L to the O to the V to the E.

Since it's been 11 days since Valentine's Day, I should probably at least mention how mine went before I completely forget. It was awesome!!! Right before we went to bed the night before, we got a call telling us to go look at our back door. When we checked, we found three bouquets of roses!

We also found a poem written by J.J. and Tyler:

To the Robison girls who are awesome.

We give thee some Valentine’s blossoms.

But don’t stop reading yet,

Because thou wilt get,

Some Valentine’s rhymes,

That sound divine.

TO SARAH THE SWEET, for whom I would wait,

Can this be fate? I fall for thy bait.

Thy humor never fails to make me chuckle.

Whenever I see thee, my knees they do buckle.

TO BECCA THE WISE, thou hast stars in your eyes.

Thou art my demise. My heart is thy prize.

Thy musical skill leaves me wishing for more.

Thou makest me crumble right down to my core.

TO KATIE DIVINE, thou art very kind.

My heart thou dost bind because thou art fine.

Thy fun-loving nature always has sparkle,

Whether playing basketball, soccer, or Farkle.

Over our hearts thou hast great powers.

So we leave thee one dozen Valentine’s flowers.

As well as this poem, that seems as though from above,

To thee, the three girls whom we love.

The next afternoon, Becca, Sarah, and I made the boys an amazing dinner. Sarah made pasta with herbs and sun-dried tomatoes. It was delicious. Becca did some serious decorating and cleaning, and I made a frozen brownie-ice cream-cool whip dessert with cookie crumbs on top. Yes, I know. I am amazing. Then we wrote the boys a poem in return! And I must say, it was probably the best poem ever written.

Ode to Shipp 116

To the boys of Shipp 116,

This poem is for you, on whom we are keen.

We’d like to thank you on Valentine’s Day

For being yourselves in your own special way.

TO TYLER THE KIND, ‘tis you we adore,

For making us feel treasured and leaving roses at our door.

Your happy face lights up the room,

Your cheery voice dispels all gloom.

TO ERICK THE BRAVE, ‘tis you we crave.

When we are downhearted, it’s you who doth save.

With your humor, quick-wit, and the accent of a Brit

We have concluded that you are pretty legit.

TO NATHAN THE FAIR, in you we delight.

You’ll succeed in Africa even though you are white.

Your outgoing ways always make us smile,

And you always impress us with your great sense of style.

TO WADE THE MAGNIFICENT, ‘tis you we idolize.

We caress your brown hair, drown in your blue eyes.

We are so glad you don’t think we are homely,

When you’re in the room, we’ll never be lonely!

TO J.J. THE JUST, after you we do lust.

You’re over every day, seeing you is a must!

Though you’re underdressed, you look good in everything.

Your big hugs and ticklishness, much joy do they bring.

As you can see, we think you’re quite awesome.

Our love for you has only started to blossom.

You make the sun shine when skies are grey,

And so we’d like to say, Happy Valentines Day!

So we prepared a feast fit for a king. Or five kings...

I must say, it looks great for three girls on a college budget and a tight schedule. The boys loved their poems:

Look at how gentlemanly they are!

Although they weren't always completely... socially acceptable.

But we love them anyways!

All in all, a very successful dinner!

And a very exhausting one.

Old Spice is now a requirement for any future boyfriends.

Not because it smells good. Because of this commercial.

If you are greatly concerned for the future of society...

then you probably shouldn't watch this video.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

Last Thursday was quite a crazy day! J.J. and 4 of his roommates got their mission calls at the same day! After weeks of anticipation, the boys eagerly ripped open their envelopes and, with parents on the phone and their friends all around, found out where they would be serving for the next two years. Everyone was so excited! Here are some pictures of J.J., Nathan, and Luke opening their calls.

JOHN LYLE GIBBONS JR.
Opening the call...

California, Carlsbad Mission, Spanish-speaking!

A bit overwhelmed.

But still very excited!


NATHAN ANDREW HARBISON
"I have no clue where I'm going..."

"Mozambique, Maputo, Portuguese-speaking! No way! That's awesome! So... is that in South America or something?"

"Africa?!"


LUKE MORONI MILLER
"This is exciting! LOL."

