utah vs colorado

score 24-17

football season is officially over for the utes.

they ended like they should, with a WIN!!!

all us cousins loved cheering on our favorite players, jason and alex.

can't wait to see the two of them tear up the field together next year!

(oh, and what happened to my little brother and cousin?  they have turned into giants!)

utah @ oregon

score: 21-44

i don't have fond memories of autzen stadium (the last time i was there i got more soaked than i ever have in my life… not to mention we lost), but we decided to make the trip to eugene anyway.

i went to dinner with my mom and the other wives when we got there, and then dawson and i contemplated going out on the town… and then thought again and decided that staying at the hotel and relaxing was a much better idea.  we are hermits at heart. 

the game was much drier than the 2009 game but the end result was the same… however it was much better than before because #1 dawson was with me,  and #2 our friends were there with us!

friends make everything better.  the nicols and the rices road tripped out to oregon and we couldn't have been more glad they did.  you have no idea how happy i am that we have friends who are utes.

it's hard to have lost 4 games in a row (i thought i was gaining weight from victory meals, but turns out i'm gaining weight from depression eating), and i know it's even harder on my dad, the coaches, and the players.  but we love and support them all no matter what (especially my dad).  it's always a good day to be a ute.

go utes!!!

utah vs asu

score 19-20

it was the salute america game so we got to show our american pride. 

the pretty sunset even cooperated as you can see from above.

however as you can also see in the picture above, our faces describe our feelings perfectly.

to lose by one point after being two touchdowns ahead in the 4th quarter… heartbreaking.

but everyone tried their hardest and cousin jason had an amazing game.

we are proud of those fighting for our country, and our utes who play their hearts out every week!

utah @ washington state

score 37-49

we didn't make it to this away game, because

1- i had a dermatologist appointment that i had made 3 months ago and i didn't want to miss just in case i ended up having a mole that was cancerous and i didn't want to wait another 3 months to find out,
2- grandma nancy was getting released from the hospital and needed a ride back to provo, and
3- pullman isn't the most desirable of destinations...

plus, we ended up watching the game at julie's house and she made as a mexican fiesta for dinner which was amazing.

we learned that our fear that us going to away games is bad luck was proved wrong, because we weren't there and we still lost.  i was really worried (but secretly hoping) that was the case and we would pull of a win and be closer to becoming bowl eligible.  but it was not meant to be.

one more game left in the season now to show everyone what the utes are made of!  i know they can pull it off.  bring on colorado!

utah @ usc

we were stoked to be able to go to LA for the game, mostly because ash & sam were going to be there!  

we hung out at the hotel for the night & then convinced ourselves we needed to go out and do something "LA-ish".  

and since our hotel was giving free rides to LA live, that's where we went.  

looking back it probably wasn't the best of ideas,
seeing as sam is 17 & ashley is recovering from a blood clot in her lung.  

but it sure was (kind of) fun for the 45 minutes that it lasted.

away game trips are definitely short & sweet. well. short and sweet if we win, short & miserable if we lose.

we left for LA at 3pm, the next day the game was at 1pm, and we were home by 9pm that night.  

most of us power napped on the way there,. and by most of us i mean dawson
(who falls asleep the second we take off)

and kylie & sam (who inherited the same whittingham gene that i have that makes us sleep with our mouths open).

the game itself was an absolute nightmare (turnover city AGAIN).
i kept thinking we were going to start doing better but then we wouldn't.
where did the team go that beat stanford? i don't know.

but before the misery started it was fun to hang out with the fam and tailgate.
whittinghams sure love food, even if it is average, mass-produced tailgating food.

while i still think the coliseum is one of the most obnoxious places to play ever
(their band is set up with speakers that blare right at the visitor section -
which i might add is the absolute worst seats of any visiting section in america),
it wasn't quite as bad as two years ago when the male cheerleader had a microphone
and kept saying in his extremely nasally voice "beat the yewts".

very fun trip, terrible game.
but we still think the utes can pull off a 6+ win season and go bowling!
(power of positive thinking, people, just go with it)

utah @ arizona

score 24-35

i rushed home from work to catch the game (and by home i mean to my parents house since they have a bigger tv).  the rices, nicols, and millers were already there with dawson to watch the game with us. 

the boys were so inspired that at halftime they went outside to have their own football game.  they only played for about 20 minutes but when they came back they filled the room with the stench of their sweaty bodies. 

poor hubbies, getting so stinky after such a short game.  poor wives, having to deal with the combined stinky sweat of 4 boys.  and poor utes, because they lost and it was very very sad. 

but thankfully my parents had leftover little ceasars and ice cream in their fridge because almost nothing can make me feel better than cold pizza and some haagen dazs.

utah vs stanford

score 27-21

WE BEAT STANFORD!!!

i'm not lying when i say that i have had a good feeling about this game since before the season started.

i have faith in the utes and my pops and i even thought we could be 6-0 at this point

(which if a few plays had gone differently, we most certainly could be).

dawson and i were twins, which seeing as we got ready together you might think was planned,

but it actually was completely by coincidence.

all the cousins were cheering jason, coach whitt, and the utes on.

jason was a beast as always.

he dislocated his kneecap during the game and after getting it taped up, went right back out on the field.

he was definitely the MVP in our mind!

after the game and field celebration were over, we didn't want the party to end.

so we headed to in-n-out for another victory meal!

all i'm going to say is if we keep having huge wins like this,

you might be seeing our waistlines expand... but it'll be worth it!!!

