Another New Year

Wow, I haven't posted in a while.  I had every intention of blogging my way through 2011, but, as is usually the case, life got in the way.  2011 was year of ups and downs.  Forgive my nostalgia as I reflect on the passing of another year.

January started out busy for us.  There was the Monster Jam monster truck show, Alabama hockey games, and the circus.  We started the year having lots of fun and we kept that theme all year long.

February included Hunter's induction into the Junior National Beta Club and the National Junior Honor Society at school (proud mama moment), Katelyn's first Beauty Walk (another proud mama moment), snow, and a trip to Scottsboro.

March was a month of ups and downs.  I went with Hunter to Washington, DC the week of March 7.  The 6th, 7th, and 8th grades of his school went.  We had an amazing week touring our nation's capital.  We saw everything - the White House, the Capitol, the Holocaust Museum (which was very moving.  I highly recommend going there if you ever get the chance), Pentagon City Mall, the Air Force Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theater, the National Archives, the Ronald Reagan Building, the Washington Monument (again taking the trip to to the top of the Monument is highly recommended), Arlington National Cemetery (yet another recommendation.  The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was amazing to watch), Union Station, Mount Vernon, the Vietnam Memorial (another moving experience), the Iwo Jima Memorial, The Smithsonians (I could spend a week in those alone), and the Newseum (very cool place to visit).  The only thing we didn't get to do was tour the Pentagon.  There was a mix up with our paperwork there and even though we had the security clearance we needed, we were not on the schedule for some reason.  It was a very busy week but we had so much fun.  I can't wait to go back with Katelyn in 6 years.  The month ended in heartbreak for me.  I won't go into details here but my heart has not been broken like that in a very long time.  I guess you never get too old to have your heart broken.

April began with us celebrating Katelyn's 8th birthday.  She decided she wanted to spend the day at the McWane Center in Birmingham so off we went.  We had so much fun!  Then we went shopping (of course) and had dinner at Burger King (her choice - I tried to talk her into Hokkaido) and dessert at Sonic.  She declared it was the "best birthday ever" so I count that as a success.  We spent the next weekend at Regions Park in Birmingham watching some of Hunter's friends from school play in the Rick and Bubba 3-on-3 basketball tournament.  We met Rick, who is a really nice guy, and enjoyed spending the day outside.  I went to see Luke Bryan and Tim McGraw the next weekend in spite of bad weather.  There were tornadoes all around us all day, but that did not stop me.  I was on a mission to touch Tim McGraw.  And I did.  5 times.  :)  Also went to see the Tide's A-Day spring practice game.  That got us all in the mood for some football.  I spent Easter weekend at the beach with the kids.  We had so much fun and the waves were incredible.  We got to hang out with one of my oldest friends in the world and spent Easter Sunday with his family.  Next best thing to being with my own family.  The end of the month brought more heartbreak.  On April 27, Alabama was hit with a series of tornadoes.  One of the most violent hit Tuscaloosa.  Parts of town were unrecognizable and many, many lives were lost.  From Rosedale to 15th Street to Crescent Ridge to Alberta, the devastation was unbelievable.  Even now, parts of town are still in ruins.  The apartment complex I lived in during my sophomore year of college was destroyed (the corner where my apartment sat was completely gone), the apartments that Byron and I lived in after we got married were damaged, and the house our friends lived in behind Krispy Kreme was completely destroyed.  We were very lucky that day.  It was bad but it could have been so much worse.  I was reminded of how truly blessed I am and thankful that my family and friends were all safe.

May saw a lot of sadness and hope.  After the storms, Tuscaloosa was inundated with people from around the country who came to help.  The stories were both heartbreaking and hopeful.  Miracles happened.  I took a ride through part of the devastation with the kids.  I wanted them to see firsthand what had happened.  They needed to realize how lucky they are.  I told them next time they wanted to complain about not having a toy or something like that to think of what they saw and remember how blessed they are to have what they have when some people have lost eveything.  We spent Mother's Day weekend in Northwest Alabama (as usual) and saw the devastation there too.  My sister-in-law's house was hit very badly but her family were all ok.  Shaken but ok.  This month also marked my return to the gym.  I started taking a bootcamp class at a local gym and quickly grew to love it.  The women in class were awesome and we had fun while working out.  I really enjoyed spending an hour with those girls 4-5 days a week and found myself feeling better than I had in a long time.  It also marked the end of 7th grade for Hunter and 2nd grade for Katelyn.  Bittersweet times -  my babies are growing up.  Hunter also started football workouts and I became the mom of a football player. I wasn't sure how I felt about that honestly. I was excited about him playing a new sport (his first at his school), but I was also worried about him getting hurt.  Typical mom. We ended the month by spending Memorial Day in Scottsboro with family.  We went to a friend's house on the river and had a great day playing in the water.

