Happy Holidays

Hey guys sorry things have been extremely busy around here. I will try and catch you up with everything that has happened over the past month. School is going 100 mph, and Trisha has been working hard so everyone will have an enjoyable shoping experience at Dillard's this holiday season. Although, Dillard's is at the top of her "hit list" right now because they are making everyone at Corporate go in and work the stores on Saturdays to help with the holiday rush. Luckily its only for 5 hours but still its supposed to be her weekend.

Here are some pictures of Brumfield's deer that never got posted from my last trip to Arkansas (10/25-10/28) Saw them on my camera when I was uploading pictures this weekend. Deperessing moment when I realized this was the last time the blue truck was photographed before it got stolen. Nice 8 point for Arkansas, kind of narrow rack but still a good deer. He shot it in his front yard with a muzzleloader. I had walked out of the front door to get something out of the truck, and there he was in the front yard. I yelled for someone to get a gun quick, and 5 seconds later he was on the ground. That's why you keep loaded guns around in Arkansas. Most of the time it is for coyotes but this time it was a nice deer. Dont mind his nasty dog "Peepers" she is licking up the deer's blood. Disgusting

The Gang

(Brumfield's fiance' Lydia "trying" to look tough, probably the only girl I know excited about taking a picture with a dead deer.)

Here are some pictures of my new truck I got last week. It is a 98 Dodge Ram. I bought it from my grandfather in Athens. I think in the end it will be more realistic for me because it gets about 20 mpg highway, which is where most of my miles come from. I was getting about 10 in my old truck.

Support Wetland Conservation every chance you get! Homes for Migratory birds are rapidly dissappearing which in essence means so are they. I want my grandkids to be able to enjoy mornings in a duck blind. There is nothing like it. Soon it will just be a memory.

Sorry for such a long post. I will try and be brief. Thanksgiving was nice. We enjoyed getting to see family. We really enjoyed decorating our house for Christmas. Our favorite time of the year. Here are some pictures of our christmas tree and other decorations.

Last but definetly not least. Texas A&M 38 - Texas 30 As my dad, the faithful Aggie would say "WHOOP" Hopefully Mike Sherman the new coach, can keep up the streak of beating Texas. A&M has won the past two years.

New Dallas Cowboys Stadium

As I was taking Trisha to work I got to see the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington for the first time. I have heard all kinds of hype the past few months about how big it was going to be but until you drive over there and actually see it in person you have no idea. Absolutely incredible. Here is some cool stuff I grabbed off (http://www.stadium.dallascowboys.com/) The stadium is going to total 2.3 million square feet. The entire Statue of Liberty and its base could fit into the stadium with the roof closed. The stadium is also the world's largest column-free room. The American Airlines Center in Dallas could fit entirely into the new stadium at field level. The roof is supported by two 35-feet deep and 15-feet wide boxed arch trusses. Each truss spans 1,290 feet – nearly a quarter mile – making the roof the longest clear-span structure in the world. The arches are more than twice the length of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. I was really impressed. Trisha and I are already saving our money for tickets to the Super Bowl in 2011. Hopefully our home team will be playing. Go Cowboys!

Found the Truck

Well the truck turned up. My dad was heading to a meeting in downtown Fort Worth, when he saw my truck sitting on the side of the highway. As you can tell from the pictures it has been completely stripped of everything valuable. The police have it and they are doing a crime scene investigation on it to see if they find anything. Unfortunately the truck was completely dounced in gasoline to try and get rid of any fingerprints. The Police said this was the result of a "Chop Shop." Billy Rhodes(our insurance agent) seems to think that State Farm will just write it off as a complete loss, and give us the retail value of the truck. Which sucks for us because my truck wasnt just a regular 1998 silverado. It had tons of extras (rims, off-road tires, flowmaster exhaust, grill guard, nerf bars, etc.) that probably wont be covered by insurance. Here are some pictures. The first picture is of the truck before it was stolen.

