Homecoming at BYU

This week was Homecoming at BYU.  So much fun!  There's a lot of fun stuff going on all week, and everyone just seems a little more excited about life.  The fun started on Tuesday when instead of devotional we had a Homecoming assembly.  It was really fun and exciting with a performance by Vocal Point (the acapella group here at BYU), and then David Archuleta.  So much talent!

Friday my parents came down and we went to the BYU Spectacular.  Here I was able to see some more amazing performances including some dance companies, choirs, the orchestra, and once again, David Archuleta.  My parents and I went together, and we were so impressed by all of the talented individuals and groups that performed.  Afterwards we went and got some blizzard's at the DQ :)

Saturday was so great!  Having my parents in town is always fun!  We started out the day with a fun bike ride on the Provo River Trail out to Utah Lake.  

The Y, the Temple, and three of my favorite people.  What a view!

After the bike ride Tess and I had our Saturday session of Stake Conference and then a kickball game.  My parents met back up with us at the kickball game (which we won!) and then we went and caught the end of the Homecoming parade.  That was fun!  Afterwards Mom, Tess, and I went to go and hit up my favorite antique store, Block 100.  It's the best you guys.  I'm pretty obsessed with almost all of the stuff in there.  We got some fun purchases, and then met my dad for lunch (he opted to go up to campus and watch some football games instead of come with us.  After lunch we headed to the Bean Museum and the Museum of Art.  Both have some pretty great exhibits up right now.  They're both free ALL year round, and if you're ever in Provo, you should go and visit one or the other.  If you have kids, definitely go to the Bean Museum.  It's full of taxidermified (is that even a word?!) animals from all over the world and is so cool!!! Finally, Tessa, Dad, and I headed to the football game.  The Cougs won, so that was good!  And the sunset was beautiful!  

This weekend I decided that I think Homecoming week would be a good time to try and come and visit my Provo.  Although I know that I don't want to live my whole life down here, this place definitely has a piece of my heart.  When I leave here, I definitely don't want to leave here for good.  I want to be able to share some of the magic of BYU and Provo with my future family.  

22

Well, I've been 22 for almost a week now, and it's been great!  My birthday weekend was just perfect for me.  On Saturday Tess and I went over to Kamas to watch the Cokeville boys wrestle.  We rode with Jesse, Celinda, and that cute baby Jacie and had a good time visiting and laughing.  Mom and Dad came to the wrestles to and it was so fun to see them.  Three weekends in a row.  That's pretty darn good.  We went and ate lunch at Subway, and while we were sitting down to eat, Mom snuck out and back in with a pan of brownies.  These are seriously one of my favorite treats ever!  No one makes them quite like Mom.  

So, Saturday was fabulous.  Then on Monday, my real birthday, the day was pretty normal.  Just how I like birthdays.  I'm not in to all the big riff-raff that normally accompanies this day every year.  Tessa did make me some delicious pies and we had a few friends over.  I was a wind-jammer and blew out all my candles :)  haha  I didn't do any homework, and I just loved the day.  

This week has been pretty darn awesome as well.  We decided we were going to do something scary or new every week this semester and we started off this week with snowshoeing.  So. Much. Fun.  It was a good workout and a good time.  The perfect combo.  

While we were up at Stewart Falls (our destination point) I whipped out my handy dandy JetBoil and made Tess and I some Chicken Alfredo for lunch.  Worked slick as a whistle.  I mean, it wasn't the best meal I've ever had, but it'd definitely keep me alive!  And that JetBoil is just about the neatest little thing.  I'll definitely be using that more in the future.  

So many other great things happened this week as well.  I'm excited to be 22.  As of right now, 21 was the best year ever.  I might never top it. (If you don't believe me, look at this past year of blog posts!) This week though, 22 definitely showed some good potential, and I'm excited to see what this year brings!  

Oh, and yes, I'm feeling 22 :)

Livi's Logic #5

I love my parents.  The problem is that sometimes I take them for granted.  I saw this quote a couple of days ago and I decided I need to do a better job of making my time with my parents count.  

This weekend I was able to spend quite a bit of time with my parents.  I went to the state basketball tournament where my dad was coaching his high school girls' basketball team.  Tess and I stayed with my parents and had a grand ol' time!  His girls did so great and pulled out an upset in the semifinals to play in the championship game Saturday afternoon.  They played so well but ended up taking second.  I'm still so proud of them!  

