The Perfect 'Cowboy Fan' Birthday Gift!

So...since my husband never reads this blog...I figured I could share with you guys what I got him for his 30th birthday!! :)
His birthday is in a little over a week, and I've been racking my brain for weeks/months on what to get him. Since this is a big "milestone" birthday (at least to me), I wanted to do something special, and meaningful to him...something he would remember forever.

Well, tonight, after much deliberation...I found it...the PERFECT gift for him!!

Want to know what it is????

It's a brick!! I know...exciting, right?

Don't laugh...It's the type of brick that is fun and "memorable"! What?? You've never seen a "fun" and "memorable" brick?? Well then, do read on...

It's a limestone paver that will be laid in the walkway around the new Cowboys Stadium that is being built in Arlington, TX. I got on the Cowboys' website tonight to see if they had anything cool for sale from the old stadium...hoping to find some memento, or something. But...instead, I found something even better...engraveable pavers for the new stadium...they will be there forever! (Or atleast until Jerry Jones decides to build a new stadium)

Anyone that knows Colby knows that he is a HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan...always has been, always will be. Much the same as my family...my dad has had season tickets for almost as long as I can remember...and he got tickets to the new stadium too.

Anyway...you get the paver, with three engraveable lines, a replica paver shipped to you free of charge for you to display, and then I also ordered a display case for it, with a laser engraved logo. You also get a commemorative certificate from the team, talking about your contribution to the new stadium. I'm super excited! Colby will LOVE it! Plus, after they lay it, you get a locater map to help you find your stone. So, we'll be able to see it every time we go there, and show our kids and grandkids someday...it will be a great memory, and a great way to commemorate his 30th birthday.

Here's a picture of it...I copied a pic. from the website, and photo-shopped in my inscription to make Colby a certificate to give him on his birthday, since the actual replica stone won't be here for 10-12 weeks.


Anyway...I think it's perfect. It was just what I was looking for.

If anyone's interested...the stones are available for purchase until Oct. 1st on dallascowboys.com.

Weekend

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while...seriously, time just flies right past me these days!

We had a lot going on last weekend, which I'll get to shortly. And, we've also looked at more houses...none of which was perfect. Alas, I know there is no "perfect" house...but hopefully, we'll find one that leans a little more toward our version of "perfect", and less toward old, small, weird, musty and haven't been touched or updated since 1956! This process is so exhausting! But hopefully, it will be worth it in the end. We did find one last week that we both really liked. It was in a great friendly neighborhood, had a great open floor plan, had lots of space and lots of closets/storage, great kitchen with updated appliances, huge lower level...but...the one sticking point, there was no backyard!! I know, strange...especially in the neighborhood it was in...great family homes with kids running up and down the sidewalks...but, this house, with the way it was situated on the lot, had NO backyard! It had a big deck, and then a narrow rocky area with pavers making a walkway, and then a small area with overgrown ivy...but no large grassy area to call a yard.

That was very disappointing to me for two reasons: 1. We will, for all practical purposes, be in this house when we have children (or at least a child)...and I want kids to have a place to run and play and be safe, and have a swingset and a sandbox, etc. 2. The resale value of a house without a backyard, in my mind, goes way down...because most families that would think about buying a house, want a backyard for the same reasons we do. This house has been on the market for 115 days...and I'm thinking that might be why. So...we will keep looking... *sigh*

So, our weekend was eventful. Friday night, Colby's boss Erick (actually, his boss's boss's boss) invited us to go with them to the Forrest Park Balloon Glow. It was a lot of fun, and was great to get to hang out with Erick and his wife Lois, and Katie (another girl that moved here from Tyler, TX not long before we did). Every year in Forrest Park, they have a Balloon race, where they launch these hot air balloons and have a "fox" and "hare" race. They use the Energizer Bunny balloon as the "hare", and then all the other balloons "chase" after it in a race. We didn't go back down there for that event on Saturday...but Friday night, they have all the balloons set up in the park in one area, and have a balloon glow, where they all light up. They had food booths and music, and there were thousands of people out there just lounging around on picnic blankets and chairs just visiting. It was a good time, apart from the mile walk we had to make to get there! Here are some pictures from the night:

The "Hare" for the race...this bunny was HUGE!

Saturday, we had sort of a lazy day...Colby watched football most of the day, and then we finally got out of the house mid afternoon and found a little Greek place by our house. We've now located a good Thai restaurant, a decent Greek place...now all we need is some good Indian food, and we're set! :)

After lunch, we went down to the Missouri History Museum and walked around for an hour or so until they closed. The museum is free, so you don't feel like you have to spend all day there...which is nice. We learned a little about the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which is also known as the St. Louis World's Fair. We also walked around in the Lindbergh gallery...all about Charles Lindbergh...who was a St. Louisan...which I had forgotten.

We then went and picked up Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory on our way home. Ah, the perks of living in a real city...not that Lubbock's not a real city...but, you know what I mean.

