Tech vs Baylor at Cowboy Stadium

Well after Melissa talking trash to me most of the game because not only was Tech losing to Baylor, but my Tigers were also losing to kansas, the tides turned and both (Tech & Mizzou) were victorious!!!! The Tech-Baylor game was definitely an ugly one, but I am so glad the Red Raiders pulled out the win. The Cowboys Stadium is AMAZING!! Holy cow that thing is huge. We were up in the top section, but didn't have bad seats at all. We took Mom's camera into the game so I don't have any pictures from inside, but here are a few after the game while we were waiting for the traffic to clear out.

Cowboy Stadium -- "Jerry World"

Mom, Dad & Me after the game

A sweet lady walked by and offered to take a picture of us.

Overall my Thanksgiving weekend was pretty good. I really would have liked to have gone 3-0 with my football teams for the weekend but you can't complain about 2-1, especially with the Mizzou game ending with a game winning field goal over ku. MIZ-ZOU.....Wreck 'Em Tech!

All Great Things Must Come To An End...

Follow me around for a day and you will understand why this post is so delayed....

Just as the title states, all great things must come to an end. My football team (yes mine, I have spent more time with this team than anyone else over the last 4 months) fell to Brady Thanksgiving weekend. Again, I can't remember the score, but I know the boys NEVER gave up and we were in it right up until the end. It was such a hard night, but I am soooo super proud of all those boys. No one outside of the Wildcat Football family ever believed they would have gone 3 rounds deep in the playoffs and make school history. It has truly brought together our school as well as our community. I can honestly say I am proud to be a River Road Wildcat (scary I know)!

Basketball is in FULL swing. I am done with JV tounaments for the year. It's been a crazy month to say the least. 3 basketball tournaments in 4 weeks along with Thanksgiving
& football playoffs. Last weekend I played in the Arbor Tournament, we ended up 4th. We beat Arbor, lost to Clarendon and then lost to Randall 9th. My girls are improving though and gaining confidence. This weekend we hosted our JV Tournament. We ended up 4th again. We beat the Amarillo Flames, lost to Sunray and then lost to Nazareth. We've got 2 games next week, then we're off for Christmas break. My record rigth now is 5-10.

I am sooooo ready for a break from school. I am physically and emotionally exhuasted. I spend most days running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get a million things done in a small amount of time. We're out of school for 2 weeks, but I'll only technically have 5-7 days off due to basketball. It definitely won't be as hectic as when we are in school though.

Alrighty...I gotta get busy on my semester test. It has to be multiple choice per my principal, so I have my work cut out for me!

Happy Holidays to EVERYONE!

Catching Up...

Holy cow, I haven't posted in forever.

I will start with football. We beat Sanford-Fritch in our final district ball game. Honestly I can't even remember the score. We won, that's all that matters. We finished undefeated on our home field (and the beauty of one that it is--yes that was sarcastic). I am soooo proud of these boys. We finished regular season with a record of 7-3 and 2nd in district. This is the first time River Road has made the playoffs in 10 years, so you can imagine the excitement around school.

We are the largest school in our district, so we went to the Division I bracket. Our first draw was #4 Muleshoe. Muleshoe won state last year and was coming in with a 25-0 record dating back to last year. We were picked to lose the game by 20 point. WOW, what a game! We were up 12-0 at half, fell behind 21-12 and came back to win 25-21. We scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick and scored again in the last 5 minutes of the game. BI-DISTRICT Champs!!!!! Here is a picture of most of the boys with the trophy following the game.

The two boys below are two that I am VERY close with. They started calling me Mom at the beginning of the year, and it just stuck. Several others have also started calling me Mom as well. It's actually pretty entertaining to hear someone yelling "MOM" on the sideline and see me answering to them.

After beating Muleshoe, we advanced to the regional round vs #21 Littlefield. Littlefield has a lot of tradition in the playoffs as well. This week we were picked to lose by 13. Our boys have fed off being the underdog is so many of our games. There was actually a story in the Amarillo paper this week about this. We led the entire football game and even though it came down to the final 6 seconds, and a batted down pass with time expired, WE WON!!! 34-28....REGIONAL CHAMPS!!!

The win over Littlefield actually made the team the most successful team in River Road school history! Everyone in the community has come together and really supported this team. We now advance to the State Quarterfinal round and play Brady on Friday at 6 pm at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa. So...if you are in the area and want to see a great game, head up to Ratliff for some Friday Night Lights!!

