Ags vs Hogs...

At the beginning of October, we headed to Dallas and stayed with Emily & Brad in Ft. Worth for the weekend and enjoyed the famous Joe T Garcias Mexican restaurant for the first time with them, my family and Laura & Erich. We also went to the new Cowboys stadium for the first time to watch the Texas A&M Aggies fight it out against the Arkansas Hogs. Well, there wasn't much of a fight, but we can always hope for next year. It was fun meeting up with friends at the game anyway. Mom, Ernie and Jim were also in town for the weekend so we got to spend time with them and celebrate with Mom for her birthday.

Jarrod, Mom, Ernie, Jim

And me.

House Divided

SUPPORTING OUR TEAMS

We traveled down to Houston to visit Jarrod's cousin Sarah & her husband Mike and go to the A&M vs LSU basketball game at the Toyota Center. (I have to add that Mike actually wanted to wear his Aggie cap with his LSU shirt and Sarah said there was a reason he couldn't find that cap -- I'll get you a new one Mike ;) Our tix were also good for the TU vs Michigan State game which was just prior to our game so of course we went to that as well to catch as much college basketball as possible. I didn't clap for the Longhorns, but since they were the TX team and ahead the whole time, I actually was pulling for them until the end when Michigan State pulled ahead in the last seconds and won the game -- the good Ag in me could not pass up the chance to delight in the Longhorns being upset! Jarrod reminded me to take a picture of the final score of that game....

but he conveniently forgot to remind me to take a picture of the final score of the A&M vs LSU final score since the AGGIES WON! No worries though, I got it covered...the final score was....

AGGIES 72

LSU 61

GIG 'EM AGS!! I have to rub it in when I can b/c it is not often that I can! (yes, I admit it, LSU is usually better than the Ags at sports)

Gobble, Gobble

Our Thanksgiving was filled with food, football and card games. As usual, Patsy's house (my grandmother for those that don't know) was the gathering place for lots of eating & chatting on Thanksgiving. It was an all day affair with family members stopping in throughout the day. We were grateful to have family members in from Lufkin & Grapevine in addition to all those local. Jarrod made his families sweet potato casserole recipe to take & I made my dad's pumpkin gooey butter bars.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 Cups sweet potatoes (4) – peel before boiling
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk

Topping:
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Boil & mash potatoes. Mix in sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla & milk. Put in 13x9 baking dish.
Topping: melt butter and mix in remaining ingredients. Sprinkle on top of potato mixture.
Bake 25 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Bars (recipe by Paula Deen)

Ingredients
Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

One of our cousin's from Lufkin taught my brother & I how to play Bridge, which I had thought was only an "old people's" game, but boy was I wrong. Jarrod already knew somewhat how to play b/c his parents had taught him so the game was on! I learned that Bridge is sort of like Spades on steroids. Anyway, I am proud to say that the girls, Josie & I, beat up on the boys, Jarrod & Jim. I have a feeling a rematch will be called at some point so they can redeem themselves. It was lots of fun, but the competitive juices were definitely flowing! We also had some entertainment featuring Mary Grace Polk and her dance routine.

The guys watching football

Our teams didn't fair so well in football, both the Aggies (not surprising) & the LSU Tigers were defeated. But, I guess it is about time that the Longhorns pull one off. I know the Ags haven't had a great reputation over the past few years, but as I recall, we have managed to beat those Longhorns for the past 2 years! This year was just too much of a long shot & even though they are a rival & I'll never like them, in a way I do feel kind of bad for the Horns since they beat the Sooners, but got beat by the system and were left in the shadows. I was actually pulling for the Red Raiders to win out over both if you can believe that! And I dislike them about as much as the Horns! Anyway, moving on, we also had a mean game of Hearts during the weekend and Jarrod managed to pull out the victory there. I also got some gravy making lessons from mom, which hopefully Jarrod will reap the benefits of on our next dish that requires gravy. I have made it a few times, and have been successful a couple, but I'm not consistent so I called on my mom to give me some pointers. Good call too b/c we got to enjoy some really good chicken fried steak for dinner one night so she could help me make some gravy. All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving -- restful, relaxing & good times with family all of whom I am very thankful for!

