Getting Excited!!

I love football!! For years, I was a HUGE college football fan. Didn't matter what team, I loved to watch. I would only watch Pro football if the Cowboys were playing. Remember, I am from Arkansas....the state with no pro team, so I grew up as a Cowboys fan. I wanted to be a Cowboys cheerleader when I was a little girl (mom said no), I got to meet Danny White and Too Tall Jones and I was in heaven! They came to Searcy when I was 8....loved it...I still remember exactly where I was and what I was wearing. I told you, I loved the Cowboys when I was little.

Now that I'm out of college and a tad bit older, I have become a pro football fan. I don't know if it is because I followed my favorite players to the NFL or I just realized that the kids that play college ball really ARE kids. Don't get me wrong...I still LOVE college football. Sometimes a little too much, but not like I did when I was in college or first out of college. Now I watch my favorite teams play and that's about it.

But NFL football is a totally different story. I started playing fantasy football 7 years ago and it totally changed the way I watch football. I love it...but I love it more when my players score me points!! Okay, that sounds totally and completely selfish...Now that I read it again...I guess it is....What is funny is that I play in a total women's league. Last year I got 2nd, this year I got 5th...UGGGH. We don't play for money, just for bragging rights.

Fantasy season is over and now it's time for the big game....I love my Colts. Yes, I know I said that I was raised a Cowboys fan. I love the old Cowboys teams. I just can't get into watching them play anymore....I don't know if it's the bazillion dollar stadium, the felon football players or just their owner in general. I just have not been a big Cowboys fan for a while.


No, I followed Peyton Manning to the Colts and now our family is a full fledged Colts family. Not only do we love Peyton, but now we have Sunday love for Reggie, Joseph and don't forget Dwight! Our Colts are playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow against the Saints. I'm not going to be ugly on my blog about the Saints. We lived in Louisiana for a while but, still not a fan. I do love Drew Brees...he's a great QB and they are going to give our Colts a run for our money!!
I'm starting to get nervous, so I'm going to go and clean out Parker's closet today with the radio turned up for some distraction time from thinking about the game tomorrow. I'm soooo excited!! GOOOO COLTS!!

Colts win...and other things...

The Colts WON!!! Yipppeee!! I am one of the happiest people on the face of the earth right now...really. No, actually I am one of the most nervous people on the earth...I can't wait for the SuperBowl. Really. I know, very sad, but I am so nervous for my team. I mean, my word people, it's the Saints! They've never been to a super bowl and they are really great. Aaron has already gone to bed and left me here on the couch with my laptop to get all of the nervousness out of my system!

On another note...Aaron and I have been teaching in the high school class at church on Wednesday nights....We have been talking about regrets and how they affect our lives and how we move on from them and gain hope. We all have regrets...we do. The first week we talked about embarrassing regrets...you know, like the time when your skirt got caught on your backpack and you mooned half of Harding Campus? Oh yeah...that was me. At least I had on tights. We are in a small group with about 8-10 kids so it's not like we were all telling our most embarrassing moments to the whole youth group. We did have a fun time with the kids...they were funny. But in the past few weeks we have been talking about real regrets. Do these kids have any yet? Probably not...they are just 16 and 17 year olds. I mean, I hope they don't have any regrets...

There are so many things that shape the way we grow up...My parents were great (and still are!) They loved me, they taught me, and they showed me through example how to love and treat others. I had great friends in college. Love my Chio sisters and my TNT brothers. Our Chio's prayer group was one of the only things that got me though a couple of boyfriend break-ups. But then I think of things that I said in college...words...YIKES. Words are my biggest regret. Isn't the tongue such a powerful weapon? I think I tried to repair most of them from college, but every once in a while something spikes a certain memory and then, "BAM!" You totally remember what you did and what you said and feel horrible. Really horrible. So, I do have some regrets. I am sorry for people I blew off and just left hanging those years ago, but...they moved on and I moved on....life does that, if we want it to or not. I'm thankful for a God that loves me and holds me in his arms when I am feeling these regrets...but I'm more thankful for a God that doesn't remember them, yet I do and can learn from every one of them.

Never thought I was going to talk about that after a Colts win, did you?

Big game!

This weekend the Colts play the Jets....I would love to say that I'm not worried, but I am. Not the the Jets are all that great, but they have pretty good ways of getting to #18, they beat us just a few weeks ago (I know they pulled out our starters...) and they have nothing to lose. Yikes!! Peyton, my friend and the rest of our favorite team...you have it all to lose and those stinky Jets want to take it from you! So, in short... We will all rush home from Sunday after church lunch and put on our beloved blue #18 jerseys, (Yes, we all have them, although Parker's jersey is the cutest!), we will yell our loudest and hope that our favorite team does great! If not....there is always next year....although I would love to go to the Super Bowl!! :) Okay, not literally...okay, yes literally, I would love to go, but who really has that kind of money and they would give me Super Bowl tickets? That is what I thought! But, if you are giving them away...I would be more than happy to take them from you!