Basketball is in full swing as well. It hasn't gone as well as I would like for it to, but they are headed in the right direction. We started off 0-3 and played in the Nazareth JV Girls Tournament this weekend. I only went Thursday becuase of football conflicts. We lost our first game to Muleshoe, but then they ended up winning their next 2 games and won consolation. We have two big games this week, Sudan on Monday and Vega on Tuesday.

I am missing my family Thanksgiving again this year because of football playoffs. The Ward family (one of our football coaches) has graciously invited me over to spend the day with them and any others that are staying in the area. I did however find a reasonable flight to Dallas early Saturday afternoon and get to go to the Tech-Baylor game with my family. I am sooo excited for many reasons, I'll get to see everyone but my PawPaw, Emily & Kyle during Thanksgiving break, I get to see my Red Raiders play, and I get to see the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

I hope everyone has a very safe and blessed Thanksgiving!!! GO CATS!

November Already?

I can't believe it is already November!?!? Time is flying by and my days are getting busier. Basketball practice started on October 21st. It is going ok so far. We still have several girls in volleyball so it makes it hard to teach stuff when you don't have your whole team. I never realized how lucky I was and how nice it was to have your entire team from the first day of school until this year. We had a scrimmage on Saturday that I ended up not going to for a variety of reasons, but Coach Greeson said my girls worked hard and did well. They even ended up scrimmaging in one of the varsity scrimmages...so that gave them some extra playing time. We have another scrimmage this Thursday and then our first game the next week. I am so excited to be back coaching and am excited for the season to start. It's a little hectic with football and basketball going on, but I will make it all work.

Volleyball made the playoffs and has their first game against Dimmitt on Tuesday. You all know my feelings about Dimmitt, so honestly I hope we STOMP them!

Two weeks ago we played at Spearman for football. We came away with another shut out 23-0. We played the worst half of football we have played all year, but had a good 2nd half and came away with the win. That helped out our playoff run greatly. One of my football players also had his ACL surgery that week. He is doing amazing so far in his rehab. He went to the the doctor this week and found out he can start jogging in about 4 weeks. I am so excited. This week we played #2 Bushland. We lost 48-14, but the boys never gave up, so I am super proud of them for that. It was a tough loss because it is a huge rivalry, especially since several of the Bushland football players grew up in River Road and have moved to the Bushland district. No major injuries in either of those games, praise the Lord! We play Sanford-Fritch this Friday. A win puts us automatically in the playoffs. That's all we will talk about for now. Making the playoffs will be HUGE as the Road hasn't made the playoffs since 1999. I am soooo excited.

School is going good. Only a few weeks until Thanksgiving and I get to see my family. :) I wish I could see Emily & Kyle, but it will be Christmas before I get to see them again. I miss them so much!! Well I guess I should get ready to go to bed before to long. I have another long week ahead of me!

A Slower Week & Time With the Bestie!!!

Whew, thank goodness this week wasn't near as eventful as the last. Tuesday nothing too exciting happened. Wednesday we hosted FCA Fields of Faith. We had 67 kids show up. It was so great to see kids from River Road, Highland Park and Bushland all come and worship together. We had some great testimonies and several accept Christ which was awesome. We had 4 River Road coaches help with the event. I am so blessed to work with a staff that is grounded in their faith and willing to take time out of their life to help those students who we work with on a daily basis. Thursday I went to the JV game at Highland Park. We suffered a loss, but no injuries. Friday night we hosted Highland Park. We won big, 68-0, and are currently in a three way tie for 2nd place (and leading the tie-breaker--thank you Fritch for beating Panhandle by 14!!!). It was a good game and everyone got to play. We had two defensive touchdowns by defensive lineman. One read a pass and intercepted the ball and returned it 14 yards (that's a long way for a lineman!) and the other recovered a blocked punt in the endzone. We had 8 different people score so that was super exciting. I did have to spineboard a football player, but thankfully it wasn't mine this week. Their quarterback went down with some neck pain and the guy (I still don't know if he was an athletic trainer, PA or what) wanted to send him to the hospital so I said ok. I was the first one to him, so I was in charge of the head. I got word on Saturday morning that he was up and walking around Friday night, which I was so glad to hear. I also had an official strain his hamstring during a run. We got the ball on our own 3 yard line and Chris Perez scored a 97 yard rushing touchdown. He was just too fast for the official running down the sideline. Thankfully, we finished the night with no injuries. (Even though I still felt like I had run a marathon at the end of the game, because they had 2 others go down with ankle injuries and I was always the first one there.)

