Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Duane's family this year.   Of course, there was plenty of turkey, napping, football & games!!!  The feast was delicious and the company even better!  We truly have lots to be thankful for!!!!

Here are a few pics from our Turkey Day celebration...

What's Going On???

It has been a while since I last posted.  Life in our new house has finally settled into a routine. Work keeps us busy, but we do step out from time to time and have a bit of fun! Weekends are spent with football and preparing for the week ahead. Here are some pics from Halloween & dart night (Wolfpack vs DisAstros!)

GOOD TIMES!

Halloween, 2008!!!

Fun was in town for Halloween, so we were able to celebrate both Halloween and her 29th birthday!

Casey was all decked out in his chain maille, just one of the many, many costumes we saw!  I'm still wondering what the balloon guy was!!! Wish I had taken more pictures of the WIDE variety of costumes that passed through Duddley's!!!

Wednesday Night Darts

What makes it even better is all of the "groupies" that follow these teams around!

 

Our Anniversary!

On October 29, Duane & I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary. It happened to fall on a Wednesday night, so we celebrated by going to dinner and then to Duane's dart match.

2 Years Ago...

A&M United Methodist Church

Sunday, October 29, 2006

2007: We celebrated our first anniversary with a day off! Duane & I went to lunch and a movie! Lunch was great & so was the movie, Dan in Real Life!

2008: After a bite at Chile's, our regular Wednesday night dinner spot, we went to Hornback's for Duane's dart match.

Looking forward to a lifetime of great times & great memories!

Go Astros!

Duane & I are both huge Astros fans, and even though much of  the first half of their season was painful to watch, we were so excited to watch them in August & September. We thought they didn't have a chance of making the playoffs; then came August & September, and they won...won...won!  They started creeping up the boards in the Wild Card race.  Sadly, Hurricane Ike hit, and everyone's focus shifted.  The momentum was gone.  Make up games were moved to Milwaukee (I had LOTS of problems with that decision), and our players were understandably distracted from their game.  It was a great run, and we were proud of their efforts and can't wait until baseball season starts next April!

We went to their final game of the season on Sunday, September 28. The Astros beat the Braves 3-1; it was a great game!!!  It was the last game for Brad Ausmus, and he hit a HOME RUN! What a way to go out! He had a great career in Houston, and we're going to miss him! 

It is a tradition (you know Aggies...anything you do twice becomes a tradition!) for Duane to take our picture at sporting events!  He does a really good job!

Rob & Talitha

Wandy Rodriguez pitching & Brad Ausmus catching

Houston's skyline

Evidence of Hurricane Ike is still all over Houston; billboards are shredded, and buildings still have damage.  Notice the plywood...lots of broken glass!

The Caballos & Pumas 

PTO Concessions & Aggie Football

Our school's PTO President is a real go-getter!  All of our PTO parents work hard to take care of us at school.  One of their fundraisers is a TAMU football concession stand, and I worked the concessions stand during the TAMU vs Army football game.  It is a difficult, difficult day--lots of cleaning, stocking, standing, walking, counting, serving, and moving, but it was fun! AND, it was a good day for the PTO; we made $1200 for our school! YAY!

The game was military appreciation day, complete with full military review, helicopter fly over, and paratroopers.  The half time show was fabulous, another win for the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band, of course.  But when we saw the finale on our television monitors, a few of us were able to run out of the booth and see it live! 

AND, to top it all off, the Aggies won!  WHOOP!

GIG 'EM AGGIES & GO LOBOS!

Football in Aggieland

The Aggies have started another football season, and even though the team is struggling, there is still nothing like going to Kyle Field to see the Aggies play football!  These pics are from the Miami vs TAMU game.  Thanks, Alicia & Rhonda for sharing your ticket with me!

  

A New House!

"Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for your stuff anymore." ~George Carlin

Duane and I moved this summer.  Our little apartment on Forestwood no longer held all of our (okay, okay...mostly my) stuff.  So, we packed up all of our stuff (well, not quite all because we threw LOTS away!) and moved into a house in North Bryan.  Amazingly, we moved into a bigger place, and already it is full...how did all of our stuff ever fit into that apartment?!?!?

