Thanksgiving Friday

After dinner at my mother's home on Thursday, Laurie and I drove another hour south into Orange County, or the O.C. as they say on the Fox Network, to the town of Tustin to have a second Thanksgiving Day with Laurie's side of the family at the home of David and Gayle Hicks.

Laurie's Father, Bill Gardner and his wife Florene

Our nieces, Lyndsey McKenzie, left, and Amy Hicks, with Laurie having a "family" moment.

What's the Eiffel Tower doing in this post?

Lyndsey and I sat down and "played God" with some of my European Adventure pictures.  We had fun playing at being artistic.  This may have been our most interesting creation.

Lyndsey, Laurie and Gayle Hicks

Gayle is Lyndsey's mother and Laurie's beloved sister.

Peeling Potatoes

In another shared family cooking experience, Laurie and I got a chance to work together with sharp objects in hand.  This usually leads to trouble.

The Food Preparation Continues!

David carving, Gayle stirring and their son Tim mashing.

Sharing a prayer of Thankgiving before dinner.

Sarah, Bill and Florene's grand-daughter, Scott Hicks, David and a little bit of Bill.

Another chance to carbohydrate overload!

Post Gorging Sloth

To the right is John, Sarah's main squeeze.

And a really good guy I must add!

FOOTBALL FRIDAY

Game #1

Nebraska (8-4) beat Colorado (5-7) 40-31.  The fake Nebraska field goal flip to the kicker seen here was intercepted by a Colorado player and returned for a TD!

Game #2 on Boise State's World Famous Blue Field

Boise State (12-0) blasted Fresno State (7-5) 61-10.

One of our former Rio Mesa players, Jeff Edwards was a punter for the Broncos in the late 1990's.  He once told me that during two-a-days the new players to the team would have to get on the field early to clean off the various dead birds who had mistaken the field for a lake and had died diving for non-existent fish.  No lie, you can't make this stuff up!

The Finale, Game #3

In the weirdest game of the day by far, Arizona State (5-6) beat UCLA (4-7) 34-9.

Why do I say weird? Well because ASU tied the NCAA record by scoring four TDs ON DEFENSE!

Arizona State won despite running the ball 24 times for a whopping 21 yards and passing for only 101 more yards.

The Sun Devils won because of 287 punt and kickoff return yards compared to the Bruins' 19.

The four defensive TDs were, in order:

1.  A bizarre 17 yard fumble recovery when 21 players stopped playing because they thought it was an incomplete pass at the 12:29 mark of the second period.

2.  A 38 pass interception return, still in the 2nd quarter with 6:03 left.

3.  Another interception return, this time for 100 yards, with 9:50 left in the 4th quarter.

4.  And yet another interception returned a mere 45 yards with 9:04 left in the game.

Family, Food and Football...

Jason Johnson is right, this really is a GREAT time in the American Calendar of Events!!!