donkey basketball

the lack of interesting posts as of late is due to the fact that we have been having so much fun lately and i have not found enough time to blog about all the adventures. besides an interesting trip to tummi yummi's and the march madness super dates with the nortons, we have managed to squeeze in some other odd entertainment worth blogging about.

for starters- donkey basketball. i grew up in sandy which means that the only donkeys i ever saw were on tv or at some girls camp ranch. so, when cade, eddie, juan chico and jason announced they would be playing in the donkey basketball tournament, i just figured that was the fancy name of some 3 on 3 tournament put on by the college of agriculture. despite cade and eddie's repeated explanations, kylee and i refused to believe that the players ride actual donkeys. but look at these boys... how are we supposed to believe anything they say?

well, turns out the boys weren't lying. this was one of the funniest things i have ever seen. cade made a little video for you all to enjoy...



so donkey basketball is just like it sounds- you sit on donkey and play basketball. simple enough, right? the hardest part seemed to be the obstinate donkeys. they did as they pleased and were usually pulled by the rider to recover any loose balls. to make matters worse- there was a little referee man running around the court with a whip to stir up some havoc and make the donkeys run for it. it was chaos. the only rule as far as i could tell: you can't pass or shoot while off your donkey- which our boys broke only a few times.

cade's donkey was a little devil and just dragged him around the court on a full gallop. every video clip you see of cade involves him chasing it down or trying to jump on as it trods off. the beginning of the second round was even delayed as the entire crowd cheered for cade to catch and get on his donkey- but the stubborn thing had other plans. cade even tried to be friends with his donkey. he would see it try to itch itself and cade would reach in and scratch as hard as he could on the seemingly troubled spot. yet- the donkey never seemed to warm up to him.

here are the boys practicing before one of their games.

yes, that really happened in front of a large crowd.

in the end, the boys pulled off a huge win! they took second place in the tournament after a narrow final loss to the agricultural students (who, by the way, kicked the donkeys in the eyes to make them go the direction they wanted...i didn't like that).

they still got a trophy! or a wooden stool... whatever.

the herald journal caught a great pic of cade at his leaping best... you'll have to click here to see them as i am unable to figure out how to steal them properly.

but there you have it, folks. donkey basketball is real and an important part of the madness in march.

couple competes in bracket challenge

mar. 21, 2009 logan, ut- mach madness is underway this week and as the economy continues to crush people's spirits- perhaps the best medicine around is a little friendly competition. coworkers, families and old high school buddies are all prepped for this year's dance with their carefully calculated tournament brackets and traditional bets. people from all over the nation are tuning in to see how their brackets are fairing and where they stand in their own set of rankings.

cade and ashley taylor, newlyweds and students at utah state university joined the bracket madness with a friendly wager of their own this year.
"i haven't ever been one to fill out a bracket before but i like the idea of getting a back rub and a candy bar if i win. i also like the idea of bragging rights," ashley told us as the couple filled out their brackets.
the couple agrees that the ncaa bracket challenge is a great tradition and a fun way to enjoy the games. it seems the only aspect of the tournament they don't agree on is how to pick a winner.

when it comes to filling in the slots of a bracket, some will do extensive research and look deep into statistics and trends. many fill their brackets with the top ranked teams and seemingly obvious winners. others like to see the underdog win and base their brackets around upsets, the sound of a university's name or even their mascot. perhaps the most intoxicating aspect of march madness is that even those who flippantly pick their winners still have a chance at beating those who have done their background work. you never know what will happen with all this madness in the air.

the taylors ran into this polarization in their picking processes as well. cade carefully looked through the statistics and compared previous wins of the teams he thought would succeed, while ashley simply went on gut feelings and old grudges. as the first round comes to a close- it looks as though the gut feelings are suprisingly paying off more than the research. ashley leads the competition by 40 points.
"i stink at picking brackets," cade told us after the first round had concluded. "what is the fun of picking all the top-seeds? i am caught between the heartbreak of a poor performing bracket, and the lack of fun it is to just pick the most likely candidates."
ashley is basking in the light of the early lead.
"although i overestimated my utah teams in these first few rounds, i really think that back rub will be mine."
so it doesn't matter how you pick your team or who you pick to win- in the end, the best part of march madness is a well deserved back rub and candy bar. may the best bracket win!

