Christmas

Well, Christmas was pretty low key around here this year, and I think that I might like to continue that tradition. It made it a lot easier to focus on the reason for the season, and it was nice to have my husband all to myself for a few days. He left today to go to his mom's for a few days while I work. Bummed that I didn't get to go with him, but thankful to not have to ride in the car all the way there and back. Especially because it took him even longer than normal to get there because of the weather today. I ended up working Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we opened our stockings Christmas morning when I got home from work and then I crashed while Billy just hung out and relaxed. I got Billy the book The Blind Side and a gift card to Starbucks and he got me the stars that go with my nativity scene, a gift card to bath and body works, and my favorite gift was a new cowbell!!!! Anyone that has sat with me during a football game knows how I love my cowbell, but it's kind of quiet, so Billy got me a new one that is definitely going to be heard at games!!! :) We did Christmas with my family yesterday. We went and ate dinner at Cheddars and then went and watched The Blind Side. Even though my mom, my sister, Billy and I had all seen it, my dad really wanted to see it, so we all piled in a went to watch it. I loved it even more the second time, as did Billy. I was supposed to work tonight, but ended up getting left on-call (so far...there's still a few hours in the night) so my sister and Maycee came over and we watched movies and just hung out. It was a nice low key night. That's about it for around here. I gotta hit the sack b/c I have to get up in three hours to get ready to go to physical therapy. Remind me again why I scheduled it for 7:30 on a Monday morning???

Kanza Bowl 2009

Well, I am finally getting around to posting about our bowl game. It was a lot of fun, but you could tell it was definitely the first year for it. Hopefully it will continue and get better. On Friday morning Jessica and I boarded the Kanza Bowl Bus at 5:30 am. We both had intentions of sleeping the whole way from Amarillo to Topeka, and that's just what we did. I had stayed up all night so it was very easy for me to just crash once we got on the bus. The only problem was...it was 8 degrees when we left Canyon that morning, and for some reason, it took FOREVER for the floor of the bus to get warm, so everyone rode with their feet propped up off the floor. Once we got to Topeka, we got our hotel room and immediately had to get ready for the banquet that they had that night. It was pretty cheesy on the banquet cheesiness scale. They had some guys that came in and immitated the Blues Brothers for the entertainment. Those guys made Coach Carthel and UNO's head coach get up there and sing and dance with them, and then they made the coaches wives and players moms get up and dance with them. Cindy and I took it as a compliment when our players came up and told us afterwards that they were glad we had more class that the other teams female representatives...lets just say that their dancing was a little suspect for being moms and wives in a very public setting. We also were a little distracted during dinner b/c our volleyball girls were playing in the national semis. Once they won we were able to focus on the dinner a little better. The other thing about the dinner was that they did not hardly feed the guys anything. I was still hungry afterwards, and I eat like a bird compared to the boys. Thankfully one of the boosters had pity on the guys and called and ordered pizzas for them before the banquet was even over.

Saturday morning started bright and early w/ breakfast and then the layering on of clothes. Thankfully it wasn't near as cold as we thought it was going to be. I ended up not even wearing my coat. Granted I had on two thermal shirts under my sweater and kept my vest zipped up the whole time, but still...didn't have to wear a coat!

Here's me and Jessica before the game started. We commented later on how glad we were to be in the sun for the game, because I'm pretty sure we would have frozen had we not been.

All of our boys lined up for the national anthem. They had the Topeka HS band playing and they were actually really entertaining. Their drum corp played on the side lines through most of the first half and we had a lot of fun listening/watching them.

Eugene trying to keep warm between series.

Okay, so this may be the picture of the year for me. We didn't play all that well in the first half and had had several 3 and outs. This was taken after one of those. The guys walked over to the bench after the punt, and Keithon told the coaches he had it and to give the players and minute...and then Keithon proceeded to "motivate" his teammates for about the next 5 minutes. Just a great picture to show what Keithon and his leadership meant for our team this year. He is a great kid and we will miss him SOOOOO much next year.

My honey edumacating his boys!

All the guys after the tropy presentation...the gangs all here one last time.

Billy and his senior linemen w/ the Kanza Bowl trophy. We're gonna miss these guys. They have provided lots of memories for us over the years.

Billy and Eugene

Billy and Keithon. Billy loves this kid. Keithon was one of Billy's kids when Billy was at Ranger JC before he coached at WT, and came to WT w/ Billy, so Keithon is one of those kids that will always hold a special place in Billy's heart.

To be continued...

Christmas Decorations...WARNING...LOTS of pictures

So I finally have gotten around to uploading pictures of my Christmas decorations...I still don't have all of my stuff out, but hope to remedy that tonight if I can get my kitchen cabinet finished.

