Sherpa's Wonderin's

Odds and Ends

I'm not quite as exhausted as I was last night, but this post may still be as scatterbrained as I feel right now. At least I'll try and finish sentences.

Anyway, Utah was great. I feel like every time I go home I don't get much done, or even get around to call and visit old friends. Oh well. I did cutout 300+ 8" squares for a comforter my mom is going to make me(the nice thing about christmas/birthday presents that are made late is that I don't just get gifts one day a year). Anyway, I arrived home on the 23rd after flying in on the 22nd and spending the night in Lehi. We had a fabulous Christmas eve dinner, realized that my parents and Steven must not have played speed much because Rich and I schooled the rest at Ligretto.

My dad and bros went to Vegas for the Bowl game, and came back with groceries from Trader Joe's. Rich picked up 5 packages of tortillas and various mexican food sauces while Steven picked up various European foodstuffs.

Steven at the new Utah Fieldhouse in Vernal. The museum isn't nearly as good as the old one.

Christmas was nice. Steven, my youngest brother, woke up the latest so we didn't open presents until after 10. We had a good time opening presents and then eating "birthday" brunch casserole. That evening, we went over to Val and Coreyne's and played scum with them and Marty.

Steve(l) and Rich

Christmas was nice. Steven, my youngest brother, woke up the latest so we didn't open presents until after 10. We had a good time opening presents and then eating "birthday" brunch casserole. That evening, we went over to Val and Coreyne's and played scum with them and Marty. We ate b-day cake there, and Coreyne had some great appetizers to munch while we played games.

The day or two after Christmas we went to see the Pursuit of Happyness (All except Rich) and the filmed was retitled "Watch Will Smith run" by my parents. Good show, actually. While I cut quilt squares, my parents and I watched "Devil Wears Prada." We all agree that Meryl Streep should get an Oscar nom for that role. I gave Steven the complete Arrested Development dvds, and he's loving it, and already saying words like "Hermano" and then laughing to himself.

We headed to Peoa on the 29th, and about 5 miles outside of Duchesne, I noticed a herd of elk on the side of the road. This is much more common in Indian Canyon, not on Highway 40.

Part of the herd we saw.

We played Phase 10 with my grandma in Peoa (Peoa is in Kamas Valley) and visited with my Aunt, Uncle and Cooper. My grandma beat us all at Phase 10, and my dad told us he was disregarding his cards(some people say discarding, he says disregarding). Uncle John entertained us with his hunting stories from last summer (he got a little too close for comfort to a grizzly--we won't ever have to worry about him becoming the next Timothy Treadwell .)

Cooper is wrestling 140 for South Summit's JV team, and says he's winning more than he's losing. My cousin Kaycee was in the Circuit finals in Ogden, but we didn't end up going to see him compete.

The barnyard just above my Grandma's house.

The Uintas and the pasture outside my Grandma's kitchen window.

Saturday I had plans with a friend, but didn't hear from him until late morning. We ended up shopping in Park City, and then went down to South Towne and Cabela's (of course). That evening we met my Uncle Kent and Aunt Hannah, Jason and Sarah at the BYU basketball game. Jason played in the exhibition wheelchair basketball game on halftime (I don't think I've mentioned that he plays on the USA wheelchair basketball team) and realized that his teammates were the same guys from 5 years ago. Rich brought Nicole to the game and afterwards to Iceberg. We're not sure what she thought of us, but we had fun and the game was good. Seton Hall was impressive, but BYU was even more impressive for beating them.

Sunday, we were in Lehi at Kent and Hannah's. We spent the morning just talking and being impressed at Hannah's new juicer. That afternoon my parents dropped me off at my Cousin Jake's and I spent the afternoon and evening with Jake, Stacey, Sam(10), Sarah (8), Heidi (6), Ryan (3,) and Emma (2). In a few months there'll be another girl-Rebecca Sophia (our great grandma's name-but I think they should call her Sophie but I don't have any say in that). Jake and Stacey's kids are a lot of fun, and each and every one looks a lot like his side(okay, our side as he's my 1st cousin)--maybe the baby will buck the strong Buhler genes. Thanks a ton, Jake for putting me up, and putting up with me.

Heidi and Sarah

Sarah

Emma

That evening Kell and her two sibs -Jen and Chris picked me up and went to 3 parties and got home before midnight (well, I did. They might not have). The first party we went to was a linkster party. "Chess" was there with his wife but never introduced himself to me although he hovered around the appetizer table. In all fairness, I never introduced myself to him either. Thanks Jesse and Shauna for the invite and letting me bring a friend. The second and third party were invites by the fabulous SJ. These two parties were in an adjoining duplex. We wandered over to the third party party when a couple of guys got out the Shopvac to give each other hickies. When we came back to the second party, they were playing spin the bottle. The third party was party games and Tim Reagan video or whatever this Seinfeld wannabe is called(my apologies to his fans, but he may be lamer than Dane Cook)..

Yesterday, Jake was kind enough to take me to the airport for a 6:00 flight. I got home to Falls Church about 6:00, but it wasn't so bad taking the shuttle and metro from BWI. just time consuming, and my arms are pleasantly sore from lugging luggage onto one bus, two train lines and up the hill to the house.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and have the day off, this national day of mourning.

Have a virtual candybar, on me.