From the Cheap Seats to Front Row

Let me just begin by saying working for both Texas Tech & Missouri Athletic Departments I have been given a number of wonderful opportunities. Traveling with various teams has been amazing and then there are always the concert perks. While at Tech I got to see the Eagles concert from the athletic director's suite absolutely free. Last night was another one of those memorable nights. As employees of the Mizzou Athletic Department, we are able to request 2 comp tickets to any event that is held either any of our facilities, pending that the event is not sold out. Well Lady Antebellum, Jack Ingram & Martina McBride came to the Hearnes Center last night. Thankfully, we got comp tickets, so I was super excited. Our seats weren't amazing, but hey you don't complain when the tickets are free. So we are in C-section of Hearnes and actually at the side of the stage and there are speakers in our way, but these are FREE. This is the 3rd level of seating in our volleyball/gymnastics/wrestling competition "gym" -- also our old basketball gym...so we are pretty high up. The concert starts and Lady Antebellum is performing. Well part way through the first song, this guy starts talking to Tara & I. He says, "I work for Martina McBride, and I see you two girls sitting up here watching the concert. How would you like front row tickets for free. I have 2 of them." So we are shocked at this point and kinda skeptical of why he is handing us free tickets. He then says, "There's one catch: You just have to have a great time tonight." So of course we take them. It was AMAZING. The top picture is from the C-Section seats. That was our location for the first song. The slide show below is from our front row seats. There is obviously a noticable difference. Tara and I had a great time! So we went from the "cheap" seats (super cheap for us since they were free) to the front row. The concert was great. I only knew one of Lady Antebellum's songs, but they have several other good ones too. I love Jack Ingram, he fulfilled my Texas Country fix for a while. (I saw him earlier in the year with Dierks Bentley too). Martina McBride is AMAZING. She can definitely sing and has an amazing voice. I was in awe of how she can sing such powerful songs and never even seem to be tired.

Aunt Judy

This weekend a very special person to me passed away. Last week my dad called and told me that Aunt Judy was in the hospital with congestive heart failure and there wasn't anything could do for her becuase the family didn't want her on any life support. This is one thing that I am thankful for...I hate to see loved ones on machines. Sadly, she passed away Sunday night, but thankfully in peace. For those of you who aren't aware, Aunt Judy really isn't my aunt, but for as long as I can remember she has been "family." Way back before I was ever a thought, my grandparents and Bill & Judy were friends. Aunt Judy has always been present at our Thanksgivings, Christmases, and any other family get together we have. She was just like another grandmother to me (odd we call her Aunt I know, but I came along after this had already been established). Many times at holidays her family lived too far off and didn't get to come in, or they had their get togethers at other times, so she just joined us. When her family members could be there, they just joined on in with us as well. Her granddaughter and I actually share the same birthday, only a year apart. Needless to say, my family is much bigger and deeper than blood ties.

I have so many wonderful memories with Aunt Judy and her family. My absolute favorite may be the Christmas Emily and I received a karoake machine and Aunt Judy got on the microphone and showed us how she could Yodel. Definitely the first time I had experienced that, but it is one of my favorite Christmas videos to watch. This memory doesn't actually involve Aunt Judy, but I can remember when David, Terri, Alesha Kay & Zach moved to Kansas and I was in JH at basketball camp at South Plains College in Lubbock. There was a girl there named Alesha Anderson...I thought, I KNOW her. So being the outgoing person I am, I went up and said...is Judy Anderson your grandmother? That was the first time we had seen each other in years and were so excited to call home and tell our families we were at the same basketball camp. Aunt Judy's son & daughter-in-law were also very supportive of my dad's basketball teams. I will never forget the nights when Dad's teams were playing in the regional tournament in Lubbock and staying at Mark & Bev's house. Mark & Bev were also at my dad's last win, which was a special moment for us at all. I know I will continue to make memories with her family throughout the years, I am just sad that my ones with her have come to an end.

Luckily, when Aunt Judy was admitted to the hospital and it was determined there wasn't much they could do, all the family got to see her except for 2 grandkids. She was able to say her goodbyes and was at peace with dying. Another fortunate thing was that they were all at Christmas in Lubbock, so at least everyone has that memory. (The picture to the left is of Aunt Judy & 2 of her grandkids--Zach & Alesha.) My parents did get to go visit on Saturday and said she was happy to see them and told them to give us a big hug and tell Emily & I that she loves us. I really wish I could have gone home, but it's just too far. I would have done anything to be at her funeral this morning, but time constraits didn't allow. (At least there wasn't a fight as to who had to sit by me in the funeral...I bawl like a baby and end up making everyone else cry even more.) My family knows that I was there in spirit and in heart. There's not a doubt in my mind that MeMaw, PapPaw, Uncle Bill & Aunt Judy are all reunited in Heaven catching up on old times and making new memories.

I've Got Nothing For Ya

So Kyle & Doug (who stalks my blog through Kyle & Em's blog) have informed me that my blogs are entirely too long. Well here is a short one just for y'all.

