Update

So the past month has flown by. Volleyball season is over the fall. It was fun while it lasted, but I was ready for a break. Now I am just trying to get things wrapped up before going home for Christmas. I guess I'll start with how the season ended. We beat Iowa State, lost to A&M and OU, then finished out the regular season with Coloaro, which we swept at home. The following day we found out we made the NCAA tournament and were traveling to Seattle, Washington to play the University of Washington. They were seeded 6th in the tournament, but we played incredible against them. We lost in 5, but that is probably the best game I have seen us play all year. It was hard losing and realizing that some of the girls won't be back next year. I am especially going to miss having Tatum around, even if she did come up with the weirdest injuries. The injury bug definitely wasn't kind to us this year, but we overcame a lot and had a successful season. We finished the year 17-11 and 10-10 in Big XII. Can't complain too much! Jules is doing wonderful in her rehab. She's 8 weeks out and about 8 weeks to go before she is ready to go! It has been exciting to watch her improve every day, and in ways very rewarding.

Mom & Dad came up after Thanksgiving to see me, watch the volleyball game and we watched the Kansas football game at Buffalo Wild Wings together. The atmosphere was amazing and we really had a good time. Then we all went to Emily's house to help her and Kyle paint. Unfortunately or fortunately for me, I had to come back Sunday night for school and work. Mom & Dad ended up staying until the following Tuesday helping get things done. I got a few more hours of work in between me flying to and from Seattle. We all watched the Big XII Championship game together---when I finally got back home after 4 hours ON a plane ON the runway in Chicago. Sadly, my Tigers fell to those sooners and Kyle was the only happy one in the whole building after the game.

I'm officially done with school for the semester and very excited about that. It wasn't necessarily a hard semester at all, but the last two weeks were a cram session to get a presentation and 20 page paper completed....yes I knew about them from the first day of class on, but who really wants to get done early? Haha. I am returning to Texas this weekend sometime and ready for a few weeks at home.

I am also excited to spend a week in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. Neisha & I have big plans for the week--ok maybe not big plans but I am excited to be going to the bowl game. I am supposed to be staying with them, but after this past weekend, they may be changing their offer. Saturday morning Neisha called me and said Casey told her to tell me to pack my bags and come stay with them because if we are going to be iced in, I might as well be iced in with them and not all alone. Saturday night before the ice storm even hit I was already driving them nuts. It was just one of those things where I knew I was going to be iced in and wouldn't be able to go anywhere soon and it was driving me nuts. Sunday we didn't leave the house. Monday we went to work but then it was back home all night. I am about to go crazy with all this ice. It's no fun, you can't play in it, can't build snowmen, can't make snow angels, it's just there and makes the roads slick. Hopefully the worst is over.

Here is our Christmas card for work this year. Last year for Halloween they dressed up in the uniform of the sports they all worked and made it into their Christmas card. It's a hard theme to top, but this year we went with the original Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I've added a slide show below of our trip to Seattle. Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

2 Concerts, 3 Days

I know everyone has hardly been able to hide the anticipation for finding out how my concerts were. Garth Brooks was AMAZING. I had so much fun!! The Sprint Center was packed. We didn't have the greatest seats in the world, but we were in the same building as Garth Brooks and that is all that matters. His concert would definitely have to be on the best times in my life. Any of you that have been to a Garth Brooks show knows he puts on a great show. He did have a pretty simple set up, but he is undoubtable one of the best entertainers I know. He started off with The Fever. Trisha Yearwood opened for him, but we missed most of that because I had practice and the boys had a test, so we got inside just as she went on stage. (I went with 2 other ga athletic trainrs Matt & Shane and one of the equipment managers Borts.) She sounded great though. He sang for about 45 minutes to an hour, then left the stage. He came back for encore #1 and opened with Ain't Goin' Down 'Til the Sun Comes Up. Of course we also go to hear the 3rd verse to Friends in Low Places, always a Garth must. It was his ultimate hits concert, so if it is a hit, he sang it. Of course Garth & Trisha sang In Another's Eyes and Garth played the guitar while Trisha sang Walkaway Joe. Then for the 2nd encore Garth came out with just his guitar. He played and sang all kinds of different songs starting way back in the good ol' days to present day. I am not sure which part of the show I liked better. He sang Merle Haggard, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Seiger, James Taylor, Don McLean, George Strait--one of my favorites, Amarillo by Morning, and his fiddle player came out for this one...it was incredible, a little Billy Joel's Piano Man thrown in and then he closed with American Pie. His first concert ever was at the Kansas City Opry and that night he closed with American Pie, so he only thought it was fitting to close with it again that night. I was on cloud nine the whole night and not really sure if I have actually come off of it yet. I've posted a slideshow below. They do no justice for the show though. Thursday none of us had our true voices. We sang so loud the entire time that we all became hoarse. Definitely worth every bit of it! I was finally getting over my cold, but singing all that time didn't help, so I am on round 2 which is much worse than round 1 of the cold.

Friday night Matt & I went to see Jack Ingram & Dierks Bentley at the Hearnes Center. The nice thing about working for the athletic department is that if they don't sell out of shows, we can get comp tickets. Our seats were in about the same place relative to the stage at the Garth concert, only TONS closer. Of course the crowd wasn't near as big or fun, but we had a good time. It was a good concert and any time I can hear live Texas Country music...you know I am there! I think I would have enjoyed it more if I would have seen this concert first then the Garth Brooks concert, because the two just don't compare. Garth definitely has the upper hand and in my opinion always will.