I've been thinking a little...I know scary. I think I'm going to take my blog link off of Facebook...really, it's not like you can't read my blog right off of FB, right? The link is just over to the left of the page. Yeah...this will be the last one to go on my wall. After that, you people will just have to go to the page if you are that interested in what is going on in our crazy lives. I mean really...aren't blogs just for us when we are old so that we don't have to scrapbook?? Okay, maybe that is just me!

Off to play outside with the kids...it is 75 degrees outside and it is January!!! CRAZY!

It's Football Time!!

It's Football Time in Tennessee...or Houston....where ever you may live and watch the Vols! Aaron and the kids have been playing and watching the game today. We are loving the touchdown fest this second half. We were getting a little worried in the first quarter, but things are now all good for the Vols and their fans. After every touchdown, Aaron does push-ups for how many ever points that the Vols have at that point in the game. Parker and Susie are following their daddy and doing their push-ups this year, too!

Parker and Susie were getting a little bored in the first quarter (and so were we) so they were playing in jersey. Silly kids.The first touchdown of the Tennessee Season!! Whoooo Hooooo! Here is to a great year of Tennessee Football and the beginning of the Lane Kiffin era!

When Parker was a baby, Aaron would hold him and watch the games (he can't sit during the games...I know, but he can't.) Now that Parker is so big...we could hardly catch him for this picture!! Go Vols!!

Sunday nights with Parker

On Sunday nights, Parker gets to stay up with us and watch "Sunday Night Football." I know, his sisters have to go to bed...yah, yah, yah....He's 2 and he loves football so for now, he gets to stay up. When he wants to start watching Barbie, he'll have to go to bed! Last night, Parker was so funny. After the Colts won, we were jumping up and down because we couldn't believe that they pulled off another squeaker...Parker kept running around the couch..."We win, we win!" It was so very cute!

During halftime he said, "I want my picture with you, Mama"....who can say no to that?

My sweet boys!

What they do during Vols games....

We are still recovering over here from Monday night's loss to UCLA....it was a crazy game and ended with a kick that was missed by the Tennessee kicker. It was heartbreaking, but Parker and Aaron had a great time watching part of the game together. Here are some pictures from the evening.

After each touchdown, Aaron does 7 push-ups and Parker rides on his back. Parker thinks that it is great!

Watching the game together!

Posing for a picture with the T.V.

Parker was getting restless and was trying to peek under Aaron's jersey. He went to bed shortly after....but not after they had played about 30 games of their own football game at home. The conversation went like this:

Aaron,"Okay, Parker, Down, Set, hut hut"
Parker,"Down, Set, Hut, Hut..." Then Aaron would hand Parker the ball through his legs and Parker would run with the football and Aaron would pick him up and tackle him.
Parker, "Daddy!!! he he he. AGAIN, DADDY, AGAIN!!!!"


They played their own little game of football for about 30 minutes and then Parker went to bed. I think that Aaron is really enjoying having someone else (besides me) to watch the Vols play and I love watching them play together!

Grossed out!

Last night we had our small groups church at our house. After bible study we all sat around and ate while the guys watched the Super Bowl and yelled at the TV. I have to say, it was a GREAT game!! The Giants came out, shut down the Patriots and got to business. Now there are 2 Manning brothers that have Super Bowl rings and MVP trophies, 2 years in a row! That is pretty cool. I know, it could have been history made with the Patriots going undefeated and winning the Super Bowl. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda... But guess what? I guess they just didn't want it as much as the Giants because that is the team with the Vince Lombardi Trophy today! YES! Can you tell that I wanted the Giants to win?
Okay, enough football for today, I promise. I could post about college basketball and how exciting it is getting, but I won't go there for all of you non-sports fans (Miss Tammie!)

Here is the thing I got grossed out about last night....
When we were getting ready for everyone to come over last night, I did the same thing that I always do....Clean the bathrooms, vacuum, scrub the kitchen down and then get out the paper supplies for group. You know....plates, napkins, cups....We have one shelf that has all the stuff on it, so I just grabbed it out of there and put it all on the counter. Fast forward to when everyone is there, the game is on, it's loud (our group has so many kids, it sounds like Six Flags on a busy day...very loud.) Everyone is getting their food, and one of the dads says, "There is something on this cup." Then the mom says, "It's oosing out of this stack of cups." My mind is racing, why would there be dirty cups in my clean stack of plastic cups? Where did these cups come from?? I didn't worry about it then, I just took the stack of dirty cups, threw them alway and got out new ones (from the package that I keep in the laundry room.)

