Lets Get Ready to Rumbllllleeeeeee!

As I sit here and write this post the song from the CD Jock Jams (you know that album with all these songs that are remixed with others. I was about 8 when it came out so I know yall remember if I can.) is in my head. You know the one that is a remix of the man who says "Lets get ready to rumbllllleeeeee" before a boxing match, while the rest of the song says "Pump up the jam, pump it up while your feet are stompin...." hopefully you know what Im talking about because if not Im sure your thinking to yourself that this past half paragraph has been a total waste of time. Anyways I woke up this morning with it stuck in my head and it has been stuck there all day. I think its because my mind mentally was preparing for the big day today! For those of you who dont know today was our first Spring Training game. Which only means one thing in this household and that is "Lets get ready to rumble!" The first game signifies that now the clock is ticking and by the clock ticking I mean that now is the time to show what you got. Yeah practice everyday and bullpens every 3 days you are showing what you got but NOW we are down to business. These Spring Training games are the situations that you are going to be in during the season and the Coaches want to know you have what it takes to perform. So even though Jess wasnt throwing today, today was still very important and I woke up absolutely PUMPED UP! Obviously I know this has nothing to do with me so Im sure your wondering why I would be pumped up about the games starting but believe me Im totally affected by this sport in every way possible. Plus I feel like if I am positive and pumped Jess will vibe off of that and be super excited too and not overthink the game.

Sooooo back to THE game. We played The Reds, which we will play a lot because we share our Spring Training facility with them. I was kind of surprised with the attendance with it being the first game and all but it was quite hmmm how do I say this without sounding mean....uhhh not full? Yeah lets go with not full or unfilled. People love baseball and people who love baseball travel anywhere for a game. So I was surprised at the un-attendance. Here are some pictures from today.

Goodyear Stadium view from my seat 

Our new block C emblem 

The Bullpen Pitchers

Jess will pitch the third inning on Wednesday against the Oakland Athletics at 1:05pm our time, so that means 2:05 yalls time so if yall have second to check in on online I urge you to do so! More pictures will come then. Hope everyones weekend was a good one! Everyone remember to call Tom tomorrow and tell him Happy Birthday! Happy last day of February tomorrow and if you are reading this Happy Birthday from me and Jess Tom!

Love,

E

#40

Here is a preview of Jess at photo day on Tuesday! What a stud!

I love them both but this one is my favorite!

 This one to me is saying "Dont mess with me!"

Usually these photos are rarely seen so I figured I would share! Hope yall enjoyed them!
Love,
E

Busy Busy Week!

Since we arrived in Arizona we havent really had that busy of a schedule. We have a lot of down time to just do whatever and dont really have a schedule to follow. This week that changed and its been a nice change of pace. Monday I had a MicroEconomics Exam and we had Bible Study. Tuesday I had a lunch date, run errands and pay bills. Wednesday I had ladies Bible Study, Indians Wives Luncheon, grocery shopping and a couple more errands to run.

The ladies Bible Study we had yesterday was really nice, its a little bit more emotional and intimate than the couples study because its just about 8 women getting together to talk about what we cant with our husbands regarding their jobs. Women cry if they need to and are comfortable with it because its a safe outlet and at one point in time we have all been there and know how she feels. As any wife no matter what job your husband is employed in Im sure at times you worry. Well since Im a type A personality and a worry wort I tend to worry a little more. I actually used to believe that the GM's and Coaches have the final say to his fate and their is nothing him or I or anyone else can do about it. I learned with these past 2 studies this week that God is in control and everything is in his time. Seems like DUH! Right? When its a constant unknown its a little more complicated than that. Ultimately though Jess will be where he is supposed to be whether it be in Triple A or the Big Leagues because thats where God wants him to be. I know Jess gets up everyday and gives it his all and works his hardest and thats all that matters. I hope thru this study he sees thats all he can do and not be so hard on himself. Whats hardest on me is watching him go thru it, watching him be so disappointed in himself. When your an Athlete anything less than the NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB is a disappointment. High HIGH standards and nothing else but the highest level will do. So Im glad I have a outlet to go to and express how I feel with women who know EXACTLY how I feel. Its uplifting to be able to do that.

Right after Bible Study we had our Indians Wives Luncheon. It was held at a little cafe called Ground Control. Its specialty is Wine, Gelato and Coffee. They serve food too but thats what they are known for. It was nice to see everyone again and our team now has a ton of babies. When we joined the team there werent any! Our Luncheon just went over the key points of being in Cleveland when season starts, what charities we will help this year, monthly game get togethers and rules and regulations we are expected to abide by. Its just a fun way for us to become informed about what the year will hold. The guy that puts it all together is so good about taking care of us. He is always open to changing something if we dont like it or if it wont work for everyone. We really appreciate him because he does his job well and really gets things done.