I guess I should throw in a volleyball update as well. We are down to our last 4 games of the regular season. Saturday we played in Lubbock and swept Tech 30-28, 30-26, 30-26. This definitely wasn't one of greatest matches, but a win is a win and that is all that matters. We host Iowa State on Wednesday, go to A&M on Saturday, go to OU next Wednesday and finish up with Colorado at home next Saturday. We are all alone in 6th place right now in conference and have a good shot of making the NCAA tournament. I had a great time of hanging out with my parents and enjoyed seeing Pam & Robert as well. Robert is getting so big and turning into a little man. Dad, Mom & I ate lunch at Abuelos and it was wonderful. We sat in the bar area so we could watch the Mizzou football game and I am very proud of the fact that they are now ranked #5 in the nation with a 9-1 record. Hopefully we get to avenge that loss to Oklahoma in December, but must first beat K-State & Kansas. After Abuelos we stopped by Chicken Express for some sweet tea & by Rosa's to get sopapillas and chips and salsa. Apparently sopapillas aren't popular up here and several of the girls had them for the first time when I took them to the arena. I know, it's amazing I shared with them, but only a few bites. I can't wait until December when I get to come home and see everyone. Emily & Kyle are supposed to start painting their house the Sunday after Thanksgiving so the parents are coming up to help, so I will get to see them then. My Thanksgiving will be spent with my "Missouri" family, the Hairstons' & Shaufflers'. They have requested that I bring my Aunt Pat's corn so at least I will have a little touch of home at Thanksgiving.

GARTH BROOKS

Today started out horribly, but ended greatly. To make a long story short, I foudn out that Matt & Shane had tickets to the Garth concert tomorrow, had extra tickets, but never asked me to go. Apparently they thought they had, but LUCKILY they still had an extra ticket and I'M GETTING TO SEE GARTH BROOKS TOMORROW!!!!! This may have made my year. It's a "one time" concert in Kansas City. Well it started out as one concert, but turned into 9 concerts. He sold out 9 concerts in less than 2 hours....and I'm getting to go. How AMAZING is that? Ok so if you can't tell I am a little excited about this concert. Let me give you some background information. When I was in 3rd grade (I think) Shane Brooks, a kid my parents had in school in Breckenridge, was supposed to go to Abilene and sit and line and get us tickets to see Garth Brooks. Well something happened and he didn't end up going and I was DEVESTATED. Ironically, Shane ended up going to Nashville for a while and had a short career. He produced a song that was even on CMT at one time, but was under the name Shane Stockton. He also wrote one of the songs on Garth Brooks' The Lost Sessions CD, it's titled My Baby No Esta Aqui. Now this isn't one of his most popular songs, but look on the papers inside the CD--Shane Brooks is a writer of the song. Well anyways, I am still not completely over not getting to see him as a 3rd grader. Then we move to Tulia and I am in JH and Garth comes to Amarillo. Richard & Becky had tickets and had a few extras and Kristi invites Emily to go with them, but they don't have enough tickets for me to go. Needless to say, I was CRUSHED. Emily gets home that night and says, "You should have gone, they were selling tickets at the gate." I was not a happy camper and to top it all off she tells me they were right by the stage (more in the back but that is irrelevant) and she touched Garth. I am still a little bitter about this. So that's strike number 2 of not getting to see Garth. Then I hear on the radio one morning on my way to work that Garth Brooks is going to do a one time show in Kansas City, but it's on November 14th. So I get excited, first thing I do when I get to work is check the calendar...dang it, of course it's a Wednesday and I have a home volleyball match--there's no getting out of this and it's televised. So I don't even try to get tickets, then I find out they have opened 9 shows, but all sold out in less than 2 hours. So I am thinking...3rd chance down the drain. But Shane & Matt LOVE me and are letting me tag along tomorrow night. So my day has been GREAT since. THANKFULLY, we don't have a volleyball game tomorrow night, it just happens to be our off week. I know I was griping earlier about not having a Saturday off, but having a Wednesday off worked GREAT. I can't wait to tell you about my night!

Anyways, enough about Garth. I am pretty sure I get to go to the Jack Ingram & Dierks Bentley concert on Friday. They will be at the Hearnes Center and since it isn't a sell-out crowd, athletic staff gets complimentary tickets. Should be a good time, but definitely won't hold a candle to Garth.

As for volleyball, the season is winding down. We have 5+ games left. These are 5 very important games. So for the update. Thankfully, our being swept in 3 games has come to an end, and playing 5 game matches has become a trend. We will start where we left off. We traveled to Kansas to play what is one of our biggest rivalry games. Luckily we held them off in 5 in one of the longest matches in Mizzou history. Scores were 30-32, 30-22, 33-31, 26-30, 15-12. This was a big win, and helps us with the overal Border Rivalry that we have with them. On Halloween we traveled to Nebraska to play the #2 Huskers (they dropped after losing to Texas). It was a night full of eerie happenings with Jekyl & Hyde being present. We ended up losing in 5, after a crazy night of scores being 30-19, 32-34, 30-11, 24-30, 15-10. Although it was the first time a Big XII team has beaten Nebraska on their home court since 2005 when Missouri took them to 5 as well. It was definitely an exciting night despite losing and really helped our tournament chances. Friday we hosted Baylor and won in 5 again, 30-21, 25-30, 29-31, 30-22, 15-13. Then we got 3 days off, which was AMAZING. We don't play again until Saturday at Tech, so our coaches decided a few days off would be nice. I am very excited to go to Lubbock on Saturday, as I get to eat at Rosa's :) (Abuelos or Cagles would be amazing, but I don't have that much time) and get some Chicken Express sweet tea. Oh the simple things in life really are the greatest. I wish I was going to be home Friday night for the annual post-game chili supper at my parent's house, but will be very glad to see them on Saturday. Pam & Robert are coming to see me as well, which I am super excited about because I haven't seen them since July. From the pictures I get I can tell he has grown so much. Other exciting news is that the Sunray girls advanced to state in cross country and will be running on Saturday in Round Rock. I really wish I was going to be there to cheer them on, but they know my thoughts are with them.