(Before)

(Side view, broken passenger window, old tires, nerf bars gone, chrome siding gone)

( Front view, no grill or grill guard, no license plate, no tow hooks)
(Up close image)
Inside the cab, no seats, console, anything, just stripped completely down to the carpet, stereo everything is gone, as you can see they had to use a lawn chair to drive it)
(Rear view, surprisingly enough they left the tail gate, but they ripped off everything including the chevrolet emblem, they even took off my stickers that I had on my bumper. You can also tell they tried to get the chrome bed rail off but I used super-powered sticky glue so that thing wasn't coming off. Idiots.)

(Here is the inside of the bed, obviously no four-wheeler, but here is what's left over from the inside of the cab.)

The weird part is they broke out the passenger window to get in the truck but then had a key to start the ignition, which they left on the floorboard after they dumped it. All of our keys are acounted for so we have know clue how they got an ignition key. Pray that the everything goes smoothly with State Farm Insurance that way I can give my mom her car back. I'm glad we found the truck but I was sure dissappointed when I saw the shape it was in. I will keep updating the blog if I findout any new info.

Prayer Request

Hey guys last night my truck was stolen from the Gold's Gym parking lot. I would really appreciate it if you could pray that the police find it dumped somewhere. I had just got back in town from deer hunting in Arkansas so my four-wheeler was still in the back. The police said that is what the thieves were after. I also had my cell phone, iPod, deer rifle, shotgun, backpack with about 600 dollars worth of textbooks, and I just put 70 dollars worth of gas in it. They said that the four-wheeler is gone, there is no chance of finding it. There is a 50/50 chance that they will either strip the truck of everything valuable and dump it somewhere or they could just burn it. I am really thankful that they only got material things. Luckily Maddie was not in the truck. She usually comes with me to go workout. I don't know what we would have done if we had lost her. It is amazing how quickly a pet becomes part of the family. Anyways, I know that Trisha and I will be okay, and in 10 years from now this will just be a speed bump in life, but right now it sure feels like we are climbing Mt. Everest. Thanks for the prayers. I will keep you updated if I get any new information.

Pictures

Hey guys hope everything is going good. Things have been so crazy the past couple weeks. Trisha has gotten really busy at work. Dillard's is trying to get ready for the Christmas season. I am in the middle of mid-terms and ready for this week to be over. I am heading back up to Arkansas this weekend to see some buddies. This is initiation week for our social club (fraternity). I have some pictures that I have been meaning to write blogs about but just have no time. So I will post them with a title so you know what is going on.

(Texas A&M vs. ULM)

(On The Border / Trisha's Birthday)

(Standing on a chair, shaking salt shakers, getting embarassed)

(Maddie snoozing on our road trip, dreaming about ducks!)

Pumpkin Carving!!!

Trisha and I got to enjoy a great sunday afternoon eating KFC chicken, watching football, and carving pumpkins with family. One of those experiences you should definetly try if you have never got to stick your hand in a pumpkin and pull out seeds and slime. David and Daina had found these great templates with some really cool designs to stick on your pumpkin, so you could have something to follow while you are carving. We also had this cool dremmel tool that helped with carving, but if you got to going too fast it threw pumpkin guts everywhere (Christina learned the hard way.) Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Pulling out the seeds

"This feels really weird"

Big smile

Finished product.

A wildcat and a haunted house.

Just got bored

If you havent already seen Caleb's blog from this weekend you need to go check it out.

www.highcampmedia.com/blog

Carl > Organic Chemistry

Well it looks like I came out on top after my first round battle with Organic Chemistry. Just checked my grade and I got 90%. Only two more rounds (exams) left in the semester. I was glad to get off on the right foot because these three exams make up my total grade for the class. No other points for cushion. Thanks for all of the prayers, they were greatly appreciated. Time for a weekend full of Halo 3 and relaxation.

Go Cowboys!!!

It's official I have jumped on the bandwagon. Cowboys are looking good. Make sure and vote on the poll.

