Just a little something to ring in the New Year...

ENJOY!

People's Choice Post #2

We're still continuing on with our People's Choice Posts. They are slow in coming, but here is the second installment.

Savannah requested: Dance mooves video.

When I read Savannah's request, I remembered a video I had shot of Lesley a couple months ago. Lesley was trying to get me to dance so she jokingly "showed me how." In case you don't figure it out, the song she's listening to on her iPod is "Gettin' Jiggy With It" by Will Smith. She can hear the music, but you can't. Very entertaining.

Here you go Savy B.

Day of Thanks

I've really been lovin' life lately (and livin' it) so I thought it would only be appropriate to share a few things for which I am thankful. I have lived a very blessed life and am truly grateful for the following, in no particular order.

• Intramural sports - "Wait, you're not a student any more," you say. While technically correct, that has not stopped me from participating. This fall I played flag football, soccer (ugh), doubles tennis, and co-ed basketball. Brandon is on all my teams and Lesley and Mere on the b-ball team. We have lost in every sport except in basketball. In that tournament we are 1 win away from the championship game. I dislocated my shoulder in our last game so hopefully Thanksgiving break will give me time to recover. But competing in sports makes me very happy.
• Utah - This has been the Year of Utah for us. We have tried to get out and see what there is to see in Utah. We went to southern Utah, have been camping a few times, went to Yellowstone (not Utah, but close enough), and I recently camped out in a cave with the young men on an island on the Great Salt Lake (Stansbury Island). I really enjoy the area in which we live and am grateful for the great outdoors found here.
• Family - Brad and Mandy are here with their kids right now and it's been a blast. We've also seen the return of the Droid this summer, spent some time seeing the quickly growing Riley and some other good times with the whole family in Oregon, Utah, and Yellowstone. I'm especially thankful for my parents and other family members that taught me the Gospel. Family, isn't it about......time.
• In-laws - Brandon and Meredith have been a great blessing in our lives. It's so great to have them close by to play sports with, watch sports with, talk about sports with, and just spend time with. We're lucky to have them close by for the time being. Ev and Whit are close enough to get to see fairly often too which has been great. Watch out Rexburg, we'll be leave our mark in December. Adge & Steve are always great mentors and advisors. And Jason & Pam are about the best in-law parents you could ask for. They're nothing but supportive, loving, and helpful. I'm very grateful for my in-laws.
• Richard Chapman - This is Whitney's father for those who don't know him. He and I have really strengthened our relationship over the last few months (ie- football season) and I am thankful for his daily texts. I'm also excited to see "$Dad$" in Rexburg in December.
• My loving wife - Of all the things I am grateful for, this one tops the list. Lesley continues to amaze me every day. She's so smart and funny and caring and patient. She's my best friend, my closest confidant, my biggest fan, my favorite post-game game breakdown listener, and the best female athlete I know. I love everything we can do together and talk about, as well as all the things she teaches me. I am very, very, very thankful for my wife. I still wonder sometimes how we actually ended up together, but not a day passes that I'm not grateful that we did. I love you Les.

I'm sure you all have many things for which you are thankful and I'm even thankful for Thanksgiving which allows/forces me to take stock of all the blessings I have been given. Life is good.

Bloggers Beware

Just so all of you know, some classless Ute fan has created an account using my name and my picture. He has been going around commenting on blogs of people I know, posing as me, and leaving nasty comments. Please know that they are not coming from me. You can tell they're not from me by following the link on his profile. Also, just reading what he writes should make it easy.

I realize this gives him the recognition he wants, but I wanted to make sure people didn't really think I was writing the things he is.

Please just delete his comments. Or you can change your settings to where you have to approve all comments before they are posted on your blog. Sorry you even have to deal with it.

We're sucked into the Biggest Loser Soap Opera

"Would $250,000 be worth having everyone in the country hate you?"

- direct quote from comment on Vicki's Biggest Loser profile

Vicki, from The Biggest Loser, has decided yes, it is in fact worth it. The oh so ironic thing about the situation is that you don't have to have one or the other, you can win the $250k and have the country LOVE you...all at the same time (as accomplished by Ali, last year's winner). I ran across that question when reading some comments on a blog post about Vicki, the latest and most controversial Biggest Loser contestant in show history. It had hundreds of comments, many of which were PG-13 and I wouldn't recommend reading, but clearly express that the country is cheering AGAINST her (or at least those die hard Biggest Loser fans like the Winn's and the Olsen's)....especially after last night's antics and what they previewed to come.

For those that haven't kept up on this season, in short, Vicki appears to be semi-delusional because she thinks everyone else on the show are the ones stirring the pot, when in all reality it's just her and her partner in crime, Heba. Everything she does is with a reckless abandonment for any level of tact or general consideration for the well being of others. She has that Grinch-who-stole-Christmas-grin that just makes your skin crawl and behavioral tendencies that are similar to Ute fans (we all know what I'm talking about here). She is driving this country insane.

