I Met Lynn Swann

For those of you who don't know who Lynn is, below is a short bio

Personal life
Swann was born in Alcoa, Tennessee. As a youth, Swann was raised in Foster City and attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California where in addition to playing football he was a track star, leaping 24' 10" in the long jump. He later attended the University of Southern California, and completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Relations from the USC Annenberg School for Communication in 1974.

Swann is married to Charena Swann, a psychologist, and they have two sons. Charena's sister is married to Sherman Douglas of Syracuse University fame.


College career
Swann was an All-American at the University of Southern California, and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 21st pick of the first round in the 1974 NFL Draft. He spent his entire NFL career with the Steelers and wore the number 88. He was part of what is considered one of the best drafts in NFL History with Hall of Famers John Stallworth, Mike Webster, and Jack Lambert all selected in the same year.


Class of 2001
Wide Receiver >>> 5-11, 180
(Southern California)
1974-1982 Pittsburgh Steelers

Lynn Curtis Swann. . .Steelers’ first-round draft pick, 1974. . .Caught game-winning touchdown in AFC championship as rookie. . .Became starting receiver second season, led NFL with 11 touchdown receptions. . . MVP, Super Bowl X. . . Graceful moves, tremendous leaping ability led to superlative catches that highlighted career. . .Career record: 336 receptions, 5,462 yards, 51 touchdowns. . .All-Pro, 1975, 1977, 1978. . .Played in three Pro Bowls. . . Born March 7, 1952, in Alcoa, Tennessee.
Link to more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Swann

What isn't mentioned on either of these sites is that he is also on the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Board of Directors, and tonight he hosted the annual meeting banquet. Well I have seen him host at three events and always wanted to meet him, tonight I mentioned that to my good buddy Suzanne and of course she said well let's go meet him. It is always good to have someone around that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Thanks Suzanne.

It has been a good week, four of us from my office flew down to Miami on Sunday for our National Conference, Steve is meeting me Thursday and we are going to spend the weekend. The week has been filled with lots of meeting and good learnings, along with a little bit of fun.

Pam and I playing the drums at Bongo's a local Cuban Restaurant (who knew that I would like Cuban food?)

Great Weekend

Two weekends ago, Steve and I both had pretty bad colds, and had spent most of Friday just lying around watching movies, trying to feel better. Saturday morning my dad called and asked if we would like to join him and my mom for the air show. We thought sure, that would be a nice way to spend a couple of hours this Saturday, it shouldn't involve much work, just relaxation.

Well, it was a little more work than we thought, who knew that over 200,000 people (according to the SL Tribune) would have the same idea for a Saturday afternoon. I remember going to the air show as a little kid, and it being a much simpler experience. Well to make a long story short, we went, we saw a lot of flying including the Thunderbirds pictured above, we waited in some very long lines (1+ hour to get through security), and we got some sunburns. But, all in all it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

That weekend we also watched 5 movies including: 1) Taken 2) Paul Blart Mall Cop 3) He's Just Not that into You 4) New in Town and 5) Two Weeks Notice. I believe it may have been a dream come true for Steve :)

Cleveland Rocks!!!

As Jill mentioned in her previous post, the two of us took a short trip to Cleveland, OH over the Memorial Day holiday. Why Cleveland? Well, the main purpose was to see one of my favorite musicians, Donnie Iris & The Cruisers, perform in concert. Donnie and the band were performing with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra. What a great show it was!!! We had so much fun. (You can click on this link to see a video of part of the concert.)

Other highlights from the trip include:

1) Going to Amish country to gawk at the Amish.

2) Visiting the first LDS Temple in Kirtland, OH.

3) Going to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

4) Driving up to Niagra Falls, NY and riding the Maid Of The Myst.

5) Visiting The William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, OH.

and, 6) Visiting the NFL Hall of Fame (just the gift shop, we were a bit tired that day).

This was our second trip to the Cleveland area, and I'm pretty sure Jill would agree when I say that Cleveland Rocks! It really has become a place that we've grown to quite enjoy. I'm sure we'll be traveling there again at some point in the future.

Fancy Restaurants

So, on our recent trip to Cleveland, Steve and I were driving back to town after visiting Niagra Falls and while passing through Buffalo - we saw a restaurant on the side of the interstate that we decided to backtrack and eat at. It was called "Harry's", and it really looked like a fun place to try. Unfortunately it turned out like most fancy restaurants; not much food, not great food, but big prices.

It did have a great view though -

And, they did give us cotton candy - to sweeten the blow when they brought out the bill.


I guess we are just simpler folk, because our favorites in Cleveland from our two trips there are below - Hoggy's Barn and Grill, the best BBQ ribs I have ever had.



And then a classic midwest restaurant - The Steak and Shake

Dandelion's & Yard Work

So, most of you know that I love my home in West Bountiful. I love the neighborhood. I love the style. But there are a few things I would change if I could, as I am sure most people would. One of those things is the amount of work it takes to maintain our yard.

I feel like every time I have a few spare hours I need to be spending it in the yard. Tonight, it was combing the lawn with a steak knife digging up dandelion's and their roots. Other activities so far this spring, spraying our tree that has borer's and then filling the holes with elmers glue (who knew that is how you fix this problem), fertilizing the lawn, re-planting the tulip's that our neighbor's children have been pulling up (we have now had our little neighbor over 3 seperate times to apoligize for either plucking the heads off my tulips, or the latest was for actually pulling them up bulb and all.) And, I haven't really even started weeding yet :)

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I am complaining, it is a beautiful yard, and I love the way it looks when everything is done, and I actually like working out there, it would just be nice if it wasn't so overwhelming.

A quick trip to visit our truly "great" Great Aunt Carla!

A couple of years ago, Jill and I decided to take a quick trip to visit her Great Aunt Carla, who lives near Seattle, as I had never been to the Pacific Northwest before. On that trip, we had so much fun that we knew right then that we couldn't wait too long before making a return trip. So, last weekend we flew back to SeaTac aiport, grabbed a rental car, and drove over to Carla's house to spend a few days. For this trip, she had planned to take us to her beach house for the first couple of nights. What a great way to spend a few relaxing days. The time was spent playing games, reading, sleeping in (never awake before 9:00 a.m.), going out to eat, and we even went to a movie, The Soloist.
The trip was a lot of fun. One of the highlights was getting to know some more of Jill's extended family. Carla's son, Steve, and his family spent a couple of days with us as well and it was so great getting to know them. They truly are good people with strong family values. We played a lot of Rummy Cube, Fill or Bust, and Quiddler; staying up late into the night and then sleeping in the next morning. Definitely no alarm clocks!!!! Jill and I can't wait until our next trip Seattle!

The little bunnies that were running around near the beach house!

Fast asleep by the beach.

Post Secret

So two weeks ago, on April Fools Day Steve and I went up to Utah State to hear Frank Warren speak about his website Post Secret, it really was a cool presentation. For those of you that don't know Post Secret is a blog, were people send in their secrets on post cards, it started as a community experiment and has grown to a blog, with millions of followers and several books. Each Sunday new secrets are posted. This week this was the first post card posted, and I loved it, I think it is so true, and is another reminder to all of us to step back and count our blessings. Hope you enjoy.



Here is one other that I enjoyed this week for obvious reasons :)