"Guatemala, Quetzaltenango, Spanish-speaking!"

"Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Say that three times fast."

Erick also got his call, and is going to the Utah, Salt Lake South Mission, Spanish-speaking. Tyler waited for his family to arrive on Sunday to open his call to the Texas, Houston South Mission, also speaking Spanish!

All of the boys report to the MTC in early May, and four of the five are speaking Spanish. This is such an exciting time for all of us Mormon kids! We're going to miss those boys a lot for the next two years, but we know that they are going to do some amazing work and be awesome missionaries! I guess Sarah, Becca, and I had better stock up on our stationary...

BYU vs. Utah. A game of epic proportions.

So last Saturday was the game against our rival basketball team, the Utah Utes. To make sure we got seats, I went to the Marriott Center around 11 that morning and waited in line until 5:30 when the doors opened. I know, that is a ridiculous amount of time, but I was very productive and got a lot of homework done. It's amazing what one can do when one does not have access to the internet. Anyways, Sarah, J.J., and some boys from J.J.'s hall met up with me and we all went in there together. The atmosphere was crazy! The stands were packed and everyone was cheering and yelling before the game even started. The pregame show was so awesome! These huge white sheets were hung on the ceiling all around the scoreboard, and a short video was projected onto the sheets. Here's a video of it.



Of course, the game was crazy! Our team definitely played well. Tyler Haws, the freshman that everyone is really excited about, dunked a couple times, along with a few other players. The guy sitting behind me was so annoying. He kept analyzing the players and comparing them to himself. Seriously, dude. Chill. Also, your knees are digging into the thoracic region of my back and apparently you don't care. No, you do not have the right to criticize Jimmer Fredette's playing abilities. You don't even go to school here. And your half-popped collar looks ridiculous. You probably should fix that. Don't lecture the fans about the appropriate time to boo the refs. And please, please, please refrain from singing, or shrieking, the BYU fight song in my ear. It's disrespectful to this lovely institution, as well as to my eardrums. Thank you.

Anyways, one of the guys sitting in front of us was hilarious. Every time one sings the "Rah, rah, rah" part of the fight song, it is customary to punch the air with one's fist. It is not customary, though personally I think it would be a nice addition, to flex one's bicep with gusto for every 'rah' that you chant. But if you do plan on doing that, I recommend gazing intently at your bicep the entire time. That way, you can fully admire your own physical strength as you cheer on your team's.

Of course, during every BYU-Utah game, something happens that keeps people talking for weeks afterwards. The football game? Max Hall's infamous quote: "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, I hate their fans, I hate everything. I think the whole university, their fans, and their organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year, and they did a whole bunch of nasty things, and I don't respect them, and they deserve to lose." This caused quite a lot of attention for a while. Of course, he made a formal apology and everything, but seriously, man. No apology necessary. I bet he felt pretty justified in saying that, especially after what happened this game. For some reason or another, the starting point guard for Utah wasn't playing, so Henderson (#3 on the right) played for him. Henderson is a freshman, and this was his first game as a starter. Also, he looks like a middle schooler.

So, with 34 seconds left in the game, he struck out at Emery, hitting him in the face. Yet another example of pure testosterone taking over and causing chaos. Oh, I am glad to be a woman. Granted, it didn't look like a hard hit at all. But, as all experienced athletes do, Emery fell to the ground holding his face. The game was immediately stopped as the referees convened. The BYU fans started chanting things like, "Utah's classless!" and "Max Hall was right!" and "Kick him out! Kick him out!" Eventually, the referees ejected him from the game and everyone started singing, "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!" Here is a video that was obviously taken by an overexcited BYU fan.



I am also impressed with the Utah coach's audacity. This video doesn't even show the worst of it. He yelled at the referees constantly, followed them around talking to them about poor calls, and walking way too far onto the court. He's lucky he only got ONE technical!

Another great thing about this game was the change in uniform. For cancer awareness week, Nike picked four teams to wear special uniforms and, since our coach recently overcame cancer, BYU was chosen as one of the teams! The uniforms were sweet, especially the shoes!

All in all, the game was just as expected. Filled with annoying fans, awesome fans, annoying coaches, awesome players, and the beautiful sport of basketball.