A Little Bit of Everything

• Alabama vs. West Virginia

August 30th, we went to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game... Alabama vs. West Virginia. We had a great time, and Alabama won... roll tide!

This was on the way. We stopped at Chick-fil-A in Montgomery for breakfast. Of course, TD didn't want to wait until then to eat, but I won that battle... Chick-fil-A is always worth the wait!

The Andalusia vs. UMS game was the night before in Mobile, so we got home late, and got up early to go to Atlanta; I was exhausted! TD is used to functioning on little sleep... the boy wakes up at like 4:45 to go run most mornings during the week, and he is always at school at like 6:30 except on Friday because the team eats breakfast, but hello... school doesn't start until 8:00?!?! Whatever... to each their own. Anyways, I was practically falling asleep during the game. During every time out, I would try to lay my head on his shoulder to take a "quick nap"... that didn't work out.

This is on the Marta after the game... we were basically Marta pros after this.

• Circus

A few weeks ago, we took Cruise Johnson to the circus... he had talked about it the week before, and Hannah had a doctor's appointment that day, Matt had to teach RAs at church, so we volunteered as tribute. Just kidding- I've never even seen that movie or read the book, and we wanted to take him. If you have never been to a Covington County circus, you are not missing out, but Cruise loved it!

We decided this night that we are going to start a circus... you take "free tickets" to the local schools for kids 14 and under (2 per adult), then the adults have to pay $15 each. It's a million dollar idea!

His $10 sword... Matt sent $20 with him; he spent $7 on food (we went to Dairy Queen before, but he wanted "circus food"), $10 on a sword, $2 on a coloring book, and $1 on peanuts... and he doesn't like to color and he doesn't eat peanuts. 

Now for the good stuff...

This girl is hanging upside down by her feet, and if you look closely (close to the middle- where the other end of the rope is going), you will notice that 3 men are holding the rope. If they accidentally let go of that rope, she is done.

Cruise was so excited to see animals, he just knew that they would have elephants because they had peanuts, and elephants like peanuts. Well, they didn't have elephants, but they did have...

Dogs. Dogs that did tricks like jump over hurdles and roll over. Seriously, it was a joke.

• Angels Walking

My parents (mostly my momma... Bob doesn't know what I'm getting until I open it) gave me a Kindle for my birthday. So last week, I asked TD what book I should buy to read. I used to read all the time, and I really wanted to start back. He said something along the lines of "you really think I know a good book to read?" so I asked my Facebook friends, and I got so many good ideas for books to read! I had several people suggest Karen Kingsbury, and one specifically suggest her Angels Walking series, she said the first book of the series was about a baseball player. I researched all of the books suggested, and the first book of the Angels Walking series was about a former baseball player named Tyler... oh my gosh! It was a given... I had to read it first! I started reading it Wednesday, and finished it Sunday (last night). The plan was to read two or three chapters a night, but I should have known better! I couldn't put it down! I was in tears; I can't give a summary because I basically tell everything that happens... but read it! If you have a Kindle, and can tell me how I can let you "borrow" it, tell me and I will! It was so so good! I can't wait to read more of her books.

• Andalusia football

This was after the Trinity game, our only win.

Yes, we are 1-4. Yes, it is discouraging. Yes, we have played good teams. Yes, we fully intend to win the rest of our games. Coaching, in my opinion, is the riskiest career... like ever. You have no control what-so-ever of your "success" in the eye of the public. Your team loses, you are a bad coach; your team wins, you are a good coach. People don't realize that you can lose and still be a good coach. Coaching is the only career where your "success" is measured by how 11 teenage boys decide to play that night. "And that's all I've got to say about that."

Oh yeah... Go Bulldogs!

Letter to Me

I heard this song on the radio a few days ago. I've heard it before, but this time, it got me thinking... if I could write a letter to me, what would I say?

So... "if I could write a letter to me, and send it back in time to myself at 17..."

Dear Hillary,

You are turning 23 years old in 5 short days! You have so much to look forward to in the next 6 years-- some good, some bad, but everything that happens to you makes you the person that you are 6 years later. Always remember that you are so blessed, and you now have the best husband, family, and friends that you could ever ask for.

This year, your first "serious boyfriend" is going to break up with you. You will think your world has ended, but get over it and get over it quick! Tyler Dent is literally right around the corner, and he is the one that God put on this Earth just for you.

You go to college with plans to become a pharmacist... go ahead and accept the fact that you need to follow in your mother's footsteps and get an Accounting degree. The faster you realize this, the better off you will be. You can save yourself a lot of tears and stress if you will realize this before you begin taking Organismal Biology.

You will graduate high school and move to Troy with Jess. The two of you will spend the next three years traveling wherever you have to to watch a little baseball. You are going to think about letting Jess highlight your hair when you are freshmen... don't let her! You look better in a coma than you look with blonde hair!

On January 31, 2010, you will get in a car accident. Don't try to avoid it... more good comes out of it than bad (you're never in any pain). Just try to come out of the coma a little sooner- everyone's really worried about you! This is the time in your life when you find out that you are going to marry Tyler Dent. If he will stay by your side through that, he will stay by your side through anything!

Even 6 years later, you still have a lot of life to live. Live each day to the fullest and never take one day for granted.

Our First Home

We found our house in February, bought it in March, and I honestly did not have the mind set that everything had to be done right then. I have taken my time over the past 6 months picking out, making decisions, ordering, and purchasing everything for our home. I am happy to say that everything (except a couple of pretty minor things) is done. We still have to hang our tv in our bedroom in the corner, get a monogrammed towel to hang in the guest bathroom, I need a jewelry box, and I have to order a few canvas pictures to hang, but I can't wait until then to give you a "tour".

Kitchen:

Living room:

Office:

Guest bedroom 1:

Guest bathroom:

Hallway:

Guest bedroom 2:

Master bedroom:

Master bathroom:

We could not be happier to call this house our first home. I cannot wait to make so many memories with my husband here. And once those last few things are finished, we can focus on TD's "man cave" out back... maybe that will be done before one of those guest rooms turns into a nursery :)