Saturday morning I had treatments and watched a little film with the boys. Around lunch Mom and I headed to OKC to see Tara. Mizzou soccer played Friday night at Baylor and were playing Sunday at OU so she was going to be in OKC for the night. It's only about 4 hours from Amarillo to OKC so I jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with Tara. I didn't get to see her when I went to Missouri in September so this was the first time I have seen her since I moved to Texas at the end of June. We went to dinner at Chileno's, a great Mexican food place in Bricktown. Afterwards we went back to the hotel to check on the girls before they had curfew. It was so good to see the soccer girls as well. There are a few who I felt like were some of my own athletes because they were in the training room so much and I spent quite a bit of time with them. We had planned on going back down to Bricktown to watch the Mizzou-OSU game, but we got comfy on the couch in the hotel and ended up staying in and watching the game there. It was a tough one to watch, as it's never fun to see my Tigers lose. The game wasn't over til nearly midnight and all of us were exhausted by then. So Mom and I headed back to our hotel. Miracuously neither Tara or I cried when I left the hotel. I think we were both so exhausted we couldn't even show any emotion. Even though my trip was quick and we didn't get to spend too much time together it was so good to just sit down and spend time with Tara. I hate living 11 1/2 hours from her. We've both been so busy we haven't talked much, but we are both determined to see each other again before 4 months go by. Hopefully we will get to see each other during Christmas break sometime. I'll be right in the middle of basketball season, but hopefully we can find sometime to get together.

Well I better get in bed. I've got another week ahead of me. I hope you have an amazing week!!!

When It Rains, It Pours

Ok let me get you up to speed....my weeks have been jam packed.

My football team started district this week. We were 4-1 going into our game on Friday. It is the Road's best start since 1994. Pretty impressive if you ask me. This week started out positive and Friday the bottom fell out (well my stress started Thursday night). My kid that lacerated his spleen had a CT scan on Monday, his 6 week check up, and praise the Lord he is COMPLETELY healed. I was sooo excited and amazed by God's work. We were not expected him to return to football this year, but he was fully released to return to all sports. He played with the JV team on Thursday and is playing with the varsity this upcoming Friday. He did very well and thankfully I didn't have any scary moments with him. With 3 minutes left in the JV game on Thursday night I had a kid get driven into the ground, get up, then I ended up spineboarding him with neck pain. After the game I headed to the hospital to check on him. I left after his CT scan around midnight and he got released about 2 am. Thankfully he only had a neck bruise and whiplash. He's still pretty sore, but I am so glad he is ok. (Oh and my Mizzou Tigers lost to Nebraska on Thursday--not good.) My boy with a shoulder injury--AC sprain after falling off the hood of a car :( was released to start moving and strengthening his shoulder and able to return to football this upcoming week.

Friday night we traveled to Panhandle for our first district game. It turned into a not so fun night rather quickly. First I had a kid go down in the 1st quarter right in front of me with a non-contact knee injury. My initial thought when he went down was ACL, but he popped up and seemed to be fine. He wasn't swelling, didn't have pain in the back of his knee, only seemed to be medial. I wasn't able to test his ligaments because he was in his football pants, it was cold, and I couldn't get him to relax very well. The more I talked to him at halftime the more worried I got about his ACL. I was very open with him and told him I was pretty sure he had a medial problem, but that I couldn't rule out ACL because I couldn't test it, and with his knee slipping that concerned me. Then in the 4th quarter I had a kid go down with a back injury. I spineboarded him as well. 2 spineboards in 24 hours, not fun. We finish the game and end up losing by 3. Not a good night AT ALL. As soon as we get back to Amarillo I head to the hospital. Not too long after I get there, the doctor came in and told us that my athlete has a cracked vertebrae in his back. The night just keeps getting worse, but thank goodness that was all that was wrong. They move him to a room around 2am so I head home. Of course I am WIRED and worried about my boys. I don't sleep at all and head to work Saturday morning for treatments. My boy with the knee injury goes to the doctor and they suspect torn ACL and a few other things. Not how I wanted to start my day. He was scheduled for an MRI on Monday. I had a few other injuries to work on and we are all still disappointed and mad about the loss the night before. My head coach was really just wanting me to give him good news, but I didn't have a lot for him. After treatments I head to Lubbock for the Tech-Kansas State Homecoming game. It was a great game and the Red Raiders got a big win. My back kid was up and moving around, doesn't have to wear a brace and was able to go home Saturday night. Praise the Lord!!!