Well I guess that's all I have for now. Christmas is right around the corner and I can't wait to be home for a few weeks. I will be spending Thanksgiving here because we have a volleyball game on the Wednesday before and the Saturday after, but no fears, my adopted Missouri family has already offered me a place at their table---I wonder if they do it buffet style...if so, no worries Ashton & Seth...I'll go first! :)

Weekend Update & More

Great news! I got to go to 3 quarters of the Mizzou-Tech game. Only it wasn't as good as a game as we all expected it to be. Mizzou won 41-10 and became bowl eligible. This brings our record to 6-1. Tech had one of their poorest showings ever, but Mizzou played great. I was proud to be a Tiger, but still had sorrow for my beloved Red Raiders. Below is a slideshow with some pictures from the game. Friday night I went to the hotel where Tech was staying to see my old boss, Buzz, and some of my friends from undergrad. It was so great to catch up with some of them.

Mom & Dad drove up on Thursday and left Monday morning. It was so great to see them. Friday night we had a "tailgate" party at Casey & Neisha's house. We knew that Saturday would be hectic between football & volleyball so we chose to tailgate the night before. Casey's parents came over as well as Neisha's friend Destiney & some of her friends. Matt (another GA) showed up a little later. We cooked steaks, mashed potatoes, corn, baked beans, salads, cobbler & ice cream. Of course we entertained ourselves by playing with Harper and some guitar hero. Harper got to eat carrots for the first time that night as well. She didn't really like them and proceeded to "motor boat" with them in her mouth getting them everywhere (see pic below). It was a great time to just hang out with family & friends. Saturday Emily & Kyle came over for the football & volleyball games. Sunday we all went to church together and looked at the houses Emily & Kyle have been looking at to buy. I've included a few pictures from our tailgate as well.

So now for the volleyball update. Nebraska is amazing. We played a great game 1 against them, but games 2 and 3 were not fun. We lost 29-31, 18-30, and 14-30. Saturday we hosted Texas. Unfortunately, we lost in 3. Once again, we played a great game 1, but games 2 and 3 weren't near as good. Game scores were 29-31, 17-30, and 22-30. This brings our overall record to 12-8 and our Big XII record to 5-6. We are tied for 6th with Texas A&M currently. Today we played Kansas State. They are #4 in conference & #15 in the nation. Unfortunately we got swept for the 3rd time in a row, 23-30, 17-30, 27-30. We have 8 more Big XII games, then we find out if we make the NCAA Tournament or not. Mom took some pics at the volleyball game for me, so they are on the slideshow as well. (Side note: Texas swept Nebraska tonight, giving Nebraska their first loss of the season.)

5 in a Row

That's right, we have now won 5 Big XII Conference games in a row! And to top that off, we have had 2 Big XII Players of the week -- one offensive player and one defensive player. I'll start where I left off last time. After an exciting win over Colorado we hosted Texas Tech & Texas A&M. Both were very short matches as we swept both of them in 3. Against Tech we were 30-23, 31-29, 30-16. Game 3 was AMAZING!! It was great to get done in 3 because that meant more tailgating before the big Nebraska game (I'll get to that in a minute.) The following Monday, Wendy was named Big XII Offensive Player of the week, after a stellar performance at Colorado followed by 13 kills against Tech. Wednesday we hosted A&M and won in 3 as well, 30-23, 30-23, 30-28. Our hitting was amazing that night. Na had 22 kills and Megan had 17 kills. That was a career high for Megan in a three game match and Na had the most kills by a Tiger in a 3 game match since 2000. Saturday we traveled to Waco to play Baylor. It was another sweep in 3! We won 30-27, 30-25, 30-23. These 3 game sweeps are getting nice! Yesterday Tatum was named Big XII Defensive Player of the Week. So needless to say it's been an exciting time at Mizzou Volleyball. The win over Baylor tied us with Iowa State for 5th. The next couple of weeks are tough though. We host Nebraska (#1 in the nation and our conference), Texas (#6 in the nation and #2 in conference), and Kansas State (#16 in the nation and #3 in the conference). Then we go to Kansas & to Nebraska. That's pretty much as tough as a stretch as you can get. I would post volleyball pictures but I don't have any and you can't save them from the internet :(

Now the Nebraska game was soo much fun. Did a little tailgating before the game with Neisha and some of her friends. Then we walked over to the game and sat in the family section in the south end zone. It was the Gold Rush game and as you can see from the pictures there was a TON of gold. I was actually pretty amazed. Lots of times schools try to get themed games and only about half the fans participate, but the amount of participation was AMAZING. I am interested to see what the Blackout Game vs A&M looks like. Total attendance was 70,049, the most ever since they have reconfigured the stadium. That's a lot of people. The students started the wave in the 4th quarter and it lasted forever. Of course the Nebraska band & fans wouldn't participate so they got booed everytime it got to them. The Tigers stomped the Huskers 41-6. It was also the first time that Nebraska did not score a touchdown against Mizzou since 1961. I have posted some pictures below. They do no justice for the atmosphere.