When I left the luncheon I ran to the grocery store and then Jess texted me and said he was ready so I went to get him. I brought him back to the hotel then ran to Barnes and Noble to get us these books everyone has been talking about. They are The Power of the Praying Wife and the Power of the Praying Husband. I found the Wife one but they didnt carry the Husband one so I got him Heaven is for Real. Heaven is for Real is about a little boy's explanation of heaven after he died and came back to life. Apparently its and unbelievable read and is eye opening. When Jess is done reading it I plan on reading it too.

Jess will throw tomorrow in the inter squad game and he is so pumped and ready! Sunday is the actual start of games and the weather is supposed to be rainy and cold so we will see how that goes. One more day until the weekend! Hope yalls week has been a great one!
Love,
E

"Who is that, Erica who is that guy over there?"

Hellloooo! I hope yall are enjoying yalls nice weather on this Tuesday afternoon! Hopefully if yall arent maybe I can pep up your step with this funny story about Jess and I. As you all know from my previous post we had couples Bible Study last night. When I listed what teams were going to be there I didnt list them all so I wanted to correct myself. On Mondays we will have couples Bible Study with the Rangers, Royals, Whitesox, Dodgers, Reds and Brewers. A lot of teams, I know!

As anybody would be Jess and I were kind of nervous about actually going but we knew the LaPorta's would be there so at least we knew 2 people there already. When we first walked in the LaPorta's were there so we talked to them. As we scoped out the rest of the room different faces became recognizable. One guy in particular stuck out to Jess so he leaned toward me and said "Who is that, Erica who is that guy over there?" I then looked toward the direction Jess was motioning with his head (he was trying to be subtle and not point, so he did that little awkward thing people do when your trying to get someone to look at someone else doing something weird). When I looked over there and saw the guy I myself couldnt place him but I knew we did know him. I said "I dont know babe, but we do know him" then Jess said "Yeah we do know him from somewhere dont we?" I reassured Jess again "Yeah we do, but where from?" So we stood there for about 30 seconds and then DING! The light in my head went off! I looked at Jess and said "Thats David Murphy!" Yes! The DAVID MURPHY! One of the outfielders for the Rangers! We both started laughing because we dont even know him! We sure thought we did though! I guess the reason why we claimed we knew him is because we watched so much World Series coverage over the Rangers this past off season that his face was embedded in our heads. We laughed about that all evening. We sure did get a kick out of it. (Hopefully yall know who David Murphy is because if not then its probably not that funny to you that we thought we knew him.) After that Jess said "I wonder if Hamilton is coming?" (Josh) I thought that he would be there but he didnt end up showing. I would like to hear him talk during our study, I think it would be cool to hear how he sees things so maybe him and his wife will show up but if not thats not why we are there. We are there to learn how to let God deal with the stresses of Baseball and that is what we are going to do! Among others that were there were the Masterson's, Justin is a teammate of Jess' and Jason Donald another teammate. Jess got a blast from the past because Clayton Kershaw was there along with his wife. All the guys had to go around and say their name their wife's name and their team and after Clayton said his Jess leaned over and whispered in my ear "Clint hit the game winning run off of him when we were in High School." Its pretty crazy how you come full circle with some guys you played against when you were younger or even older. Blake Hawksworth was there too. He was Jess' teammate in Triple A with the Cardinals. Him and his wife have the same wedding date as Jess and I do and he was recently traded to the Dodgers. It was nice to see them and I know Jess was happy to catch up with him.

Bible Study was good, the leader really hit on some eye opening notes that Jess and I walked away from the Church with. One of them was this "If God wants you in the Big Leagues you will be there, It doesnt matter if your GM doesnt like you or your Coach doesnt like you! If God wants you there he will put you there. You have no control over it. All you can do is work hard and watch what happens." Pretty deep stuff if your a Baseball player. Pretty deep stuff if your anybody! By that man saying that it struck a chord in Jess' heart. As soon as we walked out of Bible study Jess said to me " That was really eye opening." I said I know it makes so much since doesnt it. I was really impressed and Im glad we have a positive outlet to go to while we are here because things can get not so positive in a jiffy!

