Backing Up ...... Weds. 11/26

Post # 2 for the week!

We traveled up to Dallas on Tuesday, 11/25 and spent the evening with Laila & Justin at their house in Arlington. They are graciously letting us stay at their place for the time we are up there. John cooked up a fabulous meal as usual. Meatballs, gravy & noodles and some fabulous peas! Yes, peas!! Even Stephen ate them if that tells you anything. They were yummalicious!!

Laila & Justin have two sweet dogs! One older, Laddie, and one puppy, Simba. Laddie is sweet, a little scared of shadows, but will come and sit with you once he warms up. Simba is a beautiful Australian Shepperd. I think he's called a Blue Merle - he has one blue eye and his coat is really neat. Anyway, he's sweet when he knows you but he does have an aggressive side that is very protective and unfortunately, for some unknown reason, he did not like Stephen. He attacked him unprovoked at one point the first day we were there. Scared Stephen (and me) pretty good and luckily, the dog was pulled off of him before he took a bite of Stephen. Reminded me of one of my Dad's older Aussies, Dundee. When my Dad lived in Houston for awhile, I was living with him and one day, I came walking in Dad's apartment and Dundee nearly took me down!!

Anyway, we managed through it with John running interference with Simba (typically we all were not in the same rooms) and the rest of us for the remainder of our stay.

Laila & Justin headed off to Tennesse on Weds. morning for a couple of days with Justin's family to visit his grandmother. The rest of us had a mission ..... shopping at the mall! We had to hit a few places ...... like.....

The Dallas Cowboy Pro Shop!!! (bet you never guessed)

John is in HEAVEN here.... See the big grin on his face!!!

He proceeded to make sure Stephen & Rachel were sufficiently outfitted properly for the game on Thanksgiving! Each got jersey's to wear, Tshirt and hat. Rachel picked #82, Jason Witten (more story on this later) and Stephen picked QB #9, Tony Romo!

Took this picture because it has John's favorite player's name and info in it! Bob Lilly!!

Bob Lilly was in Dallas on Tuesday evening at a Borders where he was autographing his book just released. Unfortunately, the timing did not work for us to be able to go to it.

More pictures of us in the Pro Shop in the photogallery!!

From there, we just went around the mall and we managed to finally get John some new glasses!!! He looks quite handsome in them. Take note throughout the pictures and you'll see them.

My sister, Perry, joined us later that afternoon and we had a great mexican dinner at Mercardo Juarez! Fabulous tortillas!! Great picture of Perry & Rachel here. More in the gallery!

Perry decided to spend Thanksgiving with us so she could personally take part in the infamous Dallas Cowboy experience. She's coming back to Houston with us as well on Friday!

More to come!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK!!!

It's been a bit since I blogged and we've done so much this week!! It'll take a few posts to get it all on here but it's been a fun time! Let's see ... what's first???

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family and friends!! My sister Stacey has a really cool blog entry about what she is thankful for this Thanksgiving season!! I'm copying.... sort of. I don't think I could go through my list of what I'm thankful for this year without taking up two days for anyone to read it. So......

The shortened version:

• I'm thankful for God's grace and guidance in our lives.
• I'm thankful for my incredibly handsome, generous, loving, strong, patient, cookin', drivin, cleanin', building gardens, cleaning garages, chauffering children, teaching, praying, Dallas Cowboy loving husband John!
• I'm thankful for my beautiful, smart, sweet, sour cream loving, flute playing, cellphone addicted, cute as a button, driving wannabe, crazy goalie, attitude inflicted, God loving, fifteen year old teenager - Rachel!
• I'm thankful for my handsome, smart, very creative, quite talkative, baseball loving, scout tenderfoot, electronics oriented, Madden playing, Honeybun loving, "How It's Made" addicted, God loving eleven year old - Stephen!
• I'm thankful for Ariane, Laila & Justin for allowing us to become a part of their family and welcoming us so warmly this year!
• I'm thankful for my Mom & Dad, and my sisters - Perry & Stacey for all their love and support in good times and shaky ones.
• I'm thankful for my crazy nieces and nephews - Macie, Holley, Scott and Allie!! They are so stinkin' cute and smart too!!!
• I'm thankful for a wonderful long career at the Bank that provides so well for my family financially, is such a stable place that I never feel the need to worry about the safety of my job, and provides job responsibilities that keep me interested and challenged and allow me to enjoy my work and my colleagues!
• I'm thankful that John has found a school where his teaching skills are valued!
• I'm thankful for our friends that God has blessed us with!! They love and care for our family in so many ways!!

