High Five for Friday

This has been an insanely busy week!  School starts next Monday and even though I've boycotted back-to-school shopping, there were still plenty of other school-related things that kept us hopping!  This week we had three back to school nights, one pep rally, one make up drivers ed class, and one drive time for Flowering Buttercup.  (She has to drive 7 hours with an instructor and 20 hours with her parents.  This whole getting a drivers license thing is a L O N G process!!)  I took June to the pediatrician (for the THIRD time in a month...that's a long story and not one that I love, so I'm not sharing it) to finally get her last two required immunizations for 7th grade.  Spell Girl needed to trade up to a 1/2 size bass instead of the 1/4 size bass that she's been using (apparently she's gotten taller in a year.)  Bass lessons started on Thursday.  Fall baseball practice started this week for Mack.  And if you throw in the HUGE court of honor that the Scout Master had on Wednesday night, several last minute play dates for the kids, a talk that Flowering Buttercup is giving this weekend in church, a special musical number that three of us are singing on Sunday, a cold that mysteriously appeared yesterday, and the usual things that happen in a house with four kids, it's been DANG busy!!  

Here's a recap of the week...

1.  Absolutely PERFECT weather!

2.  Chips and queso from Torchy's Tacos!  YUM!!

3.  Purple toes and sparkly sandals

4.  This cute unicorn showed up on my bulletin board this week. 

5.  Spell Girl and I saw this jeep yesterday while we were running errands.  It's so comforting to know that we're covered in case of a Zombie Outbreak!

Link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk blog to share your own H54F post and to see what other people loved about this week!!  

The New Stadium

Well, it's official!  The stadium that we've all been waiting for is FINALLY open!  Tonight we went to the long awaited Open House and first Pep Rally of the 2012-2013 season.  We have been SO excited for tonight, we could hardly stand it.  As we drove into the brand new, freshly landscaped parking lot, the energy was amazing.  It was like a buzz of excitement...new school year, new football season, NEW STADIUM!!  Flowering Buttercup cracked me up when she said to her friend, "Football season is starting.  I feel like my life has started again!"  (I think we all kinda feel the same way, though.)  

We wandered around a little and checked out some of the other season ticket holders' seats. Here's the view from the upper level...

This is a lower level shot...

We were in a hurry so I only grabbed my zoom lens...ugh!  Why do I always pick the wrong one!  I have great close up shots and NO pictures that show the vastness of this place.  It's really incredible.  But...we'll be back again next Friday night for the first game and I'll bring the whole bag so I can take pictures of everything!!

Tallenettes

Football Players...there are 99 of them, and let me tell you, it ached to hear them call #19 and not say Andrew Rodriguez after it...this football season will be a totally different experience than last year, for sure.

and my favorite reason for ever going to a football game...THE BAND!!

I LOVE that we have this incredible new stadium, that it was filled with 10,000 people tonight, and that we will be able to enjoy football games here for many, many seasons to come.   What an amazing place this is to live!

Court of Honor

I had planned to mention tonight's Court of Honor in my High Five for Friday post, but after looking at the pictures, there's no way I could limit this to just a picture and a caption.  

On most days, there is so much estrogen around here that the Scout Master has become quite comfortable with all the girly things that fly in his radar.  He can delightfully gush over new jewelry and sparkly phone cases.  He has learned to appreciate a beautiful pair of shoes and the self esteem building value of a pedicure.  And he has mastered the delicate art of knowing when to give a comforting hug and when to hide out in a safe place during certain days of the month.  I am totally in awe of the way this extremely masculine man who grew up in a house full of boys has evolved into such an empathetic and compassionate husband and father.  So, the fact that he was called two years ago to be the Scout Master in our ward was, I'm sure, no accident.   He loves having an excuse to go camping once a month and hang out on a regular basis with 14 very masculine boys.  I'm grateful everyday that he has this opportunity to stay in touch with his inner Boy Scout.  

Sometime early last summer, after getting used to our new ward, his new calling and new responsibilities, and finally making the transition in his head from Elders Quorum to Young Mens, the Scout Master totally and completely threw himself into his calling.  I think it was after spending a week with the boys at Scout Camp, that he realized his greatest contribution in their lives would be to move them toward achieving Eagle Scout.  He made spreadsheets, set up quarterly in-home interviews with the boys and their parents, strategically planned merit badge activities that they could work on as a quorum, and lit some serious fire under some 12-year old bottoms.  It was Calling Magnification at its greatest, and he has sustained that level of enthusiasm for this calling and these boys through another Scout Camp and throughout the entire year.  