The animals have adjusted.  This is now home.  Spider Monkey Kitty loves to roam around the yard, disappearing only when a car pulls in to the driveway.  Copper and Deuce spend lots of time outside in their backyard and lounging on the patio.

Moves and packing are stressful and difficult, but now that Duane and I are settling in to our house, it was all worth it!  Let the decorating begin!!!

Moving Distractions

We have recently moved, and our furry, four-legged children are adjusting.  Copper, our 13 year-old Sheltie has been through a few moves, so he wasn't upset at all.  Our 2 year-old black lab, Deuce, was very upset by the move.  For several days after we were  in our new house, Deuce sat at the front door asking us when we were going home.  The funniest, by far, was the kitty!  In fact, he was so funny that we were inspired to change his name to Spider Monkey, and he continues to live up to his new name...

Packing was a great adventure for the kitty; in fact he thinks that we should move more often.  When we broke down the spare bedroom bed to make room for boxes, he immediately climbed to the top and turned the stored rocking chair into a kitty's jungle gym.  Even falling to the floor did not deter his adventures; he simply climbed to the top and continued to play with his imaginary ceiling friends.

Unpacking was another great adventure that Spider Monkey Kitty loved.  He practically stalked me, just waiting for me to open a box so he could play in the newspapers and empty box.

In our old house, outside was never attractive to kitty.  He avoided outside if at all possible, but for some reason, he loves to be outside here.  The covered patio seems to be the perfect place for some climbing practice!!!

We're still not totally unpacked, but who can unpack with such a cute distraction????

Go Astros!!!

As a part of Duane's birthday extravaganza, we planned an overnight trip to Houston to see the Astros play the Cubs.  We checked in to our hotel, the Houston Hilton Americas in Downtown Houston, just 2 blocks from Minute Maid Park. It is a fabulous hotel; we really liked it there!!!  We went to the ballpark a little early and met Talitha, Rob, and Casey at the Homeplate Bar & Grill, which is just outside the entrance to the park.   At gametime we ventured across the street to the game and hiked several miles up to our seats on the Terrace Deck. Once we had caught our breath, we realized that the seats were located just beside the Foul Pole in right field--and were pretty good seats.  We didn't miss any of the Astros as they beat up on the Cubs Saturday night.  

After the game it was back to our hotel to freshen up for a night on the town.  We cabbed it to Flying Saucer and then  made our way to MacElroy's pub and Molly's Pub.  At Molly's we felt right at home and played darts while we bowled a game. The downtown scene is quite active on weekends, and it was lots of fun to people watch as we made our way from pub to pub, but the downtown prices remind us of how spoiled we are here in Bryan/College Station!!!

Sunday was busy, busy, busy.  We had tickets to the game, and in addition to Robert, Talitha, and Casey, others were coming in for the game.  Chris and Shannon came to the Sunday Game, and Crystal & Jeremy were bringing Noah to his very first MLB game. Sadly, the Astros lost on Sunday; apparently, Chris & Jeremy brought their Rangers karma with them.

We flew (almost literally) out of Sunday's game so we could get to Granny's birthday party.  Adding to our time crunch was the fact that I had left my phone in the hotel room, but the security at the hotel took care of me and retrieved my phone and we were on our way to her birthday party.    It was a very nice party; Duane's mother did a great job planning and putting together a fun party for Granny's ##th birthday!  Good Times!!  Good Times!!

Now we're home, and good news...the apartment is still in one piece!!!  It was the first time we left Deuce alone and able to come in and out at will.  He was a good boy! Today was supposed to be a day of recuperation, but the AC has died and we're waiting for a call from the repairman.  I guess it never really ends, does it!?!?!

A Visit From The Bandera Bunch!!!

My brother, Larry, came in to B/CS for the annual 7 on 7 football tournament. Some of his athletes were competing, and he came to watch them play. He brought his children with him, and I got to spend some fun & quality time with Hunter & Caitlin while Larry was at the tournament.

Of course, Caitlin and I had to share some girl bonding time. We got pedicures! It was fabulous!

Then it was back home to play with the kitten and Wii.

Of course, Larry couldn't be outdone, he had to get in on the Wii action, too! And, while he was hula hooping, I was able to catch a bit of it on VIDEO!!!

It was short, but it was a GREAT visit!!!