Mom, Tessa, Violet, Sedona and I got to do some shopping and swimming and sit together at the games.   We had so much fun just being together and visiting about life.  It was so great!  My mom is just so loving.  I know she cares about me so much and I love being with her.  Nothing makes my day more perfect than a being with my mom.  She's the bookkeeper for the team, so she travels with them and my dad.  I thought it might end when Tess was graduated, but she still keeps going!  She loves going and watching the girls and supporting my dad.  

I had a lot of great moments this weekend, but my favorite one was with my dad.  It was pretty personal, so without going into too much detail, Dad basically told Tess and I how he knew we had worked so hard to be the best we could be and how bad he wanted us to accomplish our goals.  I almost cried.  My dad's not a one to dish out compliments or really tell us that he's proud of us.  I just always pretend he is :)  So, this moment had a big impact on me and I am so glad I was there to support him in his coaching.  He loves basketball, and he loves these girls.  They work hard and he was so proud of them this weekend. 

Summer's just around the corner, and I'm heading home!  I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous…  I feel like I'm heading into social Siberia.  I have great friends here and it seems like something is always going on!  When I head home there's going to be like no one my age!  I've been kinda bummed about this and wondering what I'm going to do.  Even Tessa is going to be gone!  I've never spent a summer home without at least 2 of my siblings home.  This week though, I decided it's going to be awesome!  I'm going to get some quality time with my parents.  I'm excited to spend some time with just us three.  Hopefully they don't get too sick of me bugging them about doing stuff with me…  I guess it'll keep 'em young :)  

Anyways, so all of you out there, love your parents.  They need us.  They need our friendship.  They need our love.  Just like we need theirs.  

The sun was bright...

...but we were at Kneader's! 

Mom and Dad came down to visit this weekend and it was such a good time!  It was mom's birthday Friday, and it was so great to be able to spend some time with her on her day!  She's so great!  She's the best mom ever!  Dad came to the football game, but sat by himself, because for some reason, standing in the middle of a couple thousand BYU students didn't sound that fun to him... So Tess and I sat with some friends.  They played Middle Tennessee and won!  It was a fun, cold time!

I ate GOOD this weekend!  Mom brought down a bag of cookies, cinnamon rolls, and 2 loaves of zucchini bread!  Don't worry, I'm sharing with my roommates :)  They also took us to the Creamery for dinner, Kneader's for breakfast, and Cafe Rio for dinner again!  I hadn't eaten out yet since I'd been down here, so it was kinda nice!  Needless to say, I didn't eat a single thing out of my fridge/cupboard all weekend!  Thanks so much Mom and Dad!  

Saturday morning we went on a bike ride out to Utah Lake via the Provo River Trail.  It was a great time!  If any of you are in the Provo area, or ever come down, I would definitely recommend a bike ride or run on the trail.  It's great!

I did mom's hair, as in highlighted it, which is always fun for me!  We also ran a few errands and went to the Relief Society Broadcast.  It was so much fun to just spend time with Tess and my parents!

Taffy and Tony came down Saturday afternoon as well, saw our places, and then we met back up with them to go to the BYU Women's Volleyball game vs. Pacific.  It was so great to see them as well!  Thanks for coming down!  

Life's pretty darn good down here in Provo!

Winners!

We won!  And we were pretty dang dedicated fans if I do say so myself.  

Let me let ya know what happened.

So, Mary and I set out to the Levell Edwards Stadium around 3:30-3:45 so we could get decent seats (at least 3 rows from the top!) for the 5:00 football game.  When we left our house it was sunny, we were sweating.  Then about 3 blocks from the stadium Mary told me to look behind me.  What I saw was a huge, dark, menacing cloud.  Before we finished walking those 3 blocks, the wind was blowing like crazy, rain was flying around along with sticks and leaves.  It was crazy!  So we hurried to get inside, and I missed catching Tess who was supposed to meet us there.  We sat there under the stadium staying pretty dry.  It was great.  Tess eventually found us (I still feel kinda bad) and we stayed there until about 10 minutes before kick-off.  Kick-off didn't end up happening until 7:00!  But, we had decent seats and a great game!  What more could some college students ask for?!  Well, maybe a win, which we got!  It was especially exciting because it was against Texas.  Texas Longhorns everybody!  Now I'm not saying we're the best team ever or anything, but I thought we played pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.  It was great!  We got back to our place around 11:00.  Do the math.  That's 7.5 hours on our feet people!  And you know what?  It was worth it :)

What a view!

