Time Traveling

I can't even begin to explain my past week.  I have driven so many miles here lately for work.  I'm almost finished with my safety meetings.  These past meetings have been at 6 pm so it's been putting me home late at night.  So today, I'm dragging.  I'm trying to finish up getting everything ready for Taydem's Disney trip! They fly out on Sunday! Saturday morning we drive to Georgetown for a wedding, then drive to Mexia to spend the night with Grans, then Sunday morning we drive the Disney World ladies to the airport.  Not done yet.....then Monday I have to drive to Conway Arkansas for another safety meeting.  This is my longest travel! Leven is going with me, thank goodness.  And so thankful my parents are watching Tenlee for us while we are away this weekend and then again in Arkansas.  So HELPFUL!!! My meeting is actually Tuesday morning at 6 am and then I have one more Tuesday night at 6 pm in Talco.  Whew! Then I have one more in December then I'm done for the year until next year.  I'm sure Leven is just as excited as I am!

 

My nephew Truitt killed his first deer!

 

Leven killed another thing of skin cancer.  Ugh! He's so sick of this crap! I am too. It always scares me to death and he grips about having to pay for getting rid of it! One day he will start using sunscreen. OR he will just start staying out of the sun.

 

 We celebrated my sister's birthday this past Friday night and it was just nice to get out of the apartment and enjoy some time with friends.  I love this picture of us!

 

 One day I'm going to make the Thanksgiving lunch with Taydem at her school.  One day.  My mom is always the best for going and eating with her and Tucker.  She works right there in Tatum and she usually is working on the Thanksgiving Day lunch so it works out.  Taydem called her last night and asked if she would come eat with her.  I KNOW it made her day.  Parents come eat with their kids all the time up at the school, but Leven and I never eat with Taydem.  My parents never came and ate with us.  We work and my parents always worked! It's just how it is.  Taydem always asks me to and I always tell her "Momma has to work!" She will understand one day. 

 

 Austyn is working it in this picture.  Molly went and ate with her today for Thanksgiving! Loving her boots!

Hard loss

Last night was tough.  We came so close to beating Robinson really in three games.  That's how close we were evenly matched.  But in the end, Robinson came out on top beating the Lady Dawgs in 4 games.  We fought so hard.  To be such a young team, they did not want to give in.  The scores proved it. 

 

23-25

26-24

23-25

15-25

 

Each game was neck and neck until the very end.  It's almost like you wish you would have just gotten your butts kicked instead of being so close like that.  So close, knowing that it could have easily gone your way.  I'm super proud of Leven and how hard he has worked with these girls and this Carthage program.  Right now club season is already starting up and we have a 7th grade team playing and an 8th grade team playing.  And guess who will be coaching those 8th graders once again? ME!! I'm so excited to get my hands on this group.  These girls are fired up and ready.  There's about 4 or 5 that have older sisters right now in high school and they are READY! It's gonna be a fun season.  I think I'm going to be able to do so much with this group, because they are so much more advanced than an other team I've ever coached. I'm excited, can you tell?  But these girls are so ready to continue playing volleyball.  They aren't ready for it to stop and that's what you want! I'm excited for Leven and for the future of Carthage volleyball. 

 

 

Trever is supposed to come in this weekend to umpire a Pine Tree baseball tournament with his friend Bradley.  They are each getting paid some really good money, so it was a no brainer for him to drive down here and do this.  But the weather is supposed to be nasty and COLD! We are waiting to see if the rain holds off so the tournament doesn't get called off. 

 

Taydem and Terri and Ann are getting closer and closer for their DISNEYWORLD VACATION! I can hardly stand it for Taydem.  I am more excited than she is I think. She will have the time of her little 7 year old life! 

 

Tenlee is the cutest thing on this planet:

 

 

 

 

The Curse..........is Broken

Area CHAMPS!

The 1st round curse is finally broken.  After all these years of being married and not making it past the 1st round of playoffs----Leven can finally call himself an Area Champ once again! He and his team played like winners last night.  I was so proud of them.  I was so nervous riding to the game and walking into the gym.  It was so quiet.  We hardly had any fans there (little depressed about that one)! Yes, it was a Thursday night and yes, it was a long ways away, but still.  Come on people....SUCK IT UP! Those girls didn't care though.  They had one thing on their mind.  Leven told me this morning what his pre-game speech was.  Loved it! He's such a good coach.  I would've busted my butt too if I was on that team.  The last thing he told them was they have a little girls name on their headband that's fighting for her life.  Now let's go out there and fight for her! They have been wearing those headbands now for 11 games straight! And this morning Izzy got some really good news back from her tests.  The chemo is shrinking the cancer in her lymph nodes! So it's working! God is Good! Not only did we win, we swept them in 3 games.  It was a great night.  I'm so glad my parents and my sister came with me! Leven's dad and Gwen also came! And his friends Sonni and Kent! And his friend Steven Hogan and his wife Ellen and their daughter Kate! And Leven's #1 fan was of course there.....Brad! Leven was all smiles folks! Our next game is Tuesday in Palestine at 7:00! We will be playing Robinson.  We need as much supporters theres as possible.

 

http://etsn.fm/carthage-advances-to-third-round-of-volleyball-playoffs-with-sweep-of-gatesville/

 

Bi-District Champs

The Carthage Lady Dawgs won their first round of playoffs last night! The game was super easy.  Two of the games the opponent didn't get passed 6 points...easy! Now this next round will be much harder.  Since I've been married to Leven he hasn't gotten past this 1st round of play offs.  He ALWAYS wins district and has pretty much always won that first round of play offs.  But the second round is a tough one and he just never wins.  He has come close....very close...like nail bitin' close....but is always short.  Tonight he is driving to Waco to scout the two teams that he will be playing next.  It will be either Fairfield or Gatesville.  And both of these teams he has a really good chance of beating.  We have played tougher teams this year.  Our girls must stay focused and be ready to play.  If Gatesville wins (which Leven predicts) then we will play them in Corsicana on Thursday at 8:00.  Talk about a LATE game.  I'm still trying to figure out the arrangements for the girls.  No way can they come to the game.  We probably won't be home until after midnight.  And I don't want to drive alone so my parents will probably make the drive with me.  But it all depends on who wins tonight.  It would be awesome if it's an upset and Fairfield wins! Fingers crossed!

 

The sickness is finally going away from the house.  Taydem is much better and Tenlee is getting there.  Let's just say Tenlee hates when I wipe her nose.  She gets that LEFT hand swinging at me.  But I can't stand a nasty nose. 

 

We got our house plans back last week! And right now I'm working with the bank on finishing up the construction loan.  We are almost there.  I seriously worked it out perfect.  When Leven is done with volleyball we will be ready to rock n roll! I am so excited about this house.  I am going to try my best to stay way under on our loan.  That's my goal.  How cheap can I build this but make it still look beautiful! I say "cheap", but I mean- I'm going to try my best to get the best prices, the best bids, etc. 

 

Here's a few new pictures of what I'm liking for the house:

 

I love this for the exterior of our house.  The dark trim, the color of the roof, we won't have much stone so this is perfect and I like the color brick. 

But we have a really big front porch with 4 columns.

 I love this kitchen.  We are going with the light cabinets, but our island will be a grey/blue color instead.  The brick is beautiful.

 This will be somewhat like our built in for our media/2nd living room.  Except on top I will leave a space to put Leven's volleyball trophies going all the way across.