Tailgating BYU Style

              Well this week was had Utah State for football match-ups. Our awesome activities committee (see last post) came up with the idea to have a tailgating party. I have to say that compared to any one of MY freshman wards activities.... this was better. It was well planned, well executed and had a great turn out. Before we even started, Don Smith and some of his buddies came up with the idea to have a kissing booth. This was not in the original plans for the party but it is that little stamp that Maeser Hall brings to any activity. I dont know that anyone actually got a kiss though, It really just turned into a place where everyone tried to guess the score of the game that night.

               For food we had Costco hot dogs (amazing!), special J-Dawgs sauce, ketchup mustard and sour kraut, chips, and homemade rootbeer. We also had about 12 watermelons. The food was great. Im not a hot dog guy by any stretch, and I finished two myself, and these things werent small, they were foot-longs.
             We had some music provided by some of the guys, much to the chagrin of others, James Nish got the controls and constantly put on the new Miley Cyrus song. To my surprise, almost all of my guys actually like that song. So that tells you a little about us haha. Never-the-less, Davis Esplin had a good time showing off his dance moves to all.

                   Now what would a tailgate party and football game be without some face painting? Unfortunately I dont have many pictures of the finished product, I did catch a shot of the masterful Sarah Bennion (RA for Fugal hall in our ward) who is an illustration major, working her magic on the many faces. Notice the determination! Sarah is such a good RA and we love to have her around. So the game wasnt the prettiest game ever, once again Max Hall is proving to be somewhat of an interception machine, but he did make some clutch plays to lead the Cougars to another victory. The final score was actually 35-17, my picture was a little premature as Utah State scored again in the last 17 seconds of the game. A chili night for sure, but a great game and party can remedy anything.

 

Callings callings, get your callings while they're hot...

Alright well as in all BYU wards the first couple of Sundays are the most fun. It seems the whole sacrament meeting is filled with callings, and hand raising. So here is a list of what we got for the guys...

Preston Arnold-Executive Secretary
John Ellis-Executive Secretary
Kevin Schwieger-Financial Clerk
Sean Russell-Membership clerk
Braydon Lander-Ward Records Clerk

Tyler Okelberry-Elders Quorum President
David Smith-1st councelor EQ
Michael Farnsworth-2nd counselor EQ
Allan Dayton-Secretary EQ

Jeff Hutchings-
Scott Oehler -EQ instructors
Jason Brown-


Andrew Cutler-EQ Service committee chair
Adam Decker- EQ Service committee
Blake Lord- EQ Service committee
Ian Collins- EQ Temple coordinator

Tyler Stoker-EQ Activity  Committee Chair
Christopher Rowley- EQ Activity Committee
Kenyon Christensen- EQ Activity Committee

Coulsen Phillips-EQ Fast Offering Committee Chair
Tom Blackham-EQ Fast Offering Committee
Cory Roberts-EQ Fast Offering Committee

Mitch Blanc-Sacrament Coordinator

Phillip Jones-SS President
Sam Dearden-1st counselor SS
Jordan Carlson-2nd counselor SS

Sunday School Instructors-
Isaac Sheffield
Davis Esplin
Noah Veloz
Braden Casperson
Dallin Jackman
Matt Palmer
Bryce Church

Brent Reynolds-Mission Prep Insrtuctor

John Rouse-Activity Committee Chair
Ryan Smith- Break the fast committee chair

Activities committee-
Ryan Lopiano
Logan Beal
Hayden Galloway
Don Smith
Shawn Women
Michael Funk

Walter Coe-Ward Mission Leader

Kenny Squire-FHE Director

FHE Groupleaders-
Colby Bates
Brady Evans
Josh Littlefield
James Nish
Matthew Poulsen
Spencer Sutton
Taylor Mearns
Stephen Olsen
Kameron Hansen
Clark Cannon

Benson Weeks-Stake & Ward Indexing Director

Indexing Specialists-
Garret Hartley
Josh Roxas
Tyler Dawson
Adam Burton
Aaron Davis

Well this is the most recent list we have. I think its most everyone if not all of the guys. Callings are a great way to serve the Lord and for us to grow in the Gospel. This should be a good year, I really feel good about the callings made.

A Range of Emotions...

               Well this Started off great for Maeser hall. We had been requested by another girls hall to participate in one of their "programs" (activity with a purpose). Side note, Maeser hall is the subject of alot of conversations, in a good way though. So this activity was called Sports-a-Palooza. We had ultimate frisbee, volleyball, sushi tag, and of course some otter pops and water for everyone. I was very happy with the guys, as most did show up even though most werent really awake for it. The event started at noon, however, Coulsen Phillips (a resident of maeser hall) had a big one year anniversary bash for his DJ group/company called "Electric Dance Party." Its really great, they provide free dances and great times for students. Well, that ended at 1:30 AM so some of the guys were a little tired. But like i said, i was happy, we outnumbered the girls, which is a rare thing to do here in most settings to be honest. I think most everyone had a good time. It was a good chance for us to get to know other halls besides our ward, so the program fulfilled its purpose.

