The New Mountain West Conference

It is definitely time for the MWC to consider expanding to at least 10 teams. It may not be time yet to jump to 12. If a team can bring in national recognition and top 25 BCS finishes, then there should be strong push for the MWC to include this team. 2008 has shown that Boise St. is going to be competitive for the long term. They have only lost 2 conference games since joining the WAC. With down years in the Big East and the ACC, it is definitely time for the MWC to strike while the iron is hot.

What About the last two spots?

If the MWC decides to expand to 12, a giant can of worms are opened. There are questions ranging from travel partners (particulary for TCU), maintaining rivalries within a division of the conference, and deciding which 6 teams will make up each division. I will try to answer these questions another time. For now, lets look at who some of these may be. Next time, I will address each teams pros and cons.

H A L L O W E E N M O V I E S

Hello Family!!
I thought you guys might like to get into the Halloween Spirit with some fun movies! I have seen most of these. Halloween is my second most favorite holiday next to Christmas! Most of these can be picked up at your local library for free! Have fun! BOO! I tried to categorize these for the family, but always use your own discretion with your kids.

"Pumpkin Patch" Movies for little ghosties and pre-schoolers..as safe as a candy corns:
"It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown Special"
ANY of the "Scooby Doos"
"Mad Monster Party" (by Rankin Bass, the same production company that makes the Rudolph and Frosty specials)
"Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie" (Sweet-as-honey Halloween story with Pooh and pals.)
"Monsters Inc."

"Spook Alley" level movies with either mischeif, monster magic, animation, or fun stories Movies for ages 5 - 10 yrs.:
"Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the WereRabbit" (Kids and parents will both enjoy this funny claymation charming movie)
"The Worst Witch" (Wonderworks BBC Classic from the 1980s)
"Witches" (with Anjelica Huston - the Roald Dahl children's classic)
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" (stop/film animation classic by Tim Burton)
"Casper & Wendy" (starring a very young Hilary Duff)
"Casper" (starring Bill Pullman and Cristina Ricci - yes before she became a hoochie)
Disney Channel's "Halloweentown 1 and 2" and "Halloweentown High" (starring Debbie Reynolds as a cute old witch and Lucas Grabeel from High School Musical)
Disney's "Twitches"(twin witch story)
"Ernest Scared Stupid"
Disney's "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad"
Disney's "Hocus Pocus" (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker)
"Godzilla"

"Trick or treat level stuff," plenty of fun, mystery, classic scares and effects, Movies for pre-teens (Ages 10-13 yrs.):
"Teen Witch" (1980s movie about magic, high school, and ugly duckling turned popular girl)
"Beetlejuice"
The old black and white Universal movies like "Wolfman," "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein," "Dracula," "The Creature from the Black Lagoon"
"The Addams Family" & "The Addams Family Values"
Disney's "The Haunted Mansion"
"Clue"
"Ghostbusters"

Halloween stories, freaky fun, shivers and drama, but without the guts/gore....Movies for teens (age 13+) & adults:
Disney's "Watcher in the Woods" (creepy Disney favorite of Heather, Brookie, and Tiff....bringing the ghost KAREN back to life!)
Disney's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (based on the Ray Bradbury novel....might not be for kids)
Disney's "Escape from Witch Mountain" & "Return to Witch Mountain" (Yes, the weird witchy sounds and all....maybe the kids could watch this one, too.)
"The Phantom of the Opera" (Joel Schumacher version...and the old horror Universal Black & White version for that matter)
"Edward Scissorhands"(Mom hates Johnny Depp's performance, but this "pre-Captain Jack" movie is a classic)
"Sleepy Hollow"(1999 version)
"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (classic comedy, monster fun!)
"The Stepford Wives" (1975 version with Best Actress Katharine Ross)...one of Mom's favorites!
"Coma" (another 70s mom favorite....too creepy!)
"Them!" (yes, giant Ants are taking over!)
"The Blob" (1958)
"The Invisible Man" (1933)
"Teen Wolf" (Michael J. Fox) and "Teen Wolf Too" (Jason Bateman)
"The War of the Worlds" (1953) (one of Dad's favorites)
"Bell, Book, and Candle" (1958) - (Starring James Stewart...it's not scary at all, it's just a cute film. An enchanting witch puts a publisher under her spell in this engaging romantic comedy. Appealing performances, wacky characters, witty dialog and warmhearted romance provides great escapist fun for the whole family.)

Ha! Notice there are a lot of Tim Burton movies on this list......that guy has Halloween in his soul...what a freak! Has anyone seen "Corpse Bride"? I have heard it is "
Magical, with scares most 10-year-olds can handle." but I have never seen it. ENJOY!!

Tiffy

Tiffany Vs. Piñata

Tiffany is attacking a birthday piñata for a member of our branch. She won!

Scholarship Luncheon

Here I am with my two classmates in Sociology Miao Miao Chen and Mary Brooks. Our Assoc Dean Kelly Damphousse (my dissertation chair) also attended. He is very supportive of student funding for us.

JEFF 2ND COUNSELOR

Jeff is now the 2nd Counselor in our branch: the Norman 3rd Spanish Branch (La Rama Tercera de Espanol). he was recently called to the Branch Presidency this past Sunday 9/21/08. Our branch has about 60 active members and we have our meetings in the Stake Center in the High Council room. There is no more room, if we continue to grow, so we may eventually get our own meeting block and get to use the chapel. We've had about 7 baptisms already this year and people moving in, so it's fun to see how the church can grow.

This is a picture of some of our members of our branch at the Oklahoma City Temple this past September 2008.

Jeff and Tiff at Frontier City

Of course we had to take some goofy pictures of us at Frontier City....and because we live alone, we have to hold the camera up (arm's length) to get both of us in there....because we're dorks and we forget to give the camera to a passerby to take the picture!

JEFF'S 33rd BIRTHDAY

Scout and Staley helped decorate, too. I found Scout simultaneously chasing her tail and wrapping herself in ribbon....I guess I wasn't going to use that green ribbon anyway.

I threw Jeff a birthday party and played him the "Weird Al Birthday Song"...if you know Jeff, you know he likes Weird Al!!! What a day! I decorated his desk with pictures from his favorite show, NBC's The Office.

Yes, Jeffy turned the big 33!! We celebrated by going to a local theme park here in Oklahoma called "Frontier City" which is like a really big "Pioneer Park" with rides like Lagoon.