This is my small tree that is in my kitchen. It has all of my gingerbread/candy land themed ornaments on it. All of my Christmas stuff is gingerbread men/houses, so it's fun to have a tree this year that matches my theme. I'm also proud of the fact that I managed to get 700 lights on this 6 foot tree!!! :) Just call me Clark Griswald.

This is the little tree before the topper was on, and so that you can see the green ribbon on it.

This is my favorite little gingerbread man on my tree.

And this is my favorite ornament on my gingerbread tree.

Just a close up of my big tree

This is what Rocky and Boudreaux's ornaments look like this year. I haven't gotten their pictures in them yet, but they are at least on the tree.

This is my favorite nursing ornament. I just think it's adorable.

Billy and I's first couple ornament, and my favorite ornament on the tree!!!

While we were in Topeka we went to the mall and Jessica and I stopped at one of those ornament booths in the middle of the mall and had these made to commemorate our trip and the bowl game. I put the final score on the back side of it.

This is the big tree all lit up. I am in love with it. I got it at a garage sale this summer and was so excited to get to put it up. I love how it turned out. I still don't have a topper for it, but am thinking that I will just make a bow out of the left over red ribbon for now. Billy picked out a topper at Hobby Lobby, but it's not big enough. I put it on top the other night and it just looked awkward.

And this is the big tree w/ the lights on. Needless to say, I am a Christmas nut! Billy always tells everyone that our house looks like Candy Land threw up in it! Since I took these pictures I have wrapped numerous boxes and put them under the trees, so it's looking quite festive. Now I'm off to finish my kitchen cabinet and hopefully get all of my Christmas dishes and the rest of my Christmas decorations out for the year.

Crazy creations!!!

My sister helped me put out some of my Christmas stuff while she was over for Thanksgiving. She loved the boys stockings and talked about making one for Maycee...well, I beat her to the punch and not only made Maycee one, but made Carrie one to match. My mom laughed when I walked in the door with all the remnants I bought for their stockings. Needless to say, she and I had fun today.

Carrie's Stocking

Maycee's Stocking

Along w/ the stockings, mom finished up Mr. Rylan's Christmas pajamas this week. (I promise they are going in the mail tomorrow morning Erin...it's been a crazy week.) I can't wait to see a picture of him in them.

Billy finally made it home today. He's been gone since they left to go to Topeka last week. I think he was a little overwhelmed when he walked in the house today. He hadn't seen any of the Christmas trees or anything yet, so he had a lot to look at. Right now he's out with the other coaches and the recruits they have in for the weekend, eating dinner and hanging out. Hopefully he'll be here to get me soon. Love hanging out with the parents, but I'm ready to be at home with my husband for a few hours.

Tomorrow I am going to finish my cabinet for the kitchen, make some Christmas goodies, and get caught up on my blogging. Pictures of my Christmas decorations tomorrow...promise.

We're going bowlin'!!

So I leave in less than two hours to go to Topeka for the bowl game this weekend...am I packed you ask...nope! Still have a load of clothes in the dryer and a load of dishes to load in the dishwasher. Why is it that on nights when I don't need to stay awake, that I have ABSOLUTELY no problem staying awake all night. I haven't even had to bust into my new cannister of Spark to make it through the night! Needless to say, I hope to curl up in my seat on the bus and CRASH before we even make it out of Canyon. I am so excited to let you know, that it's not going to be NEAR as cold as we first thought. The weather report now says 44 for a high that day with clear sunny skies a winds of 5-10 miles an hour which we all no means we won't even notice it!!! I'm kind of excited to be able to put myself on auto pilot for the weekend and not have to be responsible for driving. Somehow I always end up getting volunteered to drive anytime we go places...no matter how near or far! So it will be nice to let the bus driver drive and put myself in my seat and relax. It's been a crazy week. Between work and doctor's appointments and insurance people, I am DONE...like stick a fork in my done!

It has snowed twice this week which has been fun. And it has been BITTERLY cold here. Right now the temp is 15 degrees and it feels like it walking into my garage!!! We keep our extra bottled water in the garage and it's all frozen solid! Gotta love the winter.

Well, I guess I should get off of here and go finish getting stuff done so I can get to the bus on time. I promise to put up my snow pictures and Christmas decoration pictures on Monday or Tuesday. I am going to finish decorating when I get home and on Monday and then sit back and enjoy all my hard work.

Catching Up...continued

So Thursday was also my birthday. I got lots of sweet messages from friends and appreciated them all. It was kind of a bummer though, because my birthday definitely took a backseat to Thanksgiving. My parents were so busy, they completely forgot about it, and Billy didn't go shopping until this weekend, so it was just kind of bleh! I have to say though, Billy got me the wise men for my nativity scene and I'm super excited to have them. I can't wait until I have enough birthdays for him to finish out my set. That's my yearly gift that I always get and then I usually get something else to go along with it.

