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.