Unfortunately the football team had their first loss of the season this past weekend. We will not discuss this any further, as it is a sore spot and I have already gotten enough grief from Kyle. On a brighter note, it's homecoming this weekend. Homecoming supposedly originated at Mizzou in 1911 when the football coach invited former players and students to "Come Home" to watch the game versus Kansas being played on campus for the first time ever. It will be a tough game for me though because they play my Red Raiders. It should also be a great game to watch. #1 total offense vs #5 total offense and #3 scoring offense vs. # 10 scoring offense (sadly for the Tigers, Tech is the leader in both). Definitely a spectator's dream!! It's on ABC at 2:30. I might get to see part of the game, but am not sure yet. We play our volleyball game after the football game, so hopefully I will get to watch some of it in person (the football stadium is across the street from the Hearnes Center), otherwise I will be glued to the tv. I will be cheering for the Tigers aloud, but the Red Raiders will always have a special spot in my heart, so the way I look at it its a win-win situation this week. My parents, Emily & Kyle are coming to the game so I am excited to see all of them and I get to see my old boss Buzz!

MIZ-ZOU

First of all, it's a very exciting weekend in Columbia. It's the Mizzou-Nebraska football game and it's on ESPN at 8:15 pm. Even more exciting I GET TO GO TO THE GAME! :) You should watch and try to find me. I'll be the one in the gold shirt. (Watch the game, you will find this much funnier). It's our Gold Rush game and our Big XII opener. Now on top of all of that we have several other athletic events. We have a volleyball game at 2 pm against Texas Tech, softball has a game at noon, there are live wresting matches at Hearnes following the volleyball match, sometime in the morning there is baseball practice, and Men's Basketball is having open gym at 4. I think that covers everything...maybe women's basketball practice in there somewhere too. So needless to say we have a full day of events to cover.

Now for the volleyball update. Iowa State was a hard fought battle, but we lost in 5; 27-30, 30-24, 30-26, 26-30, 16-14. This was one of the most exciting matches all season though. We are definitely two very closely matched teams. In game 5, we were down 14-7 at one point in time and won 7 straight points to tie the game before losing. It was definitely a heart breaker of a match. The following Wednesday we played at Kansas State. The atmosphere there is amazing, but we were swept in 3. Not many high points in that game with our scores being 30-21, 30-20, 30-20. This isn't a game we try to reflect on too much at all. This brought our record to 7-6 and 0-4 in Big XII play. Then things began to look up.

We hosted No. 25 Oklahoma last Saturday. Talk about an exciting day. Oklahoma was leading the conference coming in and we were tied for 10th (out of 11). They and Nebraska were both undefeated, but since Nebraska had already had an off week and OU hadn't, their record was 5-0 against the Huskers 4-0. Well needless to say we knocked them out of their top spot. We started out up 2-0; 31-29, 30-18. Then comes the 10 minute intermission (I am beginning to hate that break). We came out and lost the next two 33-35, 24-30. Game 3 was amazing, as you tell by the score. It was back and forth the whole time. Then came game 5, which we won 15-13. It was GREAT! We definitely needed that win more than anything and of course any victory over the Sooners is GREAT! (Sorry Kyle, I still love you!) Wednesday we went to Colorado. I now have a new appreciate for jet planes. We chartered a turbo prop plane instead of the jet plane that we have been taking to games. It was still a 30 seater plane instead of the 19 seater that they took last year, but not near as smooth and the prop was right outside my window. Oh well, we got there safely and it's better than driving. Well I have discovered that we can't do anything the easy way. Once again we got up 2-0, go into "halftime", come back out lose the next 2, but win game 5. So we are now 9-6, 2-4 in Big XII and tied for 6th in the conference. Scores were 30-20, 30-19, 26-30, 28-30, 15-9. Another exciting thing about the game. Weiwen "Wendy" Wang, one of freshmen, broke two school records that night. She had 13 blocks in the match and 19 kills with no errors. Previous records were 12 block and 17 kills with no errors. She also recorded the second-highest hitting percentage (.559, 19-0-34) all-time in a Tiger five-game match. So going 5 wasn't all that bad, just a little stressful. That was our 7th 5 game match on the year. The school record is currently 10 and we aren't even half way through conference. I told the girls we should see how many matches we could win in 3, that's a lot more fun than 5.

Well I guess that's it for the volleyball update. Our next 5 out of 6 games are at home, so it will be nice to get some time off from traveling, but that just means more work getting things ready for games.

Harper's half birthday was Tuesday. Neisha & Casey had a half birthday party for her. It was so cute. I don't have any pictures from it yet, but I will post them when I do get them. She got into the cake, despite Neisha saying she couldn't. She wasn't really sure what to think about the icing and cake taste, but we tried to tell her it is MUCH better than the rice cereal.

Mom & Dad are coming in two week and I am super excited. It's our homecoming game vs the Red Raiders and we host Texas in volleyball. I still have my fingers crossed for that night football game. We find out Monday the time :) I am very anxious to say the least. Kyle & Emily are coming over for the game as well. It will great to all be together again and hopefully we all get to tailgate together. Dad--I asked Casey again if you could bring the Tech football guy--he said NO. :( I still think he is super cool and you better have him plugged in on Saturdays at home. I do miss my Red Raider Football Games, but I am super excited to get to go watch my Missouri Tigers play this weekend, and who could ask for a better game to be my first.

Mizzou-RAH! Go Tigers!