In all the craziness with working on Friday and Saturday, I don't have my trees put up yet. That's on the list of things to do this week though. I should have time on Thursday to get them put up. Billy and I went to Hobby Lobby on Friday and got some decorations and then I went to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby today to get the rest of the stuff for both trees. I can't wait to get it all put together. I have all of my garland up inside and my stockings and most of my gingerbread houses are out. I have to finish painting my hutch for my kitchen and I can put the rest of the stuff out. Hopefully I can get it all done on Thursday so that when I get back from Topeka it will all be done and I can just sit back and enjoy it.

In sitting and talking to the girls at work tonight, I think I've decided that if I do end up having to have shoulder surgery, I want to wait until May or June so that it's during the slow time at work and then I would have my whole summer to hang out and relax!!! I don't know if Dr. Parker would go for that, but it's always worth a try right???

Billy and I were talking tonight and he made a joke about our family being true Buffs b/c we are injury plagued!! :) Seems like every season we've been here, we've either lost major contributors, or they've had to play hurt all season. Billy has a follow up appt. for his back in the near future, so we'll see what Dr. Parker has to say. My suspicion is that he will refer Billy to a neurosurgeon. At which point, I am going to pull out the 'ol I'm a nurse and have a preference card so that hopefully he'll refer Billy to one of the neuros that I actually like.

Well, gotta go hang some Phenobarb...then it's home to bed!!! woo!hoo!

So Behind!!!

Well, there's lots to update on from the last week...or at least I feel like there is, so I'll start with the most recent and work backwards.

First of all, I will once again be dressed like an eskimo this weekend. The predicted high for the game on Saturday is 36!!!! Yikes! Oh well, what's a little cold weather to see our guys get to play one last time. We are riding the luxury fan bus up on Friday and back on Saturday. Will be a crazy fast trip, but at least I am not responsible for driving, and the bus is supposed to be pretty nice.

Secondly, I had my MRI done this morning, and I do have a tear in my rotator cuff, so I get to follow up with Dr. Parker, the orthopedist, on Wednesday and we'll go from there as to whether I will have to have surgery or not. I'm personally hoping not, but we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

This last week flew by in a whirlwind I felt like. I worked Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and then we had my dad's family over for sandwiches and just to hang out on Wednesday b/c two of my dad's sisters from out of town were here to visit. It was lots of fun to hang out with them and as usual, we laughed a whole lot!!! Then on Thursday we fed the masses at our house for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and I felt like for the first time I am actually getting the hang of cooking for the masses. It was nice to not feel like a crazy woman trying to get stuff ready.

My sister stayed with us this weekend and brought her dog w/ her. Maycee and the boys had a blast playing all weekend. They were all worn smooth out by the time Carrie and Maycee left to head back to Abilene last night. The funniest part is, the boys have never really played w/ toys, but for some reason, Boudreaux fell in love w/ Maycee's squeaky duck and now Maycee won't play with it b/c Boudreaux has been playing w/ it, so Maycee's getting a new squeaky toy from the boys for Christmas.

That's all I have time for right now. I have to get ready for work, but hopefully I'll have time in the morning before I crash to update some more.

Wildcat or Texan???

So I walked into the football office this morning to take Billy some breakfast burritos. As I was leaving, one of the coaches asked me who I was supporting today, the Wildcats or the Texans...at first I was a little confused, and then it all made sense and I quickly retorted...neither, I'm supporting the Crusaders. You see, I had on my purple scrub pants from work last night w/ a black long sleeve shirt so they felt it necessary to harass me about being friends w/ the opposition! Little did they know, even though I was tired, I was still quick on my feet and could shoot right back at 'em!

The Truck--

We got the truck back today. Billy was sweet and went and cleaned all the dog hair out of the car while I was asleep and went and got the truck. Oh so very excited I am!!! However, I was not excited to learn that in doing this, he left me w/ no keys to the Jeep, thus I had to miss my chiropractor appointment this afternoon, because while I am all about riding my bike...the wind is literally blowing about 45-50 miles an hour today and I ain't riding my bike in that!!! Now hopefully he gets home in time for me to get to work on time. I am so excited that we are going to a bowl game, but I will be so glad when it's over so that my husband will no longer be tied to the office 23 hours a day!! (sorry...just had to vent a little...I'm better now.)

Free Christmas Cards!!!!

I got all of my Christmas cards for 100% FREE this weekend. Go to seehere.com and you can get 50 FREE 5x7 photo cards. The coupon code is newbaby. This is good through November 30. And also, as long as you choose the standard shipping method you don't have to pay shipping either, so they truly are 100% free! I have a friend that ordered hers a week or so ago and she got them in on Saturday and they looked great! Just a little bargain to share with everyone...I personally am all about saving money any way I can, especially since the price of stamps just keeps climbing!!!! Have a great Monday everyone.