God has blessed us richly!! Thanks be to Him!

He'res the pic!

Happy thanksgiving from MA, John, Rachel, Stephen and Perry from Texas Stadium! were here to watch the cowboys play the sea hawks! Go Cowboys!

Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers - 11-23-08

We owe thanks to Gil & Kerry for calling us when they had extra tickets!!! THANK YOU!!! You made my husband's week!! I joked to Gil (a work colleague of mine) that John had just brought home 6 dozen roses for me on Thursday. When Gil called me on Friday with the opportunity to take these tickets, I told him this would be my version of 12 dozen roses for John!! Needless to say John was thrilled and another Cowboy roadtrip was on tap for the weekend!!

As some of you may know - others may not - John has a very SET way to enjoy his Cowboy games. I may make light of it at times, but I love him and this is just something he really, really (really) enjoys!! It's the same thing each and every time like clockwork. I think perhaps the only thing that has changed is I refuse to stay at the seedy motel and have at least upgraded us to the Holiday Inn Express (which is pretty nice and reasonably priced). :-) Other than that, the rest of the planning and activities have remained true to his traditions - crazy as they may be.

First - hit the grocery and determine what the menu is for tailgating food and beverages of choice. Since the game started early this Sunday (noon), we opted for breakfast tacos made with egg, potatoes, onion, peppers, chorizo & bacon on fresh flour tortillas! All ingredients bought and in the cooler - CHECK!

Second, clothing planned. Check out this picture!! John doesn't know I snapped this picture but I couldn't resist!! No - there's no OCD tendencies here ... nah. LOL. This was at the hotel the night before. He has all his gear he will be wearing at the game for the next day layed out on the sofa ready to go!! A couple of shirts (one over the other), a couple of pants (one over the other), a couple of pairs of socks (yes, one over the other), various wrist bands, his Cowboy satchel (not sure what's in there), shoes and of course, his Cowboy hat. This represents John's GameDay Cowboy Outfit .... each and every gameday!! Gotta love him!

Third, be at the entrance to the parking lot a couple of hours prior to the gate even opening to let you in to the parking lot!! This has been his motto in the past. This time we slept a little longer and didn't get to the gate until (GASP) 7:30 am!! I laughed quite a bit because we were actually closer to the gate then we've ever been and they started opening it just a few minutes after we got there!! It was perfect and we didn't need to be there before sunrise!! Now.... I just don't think I'll be that lucky next time.

Fourth, park in the same place every single time! John has a specific parking place he likes to park in and the only way to ensure getting it is to ....... yes, get there before everyone else! The advantage of this spot is over the years you make friends with the folks who do the same thing he does. The picture to the left is with two guys (Cody & Keith) who John sees probably 1 - 2 times a year at the game in the parking lot. They greet each other like long lost friends each time! It's really very cool.

Fifth - unpack, cook, and hang out. Hanging out part is pretty long..... luckily, this week we had a noon game, so the hanging out part wasn't tooooo long. We'll see how well we keep the kiddos entertained on Thanksgiving!! John cooks.... I get to sit, wander around, take pictures, make friends, or read a book. Yeah... that's about it. I have learned... don't drink too much or you'll be making regular treks to the porta-potties....

Sixth - head to the stadium about 1.5 hours before the game. It's a LONG WALK to the stadium from where we park. I'm really not sure how far it is but it takes probably 20 - 30 minutes walking like cattle with everyone else. The fun thing is there are tailgaters lined up along the right side of this walk and everyone is hooping and hollering.... that's pretty funny to watch.

Seventh, enjoy the game!! Which we did in some fantastic ... and I mean FANTASTIC seats in the lower section (29) on the 25 yard line, row 20.... they were nice. I would call this the "binoculars not needed section"!!

Romo was playing this week and my little ole camera takes pretty good pictures from where I was today.

We head up there tomorrow to visit Laila & Justin and to go to the Thanksgiving game against the Seattle Seahawks. This will be Rachel and Stephen's first experience with going to a Dallas Cowboy game and tailgating in general. Perry is coming too which will be lots of fun for her to have this experience!!! The weather is calling for a chance of rain so we're praying it'll hold off until after the game. One thing I am happy about is it doesn't look like there will be snow like last year!! What's a little rain.....

