Another First

I have truly been blessed since coming back to Texas to work with some successful football teams. Last year at River Road the football team became the most successful team in school history by playing in the state quarterfinal game. I felt so privileged to be part of that team.

This year I was part of another first. Bushland has played Muleshoe 3 times previously before this year. They had never beaten Muleshoe in football at any level. That all changed this week. Overall we went 4-1 against the Mules at all levels :) Thursday night the 7th grade won 20-6, 8th 22-20, 9th 25-26 and unfortunately the JV team lost. Pretty good for never beating them before. Then came the big game. Going into the game Muleshoe had a 30 game regular season win streak. (Now if you go back to last year River Road played Muleshoe in the bi-district round of the playoffs and Muleshoe went into the game with a 25-0 overall record dating back to their state championship year of 2008. Quick reminder if you've forgotten.) Well Friday night the Bushland Falcons snapped that 30 game win streak and beat the Mules 27-20 for their first win over Muleshoe in school history. (This is their 6th year of playing varsity sports.) It was a CRAZY CRAZY game with tons of fumbles and turnovers and interceptions, but once again it ended in my team's favor. Click here to read the newspaper article in Saturday's paper. The boys were SOOOOOO excited to say the least. It's been a different year for the Falcon Football team. We started off the year with a win, then dropped 2 in a row, something these boys are not use to happening. We bounced back with a win over Slaton and are now 2-0 in district. So many times they have been compared to last years' team that played in the state championship game and everyone had high expectations for this year. We still have those high expectations, but they have finally found themselves as this years team. I saw so much passion in Friday night's game and a group of boys that never gave up. This is why I love my job!

Volleyball did well this week, beating Highland Park in 3 on Tuesday and Childress on Saturday in 3. That makes them 4-0 in district and in sole possession of 1st place. They play each of the district teams again, and fully expect to be district champions.

Well onto another week :)

Great Start

District has started off great! Volleyball has beat Fritch, River Road & Highland Park to start off district 3-0. We fully expect to be district champs, as well as going undefeated. The girls are doing really well and I am so proud of them.

Football opened up district with Slaton last week. We stomped them 49-0. It was so much fun to be back on the winning side. It rained an inch before we got to town and then some more before the game. It was a little misty but nothing major throughout the game. Their field is grass, so it was disgusting to say the least. We made it through with no major injuries (just a few tweaks) so that was definitely a plus. I was so excited last Monday because the varsity was at 100%, for the first time all year. Well Tuesday was a different story. I had one senior boy break his 4th metatarsal (thankfully this one didn't require surgery and he is back playing) and also a different senior have an avulsion fracture of one of the flexor tendons in his middle finger. He is going to have to have surgery, just not sure when yet. I think we are single-handedly keeping the hand specialist (there's only one) in Amarillo in business. He's a wondeful doctor though and I would recommend him to anyone. Our team physician (who is AMAZING!) works in the same office as him and they have really treated us well. It is so nice to have someone who I can call and will take care of whatever I need almost immediately. I'm very spoiled! Anyways, this week is a HUGE week for Bushland football. Could be another first for BHS. We host Muleshoe for our 2nd district match up. The Falcons have never beat Muleshoe, so hopefully it will be the first time in history for us to do so and help us to win the district championship! So excited.

Well that's about all right now. Until next time...

HELLLLOOOOOOO.....

I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I have blogged. Needless to say I've been a tad bit busy.

School is in full swing. I LOVE my new job. Bushland is a great place to work. I am only teaching 3 periods a day, which I love. I have a TAKS Math class with 4 seniors & 3 juniors. The Srs take their TAKS test in October so we are covering as much as possible in a small amount of time. They are all VERY close to passing so my goal is to get them over that hump in October. The juniors don't take their test til April, so I have plenty of time to work with them. I also teach 2 sports medicine classes. I've got 14 in one class and 15 in the other. I enjoy teaching this class so much. There's no TEKS (state standards) so I can basically teach what I want. The kids seem to be very interested in the class and ask tons of questions. My students are mainly juniors & seniors with a few sophomores. Upperclassmen are my favorite to teach. Most are athletes or involved in athletics in some way so they are full of questions.

Football is currently 1-2. Not exactly the start we expected but have played some great teams. We opened the season with a win over Stratford, then fell to Perryton & Borger. We are open this week and start district next week. The off week is nice to get some minor bumps and bruises healed. I currently feel like a hand expert. The first night of pads ("Midnight Madness") I had a senior tear a tendon in his pinkie and a freshman break his finger. Thankfully the senior is just in a splint, unfortunately the 9th grader had to have surgery and still can't play. Then I had a freshman break his wrist in the first scrimmage. Then a junior boy broke a bone in his hand in practice and had to have a plate and 6 screws put in. He's back playing now. Then I had a senior tear a ligament in his thumb. He missed the game last Friday and goes to the hand specialist this week to find out more. Thankfully nothing too major. I have already spine boarded a kid this year, which I never wish on anyone. He was knocked out on kickoff, but ended up just having a concussion. He's back practicing and doing well. A few other concussions, but nothing serious. I also had a senior that they discovered had an enlarged spleen. He wanted to play so bad, but I explained to him how dangerous it could be. (After nearly losing an athlete to a ruptured spleen last year, I have personal experience to basically scare the crap out of my athletes.) He was cleared last week as his spleen is back to normal size. So I've been a little busy, but not terribly busy which is nice.

