Once upon a time, Christmas was a one day affair celebrated universally on 25 December, but no more in modern day American family life.
Thus, on 20 December we loaded up . . .
. . . Santa's Sleigh
For the five hour drive to Las Vegas to both celebrate Christmas with Jenn, Andy and Kevin and see our beloved Washington Huskies play the Boise State Broncos in the 21st Annual Maaco Las Vegas Bowl.
My Room!!!
Fortunately for Kevin, his father inherited the Gardner family genes when it comes to being handy with tools. The room is just waiting for the Tank to get a tad older before he is ready for full ownership of . . .
. . . The Rocket Room
After settling in on Thursday, we decided to open presents on the morning of the 21st.
Kevin's first present of the day
This is FUN!!!
LOTS of fun!!!
A boy and his cars
Grandma to the rescue
"Every woman's crazy 'bout a
sharped dressed man!"
Disturbing Manger Scene
Some Assembly Required . . .
. . . But it was worth it!
Well Worth It Indeed!!!
What an incredible feeling to be a Grandfather with this little guy!!!!!!!
Uh-Oh
Trader Joe's importing Beaujolais Nouveau straight from the vineyards of the greater Lyon region.
I feel a headache coming on for some reason.
The 21st Annual
Maaco Las Vegas Bowl
The 7-5 Washington Huskies of the PAC-12 were invited to take on the Mountain West Conference Champion, 10-2 Boise State Broncos on 22 December in the desert.
This was the third straight bowl game season for the Dawgs who beat Nebraska 19-7 in the 2010 Holiday Bowl and then lost a wild one to Baylor 67-56 in the 2011 Alamo Bowl.
Lonnie Hursey
After a few years of communicating via phone and the Internet, I finally met Lonnie for the first time in person the night before the Las Vegas Bowl. He is a very upbeat and optimistic young man who has been coaching American football in Norway and India in recent seasons. He was in Las Vegas with his brother Luke for the game and some unspoken fun I suspect.
Lonnie was the coach of the Hässleholm Hurricanes in Sweden in 2009. He laid a great foundation for me to build upon when I was the Hurricanes' coach in 2010.
Good times indeed!
Kevin was ready!
Fortunately for him, we all agreed that he was too young to experience first hand the Greek tragedy that is being a loyal Husky fan. Thus he was left behind to romp with his cousin Sasha at Jenn's sister's home.
A Bronco State Jeff Edwards fan?
Santa and two Mrs. Clauses?
Must be Mormon.
Husky Tailgate
LET THE BAND PLAY!
Leading the Cheers
The Husky Band in Action
I need a pair of these!
Laurie can be such a tart when
Harry the Husky is around
Contreras Family
On to the game!
Can you tell that Andy
and I are related?
Mike and Susan D'Antuono
Great, great people who we don't see often enough.
Bow Down to Washington!
After a BIG Flag and . . .
. . . a Fly By
We were all ready!!!
Here comes Boise State
It's Vegas Baby!!!!!
Huskies on offense
Boise State led 18-17 at the end of an entertaining but frustrating first half.
It got cold
Nevada cold that is, not France cold.
Broncos driving
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Huskies took our first lead of the game 26-25 thanks to a 38 yard field goal.
It would not be enough as Boise State marched down the field after a big kickoff return to win it 28-26 on a 27 yard field goal with 1:16 left in the game.
Just enough time for one last Husky interception to seal our fate yet again.
We are now 3-8 in bowl games in the 20 seasons since coaching legend Don James stepped down as the leader of the UW program.
With James at the helm, the Dawgs were 10-4 in bowl games, were Conference Champions six times and won the 1991 National Championship with a 12-0 record.
WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR!!!