                Now, Saturday night was not as good as the day had been. The game vs Florida State was such a big buzz on campus. Not only being the home opener but to a team who was ranked pre-season, and who was an essential win for us to try to crack the BCS this year. A sold out crowd, loudest i have ever witnessed, and lots of school spirit still werent enough to push the Cougars to victory. After our defense had shut down perennial powerhouse Oklahoma to only 13 pts, BYU gave up 13pts to Florida St. on the first two drives of the first quarter. While the defense just decided not to show up tonight, we did turn the ball over a few times on offense. Max Hall threw an interception for a touchdown, and we fumbled the ball twice or three times, each time giving the ball up to the Seminoles. It was a tough game to watch with the finishing score of 54-28. Most headlines bid farewell to our BCS hopes, but i must say that after all, its still a great day to be a COUGAR. I wouldnt rather be anywhere else. Here are some pics of the Sports-a-Palooza. some of the faces dont look soooo happy, but these were mostly on a water break and we were

Maeser Hall basement, producing many late nights here...

             Well I wanted to do a little blurb about some of the amenities of our hall. Here at Maeser hall we started the year with a pool table from one of the Towers in DT. (R.I.P Deseret Towers) I was very happy about this myself because i lived in DT as a freshman and I lived a the pool table. Some of the girls halls here feature ping pong tables and foosball tables. So some of the guys mentioned they wanted a ping pong table too, so I was going to lobby with some of the girls halls who didnt seem to want or use them. Well apparantly I didnt do it fast enough because the next day I came down to the basement to see our new Ping Pong Table.

 

      It turns out that Jordan Carlson and Coulsen Phillips had gone around the greater Provo area to as many yard sales as they could to find this gem for the wonderful price of only $20. Not bad I say. So now we have a pool table, and a ping pong table, and needless to say we have a good time. A lot of time is spent down here with the guys, and the ladies as well. Thanks to Jordan and Coulsen we have the coolest basement in Heritage. 

 

COUGARS WIN!!!

           Well if you didn't see it you missed an EPIC game in BYU history. The first win over a top5 ranked team in the last 20 years!! BYU (Ranked #20 in BCS) upset #3 Oklahoma. I must be honest and say that it was sloppy play on both sides of the ball. While we are lucky Oklahoma didnt capitalize on our many fumbles, our defense really stepped up and shut down Bradfford and the sooner offense. When I say shut down I mean SHUT DOWN. After a big hit from the outside linebacker, Bradfford left with a separated/sprained shoulder. After that Max Hall went to work with his number one receive Pitta. Capping a huge drive with a wide open touch down pass, putting the Cougars over the Sooners 14-13. A devastating kick off out of bounds put the Sooners in good position. They eventually got well within field goal range. Repeated attempts to further the ball were squashed by the Cougar defense. Then few penalties placed the Sooners at the 38 yard line, leaving a 55 yard field goal which was short and to the right. COUGARS WIN. Provo ERRUPTED in joy and there were many good times to be had. Truely a good time to be a Cougar!

Heritage Halls Opening Social!

                        Well the day finally came for the opening social. We had been planning this ever since we got here as R.A.'s. We had lots of things to do. We had a DJ and a big dance. We also had BBQ pork for sandwhiches, fruit, chips, drinks and famous BYU brownies. It was all really good. However we had soooo much pork left over that people just kept coming back with tuperware to help empty it out. I walked with a big tuperware full as well as a lemonade powder container full of it. Eventually some guys were just taking the big to-go tins they were served in. Many residents are now fed for another week. We also had a bunch of games. We had a GIANT twister game which was a bigger hit than i expected. Next to that was the Pie eating contest. It was a two person event; the eater would be kneeling while the person feeding him or her was behind and blindfolded... it was messy, but sooo funny. I'm glad so many people participated in that. We also had arm wrestling, stick pull, and a football toss. We had face painting, and even a cotton candy machine. Needless to say it was an EVENT. I was very happy with the results. There was a big attendance. Even people coming from other housing establishments just followed the music. It's just the way it goes. Heritage Halls is the place to be. 

           Im going to try to get up all the pictures if I can figure it out. I'm not a computer person so I might recruit some of my guys to help me. As for now, its on to the BYU vs Oklahoma game. GO COUGARS!

Welcome to the Maeser Hall blog!

To my Residents, Parents of residents, and fellow friends and family, Hello, my name is Kevin Schwieger and I am the R.A. for Maeser Hall in Heritage Halls. A little about myself, I live in Sacramento California but love to be here in Utah. I served my mission in the Ivory Coast Abidjan, West Africa Mission. It was litterally the best time of my life. I learned so much and alot of who I am today I credit to the lessons learned in the mission field. I lived in Deseret Towers the last year they stood my freshman year and I knew after that year that i would want to eventually be an R.A. I had such a good experience that year, and I wanted to help others coming out for the first time to have a great experience too. One of my main reasons for starting this blog is so that parents and friends can keep tabs on the progress and activities of their young men. While on my mission, the Senor Couple I served with wrote a blog on a weekly basis. I didnt know this until I returned home and my family (mother especially) loved to follow the blog because as we all know... teenage boys arent always the most descriptive or expressive creatures on the plannet. haha. It gave my mom two sides of every story and extra information that I didnt have time to relay home. I too enjoyed to look back in the archives to see what was written about certain events I lived through. I could not only remember what happened but what others thought about it. I'm hoping this blog can connect the families and friends with their Sons and friends. Also, I want this to be forever a record of the experiences they lived here at BYU their freshman year. I will try to update this at least on a weekly basis. There will be photos and stories. I may pass this duty on to others during the year so it may have a different feel. I am not a technical person so hopefully one of my guys can help me make this more appealing as well. Well, I hope you enjoy these entries. I promise I will take care of your sons and friends. Its going to be a good year!