spring break checklist

essential elements of a great spring break:

forget your camera- check
use your sister's pictures and images from google- check
(below: google image of a broken down aztec)

have your car break down in green river, ut- check
have it fixed in moab- check
make friends with an elderly moab local who buys you stickers- check
fall asleep at the mechanic- check
leave with car still making horrific noises and quitting if you go slower than 60 mph- check
finally make it to denver- check

see how much little owen has grown up- check
go on owen's first bowling expedition -check
have cade show owen the flintstone bowling form- check

go to a park that is straight out of a dr. seuss book- check


bring hurley (one, huge dog), roxy (one, protective dog) and mia (a dog in a wheelchair) and be the center of attention- check
go wild on all the funky park toys- check


have late night conversations with your sister you love so much- check
practice "itsy bitsy spider" with owen- check
eat great food- check
sleep in- check
pretend to fix the car- check

putt, putt back to utah- check
take car to roger's house for some real fixing- check
go to a job interview (cade)- check
purr back to logan in our newly fixed car- check

all in all- we did everything on the list!

one fabulous february

the last part of february was quite the whirlwind of events.
for starters... our book club had its first meeting at the taylor home. i don't know who we are kidding by having a book club in the middle of a semester. the goal was to be on page 300- which most of us missed by over half. jordan hasn't even started the book, but not wanting to miss out on any of the discussion/delicious crepes, he still came to the meeting.

the fun continued as cade, sam and eddie (the nice gents that they are) decided to plan an activity they called "women's appreciation day" (aka WAD). this of course meant that we went out for a steak dinner and then to a jazz game on the date. in retaliation, the girls are already planning the much anticipated "men's appreciation day" (aka MAD) which will be full of craft projects, vegetable trays and mad about you dvds. i'll be sure to keep you posted.

despite being fooled into thinking the boys had hearts, the night really was fun. it was nice payback, however, to see that cade was sitting on a chocolate bar the entire ride from logan to salt lake. i can only imagine the disgust of the people who walked in on cade in the trax bathroom scraping this creamy surprise from his pants with a library card.
the jazz game was fantastic and of course we hung around afterwards to hassle david james. i will never forget eddie yelling, "hey david- how 'bout a wave?" nor will i forget david james waving at eddie while explaining to that manning guy that he doesn't know eddie or any of those boys. we hung around so long, we even got our picture taken on center court like the kids and visiting asians do.


after the game, things really started to heat up. back in the parking garage, things were moving slow and we knew that we were going to be there a while. instead of waiting in the line of cars, the boys continued the 'appreciation' night by playing a ruthless game of double dog dare. the dares started out harmless enough. kylee tried to get into someone's car while they were driving, eddie pretended to hit someone else's car with a baton and i ended up asking some people who were leaving if we could follow them out of the gate because we forgot our money. don't worry- they agreed but we still didn't get in the cars. there were more dares to dish.

the final dare came when the boys saw some tucano's workers pushing an empty dumpster on wheels. it was sam's dare which meant it was his turn to climb inside the slimy bin full of meat juice and roll down the parking garage. it didn't go so well. it was at night and like all our movies- it is extremely dark... sorry... but i hope you can see the mishap.

this, of course, led to lots of finger-pointing.

and lots of anger...

but in the end, the boys made up.


thanks, guys, for a great WAD.

the final activity of the month was my birthday celebration. last minute, we decided to head to wendover on the fun bus (yes, again. seriously- we can't get enough of it). this time, however, we employed a pretty sweet theme.
who hasn't wanted a white trash themed birthday party? dorthea and i got all jazzed up with our 'mom jeans' and big hair while the boys sported lee jeans and trucker hats. cade's mustache really made the outfits legit. here he is with what he calls the 'all-american meal:' steak, mashed potatoes and a buttered roll. dorthea sure added some american flare to the picture as well....
i wish i had a picture of the whole group! but i guess we didn't take one. we decided beforehand that we would try to go for a more convincing white trash rather than the over-the-top tattoos and wifebeater look. it worked. everyone was a believer and one guy was sure we knew his cousins in toole.
cade asked a bunch of tables at the restaurant to sing to me. this table was especially into it.
although the night lasted until 5 in the morning, we had a blast. thanks for the fun!

i had a great birthday weekend. i got many presents including money for some new clothes, an arby's lunch, some great smelling lotion and hand soap and even a corndog (from the dear lady at the children's library). for his present, cade gave me a video he made of our entire europe experience. he surprised me by watching it on a projector while we ate fries and andalouse (just like belgium!). the movie is so well made and i looooved it! i am trying not to force it on people- but you should all see it. i am one lucky gal.

and the final announcement you have all been waiting for-

despite the loads of compliments- cade shaved!