Tigers in Texas!

Last Thursday, my mom drove down from her mountain in Arkansas to spend Labor Day weekend with her Texas family!  The TIGERS were playing on Saturday night at Jerry World against TCU! First game of the season, get excited people!!!  My mom and I even painted our nails purple for the occasion!

So you've heard the story before about how SP and I have named our house, Chateau Parks....well this past weekend was no different.  My mom's room was ready for her arrival on Thursday evening :)

We fixed her a silver platter complete with her favorite candy, raw sugar, coffee, tea, a writing pen that plays the LSU Fight Song, and last but not least...a custom made, Chateau Parks coffee mug!  She has always hated the coffee mugs we have at the chateau, so I made it my mission to fix this problem so we could guarantee her another stay ;)  Also on the list of new things were monogrammed hand towels...

After she got all settled in, we sent SP out to pick up Pei Wei and then his parents came over for dinner. We called it an early night since we had a busy weekend ahead!

Adam made the drive over from Shreveport on Friday. We all had a great weekend together, but somehow Adam managed to dodge most of the pictures I took.  Sorry, brother!  Wish you were in more of them!  Anyway, Friday was spent prepping for the big game on Saturday!  Adam arrived around 4 and then we visited with him while I baked yummy cookies in the kitchen :)  He did present me with a very awesome something right when he walked in...

From his fiance, Christy!  I can't wait till their wedding!!

We cooked Penne alla Vodka for dinner with salad and garlic bread, mmm.  I forgot to get a picture of the meal, but I did manage to snap one of the sauce right after SP put the vodka in!

Saturday morning we woke up and hit the ground running...oh wait, no.  I woke up with a terrible sore throat and an achy feeling all over.  NO!  This can't be happening...IT'S GAME DAY!  Good thing I shook it off for the most part.  Back to ground running.  Did I mention we decided to do a Fantasy Football draft this year? That's right...The Pope's, SP, Me, Boyd, Adam, Christy, and LBT!  My mom and I had a lot of work to do!  We were pretty clueless on how this whole fantasy thing was going to work.  We did some homework Friday night and Saturday morning.  Then we got busy in the kitchen getting things prepped to head to Flower Mound where we were drafting at 4, phew!  I'm exhausted just thinking about getting everything ready in time!  We made potato salad, big hoagie sandwiches, got the ribs prepped, and....I think that's all...but it was a lot!  We made it over to Boyd and Carol's just in time to get setup for the draft!

Ready to draft!
Adam staked his spot on the floor...there's a shocker ;) ;) (hence why he's not in the picture!)

Greg and Zach drafting their teams

Let me backup for a minute.  This weekend was obviously a tough one for my family. The man who has been the largest presence of us all, is no longer physically present.  All during dinner on Friday, we each shared stories of my dad still making his presence known in each of our lives and how cool it is to each of us that we can still feel him all around us.  My mom shared her story of seeing a rainbow in a spot in her house that she has never seen one before, just as she was getting sad packing up for this trip to watch the tigers play and him not being there.  There was this rainbow on the light-switch at the bottom of the stairs, telling her not to be sad!  Then, Adam shared a story of a sign he saw when he was deciding on making a career move.  I shared a story of my dad giving me a huge hug in my dream a few nights back.  And SP shared a story about when he prays, he tells God, "Say Hello to Fred."   

So on Saturday, Adam and SP left a few minutes before my mom and I did for my cousin's house.  My mom and I finally got packed up and in the car.  I turned on the car, jumped out to grab something and when I turned around my mom was frantically waving me back in the car.  When I got in the car, I was overwhelmed with emotion because listen to what was on the radio...

This song was the first song on the radio when we got in the car.  This song was the last song played at my dad's memorial service.  We had the lyrics on the bulletin for everyone to sing along.  My dad is still around.  That man does NOT want us to be sad.  He wants us to LIVE, because that is exactly what he'd be doing, and is doing.  He is still alive in us.  

The draft didn't go as planned, but according to SP, I got a pretty good team!  And so did my mom!  I have to give her more props than me, because I got frustrated and started auto-drafting after round 3, ha!

The rest of the day was spent cooking, eating, visiting, swimming, and staying scared to death, while we all anxiously awaited the late kick-off at 8:30, yuck!

Just before kick-off we had a little pump us up moment!

Greatest song ever!  Too bad I cut the video off before the good part started, o'well!  The TIGERS WON!  37-27!  GEAUX TIGERS!  It was a loooooooong day and a laaaaaaaaate night.  The game didn't end until 12:30, ugh!  But it was all worth it :)  SP stayed at Greg and Jennifer's that night because he was getting up early the next morning to go dove hunting!

On Monday, Adam left after lunch at Mi Cocina.  My mom and I went shopping a little, then quickly realized how tired we were and ended up coming home, plopping on the couch and watching Project Runway and Catch Me If You Can (love that movie!).

SP was up and in the dove field by 5am!  They went twice that day, and didn't have much luck either time :(

Their final count was 3 doves!  Boo!  BUT, my dad would be proud that they didn't give any bird a "free ride"! :)  SP said the best part about the day was being up that early, in the field watching the sunrise.  I bet it was a pretty magical moment.  Next time though...shoot some more of those pretty little birds b/c they sure are good wrapped up in some bacon and thrown on the grill.  Mmmm!!!