BYU Parents Weekend 2010

Greetings from Provo, UT!  It's Day Two of BYU Parents Weekend and it has been a blast!  This is my third year participating and it's been a great one - maybe my favorite one yet.  It's been great to spend time with Our Lady of BYU.  It is more than evident that these years at school have been transformative for her.  For example, I knew she was a BYU sports fan, but I did not realize the depths to which her fan-aticism goes.  She's turned into a veritable treasure trove of BYU sports knowledge - Cougarboard is a big part of her life!  Her favorite building on campus?  The Marriott Center because it's where basketball is played.  She is cracking me up.  It's been so good to spend time with her.

When I arrived on Friday, I first stopped and saw some friends and it was great to reconnect.  It's so good to see old friends.  And then it was off to see Our Lady.  Her new place is such an improvement over the crime-scene/tenement she lived in last year.  We headed over to campus where we were greeted by this:

Once again, guess who's featured in all the promotion/advertising?  We saw one poster outside the Wilkinson Center, where someone had written Sarah's name on it.  Her mortification continues.  Let me just say, BYU has more than gotten it's money worth out of this picture!

Friday night was dinner at Malawi Pizza with Our Lady and a few of her friends.  Good pizza and another earnest cause like last year's dinner.  Apparently, a part of our bill is donated to feed a family in Africa.  After dinner, the girls headed out and I didn't  Fine with me.  Saturday morning was 5K time.  Once again, the weather people had predicted hideous weather at the time of the race and it was totally decent.  For as out of sync I am running-wise, I was not totally embarrassed by how this run went.  Our Lady was there to cheer me on, which was fun.  Soon after the run, the weather did tank and it started raining.  Not good for a noon kick-off or the tailgate with friends before the game.  That turned into a literal huddle under trees, all of us shivering in our ponchos.  Mercifully by the end of Q1, the rain stopped.  While it stayed chilly, it seemed to help BYU, who finally managed to eke out a win.  FINALLY!  Suffice to say, it's been a rough season.  We capped Saturday with dinner at Tucanos Brazilian Grill.  There were 17 of us and we had a really good time.  It was a couple of other parents and a slew of Our Lady's friends.  The food was really good and never-ending.  Strangely enough, my favorite was not the bacon-wrapped filet mignon, but the chicken hearts!  They were terrific!

And now, I'm back in my hotel room, sated and ready to call it a night.  I'll join Our Lady for a little religion in the morning and then it's back home on Mother United.  I've had a really good time with my daughter this weekend.  And I've delighted in how much things have changed at my alma mater.  And they are good changes.  I loved it here when I was a student.  Never wanted it to end.  And I'm thrilled to see how it's going for my girl.  It's all good.  It really is.