Yesterday, we had a 25 year anniversary celebration at church, followed by a fun church picnic in one of the parks in the city. We had great food, perfect weather and even some games. Colby participated in a friendly game of ultimate frisbee (like football, only with a frisbee), and fell over a folding chair (twice), and ended up with a nasty cut on his leg and a huge egg-sized knot and bruise on his shin. Fun times. Before that, however, we did an egg toss. I don't believe I've ever done an egg toss before...nor will I ever be doing one again! Have you played this? Where you have to keep taking a step back after each throw so that you're further and further away from each other? Colby and I were doing good...in fact, we were one of the last couples in the game...but then, it happened. That fateful throw that apparently caught me off guard...and splat! Egg all up my arm, down my leg, on my shorts and on my shoes. Gross! Luckily, Dana had a bottle of water waiting for me to rinse off with and someone had some wet wipes nearby. I don't have any pictures of it...but I know someone took a picture of the incident in full force, because they made sure and told Colby, since he thought it was hillarious...if I get a hold of it, I'll post it, if it's not too embarrassing! :) It was a fun day.

That night we watched the Cowboys beat up on the Packers! Cowboys first win EVER at Lambeau Field! Perfect ending to a great weekend!

How was yours?

Extreme Makeover: Home Eddition in St. Louis!

I had heard about this on the radio several weeks ago, and tried to make a mental note to get online to find out more about it...but alas, I forgot. Then this morning, I was looking at a local news station's website, and saw the story about it. Click here to read story

The big reveal, where they all shout "MOVE THAT BUS" was this morning between 11am and 1pm...dang, I missed it. According to the video though, they started bussing people into the location at 7:00 this morning! They were expecting to cut the crowd off at 16,000...crazy!

The place where the house is located is in Shrewsberry, which is another suburb of St. Louis. Actually, it's what they call an ex-burb, because it is literally right on the border of St. Louis City.
The re-built house looks awesome...looks like a lot of houses in that area, so I think they kept the style of the area and the surrounding houses in mind when designing it. I'm going to try to go drive by it sometime next week when all the hype settles down.

I can't wait to see this episode on TV to see the inside of the house and find out more about this deserving family that got the makeover! Congratulations to them...what an awesome thing to happen! I haven't watched the show in quite a while...I was a devoted watcher the first few seasons...but dropped off last season, so maybe, this will get me back into it.

Here's the video from a local news crew, I think this was on earlier this morning.
Click on the button on the bottom right hand corner of the box to make full screen...then after it's over, hit ESC to get back to this page.

BMW Championship

So...I referenced in my last post that Colby and I have now deemed St. Louis as the "Land of Free Entertainment"...let me explain.

First of all, St. Louis has some awesome museums, the majority of which are free to the public. (*Note: I use the term "awesome" loosely, as I have heard that they are as stated, but I have not yet visited them...I will confirm my statement here when I in fact have the chance to visit them all.) From the History Museum to the Art Museum to the Lewis & Clark Expansion Museum...they are all free. I honestly love museums...I know that some people think they are positively boring (including my husband)...but I really enjoy a good museum. I love history, and learning about and seeing artifacts from historical events first hand is intriguing to me. I know...I'm a nerd. I've always liked museums, but I think when I was in Greece, and was able to see all the ancient ruins and actual places where Paul, the Apostles and Jesus actually taught, walked and lived, it really cemented in my mind how important history was. When we have kids, one reason I want to travel with them as much as possible is so that they will be exposed to and hopefully appreciate all of the different culture and history. The other reason is that it's just fun...I LOVE to travel and see new places!

I digress...back to the actual title of this post. This last weekend, Colby had to work on Saturday. So, I in turn, spent the day doing a little cleaning around the house and then went out to do some shopping. While I was at Gardenridge, Colby called and said he had something for us to do that afternoon. He proceeded to tell me that his boss had given him tickets to the BMW Championship that was in town at the Bellerive Country Club. For those of you who don't know...(like me)...this is one of the tournaments in the PGA FedEx Cup circuit. Actually, I think it's the next to last one before the actual FedEx Cup. (Yeah...I don't really know what I'm talking about...but it sounds good, so we'll go with it!) Anyway...basically all you need to know is that all the biggest names in Golf were there...Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Villegas, Vijah Singh, etc. Tiger Woods would have been there, but he is out for the season because of a knee injury.

So, I met Colby at home, and we drove out to the course where the Championship was being played. Of course, there was no parking there, and there were tons of police around directing traffic and informed us that we had to drive to another location to park, and then be bussed to the course. So...after a good 30 minutes of driving, parking and walking...we finally made it to the course. Colby's company apparently had tickets, and just offered them to him for the day...which brings me to the 2nd reason we refer to STL as the Land of Free Entertainment...Colby's company is very generous with their corporate tickets to sporting events! So far, we have been able to go to a Card's game, and now this golf tournament...for free! :) We're hoping for some more tickets in the near future...free tickets are the best kind!