Show us your life: Pets

Kelly is hosting Show Us Your Life once again this week. Rocky and Boudreaux are our children. We first got Rocky the Christmas before we got married from the pound. He is a corgi mix. He is laid back, loves to dig and chase rabbits, and likes to take his time eating his food. Boudreaux came along in September after we got married. I had taken Rocky to doggie day care and when I dropped him off they kept talking about Rocky needing a brother and that they had the perfect little dog. Well, I went home and talked to Billy about it, and of course he was all game for it, so Boudreaux came to be a part of the family. B is a full blooded Welsh Corgi. He is a spaz to put it simply. He is hyper, loves to wrestle, likes to chase tennis balls, go for rides w/ his head hanging out the window and unlike his brother INHALES his food. WOW how different life is with two dogs versus just one. Rocky was so sweet and innocent until his brother came along, and now, some days they are just plain little toots. They have a knack for going through the trash and eating my Gianni Bini heels...not a fan of those habits. I even bought one of the shoe hangers and they ate the shoes in the shoe hanger!!!! For the most part they get along, however, there has been blood shed more than once over food...typical boys!!They LOVE to play with their cousin Maycee. She's a spastic Maltese and she gives them a run for their money. When Maycee comes over, she leaves exhausted and the boys sleep great!!!!! This picture is from Christmas last year and they are all doing tricks for brisket!This is Rocky and Boudreaux's annual picture w/ Santa. This is last year's. Every year, they have one Sunday night, where they do what's called Paws w/ Claus and you can take your pet to the mall Santa and get their picture taken. The boys always have fun and it's always interesting to watch them interact w/ other dogs.One last picture for kicks and giggles! This is one of my favorite pictures of them. We had been on at the canyon hiking and stopped to take a water break.

New Moon...

So I would definitely not consider myself a Twilight fanatic. I have read the first two books and would like to read the last two, but it's not life and death if I don't get to them immediately. However, I somehow managed to let myself get conned into going to the midnight premiere of the movie last night. Mind you, on a good day I have a hard time staying awake through an entire movie, let alone going to the movies after the week I've had and going to a movie that doesn't start until midnight...it would normally mean a recipe for disaster. I went with a bunch of the nurses I work with and we had a lot of fun. Some of us girls met before hand and hung out and then we met everyone else at the theatre. We got there about an hour before the movie started and needless to say that was a mistake. We ended up sitting on the second row. Praise the Lord I have a chiropractor appointment first this this morning b/c I need it after craning my head for 2 1/2 hours to watch a movie! The movie was good...much like the Harry Potter movies for me, where they aren't as good as the book, but they simply can't include all the detail that the book includes. I didn't like that the ending totally left us hanging. I don't like suspensful endings unless I can have the instant gratification of watching/reading the next part in the story immediately. Although I have NEVER in my life experienced motion sickness, I'm pretty sure that that's what I suffered from during the movie tonight. I simply listened to the last hour and a half of the movie b/c it made me sick to look at the screen. This was definitely probably a one time experience, but I can at least say that I have been to one midnight premiere!!

And I got my Christmas cards edited and ordered today so I feel better now!

November...so far!

Whew!! It's been a crazy month. Can't believe that it's already half over!!!! I guess I should finish catching up on my pictures from October and then move on to November. I never got my pictures up from our last home game, so here they are.

These are my wounded boys...hanging out on the sidelines before the game...this was right before we had the band blowing their trombones straight in our ears, so we all still had our hearing here!!

Billy and Renarko and his mom. One of our three seniors.

Me and Liz-the d-line coach's wife. She's from Kentucky and SOOOO much fun...even if she is a little loud sometimes!

Me and Stine--it was so good to see her that weekend. Totally jealous that she is headed to Barbados for two weeks for work. Wish my job sent me to Barbados for 2 weeks...such a rough life she leads!

Billy and I after the Tarleton State game. He was so excited, and so proud of his guys, as was I.

My friend Shanan's girls in their shirts that I made them. They are two of the most well behaved and precious little girls I have ever met.

My friend Shanan and I, whose hubby is the DC at Tarleton State.

This is Matt, one of our GA's this year, and Billy. Matt is part of our family, and definitely the favorite of the dog sitters if you ask Rocky and Boudreaux, b/c he can't resist their puppy dog eyes and gives them a treat everytime they come in the house I think!!! Matt lived with us for awhile this summer, and at one point, was going to be one of Billy's assistants...I personally still wish he was, but that's a whole different ball of wax that I won't get into! Anyways, Billy had to miss class one week to go speak at the booster club luncheon, so Matt filled in for him and gave his class their test. Well, one of Billy's students asked Matt if he was Billy's son b/c they look and talk just alike (according to this student mind you...). Matt told them he was and left it at that, so now all of Billy's students think that we have a college aged son. We have laughed A LOT about that story. I definitely don't look old enough to be Matt's mom and Billy definitely doesn't look old enough to be Matt's dad, even if Billy does have a little gray hair!!!