Tonight the boys had the opportunity to be rewarded for all their hard work over the past several months.  Since the last Court of Honor in February, this group of boys earned 110 merit badges and 21 rank advancements.  The Scout Master would never admit this, but their achievements tonight were due in LARGE part to all of his efforts over the past year.  Within the next 6 months, two of his Life Scouts will be eligible to receive their Eagles.  And 6 months after that, 8 more boys will be eligible to receive theirs.  It is a really remarkable thing to see all of these boys so excited about scouting.  And it is even more heart warming to watch the Scout Master quietly bask in the glow of their accomplishments.  When I watch him teach them and when I see the respect and love they have for him, I always think about Helaman and his "little band" of stripling warriors.   These are great boys and they have a great leader.  I am so grateful for the scouting program.  

Interviews

Guess what!  I have officially received a blogger award!  I LOVE this blogging thing.  There are so many super nice people out in the blogosphere that I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know.  One of them gave me this blog award, which I think makes me officially cool!  

Along with the award, I also get to answer some questions so people can get to know me better.  (Have I mentioned that I LOVE being interviewed??  Well, I do!  So this is an exciting day.) 

Who/What inspired you to create your blog?
Well, in November 2010, I found myself at one of those crossroads places in my life.  We had recently moved.  My parents had both recently passed away.  And my closest friends were no longer available.  I needed something...someplace to write the things that were rattling around in my head.  I've always written stuff (letters, journals, emails.)  It's a huge source of comfort for me to write, so I thought maybe it would be fun to start a blog.  My niece, Laura, who I love and admire had been wildly successful with hers, so I thought I'd try it.  It has become so much more than I ever thought it would be.  I love having a space that's just mine.  I'm slightly addicted to hanging out here, in fact.  I write nearly everyday whether anyone reads it or not.  I write to preserve the little things that happen around here and to appreciate the things that I might not normally even notice. 

How did you come up with your blog name?
It took awhile for me to think of a name for my blog.  I wanted it to reflect the stuff I was going to write about.  I wanted it to reflect my personality.  And I wanted to make sure that it would never be a place where I vented my frustrations or anger.  There's plenty of that on the internet.  I wanted this to be positive.  So...I thought I'd limit myself to only writing about "stuff I loved"...and poof! a blog was born.  :)

What is your favorite food and/or drink?
hmmm...
Let's start with my favorite drink.  I almost exclusively drink water, and it's mostly in the form of Sonic ice.  But if I could drink whatever I wanted with no consequences, no addiction, and no guilt...I would drink Diet DP.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that stuff. 
I have a hard time picking favorite foods.  I like a lot of them.
Mangoes (those things bring out that little kid "I don't care if I get messy and it drips all over my face" kind of feeling)
Donuts (HUGE weakness!)
and anything Mexican!  LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican food.  If stranded on a deserted island, I would want to have mangoes and chips and salsa.

What's your hidden talent?
I have this superhero-like sense of smell.  Think Gus' "super sniffer" from Psych.  That's totally me.  I could solve crimes with this talent!  I can smell stuff from a mile away...which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where I am.   

If you could choose one vacation spot in the entire world, where would you go and why?
That's easy.  Hawaii.  Family, the beach, amazing food, the spirit of aloha.  No question about it. 

What's the weirdest or most exotic thing you've ever eaten?
Well, everything in Hawaii is pretty exotic.  I don't like all of it, though.  I've eaten poi (ew...) and tripe stew (also ew...that's the lining of a cow's stomach...seriously yucky!)

Which is your colour that best describes you or stands for your personality? 
My whole life, I would have answered PURPLE to that question, but more and more I'm kind of drawn to RED (like the coral kind of red, not blood red or Corvette red)

Would you rather be blind, deaf, or mute?
Oh man...how hard is that?  I couldn't stand being blind because I would miss seeing my kids faces and the way the world looks in the morning when the day starts all over again.  And I would never survive being deaf because I wouldn't be able to hear music.  That would be unbearable.  So, I guess, as difficult as it would be to not be able to speak, I'd pick mute.  (At least I'd still be able to write.)

What's your current outfit?
jammies right now because it's only 8:00am...but I got a super cute black and white top yesterday that I'll be pairing later with my white capris and sandals. 


That was totally fun!  Thanks again, Jen, for the award, for the interview and for launching me out of obscurity! 
Much love!

University of Houston Update

I thought I'd post this for those of you who have been wondering how our favorite wide receiver is doing at the University of Houston.  (btw...He's no longer #19.  We'll be cheering for #83 this season.)  You can read the whole article here.

