Reunited and It Feels So Good....UTA VOLLEYBALL BABY!!

This past week was just another busy week for me. It was Homecoming, Senior Night, and I had a 5 page paper due for my class. Even though I had to write my paper twice(yes it didn't save for some reason the first time) I had my UTA Volleyball Reunion to look forward to on Saturday. Knowing that I would get to see my old teammates definitely got me through all the other craziness! These beautiful women are so special to me and I love getting together and rehashing our good ol' college days! GO HOME SMELLY! :)

We all met at Texas Hall where we played so many matches back in the day. It's the infamous court on a stage.

Tina actually still has a pair of socks that were issued to us back in college....good times! :) The gorgeous lady sitting next to her is Toni who recruited us all to UTA.

One of the neat things about the UTA reunions is we get to meet players who played before or after us.....ok mostly after us! :) Although we may not have ever played a game with them (because some were only 2 years old at the time :) we still all have a bond!

The old ladies....:) I still think we are rockin it though huh! :) Those women are wonderful wives and moms now and I am blessed to call them my dear friends.

Tina reliving her glory days....don't worry.....she usually didn't play outside of the court! :) I think that is the first time she actually hit the floor and didn't leave it sopping wet! That girlie could sweat!! :)

Me with some of my younger teammates. UTA doesn't realize how lucky they are to have such great people representing their Alumni. These girls are awesome!! Thanks to Harris (Jennifer Harris Cross) for putting this together and making us some rad, old-school CD's!!

After the game went to Grease Monkey in Arlington to watch the Rangers and catch up on some good laughs. One of our teammates, Mandy and her hubby are part-owners. The place is such a cool joint. If you are in the Arlington area you've got to check it out!

Sue came all the way from Chicago to join the fun! She was my roommate in college and I just love her to pieces!

I had to get a pic of our banner from 1992. Man, that was so long ago!!

Thankfully I do NOT look like this anymore!! YUCK!!!

Mandy, Sue, Me, Toni and Tina at the Grease Monkey.

The gang enjoying some laughs and brew. We have already started planning a summer get together at Tina's place. There is nothing like catching up with old friends and laughing til you cry. I am so thankful for the friendships of these girls. I love y'all and can't wait for our next gathering!!

Pumpkin Patch Days are OVER

So it looks like the picture above just may be the last picture I take of my kids at a pumpkin patch. :( They were eager to go but once we got there they were in no mood to take cute pictures. In my defense, we have gone to Hall's Pumpkin Farm for years and I ALWAYS take pictures of them while we are there. They should just expect it and deal with it right?

This is the first picture I took when we arrived. It should have been a dead giveaway that they were in no mood to deal with me and a camera.

Please note that I have lived in Texas my entire life and I love the Rangers (who won an awesome game #2 tonight by the way) and I am a huge Mavericks fan but I don't support the Cowboys. Sorry but I am pulling for the Chargers(sporting my Grandmother's old hat :) sorry Cowboys fans. :)

I do love these 2 cowboys....and uh cowgirl. As I was taking pictures or trying to I noticed there were a ton of young moms taking pictures of their YOUNG kiddos all dressed in fall attire. It made me realize that my kids may just be getting a little too old for the pumpkin patch. BOOO

I mean look at Kansas....it about killed her to take this picture with me!

This boys gives a whole new meaning to Children of the Corn.... :) at least he smiled for me!

Y'all like my new ride? I done found it out yonder in the pasture. Hehe...I sound like my dad. :)It is actually one of the many cute props they have at the farm that I will no longer be using to take pictures with my kids. (insert huge sigh here)

Before we left (for our last visit ever :) the kids stopped by to visit the animals. This cute little pig we named Bacon came right over to them and plopped over so they could start rubbing his/her belly. :)

Logan could have stayed there with Bacon all day. They have a lot in common....they both like to play outside....in the mud.....stay dirty and eat. Yep...that sounds about right. Well I am thankful for all the times I was able to enjoy the pumpkin farm with my kiddos. This growing up thing really takes some getting used to! :) Happy Fall everyone and GO RANGERS!!!

Some Craziness with Lots of Laughter in Between

All I can say is that I am so very thankful for my friends and family!!! I have some really special people in my life that are always there for me whether it's to celebrate good times or help me through the bad times. I am so blessed to have you all in my life!! As a mom, it is comforting to know that my kids may not think I'm the nicest person now but when they are grown I hope we have the same relationship that I have with my parents. I love my parents! My friends are also always there to listen or make me laugh. Can't forget my team....they may give me a few grey hair but they keep me young and keep me laughing! As you can see in the picture above they are always doing something goofy like cropping our wonderful manager in our team picture. :)

I know the above picture is a little random but I thought it was neat cause it had my comment about my team along with the tweet about Bailey's honor. So proud of my team!

