“Who am I Sir? A Utah Man am I!”

One of my most cherished family traditions is going to University of Utah football games.

I have very early memories of dressing in my red (the reason why red is my favorite color) and heading up to the football stadium. Sometimes these could be tortuous times. Maybe we had to park a little further than planned. Maybe it was pouring buckets or just down right freezing! Even during the not so successful of seasons (there have been a few of those,) there was no question who would be standing on their feet, the McFaddens! I love the excitement in the stadium. I love the marching band and clapping and singing along to the Utah Fight song after each touchdown!

I have a lot of fun memories of times when we have shown our Utah pride! Growing up, we had the U of U swamp cooler cover, the license plate holder and personalized plate to go with it. I have been able to travel to see them play in Las Vegas and San Diego. Some of my favorite games have been 3 bowl games, including the great 2004Fiesta Bowl!

(The Zierse family ready for a game in Las Vegas.)

(Carson's first Utah game versus UNLV.)

My family is very superstitious when it comes to game day! Number one, we have to have a bag of red Twizzlers (it can never be Red Vines) ready to open on kickoff. When we are at a game, we have to be there to watch warm ups. My brother says that he can always get a feel for how the game is going to be if he witnesses this moment. My mom’s newest superstition is that whenever she opens a bag of M&M’s, she immediately separates the red ones from all other colors, most importantly the blue ones! Most of this might sound silly to you all, but I love it! I look forward to it every year. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be there this season!

(This is us at the start of today's Utah vs. Michigan game. Notice Kelly has the opened bag of Twizzlers in hand!)

(Katelyn was watching intently, for about 10 seconds!)

(I do believe she is the cutest little ute!)

(Katie and Mom. Katelyn is having a bit of a bow malfunction!)

(These are just some pictures of us enjoying the first victory of the season. It was a bit of a nail biter, but Utah came away with a 25-23 win!)

I have since passed this great tradition on to my kids. Every time we watch a game, we proudly wear our red and white, eat our bag of Twizzlers, and cheer on our Utah Utes! As of right now, they don’t have the pleasure of attending the games in person (unless Kelly would start letting us travel to Salt Lake each week they play…not a bad idea!) But we at least have the next best thing, satellite dish! This will be the first season since I can remember that I won’t be to at least one game. It makes me a lot sad not to be there with my family, participating in one of the things I love most. But know this; I am for sure the biggest Utah fan in all of Arizona!

Our Four Legged and Furry Friend...

I seem to always post things about my kids and the silly things they do. I thought for a change, I would post about the 6Th member of our family. She is a two year old yellow lab named Sadie. She happens to be the best dog in the world (at least we think so!)



Reasons to love Sadie:
-She is so mellow. Unless she is being riled up by her master, (a.k.a. Kelly) she is just very mild mannered.

-She is so good with the kiddos. Never once has she snipped, growled, or shown any aggression to them, or anyone else for that matter.




-She is a great thing for the kids to climb on or wrestle with. They even try and ride her like a pony.



-She doesn't seem to mind when Katelyn grabs at her paws, tail, ears, mouth or whatever she can get her hands on.





-She is a great bug catcher! We tend to get a few crickets now and again (okay, we get TONS of crickets all the time!) and Sadie will chase them down and eat them. It is kind of nice to have a built in cricket eater!



-She is a good guard dog. Well, she is good at alerting us of any guest. But she is a little afraid of them once we've opened the door. She will usually run away with her tail between her legs. Forget the guarding, she is just good at the alerting part!



-She is a good traveler. Since we have had Sadie, she has traveled with us every time we have gone to Salt Lake. She does much better in the car then any of our children!



All in all, Sadie is a fun pet to have. She is very loving, gentle, and patient. We wouldn't trade her for anything!

"I Need New Lips. These Ones Are Broken"

Last week, Carson was being his usual rambunctious, busy, and adventurous, self, when he had a pretty good crash. Daddy had made him a tent using blankets and couch cushions. Kelly had used the baby gate as some "support." Well, Carson thought it would be fun to jump on top of the tent only to fall forward and hit his face right on the edge of the gate.



Thankfully dad was right there and quickly ran to his aid. I went to see what all the commotion was for and saw Kelly's hands full of blood. We soon discovered that all the blood was coming from his poor little bottom lip. Immediately, his lip was big and fat and he had three perfect incisions left from his top teeth. I don't know how they didn't go all the way through!

So after much screaming, he finally calmed down and let us put some ice on his mouth. All he wanted to do was sit with daddy with his ice pack. Now, he insists on having an ice pack for every little scratch!





Later that day he said to me, "Mom, I need new lips. These ones are broken."

Images.....

I saw this on a friends blog and thought it was fun. I decided to give it a try! Here's what you do. Try and guess the answer by the image. You can leave your answers in a comment. If you want to play along, just use Google Image to search for pictures that answer your questions. It is kind of fun to see the results of your search.

How old am I?

What is my first name?

What is my maiden name?

What is my grandmother's name?

Where was I born?

Where is my favorite place?

What place would I like to travel to?

What is my favorite thing? (one of many!)

What was a past pet?

What was a past love?

What is my favorite food?

What is my favorite color?

What is one (again of many) bad habits?

Fun in the California Sun!!

One of Kelly's favorite places on earth is the beach. He loves to be in the ocean. This past weekend, we were invited to spend a few days in La Jolla. We joined our friends, Tiffany and Freeman, for a fun filled weekend! We had a great time! We went to the beach, had a picnic in Balboa Park, and I even got to meet up with my brother who lives in L.A., for some dinner and a stroll around the San Diego Temple. It was great! Here are some pictures of our getaway!



Katelyn loved the water! Here she is just a laughing with Daddy and Connor.



Here are the kiddos playing a game they made up. They were pretending that this rock was their ship.



We spent Monday morning at La Jolla Cove. This was a great place for snorkeling and playing. It was really beautiful too.







We had such a great time hanging out at the beach and watching the kids play in the sand and water.



This picture cracks me up because it looks like Kate is giving Nate a massage. Too cute!











Tiffany and her family had access to this incredible beach house! We had such a relaxing time hanging out and laughing and just enjoying each other's company. Thanks Freeman and Tiffany!