Trisha had a good birthday weekend, got to spend some much needed time around friends and family. I've got my first exam this Thursday, so any prayers sent my way this week would be appreciated. Real busy week, but hopefully we can post a good blog this weekend. Hope all is well.

Organic Chemistry

If I suddenly drop dead...you will know what killed me!! Hardest class in the history of the world (probably a little exagerated). Can't believe my dad chose a career in this craziness.

Weekend Getaway

Hey guys! Hope every one's week has been good. Trisha and I are headed up to Arkansas this weekend to visit friends. It has been three months since we last saw our buddies, we had gotten used to literally hanging out with them everyday of the week, so we have been looking forward to this trip for a while. We are leaving tonight, and we will get back on Sunday. We have a HARDCORE softball practice Sunday afternoon, so our trip has to be cut short, BOO!!!!!!! Love ya Mike (softball coach)

Harry Potter

For the past month or so, Trisha has been reading the Harry Potter novels. She took advantage of the three day weekend and finished up the 750 page book "The Deathly Hallows." For those who haven't read the Potter books, Trisha gave them two thumbs up. This was the last book of the series so now she is a little depressed that she doesnt have a good book to read while I play XBOX. My whole reason in writing this post is that I'm trying to find a good replacement book for Trisha, because she has now fallen in love playing the video game "Cars" (based on the Disney movie) and I no longer get to enjoy MY toy!!! Yes I know I need to work on sharing...I was an only child for 10 years so give me a break. Anyone got any good book suggestions, Please!!!!!!!

We took a Bruising!!!!!

We got killed in both of our softball games Monday night! All around bad day. I was pitching and got hit by a line drive from about 30 ft away...easily the hardest I have ever been hit by anything. I got hit by a 95 mph fastball in high school and it didnt even compare with the amount of pain I was feeling monday night. Left a good bruise...remember this is 5 days later, I have been in Montana visiting family and never got a chance to take a picture but still you can see some good colors. (No commenting about how white my legs are!) I rubbed some dirt on it but it didnt help very much. I figured since Caleb got to post about his softball scars I can too. Hope everything is going good. Thanks for the good comments about the Bonds post. I appreciate hearing different opinions.

New Home Run King

In light of Barry Bonds breaking the Home Run Record last night I thought I would make a post about my opinion on the whole ordeal. To everyone who has been living in a cave for the past two months, San Fransisco Giants Barry Bonds broke Hank Aarons lifetime record of 755 career homeruns. Great accomplishment, but what makes this situation bad is that Bonds has had allegations of steroid use over the past couple years. As a baseball player of 16 years and a true love for the game, I feel like steroids has single handedly destroyed America's pastime. As a player of college baseball I can easily say that over 25% of the players were taking somekind of illegal supplements. Not all were Anabolic Steroids but they were definitely in the mix. (Yes even athletes at Harding University!) It is really strange to see guys go home at Christmas weighing 200 and playing okay, and to come back a month later with an extra 40 pounds of muscle and absolutely smoking the ball, it raises some flags. Let me make myself clear in saying that I never took steroids but I can see how players can justify trying to get to the next level. When it seems like everyone else ahead of you is getting help from chemicals the only way to not get left behind is to take them as well.

The number one problem for pitchers is not how fast they throw but how fast there muscle tissue heals after pitching a game. A normal pitcher throws about 150 pitches in one game. (20-30 warm up pitches, 100 actual game pitches, and about 5 warm up pitches before each inning, so if he throws 7 innings it should be around 150-160 pitches.) The "over the top" arm motion is not normal for the human body, and it can destroy the shoulder and elbow over time. I would pitch one day and for the next two days I would not be able to raise my arm over my head, because it was so sore. The number one thing steroids does is promote faster recovery time for muscle tissue, therefore allowing pitchers to throw more often leading to a stronger arm. For a college baseball player who is average the thought of taking steroids and getting just a little better and becoming more noticed could possibly mean a major league contract equaling "Set for Life!" Yeah the "What if" question has crossed my mind a couple times but I would never have been able to live with myself realizing that illegal chemicals got me to where I was. So now as I am realizing how hard Chiropractor school really is the easy way out is sure looking better everyday (Just kidding). It will only make success in the end that much better!