It bugged me ALL night. I mean, what if someone actually drank from one of those dirty cups? Oh, I am so grossed out...cringing at the thought. So then I asked Aaron. Yeah, should have known to ask my sweet husband. Love him, but should have known. Last week he went around and stacked up all of the dirty cups and put them on the counter to throw away, but the garbage was full so he left them there. Then me, wanting my counters to be cleaned off (I like for my kitchen counters to be clean...it really bugs me when they aren't. Although, I don't mind my clothes being all over my bed...another story) took the stack of cups that I thought were unused from that night and put them back in the cabinet. He just thought that I had thrown them away. Not his fault at all, he was going to get another garbage bag. I was the one who put the (unknowingly dirty) cups back in the cabinet. Agggh! That is just so gross to think about still....and I did it!!
Yeah, gross. Just say it. So, this morning I went and checked the cups that I put away last night. They are clean, un-touched. I promise.

Oh, and did I mention that Parker ate so much junk, (via us, his loving parents) that he threw up ALL over me, in the kitchen, right in the middle of all of the chaos in our house last night?
I LOVE my life. For real, God gives me a reason to look back everyday and smile. After that little one threw up and we had both changed our clothes, he hugged and loved on me before he laid down to go to sleep. And for THAT, I am so very thankful.

Still grossed out about the cups and the throw up, but thankful!

I'm glad I don't live in Iowa....

I'm not much of a political writer. Matter of fact, I'm not much of a writer. Period. But, today I am so glad that I don't live in Iowa and have the first primary in my state. Yikes! What about you? Do you have someone that you would vote for today? I read several political blogs and of course, I read the news every day...msnbc, foxnews, cnn and then the local papers, including The Daily Citizen from Searcy, Arkansas. Have to stay right in the Searcy news, you know. But, I do not watch the TV news...I know, I'm terrible. But, first, I have children and I do not want them seeing everything that is on the news around here. Goodness, if I watched the local news around here, I might not ever leave my house. Second, I don't even like my TV to be on that much and if I am going to be watching the tube, I want it to be something that I enjoy! But, tonight I will faithfully be watching the major TV stations to see how Iowa and our nations presidential race is shaping up. That is until the Virginia Tech vs. Kansas game starts and then I'm in football heaven for a few more hours! Last nights' West Virginia vs. OU game was AWESOME!! (Sorry, Steph) But I loved seeing WV just take it to the Sooners! We only had to hear, "Boomer Sooner" a few times, instead of all night!!!

Enough for now, I'm working on a HUGE project with one of my friends from church that we have (and I mean HAVE) to finish by our Saturday morning Small group leaders kick-off breakfast!! I'm almost done and have a few things to finish! I'm off...But until then, I want to know how you feel about the upcoming elections? Are you already sick of them and it's just Jan. 3?

Romo vs. Farve

I have to admit something. I have been a Cowboys fan my whole life. Being from Arkansas, we don't have an NFL team in our state so Texas is about as close as it gets for us. When I was little, the Dallas Cowboy Hoopsters (some of the football players had a little basketball team during the off season that would play for fundraisers or something like that...honestly, I don't remember why they came to Searcy, I was 7 years old) came to to Searcy and played against some men from the Optimist club. My dad was in the club (and on the basketball team) and he got to guard Too Tall Jones during the game....of course, my dad is 6'1" or so and Ed Jones is 6'9"...it was a fun game, though. I got to meet Danny White when I was little, too and that was a complete dream....oh, the quarterback for the Cowboys, WOW!! I was so starstruck.

The point is, I was a Cowboys fan from the beginning. Now, I actually LIVE in Texas, but I really am not that big of a fan anymore. I love the Colts. Probably because of Peyton Manning, but I still love the Colts. We've been to 2 Cowboys games in our one year in this part of Texas. Did we yell for the Cowboys? No, we were there to watch the Colts, but I still like America's Team. I do enjoy watching them play and Tony Romo is getting easier for me to watch (it is very hard sometimes!) But tonight's game is going to be GREAT!! Farve vs. Romo. I just can't wait until tonight!! There is other stuff going on later tonight so the Tivo will be running, I just can't wait to see how this match up turns out, for everyone....Go Packers, I mean, Go Cowboys, I mean Go Packers....ARRGGG! Who can just pull for one of these teams? Not me!! I can yell for them BOTH!! I'm just glad that we have DISH network so that we can see the game tonight...are there anymore Cowboys fans out there?

Things going on...

ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports


Tonight is the night! Yes, the first game of the NFL season puts my favorite team, the Colts, against the Saints of New Orleans and I can't wait! Aaron is going to watch the game up at church with the other men as a part of the "Men's Ministry." Frankly, I think it is just an excuse to watch football and eat ribs without having to be responsible for the kids, but they will have a good time. I can watch it here at home, by myself, wearing my #18 Jersey!!