Afterwards we went to Yogurland to get our Fro-Yo and of course our Southern Hill-Billy butts didnt like any of the flavors they had. I want to say first that the place we went last year was shut down so we had to go to a new place and UGHHH! The flavors were, EWW dont even get me started. They didnt have just regular Vanilla, how does that happen? They have what is called Tart, and believe me it is Tart-y! Very bitter and not good at all. What was shocking was that people were eating it like no problem! West Coast-ers are CRA-ZAY! So we left and went to Chic-Fil-A, anyone that knows me knows that Chic-Fil-A is my absolute favorite place to eat. We went and got ice cream cones and they were delicious! Just 2 plain little ole ice cream cones for two plain little ole southern kids. I was going to take a picture of them but I figured yall knew what an ice cream cone looked like and didnt want to be reminded.

Today was a big day for Jess. He threw "live" since he didnt get to the other day due to rain and he faced a lot of batters but only one of them got a hit. He said in the beginning he threw some balls but then got it together and was throwing good. The batters he faced told him his ball was moving unbelievably! He said he felt good about it and that is a great thing! Im proud of him, hes been working hard and today it showed! He will throw again on Friday which is good because that gives him 2 days rest instead of one. Jess has been throwing every other day for 6 days now and that is a lot! Being a reliever and pitching for 10 minutes straight wears on you. There isnt a pitch count they just have you pitch for 10 minutes and then move on to the next pitcher. I admire Jess' strength, he just gets on the mound and pitches. That for me is a high volume stress situation, the coaches are sitting right behind the fence watching every pitch and taking notes. I would literally just fall to pieces but I guess thats why God made me an athletes wife and not the athlete.

Otherwise things are looking good around here! Hope they are where yall are!
Love and miss yall lots!
-E

1 down 5 to go!

Yesterday signified the ending of week 1 of Spring Training! Very exciting I know! Jess now has 5 weeks left. I cant even believe that is all that is left until the season is actually underway! I searched high and low for some pictures of them training but couldnt find any of Jess. I really didnt find any pictures of the team, there were only a handful and they were all of the "Veterans" of the team. Hopefully this week will bring more pictures because if not Im going to have to show up at practice and take my own! Im kidding, Im kidding I wouldnt do that....Or would I? No! I wouldnt! Games start on Sunday against the Reds and I couldnt be more excited! I know Jess is so ready too! 

Tonight we have couples Bible Study at a church up the street. It is held for the Reds, Indians, Rangers, Mariners and I think one other team but I cant remember which one. Chris wont be there tonight but he said he will for sure come next week. Im excited to go, I get to use my new Bible Jess gave me for Christmas and it kind of helps me distress from a little anxiety. Ive been good about my anxious-ness so far but as each day passes I feel it creeping up behind me like a Lion waiting to pounce on me. I try to stay busy as the feeling gets stronger. I already finished my whole Wellness class and only have half of my Micro class left to do. Going to Bible Study reminds me that Im not in control God is and he puts what is supposed to be in our lives in it so dont worry about it! I also think going to Bible Study together as a couple is good for us. The man that leads it is said to be one of the BEST leaders around. When they sent the email out about the study and who was leading it a lot of people replied with "Im so happy he is leading it! He is so great!" or "If I could carry one person in my pocket it would be him!" So he sounds pretty knowledgable and I look forward to learning from him. Some of Jess' other teammates will be there as well. One of them in particular is Matt LaPorta. I love his wife, she is so sweet and I cant wait to see her. She is pregnant and Im sure she is just glowing! 

We are going to do dinner here at the hotel tonight because after Bible Study we are going to go get some Frozen Yogurt. Frozen Yogurt is the fad out here, its a West Coast thing I guess you could say. You dont go out for Ice Cream you go out for Fro-Yo (thats the West Coast lingo for Frozen Yogurt, Im sure you knew that but I just wanted to make sure.) We love getting it because what you do is pick the flavor you want then put which ever toppings you want on top. Toppings range from cookies, sprinkles, different fruits, candies, chocolate chips I mean all kinds of varieties to chose from. You pay for it by how many ounces you buy. I will post pics of our Fro-Yo's so you can see how creative we get. Talk to yall later....

P.S.

Happy Presidents Day!

Love,

E

Beginning of Baseball and Big News about a Baby

This week was the official start of Spring Training! Typically the first week is for conditioning tests, physicals and scoreboard interviews with a couple of bullpens in the mix for pitchers. Jess threw 2 bullpens this week and will throw live tomorrow. When I say live its not actually live, a batter will just stand in the box while he tries to paint his spots and get work in as if he were actually in a game. He is excited to get that going because he said his bullpens went well this past week. One of them the coaches were there for and that was huge for him. I am so glad to hear they went well because he has been practicing and trying so hard to get better that its nice to know for him Im sure that his hard work is paying off. Plus it makes it more fun for him.