ROC

This is happening tomorrow.

And Luckily I have this!!

(BYU all-sports pass)

It's going to be the best end to the best week!

The End of Our Era

Last Saturday this was me:

I was just a little bit excited :)  Tessa and the Cokeville Girls basketball team won the State Championship!  It was such an exciting weekend, and I'm so glad it ended so well!  

It was a great weekend not only because the girls played so well, but because ALL of my siblings were there!  It was so fun to have us all together for the weekend.  Some of my favorite things of the weekend besides basketball: 

Exercising with Tami, Mom, and Dad  

Swimming with the little girls 

Eating scotchies 

Visiting with my sisters during the long drive

Not doing schoolwork 

Getting some good sleep at nights

Breakfast at the Hampton

Making Brady laugh

Just being with my family. I really love them.

This weekend was also kind of bittersweet for our family.  It was the last time my dad would coach one of his daughters.   There's a 14 year difference between Taffy and Tessa, so lets just say he's been coaching his daughters for quite a while!  I'm just so glad it ended on a Championship :)  Way to go girls! Here's a lot of pictures from the weekend...

All of us on Friday

The girls before the BIG game

SCOTTIE!!!

She's got a pretty sweet jump-shot :)

Dad and Tess--One of the last free-throws

Last time-out

The State Champs!!

She was on TV... No biggie

Dad and the daughters.  (I know we have a better pic somewhere...maybe Violet?)

The whole gang of us Teicherts, minus the brothers in law and some grandkids.

Congrats Dad and Tess!  I'm so proud of you and I'm so glad I could be there!

One Proud Cousin

So, three of my cousins became State Champs again in wrestling yesterday!  I am so proud of them!  I just love these three!  They're younger than me, but we grew up together and we've had some good times!  Here's some photos from the championship matches taken by Karla Toomer.

 First, James is a sophomore and the 126# champ!

Then, older brother Brigham is a senior an the 145# champ!

Finally, Brock is a junior and the 152# champ!

All three of them after Brock's match.  I just love the joy!  Way to go boys!

These boys are not only great wrestlers, but great examples.  I look up to them so much.  There could have been a picture just like Brock's of all of them.  They are great kids and are going to be amazing missionaries someday.  I'm so proud of them and I'm so glad for modern technology and that even though I couldn't be there in real life, I could at least watch it live online.  Congrats boys!  

Also, here's a link to a great article about the Teichert Wrestling Tradition.

Just some views from the mountain today.

Have I mentioned that I can't get enough of being up here?!

A mission call and a ball game

Brooke got her mission call!!  She's going to the Belgium/Netherlands mission.  She'll be speaking Dutch.  As sad as I am that I'm not going to see her for 18 months, I'm so excited for her!  She's going to be an awesome missionary.  The people there are just going to love her fun personality, and her strong testimony and love for the gospel with change many lives.  

(Forgive how awkward I'm standing in this...)

After the mission call, I headed to the BYU vs. St. Mary's men's basketball game.  Oh the ups and downs!  The whole second half was so exciting with many lead changes and it came right down to the wire!  We were tied at 67 with about 20 seconds to go in the game, and BYU had the ball.  Tyler Haws ended up making a shot with 2.5 on the clock.  We were freaking out, cause we just thought we'd won.  Well, then St. Mary's in-bounds the ball, the kid takes like 2 or 3 dribbles, and puts up a prayer just inside half court and swishes it!?!?  I could not believe it!  Talk about ultimate high to ultimate low!  Oh so sad!  On the bright side I got to watch the game with these two lovely ladies.  Lindsey, Ashbee and I have done quite a bit together the past week, and it's been a dang fun time!  

Top 11

Thanksgiving Break was AWESOME!  Here's some of my favorite parts :) 

 (In no particular order)

     1. Being in Cokeville :)

     2. Playing get-after-it basketball 

     3. Thanksgiving dinner with TONS of family

     4. Bridal shower for Madi

     5. Lord of the Rings Risk with Sulli and Tessa (to be continued at Christmas)

     6. Putting up Christmas lights with Mom

     7. BIG Bonfire

     8. Duck Dynasty

     9. Dipping lots of pretzels in chocolate - Yum

     10. Setting up the Christmas tree

     11. Just being with my family :)

Hope your Thanksgiving was as awesome as mine :)

Sweet Seats!