June started with me reliving my glory days.  I went to see Poison and Warrant in concert in Birmingham.  I saw that same concert when I was in high school.  It was awesome.  I rocked out to some 90's hair band music once again. Hunter went on his first trip to The Wilds camp in North Carolina.  He was gone a whole week and had a blast.  I missed him terribly.  That's the furtherest he's been away from home by himself but he did great.  It was harder on me than him.  Just another reminder that he's growing up.  June also saw more football workouts for Hunter and more bootcamp workouts for me.  I went to Oklahoma City on a "business" trip too.  That was my first time visiting there.  I got to meet some people I talk to on the phone every week and I "played" golf.  I say "played" golf because we did more goofing off than playing but we had a great time.  I went to see Sugarland in concert and had a great time hanging out with some friends on a long overdue girls night out.

July brought....you guessed it....still more football workouts for Hunter and still more bootcamp workouts for me.  I was LOVING bootcamp.  Looking better and feeling better than I have in a very long time.  Took the kids down to the amphitheather in Tuscaloosa for fireworks and fun on the 4th.  Had a great time beating them both in an ice cream eating contest.  Before anyone says anything - you have to indulge every now and then AND Hunter challenged me so I had to do it. :) We had VBS at church and I wound up helping out with the 1st and 2nd grade class.  I had so much fun!  We had a great turnout and a great group of kids.  Can't wait to do it again next summer.  I ended the month with my Babes at the Beach '11 trip to Orange Beach with Lori and Linde.  We enjoyed a nice, long, kid-free weekend.  Our first night there, we invaded Champ's for $1 margaritas with my favorite bartender in the world.  We were soon bar favorites hanging out with the locals and having fun as always.  We paid for that fun a little the next day but eventually made it out onto the beach for some sun.  We went to the Pink Pony Pub for karaoke on Friday night.  We spent Saturday lounging on the beach and went to see the Gary Allen/Miranda Lambert concert at the Wharf that night.  Sunday came much too fast and we headed back home.  Another great girls trip!  Ready for the next one!

August was back to school for my 8th grader (can't believe he's that old) and my 3rd grader.  August also brought Hunter's first football games as a Charger.  I became the official videographer for the team and enjoyed getting to know the boys.  When I picked Hunter up from practice, half the team would come hop in the back of my Expedition for a ride back to the field house.  We celebrated Hunter's 13th birthday on the 26th.  He decided he wanted to spend the day at the Alabama State Fair in Birmingham, so we picked up one of his friends and headed to the Fair.  We spent all day there and had a great time riding the rides and playing games.  August also saw the end of bootcamp for me.  With Hunter's football practice schedule, I just couldn't swing it.  Broke my heart to have to give it up, but I am determined to go back when things settle down again.

September brought yet more football.  On top of Hunter's games, the Tide started their season.  We had tickets to the first game of the season.  It was against Nick Saban's alma mater, Kent State.  The players from Kent State had been in Tuscaloosa all week helping with the clean up after the April tornado.  Instead of the usual boo's the opposing team receives when taking the field, the Tide fans showed a lot of class and gave Kent State a standing ovation.  It was a great thing to see.  This gave me football fever.  More on this later. :)  Hunter went back to The Wilds camp in North Carolina with the 7th - 12th graders for Spritiual Emphasis week.  Again he had a blast.  He can't wait to go back in June.  I tailgated only at the Alabama-North TX football game.  It wound up being the only home game I didn't go to this season.  Lori and I had a great time getting our faces painted and getting crimson and houndstooth hair extensions though.  Hunter's school sells the live feed radios at all of the Alabama home games as a fund raiser.  If you work, you get to go to the game for free.  So after I got a bad case of football fever, I signed us up to work at all of the remaining home games except the last one (I had already bought tickets to it).  We wound up having a great time selling the radios.  We went to the Arkansas game for free and loved it.  The Tide was starting the season off great!  We also went to the first ever home game for Hunter's JV football team.  The boys were so excited about playing a game at the school (for the first time ever) and they won big!  The Chargers and the JV Chargers were off to a good start too.