I started a training of my own this week! I am training to do crossfit! Crossfit is something that is fairly new in the fitness world. Its a different kind of work-out, it consists of olympic type, gymnastic, weight and agility training. It is ROUGH! I thought "Oh please! I have been doing P90X I got this!" Uhhh Thursday I couldnt move. I didnt leave our room one time! Jess had to help me up from sitting down! I was miserable. To give you a little insight as to what we do just think power lifter. You know, think back when you were in High School and there were those guys power lifting during the Spring Track Tournaments, that is what I was doing! I mean I couldnt put any weight on my pole but I was lifting the dang thing! Above my head to be more specific! It was CRAZY! Jess thinks this training is good for me because it will push me to do things Ive never done before, things I thought I would never do or could do. So I had a big week in beginning training myself!

Another BIG  thing that happened this week was that I found out one of my childhood friends is pregnant! I dont know if any of yall remember Hannah, she was in our wedding. She is a short tiny little thing! I dont know if that helps refresh your memory as to who she is but besides my sister she was the smallest one in the wedding. Her and her husband are expecting a baby on September 29th! It was a weird emotional type of feeling that came over me when she told me. I guess I had a mixture of feelings because this really seals the deal that we are grown. I mean being married obviously states your in some type of grown up status but a BABY?!?! That is HUGE news! Im very excited for her and I know she will be a great mom. I cant wait to find out what she is having! Hannah and her husband have a different kind of style so their child will definitely an image of that.

So with all this big new stuff going on we have kind of had an exciting week. Didnt do much as far as getting out and enjoying Arizona but I only have 4 chapters left in one of my classes and Jess has moved up sooooo many ranks in Call of Duty! So all in all it was a productive week!

As I am writing this post we are experiencing a major storm here in Arizona! It was supposed to rain all day but all it has done is have one huge wind/sand storm! Literally! Its like 20 times the wind/sand storms Lubbock ever had while I was there! It just finally started raining so hopefully the the wind/sand storm part is over! I can handle rain just not wind or sand lol. Here is a picture of the parking lot at the field. All of these tumbleweeds have blown in since I dropped Jess off this morning.

Behind those two bushes there are tumbleweeds stacked up against the fence. I would say that is some pretty powerful wind!

I hope yall had a good week and are enjoying the weather this weekend. I check Ennis and Kilgore weather everyday so I stay in "the know". Talk to yall soon....
Love,
E

February 14th

For most of you and the rest of the world today is a Holiday in which you celebrate your love for your partner, children or parents. February 14th for me and other baseball wives is the symbolization of one thing....Baseball Season. Every year February 14th is the day that Pitchers and Catchers "report" to Spring Training. So in my case today is a double Holiday! I dont really get all twisted and tangled about Jess having to "report" today because he really doesnt care about Valentines Day anyway. So its really not spoken of in our house (hotel room). Im just glad I get to be with him, we dont need one day to celebrate our love for each other. The thing he has going against him though is that its our anniversary. Not like the marking of any year or anything but we were married on the 14th of November so its just another month marked down. Although the hater of the Holiday that he is he managed to be sneaky and get me something. He isnt into flowers because in his words "They just DIE Erica!" Cards to him are a waste of money and I love chocolate but thats cliche. So he got me a Edible Arrangement! YAY! He knows how much I love fruit so he got the one that had heart shaped pineapples and chocolate dipped strawberries! It was so thoughtful! I couldnt even believe it! Im sure yall are wondering what I got him, right? Well I got him a little box that was full of his fave candies and a card. I should have gotten him dip but around here the kind he likes is never in stock! Here are some pics of our gifts....

 Yummy!

Sugar High!

This evening we are just going to have a normal dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Thought we were high maintenance didnt you? Nope not us! Hope yalls day of Love was amazing! 

Love,

E

Hiking Day Saturday!

Today Johanna Herrmann and I went Hiking! As soon as the boys left to the field after breakfast we took off to Estrella Park and went Hiking! It was a 5 mile loop and at one point in time I thought to myself "Noone told me to bring my harness gear!" I was huffing and puffing like I had been smoking for 20 years! Shimmy-ing up and down the mountain, you would have thought I was a Go-Go Dancer! The whole reason we went was to take Johanna's dog Dennis on a "good walk". Wowzers! I dont think he was prepared for that kind of walk! It was fun though and I never fell! I was so happy that I made it 5 whole miles without busting my butt! By the time we were done the boys were back from the field. It was a beautiful day here, probably the best day since we have been here. I just wanted to stay outside all day! Here are some pictures from our hike!

