Thanksgiving in Alabama

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week!! We had an eventful one!! Kevin took last week off and on Tuesday we headed to Irving to stay the night with my parents! On Wednesday morning we woke up at like 4:30AM to head out on a road trip to ALABAMA!

See, my parents haven't ever been to Alabama, so we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to see it and where Kevin grew up and went to college! What we didn't know if that my parents really wanted to road trip! Kevin and I have never made that trip together and the only time Kevin has is when he moved out to Texas originally! And Kevin and I aren't the biggest road trippers, 3 hours to Dallas is about all we want to be in the car for. But we decided, hey why not....let's road trip!

We finally got to Trussville, Alabama (Kevin's hometown) later that afternoon. Of course the first stop we had to make after dropping off our stuff at Kevin's dads, was to Milo's. Milo's is Kevin's absolute FAVORITE hamburger joint! He gets soo excited about their SAUCE. their fries, and sweet tea! Needless to say, he was in HEAVEN after that!

Thursday we woke up and drove up to Gadsden, AL, where Kevin's grandparents live. We had a Thanksgiving lunch with Kevin's moms side of the family. It was great seeing them!

That afternoon we got back to Trussville and watch the Cowboy's win by a last second field goal!! Then we enjoyed our second Thanksgiving meal with Kevin's dad.

Then Thanksgiving night we watch what could be the last TX/A&M for quite some time! I won't share my complete feelings on A&M's move to the SEC, but I will say that this game could have not ended ANY better and ANY more fitting than it did! It was probably the best Thanksgiving Day I've ever had!

Friday, we met Kevin's grandparents for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then we gave my parents the grand tour of Trussville and also hit up Momma G's for lunch!! I do love their nachos! And of course for dinner Kevin had to have Milo's ONE MORE TIME! :) He's obsessed!

Then on Saturday, we woke up early and headed to Auburn for the Iron Bowl! We gave my parents the campus tour of where Kevin went to college and then tailgated with several of Kevin's family friends. I also finally got to try Toomer's Drug Store's lemonade!! VERY GOOD!

Poor Toomer's Corner, what they are looking like after being poisoned!! :(

Then my parents got to experience their first Iron Bowl game! The outcome wasn't what we had hoped for, but my parents definitely enjoyed the experience!

That night we drove after the game to Mississippi and stayed the night and then woke up early Sunday and made our way back to Dallas. We had a great trip showing my parents around Alabama!!

Thank God I Was Born a Texas Longhorn

I've been hearing this song at all the Texas Football games this year and keep forgetting to look it up!! Well I finally did today! I just love it!! Here is a video with the song and the lyrics are below too!



When I was just a kid, my dad told me
When it comes to football in Texas, there's only one team
They play down in Austin, Saturdays in the fall 
At Darell K. Royal, 100,000 Strong

And as I grew, so did my pride
For the thunder of Old Smokey, and Singin' Texas Fight
For Bevo and the boys, down there on the field 
C'mon Hook em' Horns! I know you will

I've seen Vince Young run for the Roses
Watched Ricky & Earl strike them Heisman Poses
I've witnessed the battle for that old Red River
And crossed back over most times as a winner

I'm one of the chosen, who's blood runs burnt orange,
Thank God I was born - A Texas Longhorn!

If you ask me, The greatest thing in the world
Is a pre game tailgate with a bunch of UT girls,
Down on San Jacinto, Longhorn nation all around,
Come early, stay late and get loud

Cause I've seen Colt McCoy, throw bullets to Shipley
And I've heard all the stories of the great 1960's
From Nobis to McMichael to Orakpo to Applewhite
Those names you'll remember for the rest of your life

I'm one of the chosen, who's blood runs burnt orange,
Thank God I was born - A Texas Longhorn!

I hate them Red Raiders and them Baylor Bears,
Let the Aggies keep their 12th Man, I just don't care,
So long Nebraska, guess we beat you too much,
And never forget.... O U SUCKS!!

When the Lord comes, to take me away,
I hope he lets me have just one more Saturday
A pretty Texas girl beside me, cold one in my hand
Cheering for the boys, way up there in the stands

That's how I'd like to go, Lord If that's alright,
A winner down in Austin, on a Saturday night!!

I've seen Vince Young run for the Roses
Watched Ricky & Earl strike them Heisman Poses
I've witnessed the battle for that old Red River
And crossed back over most times as a winner

Yeah, I'm one of the chosen, who's blood runs burnt orange,
Thank God I was born - A Texas Longhorn!
Yeah We're part of the chosem, who's blood runs burnt orange,
Thank God we were born - Texas Longhorns!

Crazy Night...

A couple of months ago I convinced Kevin to let us get mini-season passes to the Broadway Across America Musicals that were coming to Austin this season! So we got tickets with Sarah to see South Pacific, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, and Les Miserables!  I've been super excited to go see these!! Well last night we had our first one and we went and saw South Pacific! But man did we have an eventful evening leading up to the musical!