Volleyball is huge at Bushland, and I hate to admit I have no idea what their record is. The girls haven't played at home much at all, so I rarely get to see them play. They've overcome some adversity, but seem to be pushing on. District starts this weekend, so we are hoping for our first district championship. The cross country teams are doing great as well. They are looking to be district champs on the boys side and hope to contend with Spearman girls (they were the state champs last year) for the title. I love how district championships are expected at Bushland.

There's my life in a nutshell right now!

Summer Update in Pictures

Well here is a quick summer review....in pictures.

After I FINALLY got out of school in June, the first summer occasion was Kevin & Emily's wedding shower.

Me, Mom & Em at the shower.

Then that night was Tate & Sarah's wedding. We had a GREAT time!!!

This by far is the best Mother-Son dance I have ever experienced in my life. Gotta love when they break out the Stanky Leg!

Dancin' with my Daddy.

Me & Katie

Me, Momma Debbie (mother of the groom) & Booser.

Katie & me again

The next weekend we went to Midland for Jeff & Leslie's wedding. It was a TON of fun. It was so nice to hang out with the "orginal" Tulia coaches gang. How we turned out "normal" I will never know, but I wouldn't change how we grew up for anything in the world.

These are the people who raised us....so much is explained in this picture!! Haha!

We might have been the life of the party ;)

Me, Jorja (Jeri's daughter) and Katie

Emily flew back home and after a week of doing nothing we flew to STL for a week long trip in STL and Chicago. I also made a quick trip to Columbia to see some friends.

Me & Emily at the Cards game.

Mom & Dad at the Cards game.

The Fox Theatre to see Wicked. Amazing place and an even better show!

Me, Mom, Emily & Jaime at our girls night at Wicked.

Up entirely too early on vacation to catch the train to Chicago.

Kyle & Em waiting on the train.

Mom & Dad waitin' on the train.

Best. Pizza. Ever.

Even better was that I ran into a friend from Tech while here...he played football and is now with the Lions!

The family after stuffing our faces on the above pizza.

Picture in The Silver Bean...it does nothing for your figure.

Dad, Mom & Me at the Silver Bean.

The Millers

Kyle & Em being goofy at the Silver Bean.

Soldier Field. 'Da Bears.

Emily & Dad being goofy with a dinosaur statue outside of the Field Museum.

Walking. Emily loves these sculptures but had never gotten to take pictures with them.

Going for a ride.

Being goofy. We decided the arms were a little much...gonna have to repeat next trip.

Em & Me on the bus....who knew public transportation could be so much fun ;)

Dad, Emily & Kyle on the bus.

Me & Mom on the bus.

Navy Pier...one of my favorite places.

Me & Dad on the Ferris Wheel

Kyle & Emily on the Ferris Wheel.

The first Ferris Wheel in the world is located in Chicago. (See you learned something new didn't you!)

Em, Kyle & Me on the swings at Navy Pier.

Kyle, Em & Me at Navy Pier.

Lake Michigan & Navy Pier

Me Em & Kyle taking a tour of Chicago from the 94th floor of the John Hancock Observatory. It was really cool & very imformative....let me tell you Chicago is HUGE!

Dad & Mom @ the John Hancock Observatory.

Eating at Ed Debevic's

The family at Ed Debevic's

Emily & Kyle along the Chicago River

Dad & Mom along the Chicago River

Mom, Me & Emily out on Lake Michigan with the Chicago skyline behind us.

Me, Dad & Mom waiting on the L. We are all smiling because we had just eaten some great Mexican food at Uncle Julios (and we could finally hear each other talk...it was beyond loud there.)

The Chicago Skyline at night. Emily took this picture from the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building.

Wrigley Field...great experience.

Wrigley Field

My daddy and me on the train on our way back from Chicago.

After our Chicago trip I made a quick trip to CoMo to hang out with Tara and the Hairstons. This is the only picture I have, but can you believe how much Harper has grown? And she still loves and misses her Auntie Brooke. She cried when I left which made it so much harder to say goodbye once again. :(

The most amazing ribs I've EVER had. If you are ever in STL this is a MUST visit. It was featured on Man vs Food. Just make sure you get there early they serve 'til they run out of food & the sweet potato fries are awesome as well!

Me, Dad & Emily @ Pappy's Smokehouse.

Jenny's baby shower was July 10th in Kress. It was soooo great to hang out with her and all the other girlies and she got some really cute stuff. I am so excited for September to finally meet Baby Boy Bezner!!!

This is Nater-Tater (Nathan). He is the cutest little boy ever...he's JJ's son.

Jenny, JJ, Elaine & Me. This is quite the candid picture, but the only one I have until Elaine posts hers. We are all great friends who don't get to hang out near enough. It was so great to be at the shower together.


We went to Ruidoso for the weekend to celebrate Kevin & Emily Parker's wedding (July 17th). Kevin is Kyle's brother.....yes, you read right, there are now two Emily Parkers in one family.

Kevin & Emily

Watch out world.....there's TWO Emily Parkers now!

The family (minus Kyle) at Kevin & Em's Wedding.

And that's my summer. Most of the other days were spent visiting family or laying out by the pool. I have definitely gotten my money's worth at it this summer. I started working some this week and 2-a-days start August 2nd....so it's back to the routine on Monday. I have an inservice tomrrow and then plan on enjoying my last few "free" days relaxing. I'm so excited for the upcoming year though. I think I am really going to enjoy Bushland!