Champions!

On Saturday John's football season came to an end, and he got to celebrate a fantastic championship win.  His league had two championships this year...a "tier 1" for the top four seeds and a "tier 2" for the fifth through eight seeds.  His team was the fifth seed, so they won the tier 2 championship.  What a great season this has been...when the boys started in July, some of them couldn't even buckle their chin straps, but by yesterday they were a strong team, scoring four touchdowns and never letting Fern Creek get on the board.  They worked so hard over the last few months, and it was a wonderful way to end.  

#89 is all smiles during the coach's post game talk

I love watching these little boys pray together 

That trophy feels good!

See next year #89!

We laid low at home last night and carved pumpkins before watching a Halloween movie.  Looking forward to trick or treating tomorrow night!

More Big Blue

My kids have been to Rupp Arena twice in their life, and it's been both in the last 10 days (actually, Sarah went to the Hannah Montana concert there several years ago, but for basketball, she's only been twice).  First was Big Blue Madness, and last night it was for the Heros vs. Villians game, which was a charity event where a group of past UK players (now all in the NBA), coached by Kentucky's favorite son Rex Chapman, played a host of former UK "villians", coached by none other than the infamous UK nemesis, Christian Laettner.  Rex was so kind and put us on an early arrival list where we thought we would get to meet a few of the players.  When we arrived, there were about 50 of us, and they gave all the kids basketballs to have signed.  This was so cool, because it hadn't even dawned on us to bring something for anyone to sign.  The kids loved the meet and greet, and Sarah was thrilled to meet her favorite player, Josh, "Jorts" Harralson.  He was super nice, and great with all the kids.  John even got to play some one on one with him before the players went to change for the game (are you kidding?).  The game was great, with lots of theatrics (Laettner was forced by the fans to wipe up sweat, and then of course got ejected in the fourth quarter).  Lots of fun all around, even though I think the kids have now been spoiled by their first trips to Rupp Arena! 


Brandon Knight



Sarah meets Rex



Sarah and Jorts

Uof L Villian...T-Will!

Having fun!

 

Future Mrs. Harralson? 

 

John broke down and let Laettner sign his ball

 

DeMarcus Cousins



Playing one on one with Jorts



Can't make the steal!


 

Announcing the heros

 

Laettner wiping up the sweat!

 

Two lucky kids



A GREAT Weekend

Tonight I am winding down from a particularly great weekend.  The fall weather was marvelous this weekend, and on Friday afternoon we headed to Lexington, specifically Rupp Arena, for Big Blue Madness.  Lawrence has a friend who offered him four tickets to this sold out event, and the kids were over the top excited.  We arrived about 30 minutes before it started, and everyone was all smiles.

Soon the lights went down and the frenzy began, as 23,000 fans cheered for the start of the 2011-2012 hoops season (I would say they were even happier this year to put the dismal football season behind them!).

Before bringing out the team, they introduced a host of former players now playing in the NBA - I can't remember them all, but they started with Demarcus Cousins and ended with John Wall.  Yes, this brought quite the roar from the crowd.  John's favorite was Rajon Rondo.

After introducing the team, they played a Blue/White scrimmage, which turned out to be a dunk fest and a three point shooting contest (not a lot of defense played!).  John's face went through various stages watching all the amazing moves.

Watching intently

Oooo! That dunk was nasty!

Time to put on the three point goggles!

This was really fun, and while it was hard to get up for football the next morning, the fatigue was well worth the trip.


Saturday night Lawrence and I went to my friend Brittany Schermer's wedding (now Brittany Warren).  The reception was down at The Brown Hotel, so John spent the night with Meme and Papa (Sarah was at Kings Island with some friends) and we made a mini vacation out of the event. This picture is all I have from the wedding, and I pirated it off my friend Loren's Facebook page (we all work together).  The wedding was so fun, and we had a ball dancing and then sleeping in the next morning (with room service for breakfast!).  

Sunday afternoon was spent getting ready for my scrapbook retreat this upcoming weekend.  Lots of pictures and supplies to get organized, but I'll never complain about that!  

Taylor Swift!

Last night was the long awaited for Taylor Swift concert, and she was worth the wait!  Her concert was originally scheduled for July 2nd, and it seems like just yesterday that Sarah, Claire and I were sitting at Tony Boombazz, enjoying some pre-concert pizza, when word started to spread like wildfire that the concert was cancelled due to illness (this was at around 5:00 pm, the night of the concert - unheard of!).  The girls were soooo disappointed, and when the show was rescheduled for October 11th it seemed at the time like that day would never come. 

I didn't have my camera with me last night, so my iPhone pics will have to do to document the occassion.  Suffice it to say, we had a blast watching the girls' favorite entertainer.  She is so talented, and a concert where you know all the words to every song is always fun. 

Not to sound like an old woman, but when I was their age, I was going to see Leif Garrett in Cardinal Stadium.  He probably had four people in his band, and most likely sang about five songs.  Taylor Swift on the other hand, had around nine costume and set changes - it was a sophisticated production!  So fun!




Finally here!



Enjoying some pizza before the show



A bridge with a full string ensemble - amazing!



What's Been Going On in Our Neck of the Woods

Life has been busy this fall, and I find we are not at home much.  Thankfully we have been enjoying a beautiful few weeks of fall weather...even a week of rain and cooler temperatures was nice, and now we are in the middle of a dry, sunny spell, which is wonderful.  I love driving down our street each day and seeing the fall colors.

Our neighbors probably don't like driving by our house and seeing our dead yard.  Lawrence had to kill the entire front yard a few weeks ago because it was overtaken by crabgrass this summer.  But it's going to look beautiful with all new seed (fingers crossed!).

We've been playing lots of football and field hockey.  One night Sarah's game ended earlier than expected, and we got to stop by to see Claire's team play Crosby.

John just ended his fall baseball season with the Mavericks.  This was our first year playing "fall ball", and with football going on at the same time it's been a bit too much.  But baseball is always fun, and we've enjoyed some nice sunny afternoons at the ball park.

School's been busy, with lots of tests and projects.  Sarah did a fun family tree project a few weeks ago, which I loved, because it has jump started me on working on my heritage album.  How many years is it going to take me to start that thing?!  She learned a lot of cool things about her heritage, and I'm really looking forward to going even further on the journey.  

Next weekend is my good friend Brittany's wedding.  All the girls from the office threw her a little dinner celebration a few weeks ago...I gave her a bag of survival items for the big weekend.  Looking forward to her wedding!

Home projects are heavy on my mind these days, which is funny, because we are rarely home.  Anyway, Mike and Lawrence painted the deck a few weeks ago, and I am eternally grateful to them!  It was so chipped and peeling, and we've got big ideas about a new deck and fireplace out there, but in the meantime, it needed some TLC!  They did a great job, and now I don't cringe every time I pull in the driveway.  My dad has been doing lots of painting on the inside, and the walls are looking fresh!

Right now we are getting ready to leave to go watch our girl play field hockey.  Her freshman team's season is over, but she is filling in on JV while some of the older girls are on their high school mission trip.  Love watching her play, but more than that, I love how much she loves to play.  Did that make sense?

Football ends in a few weeks too, and while I'll miss the fall sports, I'm looking forward to slowing down a bit and hopefully spending more time with family and friends.  The holidays are approaching (deep breaths, not time to get stressed yet!), and the year is speeding to an end.  Life is good right now, busy days and all.