Stand in Line or the Comfort of Home?

Last night we went down to the Marriott Center for the BYU/Utah game. They were only letting in Students through 2 sets of doors. The line wrapped around from the North West entrance, down the west side around the south under the tunnel, down the raised walkway and back to the Smoot Administration Building. We decided that the couch would be nicer and we could make some treat to go along with the game! BYU won all in all it turned out nice.

Introduction

Per Lee's request here's the speech that I gave introducing myself to my Public Speaking Class.

Thanks to all who sent me emails to help with ideas!

To give an introduction about myself is a difficult thing. Who am I? What category do I fit into? Do I even fit any mold? I was a theatre geek in high school that loved to play improv but also play the clarinet in the marching band. I could hold my own at D&D yet oddly enough took both the homecoming and prom queens to their dances.

I am the 5^th out of 8 kids. As you can imagine it’s not too difficult to get lost in all the chaos. I was a blonde haired boy with a bowl cut that was willing to just sit and watch the excitement happen around me. I was quite as a child, so quite that my mother worried if I’d ever develop a strong personality. In the 9^th grade that all changed, I officially changed my name from William to Will and began my new life. I was introduced to another, more famous Will… Shakespeare is how most know him, and I was off to explore the world of the stage. It’s there that I learned to cast off fears and have fun. I learned how to sing, how to tap dance and how to remain cool and composed when told to do both in front of an audience of over 1000. It’s on the stage that I learned I could do anything.

On the stage I could connect with an audience, off the stage I can connect with a person. Although I enjoy the limelight I enjoy close friendships even more. I love getting to know people and knowing their passions. Because of my friendships I have gained an appreciation for a rather eclectic group of interests. I might even fancy myself as a sort of “Renaissance Man”. I can sit and talk to anyone about comics, sports, movies, cooking, music, books or just about anything not only because I enjoy them but because the person I’m talking to does.

I would love to learn about what interests you. Feel free to come talk to me, I bet we could learn a thing or two from eachother.

New Years

We were lucky enough to get to see both of our families of our two week break. We headed to Seattle on the 29th to celebrate New Years with my family. We had a blast playing hearts, watching spanish movies, doing puzzles and just enjoying being on vacation. It was a very relaxing trip. Thanks family! We loved getting a chance to spend a lazy pajama day together after going to the Seattle temple with mom. On New Years Ever we were able to see some of my good friends from high school! Caden came by the house for a visit and Mo and Lexi invited us over to their apartment to ring in the new year. It was really quite fun. Thanks for a great night! We took our camera, but failed to take any pictures - I think mom took a couple before we left on Sunday I need to get her to email them to me!

Christmas

Ok, I'm determined to get this up to date quickly. Will and I in Utah for Christmas this year. It was really fun because we were able to do lots with his family and also enjoy being at our place too. I'm quite proud of our decorations for our little apartment. I made the signs on the door and Will made the snowflakes - we watched Elf and made snowflakes on night early in December.

One of the best parts of Christmas with Will's family is their fun tradition of Candy Trains. It's like gingerbread house, but so much more fun because you don't have worry about getting your house to stand up. :) Thanks for an amazing Christmas Passey Family! We really had a blast getting to spend time with everyone.

P.S. Allie - did Will or I ever email you candy train pictures? We still can if we haven't. Just let me know.

Books!

Will and I both love to read. I happen to have a lot more time for reading than he does, but we both really enjoy it. My good friend, Caden, told us we should have a section of our blog where we list what we've read recently or what we're reading. So, I added that this morning - you can find it on the side under our picture. Will is currently reading Book Thief - an AMAZING book that my mom recommended this summer. I love it! I finished Count of Monte Cristo over Christmas break and would highly recommend that to anyone looking for a great classic. It feels a little slow in the middle, but really picks us speed near the end. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls was a Christmas gift from my dad. I just finished it last night. It was really a great read. It's a memoir of the author's grandmother's life. An amazing woman full of spunk and personality. A very interesting read. So that's about it for now. Right now I'm listening to Isabelle Allende's Ines de Alma Mia on cd in the car on the way to work. I love listening to books on tape in Spanish as it really helps me keep up my spanish. What are you reading? Do you have any recommendations for us? We'd love to hear them!

Ann and Andrew Coy

The happy couple.

Sorry guys, we're still playing catch up...I promise we'll eventually start blogging about our current life sometime soon. But there were so many exciting things that happened over the break that we have to blog about them! The first of these big events was Ann and Andrew's wedding.

Ann and Andrew’s wedding was such a fun weekend. Friday night we drove up for a family dinner at the Buschell’s. Stacy was a wonderful host and we had a lovely night. Delicious seven layer dip and pulled pork tacos. We really enjoyed getting to know Andrew’s siblings and their families along with all of Ann and Andrew’s friends who came in from out of town. It was lovely. But the best part of the night according to both Will and I – the fresh fruit crepes – was yet to come. Wendy made delicious crepes and we piled them high with blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, real whipped cream, and homemade chocolate and caramel sauce. I’m smiling even now just remember this delicious dessert. What a treat to have fresh fruit in the middle of winter! I wish we had a picture, but alas, we’re not the best at recording our life.


Saturday we were able to drive up to Logan for the wedding with Bob, Wendy, Cait, Maren and John – gotta love that new van. The sealing was beautiful. It was performed by Andrew’s grandpa. After the sealing we took pictures – it was cold, but I had prepared well. I wore two pairs of tights, green underneath with textured black tights on top – it was very fun because you could see the green through the black. (Will’s great idea). After pictures we headed to the Utah State University Alumni House where we had a delicious meal and a wonderful chance to visit with friends and family. Thanks for a great night Ann and Andrew! We had a blast and it looked like you did too! It was such a treat because ALL of the Passey kids and their families were able to be there. We got to spend time with Ali and Lee and baby Zach. We got to play games with Brent and Amber. Will enjoyed lots of time throwing Elli and Sammi onto the couch. We also got to spend some quality time with Claire – dropping her off and picking her up at the airport. J Thanks to John and Maren for giving up their beds and putting up with all of us invading your home. Wendy and Bob were wonderful hosts.


I love this picture of Ann with Sammi and Elli. To bad the flowers are in front of Sammi's face.


I don't actually have any pictures of the Passey family with them, because we were in the picture, but here's some of the cousins and Aunts and Uncles from Ann's side of the family.


I love this picture because Claire is the only one aware that I'm taking a picture, she looks lovely, sorry to everyone else. :)

Sadly we didn't hand our camera to someone, so we don't have any pictures of ourselves from the wedding. Ann - you'll have to let us know when you get your pictures - we need a Passey family picture for the wall and I'm hoping that one of the pictures the photographer took of Will and I turned out nicely.

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is one of our new favorite games. It was given to Sara as a Birthday present from her mother. The easiest way to describe it is Speed Scrabble. You start out with a number of tiles and each time any player uses all their tiles everyone has to pull another.

You're able rearrange any of your tiles at any point in the game. The first person to complete their crossword when there are no tiles left wins. Here are some pictures from a game that Sara and I played.