Sunday I went to a baby shower for the girls' basketball coach in Tulia then Mom & I headed to Amarillo to catch a movie. It was so good to just relax and not do anything. Mom helped me clean my house and make it look liveable again. She ended up staying the night with me and we had a great time. This morning I headed to practice. It was so good to see my back kid there and walking around some. He is pretty sore and slow right now, but we are so lucky that he only has a crack. He has about 6-8 weeks of rehab and hopefully will be healed. My knee kid was there and in pretty good spirits for his teammates. He had his MRI at 12:30 and I just got word that he did a good job of tearing up his knee. Torn ACL, partial tear of PCL, meniscus tears and some other things too, can't remember them all. His knee is totally messed up and surgery is obviously necessary. Pre-surgery prep starts tomorrow.

Needless to say this weekend has been a very very emotional one. I hate for ANY athlete to suffer any time of injury, but these types of injuries really tear me up. I was so excited to have each of my varsity players back this upcoming week and I lost two to very major injuries. So, after you finish reading this say a little prayer for my boys and for me. We all have a long road ahead of us.

After school basketball practice starts next week. My workload doubles but I am so excited to get in the gym and back to coaching. I have missed it so much. Well I gotta get back to grading papers and trying to catch up on all my TV shows. I hope everyone has a great week.

Quick Update

This will just be a quick update about my football team. I have what seems like a bazillion things to do today and I really just want to lay around and do nothing--but that won't happen. Two weeks ago we played West Texas High School. We came away with a shutout 54-0. Our starters didn't even play in their positions during the 2nd half. Some still played, but they were in a different position than their "normal" one. It was so great for the boys to get a win like that. This week we hosted Friona. Friona was 2-0 coming in and riding high off a come behind win over Littlefied (who only had one loss last year, and that was to Muleshoe who won the state championship). Holy cow it was barn burner. It was back and forth all night. We missed a field goal once to go down by 1, but went for a 2 point conversion on our next touchdown and got it. We ended up prevailing 35-30. We got a safety at the end of the game because we had to run 5 seconds off the clock and we were on their end of the field so our guy ran around and then ended up running into their endzone scoring 2 points for them. That win was HUGE!!!! The guys were sooooo excited afterwards. This week we are open which is good becuase I had a key player go down with an ankle injury, so I have 2 full weeks to get him back. My goal is to keep him out of practice this week and hopefully he can go the next week. When we get back into action we go play at Dimmitt. Honestly I hope we kill them. Most of you know my hatred for Dimmitt---I grew up in Tulia. That hatred is just instilled in me!!!!

Anyways, just wanted to give a quick update. I gotta get busy on grading papers, planning lessons, running errands, laundry, and picking up my apartment--it's a MESS!!!

Yes...

I'm alive. Very busy & exhausted, but alive. I get up between 5-5:15 every morning, get ready and head out the door by 6:15 or 6:20. That puts me at work between 6:35-6:45 every morning. Varsity football starts at 7:15 (film, weights, light practice). I leave athletics about 8:35, teach 3 geometry classes, eat lunch, 2 more geometry classes, conference (which I run around half the time trying to get things caught up) and then Varsity girls athletics. As soon as the bell rings, I high-tail it back over to the field house and tape for football practice. Practice is over about 6:30 or so, I clean up, catch up on paperwork, help with laundry and leave between 8-9. So I'm a tired little girl by the time I get home. I eat something, shower, iron clothes for the next day and go to bed.

We played Canadian last Friday night and did really well. We came up a little short 35-25, but that's definitely not bad for playing 2 time state champions and a team ranked #7 in the state. They were picked to beat us by 40!! The boys did really amazing and if we just fix a couple of things, the game would have totally gone the other way. I'm so excited for our home opener on Friday night vs WT High. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Friday Night Football in Texas. I have truly missed it the past 2 years.