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Go Cowboys!!

Go Longhorns!!!

Dallas Trip - Saturday!

After receiving last minute tickets to the Dallas game against San Francisco on Sunday, John and I headed up to Dallas on Saturday! We were so lucky that Laila & Justin were available to spend some time with us old folks for dinner that evening. We ate at a restaurant that we all enjoy quite a bit - The Keg. Nice wine list, great prime rib!

We were able to spend some time catching up with Laila & Justin and hearing about all that's going on with them. Married life seems to be treating them well!! Laila's in the final throws of the semester at UTA so we're saying a prayer for her to get through all the papers, studying and finals with a positive outcome and enough sleep!! :-) We'll be back up to see them on Tuesday in Dallas to invade their house!! They've so graciously offered for us to stay with them while we are up there for Thanksgiving. They, however, will be leaving on Weds. to go visit family in Tennessee but we're happy to be able to hang out with them on Tuesday!

See you soon!!

Cowboys WIN!!

Cowboys WIN 35 - 22

YAY BOYS

More pics to come....

cowboys up 22 to 6! GO BOYS!

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We are up in dallas! got last minute tickets and Boogied Up here yesterday. had dinner with Laila and justin last night! pictures to come!

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.... YES....There are 6 DOZEN ROSES!!! John is the best husband in the world!! He brought home all these roses for me yesterday!! There was this minor altercation from the night before, but he resolved it with a bunch of pretty red flowers!! Pretty cool huh!!

Love ya honey!

DALLAS WINS!!!

DALLAS WINS!!! 14 - 10 over the Washington Redskins!!!

Happy Evening at the Cox House!

Our Football Meal today was John's Fiasco Chili which was fantastic. He cooks it over two days, makes and mixes his own spices and used a combination of chili meat and bison meat. I think he toned down the heat factor for us out of kindness! It was really good! We ate it for lunch and for dinner!!

I'll be really busy this week - we have training and a conference at work for the next three days and evenings. Probably no bloggin for a few days!!

Later!

MA

2008 Nutcracker Market

Gotta love my job & our beautiful Stagecoach!! It's a tough gig to host 25 or so customers to a day of shopping, brunch including wine and cheese, and a Macy's fashion show! I tell ya... it's rough job, but I suppose someone has to do it (and that someone might as well be me!!) :-) (Pictured in front of our Stagecoach - Irma, MA & Connie)

For the last several years, Wells Fargo has been a supporter of the Nutcracker Market here in Houston which is a holiday event put on by the Houston Ballet Foundation to supports it's scholarship and academy programs. It's held at the Reliant Center over 4 days and sees nearly 65,000 people (mostly women) descend to shop the over 300 national and international merchants! Saks and Macy's hold fashion shows & luncheons on Thurs and Friday respectively for which many corporate sponsors and just groups of women buy tables and attend. I know many people who plan a day off for that Thursday or Friday and come as groups to shop for the holiday, sample interesting food items and have a few well placed cocktails throughout! It's a fun time and really for me, has somewhat become a "kickoff" of the holiday season. Holiday music is playing throughout the center and you are treated to all the neat decorations and lots of groups singing and playing throughout the day. It's hard NOTt to get in the Christmas mood when you're there! You'd have to be Scrooge.....

If you are a sponsor or purchase tickets to the fashion shows, you are lucky and get entry to the market a full hours before the regular public entry which is a lifesaver! You can get in and get what you need (if you have something in mind) and not have to fight the crowds. I'm not much of a crowd person and rarely is there something I want badly enough to fight my way through people and stand in long lines. I tend to have something in mind I want and go straight for it at 9 am! This year I had a mission! I have one wall in my dining room that needed some larger pieces to help fill it up. There is a vendor that is at the market every year - Paul Michael - that typically has neat wall iron pieces that aren't too expensive. They are in the very, very back of the market every year which is where I went first thing! I got the pieces I wanted by 9:15 am and then just got to browse through the rest of it!!!

PS - this was Post #2 for today - don't miss the one before this capturing the delightful story of "CrAzY"!!! Oh... and Friendswood won their first playoff game last night ..... which means another game next weekend. Fun. Fun.