She's decided to just hate Phil, another contestant, only because he's trying to win the game too. She openly mocks him, attacks him, and tries to get others against him with a really evil spirit. Now, as alluded to by next week's preview she's posing revenge on the sweet, non-competitive Amy who was the swing vote to send her puppet husband Brady off the show last night. (Let's just say that Trevor and I flew off the couch screaming and giving high five's when she revealed her vote, it was HUGE).

Anyways, this sneak peak of her "revenge" note, which included many expletives, said that she will not stop at anything until that lying !@#%@#$@^#$^@ is kicked off the show....just because poor, sweet Amy did what any sane person who wanted to win would do.

Trevor are I are fully invested in watching with the rest of the country what we hope to be the demise of Vicki's run to the $250,000 dollars. I just get so mad at her!! The cool confidence in her evil, manipulating ways drives fury that I almost can't control. I had to take an hour to cool off after last night's intensity...and even after that I kept saying to Trevor, "remember Vicki."

Did anyone else have similar thoughts, feelings, experiences??

This is a safe place to share your feelings that I know are swirling around uncontrollably in any Biggest Loser fan.

People's Choice Post #1

In response to our People's Choice post, we received numerous comments and requests. Lesley and I have decided to respond to all of them, although not particularly in order. Several posts are in the works already, but I had to get this one out before everyone heads off to the voting booths tomorrow.

Adrienne requested: I want a political post...perhaps with some information on the current state of the economic crisis?

I'm going to focus on the political side of that request and not get into the specifics of the economic crisis because I know that when I vote for Barack Obama tomorrow he will take all of all my problems. He'll fix everything and make sure that things are "fair." Because what's more important than being fair? Certainly not freedom, liberty, and capitalism. And beyond that, what's more fair than taking money someone has earned and giving it to someone else who hasn't earned it?

I could go on and on, but I think I'll let this short video do the talking for me. Hopefully after watching you'll understand why I'm voting Democrat this year.

P.S. Please do not take this as an endorsement for John McCain, because I don't like him either. I am on board with the Ron Paul Revolution. Veto all spending bills, reduce taxes, free market economics, and eliminate the IRS???? Sign me up!

Just in the knick of time....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

People's Choice Post

Let me share an email that Lesley and I received from Brandon Winter this morning. Some of you may know him.....he is married to Lesley's sister, Meredith. He is also my tennis doubles partner and the leader of our co-ed basketball team. So this was a big deal:

If I do not see a new blog post in the next 3 days...we will not be on talking terms. That is all. Thank you for your time.

-Brandon

So I guess if we ever want to talk to Brandon again, we must post. Here's the problem though; we don't know what the people are craving.

So we would like you to leave a comment letting us know what you would like to read about. You can request different posts from of us. For example, you may want to hear Lesley talk about her current obsession with animals, but hear me talk about something entirely different, like my vertical leap and 40 time, for example. Whatever floats your boat.

Please, let us know what you'd like to hear. Our next posts will be the choice of the people.

The Carlile Round-up: Post #3

Yes, 2 of my siblings have already blogged on this very topic, but it was such a great event, it deserves every post it gets. Here are a few of the pics I think are priceless from The Carlile Round-up. Enjoy! (Sorry for the duplicates as seen on other posts)

Trevor just doing his thing - getting us to central Oregon. He drove all 11 hours on the way home. I was very busy and not able to contribute.

On the way there I appeased Trevor and let him take the "scenic" route. It was a lot prettier than ol' Burns, OR, but it was quite a bit more curvey. The speed at which we took these curves caused some sickness for me, the passenger, but I always sacrifice pain for efficiency and we WERE going to beat the time the GPS said we would get there.

A picture as seen on many other blogs. The beautiful "river" of Sunriver, OR.


Here's a great pic from Trevor. Just capturing Ma and Pa enjoy one of the many, many tennis matches that happened over the week. To quote what my wonderful mother said to Trevor, "I would rather watch Les and Mere play than the U.S. Open." She may be the only person on the face of the earth that would say that. That's why she's our mom!


Photos from the epic match.


Trevor has really caught the tennis bug. He was always trying to get someone on the court with him....and I think he enjoyed having someone to play with that hits a bit harder than I. But if you think these movements above didn't take a toll on Trevor, think again.


This was Trevor by about day 3.


Horseback riding was of course an event during this round-up. This is really my father's world. He did this type of thing growing up. This passion did not get passed down to me, but I did it anyways and by the end of the hour decided I could handle a trot next time.


Trevor, however, seemed right at home on Big Riggs (his horse). There was much time spent "horse whispering" for Trevor.


Much picture taking went on. The best pictures seemed to be those that were snapped prior to the actual picture. What a dream.