I'm really enjoying my job so far. I stay very busy and many days I am completely exhausted when I get home, but I love the kids I work with (well the majority of them anyways!) I've been blessed to have an amazing coaching staff to work with (both boys & girls staffs) as well as a great teaching staff. We all get along so well in athletics, and trust me, I'm fair game with any of the male coaches...nothing like being outnumbered 10-1. I hold my own though, and I can definitely get what I want most of the time ;)

Well I've got to get a quiz made up and get some papers graded. I'll try to update more often, but no promises!!1

I Survived...

This is going to be a quick post...as I am getting ready for new teacher inservice while doing this. I survived two-a-days (well actually three-a-days most days). After two weeks of at least 2 practices a day we are done!!! Today we have new teacher inservice, then three days of work days/campus meetings, then a district welcome back on Friday, so we have changed to one practice a day. We did very well in our scrimmage against Sunray on Saturday and it was so good to see quite a few of my old students. This week we travel to Wheeler on Thursday for a scrimmage and our 9th grade scrimmages Bushland on Friday.

I finally got into my classroom on Sunday. I've got a lot of work to do in there this week and I am definitely going to miss my whole wall of windows I had in Sunray. I am having to start from scratch on EVERYTHING becuase I can't find all my old files from Sunray. I have NO IDEA where they are. I know they should be on a cd or something somewhere, but neither my mom or I can find them anywhere. So I have a lot of work to do.

Well I better finish getting ready. Just thought I would give everyone a quick update!!!

Where did July go?

I can't believe it is already August!! I feel like all I did during July was travel. I did get to catch up with my friends and family so I can't complain about that at all. I started work last Monday. We had to get everything ready for two-a-days and we also had our volleyball/basketball camp Tuesday-Thursday. I spent many hours at work trying to get the training room ready. I finally got my bids done and hope to order all my supplies that I need on Monday (yeah I know it's late, but better late than never). I have most of the necessities but hopefully my shipment will get here fast! Two-a-days start tomorrow morning. We have both of our practices in the morning and are done at 1. Luckily, once I am done, I don't have to go back. They do have "special sessions" in the evening, but I don't have to attend these. We start taping at 7:15 so that means I am out the door between 6:15-6:30 to get there and get everything ready. This means I am going to bed early!!!! (Hopefully anyways). School starts the 24th. I can't believe it is already that time again! I still haven't seen my classroom, but I did meet the principal and got to see my schedule. I am teaching 4 sections of geometry and then a section of honors geometry. I have some long days ahead of me. I am ready to get back in a routine, but know I will be longing for time off as soon as it starts!

This weekend mom and I went to Dallas to Lindsay & Luke's wedding. She was a beautiful bride and it was so great to see my friends from Breck. I think Mom enjoyed seeing people more than I did. She had a mini-high school reunion with several of her good friends from high school. It was a quick trip but well worth it!

Photoshoot with the Sister

Emily got to come to Texas for a few days for a wedding and to see family. While at my PawPaw's house we went on another photoshoot. I asked her to bring her camera becuause I wanted pictures in my boots and she immediately replied with, I want to wear some boots too...do you have some that I can borrow? This comment really surprised me because I do not see Emily as a "cowgirl" at all...me on the other hand I LOVE my boots. So being the nice sister that I am, I let her borrow a pair. I absolutely love the way the pictures turned out, espeically Emily's becuase we found an old truck that matched her dress EXACTLY!!! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

(Sorry the pictures are so big, I realized about half way through they were set to large and I wasn't starting over)

We tried to get some pictures by the pile or tires, but couldn't really get a good pose, a few of Emily's turned out cute.

The barn that I absolutely love at my PawPaw's house. The sun was going down and sining right in our faces so we had to adjust the colors on some.

I thought this picture was pretty funny...while jumping up on the pickup I went a little too far and nearly fell into the truck (those of you who know me well, know that whatever direction my butt is going, that is where my body is going!)...Emily missed it but had me reinact it for her.

Time Off??????

Whoever said teachers have it made because they have summers off is horribly wrong! Ok so most of my stuff doesn't have much to do with actually teaching, but it some of it does have to do with coaching and what not. I have a busy few weeks ahead of me and it's not even time for two-a-days to start yet. Whew...

