Viva Las Vegas!! BYU 17-UCLA 16

We went to the Las Vegas Bowl with Melissa's parents and had a blast. It was great to be in the bowl atmosphere and be surrounded by so many BYU fans. The Cougar's win wasn't pretty, but we'll take it. After BYU had to punt and UCLA immediately drove down the field and set up for the 28 yard field goal we all thought it was over. UCLA's kicker had already nailed a 50 and 52 yarder so we thought for sure he'd hit this one for the win. But suddenly we blocked the kick and all the BYU fans erupted. We were all screaming in disbelief. Tons of fans rushed the field and the UCLA players were just stunned. It was great. About 2/3 of the fans were BYU, but we managed to have a cluster of drunk, rowdy UCLA fans right in front of us. So the victory sure was sweet just to shut them up. We moved down by the field and watched BYU get the trophy and hear Max Hall, Coach Mendenhall, and others say a few words. It was awesome. So here's to next year - most of our good players are returning and we should start the season ranked in the Top 25. Can't wait.

P.S. After the game some BYU fan had a big sign that said Alma 18:27. Hilarious.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas from Denver!!! That's right, our big news this year is that we have relocated from Corpus Christi to Denver. Back in September, Lamont got a job offer with a Denver law firm–Davis Graham & Stubbs–that was just too good to pass up. That started a huge transition process of selling our home in Corpus, buying a new home, starting a new job, and moving to Denver – all in a few short months. The good news is that the transition is almost complete. In October, we flew up and found a new home in Aurora, a suburb of Denver. Then, at the beginning of November Lamont started with the new firm and over Thanksgiving week we packed up our home in Corpus Christi and all moved to Colorado. Finally—I mean FINALLY, we closed on the sale of our home in Corpus Christi this past week. Now we are almost done living out of boxes and are experiencing the joys and pains of a brand new home – we are hoping to have blinds very soon. This has been a very big change for the whole family. We have traded shorts, flip-flops and the beach for mountains, winter coats and gloves. The cold takes some getting used to once again, but it certainly feels like Christmastime. The hardest part though is leaving behind so many dear friends in Corpus Christi. I guess we get a break from church callings too – Lamont from the Young Men's presidency and Melissa from the Relief Society presidency.

The boys are enjoying the new home and new environment. Carter is now 4 ½ and just as eager to learn as ever. We enrolled him in a preschool program this fall and he will resume in January. He really enjoyed school, especially the homework. Go figure! This year he also played spring tee-ball and fall soccer with several of his friends from church. He fills the rest of his time reading books, playing computer games, and other boy activities. The first night in our new home it snowed and Carter woke up ready to go in the backyard and make snow angels. Unfortunately, he has no snow gear yet and our backyard is still rocks and dirt.

McKay just turned 2 years old and is curious about everything. He fills his time listening to stories, playing games, and watching movies. This fall, McKay was also in a little playschool with 4 other toddlers. He loved it!!! He felt so grown up and loved making and showing us his projects. He's talking quite a bit now and this is also the first year he has really gotten into Christmas. So his latest is pointing out all the Christmas lights as we drive around at night—"Mom, Dad, MisMis!!!"

We love the holiday season as we take time out of our busy lives to spend time with family and reflect upon the life of the Savior. We are so grateful for His life and His gospel. We have definitely felt the guidance of the Lord in our lives this past year. We hope your holiday season is warm and bright.

Love,
Lamont, Melissa, Carter and McKay

Saturday Night Live Meets It's a Wonderful Life

Catching Up

Here are some pictures from the past month with the most recent at the top.


Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...


Time to Move in


How did they fit all of that in there?


A Thanksgiving feast...yum


"Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker!"

Moving On

We're back! I know it has been a very long time since we have posted. But, to be fair I just got my internet access back yesterday. I feel as if I have been isolated from the world. SO much has happened in the past couple of weeks. This has been such a huge transition time for us. We moved out of Corpus the Monday before Thanksgiving. Thank you to the many who helped make our move from Corpus easier! We then spent Thanksgiving up in Sherman with the Larsen's. We had a great time and it was a nice break from all the packing.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we began our journey to Denver and arrived Sunday afternoon. We closed on our new house Mon., Nov 26 first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, the moving company did not make it until Tuesday, so we hung out at the hotel and did what we could around the new house until then. The first morning in our new home we had a warm (or rather cold) welcome to Denver by awaking to a couple inches of snow. We quickly realized that we would need to make a trip later that day to Walmart to buy a snow shovel and ice scrapers.

The other big piece of news is that we closed on our home in Corpus yesterday. HOORAY! All the needed repairs were finished the day before and it is now official that we have sold our home. We are so glad to be able to move on from that experience.

We are now starting to get settled here and the boxes are whittling down. We are in the process of making the adjustments to make the house livable. I think it will feel even more like home when I don't feel like we are living in a fish bowl and we get some blinds. We are starting to meet some new people here, but I still miss Corpus and often wonder what is going on there. I guess that is just part of the whole transition. Anyways, it is beautiful here and I am enjoying my mountain view even though I am freezing right now. I guess that is just another adjustment to make, right?