This week started out fine....I got to watch Logan play some football during recess as I was making my way to the lower school. I had a full day, practice with my team and then headed to Kansas' soccer practice. Trinity's team didn't have practice but she decided to get some goalie practice with Kansas' team. She was doing awesome!! Kansas' coach complimented her and then the next ball hit funny off her hand and the rest of my Monday was spent in the ER.

Poor thing broke her radius in her right arm. So this is break #3 for my family in the last 9 months. Logan's elbow, my thumb and now Trinity's arm! Hopefully 3 will be our lucky number and everyone else will stay unbroken! :)

On Wednesday Gene and I took her to Dr. Binzer's office to get her cast. He hooked her up with a red, waterproof one so she can shower!! Of course now it has signatures all over it! :) She will be out about 6 weeks unfortunately.

So you could only imagine by Friday I was ready for some laughter. My team went 2-0 this week and us coaches decided it was a good time to enjoy some happy hour! Gene joined Whitney, JP and Shantel and I at Mi Cocina. We had a great time....haven't laughed that much in a long time!

Yes, another random picture in my post but it made me think of some people in my family that will remain nameless :) and it made me laugh!

Glad my hubby could join us at happy hour. We don't get out much at all....our schedules are just too crazy! Our kids were at school enjoying movie night so we took advantage it!! Today we will be heading to Kansas' soccer game and then it's laundry time for me! :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Too Tired to Think of a Title

The last couple of weeks have pretty much been a blur! I'm in season, finishing my Masters, working lots of hours and of course most importantly, I have my mom and wife duties. The girls are playing soccer as well and Logan is about to start baseball. I did find the time to take my team to the TCU vs. Texas volleyball game. My family came along as well! My team enjoyed watching some college volleyball and were blown away by the HUGE Texas team.

Jenny showed up with Cecilia. We are so excited for Baby Fuente #2 to make his/her appearance!! :) We sure miss having her coach with us!

After the game the TCU girls stayed on the floor to sign autographs. It amazes me that my 12 year old daughter almost looks as big as the TCU middle!! Cecilia, Jenny's daughter was so cute, she would walk up to the girls and hold up her hand with her fingers showing the frog symbol! :)

When I was Kansas' age I would put up volleyball posters all through my room. Back then I wanted to go to UT so a lot of them were of UT Volleyball. Kansas didn't waste any time getting her TCU posters on her wall!

A little blurry but man were those UT girls HUGE!! I thought going to the game would fire my team up for the big weekend of counter games. Unfortunately we went 1-1 and not 2-0 like we had hoped. I hate losing!! I have tried not to think about that and the million other things on my mind this weekend but it is really hard. Thankfully last night was a nice surprise outing as Gene and I took the kids to the Candlelighters Run to help support kids with cancer. Gene was originally going to just have his CC team run but we decided last minute to enter our kids also.

The race took place in downtown Fort Worth and it was an absolutely beautiful night! They all ran the 5k and I cheered them on. Didn't really have the mindset to run. :(

My kiddos after finishing their race!

Trinity ran the entire time despite wanting to stop after the first mile. That paid off for her cause she earned 1st Place in her division!! She didn't feel great after the race but once they called her name, she sure seemed to be doing much better!

Logan walked a little but still ended up with 3rd place in the boys 10 and under division. Pretty impressive!! Kansas didn't place cause she was trying to not lose her brother (haha) and she was also in the 11-14 age bracket which is a lot tougher.

I am glad we were able to make it out as a family. Those are always the most special times to me! We are going to try to run more of these races together as a family. They are lots of fun and they support great causes!!

This morning we got up and went and supported Trinity and her soccer team. She is doing so well as goalie. When she first started a couple of weeks ago she was somewhat timid but now she goes after the ball no matter who is charging her. So proud of her....and all of my kids! Back to work tomorrow. Ready to get back in the gym with my team and work on some things to get us ready for our remaining counter games. I start my 2nd to last class with my Masters tomorrow and ready to get this thing finished!! Not that we needed any more craziness but we had to dig up a 3x5 hole in our front yard to fix a pipe that was blocked by a tree root. It just adds to the excitement right? :) No matter what all goes on, I am blessed and thankful. Hope everyone has a great week!