"CRAZY" Stephen

I have one very creative son! In school on Friday, the kids were asked to prepare for an "Adjective Fasion Show." Hmmm... what is that, you ask? Well... that's a good question for which I'm not sure that I have a complete answer. I've gathered, so far, it's a walk down a runway to background music and the reading of a prepared paragraph (by the student) including many adjectives to describe their character. Drum roll please.... here's "CrAzY":

"At this fantastic moment, “CrAzY’ is wearing his loopy, tyedye shirt, strutting down the thin isle, scarfing down a colorful, but yet delicious Nerds rope . (wait till walking back) Now Crazy is doing his unique horn with some funky footwork!"

MRI Results - Part 2

John & I met with Dr. LeBas today and she went through the results of the MRI in greater detail. She also gave me a copy for my records. Basically, C3-4 & C4-5 have some degenerative changes flattening the disc sac but is not in contact with the cord as of yet. C5-6 & C6-7 both have disc protusions (i.e. herniated discs) into the spinal cord and nerve roots ... i.e. the source of my numbness and pain in my arms. The interesting thing is the MRI says it should be occuring on my left side, but it's my right side with most all the issues. Weird....

Diagnosis: Disc Herniations with Arthritis. She gave me a sheet with information about Cervical Spondylosis and Arthritis of the neck. Apparently, it also goes by osteoarthritis of the neck or degenerative disc disease.

Treatment Plan: Physical Therapy 3x a week for 6 weeks. Hopes are this will help to resolve most of this issues of numbness and pain. If not, the next step will be an appointment with a surgeon for further evaluation/treatment plans.

Not Resolved yet: Face numbness and dizziness. Dr. LeBas didn't think this was related to the neck issues or just couldn't be explained by anything seen on the MRI. The face numbness has resolved as of now. She'd like me to see an ENT doctor for further evaulation.

Good news is no brain issues!!! YAY~!!!

MRI Results - Part 1

I received a small snippet of the MRI results today very unexpectedly. The doctors office called me today - which when I saw the phone number, my heart stopped I'm sure of it. I just knew they were calling to tell me to high tail it over the hospital!! But... thank goodness, that was just my overactive imagination. They had my appointments all confused and they hadn't even received the results from my MRI last Friday night yet. They thought my MRI was still scheduled for tonight and were calling to move my appointment a day or so! Needless to say, I advised them my MRI was already done and perhaps they could get the results. I then asked if she would call me back and let me know (once they had reviewed them) if I needed to bring John with me to the appointment. Figured if they said "yes", I would have a clue about the severity of the news.

I held my breath (figuratively) until she called back. Tried to work, but was awfully distracted. Finally, she called back and said she could tell me the results of the MRI tests. Brain MRI was normal - Thank you Jesus! Neck MRI was not normal - I apparently have a herniated disc and arthritis. She said the doctor would give me more details tomorrow and that she wants to make a surgical referral. That's all the info I received! No more details for my detail oriented mind. There are lots of questions and I hope most will be answered tomorrow. John's coming with me so that I don't forget to ask questions and he can hear everything she says!! That's why I love him!!

More info to come! Hopefully, this will now end the nights of dreaming of all the worst possible results!

Mama got a new computer!!!

I did it!! I've been wanting a new computer for a Looooonnnnnnggggg time and have been stewing about which one and how much and this and that for awhile. We've been a house with several computers that have one by one bit the dust leaving us with one computer to share amongst us all - an older laptop that works ok for general use. However, the kids use it, I use it, John uses it..... it gets a lot of workout! I used to have a really nice desktop that a friend built for me about 5 years ago ... but after kids got to it and somehow managed to leave it with viruses galore, the computer really started having problems. First mistake - allowing a kid anywhere near it. Anyhoo.... water under the bridge (or rather computer).

I decided Sunday that I wanted my very own computer again :-) Fry's had a good deal on 17" Sony Vaio laptop with 4GB RAM, 400 GB Hard Drive, 2.4Ghz processor, etc., BluRay disk player, etc. etc. I walked out of there with a new toy!!! I've had fun setting it up (with password protection to keep the children off of it!)

Mine... Mine.... Mine....... they are lucky to even get to gaze upon such a fabulous computer!! No child fingertips allowed to touch. :-)

Next trick.... keep John from changing my window background to a Dallas Cowboys motif of some kind. Came in last night and found myself staring at Tony Romo on MY computer.....hmpf..... it's now back to a beautiful and peaceful landscape picture!! Not sure what he didn't understand about "Mine.... Mine..... Mine......."!!!! :-) Maybe I need to strengthen that password .....

Rachel's Birthday Party

Rachel is a lucky girl .... she has had two birthday celebrations!