Today I finished my 20 hour course for school bus training. THANKFULLY, our instructors were awesome and we didn't have to go through 20 hours of lecture. We got out early the first day and then the today we just drove the bus and got out really early. It was so nice. I was a little apprehensive about actually driving the bus, but I overcame my fear and actually did pretty well. We didn't get to train on the best bus by any means, but I definitely learned a lot. Now I just have to study up for my CDL test and pass it and I will be all set. (I am going to have to practice my parallel parking a little more before the skills test though.) Tomorrow I get to hang out with one of my best friends Elaine and her precious little girls. I am so excited to see them, especially becuase I haven't seen them since Jenny's wedding in August. Thursday Emily gets to Amarillo for Brandi's rehearsal and then her wedding on Friday. I've got a to-do list that will take me most of the day of things to get done in Amarillo. Gotta get a new phone, open a bank account, fill out all my paperwork at River Road, etc... Saturday and Sunday we are headed to Breckenridge to see my PawPaw. I can't believe he is 96!! Monday we are going over to Abilene to see my cousins and aunt & uncle. After lunch sometime the girls' coaches from River Road are picking me up in Abilene and we are continuing onto Austin for TGCA Coaching School. It's going to be a scorcher of a week in the ATX, but I am excited to get to meet the rest of the coaches and hang out with them. We come back sometime on Friday, so that wipes out all of next week. Picnic and the Swisher County Ranch Rodeo are on Saturday so that is a full day in itself! I do have a few days to recover from that the next week, but gotta get my tv & internet connected sometime during those few days and maybe go couch hunting. (I really really need a paycheck!)

The weekend of the 24th-26th the Texas Millers' are hosting the Miller Family Reunion at Fort Phantom so I am going down there for hopefully a relaxing weekend at the lake. Work officially starts July 27th. We have a work week and a few days of camps as well. That's really when things get into full swing. First day of 2-a-days for football and volleyball is August 3rd.

Oh yeah...I am going to Dallas on August 1st to one of my childhood friend's, Lindsay, wedding. It's a friendship that runs 3 generations deep. Our families are actually so close that we share a family cemetery....kinda creepy I know, but that's just the bond we have. My PawPaw and T.C. live just down the road from each other and have been friends for who knows how long and have farmed and ranched together for decades. My mom & Aunt Karan grew up with T.C. & RosaLee's sons, Mitchell & Scott. Lindsay is Scott's daugther and we are the same age. We became friends when we both lived in Breck and have remained good friends since. Then I actually ended up student teaching under Mitchell's wife at Shallowater. It's crazy how small of a world it is. I am so excited to go to her wedding and see so many friends from Breck and to witness Lindsay marry her Prince Charming! Then it's back to the grind of football. Before I know it school will be starting on August 24th. It seems so far away, but I know the time will fly!

Well there's a run-down of my life for the next month. Whew, I am just worn out thinking about all of that. Guess I better get back to studying for my CDL test. Have a great week and if I don't blog for a while, maybe now you will understand why!

I Made It!

This post is a little late, but hey better late than never right? Dad and I left Missouri on Friday morning around 8:15 or so. Talk about an emotional morning with lots of crying. Thursday night began the really emotional time. Rex threw a going away party for Adam (another GA who left today) and me that all of the athletic trainers were invited to. It was a great time. Of course we left there and decided we needed to make a trip to the Deuce. One last go 'round for me. (Even though we had a going away party there on Tuesday night...haha). My dad went with us anf finally got to see the infamous Deuce. We had so much fun. Around 11:30 Dad and I decided we needed to head to bed, so we left. I had shed many tears by the time we walked out the door. Saying goodbye to all the GAs who have basically been my family the past two years was so hard. And of course it was hard saying goodbye to all of our friends that work at the Deuce...there are so many people there that I will miss. Friday morning I got up early to go to the facilities to tell Tara bye because she had to work soccer camp and couldn't make the festivities the night before. Saying goodbye to Tara & Casey were two of the hardest things to do. Tara and I aren't really sure how we are going to survive living 11 hours apart. Needless to say we have done lots of chatting via phone, text & chat over the past 5 days and I don't see that slowing down at all. We were inseparable while at Mizzou and I know our friendship will last a lifetime. Casey is like a big brother to me. Just ask his mother, we definitely fight like brother and sister. He calls me his 2nd wife. We have been through so much together in the 8 years that I have know him. It started with him living 13 hours from home and then me moving 12 hours from home. I've been through his engagement, been in his wedding and seen him start a family and he has two of the most adorable children I have ever seen. I am so sad to leave him and his family. After saying goodbye to them, I headed back to Carolyn's house (Casey's mom) to catch Neisha dropping off the kids. She had me crying the night before and that morning wasn't any better. She has cooked more meals for me than anyone (well Carolyn may be close or right above her) in Columbia, and I think both of their grocery bills may go down now that I am gone. I think Harper finally caught on to what was going on when she saw both Neisha & me crying. We have been telling her for a few weeks that I was going to go bye-bye for a long time like J. (Harper is super sad that Jmac moved to Philly. Now when you ask her whose girl she is...she answers "J's girl." It is so cute!) When I hugged her bye she didn't want to let go. And just kept snuggling up to me. Of course I lost it at that point again. My last goodbye was Carolyn. You would think at that point I would have been cried out, but not at all. She's my Missouri mom and always will be.