Things I Have Learned Since Moving to Columbia, MO

1. High temperatures mean nothing.
The saying "The weatherman is never right" has a whole new meaning. Throughout August I learned that it doens't really matter what the "high" temperature is going to be for that day...always check the heat index. That's what is will really feel like outside and what really matters when getting ready for the day. When they say the high will be 95...that's just what the thermometer measures, but it could feel as hot as 116 degrees. Not a lie, they tested it everyday at football practice during two-a-days. Adjusting to humidity has been different, but it's still not as bad as Houston. I am going to go ahead and make an assumption that this works both ways, come winter time I am already prepared to only care about the wind chill.

2. Cracking your car windows is a MUST.
This ties into the fact that the heat index is usually at least 10 degrees above the actual high. Several times in August I forgot to crack my windows...I thought I might melt when I got in my car. It's the end of September and I am still having to crack my windows. If you forget, your car is rather toasty when you get in.

3. Always scope out the terrain if you decide to go run.
I live beside a golf course. My apartments are called the Country Club Apartments and behind my apartments are several nice houses. One day in July or August I decided I was going to go run a little bit through the neighborhood, because it is what I would consider a nice neighborhood. First of all I waited until about 8 pm to do this--see high temperature comments above. I had recently gotten home and drove through the neighborhood to see how far it was. I think it was about a mile, so I thought oh that won't be too bad, I will survive. So as I take off running I realize that I am running slightly downhill and the thought crosses my mind, if I am running downhill now...I must run uphill to get back. Well I survived that, barely, but then decided that my running through that neighborhood quickly came to a stop. Just because in your car you don't seem to be going through hilly land, when you start running, you quickly realize this. This was NEVER a problem when I decided to go running in Tulia, Lubbock, or Sunray.

4. Road names are subject to change at ANYTIME.
When asking for direction to some place, make sure you are positive which street/road you are supposed to be on. Roads are CRAZY around here. They can change names randomly in the middle of the street. For example, one road that is near my house has at least 5 names, there may be more, I just don't know them, yet. When traveling from east to west, it starts as New Haven Road, then changes to Route AC, then to Old 63, then to Grindstone Parkway, then to Nifong. Those are the ones I know so far, I am sure there are more names. This can be very confusing when you first move here...and that is just an example of one.

5. Schools get out early ALL THE TIME for high temperatures.
I was AMAZED one day. I hear on the radio that all Columbia Public Schools are getting out at noon because of the high temperatures. Apparently quite a few of the schools don't have air conditioning in them (this is craziness, hello we are in the 21st century, pay some money to get AC) so when the heat index gets to high, they don't go to school. I understand this is a safety issue, BUT hello, this is obviously something that happens quite often so why would you not put in air conditioning units or find some way to help this situation other than just cancelling school....don't you have to make up those days. My question about the third day this happened--do they have heaters or do they not go half the time in the winter either. I know last year school was cancelled for at least a week becuase there were 2 inches of ice and 14 inches of snow on the ground. Pure craziness if you ask me. In Texas, it's hot outside, you still go to school, whether you have air conditioning or not...cause we HATE making up days later!

6. Common courtesy while driving doesn't exsist.
I miss the waves. Plain and simple, you meet someone on the highway, wave. Whether it is your whole hand, a few fingers, or simply the index finger wave, just do it. It's not that hard. That doesn't happen at all around here. One that really drives me nuts though is at times around campus traffic is very busy. If I let you change lanes into my lane in front of me, or I let you turn onto the street I am on...WAVE. It's a simple thank you. You let me in someone I am going to wave and you and make sure you see it. These Missourians apparently don't believe in this. I guess they just expect you to let them in. I don't get road rage, but when you don't say thanks for letting me in, it really makes me mad. (Sorry I had to get that rant off my chest).

7. These people just don't understand Southern.
Daily I am made fun of the way I talk. Half of the time I have to repeat myself because people don't understand me. I am from the South, we all talk like this. Nobody down there thinks I talk funny. Yes I am "fixin" to do something. I've been here about 2 1/2 months and people still make fun of me for "fixin" to do something. That's just one of the things that they think is strange. I love my southern accent and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm Texas born and bred and I am proud of it! :)

Well those are just a few of the things I have learned since living here. I am sure I will post more later.

Volleyball Update

My life currently revolves around volleyball so that is about all I have to update about. We beat UMKC in 3 games; 30-19, 30-17, 30-8. This was a big win for us considering it was our first game since we found out Jules won't be returning this year and it put us on a good note going into conference. Our trip to Texas was a quick one. All of the returning girls from last year were excited about the new plane. In the past they have flown on a 19 seater prop plane, but this year we have upgraded to a 30 seater jet plane. So now instead of making two stops on the way to Austin from Columbia, we made it in an hour and 45 minutes. It was GREAT!!! Conference play hasn't been going that well for us. We lost to Texas in 3 games, 22-30, 24-30, 24-30. We played pretty decent, but Texas is just good. They have some amazing players. My parents connected the computer to the tv and watched the match on the internet. Dad was very impressed by several of their hitters. One of their players is also the NCAA National High Jump Champion, so she definitely can get up when she's on the net...oh and she is just a sophomore. Wednesday we hosted Kansas in the Border Showdown. It was a tough loss in 5 games; 23-30, 30-26, 30-20, 28-30, 7-15. This brings our overall record to 7-4, 0-2 in Big 12 Conference. We are currently in Ames, Iowa where we play Iowa State tomorrow. Hopefully we can go home with a win.

