then cut out after sacrament meeting to go to their apartment to change clothes and head to Temple Square.

But before heading north, we went back to Provo so we could take a quick tour of some of the places we had lived like the place we met...

(The Riviera- his apt. #34, my apt. #15)

(Our first apt. #77)

(Our 2nd apartment together)

We didn't go up to Wymount to take a picture of our 3rd apartment though. We moved around a lot while in Provo!

After the kids were thoroughly bored with this tour, we headed up to SLC. We toured the Conference Center. I was reminded what an amazing structure it is. Anyone who is interested in architecture, regardless of religion should go visit this place. Truly beautiful and amazing. Kobe especially liked this amazing work of art...
... and the waterfall that runs from the roof down the front of the building.

(Temple Square seen from the roof of the Conference Center. You can see the construction underway on the other side of Temple Square- the Church's City Creek Center. It will be beautiful, but right now it's just a huge hole deep in the earth.)



I'm glad this place will be fresh in their minds when we watch General Conference (which is broadcast from here) in October.
We also went over to Temple Square but soon the winds blew and the rain fell.


Kobe quickly escaped into the Visitor's Center to watch videos of President Monson while the rest hung back for a few pictures.



And the kids wouldn't let us leave until they could go up the ramp to see the Cristus.


It was a good, but fast trip. More good memories made. :)

14 comments:

Greg Garrick said...

Awesome! Now, I want to book a flight to leave tonight to see the UCLA game. I wish I wasn't flying to Atlanta. Can you believe what we have created since we met at the Riv? I love you and you are why BYU is so special for me.

rachel said...

What a great post! So many memories! The Riviera (never lived there, but it's a BYU staple), the Wilk and Brick Oven! Man I miss Brick Oven. That was the first place I ever had a barbecue chicken pizza.

Looks like a fun trip. Oh, and your blog looks wonderful!

Shannon said...

Ok Greg your comment was so incredibly sweet!
Loved getting to sing along with the fight song Nik- thanks for sharing that! Makes me want to go to Provo sooo badly.
Did Reagan cut her hair? She looks adorable.

Shannon said...

Oh and the Hinckley building looks amazing! I can only imagine how much Provo has changed...

Nikki said...

Yes, Reagan got her inverted bob cut shorter- more drastic. It ended up being shorter than she wanted... but I think she's cute & it'll grow out soon enough.

Abby said...

What a fun vacation! Loved the video. Your kids are so stinkin' cute!!

Sunny said...

Yea! Loved this post Nik! I'm so glad you guys came out. And so glad your kids love Hyrum like their other cousins! Really wish you were comming out for the UCLA game too. And Greg...You are so good for my sister. So sweet!

Michael said...

Man, that's a long post! I never got a chance to ask you guys how Utah was, you guys weren't visiting long enough. It looks like fun.

This post reminded me, dad and I plan on going to visit BYU Campus next summer. I actually just went to a fireside Wednesday night where someone from each church school came and talked about their college. It reinforced my plan to go to BYU, so I suppose that all of your nagging wasn't for nothing (Incidentally, I know who put you up to that).

-ST

Dave said...

Thanks for the post, it helps a little to kind of shate the visit vicariously. So glad you could do this.

wendo said...

What a fun trip for your family! I loved watching everyone sing "Rise and shout." It made me want to actually go see the cougars play and not just watch on TV. No one sings after they score at our house. :(

Caity said...

I think it so cool how many things you do as a family! They will love these memories!

Carolyn said...

Don't you just love Utah? Glad you had such a fun trip and got soooo much done! Wish we could've seen ya' but I know how quick vacations are. (Very Sweet comment Greg!)

Michelle Cherrington said...

LOVE the post! It's so fun going back to BYU and reliving old times - especially taking your kids there to show them all the places you used to go. Such great pictures and your trip looked like a blast!! I bet Greg was in heaven at the BYU game.

Anonymous said...

Hi guys - I just about fell over seeing our Riviera apt #15! Wow. You had a busy trip here, I forgive you for not visiting us. Not to make you too jealous, but we split season tickets (4 seats) with my brother Rick. Our kids love the games and are total Cougar fans. Miss you guys, but happy to read this blog and learn more about you!! :) S.