So the show didn't start until 8pm, so Sarah picked me up and we left my house around 5:30pm to head downtown to meet Kevin for dinner beforehand! Well I don't know if traffic is usually that bad, but it was TERRIBLE last night! I had reservations for us at a wine bar for 6:15 downtown, but it was about 6:05 and we were only to like 45th or 35th Street inching along! So we called Kevin and said we should probably eat somewhere closer to campus (which is where the show was) so we could make the show on time. He agreed, so Sarah and I exited the highway and made our way across campus to where we had decided to eat now! Once we got to the new place, there was like NO parking, so I ran in to see how long of a wait they had and they said about 15 minutes and at this point it was already 6:25pm! So we decided to try this pizza place across the street that wasn't as crowded!!  So mind you we got to the pizza place around 6:30pm! Got a table right away and waited about 10 minutes before the server finally came over and took our entire order! We were in a hurry and the service ended up being SLOW! We needed to leave there by about 7:30pm so we'd have time to find parking at the theatre and such!

By 7:10 our appetizers had finally come out, we were starting to get impatient with how long everything was taking. At 7:15 the waiter came by and said our pizzas were accidentally given to another table and that it would be another 10 minutes before ours were done. UGH!!! We got one of our pizzas out around 7:25 and scarfed it down. The other we got to go and ate in the car! Thankfully the place felt terrible and we got our food for FREE! So that was nice!

We then headed to the theatre and were waiting in line to park in the garage and some lady walked up to our window and said she had a free parking pass we could have! WOW! So nice! So our crazy night leading up to the show ended up nicely where we didn't have to pay for ANYTHING!

South Pacific was really good! Kevin was skeptical about musicals because the only one he had every been to was RENT and needless to say it wasn't his cup of tea. I also made him go with me to an opera once, and he didn't' really enjoy that either! But I thought he'd like South Pacific and he said he did. Although he said the French guys accent was too thick so he couldn't understand anything he was saying and didn't really get what was going on. Oh my! Baby steps with Kevin on being cultured into the Arts! ;)

Religion vs. The Gospel Sermon Video

Here is the video of the sermon I talked about a couple of days ago!


The Gospel of Mark: Religion vs. The Gospel from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

Linda's Wedding

Last weekend, Kevin and I went up to Dallas for my good friend, Linda's Wedding!! Linda and I have known each other since our Freshman year in high school!! In high school we became close by having a lot of classes together, being in choir, and in Tiger Fever!! What is funny, is that Linda and I actually lived down the street from each other and we never knew until we met in high school! See I was always going to other schools from where I suppose to go because of where my parents worked. But finally in high school I went to the right school and there I met Linda!!

After high school we both went to The University of Texas together!! Even though we lived across campus from each other our freshman year, I remember trekking to go see her and walking up, like 3 flights of stairs to get to her dorm room, since they didn't have an elevator, haha! We've remained friends ever since. I was sad to see her finally leave Austin after college and head back up to Dallas. I don't get to see her as much anymore, but still cherish our friendship through all these years!

On Saturday, she married Richie!! I'm soo happy for her! I first met Richie during my wedding festivities a couple of years ago! And let me tell you, I saw something different in Linda with him! It was really great to see! What I love too, is when I'd say something to family or friends about Linda getting married, they would say, "Ohhh to that sweet boy we met at your wedding?? He was such a nice guy, I really liked him!" You know that makes an impression when people who just briefly met him had such a good opinion!! Anyways, their wedding was beautiful!!!! And I'm soo happy for them to start on the journey called marriage! I wish them sooo much happiness because they deserve it! Thank you Richie for being such a wonderful man to my dear friend!!!

Religion vs. The Gospel

Today at church, Matt Carter gave an amazing sermon about how in the last 50 years or so, the church has gotten away from what the gospel really means. The church has been teaching more on a works based teaching instead of what the gospel really says. It really hit home with me, from where my focus maybe was when I was younger. When the video comes available, I'll add it to the blog. For now, here are a some things he showed us about the differences between all other religions and The Gospel!!

All other religions say: If you’re bad…and you don’t follow the rules…God will punish you.

The Gospel says: You were bad…you didn’t follow the rules…and Jesus took the punishment for you.

All other religions say: If you want to have relationship with God…You have to fulfill all the qualifications necessary for that to happen.

The Gospel says: you can have relationship with God…Because Jesus fulfilled the qualifications for you!

Religion says: “You want to please God? This is what YOU have to do…..”

The Gospel says: God is pleased with you…because of what Jesus has already done!

Religion says: Follow all the rules…and maybe you can earn your way back to God.

The Gospel says: The way back to God has already been earned for you by Jesus.

Religion says: I’ve been good…So I’m entitled to your blessing…

The Gospel says: God…if you never give me anything but the cross…I’m thankful…b/c you’ve still given me more than I deserve.

Religion says: I obey so that I may be accepted…

The Gospel says: I’m accepted….therefore I obey.

Thank Lord for sending Your son, Jesus!!!