Other than that not much is going on. I survived my first round of tests, but they weren't that hard at all. One was a take home test; the other was an open notes & book test. Harper (Casey & Neisha's daughter) did army crawl for the first time on Wednesday so that was exciting. She hasn't quite figured out how to get her belly off the floor, but she is actually getting pretty quick at the army crawl. When she wants to go somewhere she gets really excited first and starts kicking her feet then she scoots away. She will be 6 months on October 2nd and I am amazed at how much she has grown since I moved up here. Here's a picture of her watching the football game against Illinois and another of her before church last weekend.

Craziness

It's only Wednesday and this week has already been crazy. I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off everyday. Between rehabs, doctor appointments, making sure my girl on crutches gets everywhere she needs to be and practice I have no idea where most of the day goes. Monday my volleyball girl had an MRI done and we found out she did in fact tear her ACL. She is handling it very well and is ready to get her surgery done and rehabing to get back. Her attitude is great, which makes my job so much easier. She does get a medical redshirt though, so she doesn't lose this year, so that is also a positive. Our team is still adjusting to playing without her, but good news, we won in 3 tonight versus UMKC. We definitely needed that win. Conference play started tonight, but since only 11 of the Big 12 teams play volleyball this was one of our two open weeks, therefore we picked up a game. We open conference Saturday at Texas, so if you are in the Austin area, you should come see me :)

Other than that not much has gone on. Football has their home opener this weekend, but I won't be here to watch. :( This makes me very sad because y'all all know how much I LOVE college football. I only actually get to see 1 game for sure hopefully 2....still praying for a night gave vs. Tech. They are 2-0 right now so that is exciting as well.

Well I guess I better get some homework done. Hope everyone is having a great week!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

So I still haven't gotten any better about posting more often. I really am trying, but things have been crazy around here. Last weekend we hosted our tournament and that definitely kept me busy. We had a team drop out a week and a half before it, so we ended up only playing 2 games, but the tournament was a 3 day tournament. We beat Notre Dame in 3 games, then lost to Florida Internation in 5. We won the tournament by the tie breaker rules, but it was still a long weekend. This past weekend I got to visit the greatest place on Earth, yes I got to go to Texas. Our tournament was in San Marcos. We won this tournament as well. We beat Cal State Fullerton in 3 games, Houston in 4 games and Texas State in 4 games as well. I did have an athete hurt her knee this weekend against Houston, so please say a little prayer that everything will be ok. She did get the tournament MVP though and didn't even play on Saturday, needless to say she is a key player for us.

Other than that nothing really exciting has happened. Just trying to keep up with the daily routine. We play Wednesday at home against UMKC and then open up conference at Texas on Saturday. So once again I get to go back to Texas, only it will just be for Saturday because we will start chartering flights. The girls on the volleyball team, especially the foreigners, are finally beginning to fully understand how big Texas is. They always say, "You get to see your family this weekend!" and I say no, "They are 6+ hours aways still." We travel there 5 times this season and I will only get to see my family once, when we play at Tech. Football is 2-0 so that is always exciting. I just wish I could go to more games. I know I will get to go to 1, possibly 2, but that is it. I definitely miss Friday Night Football in Texas though. I do always check the paper for scores though. I still hope to get better about posting more often in the future.

One Weekend Down, Only 30 More To Go

Ok so it's not 30 more, just 13 more. Actually just 2 more weekends and then 11 weeks, but you get the point. I have officially survived my first weekend of volleyball tournaments. Getting to play against someone other than each other is always exciting. We left Thursday morning for Oxford, Mississippi for the Magnolia Classic at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. This was one of the few trips we had to take a travel bus, but for those of you who remember my days at Texas Tech, the 7 hour bus ride to Oxford was nothing compared to the trips I made with football. When we arrived on Thursday we practiced, ate supper and then my roommate, Stephanie, and I watched Top Gun and crashed. I must say Steph is pretty awesome. Like I said in a previous post she has worked with volleyball the previous 2 years and has been a God send to me. She already knows what our coaches expect and knows how to keep me sane when insane situations arise. Friday was pretty slow in the morning and then we had serve & pass practice, ate lunch, and headed back to the gym for the 1st match. Steph & I were very mad that we didn't think to spend Friday morning going through the shops downtown on the square. Oxford is a very beautiful place and has a really neat square area. We did get to go to a few shops, but they were definitely the higher end ones. One department store is famous for being the oldest department store in the south. It was pretty neat to go in there, just to say we had been there. Sadly I have no pictures, I kept forgetting to put my camera in the bag I was carrying. We didn't really see much of campus, but the athletic complexes were nice. We did drive by The Grove, but it was night and we couldn't see anything. The houses there are AMAZING though. I found several that I could live in. As for the tournament, we opened up with Ole Miss. We definitely had some first game jitters, but for the most part those were expected, especially with 7 newcomers on the team. Unfortunately we lost to Ole Miss in 5 games after 3 hours of playing. It was definitely a hard fought battle with the scores being, 28-30, 30-27, 32-34, 30-13, 13-15 (Mizzou scores listed first). Saturday didn't prove to start much easier. We started with Jacksonville State and beat them in 5 games. Apparently this was becoming a trend of the whole tournament. At this point in time 3 of the 4 games had gone into 5 games. Scores against Jacksonville State were 30-16, 28-30, 27-30, 30-23, 15-12. Thankfully match #3 at the tournament was much shorter. We played Arkansas State and beat them in 3. Scores were 32-30, 30-20, 30-13. After that game we headed back home. Coming back to CoMo was exciting becuase I knew my parents would be here Sunday afternoon. They flew in Thursday to St. Louis and spent some time with Emily & Kyle and then came over Sunday to spend some time with me. Mondays are very busy days, so we actually haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together, but it has definitely been great getting to see them. Sadly they must leave in the morning. I am already excited about them coming back in October for the Mizzou-Tech football game. We also play Texas in volleyball that day, so it will definitely be another one of those busy days. Personally I am hoping for a night football game so that the volleyball game will be in the morning and I can actually enjoy the game, but everyone keeps telling me it's Homecoming and they will more than likely have a day football game. :( Oh well, I can still hope for the ideal situation. Well I better go enjoy my time with the parents. I will try to be better about posting on a more regular basis I promise--I know I say this every time, but I am finally getting into more of a routine. I'll be in San Marcos next weekend if anyone wants to come visit! :) Sorry this post is somewhat boring as well. I keep meaning to write a post about "The Things I Have Learned Since Moving to Columbia," but time keeps slipping away from me. I'll just leave you in anticipation for that one.