Reunion...

This passed weekend was a reunion of sorts. Stacey and I had not seen each other since my last night in Dallas, which had been exactly 15 weeks to the day! (I just looked at the calendar so no I'm not psycho woman) Almost 4 months! I've missed Stacey so much and her silliness a ton!! I miss our Potbelly lunch dates and grillin' nights at our place, but most of all just missed knowing I had a great friend just 10 minutes away to go hang with. Ok, dry the tears...it's only 3 hours now...well...not for Stacey & Josh --- they seemed to have managed to turn it into a 5 hour haul! She and Josh, her fiance, arrived Friday night and silly girl that she is, parked on the street so that we could run up the driveway to give each other a great big hug -- I know, dramatic, but it was funny. Anyhow, we had fajitas awaiting & had a great time visiting and getting to know Josh. Saturday morning we headed out for College Station to the A&M vs OU game, which was part of the reason for the trip (hate to admit that, but when we bought the tix, we didn't really know the extent of the horribleness that would be the Aggie season this year). But forget about that, it is about the experience of being at Kyle Field with the 12th Man and hearing the famous Fightin' Texas Aggie Band at half time, right! We stopped in at Southside in Elgin for lunch on the way to introduce Stacey & Josh to some of that great Texas BBQ that we have been finding around here. It was yummy! And for a West Texas country girl, I gotta say that I couldn't believe how grossed out Stacey was at eating meat off a bone! It was hilarious. She is so silly and that is why we love her. ;) Then on to College Station we went. I'm not going to go into anything about the game here except that we enjoyed the company we were with, getting to see my brother and some of his friends, watching the band and eating kettle corn. We also got to go onto Kyle Field after the game, which I had never done before so that was fun. Here are some pictures at the game.

On Sunday, Stacey & Josh went to Hill Country Bible Church with us. We are really growing to love this Church and haven't been anywhere else since we tried it. We visited many others before we tried it, but none of them were as alive as this church. I can just sense God moving among the people there. After church, we took Stacey & Josh to one of our faves where we take every guest that visits, Z Tejas, and it didn't dissappoint. The view was great and the food was even better! It was a great weekend! We had a great time hanging out. I didn't want the meal to end b/c I knew that meant they would be heading back to 'Big D'. I'll be there in a few weeks though, so it was just "see ya soon"!

Spirit of Aggieland Never Changes...

Our lives are ever changing, but it never ceases to amaze me that the same spirit I knew while I was at A&M, is still there & is felt the moment I drive into College Station. It is also that feeling like you get when you go back to your hometown to visit family -- it was so exciting to be home in Aggieland this past weekend! And if you are reading this and thinking, "what is she talking about?", I guess it is like they say, "those inside cannot explain it & those outside don't understand it (my husband included in this bunch)". It was a great time of visiting friends and being a part of the 12th Man (fans) at Kyle Field! Army was the opponent so it was fitting that special tributes were done in honor of those men who proudly serve our country.

There is usually a fly over at all the games, but I had never seen paratroopers dropped from helicopters to drift down to Kyle Field...

The band played a piece for each branch of the military,

And of course, the standard block "T"...

God Bless America! And God Bless our Troops.

The singing cadets sing as the flag covers Kyle Field.

The guys were focused on the game,

Jarrod & Brad


While Emily & I chatted & caught the highlights...

After the game we met up with friends.

Amber, Me, Rachel, Emily

To bring the weekend to a close, on our way back to Austin Sunday we stopped through Elgin to check out 2 BBQ places we keep hearing people rave about. We got BBQ at both & taste tested that night. And the winner is.....

Southside Market! Their pork ribs are tasty!