This one of Mere is my Downeast-rugged-outdoors-magazine-spread photo. She plays the part so well.

Then of course some random gems.

Football Is No Longer Fun

Well, BYU football is officially no longer fun for me.

In the past I've had fun, but I can't anymore. I've become too emotionally involved, and I need help. Let me tell you my sorrows........

In the Northern Iowa game the 3rd quarter caused me enough stress to make the game not enjoyable. Sure we won 41-17, but I left so concerned about a few things that I couldn't enjoy it. I went home frustrated and confused but eventually attributed it to first game kinks.

Then there's this week against UW. This one was even more difficult for me.

So my grandma invited me up to Bear Lake to accompany her on a family research trip. I figured I'd be a good grandson and go, but told her only upon the condition that I could watch the game. Since her condo didn't have the channel, I called all the restaurants around Bear Lake before I left and finally found one in Montpelier, Idaho (most notable for having its bank robbed by Butch Cassidy - who was raised Mormon by the way) that said they had the channel.

However, on the morning of the game, while walking through the parking lot, I ran into a guy wearing a BYU hat. After my standard greeting of "Go Cougs," we got to talking. I asked him if he was going to watch the game, and if so, where. He told me some long story about how he'd spent 2 hours the night before convincing the owner of their condo to add the right sports package so they could watch the game. And then he said "So we're in 253, come on over."

"Really?" I asked.

"You betcha," he said.

I was ecstatic. I was elated. I was overjoyed. I didn't have to drive 40 minutes to Montpelier and I was going to get to watch it with other Cougar fans. My day had just gotten much better. I wrote the condo number down on my hand and skipped and whistled to my car.

So at 12:55 I showed up at 253 and knocked on the door. No answer. 252. No answer. 251, 250, 254, 263, 153, 123..........no answer. By this time I was FREAKING out. I wandered around the condos looking in people's back windows trying to find these guys but had no luck. Stupid, moronic, flaky, Level 1 fan. I was so mad.

I am not kidding and am not ashamed to say that I was nearly in tears at this point. I didn't know what to do.

Finally, at around 1:30 I decided to cut my losses and drive to Montpelier. I averaged around 95 MPH and got there in 25 minutes. I finally found the right place, the Montpelier Grill, and rushed inside. Luckily the waitress was accommodating and just gave me the remote to the tv and said, "Have at it." There were about 4 minutes left in the first half when I got there.

I ordered some food so the waitress would leave me alone and then got focused on the game. My stress level did not go down at all once I could actually watch. We were inconsistent and I couldn't take it. I was jumping out of my seat and yelling at the tv while the waitress and cook stared at me (there was no one else in the entire place the whole second half).

When Unga went into the endzone I jumped up in exaltation. Only to dive back into my booth when I realized he'd fumbled.

I stood 4 feet in front of the tv the entire final drive.

When everything was all said and done, I felt like I'd just gotten a D on a long test. Stressed, tired, happy that I didn't fail, but not really satisfied with how I did.

On my drive home I had some time to reflect and it was then that I realized that I hadn't had any fun that entire game. I was too nervous to enjoy it. I've decided I need blowouts to really enjoy myself.

So what do I do? But before you answer, just know that I'm not willing to care any less.

Help me out readers.....my mental health and my wife will both thank you.

And luckily on Saturday, I was able to blow off some steam by going out after the game and doing some jet skiing with my grandma. But grandma and the jet ski won't be there every week.

Return of the Droid

For those of you who don't know, my brother Andy (more commonly known as "Droid") has been in Russia for the past 2 years serving a mission. He just got home in August and Lesley and I went home to see him. He talks a little weird because of his Russian syntax, but it was a great visit. We had a good time seeing him after so long. Here are a few pics from that weekend.

Since I was flying in about 20 minutes before Andy, I was able to go directly to his terminal and wait for him there, and not at security. I snapped this shot right as he got off the plane onto the tarmac.


Left: Droid and 'rents Right: Droid, still smaller than his older brothers


Uncle Andy with his nieces


He picked up this one-eye cross-eyed thing in Russia. Crazy Ruskies.


Left: Convincing Cameron that he's met Andy before Right: The semi-awkward brother hug


A little Winn family street football
(Check out the size disparity between Brad & Cameron)

Because Andy's such a big golfer, we had a mini golf tournament on Saturday. I wanted to take advantage of Andy not having played in 2 years and get a victory over him, but I didn't even come close. I guess my 11 on hole 15 didn't help too much. It took Andy about 5 swings and he was back to his smooth swinging ways.

It's good to have Andy back. We're very proud of the service he performed the last 2 years in Russia. He's blessed the lives of so many over there, as well as his family back here in the United States. We're proud of you Droid.

He'll be heading to BYU-Idaho this week to begin school. He has a blog now too! Droid's Dome. Check out his post about his first date post mission.