October rolled around with yet more football.  Alabama played Vanderbilt for Homecoming and we were there selling radios and watching the game.  Katelyn and I got our picture on rolltide.com.  She was so excited about "being famous."  I went to my 20th high school reunion on the 15th also.  I only got to go for dinner on Saturday night because Hunter had a game on Friday night and Mom cannot miss a game for ANY reason, but it was so great to see some old friends and catch up.  I wish I could see them more often.  The Chargers (both Varsity and JV) continued to play well and were on track for winning seasons.  Lori and I decided on a whim to visit Atrox Factory in Leeds for some good old-fashioned Halloween fun.  We LOVED it!  I plan on making it an annual must for Halloween.  We screamed and laughed all the way through the "haunted house".  Anyone close to Birmingham should give it a try.  Totally worth the $15 to go through it.  The Alabama-Tennessee game was a great one!  I went with a friend (and actually had a ticket and a seat) and Hunter sold radios so he went to the game too and hung out with friends.  The Tide won again and was ranked #2 in the nation.  That set up the "game of the century" - #1 LSU vs #2 Alabama as the next home game.  The JV Chargers ended their season with a 6-2 record and ranked #2 in their division.  I participated in my first ever 5K at the end of the month.  I didn't do too badly either.  I'm proud to say I did it and it was for a good cause, Making Strides For Breast Cancer.  We had a team from work that participated and raised some money for a good cause.  We also went to the Fall Festival at the kids' school and watched the varsity Chargers win their playoff game to earn a spot in the CFA Championship game.  And, of course, we went trick or treating on Halloween.  Hunter was Michael Meyers and Katelyn was a geisha.  Both got tons of candy.

November started with big football games.  The varsity Chargers played in the CFA State Championship game on the 4th.  They lost but they had a great season.  #2 isn't bad at all.  Alabama played LSU in the "game of the century" on the 5th and, of course, we were there selling radios.  We had friends sell radios with us just to get into the game.  I have NEVER seen that many people on the Quad before the game or in the stadium and I've been to A LOT of games.  The atmosphere was fantastic and the game was great.  The Tide wound up losing in overtime.  Heartbreaking football weekend for us all around.  But, on the bright side, Lori and I got our picture on rolltide.com.  I was famous again.  The next week took me to TX for a business trip.  That was the first time I had been there in a while though, and the trip was a good one.  Took the kids to the Quad on the 13th to watch a little "muggle Quidditch".  It's a game based on Harry Potter and it's so much fun to watch.  The weather was perfect (not too cold) and we had a great time spending the day outside.  Football lead starting into basketball for Hunter and he played in his first game as a Charger.  He's turning into quite the jock.  Lori and I headed to watch Alabama play GA Southern in the last home game of the season.  We had tickets for this one so I didn't sell any radios.  We just went and had a great time.  AND we wound up on rolltide.com again.  We're just cool like that.  After the football game, the kids and I headed to Birmingham to watch the Frozen Tide play hockey.  We had a great time and I was officially worn out by the time we got home late that night.  The month ended with spending time with family for Thanksgiving, lots of Black Friday shopping (12 hours worth) and the Iron Bowl.  Alabama played Auburn at Auburn.  This game was a big one - if Alabama won, they still had a shot at playing LSU for the National Championship.  And boy did they win.  BIG!  It was awesome!  I wish I could have been at that game.  I will be at the next Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa no matter what. :) November also brought some devastating news for me.  Again I won't go into details on here but my heart was broken yet again.

December started with me celebrating my 38th birthday.  No more denying it - I am now in my "late 30's".  Makes me shudder just typing it.  Oh well, you're only as old as you feel, so I will forever remain 21 no matter what the calendar says.  My birthday plans didn't work out quite like I'd hoped but I still had a good day shopping.  And I got lots of birthday emails, texts, IMs, FB messages and phone calls.  Each made me smile.  The kids gave me a beautiful card and hugs and kisses.  Doesn't get much better than that.  I had a great time at my company's Christmas party on the 8th.  I enjoyed the kids' school Christmas program on the 12th.  Katelyn had a solo and Hunter was a stage hand.  Both of them really enjoyed being a part of it and all of the kids did such a great job! I ordered my tickets to go see Wicked in February and I am so excited.  I've been wanting to see it for about a year and was just waiting for it to come somewhere close enough to go.  The Varsity and JV Chargers basketball teams ended the first part of the season undefeated.  Hunter has played in every JV game so far and scored a few baskets.  He is a very good defensive player and has made some great plays on defense so far.  I had enough vacation time left to take the last 2 weeks of December off so we went to Scottsboro a couple of days early to spend Christmas with our family.  We went to see the new Chipmunks movie, which has become a bit of a tradition, and had a great time.  Christmas morning was awesome - the kids got too many presents as usual.  We went to Russellville the Thursday after Christmas to have our Christmas celebration with that side of the family.  Again, the kids got too many presents, but we had a great day with family.  We ended the year by going bowling with our friends, the Stroups.  We bowled from 9 pm until 2 am on New Year's Eve.  We had a great time laughing and bowling (complete with party favors and champagne at midnight). 

All in all, it was another great year.  Many smiles, many tears and many good memories.  Hopefully I'll keep up the blog a little better in 2012 but I'm not making any promises.  I have a feeling life will get in the way again, but that's ok.  If nothing else, I'll be back in a year to update you again on our craziness. 

Happy New Year to everyone!  May 2012 be a great year for us all!