 And we are off!

 Gaining elevation....

 Whoo Hoo! Made it to the top!

 The Trails we hiked, they were connected into one!

Tonight we went out to Sushi, our favorite Sushi place is just 5 minutes away so we take advantage of it all the time! Here is a little picture of us before we went out! 

I hope yall are enjoying the "Pre Valentines Day" weekend!
Love,
E

Day 7

Today we have officially been here for a week! My allergies are finally clearing up (knock on wood) and I think we are finally adjusted to the time change and all the other things we were adjusting to. My sleep habit has gotten a little better but not back to where it was. I think ultimately why I cant sleep is because I forgot my "baseball pillow" at my parents house in Ennis. I do not let many people know this but I dont/cant sleep without it. I am realizing now that it is next to impossible to do so. Growing up I didnt have this problem of having to sleep with a pillow. I developed this Freshman year of College when I met Jess. He had to sleep with this pillow that Memaw made for him between his legs and when I spent the night (No this is not X rated Chris and his gf slept in the same room as us so there was no whatever is going thru your mind going on. How dare you think Im that kind of girl :)) I would sleep with his Jess' baseball pillow because I didnt have any other pillow and because Jess didnt share. He needed all 3 regular pillows to himself. When he got drafted he left the "baseball pillow" with me as a somewhat parting gift I guess?? Kind of like giving someone a lock of hair, No? Ok, well that is what started my habit. After he left I slept with it every night since then. I even lost it once in an airport and I searched high and low for a new one. Long story short I need it to sleep so my mother is sending it out here to me so hopefully once it is here I will be back to getting a full night of z's! Thank you mom!

This week has been nice, I have gotten ahead in my Microeconomics class. My brain actually feels like its on Microeconomics overload! I am happy to be ahead though, to me its a good feeling. Other than that we have spent our week learning new card games. Well Ive done the learning Jess is doing the teaching. I actually beat him today so I was happy, before he knows it I will be whooping his butt! Jess has also gotten ahead in his Call of Duty playing. He has played so much this week that he has moved up 20 ranks! He is the ultimate killer! (Sounds bad, I know)

Jess "Doin Work" as he says on Call of Duty

Me "Doin Work" Lol :)

I am looking forward to the weekend, one of the player's wife's and I are going Hiking in the morning so Im excited about that. I hope yall enjoy the weekend!

Love,

E

Getting Adjusted....

As all of you know we are here in the great state of Arizona and we are in the adjusting phase. We go thru this process every time we go somewhere new. Due to the change in environment and atmosphere, I have been battling against some awful congestion and we have both been battling the time change. Granted we are only an hour behind but the days go by sooooooo sllllooooowwwww. (That was my interpretation of a slo-mo type voice so just picture me doing/saying it that way) Its weird because the days drag and the nights drag but morning comes super fast. I doubt you understand what I mean, so let me break it down for you. The days take forever to go by and I have no problem falling asleep but soon after I wake up. Then fall back asleep, then a noise will happen in the hallway or our refrigerator will kick on or something and I will wake up. I then look at the window to see if the sun is close to coming up and....its not! So then I fall back asleep and wake up and I do this a couple more times until DING ding DING ding! My alarm starts singing! So thats what I mean when I say the days drag, the nights drag and then Wham! Bam! Thank you, Mrs. Todd its now morning!

We have gotten a pretty good routine down though. We wake up in the morning, get dressed, go down and get coffee and breakfast and then watch the news or read the paper. Jess leaves here around 8:30am and heads to the field. I then go workout, get ready for the day and do whatever homework I have for the day before he gets home which is usually around 11:45am. At 12 I make lunch and we sit and have lunch and watch more news. (Never striked yall as News people did we? Lol) Then I will go run errands and he usually plays hours amongst hours of Call of Duty: Black Ops. Not a game I encourage any of you to buy your children. Lots of killing! Ughh! Jess has dreams about killing people thats how much he gets into it. He plays with his X-Box connected online so he is able to play with anyone anywhere. Last night he played against Clint which was fun for me to listen to. They are both still little boys at heart so It makes me laugh a little.