The first part of the drive was awful. I would be ok one minute, then bawling another. Finally after about 4 hours of driving I quit crying near as often, just a few tears every once in a while. I got great news right before I got to Joplin though--Tara was hired as a full time assistant athletic trainer at Mizzou! After a long few months of waiting, wishing, being confused and so many more things, she finally got hired on. I am so proud and excited for her!

After stopping in Amarillo to eat at Rosa's (LOVE that place), we finally got home around 9:30. We could have made it by 9, but chose to eat in at Rosa's after a long day on the road. Sadly the first thing I did when I got home was look up River Road's football schedule and compared it with the Mizzou Football and Soccer schedules. I was so excited to see that RR's open week for football has changed and Mizzou DOES have a game that week. I think Dad, Mom & I are going to try to go to the Furman game that weekend at Mizzou. Then the next month Mizzou plays football at OSU, so I am hoping to be able to drive over to that game on Saturday and then Tara's girls (soccer) plays at OU on Sunday so I will detour through Norman to go see her. She will be in California the weekend of the Furman game, so I won't get to see her then. Hopefully it all works out so that I can see everyone.

Being back in Texas is great as well. I really miss all of my Missouri friends, but catching with my Texas friends has been so nice. Saturday night I went and hung out with Tate, Malisah & Evan. We had such a great time. I graduated with Tate & Evan and we have all remained close since graduation even with all the different directions we have gone & have all ventured back close to home. I have really missed hanging out with them! They were two of my best friends all throughout school and you would never be able to tell that we have spent time apart. Both of their families are basically like another set of parents to me and have put up with me a lot throughout the years. I am so excited to be back close to them. I still have to get together with so many different people. I really need to find time to go see Jenny, Elaine & JJ. Tulia's Picnic Week (it's a BIG deal in Tulia) is July 13-18th and I hope to see tons of friends that weekend. This is when everyone comes back home for the parade & ranch rodeo on Saturday. This is also when all the graduates have their class reunions. Lots and lots of people come back home this weekend so it is always a great weekend to see everyone.

Monday we took the moving truck to Amarillo and unloaded it into my apartment. I have a HUGE living room and the bedroom is a nice size. I definitely need a bigger closet, but I am working on how to make everything fit. I unpacked all the boxes but still have to finish decorating and stuff. I saved that for another day when I am bored in Tulia. I'll take pictures when I am done with everything and post for everyone to see. If you are ever in Amarillo give me a call!

Well that's all for now. I really thought if I waited a few days to write this post it would be easier, but it wasn't. I still teared up in the beginning but ended with smiles thinking about catching up with all my friends that I have known for so many years. I can't wait to see all my family as well when Emily comes in the weekend of the 11th!

ESPY Awards

I copied this post from my sister's blog, but the Campbell family is a family that is very dear to our hearts. Every vote helps!!!

My friend, Jeremy Campbell, that I previously blogged about after he won the gold medal & set the world record in the Pentathlon at the Paralympics has been nominated for an ESPY award! Please help him out by going and voting for him!!

(For you Tulians, Jeremy is the son of Gregg Campbell - Kay Sturgess' brother & Nancy Hamilton's son)

Go to:

http://www.espys.tv/

Click "Vote Now"

Click "Register".

Create an account. (you have to do this to vote...it's free)

Once created, click "vote now" again.