The course was gorgeous, and completely transformed into a glamorous TV backdrop. This event was sponsored by BMW, so of course, it was fairly lavish. Our tickets (thank you Colby's company!) were for a "super suite"...we were really excited about that, and couldn't wait to see what that meant. Well, we got to our suite location, and had to walk across the 10th fairway (after the golfer's passed, of course), to a huge air conditioned tent with big round tables, white table cloths, fresh flowers, a big deck out front with chairs to watch the activity on the 10th fairway, and...the most important part...free food and free drinks! We stopped in there and acted important for a while, enjoying our free hourderves, then headed over to the 18th green and sat in the stands to watch all the big-name golfers play through the last hole. If we didn't enjoy golf, this event probably wouldn't have been too exciting...but, Colby and I both enjoy golf, so it was fun.

I don't have any pictures from this event, because cameras and phones were prohibited...but, it was a lot fun! There were thousands of people there, lots of TV cameras and lots of big white tents. It was a great experience, and something we might not ever have the opportunity to do again...gotta love it.

Mandy & Trent's Trip to STL

We had a great time with Mandy and Trent here over Labor Day weekend! It got off to an interesting start, though. They had to fly separately because of Southwest's blackout flights for reward tickets. So, Mandy got in that Friday around 11:00am...we went to pick Colby up for lunch, and then went and did a little shopping that afternoon. Trent was supposed to get in around 7:30, but called around 4 to say that his flight had been delayed. We kept checking back in with him, and to our dismay, his flight had been pushed back so far that he was going to miss his connecting flight in Dallas, and there were no more flights out that night from Dallas to STL. Bummer!! Those of you who have flown out of Lubbock know that there are VERY FEW direct flights from there for Southwest...Dallas (and other select TX cities), Vegas (have to keep the gamblers happy!), and maybe Albuquerque, NM (who in the world needs a direct flight to Albuquerque??). Sometimes, connecting isn't that big of a deal...and sometimes (especially in the late summer months when afternoon thunderstorms can pop up at a moment's notice), it is TERRIBLE! This occasion can be chalked up to the latter. To make a long story short, Trent had to be re-routed to none other than Albuquerque and Phoenix...yep, you read it right...the opposite direction of St. Louis! Anyway, after several more delays, and long hours in numerous airports, Trent finally made at 3:00 in the morning!! It was insane! Anyone that knows Trent would not be surprised to know that Trent made the best of the situation, and made several friends throughout his annoying predicament, and had lots of stories to tell when we picked him up!

Thankfully, the rest of the trip was much more enjoyable!! :)
Saturday we got up early and went to the St. Louis Zoo. One of the last FREE zoos in the country! It's a great zoo: pretty big, and very clean/well-kept...especially considering that it's free! (*sidenote: Colby and I have proclaimed STL the "Land of Free Entertainment"...zoo, museums, parks, sporting events (at least for us...more on that in a later post)

The bears were putting on quite a show!

Saturday night, we went over to a couple's house from church. They had invited us and several of the other young couples at church over for dinner to help us meet people and get to know everyone. Since they had planned the whole thing around us before we found out M&T were coming, we figured we needed to go...so we just took M&T with us. We had a great time, and really enjoyed getting to know everyone better.

Sunday afternoon, we went down and did the Brewery Tour, then Monday, we ventured downtown to the Arch. We took the tram up to the top of the arch, which was really cool! Great views of St. Louis and the Mississippi! On one side, you're looking right down onto Busch Stadium, the other side, the mighty Mississippi and into Illinois. We then watched the movie about how it was constructed...which was truly fascinating!

The Park leading up to the Arch...a beautiful walk.

It is so massive, the pictures don't really do it justice.

Here's a little perspective for you...Colby and Trent are standing at the top of the steps in this picture (under the arrow), and I'm standing almost in the street next to the river taking the picture...
Waiting for our egg-shaped tram to the top of the Arch...if you are clauterphobic, you probably should not go up in the Arch!! Each tram car (8 in each leg of the arch) only holds 5 people, and you are sitting knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder...thank goodness we're family! :)
View from the top:
There are about 7 or 8 of these little windows on each side of the arch, and it's totally enclosed, carpeted and air conditioned! I thought it would be open air...but, it's not...and it's not very big at the top...so it gets crowded fast. We didn't stay up there very long.
Busch Stadium...right in the middle of downtown.
St. Louis Skyline...see what I mean, not really what you think of when you think of a big city "downtown". All of the tall buildings are pretty much in this shot...

Afterward, we ate lunch, made a quick stop by Ted Drewe's for the STL staple...frozen custard, then took Trent to the airport. Mandy left the next morning. It was a great trip and we had so much fun!!! We can't wait for them (and everyone else) to come back and visit again soon!! :)