I've been back in Missouri for a little over a week now, and nothing really exciting has happened. It's cold and snowing/sleeting today. Classes start tomorrow and I am not particulary excited about that, but getting back in a routine will be nice. We have volleyball weights/conditioning starting this week, add individuals next week, continue that for 6 weeks then start team practice March 10th. Jules is doing AMAZING with her rehab. I am so excited to get her back on the court and playing again.

I did get to see Jason Aldean in concert last Thursday at The Blue Note. It was a pretty awesome concert I must say. Martina McBride is coming to Hearnes in February, so I am excited about that.

Well that's all for now...see guys I can write a short and sweet blog....especially when nothing is really going on. :)

Cotton Bowl

Christmas with the family was WONDERFUL. Christmas Eve was spent with my mom's side. I really enjoy this because we usually only see our cousins once a year, and it's this night. It was good to catch up with all of them. Sadly, Nathan, Amanda, Henry, Kyle & Erik were all missing. The older we get, the harder it is to get everyone there :( Christmas Day is always spent with Dad's family. I haven't see them since this summer so again it was nice to catch up with them. Seth, Ashton & I had a great time playing with all their new toys. We all got way to many presents but were and are very grateful for everything.

This past week has been so much fun. I left Abilene on the 27th to head east to Dallas for the 72nd Annual AT&T Cotton Bowl. Casey and Neisha have survived another week of me. We had such a good time (Well I know I did, I am assuming they did too!) First night--Casey & Neisha had some sort of dinner, I went to dinner with a bunch of guys---athletic trainers & equipment managers--then we went to a place called Red River (a lot like Midnight Rodeo). To me, this is a normal country & western place, the boys (Texas foreigners) apparently have never experienced a place like that. They thought it was heaven on earth. We had a great time. Second day---Neisha, Audrey (my boss' daughter) and I went to Grapevine Mills to do a little shopping. We had a great time, got some cute stuff. That night my friend Becky & I hung out and caught up on everything. We went to Tech together and both were student athletic trainers. We haven't seen each other in over a year, so we had a lot to talk about. Third day---Slept in cause Neisha had a shopping thing to go to with the wives. I decided I didn't wanna hang out in the room so I'm going to go to the mall. Get on the interstate and RUIN a tire. Two nice guys stop and change my tire and I end up at Sears buying a new tire :( I wasn't happy about this at all...Dad's checkbook isn't either. That night I hung out in the hospitality room with a bunch of people associated with the athletic department. That place was AMAZING. We had so much fun. Fourth day--Neisha and I sleep in FOREVER late, which was great. Bad luck continues--I knock my perfume bottle off the cabinet while brushing my teeth, it's over half way full, it breaks....but the rooms smells great. Casey & Neisha have team things to do so I got eat with Becky at Chuys....great place. Some people put a glass down behind me and I don't know it, knock it off the table--it shatters. It's clearly not my day, we sit down to eat my necklace breaks....little beads go EVERYWHERE. Can anything else possibly happen? Another friend from undergrad shows up, we catch up, go get the boys from the hotel and hang out for the rest of the night. New Year's Eve---Neisha, Audrey & I go to Sam Moon....I LOVE that place. Buy jewelry. Tom & Becky--Casey's brother and his friend show up so we all (Casey, Neisha, Tom, Becky, Adam, Matt & me) go to Pappadeaux's for supper....it was great and then hang out in the hotel room. We decide about 11:40 we are going to bed because it's going to be an EARLY morning on New Years...well the other thousands of people in the hotel didn't feel like going to bed early and had a celebration at midnight. It was very loud in our room, but we didn't even turn on the lights, just waited it out and went to sleep. New Years Day--Casey had to be downstairs about 5:30 am for taping...we all end up getting up by 6 am. 4 of us take showers pack all our bags and are leaving the hotel by 7:20. The day before it was chaos at the Cotton Bowl stadium. Everyone is saying arrive early because it will take forever to get there. Needless to say NO ONE was on 1-35 at 7:25. We were in the parking lot in our front row parking spot at 7:45. Neisha and I sleep until about 9:30 when we decide to go to stadium.

Our seats were AMAZING. We were on the 35 yard line Row 9, but there were only 4 rows in front of us. It was great. The game was a ton of fun. Of course we WON!! Missouri 38 Arkansas 7 Willie Mo (William Moore) broke the Missouri Single Season Interception Record with his 8th interception of the year. Tony Temple broke the Cotton Bowl Rushing Yards record with 281 and broke the record for most rushing touchdowns in the Cotton Bowl with 4. There are tons more highlights of the game, but those are the major ones. One of my good friends Lucas hurt his knee several weeks ago and missed several games, but after many hours of rehab and me making him SMILE through it everyday, he was healthy again and got to play in his last game as a Tiger. I was super excited, so that's why there's several pictures of him. Steven is our deep snapper. He's a senior as well. We have several grad classes together, so he is somewhat forced to be my friend ;) Plus, I have done tons of his ankle rehabs. Arkansas fans had basically cleared out their side by halfway through the 4th quarter. It was amazing to see the Cotton Bowl go from full to half empty. Enjoy the pictures!

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! :)