The first one was a family celebration at her restaurant of choice last weekend..... a Japanese Hibachi Steak house.... take a look at our Samurai girl!!

You can check out more pictures from our family dinner at the Samurai Grill in the picture gallery.... and luckily, she didn't get to use that big ole knife!!!

We like to watch the chef cook right in front of us and do all the silly tricks like the volcano onion and catching tossed rice in your mouth. It's fun!

On to the next event..... Rachel's party last night with her friends! They played ping pong, air hockey, guitar hero and rockband. They ate good food cooked by Chef John - steak, potatoes, cheese fondue and a really cool chocolate fountain! There were 6 of them including Rachel. Two boys (Colton & Derek) and 4 girls (Rachel, Kayla, Alex & Becca). They had a lot of fun!

They had a lot of fun!!

Did I mention how much I hate needles.......

I HATE NEEDLES>>>>>

I hate all needles...they are sharp and they hurt. There isn't much else to be said about them. Nothing good about needles. Now, I've had shots/IV's from folks who were good at giving them and it didn't hurt AS BAD and from folks were weren't so good and it hurt a lot more. Last night was probably up there in the scale of folks who may just not have it down quite so well. She had to try 4 times to get a vein and get my IV in place. My veins don't exactly cooperate well - they do roll around, but geez.... come one. 4 Times! If I have to do this again... my sister Stacey's coming with me and I'll let her do it. I hear she's much better at this IV thing!!

Upon finally getting a successful IV, she gave me some Verced to calm me which was needed. It wasn't a great deal of Verced, just enough to take the edge off apparently. She said she could only give me 3 (??ml,mg,??) and 1 more with the contrast about 45 min later. Any more than that has to be given at the hospital. It didn't put me out at all, but it did calm me down some. Laying in the machine was kind of strange. It makes all sorts of strange noices and the first time I was in it when they were doing the cervical spine MRI, my right arm (with the IV) was up against a very warm wall. By the end of it, I was about to start moving my arm away from the wall. Luckily, they pulled me out of the machine at just about that moment to change to the brain MRI so I had them wrap the sheet a little more around my arm. I had a towel over my eyes too so I didn't see a thing which was helpful. The second time they put me in there for the first brain MRI set of scans, towards the end I could feel myself start to panic a bit. Not sure why... I couldn't see anything and everything had been going well, but I just started having this panicky feeling start in like a whoosh. Took a couple of deep breaths and luckily, it was towards the end and they pulled me back out. For the next series, they had to inject the contrast and with it, she put in another little does of the sedative so I did ok during the last scan as well.

I felt fine when we left, a little sssslllllloooooowwwwww :-), but was fine. Went home, had something to eat, and went to sleep.

Of course, I know nothing.... won't know anything until next week. Now we play the waiting game....

Today is Rachel's birthday party with her friends! She's invited about 6 or 7 friends over (both girls and boys) to have fun tonight. Pictures (what I can sneak in) and details later ....

MA

Now... my issues.....

Ok - so I haven't blogged about this yet because I was taking it all in ..... and trying not to get alarmed (not that it worked that well). Long story short - numbness in right hand/fingers, muscle weakness, pain/burning sensations in my right arm led me to an orthopedic with thoughts I had some repetitive motion problem in my right arm and as I previously blogged - believed the issue to be ulnar instability. He sent me to a neurologist to have a nerve test on that arm. Between the two appointments (which were about 3 weeks apart), I started having numbness in my left hand/fingers as well as on Monday, on my face, primarily on the right side and a little speech slurring as well. Tuesday roles around and it's time for my nerve test with the neurologist. I proceeded to tell her about all these occurrences and few other oddities I've experienced lately. She performed the nerve testing on my right hand/arm, left hand/arm and neck. She told me that she did not see any pinched nerve indications that would explain the numbness, etc. She decided I needed further testing ...... a brain MRI with and without contrast and a cervical spine MRI without contrast. I know she's trying to rule out some greater nervous system issues and hopefully, she will.

Tonight is the MRI - 6 pm. They are going to give me an IV sedation and I'm not sure if that's for my benefit with claustrophobia or if it's necessary for the test. I just hope to sleep well during the whole thing!! I don't expect to hear any results until my appointment with the neuro next Weds morning. So.... we'll just have this lovely waiting game for a few more days.

