Fall Family Pictures

We headed up the mountain in search of fall and found it!!!

My Rut

I figured that since I have been writing alot about the fun times we are having here in Casper I would bring it down a few notches, because,after all, it can't ALWAYS be perfect...
So i am in a rut!
A bigtime one!

• For the past few months I have not done a whole heck of a lot in the way of taking care of myself.
• I cant remember the last time I ran 2 days in a row.
• I dont remember the last vegetable I ate or the last time I drank the amount of water that I am supposed to.I have resorted to DP, Starbucks hot chocolate, fast food in just about any variety and lets not even attempt to venture into the insane amounts of sweet stuff I am injesting on a daily basis.
• I get up in the morning with the kids but never get out of my jammies. I take them to school and then come home and want to sleep till noon!! And some days I DO!!!
• I havent gone to get my hair done in almost six months(i know! hideous!!)

So that is me in a nutshell these days.... I sit at the table in the afternoon with the kids and swear that "tomorrow I will be different" .....yea, doesn't happen.

So I figured that I would write this little note to myself in the hopes that I read it and snap out of these shananagans!! Will it work??? Not too sure.

I'm sure Tracy and Jacquie will tell me to get a job, but nope! Not gonna happen! I am where I want/need to be! There has to be more to it. There has to be another solution! Any ideas on how to get out of this RUT I would love to hear!!

OIL BOWL 2009

There are sooo many reasons that I love living in America!! There are so many reasons I love fall! One of the biggest?? FOOTBALL! Not really talking NFL, sorry. Love Saturday College games! TOTALLLY LOVE LOVE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL and after the game we had last night???? WOW!

Ok so in Casper there are two High Schools, Natrona County High School and Kelly Walsh High School. These are great schools both academically and athletically. Being as there are only 2 schools in this town, there is obviously a fierce fierce rivalry. This rivalry is never more evident than during the Oil Bowl. The Oil Bowl is the football game between KW and NC.

I am telling you this game is the epitomy of high school football! For the week leading up to the big game there are late practices for the football team, the dance team, the cheerleaders, the band, and anyone who has the slightest involvement in this game. This is the chance they have to show one another why it is that their school is the BEST!

We spent the entire week surrounded by seas of orange and black(NC), as well as green and gold(KW)...depending on the side of town we happened to be on. We decorated bandanas, bought commemorative OIL BOWL t-shirts, bought Mardi Gras beads in our school colors, we were prepared come Friday!

Friday Morning-OIL BOWL DAY

Madalyn and Megan happen to go to school across town so their school primarily supports Kelly Walsh , (K-dub,for short), but Tyler goes to NC and they are going to be attending NC as well. Needless to say they were completely decked out and ready to support their team regardless of the trash talk that awaited them.

Tyler is on the Sophomore team so he wore his jersey, and his black & orange mardi gra beads, his big orange glasses and anything else he could find that would prove he had his share of school spirit!

The students had a pep rally, and a tailgate party, and decorations throughout the school. Again, they did anything they could to show that their school was the best, while across town KW was doing the same thing!!

Friday evening- Game time!

The school, aware of the pending tremendous turnout, brought in portable bleachers for the other side of the field. This gave a new life to Dick Cheney Stadium! One side was flooded with green and gold worn by past,present and future KW Trojans while the other was equally represented with their tribute to the NC Mustangs.

The weather was perfect! Cool enough to make the HS Football experience just like the ones that are portrayed in books!

THE GAME ITSELF-

If there was ever a game for the history books this was it! The first half was completely dominated by Natrona County! Putting 21 points up on the score board!

The end of the first half Kelly Walsh put up 7. A fantastic halftime show ensued with a great preformance by the Fighting Mustang Marching Band!

The second half was dominated by KW which brought the football game to a tie at 21,sending the game into a sudden death OT! First NC stopped KW. Second KW stopped NC. Another coin toss--- KW scores and gets the extra point-----NC scores and calls a time out. NC opts for the 2 point conversion.......by this time everyone is on their feet, voices are crackling from the amount of screaming taking place. In the end the 2 point conversion would be blocked, causing a win for Kelly Walsh.

Though I am sad that NC did not win, we still had a fantastic time participating is such an amazing experience! What a fun fun time from the beginning to the end! Friday Night Football rivalries are alive and well here in Wyoming!