Scroll down to "Best Male Athlete with a Disability" and click on his picture. (the first one) Then click "Vote"

You can vote for all the other categories too!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Daddy in the world! You have been my hero since the day I was born. I could not imagine having a better Father than you. Thanks for everything you have ever done for and taught me!

Emotions

The emotional rollercoaster is in full effect. Like I said previously I am so excited to move back to Texas. I have what I expect to be a GREAT job and I am so excited for my new adventures there. I really like all the coaches I have met so far (so what if it's only 3 of them, but still). My parents will only be about 50 minutes away, so I can get my family fix then (and my dad will actually get to come to my basketball games now!). Jenny & JJ will be about an hour away, Elaine about 3 and half hours away, Katie 2 hours, and on and on...so much better than the at least 12 hours they are now. My extended family will also only be about 5 or so hours away. So many things to be excited for.

However, as I get down to packing the last parts of my house, I find myself becoming upset and the whole reality of leaving Columbia hits me really hard. I have developed so many great friendships here. Tara and I have become inseperable over the past 2 years and have kept each other sane. Neither of us are going to know what to do without the other one. She has a plan to team up with my sister to get me back up to the MidWest (and I haven't even left). Tara grew up in Illinois right outside of St. Louis. Her parents live about 20 minutes from Emily & Kyle so we have carpooled there several different times. Her family has taken me in and treated me like a 4th daugther. It was so nice to have another "family" to spend time with. Also I could not have asked for a better group of GAs to work with. It's pretty amazing that we work together, hang out together and half of them live together, yet we never really seem to get too tired of each other. Sure we have had our differences, but in the end we are all GREAT friends and if you mess with one of us you mess with us all. Some of my volleyball girls have become my good friends also. They have definitely kept me on my toes the past couple of years and honestly nothing surprises me anymore. Through volleyball I met Lindsey aka Hunter who I have become close to as well. She got me through volleyball season this year more than she realized. I am sad that I only got to spend a year with her. I am forever indebted to Casey, Neisha & their families. Neisha has fed me countless times and is always there when I need her the most. If it wasn't for Casey I would have never moved to Missouri. Their two children have been a true blessing in my life. (see the post below). Carolyn has also fed me countless times, especially at lunch when my cabinets have been bare. Neisha's family also treats me like I am part of them. I have met so many other great people through the athletic department, the Barnes, the Catons, the Scoggins, the Sharps, and on and on (I know I have left so many people out).

Moving to Missouri has truly been a great experience for me. I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried a new experience. I have learned so much about life, work, and friendships. I've already started looking at my calendar for next school year to see when I can get back up to visit everyone. Saying goodbye is always so hard, as I have done it so many different times between me moving and others moving. However, I must do it and just writing this post I have tears in my eyes.

Now I gotta go pack some more boxes so that everything is ready when my dad gets here next week. Then it's headed to the pool with Tara and then dinner with some very special girls tonight!

A Mizzou Photoshoot

Emily came to visit me on Sunday and Monday, one last time before I move. I have really been wanting to get pictures around the Mizzou campus before I move back to Texas. Luckily Emily read my mind and brought her awesome camera with her and we ventured out on Monday after eating lunch at Booche's to get pictures. I think it was about 99.99% humidity at that point and Emily completely agrees. That type of weather really makes me ready to move back to my dry west Texas air.

This is the main entrance to campus. The Columns are very well known at Mizzou. They were part of the original academic hall that burned in 1892 and all that remained were these columns. For more background information about the columns click here. Behind the Columns is Jesse Hall -- MU's main Administration Building.

There's a rumor that two of the columns aren't equally spaced for the architect's own humor. I really have no idea if this is true or not.

Emily did a great job :)

Thomas Jefferson & me. Want more info click here!

Emily & TJ...she was being funny and waited until NO ONE was walking by to take this picture. She isn't going to be very happy with me posting it.

At the Tiger Fountain in Tiger Plaza.

Close up of the tiger & me.

Memorial Union

After walking all over campus, Emily & I agreed we needed to cool off with Cold Stone.

Emily LOVES Cold Stone. We had to capture this photo before leaving.

Football Stadium

Couldn't resist pictures in the helmet cart.

Makes you wonder how they see while driving around the field.

Press box

South end score board...the stadium is getting a new one on the North end

The Tigers' Locker Room

Football Field and the Rock M