Oh Yea....It's Volleyball Season

So it's been awhile since I have blogged, well on my blog for that matter. I have actually started a blog for our school and it is called Father Mel's Message. Father Mel is our Lower School Chaplain and he is AWESOME!! Our students are blessed to be able to go to chapel every day and get a wonderful message! Father Mel's blog now lets us parents know what they are learning! So check it out if you have some time.....as for me, extra time is nonexistent! I am right in the middle of volleyball season and life is busy as usual. The picture above is me trying to imitate my wonderful manager, Sydney. So what do you think....did I pull it off?

Well when I'm not imitating people I can usually be found hanging with 2 of my favs, Whitney and JP. Not only are they the greatest coaches ever, but they are the sweetest friends a girl could have! The picture above is us before our first counter match. I guess we need to work on our game faces huh? :)

I also have been spending most of my time with my 10 other children...aka my team. I love these girlies so much and am so blessed to coach such a great group of teenagers(that word scares me). They just love taking pictures with their mascot, my niece Kendall. :)

She is my little good luck charm....love her to pieces!!

Love this pic....

I love being able to see my family on my Houston trips. Wish I could have spent more time with them.

I got home from our first road trip on Saturday night and Sunday we headed to the soccer fields to watch Kansas and Trinity play. Trinity plays goalie and she got her first shut-out in her game....woohoo!!

And tonight she decided to be sweet to her little brother and help him with his homework. Love it when they get along!! Well it's just another busy week in our house. Hope all is well with everyone!

Try To Keep Up....With the Watts

So if you think keeping up with the Kardashians is exciting (don't admit it) you should try keeping up with the Watts Family! To say that our schedule is jam packed is no exaggeration! For instance, our Labor Day weekend started out with the arrival of some of my family. My Aunt Dominique flew in from Georgia to see my cousin Derek, her son that has been in Iraq for the last 12 months. They met us up at school to enjoy some Friday Night Lights.

The game on the field got a tad boring since we were beating them 90 to nothing but at least you can surf down the hill for some Friday fun! Trinity did just that.

Saturday morning we were up early to watch Kansas play some soccer. I'm trying to get used to this soccer parent thing. Later that day, my parents came into town for a short visit. Since there have been so many wildfires lately, they had to return back to the farm to make sure our land was ok. Pray for RAIN!! Unfortunately they got to enjoy the excitement of our pipes backing up....nothing like having your house smell like a sewer! YUCK!! Luckily Brian, my cousin's BIL was there to help get the problem fixed. Sorry there are no pictures of the mess but I thought I would spare the grossness!

Sunday morning we were back at the soccer fields. Kansas had a huge fan base to cheer her on and she actually got to play offense. She usually plays defense (don't ask me what position cause I couldn't tell you) but her coach put her in on offense. She was in there less than a minute and she broke away and scored her first career goal!!! I jumped out of my chair, shouted a woohoo, high fived a couple of people and sat back in my chair and teared up...all in that order. See, I told you keeping up with the Watts is exciting! :)

After the soccer game we headed to the Stockyards to show my Auntie some Fort Worth hospitality. You can't come to Texas and not go to Billy Bobs!!

As we were headed to look at some shops, we saw this young lady on her steer. I tried to convince my Aunt that I just traded my steer in for my Expedition but she didn't believe me.

Nothing like a little Texas flavor....

We returned home and decided us adults would head back to Billy Bobs later for more boot scootin fun but first we wanted to visit with some family on facetime. This technology is the absolute greatest and should be integrated in the classroom for sure. It was so fun gathering around the computer and talking with our California family that is thousands of miles away. Enjoyed a lot of laughs....the picture is blurry but I love that everyone is smiling from ear to ear. :)

Gene was a trooper and stayed home with the kids and my Auntie, cousin Derek and his wifey, Tiffany headed back to the Stockyards.

We got the notorious bull picture done....man does it bring back memories of my college days. I was either in the gym practicing volleyball, in class, playing spades or at Billy Bobs. Thank goodness Rocky Mountain jeans are no longer in style!!

I am so thankful that my beautiful Aunt Dominique was able to make it down from Georgia to visit. My family is such a blessing to me and I love having them around. It was so good to see Tiffany, Derek and Jasmine as well. As much as I don't want this long weekend to end, it just means another day closer to more family time. Have a great week!