Yesterday was what the Arizona-ns call a high haze day. (I will post a picture below this paragraph so you can see what Im talking about.) It was very hazy out which makes it hard to see the mountains. Who cares about seeing the mountains, right? Just kidding! Anyway today it is windy! Ouhh-weee let me tell you! (Im sure your thinking "How dare her?, It is 14 degrees here in Texas and she is complaining about the weather in Arizona!") So let me explain Im not complaining I am simply stating that it is very very windy here. Jess said he froze to death today because he didnt bring any of his warm baseball stuff (because they get new stuff every year) but the equipment truck hasnt made it here yet so they dont have anything really here for them to wear. Yeah dumb I know.

Jess is still feeling good about this year and he said he threw a good bullpen yesterday so that is even better. I know he is ready to get after it and get started so we are just counting down the days until camp begins. Once camp does start our schedule will be different. I will take him to the field verses him taking himself, only because once camp is actually on and going the time varies of when they will be done. Some days are long ones and some days arent so long. We just like to prepare for the long ones just in case I need to go somewhere or do something.

I know yall are not enjoying the new batch of snow/ice/sleet yall got but I hope yall are enjoying yalls day.
Love,
E

Home Sweet Hotel Home

Well we made it! After being in an airport/in an airplane for 10 hours! I cant complain though, we could have had to stay over night. So no complaining over here! Yesterday we got settled in our new home which is the Towne Place Suites Marriot. Not too shabby, I must say. I mean its smaller than we thought but we have everything we need and it has a ton of storage. Here are some pics of our humble abode.

 This is the view from our entry way into our room.

 Walk a couple steps and your now in our bedroom/living room.

 View from the opposite side of the room.

 View of our entry way from our room.

 Lovely desk/storage.

 Make shift closet storage by me. If you need my assistance just give me a call! Haha.

Our fabulous kitchen! (It even has granite!)

Not too bad huh? I like it a lot! They also serve breakfast here so we went down this morning to check it out and it is so good! They have a variety of things to eat so that is going to help out a lot as far as breakfast every morning. Yesterday we also went and got groceries, before we went we got a paper and checked out the sales and see what coupons were in there. We got quite a few coupons and ended up saving $47.92. We felt so cool saving all that money! I mean you would have thought we won the lottery! I would like to give a shout out to Mandy for helping get into the "Couponing". I am now obsessed since I know I can save that much money! So thank you Mandy for giving me advice on what to do! 

Other than that we have been taking it easy. Jess will go to the field tomorrow and I will get back into a routine studying. We dont plan on ever doing much because quite frankly Arizona is not that cool to us and its not safe by any means. We decided last night while we were admiring the mountains outside our window that Arizona is so lonely. Its just not homey at all. Jess hates that there is no grass anywhere, that annoys him to the rim! He says "There is just no grass here!" about 15 times a day. He makes the best of though while we are here so that is all that counts. 

Tonight we are going to order pizza and watch the Super Bowl. I hope you all are enjoying yalls Super Bowl Sunday and we want yall to know that it is an understatement to say we miss yall a ton! Talk to yall soon and thank you again for reading!

