His & Hers: BYU vs. Utah Rivalry

When you marry someone who loves your rivalry school, it's bound to make things interesting. Every year at Holy War time, we get seriously competitive (no wonder - this rivalry warrants its own Wikipedia page!) As you can see, our BLUE vs. RED family feud even extends into folding laundry:

 Ryan's a die-hard Ute fan, and got involved in student body campaigns, like the Go! Party (click here and check out the Go! video to see him.) Crystalee was literally a BYU Front Row Fanatic and BYU Student Alumni Vice President, planning big Homecoming and spirit events. Thus, we're both out to "convert" our future kids. Behold, evidence of our loyalties:

Crystalee won front row tickets  to the BYU/Utah game and all this BYU swag in 2007 for doing a stunt in the Front Row Fanatics contest. She made a peanut butter and banana sandwich with her feet and ATE it in front of a large crowd.

Ryan lived and breathed the MUSS for years, since his bachelor pad was literally across the street from the Rice Eccles Stadium. A Utah man, sir, a Utah man he is!

Crystalee's  known in the office for BYU school spirit - here's her decked-out cube at MarketStar in 2011.

Ryan's grin, happy to be with MUSS pals at a 2009 game.

Bring us together and what to you get?

Red and blue stockings at Christmas on our makeshift fireplace. 

A rivalry that knows no bounds - even in Sydney we sported our school colors.

Crystalee braved the MUSS with Ryan and Tami in 2010 - even wearing BYU gear. Recall the painful BYU loss in the last five seconds? Ouch.

Ryan insisted on including this picture from when we were dating. Yes, that's Crystalee in with the Utes, but she's trying to hide behind Swoop. (Don't worry, Cosmo, you'll always be her favorite.)

Tonight's game will leave one of us happy, and the other not so much. As Ryan said, "a lot is on the line with two years' bragging rights at stake." We shall see...

Gooo COUGARS and Go UTES!

The Felines on My Resume

I've found a conflicting pattern in my life worth pointing out: Although I feel about cats the same way Indiana Jones feels about snakes, I've spent my academic career at schools with feline mascots!    

                                                                      

I've been cheering for Lions and Cougars the past 12 years, and although I'm currently at a school of Wildcats, you better believe I'll be rooting for Cougars in the upcoming BYU v. Weber State football game. (I bleed blue, baby.)

2000-2004 Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions

2004-2009 Brigham Young University Cougars

2012-2014 Weber State Wildcats 

Another tidbit: Ryan's a Wildcat for the second time - the first was in elementary school, and he says he's "digressed" to go back to yesteryear's mascot. Ha!

Fourth of July Hall of Fame: Operation Y-Flag

We each have epic Fourth of July memories. I have two favorites. I've already shared Ryan’s 2010 surprise second proposal. The other hall of fame Fourth of July was called:

Operation: Y-Flag

Looking at Y mount countless times during my student years at BYU, I had the crazy of idea of gathering hundreds of people and making a human American flag on the Fourth of July. I shared this scheme with a go-getter buddy named Brian. Thanks to him, my awesome Lookout Lady roommates, a supportive team and the 120+ people we recruited, we actually pulled it off.

Quite the event planner, Brian made a web site (which still exists! check out this sweet little baby), figured out the mathematical proportions, contacted many student wards and asked them to make the hike a ward activity. He bought the 3,000 feet of plastic red table cloth since we had a lot of ground to cover and weren’t sure how many people would show up.Team Y-Flag left nothing to chance. We went door-to-door personally inviting BYU students to come. We had Y-Flag captains, team leaders, and volunteer drivers for a shuttle van system.(I gotta smile and shake my head at the memories – nothing could get in our way!)  

Here’s a piece straight from my 2009 journal:

Em's celebrating the 4th in the Motherland this year!

Wow, today set a new record for my favorite 4^th of July.