utah vs ucla

score: 27-34

the blackout game.

we have had some good success with the blackout in the past, but not this year.

our 2 losses this season have been heart-wrenching, down to the wire games.

we stayed with the #12 team in the nation all the way to the end, even with 6 (yes 6) interceptions.

while "almost" doesn't count, it sure has made us proud of our utes!

i was somehow scheduled to work a day shift which means i should get off work about 7:30pm,

which was cutting it pretty close to the 8:00pm kick-off time.

of course it was a crazy day so i didn't get off til exactly 8, so dawson picked me up and drove like a maniac to get us there.

i was lucky enough however, to take care of a patient that day who was the biggest ute fan in the hospital.

he came up from surgery and the first thing he told me was to find his ute blanket.

and then told me how devastated he was that he wouldn't make it to the game that night.

when he found out i was going to the game and that i had a little bit of a connection to the utes, 

he was thrilled and insisted his wife take a picture of us.
i don't want to get in trouble with HIPPA though, so i had to do a little editing.
however it is an uncanny resemblance.

no, football isn't everything.

but to me and this guy, it is pretty dang important!!!

utah @ byu

score: 20-13

see ya in two, kewgers!!!!

the rivalry is taking a few years hiatus and i couldn't be happier.

am i happy because we don't have to deal with the drama of rivialry week for awhile?

or happy because we have won the last

4 YEARS IN A ROW

and byu has to come to terms with the fact that the utes totally dominate them?!

probably both.

(but will they come to terms with it? no. they will continue to whine and say that they are the best blah blah blah.)

we had the best looking cheering section in the stadium.

and while it was hard to hear us over all the boo's of the byu fans, we still did a pretty good job.

grandma nancy decided not to wear her headdress, but she managed to put together a stellar outfit.

we had to cheer extra loud any time they had to announce a tackle by "jason whittingham" 

(which happened quite often)!

jason is becoming quite the player and we love being his fan club.

and of course we had to do the traditional in-n-out meal after the victory.

my dad was in such a good mood that he bought gordon monson and PK

(who were devastated that their predictions of a byu win were incredibly wrong - typical life of a byu fan)

and even some members of the byu student body burgers and fries.

i must say, a cheeseburger animal and strawberry shake have never tasted so good.

we are so proud of the coaches and the players for all the hard work they put in for each and every game,

but we are especially proud of coach whit.

win or lose, all us whittinghams are his biggest fans!

GO UTES!



utah vs oregon state

score: 48-51

so... the game didn't go quite as i planned.  i imagined us winning this one, maybe even by a lot.

it turned out to be a nailbiter, ending in an overtime loss.  it was very sad and we were all a little heartbroken.

i was even more heartbroken that the game ended at 12:30pm, and i worked the next day at 7am. 

yuck.

on a little bit brighter note...

 it was the homecoming game and they decided to bring alumni cheerleaders back to do the fight song!

when i first told dawson about it he thought i was joking.  then he was embarrassed and tried to talk me out of it.

and then i told him all the cool kids were doing it...  and finally he accepted the fact and (kind of) cheered me on.

to be honest, we were all a little embarrassed for ourselves.

but it was fun for all of us to pretend for a little bit that we aren't old ladies.

if you can believe it, most of us are married now and some of us even have kids...

but we are all still cheerleaders at heart!

utah vs. weber state

score: 70-7

good friends, 10 touchdowns, and super nachos.  it was a good day.

oh and my dad is the coolest.

utah vs usu

score: 30-26

welcome back college football!

the most fun yet stressful time of the year.

for most people football season means their saturdays just got a little more entertaining,

but for me my saturdays just got a lot more nerve-racking.

it would be nice if i could enjoy football games like everyone else.

like maybe tailgating, socializing with friends, celebrating a win or quickly moving on from a loss.

instead i have sky-rocketed anxiety levels...

can't eat the whole day cuz i'm so nervous...

can't sit by friends because i can't be distracted ...

can't drink anything because then i'd have to leave the game to use the bathroom

(heaven forbid i miss a play)...

and then more stress because i worry about my cute dad and whether his head is going to explode or not.

that being said, i love football with all my heart and am so excited for this season!

we didn't tailgate this game (like i said, the thought of food was terrifying),

but we did go to the ute walk since i think it's good luck.

we also went down on the field for a little bit for pregame.

ashley has been doing a video internship at the U so she was down on the field as media crew.

probably the cutest media crew member you will ever see

(also the only one who isn't a sweaty 200+ lb male).

president uchtdorf has made it a habit of coming to the first game of the season,

so he was down on the field too.

what can i say, the guy knows what team to cheer for!

he also took the time to speak to the families of the players who got in the fatal car accident this summer.

it's a heart breaking story and i hope the families found some comfort after speaking to him.

they honored our player who passed away, gaius 'keio' vaenuku #95, before the game,

and it was really cool to see the whole MUSS hold up his number,

as well as the stickers on the players helmets that they will be playing with this year.

overall the game was too stressful on everyone.

i'm not going to lie, when we were down 23-14 i almost gave up hope.

thank heavens for a well planned out and practiced on-side kick at the perfect time,

because it changed the whole game for us.

dawson said it was a perfect college football game because it was exciting down to the last play.

i say it was horrible because i would rather have us win by 50 points and it be the most boring game ever.

we'll see who gets more of what they wish for the rest of this season!

another whittingham has joined the family affair!!! alex decided to walk onto the team and is the 3rd whittingham to wear a ute jersey.