To catch up from where I left off, we beat Northeastern State 66-23 Halloween night. I didn't get to go b/c it was too far to drive, and b/c I had to work that night. I did watch most of the game at work though. My co-workers, two guys mind you, made fun of me for being so focused on the game and silent cheering and screaming since I couldn't yell at work! It was definitely an amusing experience for us all, and definitely proves that I am no good at listening to games on the radio, or watching them on TV.

The same day we beat Northeastern, ACU beat Kingsville, which set up perfectly for us to be co-champions in the south division, if we beat Tarleton State the next weekend. Well, we did beat Tarleton. It was a very exciting game, and much higher scoring than I think anyone expected. We won 49-35. (I think...I've slept since then...) It ended up being a 4 way tie for the south division champions. Who would have ever thought that we would have come back from being 1-5 to sharing part of the conference title? It was a great way to end the regular season. Billy's sister and her boyfriend and Billy's best friend Carlos all came down and met us in Stephenville. It was good to see them and fun to sit with someone different at a game, although, I definitely missed my girls as I was the only one around me cheering at some points in the game.

Before the game I got to meet up with Shanan and her family. They were all so sweet and her girls are absolutely precious. I must admit, seeing Shanan and Whitney with their girls this season has done NOTHING to help my baby bug! Good thing I didn't get to meet Mr. Rylan, or that might have sent me right over the edge!

The Thursday before the Tarleton game, we decided to feed the guys one last time before the regular season was over. (We feed them occasionally during the off season, but not near as often as we do during the regular season.) Well, this summer, I started buying meat when it was on sale to BBQ one night for the guys, and we decided this was going to be the night. I was planning on our usual 12 guys and then on Thur. morning as I am on my way to Sams, Billy calls me and tells me that not only is it the usual 12 guys, it's also, the red shirts and freshmen and the running backs...that put me at about 30...and I think there were only 5 guys that didn't show up. Needless to say, I had to rethink the plan a little bit. When it was all said and done, I had made a brisket, 4 racks of ribs, 12 pounds of BBQ chicken, 12 pounds of potato salad, a huge can of baked beans and four batches of brownies. I was pretty proud of myself, b/c I went into slight panic mode when he told me that there were going to be that many guys coming. And no, there were not any leftovers when it was all said and done. It was a lot of fun, but by the time they all left, I was exhausted and ready for bed!!!

This last week hasn't been anything too exciting outside of work and getting some great deals shopping! My friend Carissa and I have gotten about $750 dollars worth of clothes for right at $250. Can you say bargain shoppers!!! The other exciting news is that our guys will get to play one more game. They are playing in the Kanza Bowl in Topeka the first weekend in December. I also, was reminded why I don't listen to games on the radio. On Saturday, I got home from grocery shopping, and Tarleton was still playing, so I turned on the game on the computer to listen to it...little did I know it was going to send me into near heart failure. I still don't know how Shanan survived that one! Tarleton kicked and made a 64 yd. field goal to send the game into overtime and then won in the second overtime on a two-point conversion. Congrats to Tarleton and to ACU. It is so nice to not be playing each other anymore, and to just be able to yell and cheer for each other!!!

Billy left today to go to Mississippi for the week to recruit, thus once again making me a football widow. I thought I was going to be okay with it b/c I have lots to get done this week, but tonight when I crawled into bed, I laid there for over two hours trying to fall asleep and couldn't. Hope that's not a preview of the way the week is going to go. Hopefully I've got enough stuff going on to keep me busy, and that Saturday will be here and he'll be home before I know it.

The big thing to get done this week is to get my cabinet for my kitchen painted, the house cleaned for Thanksgiving, and to get all my Christmas decorations (minus my trees) up. I put my new tree together last night and while it is absolutely gorgeous, it is much wider than I thought and so it will definitely be a tighter squeeze in our living room than we planned once we get it put together. We are thinking we will probably have 10 or so guys over for Thanksgiving dinner, so that will be an adventure I'm sure. We've finally gotten smart and will simply be frying both turkeys this year instead of trying to bake one. The fried ones taste better anyways!!

That's all for now. Hopefully it won't be so long before I have time for another "real" update again.

Concerned????

So I'm wondering if we should be concerned that when Billy played the CD he made Coach Carthel in the office yesterday, all the coaches started cheering...the first song on the CD is "Take This Job and Shove It...". Ha! Ha!

News...