I got to watch the game last night and I saw the homerun. I was happy that he finally broke it because quite frankly I was sick and tired of hearing about it! I think that Barry Bonds had a fine moment as a person last night, as well as, as a baseball player. And there's no taking away from his skill, I just feel bad for Hank Aaron because he hit 755 homeruns through hard work and sweat. Let me know what you think...This is a really interesting topic and I would like to hear some different opinions. Hope all is well

(20 yrs. ago 180 lbs. Hat size 7-3/4; 2007 240 lbs. Hat size 9-1/4)

No more Xbox...for now!

Well Caleb and Audria got their new T.V. today, good news for them but bad news for us (Just kidding Caleb). Trisha and I bought Caleb and Audria's old T.V. last week, because they had ordered a new T.V. and it was time for us to upgrade to HD. So for the last week we have had Caleb's Xbox 360 over at our house, because they had no T.V. To say the least we have enjoyed it! I got spoiled to coming home after a long day of Chemistry and getting to take it out on my opponents on Xbox (hahaha). Since Caleb and Audria got their T.V. today we unfortunately had to give them back their toys. Although, Caleb found us a great deal on a used Xbox 360, so it should just be a matter of days until the stress releaser is back. We are off to Arkansas for my graduation this weekend. Kind of a hassle having to drive 6 hours their and 6 hours back just to walk across a stage and get a handshake, but it will make my mom happy. Hope all is well.

Long time no post

Hey guys, sorry it seems like the last couple weeks have been really crazy. We will try and get back to posting every couple days. Maddie is doing much better, her pads have completely healed and her surgery went great. She is almost back to normal, her stomach is still kind of sore but it doesn't bother her too much.

We played Pleasant Ridge Red (the old guys) tonight in our softball league. We beat them 15-11! It was our first game in almost a month. We have had two rain outs and then last week we had a bye, so we were worried going into tonight's game (especially since Caleb is on the DL with a broken finger) but we pulled out a victory. This was the first time that the young guys have beat the old guys in two years. It was fun getting back out and playing some ball. Hope everyone's summer has been going good, we will try and keep everyone updated a little better. See ya soon

Maddie update

Hey guys thanks for all of the prayers for Maddie, we know she is just a dog but we feel like she is a member of our family. She is doing much better, her pads are healing and she is getting back to her normal self. The vet has cleared her to have her surgery tomorrow morning. He wanted to wait until her pads healed up a little more that way she doesn't get an infection because the hysterectomy is a pretty invasive surgery on a dog her size. We will keep you updated on how she is doing. Hope all is well.

Rough Day for Maddie

This afternoon I decided to go for a four wheeler ride. It was a beautiful day and I had been cooped up in Chemistry labs all day, so I wanted to get out and burn off some steam. Maddie gets so excited when she sees me load up the four wheeler, she knew exactly what we were about to do. For the last 5 months, everytime we would ride Maddie would be right behind us, having a blast. Well today was different, about half way through our ride I noticed that Maddie wasn't staying as close as she normally does. Didn't think much about it until after we were done riding. I noticed some blood on the ground, and then I say that she was favoring her front legs. After closer inspection, I realized that she had completely torn off her "pads" on the bottom of her feet. She had been used to running on "soft" ground up in Arkansas, lots of grass, dirt, mud, etc. Texas has a lot more rocks and "rough" terrain, and her feet took a beating. I felt horrible. We took her to the Vet, and they had to sedate her and then perform minor surgery to remove the damaged pads, so that they could heal properly. She has these huge bandages on her front paws, but the Vet said her pads should grow back in a couple weeks. While we were at the Vet, we discovered that she is also having a false pregnancy! Basically her body thinks that she is pregnant, when she actually isn't. We noticed that her "mammory glands" had become enlarged, but knew she wasn't pregnant because she had no interaction with any male dogs while she was in heat. Once again didnt think much of it until the Vet started "milking" her on the table. She told us that we needed to get her spayed ASAP, because she would not be able to handle true pregnancy. She said that she would carry the litter full term but the pups would be dead at birth, and Maddie would become very susceptible to getting cancer. Trisha and I had been planning on bredding her next month. We were obviously dissappointed but we dont want to do anything to risk losing Maddie. We also found out that she is having an allergic reaction to something down here in Texas, and it is causing her hair to start falling out. So long story short, Maddie had a rough day. She has all kinds of medication to take over the next week, so hopefully she will get better. She is sedated, so she cant feel any pain. I felt bad about her feet but I am glad that we found out about the false pregancy and skin reaction, because the long term effects of both could have been worse. The Vet said they had the same problem with their lab, so they put "booties"(a.k.a. doggie shoes) on her feet and she has done much better. Pray for Maddie over the next couple days she is going to need it. Hope all is well, see ya soon.

