I just thought I would include a few pics that have nothing to do with football.  We did a lot of walking while we were in New Orleans.  It was a great opportunity to see a little bit of history in the city.  I must admit that I was apprehensive about the trip, having heard lots of scary stories about the city.  I know, it must be totally different when the city isn't overcrowded by tons of football fans walking the streets, but I must say that by day I loved New Orleans, not so much at night.  Anyway, this is a street in the French Quarter.  I loved the house with the flower boxes and the more I looked at the pic, the more I noticed that the other buildings weren't too bad themselves.

There was a crew of street dancers that were amazing break dancers.  They put on numerous shows during the day and I must say it was worth stopping for a half hour to watch.  The things they do to their bodies is just amazing.  
We stopped at a cemetery on our way out of town, and it was really cool.  Now I know you are probably thinking "cemeteries aren't cool", but seriously, these ones were.  They can't dig because they are so close to the ocean so all of their graves are above ground.  They were really neat.
This was just a cool door to a family tomb in the cemetery.  There was a huge statue on top, too!
Hope you enjoyed your tiny trip to New Orleans!

A Utah (wo)Man am I! GO UTES!

Well, we did it!  We made the trek to New Orleans (Nahlins as it said down there).  After 24 hours in the car, we drove into the city and were at a dead stop along with everyone else in the world that decided to celebrate the new year in New Orleans.  New Year's eve in New Orleans was a bonus, but of course we were down there to cheer on the Utes in the Sugar Bowl.  Now I know I don't need to go into detail about what happened that night, because if you watch TV or listen to the radio, you know that they beat the Alabama Crimson Tide.  GO UTES!  I must say though, that although extremely arrogant, the Alabama fans were quite gracious with their loss, and at one point some lady came up gave Mike a hug and congratulated him on the win.  It was so worth the drive (OK, honestly, I would have still preferred to fly) but I am so glad that I was there.

This is the bus that took the team to practice, and the game.  It was pretty cool to see it parked on the street in front of their hotel all week.
This is me and Mike at the pep rally.  It was insane how many people were there to support our football team.

This is us in front of the Superdome.  It looks more like a Super Spaceship to me, but oh well.  It was huge!
And this is the view from the nosebleed section of the super dome.  Even though we were extremely high up, we could still see everything that was going on.

This was after all of the Alabama fans had left the stadium and the trophy was presented.  There was quite a feeling of camaraderie amongst the Utah fans.  It was so fun walking the mile back to hotel with people cheering the entire time.  After, we along with 10,000 (at least it felt like that many) Utah fans, and thousands of astonished Alabama fans, poured down Bourbon street to celebrate.  Our celebration was a little milder than say most of the people that were there, but none the less, it was a great time!
Final Score
And last, but not least, the perfect season.  This trip was something that I will most likely never forget and can't wait for the next time the Utes make it this far.  We already promised the couple we went with that no matter where we are, we will meet up for the next one and anyone else that would like to join us is more that welcome!

Crazy Christmas Traditions (and a few new ones)

Christmas at our house it actually usually just the opposite. We never have "Christmas" at our house. As many of you can probably relate, our Christmas season is usually spent running from house to house to make sure that we get all of our visiting done. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against all of the parties and things, but by the time Christmas is over, we are exhausted-and we don't even have kids to entertain during all of this.

Every year on the 23rd, the Burgin side of the family gets together for their annual Christmas Bash. There is food, and a good old fashioned white elephant gift exchange, then I can't forget the famous activity of banging metal pipes with tent stakes in the attempt to make music. Ok, honestly, it sounds pretty cool, and Mike's aunt takes this responsibility very serious. Everyone gets a turn, even the grown up kids. I am pretty sure Mike loves this, as you can see by his expression, although I think it was a little too much fun for his brother, Tyler.

Next we move on to the Morgan family Christmas party. We had it at my aunts house out in Draper, which is taking some getting used to. We have always had the party at my grandparents house, but as the family grows, we can no longer fit in my grandparent's house, so it was necessary to move it. And I must say that the party was a hit. We still had a pinata, which is a tradition for as long as I can remember, but then some new activities were thrown into the mix, such as making a santa suit out of red tissue paper and black construction paper. We took one of the cousins and dressed them up, then grandpa judged the santas. I still feel like my group's santa should have won (far left). I mean take a look at the detail on his boots! And the fact that he has full boots. . .yeah, I did that.
We also threw a talent show into the mix. Unfortunately we are a family of very few musical talents (with the exception of my cousin Theresa's family), so we were forced to be creative. This is my sister, Erin and her husband, Bryan. Their unusual talent was beat-boxing while brushing their teeth. It was hilarious-I mean awesome! Keep up the good work guys and let me know when you cut your first album!
Just had to throw this one in. Brooks finally caught on to the whole Christmas/Santa thing this year (well for the most part).
So, nobody got the memo that the party was supposed to be an ugly sweater party. I guess I should mention that my cousin Patrick got the memo, the only person, but his sweater was enough for everyone. Lookin' good!
This is my cute Grandpa. I just thought this pic was great so I wanted to put it on here.
Things that I didn't have my camera out for were Christmas morning at Mike's mom's house. We made Scottish pancakes for breakfast and then opened gifts before we headed over to my parent's house. On Christmas Eve, we got to talk to my brother Trent who is "far far away in the Philippines" as Brooks would say. He will be home next Christmas and honestly I don't think that any of us can wait. He is such a unique person, and he brings so much to our family and we love him for that. Can't wait for him to come home!

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season and that you got everything you asked for.

2nd Lieutenant Micheal D. Burgin

It's official. He finally commissioned as an officer in the Army National Guard. After three long years of hard work, it finally paid off and now he has signed his life away for six more years! As much as I complain about the fact that the military takes my husband away from me at least once a month and we have yet to spend an entire calendar year together since we have been married, we have been blessed by Mike's decision to join. We have both learned quite a bit about ourselves.

This is my cute husband in his Class A Uniform. He pulls it off well I must say.

This is Mike with Sgt. Portwood. He is a Sargent in Mike's unit and has been a good friend to Mike. When a cadet commissions as an officer, they give their first salute to a non-commissioned officer, and that was this guy.

Mike being sworn in.

Now a little side note. To ring in the holiday season, my mom, aunts, cousins and me and my sister took a wreath making class up at Red Butte Gardens. It was really fun, and although my poor little wreath looks a little smashed, I am proud of the work that I did. I hope I get to do it again next year. It was a nice learning experience, and I know now what to do and what not to do to make a wreath that will last all season long (as a matter of fact, as of today January 9, my wreath is still hanging on my front door, and it doesn't look too bad, just maybe a little dry.)