Well, Billy had his MRI done this morning and he has two bulging discs and narrowing of the spinal column is several places. He hasn't heard back from the doctor yet, so we don't know exactly what the plan is, but I would imagine we'll start with PT and the chiropractor and go from there. Our goal is to delay surgery as long as possible.

I'll update for real on Thursday after I am off work and can upload all my pictures. Highlights from last week are that I got to meet Shanan and her sweet family this weekend, I made it to an out of town football game by myself w/o having a wreck!!, we won our last game of the season and we are going bowling (as in going to the Kanza bowl) in December.

Gotta go take care of my patients...hope they sleep well tonight so that I can finish my Twilight book!

No News...

Well, no news so far. Dr. Parker thinks it's a herniated disc, which is what we've been suspecting, but the only way to diagnose it is to get get an MRI done, so Billy is scheduled to have an MRI at 8:00 next Monday morning and we will go from there. Headed to work...think I'm in baby land tonight...

Prayer Request

Hey--I will update about this week/weekend, although it really was pretty boring, later, but right now I just want to ask ya'll to be praying for Billy this afternoon. He has a Dr. appt. at 1:00 and we are hoping to get some answers as to why his legs just randomly lose complete sensation in them. We think that we have a fairly good idea of what is going on, but just pray that no matter what it is, we would have a peace of mind about it and also, for selfish reasons, that it would be something that can easily be fixed b/c he doesn't make a very good patient! :)

Halloween Costumes

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is hosting Show us your life: Halloween Costumes this week. We don't have kids yet, but that certainly hasn't stopped us from subjecting Rocky and Boudreaux to the craziness of Halloween.

These are their costumes for the last two years:

2007

2008

I wouldn't go so far as to say they were always willing participants, but they tolerate their momma and daddy's craziness for the most part. They lucked out and won't have to get dressed up this year b/c their daddy will be in Oklahoma for a football game and their momma will be at work. Next year though, they will definitely be sporting some sort of costume!!!

Buffs Win!!

Well, our seniors won their last game at the Bro. We beat Angelo State 43-15. We FINALLY looked like ourselves last night. It was a good win for both the players and coaches. I was sad that I didn't get to meet my friend Erin, whose hubby is the DC for Angelo, but thought it was funny that the only thing our husbands talked about after the game Saturday was how we knew each other and talked and texted all the time!! I have loved becoming friends w/ other wives in our conference, but it makes having to play those teams just that much worse!! It's also nice though, because we have all been in that spot before where we were either on the winning or losing end, so we understand what the other one is going through.

Saturday was senior/parent day, so we recognized the seniors before the game and had the parents meet and greet also. It was sad to see all of our seniors lined up out there b/c most of them were Freshmen Billy and I's first season, so we have gotten to really know and love these kids. It's always bittersweet to see them leave, but at the same time, we know that they are going to be on to bigger and better things. I was hoping that with Ioane and J'Marcus leaving our grocery bill to feed the guys wouldn't be so big, but I'm pretty sure that that is wishful thinking. It was lots of fun to see these guys get recognized and to see the appreciation the fans had for how hard these guys have worked the last couple of years. It will be weird to see different numbers lining up for us next year and for sure will be odd to know that Keithon and J'Marcus aren't coming back. Hopefully we will be watching them play on Sunday next year though.

My friend Stine was here for the weekend. We didn't do anything just really exciting, but it was nice to just hang out and get to spend time w/ her since we haven't seen each other in awhile. Friday we really didn't do much except cook for the boys and take our Christmas card picture and then on Saturday we went and helped my mom w/ her craft show for a little bit and then came home and went to the game. Poor Stine, she's been out in the wilderness for the last six months, so she was WAY over stimulated at the game Saturday, but we had fun and took a cute picture (which I will post once I get my camera back from my husband...). Saturday night after the game we had our after game party at the Carthel's and it was a lot of fun. There was lots of laughing and cutting up and the team chiropractor came and was doing adjustments on everyone. I was still so sore from my adjustment on Friday that I opted out, but it was fun none-the-less. She left to head to Sanger on Sunday morning when I left for church. I get to see her again in December, so that date can't get here soon enough in my book!

I thought I was going to have to work on Sunday, but as it turns out, I didn't, so I ended up getting to go to the Haunted House after all. It was not scary to me, but then I think I just automatically go into the frame of mind that it's all fake before I even walk in the door, so it doesn't bother me (however, the toilet that splashed us w/ who knows what and the vine that hung down that we so lovingly named the swine vine did disgust me a little bit). Billy's freshmen guys on the other hand...they were freaking out and it was hilarious. They fought the whole time over who was going to lead the way and then when I ended up in front, they were moving so slow that I kept having to stop and wait. I gave up and went to the back of the line and then spend the rest of the time laughing at all of them. It was a lot of fun and I was proud of myself for not freaking out when the guy w/ the 9 ft. python came and stood next to me. I don't do snakes and was NOT impressed. Billy didn't believe me that it was real until after booster club yesterday and he heard everyone else talking about it being real.