I dropped off Susie at her first day of school and she didn't hardly turn around to say goodbye. That girl is so independent. What a chip of the block, eh? I love my Susie. I'm sure she is just having a blast and I'm so thankful. Parker and I went and had a light breakfast with Mrs. Brownstone, Mrs. B and Mrs. Tefer. We did the schedule for Club 56 (that is the 5th and 6th grade bible class at church that we all teach together) for this fall and it was great. Stuff is coming together and I'm feeling like God is so blessing us with all these great kids in our lives. I hope they feel the same way about us!

Today my friends, Shannon (Pollard is her maiden name) and Greg King are having probably one of the hardest days of their life. They have known it was going to happen, but today Shannon delivered her 3rd little one, via c-section, and she died about 30 minutes later. She had a fatal neural tube defect and Shannon carried her, knowing this, until she was about 36 weeks pregnant, I think. Her name is Olivia and I'm sure she was a beautiful little bundle, just like her big sister Bailey and big brother, Beckham. I know they were so thankful for the 30 minutes they had with her. They are just in my every thought today and if ya'll could remember them and the rest of their family today, I would really appreciate it.

We did soooo much!!

This weekend is so much a blur because we did so much in such a short time, but boy was it a fun time for everyone!! Aaron and his buddies from church all headed out Friday afternoon to go dove hunting. They all piled in my Tahoe and had a great time shooting cans, grasshoppers and a few doves. They didn't even shoot their limit, all together. Pretty funny. They did have a good time and that is all that matters. Us women folk stayed around here and went swimming at our friends house on Saturday. We just relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine, my kind of day.

Some of our friends from Graham called on Saturday and wanted to know if Susie wanted to come over for the rest of the weekend and stay with them and of course she went. She and her buddy, McKynna played and played all the weekend long and we picked her up last night.

While we were minus one child, we went to Six Flags on Sunday after church with the Brownstones, The Crazy Byrnes 6, and Vic Akers. We were quite the huge group at the Flags and that place was PACKED. Note to self: Do NOT go to Six Flags on a National Holiday weekend. But, like always, we were all just happy to be together and it really didn't matter that we only rode 10 or 12 rides. Six Flags now closes at 7PM on the weekends...just nuts, I think, but we all got out of the park and enjoyed some more time together eating out. Vic's birthday was on Saturday so we got the waiter at the restaurant to really sing good to him. He got to wear the big hat and everything. Pretty funny.

Yesterday morning we all were invited to the Akers house for breakfast and swimming to celebrate Vic's birthday, again!! So we ate and ate and ate some more...it was great food. The kids swam and played up in the pool room and then we decided to go over to the local water park. We haven't been all summer so we figured that we better remedy that problem! It was so much fun and Parker LOVED it! He even rode one of the big tube rides with Aaron. I was a little leery, but he did great! It started raining about 4:30 and would you know, they closed the park down, but they gave us all rain checks for next season!!! So, we had a great time at the water park and we get to come back next season one day for FREEEEEE!!! I love it!

Great weekend with great friends, it doesn't get much better than that....okay, well it could have been better if the Vols and the Seminoles would have won, but that is asking a little too much, don't ya think?

We are off to get Susie ready for her meet the teacher day!! Happy Tuesday!!

It's FOOTBALL Season!! Updated....

Update: LSU whomped upon Mississippi State 45-0. The first quarter was pretty good, MSU held LSU to just 3 points, but then it started raining and the interceptions started. LSU caught 6 interceptions....wow! The LSU quarterback is so-so...he better get on the ball before they play some real teams. But, it was a great game because it was college football and here at our house, we LOVE us some college football!! Tomorrow Tennessee starts their season, hopefully with a win against Cal on the road....Go Vols!! Arkansas also has a game, but they better just show up and thump Troy and not goof around. I better stop all my SEC ranting before I have a whole post just on SEC football and ya'll get bored. GO SEC!! (for all of you that don't know, that stands for the South East Conference...all my favorite teams...UT (Tennessee, not Texas), Florida, Arkansas, LSU, etc....) Saturday my DVR is going to get a workout!!

YES!! Tonight the first football game of the season starts at 7PM and I can hardly wait! I love college football and tonight's game is going to be a good one. LSU at Mississippi State. Aaron spent his first 2 years of college at Mississippi State, but I just can't pull for them tonight. I'm pretty sure that LSU is going to come out fighting and whomp them pretty hard. Great night for some SEC football. I wrote in purple today because I'm picking an LSU win....we will see! I think the girls might have to go to bed at 6:59 in order for me to get to watch the kick-off...wait I have a DVR, no worries!!