First week of school + BYU football game!

Good morning!

BYU classes started this week!

Provo has come back to life with a full campus of students back for the fall, and football season in full swing! There is an exciting rush and energy in the air, and it's contageous!

{images borrowed from BYU's Facebook page}

Along with the rest of BYU, Matt started classes on Tuesday! It looks like it's going to be a busy semester: on top of his classes and ROTC stuff, he was asked by a previous professor to be the TA for a history class this semester! It sounded like a great opportunity, so of course he said yes. :)

TA: Matthew Neuffer!

He'll be great at it. :) 

The begining of classes also meant that early-morning ROTC Physical Training ("PT") restarted! Three times a week during the school year the Army guys meet on campus for an hour-long workout as a group. It starts at the crack of dawn, but I went with them every day! I run on the indoor track while they do their thing. It feels great to get up and get going. :)

The only problem is that my RunKeeper app can't seem to makse sense of running in circles. Haha.

RunKeeper doesn't do so hot with track running. Haha.

"run for your life" quote over the indoor track.

Post-workout sunrise. :)

Their workout schedule fits perfectly with my early-morning yoga classes. On weekday mornings, if we're not at one, we're at the other! (Matt works out while I teach)

Yoga classes are still going strong - we've had SO many people buying memberships at the Rec Center this fall that we've had to hire additional instructors and add several group fitness classes. My classes have consistantly been very full - especially my Saturday class. It's great! It's been fun to have friends come to check out my class, too. 

My fall schedule is the same: T / Th 6am, Sat at 10am. A day pass is $5 and that will get you in!

While Matt's been busy with school I've had all my time filled by work! Wellness programming at the Rec Center is really starting to take off and I've been enjoying planning, advertising, leading, and overseeing wellness classes! There's A LOT more that goes into program planning than I expected, and I love it! My worksite wellness job has also been requiring a lot of attention since several of my accounts are starting new health programs for the fall. Whew!

But even with all of these things going on, we still found time for other activities!

On Friday evening we volunteered at the MTC. :)

We love helping out at the MTC. Not only is it an amazingly spiritual and joyful place, but they really need volunteers and it feels good to help! The missionaries bring such a positive influence into our days whenever we go that it's almost like they're helping us more than we help them. It's something I'm grateful to be able to do, since it's definately a Provo-specific activity!

And we found another 'landmark': the biking missionary statue! (Last time was THE map, haha.) I'm pretending to be on a bike here, obviously. ;) Once again it was cool to see something in person that before I'd only seen in a bunch of friends' pictures. 

Saturday started with a breakfast put on by our stake!

Our stake (a "stake" is a group of wards) put on a cute Welcome Back to School breakfast bright and early at the stake center. We were glad we went, because it was a fun and relaxed way to see friends and ward members, and get to know new people. And, since everyone in our stake lives in our apartment complex (welcome to Provo!), it was basically a neighborhood get-together. :)

Not too long after the breakfast, we headed out to the Rec Cener for yoga and a workout, respectively. It was another full class and a lot of fun! 

After we got back home Matt settled into a large to-do list of homework and I headed out for a five mile run. 

I went to Bridal Veil Falls, my FAVORITE run spot. I ran into this group of ducks and actually said "DUCKIES!" out loud when I saw them. Aah! I felt two years old.

After getting back home, it was time to go to the FIRST home football game of the season!! :D Matt and I have season passes to BYU athletics and we have been looking forward to using them! 

We were just about to walk out the door when a storm hit. 

It had been bright and sunny all day but one hour before kickoff, and within five minutes, the sky turned gray and the wind kicked up so much that cardboard boxes and stuff were flying through the air. Rain started coming down in sheets and lightning cracked down onto the mountains. I heard someone say they though it was a tornado! (it wasn't, but it felt like it!)

We decided to go to the game anyway, wearing rain coats and boots!

On the walk to the stadium gutters were overflowing and fans were run/walking away from the stadium, drenched and shivering. :( We also saw these creative teenagers boogie-boarding down the street!

When we got to the stadium we found that thousands of fans had been removed from the stands and directed to "take cover." 

Empty seats

We waited with the growing crowd by the entrance. 

It's a good thing we're used to rain from Oregon, because the game ended up being delated for TWO HOURS becuase of the weather!

People being directed out of the student section called "The ROC" 

The tough ones who stayed. Clearly not just "fair weather fans" :)

Fortunately, the weather eventually cleared up and we were all let back in! I was so impressed by how many poeple had stuck it out!

And it was all worth it becuase we beat Texas 40 to 21. :)

Something special about this game is that it's one of the few that Matt and I will actually be able to go to together! He wasn't in this week's game, but he'll be in the next one. 

That's beacuse he made it onto the George Q. Cannon Crew, a group of about 7 Army ROTC cadets who stand at the end zone and fire a cannon every time BYU scores a touchdown! Then they run out onto the end zone and do however many pushups as points BYU has. It's fun because the students start counting out how many they've done and they're on the big screen. I'm excited about it because so few poeple get to do it, but at the same time, it'll be sad not going to games together!

But it will always be a cool thing to look back on. :)

After this full week, Sunday is a welcome break! 

NEXT WEEK we'll be checking in from OREGON! Aah! :D We're so excited to go back, see friends + family, and go to a good friend's wedding!

Looking forward to telling you all about it then. :) Have a great week!