We’d all gathered into our red/blue spots with the spectacular view before us. I thought I was going to burst with happiness when someone started singing “The Star Spangled Banner” and everyone joined in. No video could have captured how proud we felt – of ourselves, and of our country. That was a feel alive moment.

My family came, which really meant a lot to me. Sue, Emily, Erika, her boyfriend (who’s now my bro-in-law!) and John, and cousins Monica and Brian hiked it. Dad took pictures from below with his professional camera. People mixed and mingled and like my friend said, “they were just happy to be there.” As we watched the fireworks go off from our vantage point, I felt on top of the world…at least the Provo world.

God Bless America!


Were you there for this epic day? Let's hear your memories.

Love my family! Thanks for the support - then and now.

Check out that view! And we watched fireworks from up there...SO COOL.

Ironically at a blue/white school, we didn't have as many people in blue as we thought we would. 

Gotta love Jon Terry. 

These little lovebirds were oogley eyed all day - they got engaged pretty soon after this.

I heart the Mace family. Had the privilege of living with two of their daughters. Loves to Maria and Suzanne.

P.S. Earlier that day, we’d had a Webb family reunion, including the Riverton carnival. My dad paid for us kids to go on our first helicopter ride. “We soared above the carnival grounds and short across neighborhoods, parks and roads to see the new Draper temple from the sky. On the way there we saw the place where my grandparents built the house they lived in for 40+ years.”

Discovering ancestors on London study abroad program

Hurray, published today! You're invited to see my published article at Deseret News Online or read the text below. My story is printed today in the Mormon Times section today on page C8.

The day after I turned 20, I took my first international flight to London. My 42 study abroad friends and I lived in the beautiful BYU London Centre and spent four months befriending Big Ben, admiring National Gallery art, relishing British accents and snapping photos of real-life castles.

I also found a personal treasure — I found a connection with my English ancestors.

This quest began when our insightful religion professor, Dr. David R. Seely, assigned a family history project. Researching at the local family history center, senior sisters helped me navigate census files. I learned my 18th- and 19th-century ancestors were from Guilden Morden, just outside of Cambridge. I wanted to see Guilden Morden, hoping to feel closer to them.

With professor permission to go on a day trip on my own, I researched train and bus information. All semester I looked forward to the journey. The awaited day arrived, and I took a morning train from London to Cambridge, leaving just a short bus ride to Guilden Morden.

Unfortunately, that day the next Guilden Morden bus wouldn't leave until 5 p.m. —after my returning London train would depart. Scouting out my next option, I learned the 20-mile taxi fare was £27. I only had £25 — not enough to get there or back.

There I stood — 4,500 miles from my USA home — and just 20 measly miles were keeping me from my ancestor’s town?

The 40-mile roundtrip was too far to walk in a day, so I considered renting a bike. I imagined pedaling the blustery, unknown roads to a place I’d never seen and miraculously finding my ancestor’s grave sites; it could be a tear-jerker family history story repeated in Relief Societies everywhere.

Then reality hit.

My bike idea wasn’t practical. I was alone, tired, didn’t know where I was going or have means to get there. I couldn’t miss the train back to London. And would I fail my family history project?

Later, safe in the BYU London Centre, I received an email just before the family history project deadline. It was from Elizabeth Thomas, a distant cousin I’d never met. My Grandma Webb had asked her to send stories about the Squires, our other family line.

I learned Henry Augustus Squires, and his wife, Sarah Minnie Catlin, sailed to the United States with five little daughters in 1856. They crossed the plains with the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. Sarah gave birth to my 4th-great aunt in Echo Canyon, Utah, naming her Echo. Miraculously, the whole family made it to Utah.

Adding their stories to my paper, I concluded, “I truly feel the Spirit of Elijah when I see those pedigree charts — I have love for my ancestors I never knew before. My quest for my ancestors will continue for the rest of my life.” Maybe I didn’t quite make it to my ancestor’s town on my study abroad, but I found what I was looking for: a connection to them.

And in case you’re wondering, I got an "A" on my project.