This week the guys go up to play Northeastern Oklahoma State. I am not making the trip. I will instead be at work(hopefully) taking care of kids and trying to watch the game at the same time. Pretty sure that I am going to have to break the rules and wear "non" NWTHS apparel to work under my sweatshirt so as to show my support for the Buffs!!

Nothing else exciting going on really. I'll post pictures from this past weekend once I get my camera back from Billy and hopefully the rest of the week will go as smoothly as the first part has gone. Still waiting to hear anything about the truck. The guy that is working on it for us went to Abilene and got it for us on Saturday and I talked to him at booster club yesterday and they were going to start breaking it down yesterday afternoon, so hopefully in the next couple of days we will hear something.

Oatmeal Chocolate Bars

So these are the oatmeal chocolate bars that I got attacked over 2 weeks ago for and then again this week!! I've included pictures since I actually thought to take some tonight. They were super good and definitely one of my new favorite desserts.

Oatmeal Chocolate Bars
Mix:
2 eggs
2 sticks of softened butter
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda

Blend well then add:
2 c flour
3 c oats
Mix well and press 3/4 of mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. (I put parchment paper in the bottom of my pans tonight and I would definitely recommend doing that. It made the clean up easier and they were much easier to get out of the pan and cut.)

After you have that in the bottom of the pan, in a small sauce pan over med. heat, melt together
6 oz. chocolate chips
1 stick of butter
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1 tsp of vanilla

When that's all melted, pour it in the pan over the oatmeal crust. Then take the remaining 1/4 of the crust mixture and crumble it up over the top of the chocolate. Bake in the over on 350 for 30-40 minutes. You don't want the middle to be runny when they are done. I bake mine for 37 min. Let them cool for at least an hour before you cut into them, that way if the chocolate is still a little gooey, it won't run every where. Tonight I just pulled them out of the pan using the parchment paper and then cut them on the paper and it worked great.


To finish off the post I'll leave you with a preview of our Christmas card. This is NOT the picture we are going to use, b/c of course, not everyone is looking at the camera in this one, but the one we are using is a great one.

My friend Stine is here for the weekend, so I'm going to go finish watching Drumline w/ her. Still don't know anything about the truck and my shoulder feels a little better...we'll see if it survives a whole game of ringing my cowbell tomorrow night! Have a great weekend everyone.

Congratulations!!!

Congrats to Keithon, Shad and Crowdry. They were named the offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week for the conference. So proud of these guys. They all 3 played huge parts in our win on Saturday.

We Won!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update: The chiropractor thinks I partially tore my rotator cuff...so excited about that, let me tell ya. Just thankful that that's all it is.

I was so proud of our guys yesterday. They stuck it out in a well played game and beat the #1 team in the country in ACU. The final score was 32-21. It was definitely a battle of defenses. Both teams lost a lot of firepower on offense last year, but both of our defenses are much improved this year which is evident by the fact that the score was only 32-21 and not 93-68 like it was the last time we played!! It is the first time we have truly seen our guys smile after a game this season. As I predicted we were in t-shirts and shorts getting sunburned. The weather channel said it was only supposed to be 72, but I'm pretty sure it made it into the 80's.

Saturday didn't start out so well. I had a wreck in the truck. I ran a red light and hit a guy. Thankfully no one was hurt. Now hopefully they will be able to fix the truck and not total it out b/c if they total it out, I am afraid we are going to end up upside down on it and be in trouble. I am definitely feeling the effects of it today though. I am sore from head to toe. I'm going to the chiropractor in the morning and the team doc wrote me a prescription for a muscle relaxer yesterday, so I am going to try and take one tonight and see if it helps. The true test will be when I go back to work tomorrow night.

The Lord never ceases to amaze me. In the last couple of months I have become friends w/ several wives from other teams in our conference. I am the person who always asks the Lord, why did you place this person in my life? Why did I have an encounter with them and what is the purpose for this relationship? Well, I know why I am friends w/ Whitney (whose hubby is the DC at ACU). I was actually going to meet her for breakfast yesterday morning when I had my wreck. She was so gracious and came and stood w/ me while we took care of everything and then came and got me and took me to lunch and let me hang out w/ her and her sweet girls until time to go to the game.

I had fun hanging out w/ my sister on Friday and the bus ride home last night wasn't so bad. It was a little uncomfortable just b/c my adrenaline had worn off and I was starting to feel the effects of the wreck, but we watched Any Given Sunday, a Mike Tyson documentary and The Longest Yard on the way home. The Mike Tyson documentary was quite amusing I must say.