All prayers accepted!! Truly.... I do know God is guiding the doctor's in finding the reasons for my symptoms. My only prayer is that God directs vision to a clear issue so we can resolve it - whatever it may be. The one thing I really am afraid of is going through all this testing and getting a "you're fine" or "we don't know what it is" answer. I know I'm not dreaming this stuff up as I've got much better things to do with my time than go through all this!! Having an answer like that would just make you think you're crazy........

MA

Rachel's Results.....

We got the results today from Rachel's doctor. No tears on the MRI. That's good!! Prayers to God! Means she can play soccer if she wants to (which she does). What he saw was the following: on the right shoulder there is some fluid under her right shoulder blade. He wasn't too concerned about the fluid. On the left shoulder, nothing was torn. He did see some loose fibers inside the shoulder tendon but again, nothing that needed to be fixed. He opted to offer cortisone shots in each shoulder to alleviate pain and help to let at least the right shoulder heal faster. He expects she will feel wonderful by Monday and not have any pain from that point on. Her left shoulder will probably still need to be "tightened up" at some point since the tendon is pretty stretched. But, she can choose the right time and it can be at some future timeframe.

She's a trooper though - have to tell you. She took both of those shots into places I can't even imagine and didn't flinch, didn't cry and didn't make a sound. She said they were still better than the stupid lidocaine shots from the day before!! One tough cookie!!!

Adios!

Weds - Nov. 5

What a Wednesday!!

Today is ....... the day after an historic Presidential election in the USA. While the outcome of the 2008 election has left me with great concerns for our country for the next many years, the fact that we have the ability to let our vote be counted is what makes America ... well... America. It's fundamental to our nation's foundation. The ability to put those into office who represent the will of the people they serve. Our freedom to vote makes us allies with likeminded countries and makes us targets of others who rule by other means. We have the freedom to choose our leaders by majority rule in this country and we get what we get at the end of the game!

Today is ........ the day Rachel had an MRI with contrast dye on both of her shoulders. She has had shoulder problems for quite awhile now. We believe it is a result of the swimming and hard soccer playing she has done in her past. The doctor prescribed PT for awhile but it really hasn't helped much so the next step was to do an MRI to determine if there are any tears, etc. We were there today for 4 (YES FOUR) hours for what I was told would be 1.5 hours! The 1.5 hours was just a teaser ..... you sit in the waiting room for 1.5 hours before we even talk to you. Yea, that's what it was. Rachel said the only painful part of the whole process was the lidocaine shot at the beginning! She said that hurt a lot. The injection of the dye didn't hurt. Then... a LONG time in the MRI machine waiting for it to do its thing.... then it had to be rebooted.... then they had to REDO the whole thing. Yea... it was fun. The good news is we don't have to wait long to get the results - tomorrow morning with her doctor.

Today is ..... the day I won the Sales Excellence Award for 3Q Sales at Wells Fargo Bank!! I was recognized on a national call today for my 3rd Q sales which were really nice. I get a nice $250 award!! It was a nice recognition!!!

Today is ..... (although I meant to do this on Sunday) the day I want to thank Mom (Meme), Perry & Macie for coming to Rachel's marching contest in San Antonio last Saturday. They are really special because not only did they come to watch Rachel march, but then they stayed all day/night through the Finals because Rachel's band made it to the FINALS. They also had to spend way too much money to do this (the BOA contest completely takes advantage of the parents who want to see their kids march at $50 a person for both prelims & finals).... and Rachel thanks you for coming to watch her!! Rachel's high school marching band, Friendswood, placed 10th in the Bands of America SuperRegional contest last weekend. While at first glance, one may not thing 10th sounds all that great. But... let me tell you, it was very, very good for Friendswood. Not only were they 10th out of 50 bands, but they were the first 4A band that has EVER made it to a BOA Finals competition - EVER. And.... of the parts that make up the score they came in 3rd in sound at the individual level. And.... it was Friendswood's FIRST TIME EVER to compete in the BOA SuperRegional competition. Friendswood is typically a UIL traditional marching band and they had to make significant changes to win at BOA because BOA rewards for creativity more so than straight line marching. They really did great. However, I will say... by sometime that evening, all the bands started sounding a like and we were REALLY tired. We were also distracted by TRYING to get the score on the Longhorn/Tech game throughout the night. It was a 24 hour event - we dropped her off on Saturday am at school at 3:45 am and we got home from the competition at 3:45 am on Sunday morning!!!

Have a great evening!!