Reno Mahe -- Dallin's new best friend, Dustin's excellent adventure, other miscellaneous updates...

We're lucky enough to live in the same ward as the world's coolest BYU alum, Reno Mahe. For those of you who aren't BYU football fanatics, Reno pretty much ruled the wide receiver position during his three years as BYU. He then followed that up with a decent career with the Philadelphia Eagles, including one year when he led the NFL in punt returns.

Well, Reno is no longer playing in the NFL (although rumor has it that he might get signed by the Utah Blaze), but has settled in nicely into the ward. A week ago Dallin, Kristen and I were his guests at the Cougar Club rally before the San Diego State game where he addressed the crowd. Dallin got a pretty good seat, as evidenced below...



Yup, that's my son sitting next the big guy. Dallin got to hold his sunglasses and gloves while he spoke. Dallin thought that was pretty cool. He then brought us down to the field, where we got to take some fun pictures...

I'm the fat one.

and the kids got a picture with Cosmo. This was Krissy's first BYU game, and while she enjoyed it, I think she like buying food there better -- she got oven roasted almonds and nachos. I need to help her understand the game better and I think she'll love it.


Dustin had a pretty scary bout with the croup this past week. The first night he was up several times barking like a seal, then the next night his wheezing got so back the poor guy was fighting to catch his breath. Sources say he even passed out it got so bad. Karli and Dallin drove him to the emergency room, where they gave him breathing treatments and kept him for the night for observation. I was at a corporate retreat that evening in Midway, Utah and falling asleep when Karli told me what was going on. I immediately packed my things, and drove home to comfort the kids, who were pretty worried about their little brother.

Poor Karli was pretty exhausted when she got home, so I took the day off to take care of both her and Dustin.

Dustin is just fine now, back to being as wild and crazy as ever.

On Friday afternoon I got a phone call from my boss, Chester Elton, who told me to take the family out to dinner, on him. He told me to go to a fancy restaurant and order everything we wanted, including dessert -- especially desert -- and that if the kids were too full for desert, he wanted them to 'order desert to bring home.'

"Just make sure you keep the bill under $1,000," he said.

So we excitedly took Chester up on his generous offer and went to the restaurant the kids have always wanted to go to -- TGIFridays. When I told the kids about Chester's demands to order big and get whatever they wanted, they were awestruck.

"You mean I can order off the adult menu AND get a soft drink AND desert?" Dallin asked.

The kids loved it. Katelyn said it was the best meal she ever ate. Dallin kept eating and eating. Kristen got ribs. Dustin got a smoothie. I started to realize that I need to get my kids out more.

It was an absolutely awesome night, we had so much fun. My wife and kids love where I work, and I think it's great to work for bosses who practice what they preach.

And we kept the bill under $1,000 -- barely.

Katelyn will be performing in 'The King and I' on Thursday, November 20th at 6:30 p.m. at Ridgeline Elementary. She's been working hard on the dancing and the singing parts. She tells me she gets to wear a lot of white face paint -- she thinks. Admission is free. Everyone is invited to attend.

We're getting ready for next week's Thanksgiving trip to Washington D.C. with the Orton family. We'll all be visiting the landmarks, the Smithsonian, the Zoo, Mount Vernon and Philadelphia during our visit. I'm just excited to play with all those little nieces and nephews. Don't worry, you'll get lots of photos posted here when we get back.

Well, that's it for now... Have a great week.

Pat