Now for another week back at work. I'm not really very excited about it, but hey, who is excited to go to work everyday. We play our last home game this weekend against Angelo State and my friend Stine is coming to stay w/ me for the weekend so that will be fun. I'm sad that I have to miss the annual trip to the haunted house next Sunday with the team. I'm not a big fan of haunted houses, but I love to stand outside and watch all the guys go through on the video camera and to watch them come out the door. It's always hilarious to watch. Two years ago, our offensive coordinator crawled through part of it he was so scared. It was quite amusing to watch. That's about all that is going on with us, so here's a few pictures from the weekend.

Our HC wife Cindy, their daughter Courtney and her daughters Kylee and Kyler at the game on Saturday.

The final score!!

Me and Camille soaking up the sunshine after freezing last week!!

All my o-line guys celebrating after the game.

The I Don't Wannas

I have a serious case of the I don't wannas this week. Not exactly sure what the problem is, but it's BAD!!!!!!!!! I usually leave for work at 5:40 every afternoon. Today, I didn't even get out of bed until 5:45. I don't know if it's because I have gotten my bootie kicked at work everyday this week or what, but my motivation level is zero to none. Hopefully tomorrow I'll sleep well during the day and it will get better. At least that's my goal. I have lots of laundry to get done, and apparantly I'm the only person in my house who knows how to load and unload the dishwasher, so even though I haven't eaten at home all week, I have a ton of dishes to do. I realize it's football season, but it doesn't take anymore effort to open up the dishwasher and put your dirty stuff in it, than it does to pile it in the sink. At least I get to go paint pottery tomorrow night. It's girlfriends night, so that's definitely something to look forward to. Then on Friday I go to Abilene to see my sister and paint some more pottery and on Saturday I get to have breakfast with Whitney.

I'm so nervous for our guys for the game this weekend. We have to play the #1 team in the country for the 2nd time this season. We started out the season playing the #1 team and then they got beat last weekend and the team that we play Saturday is now #1. I've felt sick all week long, and I'm 99% sure it's from thinking about Saturday's game.

Does anyone watch the Biggest Loser? I DVR it and I watched Tuesday's episode yesterday afternoon after I woke up. I was so angry. I don't like Tracy to begin with and then for her to act like she did on this week's episode and pretend to be upset that she split up other teams made me want to punch her in the face.

Well, I gotta go take another blood sugar. Maybe we'll be a little closer to having my patient's blood sugar where it needs to be...guess we'll just have to wait and see. And hopefully tomorrow my case of the I don't wannas will be resolved b/c I have lots to do!

Seriously...

I ran my tail off last night w/ 3 hourly babies and I can't sleep today. How on God's gracious green earth does that happen? I need a good stiff drink I think.

Homecoming 2009

Update: I added more pictures at the bottom from the weekend...enjoy!

Well, we survived last night. Thankfully one of the other coaches wives offered to let my great niece play at her house w/ Huston and the babysitter while we were at the game, b/c I don't know that Emaree would have made it through the whole game. As it was, all the big people were frozen by the time it was over and done w/. I'm pretty sure that it was right at or below freezing for the entire game. As you can tell from the picture, we all look like little abominible snow people. We laughed b/c when we first got to the game, we didn't know who any one was b/c everyone was so bundled up you couldn't see anyone's face. What is going to be really funny, is when we are all in tank tops and shorts next weekend b/c it is so hot when we play. Nothing like the good 'ol Texas panhandle for ya!

We won 34-24 and it was great to watch the guys rush the hill at the end to pick up the wagon wheel. It was also nice to see them smiling after the game. The highlight for me was when one of Billy's guys picked up a fumble and ran it for a 5 yard gain. I love it when our o-line guys get to do fun things like that...I don't like the fumbles though...However, the highlight for the rest of the crowd was when they introduced Keithon in the starting line-up. He is a fan favorite and has been hurt all year and this is the first game he got to play in. The crowd went nuts when they introduced him. Next weekend we play Abilene Christian. It's going to be a tough game for sure, but I'm excited to go stay w/ my sister and paint pottery w/ her. It will be fun. Enjoy the pictures from our night spent in the sub arctic temperatures!!

My favorite float!! The sign in the back says "Future Sigma Nu"

All of the coaches wives freezing together!!

My sister-in-law and I freezing our tookis' off together!

Now tell me that that sweet face doesn't just melt your heart...it's my great niece Emaree who came to visit this weekend w/ Billy's sister!!

Me and Rocky on Sunday morning...tried to get one w/ Boudreaux, but of course he was freaking out and wouldn't hold still long enough to take a picture...typical Boudreaux.

My best effort at getting Emaree to smile. Note her morning after afro she's sporting!!