So tonight for the Men's basketball game, this was my ticket :)

It was sweet!  I was right behind the team in these nice, comfy, blue seats.  But the best part, I could see the whole game!  I didn't have to stand and try and look around the tall person in front of me!  (the student section for short people is kinda hard...)  So, how did I score this ticket?  Let me tell ya...

So I went to tithing settlement on Sunday (I know, it's kinda early, but I wanted to make sure I got it done) and I have an awesome Bishop.  He asked me how things were going, ya know, the usual...then he asked me what I did last weekend.  Well, I went to two basketball games, a volleyball game, and the football game.  He then asked if I liked sports, and I was like, yea.  Then he told me he has season tickets that he gives to the ward members for some games.  Then he told me they were on the 3rd row! Then he asked me if I would like some!!  I was like, yea, that'd be sweet!  Then, he added the catch: you have to ask a guy to go with you.  What the heck?!  I told him that that was going to be hard.  I'm just not that bold of a girl.  Then he told me that's the only way I could get the tickets, so I told him I'd try.  So, I left thinking that sometime this season I might get to sit in some nice seats. 

Monday night I got a phone call saying Bishop had 4 tickets for me and Janae, and that we had to get dates.  I panicked a little... I know I've been here a while, but I just don't feel like a know a guy well enough to ask him on a date without creeping him out.  So I texted Janae and told her.  When I got home she had it all figured out:  I asked her brother, and she asked her brother's roommate.  So, maybe we cheated a little bit, but hey, we still got guys to go with us!  It was a dang fun time!  It was fun getting to know Tyler and Bryce better, and the seats were great!  So thanks Bishop!  (Disclaimer: I really liked my bishop before the tickets.  He is a really great guy!)  I enjoyed every moment and tried to soak it all in because it will probably never happen again...

The weekend.

This weekend was so great!  Thursday night Tessa, Mom, and Dad showed up down here in Provo.  Tessa stayed the night with me and then went to school with me Friday morning.

I only had two classes, History 201 and Spanish 105, so she didn't get too bored.  Then we got a maple bar with bacon on it at the CougarEat.  Sounds gross, but it's actually like a pancake with maple syrup and bacon all in one bite.  It wasn't too bad, and it was something NEW!

Then we met back up with Mom and Dad, and Dad and I went on a campus tour with Tess while Mom went Christmas shopping (that was her main reason for coming).  After that we went to the BYU Women's basketball game.  Then Mom met back up with us for dinner at the Creamery.  We then went back to the Marriott Center for the Men's game.  Both the men and women won :)  Go Cougs!!  Our cousin Drew came up from Heber and went to the games and dinner with us.  It was so fun to have him along with us!

I had an intramural basketball game after the game...yea it was at 9:15.  To make a long story short, we ended up having to forfeit our game.  The other team wanted to play us anyways, so that was good, and we won :)  It is tournament time in intramurals, and having to forfeit stinks, but it's double elimination--thank heavens!!  So, we're still in.

Saturday morning we went to Kneader's for breakfast.  They have this all-you-can-eat french toast that is to-die-for!!  I've been raving about it to my family, and it's only $5, so we decided to go.  It definitely did not disappoint.

Then it was off to shopping.  Tess and I walked around the mall with Mom and gave her about a million ideas :)  We left her pretty frazzled, but she always does an amazing job with Christmas!  She gets us the best stuff!  I know she'll do great!  I also really, really, really love surprises, so I don't want to know what I'm getting.  So, I figure if I give her lots of ideas I won't know what I'm getting :)  Then Tess, Dad, and I left Mom at the mall and headed to the BYU Women's volleyball game.

They are super awesome this year!  Then they left.  When we were saying good-bye they said, "See ya in a week and a half!"  Can it be?!  It's flying, but don't worry folks, I've been soaking it all up!!  It's been a fabulous month.  Everyday has been great!  I really can't complain.  So it was so great to see my family and have a fun time with them.

To finish of the day Brooke and I bundled up and went to the 8:15 pm football game.  It was dang cold!  My feet were the only thing that got really cold. That's what happens when you don't have your snow boots... I loved going to the game with Brooke and spending some time with her!  She's such a great girl!  I just love her!  I'm definitely going to miss her next year!