Volleyball & Stuff

Once again it has been a while since I have posted. So sorry, volleyball consumes my life right now. We had physicals last Tuesday night and it has been a whirlwind since. We are practicing twice a day everyday and needless to say it keeps me busy. Breakfast at 7, get things ready at 7:30, practice at 8:30, cold tubs at 11:30, lunch & treatments, setter practice at 2, practice at 2:30, cold tubs again, treatments and dinner about 6:30. Repeat. We have Sundays off as far as practice, but still have to do treatments. Some time after that is all done, I find time to hang out with the other GA's or Casey, Neisha & Harper. Tomorrow will be a VERY busy day though and definitely longer than usual. The morning will stay the same, but in the afternoon we are hosting a youth clinic (there are over 200 little girls signed up already) and then we have our annual Black & Gold game. I am a little excited about the Black & Gold game because practice is beginning to get a bit monotonous and I am excited to actually watch a game :)

Even with our busy schedules -- me at volleyball, the boys at football, Tara at soccer -- we have still found time to hang out and have a good time. I am destined to get 2nd place in EVERY poker game we play. And y'all know I hate to lose and getting 2nd place continously is definitely not helping my competitiveness. We went bowling one night and had a great time. We ended up bowling 5 games that night and I think we all felt it for the next 3 days. Once again my team got 2nd, do you notice the trend here??? I am not dealing with this very well. Karaoke night has become a common occurance though. I am proud to say that I am still the reigning champ at both County Karaoke & American Idol (finally something I don't get 2nd in). We have slowly integrated Guitar Hero into our festivities. Tak & Adam also play the "real" guitar, so some nights they put on mini concerts for us and we sing along. They have even recorded some songs on to Tak's computer...we are a talented bunch if I must say so myself.

Well I must go check on the cold tubs...I don't want them to overflow!

Just a Quick Update

I haven't posted in a while, so I decided I would give everyone a quick update. I officially started work this week and I am loving it so far. We had our first staff meeting on Tuesday and then the students reported on Wednesday for some basic orientation. Wednesday night we had a staff dinner in Fayette (which is about 30-45 minutes away). My boss Rex surprised us all and rented two limos to take us there. We had a black Hummer and a white Chrysler 300. Both were VERY nice. Below is a picture of a bunch of us in the Hummer. Football started yesterday, but I am not working that. I am sad, but they have already decided to move practice from 8:15 to 7:15 on Monday-Wednesday becuase the temperatures are so high and we are in a heat advisory. So I won't miss opening the training room at 5 and will appreciate the cold gym. Volleyball starts on Tuesday with a meeting & physicals and then we start 2-a-days on Wednesday. We have 2-a-days every day until the 20th with Sundays off. Thankfully I have Stephanie as my student athletic trainer! :) She has worked with volleyball the past 2 years and basically knows how to run the show. She will also double as my "interpreter". We have 2 assistant coaches who are Chinese and 3 players. I have already been warned that I will not be able to understand them and they will never understand my Texas accent. In the meantime I am trying to enjoy my last few days of freedom!

Apartment Pictures

For the most part the apartment decoarting is done. There are still a few things that need to be done, but nothing major. Several people have been asking to see pictures so here they are. I have come to the conclusion that I have a minor cross fetish. So if you are ever in turmoil about what to get me as a present, a cross is always a safe way to go! :) The living room is a little tight and we had to put the recliner in the extra room, but I still like it. My family kept trying to tell me the TV was the problem and all were more than willing to take it off my hands...not happening, sorry! The kitchen is a little messy still, mainly because I will be getting a new fridge on Wednesday and don't feel like moving everything several times, so it is just kinda all in there for a while. My door chest/armoir thing is in my bedroom, I just didn't get it in the picutre. There is also my Tech collection in my bedroom~I'm still paying them money so I will still support them~except I guess when they are playing my Tigers :) Yes, Paul, my closet is color organized, thanks for asking. Why would I do that to your children's closets but not my own. I only took a picture of the shirts side, there is another side that all my jeans and work clothes are on. The extra bedroom has become a catchall. There is also a walk-in closet in that room. Well I hope you have enjoyed the picture tour of my apartment. I left out the laundry room and bathroom, hope no one is upset, but have no fear I do have a bathroom~looks like your average bathroom, but with his and her sinks. If you are ever in CoMo stop by and see me!

I'M HERE!!

