Festival of Trees is put on by the Primary Children's Hospital every year. People decorate (incredibly) a tree and then donate it. It is sold to the highest bidder and all proceeds go to the hospital. It's always fun to stroll through all of the decorated trees and wreaths and gingerbread houses. I should say - it is fun when it is not packed with strollers! This is why we arrived right as it opened at 10:00 am and had a very nice walk through the trees.
Brie was fascinated with the decorations and the lights. It was cute to watch her point at everything that caught her eye.
I told Scott that we each had to choose our favorite tree and take a picture with it. I had many favorites. I took pictures of them all to give me good ideas. This one I really liked.
Scott chose the baseball themed tree as his favorite.
Brie was quite astonished by the whole thing. I think her favorite part though was eating the scone. 
It was a gorgeous day for a football game. We went up to our friend's tail gate party before going into the stadium and boy did I hear it from everyone as I walked through the tail gate lot in my BYU blue. I could tell a few experiences from this day that make me even more serious about the fact that I do not ever want one of my kids going to the U, but for now I'll say that Utah fans are vicious. Good thing I had a group of friends dressed in red surrounding me. We played "Holy Board" (because you throw rings into holes, not because it is holy) and hung out and I continued to be heckled.
At half time we went to find Brian and Davin. Much to my surprise, Brian was wearing RED (a BYU-Hawaii shirt) and Davin had a "U" painted on his cheek! What??? It was very fun to see them. I love that Davin kid.
The second half was SOOOOO intense. The last 3 minutes were even more intense. In the end, I was the happiest one in the crowd. Finally! BYU won! They have lost every single game in every single sport ever since I married a Ute, but finally they won. Here is some of our group at the game.
After:
The turkey was finished in no time, so we went to Fred and Rama's for the festivities. We had dinner with Fred, Rama, Brian, Rachel, Annabelle, Clara and my brother Bryce. We had all of the most delicious food. I even really liked the candied sweet potatoes thanks to Rachel.
I am trying so hard (well, kind of hard) to have Brie wear head bands. I want her to get used to them so she won't fight one in the family picture. It's not working. Here is our memorable Mother/Daughter Thanksgiving picture.
This morning we all met in Provo for breakfast. It was fun to talk to Evan before his final departure. He seemed to be happy and excited. I could not get him to admit to any emotion in particular, but I would say he was excited, anxious and a little nervous. 
Because of all those emotions, Evan was unable to eat his Lumberjack breakfast . . . so Brielle did. She chowed on those pancakes. 
We arrived at the MTC and after Evan dropped off his luggage we took the traditional pictures.
It was a good and short meeting. We sang "Called To Serve" , heard the talks, watched the video and that quick it was over and we had to say good bye. Evan did just as he was told, he gave everyone a quick hug and "I love you" and walked through the missionary exit door. There were no tears from him, but there certainly were from his siblings. We love Evan and will miss him, but are THRILLED for all that is to come in the next two years for him. I wish him success and hope he enjoys all the experiences a mission brings. In one of the talks they told the missionaries how they would meet people on their missions that would become some of the most important and special and cherished people in their lives. I thought of Ana and Walter Gamboa and Clara Maciel and that family of eight girls in Concordia and so many others. I love that I met those special people on my mission and that I was the one that got to teach them of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope Evan finds "his" people and loves them just as much. For now, best of luck to him on his first night in the MTC.