(Maddie sedated, Lilly wondering what is going on.)


(Lilly winking for the camera.)

First week of work

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you know that Trisha started her job (Dillard's Corporate) this week and she absolutely loves it. She has an incredible boss and she loves the work that she is doing. I know that lots of you have been praying that everything will go smoothly this week, and it has. Thanks for all of the prayers.

Summer Time!!

We'll sorry it has taken so long for the latest post. We had a blast on our cruise. If anyone has not had the experience of going on a cruise I highly recommend you do! I was not affected by the "motion of the ocean" you hardly even felt the movement. You are treated like kings and queens for an entire week. Everything is paid for up front. You put your dirty towels in the floor and when you come back clean ones are hanging up in the bathroom. 3 course meals every night at dinner, all you can eat buffetts for breakfast and lunch. Live entertainment nightly and then of course pools and sun decks to lay out and relax. It was one of the best vacations I have ever been on and Trisha and I are already planning our next cruise.

The last few weeks have been really busy, I started summer school and Trisha has been trying to get as much done in her last week before she starts work. We absolutely love being back in Fort Worth, and being so close to our family. I am playing on the Pleasant Ridge Softball team this summer with Caleb. We had our first game tonight, we absolutely smoked the other team. It started pouring about the fifth inning, and didnt stop until the game was over. Trisha and Audria were the only "true fans", all the other wifes left early but the troopers stayed until the end. It has rained on and off for the past two weeks, I barely had enough time to get everyone's yard mowed. I guess we are still considered to be in a drought so we need all the rain we can get...it just gets depressing after two weeks of very limited sunshine. Here are some pictures from the cruise. Hope all is well.

Here is our picture from formal night.

We liked the cruise ship with the State of Texas.

Here is us with our sunburned faces.

Here is a random picture I found on our camera but I thought it was cute.

We're going Crusing!!!!

Hey guys we leave early tommorrow morning for our cruise through the Caribbean! We are so excited! David and Daina got us a week long cruise as our Graduation present, and we have been looking forward to this week for over a year now! This will be my first cruise and I am anxious to find out about these all you can eat buffets! Trisha says she is more excited to see me get rid of my Arkansas farmers tan (lol). Caribbean here we come!! We have our camera and we are ready to take a bunch of pictures so be expecting some good shots. Hope all is well.

Back in Fort Worth

Hey guys, sorry it has been so long, the last couple weeks have been crazy! We finished up with school for the semester. Trisha finished her other dresses and they look great. I will try and put up some pictures the next couple days, I am updating from Audria and Caleb's computer because our Internet at the new house is not set up yet. Trisha graduated Saturday and she is finished with school, FOREVER!!! Trisha recently accepted a job offer for Dillards corporate! She has an awesome job working as the Assistant Product Coordinator, working at the Arlington Corporate Offices. Basically she will be in charge of Dillard's private label making sure everything goes smoothly. She doesn't like to brag but it is an amazing job and not many people I know get the exact job they want right out of College. I finished my crazy semester of 20 hours and I am ready to get my summer of Chemistry underway. We packed up all of our stuff and we have moved into our new house. You guys are welcome to stop by and check it out any time you want. Just give us a call. We are looking for some help deciding on a new name for our Blog, since Adventures in Arkansas doesnt work anymore. We want to have something catchy. If you have any great ideas write them in your comments. I will try and get our internet working that way we can catch everyone up. Until then, hope that all is going well with you and your family! Hope to hear from you soon!