We're pretty proud of him and look forward to watching him play at least once this season!

Flashback Tuesday

We have less than a week left of summer, and with the beginning of a new school year rapidly approaching, I thought I'd spend this Flashback Tuesday reminiscing about some great summer memories.  Here's how we like to spend our summers...

ROAD TRIPS

CAMPING

...don't let this picture fool you, I actually HATE camping, but the rest of the people in my family LOVE it and I happened to find this picture of a rare moment when I when I actually looked relatively happy cooking a hot dog, so I thought I'd post it as proof. 

PLAYING AT THE POOL

HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS

GOING TO THE BEACH

sometimes it's unexpectedly COLD at the beach...like when you go to Bear Lake in June!

TAKING FAMILY PICTURES

I LOVE summer!  I love the traditions we have and the memories we've made.  I love that this has been yet another amazing summer.  And even though I'm a little sad to let go of the traveling and the lazy schedule, I'm ready for a new school year to start, too.  I LOVE September almost as much as I love June.   

Thanks always to Jen for starting this great Flashback idea.  Someday I hope to be able to create one of these posts in less than 12 hours.  

Best Places to Live

There is a new family in our ward who recently moved here from Overland Park, KS.  We have only talked to them a handful of times, but they have mentioned on more than one occasion in church meetings how much they loved the city they moved from, and how difficult it was for them to leave.  We ran into them tonight at the "Husky Round Up" (aka 8th grade orientation) where they were trying to navigate through their oldest son's schedule.   During our brief conversation, they mentioned that the new CNN Top 100 Places to Live had just come out today and they hadn't yet had a chance to read it and see if Allen, TX was in the Top 10 (because apparently Overland Park was last year.)  Well, because we're slightly competitive people and because we happen to really love Allen and definitely think it should be in the Top 10 Places to Live, we hurried and checked that list as soon as they walked away.

We're not in the Top 10, but we're close...#13.  That's not bad.  (Overland Park, KS is #9...dang it!)  You can read the rest of the list here.

I've written posts before about how much we love living in Allen and how grateful we are to have had the opportunity to move here.  Everything about it is a perfect fit for our family.  We don't need a list from CNN to tell us that.  Even if Allen hadn't made an appearance on that list at all, we would still feel the same way about living here.  We love the home we live in, the people we interact with, the schools, the church, the extra curricular activities.  And "the 5.5 million square feet of retail space" isn't a bad thing either.  

I hope that new family from Kansas comes to love this place and have as many great experiences here as we have.  

  

My New Phone Case

In case you didn't already know, I'm just going to admit right now that I am a HUGE follower!  I follow trends and copy styles and "pin" things to my Pinterest boards all day long.  I adopt little quirks and sayings that I've heard and like.  I read books because other people (that's YOU, Mamie!) suggest them.  When I first realized that about myself, it bugged me a little, but I've come to love lots of things about me that I didn't before.  And I've also learned that it's fine to follow people; as long as you pick the right ones.  

I'm a big blog follower, too.  And I kinda LOVE these girls lately.  Lauren @ From My Grey Desk and Kate @ The Small Things Blog.  They are cute, blonde sisters who write about things I want to know...like hairstyles and make up and making their homes beautiful.  And they're also just really nice girls.  I'm pretty sure I would like them if I happened to meet them.  And it turns out that I've started becoming a follower not just of their blogs but of their cute styles and opinions, too.  A few weeks ago, one of them, I don't remember which, posted a picture of their phone cases.  Look how cute they are!

  so...I pinned them...

 ...and then I checked on eBay and found one!  I actually really loved that coral colored one in the picture, but when I saw the purple, I changed my mind and decided to get that one.  It was five whole dollars! and free shipping from somewhere in China.  And finally...after 3 agonizing weeks of waiting...it came this afternoon.  I LOVE getting packages in the mail, especially when it's been SO long since I've ordered the thing that I forget it's coming.   

 isn't is SO STINKING CUTE!!

it's WAY cuter and WAY more ME than my old phone case...

 ...I liked my old one...sort of...

...ok I didn't really like that one at all.  It was sturdy and different than the other half million Otter Boxes out there, but it kinda looked like a phone case that would be more appropriate for a lifeguard or a Red Cross volunteer than for me. 

I'm so happy with my new, super cute, super stylish phone case.  It was a nice diversion from the closet I spent the day cleaning out.  And now I officially have ONE thing in common with those two cute bloggers that I am happily stalking.  Thanks Kate and Lauren for always having great style and awesome suggestions!