Love,

E

The South: Unequipped to Handle a Snow Storm

Well the day had finally arrived! We were all packed and ready to go when Mother Nature and her Global Warming butt wanted to put a kink in millions of people's lives and give us a beautiful snow storm. I could hardly be mad because I love the snow a lot and I just think it is the most beautiful thing this world can produce through weather. I just wished it would had hit a couple of days earlier or after we were already in the air. When we laid down to go to bed at 10:30 on Thursday night it had already started to snow at my parents house. Knowing this I set my alarm for 5:00am so I could get up and watch the news to get updated on the weather. When 5am came I went into the living room where my dad was already awake and had the news on. I looked out the back kitchen window to see a TON of snow! "Ugghhhhhhhhh!" Went through my mind, I thought "how the heck are we supposed to drive in this?!" All the while the news was in the background repeatedly saying "If you do not have to leave your house dont!" "The roads are in bad conditions and there have been 46 accidents since 12 midnight last night." My dad being a work Natzi will be at work rain or shine, hell or high water and through sleet and snow. There was no doubt in my mind, I knew he was going to work. So he got ready, we said our "See ya later" instead of "Goodbye" and he left. (Back Story on the "see ya later": When Jess got drafted and it came time for him to leave I told him not to say "Goodbye" to me, say "See ya later" because that gave me hope we would see each other again. Not that him or I were going to fall off the face of the Earth, just because we were young and hadnt been together long enough to know we would for sure see each other again after being apart for 4 months. Since then I wont tell anyone "Goodbye" its too emotional for me and I get too attached to people to say that to them. I know Im weird but I just cant help it.) I then got out my computer and checked our flight status. We were still departing on time (so it said) so that meant that I needed to get myself ready and get us on the road. Around 6:00 I went outside to actually check out the car and turn it on, as I made my way back into the garage I was hopping through the snow. (You should just know this is about to get ugly) I wear my Uggs religiously and that is what I had on, if you have ever seen any Ugg boots you would know that the bottom of them is clean smooth. They have a foam type bottom that only make marks in dirt or sand. As I hopped my last hop from the snow into my parents garage when my foot hit the concrete I started to slide. (Kind of like when Marve on Home Alone did when McCauley Culkin set out that slimy stuff down in there basement or wherever it was.) I started to slide and all my weight went backwards and then I went into the air! When I finally made it to the ground I landed on my left hip side and I slide under my sisters truck that was in the garage. Thank goodness I grabbed onto her tailgate because I think I would have slid all the way under there if not! Ofcourse I screamed but noone heard me and its a good thing I didnt hit my head and get knocked out because noone would have rescued me and I would have froze to death on top of us missing our flight! When I woke Jess up that morning I told him what happened and of course he laughed! He said "Your officially a Todd today!" I said "How or Why is that?" He replied with "Because you fell pretty hard today!" I thought to myself "Well if falling hard makes me a Todd then I must have been a Todd since I was born!, Ive been falling like that for years!"

After he got ready and we got all of our stuff together I woke my mom up to let her know we were leaving. I told my sister "See ya later" and we headed out. This was about 6:30, It normally only takes 45 minutes to get to the airport but I knew with how much snow was on the ground we werent getting there in that quick of time. Jess drove and we ended up making it there in an hour and a half. He drove between 25-35 mph so we only slid a total of 3 times! Lucky us! The roads werent that bad it was just the non experienced Texans that were the problem. Luckily for us our vacation in Crested Butte gave us some practice. When we got to the airport and got to the ticket counter the guy asked us where we were going followed with "Do yall have to go today?" That was my first clue that the day was going to be a long one! I replied with "Yes, we really have somewhere to be and If its possible we will wait all day to get on a flight out." He said "Alrighty then, I just wanted to make sure before I sent you through and checked your bags that you were prepared for delays." He checked our luggage and gave us our boarding passes and said "Good Luck!" Once we got through security and to our gate we were greeted by this outside the window.

Uhhh yeah my optimism went out that very window! I knew then the snow storm that had taken over the Big D had taken over our flight out of there! We were going to be there for a while. We then decided that if our flight did get cancelled we would just stay over night and take the first flight out in the morning. Since the Super Bowl had also taken over Dallas, finding a cheap hotel was out of the question. Our original flight time was 9:25 and since we had gotten there at 8 we had some time to kill. We didnt want to just grab a quick Mcdonalds breakfast when we knew there was a possibility we could be there all day long so we waited it out. Around 9:15 they came on the speaker and said they would be making an announcement at 9:30 regarding whether we were leaving or not. Well 9:30 came and went and then came 10 then 10:30. I happened to look up at the monitor and it said that Flight 8 to El Paso on to Phoenix had been cancelled! No update! No call! No nothing! I just happened to see it on the screen! Then more people saw it and more and so on. I then started to see a line form at the ticket counter for our gate. I told Jess to grab our computer bags and get in line while I called Southwest on the phone. I figured one way or the other I could get ahold of someone that could get us on another flight. I ended up getting someone on the phone way faster than we did in line. I asked him what was going on and he said "Well all flights going out before noon are cancelled." "I can put you on another flight but it might end up getting cancelled too, its just whether or not they can get in the air today." I said ok fine and he changed our flight to the 2:50 one. We had to stay in line to figure out our luggage situation and get new boarding tickets so that took another hour. By the time we got all that taken care of it was 11:30 and we were starving. I never understood why airports had bars but yesterday I was thankful for the one in Dallas Love Airport! We ate at Chili's and I had a bloody mary and Jess had a beer. It killed some time since we knew we werent leaving until almost 3.