One Down Two to Go!!!

Hope everyone is doing good. Trisha and I are down to our last two weeks of school. We have had lots of projects and presentations but we are ready for the summer. In one of the Fashion classes Trisha is taking, they have been creating there own line of clothing. This has been a semester long project, which basically they have had to create and plan out there own design, make up patterns, and now put the clothes together. Trisha decided that she wanted her line to be evening dresses! For the non-fashion savvy like me, evening dresses are much harder to make than typical jeans and t-shirts, which is what most of the class decided to do. Trisha has been working really hard all semester to make these dresses look good. The other night she finished her first of three dresses. This picture was taken at 2:00 in the morning, after a long night of sewing. Let us know what you think.

Maddie turns one!!

It has been kind of a boring week, not much going on. Trisha has been in Atlanta at "Apparel Market" with her class. She had a good time and she got lots of great deals on clothes and jewelery. Since Trish was gone for four days I spent most of my time in the woods. It was opening weekend for spring Turkey, and it seems like I was out there for a couple days straight. I ended up not seeing anything...but most likely this was due to my long naps I was taking in the blind, what can you do? It was fun to just be in the outdoors. Maddie's first birthday was on the 15th! Mom wanted to see more pictures of her so here they are. Keep checking, hopefully I will have some pictures of a big "gobbler" on here soon. If you haven't seen our four-wheeling videos that Caleb made you need to go to his blog and check them out. I think he has a couple videos up, they look really good. (His web address is highcampmedia.com/blog ) Hope all is well.

(8 weeks old, about 5 seconds later she was trying to rip the ducks head off! Such a good dog!)

(8 weeks old, retrieving)

(8 months, eating bones with Lilly at Christmas)

(8 months, wishing she was playing with the kids outside)

(10 months, Dreaming about killing ducks)

Wonderful day of Trout Fishing on the Little Red River

I have discovered a new passion. Trout Fishing! Just one more to add to my great list of "hobbies". My good buddy Brumfield took me out this afternoon and introduced me to the sport. This was my first time to go "real" fishing, (dad said he took me when I was a kid, but I dont remember. I am gonna have to see some pictures to prove that.) I had always heard fishing took great patience and since everyone knows that word is not in my vocabulary, it seemed pointless. Although I was greatly surprised. We ended up doing really good, between the two of us we came home with 8 fish (7 rainbow trout & one pike). Seems like I had a little bit of beginners luck.

We were fishing on the Little Red River. They say it is one of the best kept trout fishing secrets in the South. The River is runoff from Greers Ferry Lake in Heber Springs. Just a few years ago the world record was caught on the Little Red (40 pound-4 ounce Trout). I thought it was pretty cool that I was fishing in the same spot that fish was taken. The water was really cold about mid 40's. Not as cold as the Lake in Montana, but still pretty cold. I think Audria and Trish still have goosebumps. It only took us two hours to catch our limit. Lot more action than I was expecting. Hopefully I can make some time for more fishing this weekend. Hope all is well.

(Me with my first catch of the day)



Some pretty good looking Trout.

Caleb & Audria's Visit

Caleb and Audria made it to town yesterday. We have been having a blast with them all weekend. We spent lots of time 4-wheeling and getting muddy. I think Caleb was going to put a little video together so we will have some actual footage here shortly. Just wanted to put some pictures up real quick to let you know how the weekend has been going. Hope all is well. P.S. In the last picture I was Caleb's trophy buck he had just killed. Kind of an inside joke. See ya soon.