Back from South America, Airports, Utah, and Weddings

I just got back from a long absence last Wednesday. It began with a trip to Peru with some friends. I am still processing the pictures, but we had a great time and I will be putting up some great pictures just as soon as I can. Problems is that I have just been busy every night since I got back. I am that in demand. But I will get to it sooner than later. Right after Peru, really less than 12 hours after returning from Peru, I took off to Utah to visit the folks and see some friends. Didn't sleep much those days, but it was fine and worth it. Upon arriving I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was there the weekend of the Greek festival so I was able to go and celebrate the family heritage with some delicious food and an uncannily large number of Greek youth dancers.

Pretty good. Way better than the Hungarian dancers I saw and I was even in Hungary. The food was fantastic. We had gyros, dolmathes, spanakopita, and many other things that I cannot remember the right name for, but most if not all were made with philo dough which is easily a great form of dough. It ranks up there with many other great doughs like cookie and the moolah kind. As if the Greek festival wasn't enough I then was able to go to the Utah-UNLV game that night.

It is always great to be back at Rice Eccles and see the sea of red all around me and realize that I am not the only Ute fan out there and plenty of others are just as crazy about all this as I am (and girls look great in red). Oh and now with the uniform and equipment contract with Under Armour the Utes have their own Under Armour style pregame commerical. Its full of testosterone and click clack. The game had me a bit worried at first. The Utes came out pretty flat and UNLV started pretty well. It was like last year all over when the Utes were whooped by the Rebels right after a huuuuuuge win against UCLA. Now we were coming off another big win against Michigan (which by the way I missed because I was in Peru, but an internet cafe full of Peruvians was able to see and hear me celebrate upon learning the great news) and losing to UNLV again. We were tied at halftime 14-14. I thought all my luck had run out and then something happened. We got our halftime cokes, this time with no ice since they were out and the Utes flipped a switch or something because they came out like a whole new team and proceeded to pummel the Rebels in every way on offense and defense. They didn't stand a chance after that. Here's the final scoreboard.

Almost nothing feels as good as a Ute victory. That night they also celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the new Rice Eccles stadium with some fireworks. I grabbed a video of it here.

I snuck a bit of the flashing U in there. If you listen closely you can hear some Utesified version of "Back in Black" called "Back in Red". It takes everything you remember from the original and makes it all about Utah football. It even throws in some rap. With lines like "Uh-oh I hope you're ready for the Red Quake, Comin' from the Mountain West out of Salt Lake" it will truly be remembered in the annals of all time great Utah related songs.

I was also able to go to my home ward and see some friends. I even was able to smoke up some meats while home including some great spareribs and a 13 pound brisket for a party my Dad was having. I think it turned out pretty good.

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to be invited to my friend Josh's wedding. I was there for every bit of it and it was great. I was the only one of his old high school and college buddies there (not including family) so I immediately jumped to the top of the friend chain. Numero Uno. There is not much anyone can do to take me down from there now. Sorry Jarv and Ricky even your Mom agreed that I was a superior friend. It was a great wedding and I was glad to be there. Here's the happy couple.

And here is all of us at the luncheon.

As far as weddings go, and I have been to at least 3 now, this was a pretty nice one. I am happy for them and wish them the best.

Day after the wedding it was time to pack it up, go to my favorite restaurant in SLC, and fly on home. It was a great little trip and I am glad that I did it. Now I am figuring out what I do at work again. I'll get it figured out and I will also have some Peru pictures up soon.