Yes, total domination on my part! I was stressed so dont judge, lol. After we left the Chili's Bar (classy I know) we went to the magazine shop to stock up and then proceeded to our new gate. I took a nap for about 15 minutes because I was just exhausted. (No I didnt pass out from my 1 bloody mary!) When I woke up I had the marks from my sweater on my face. (Even classier I know) Jess then offered to get us more drinks so he went and got me another bloody mary and him another beer. He said when he got back that they were running out of beer in the airport. There were tons of people there from delayed or cancelled flights and everyone was pretty much drinking from boredom so It didnt seem shocking that they were running out. I felt like I was in college all over again, midday drinking for no reason. 2:35 rolled around and that was our boarding time yet noone was moving. Another delay! I then prepared myself to really spend the night there. I knew we might not get out if it took any longer, the weather wasnt getting better and the temperature was not getting any warmer. So we sat there for about another hour. Then a plane started to pull into our gate. People roared and clapped it felt like we were in a movie! I had never experienced something like that. Pure joy and happiness over a plane pulling into a gate! We finally took off around 4 something. From there we went on to Tulsa to let off and on some passengers. That took a little longer than expected but then we were finally on our way to PHOENIX! YAY, YAY, YAY! The flight was full and long but I couldnt even complain because atleast we were on our way. We landed in Phoenix at 8 there time and 9 yalls time. We took a cab to Goodyear from Phoenix which is about 25 minutes and we went straight to the field to get our rental car. By the time we got to the hotel, checked in and got all our luggage off it was about 9:30. We were starving so we hit up the nearest place to eat which was Subway. We didnt care what we ate we just wanted to eat and then go to sleep. We were absolutely exhausted! We had a very eventful day and it is definitely one that is going in our book of travel stories. Sorry for the over excessive post, there was just so much that went on I had to let you all in on it. I hope yall are all enjoying the snow even though it makes getting around and doing things much harder. We miss yall and love yall very much!
Love,
E

Packing day!!!

 What I started with....

 The finished product! :)

Have yall ever seen the "Whataburger" commercial that talks about how it is actually possible to fit a square peg into a round hole? What they are talking about is your mouth (round hole) eating a square type sandwich (square peg). In that instance that statement is true, but today when I tried to fit my square peg (my clothes) into a round hole (my suitcases) I had a little bit more trouble than the guy on the "Whataburger" commercial!

I knew I would! There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to have trouble packing because 2 suitcases in my mind is like only being able to pack half a bag. I just need stuff! I need all my clothes not just some of them. I love them and to leave them behind gives me separation anxiety! What if I have to go somewhere and a certain piece I had to leave behind would have been perfect for it! Thoughts like that go thru my mind! (Yes Im sick, Im sick in the head I will admit it any day when it comes to clothes, shoes or purses!) Last night I had a dream about what I was going to pack, that is how anxious I was about it. Honestly though my over-reacting DNA struck again because yes, I had to pack and re-pack 3 times but it wasnt nearly as bad I thought it was going to be. I left some good pieces behind but I will be back to get them in no time so I am not going to worry about it. (Yes I am still trying to convince myself its going to be ok).

It took about 4 hours but I got us both packed. The two of us each have 2 bags and we each have our computer bags and I have my purse. For me that is saying a lot because you know just as well as I do you can have 2 carry ons as well and I have plenty of carry on type suitcases. I could sneak one and pack more stuff but I am being strong and not doing that. I figure the more I take the more I have to lug around when we get there.

Kim cooked dinner for us, Brooke, Hailee, Hunter and Harpie tonight and I am so glad she did because after all that packing I had quite the appetite! She cooked Jess' favorite enchilada's, they are so good! Thank you Kim for feeding us and for making it possible for us all to eat together one last time before we left town. We are trying to get in all our favorite places and things to eat before we leave because the West Coast does not know how to party when it comes to Mexican food! You would think they would but let me be the first to tell you....THEY DONT! Dont even get me started on the Midwest either, they have not a clue what Queso or any type of delicious Southern Cooking is! This proves again why I think Texas is the best state ever! We know how to cook here and everyone else doesnt.

Last night Steph and Milton took us to Matsu's! Its a Japanese Steakhouse here in Kilgore and Its our fave Japanese Steakhouse period! We havent eaten at a better one and we think we wont ever! It was so nice of them and the food was absolutely delicious like it is everytime. So thank you Steph and Milton we enjoyed it so much and we appreciate it more than you will ever know!

Needless to say we are all packed up and we have the house all wrapped up and ready for us to leave. Its bitter sweet but we are so excited for this year. It calms my heart to know Jess is so ready to get out there and play. He is so pumped and I cant wait to watch another season of him doing what he loves! Stay tuned for tomorrow's post we are headed to Ennis to see my family before we head out on Friday and the weather is supposed to be getting bad so we will see what the future holds :)
Love,
E