September 11

I figured that since I am using this blog as a journal of sorts I should write some things down about that day.....

September 11,2001

At 6:50 am I was climbing out of the shower at Station 33 after a 24 hour clinical for my Paramedic School. At the fire station there is an overhead intercom system that sends out tones to alert firefighters of incoming calls. The tones went off and the dispatchers voice came on. Instead of dispatching the intended unit to a call the voice said" Per your batallion chief please turn on your television" I had no idea what was going on but i figured it was no big deal so I got dressed and headed out into the common area. Where the fire captain was sitting in the recliner watching the news. I asked what happened and he said " a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center". I thought he was just messing around with me so I went and stood behind the recliner and watched as the fires were burning. About 5 minutes later I stood there in disbelief as the first tower collapsed. It was unreal what was going on. I left the station and headed to my moms house.The next days would be horrible horrible moments both seen and heard both on radio and tv.

My dad was in the middle of a business trip and was at LAX. Standing there with his partner in Military uniforms as this was unfolding, they decided it would be best to get out. They rented a car and headed back home.

My brother Kyle was stationed in Washington DC. We tried for some time to get in touch with him to make sure all was ok there. It would be a few days as when the plane crashed he was called back to his quarters and issued a rifle and instructed to stand guard in front of the State Department. He was later walking past an American Red Cross station and a lady told him to call his mother. He called us to let us know he was alive and well but he would be busy for a while. For my brother this would turn out to be one of the hardest periods of his life. His unit was responsible for the clean up of the wreckage at the Pentagon. They would clean until they came across a body part, it was then that they would clear out and let the FBI come in to remove and mark. My brother later recounted to my father that" no 21 year old boy should have to see the things that I have seen"

My mother, my children and myself would spend countless hours in tears in front of the television that day and in the days to come to try and make sense out of the things that had happened. There was no way to even try and comprehend it. All we could do was sit there and cry.

In the weeks to come following the attacks we would find out the depth of the planning and the amount of hatred that was felt towards this country and our beliefs. But BIGGER than that we would see the way our country pulled together and the unity we felt with one another. Our resolve not to be defeated by something so catastrophic. People banded together from all walks of life, religous and political affitiations. I remember a radio station in Tucson organized a human American Flag at Tucson Electric Park. The attendance was overwhelming!!! So much patriotism and caring during such a terrible terrible time.

I am sooooo sooooo proud of those who gave their lives to save and try to save those suffering,dying, and in need. I am sooo sooo proud of those public servants who,today, stand where most people would not even attempt to go. I am grateful for our military who serve their country honorably and, without thought, lay down their lives.

In the end we would have tremendous outpouring of grief and loss from that day. We would begin a debate regarding military action that continues even today. But what I remember most about that time was the way we as a nation banded together and helped one another deal with what happened in a way that makes me so proud to live here, in this country.

Casper

I posted these pictures on Facebook but It has been so long since I put anything other that words on my blog that i figured i may as well put a them on here too!!

Casper sits at the foot of Casper Mountain. It is unlike the mountains of the Southwest, it only takes ten minutes to get to the top. It is wider than it is tall if that makes any sense. The elevation is only about 6 thousand feet I think. It is totally gorgeous!!

This is the school that Tyler goes to! It is even more beautiful in person!!!

The antelope just hang out all over town these pictures were taken while I was sitting at a stop light in the middle of town! They are so awesome! At night the park down he street is filled with an entire herd of Mule Deer and Antelope! It is unreal!

Catching Tadpoles

I am going to try so hard to add to my blog at least a few times a week so that I can take the time out to reflect on and enjoy the goings on of our family life. So much goes on during our week! So many great stories are told and so many cute things are done! I figure I can print off these pages and put them together as a journal because I am so not good at actually journaling.

I talked to my sister in law last week, she just sent her little man off to Kindergarten and said that as she was driving home with an empty car she couldn't help but think that she should have "caught more tadpoles with him."I remember each time I sent my babies off to Kindergarten it broke my heart to know that they had grown so quickly.Now I am taking my oldest out driving and my youngest is just about too big for me to carry to bed. It does go by so fast and it seems like before I know it my babies will all be grown and gone and I do not want to be looking back saying to myself "i should have caught more tadpoles"with my family.