So I am officially a Missourian now~well a resident anyways. I will always be a TEXAN no matter where I live. After about 13 hours of driving on Tuesday we arrived in Columbia...don't worry it doesn't always take that long, but the good ol' Penske truck didn't like some of those hills too much so we had to slow down a little. Wednesday the boys (Casey, Tom, Matt, Adam, Shane & Tak) all showed up to help unload the truck. It was all off the truck, upstairs and in the apartment in 33 minutes. Pretty fast if you ask me...now unpacking has been a different story. I am on day 3 of unpacking, but good news, only a few boxes to go and they are mainly just decorations! The apartment is great and I really like the location. I did find out a few days ago that I will actually be working with the women's volleyball team instead of the soccer team which made me super excited because now I will be in CoMo the day Mizzou plays Tech in football! We do have a volleyball game that day (against #7 Texas), but it is scheduled around the football game, so that is definitely a plus. Now I am just praying it is a night football game so the vball game will be early! Well I supposed I should get back to organizing what is left to unpack and put up. I'll try to post some pictures later.

Colorado

This past weekend my dad, Aunt Wanda, Uncle Jerry & I went to Montrose, Colorado for the Miller family reunion. Now the majority of the people there I had never met, so it was good to meet much of my family. My dad & aunt figured out it had been 37 years since they had last gone to Colorado to visit. Needless to say, tons of things have changed since then. The picture on the left is as we were driving down the road near Cañon City - the feet in the picture are for my sis.

When we deciced to go my aunt told me that our cousin had said it was 103 degrees in Motrose and that it should be in the mid 90s while we are there. So I packed accordingly, but through in a jacket and jeans just in case~I know Colorado nights could get chilly. Well on our way there I had my doubts about the 90 degree weather. Outside of Salida the temperature was 78 degrees, within 10 minutes it was 68 and about 5 minutes later it was 58 and rainy. As we went over Monarch Pass the temperature was 44 degrees. Needless to say, I had begun to think they all lied to me, although I still had a glimmer of hope~weather.com told me it was supposed to be 90 also. Not only did the rain cause it to be cold, it also created a mudslide between Monarch and Gunnison. The road was completely covered and we had to move onto the other side of the highway just to pass. (Picture below) Thankfully, the rain passed and it did reach the 90s on Friday.

The reunion was a typical reunion. Visiting, eating, looking at old pictures, etc. Nothing too eventful. I was warned to make sure to be a the front of the line when it came eating time because in past gatherings apparently food was at times scarce depending on who was in charge of cooking. Trust me when I say there was plenty of food and drinks for EVERYONE. They had the biggest ice chest I have seen in a while...they just filled a chest deep freeze full of drinks and ice and then also had at least 20 cases of cokes and water on reserve. The picture to the right was everyone in attendance. Just like all families, we have a few strange ones, but all in all they are pretty neat people. I did find out that I have a cousin (well 3rd cousin) who is the same age as me. She is to the right of me in the picture.

On the way home we stopped along the way to take a few pictures. We were going to go across the Royal Gorge Bridge, but when we arrived, like all tourist attractions these days there was an admission fee. We opted not to pay the $23 (which included all rides except the skycoaster) since we were heading home and just took a few pictures from a distance. We also drove across Blue Mesa Lake. It is absolutely beautiful~Saturday morning it was like glass out there~too bad I couldn't go skiing! Hope you enjoy them! Sorry for the glare in some of the pictures...I was taking them from the car while we were driving.



Finally back the greatest place on earth! TEXAS!

4th of July

4th of July was pretty boring around our house, but we did go watch the fireworks down at the park a few blocks from our house. I took some pictures and was pretty impressed with the fireworks setting on my camera. Enjoy the show!

Here Goes Nothing

It seems that everyone in my family has started a blog, so I have jumped on the bandwagon and created my own. I figure this will be a great way to keep people posted about what is going on in my life. As most of you know, I have accepted a job at the University of Missouri as a graduate assistant athletic trainer. As of now I will be working with the women's soccer team. This also means going to grad school. I will major in Health Education and Promotion and I have no idea what that entails so don't ask me yet~I'll get back to you about that later!

Moving away from home will be hard, but I am also joining some great people in Columbia, Missouri. When I tell most people where I am moving, their mouth drops and they ask why there? Well my first two years as an undergraduate athletic trainer at Texas Tech, I had a great graduate asssitant, Casey, over me. Even after Casey left Texas on his great athletic training adventures we have stayed great friends. Somehow he has convinced me to move from the great state of Texas to Missouri (hopefully it's not misery!) I was in his wedding 3 years ago to Neisha, and they have recently had a precious little girl named Harper. Below is a picture of them about a month ago with Truman the Tiger (yes the same tiger I have called whimpy for the past 6 years is now my mascot). Casey's parents also live in Columbia and have taken me under their wing during their trips to Lubbock and my trips to Missouri. Momma Carolyn makes the best cookies ever and I can't wait to be a few blocks away so that maybe I can coax her into making me cookies when I am craving them. Casey also has a brother who lives in Moberly (about 35 miles north) who I have befriended. Then there is also Neisha's family who is close. Her parents live in Huntsville (about 40 miles north) and her oldest brother lives in Columbia also. They have all become great friends of mine and are willing to take me in for the next two years as one of their own.

My sister and her husband have also recently relocated to Edwardsville, Illinois. They will only be about 2 hours away from me, so having them close will be great also. You can visit their blog by clicking on the link (Emily & Kyle) on the left above.

So here goes nothing on my adventure to Missouri. Oh yeah, my official moving date is July 17th.