Carl & Trisha's Blog

Christmas Doe Hunt 2009

2009-12-30T12:58:00.001-05:00

Birthday

2009-08-18T22:12:00.003-04:00

Another Birthday has come and gone. 5th year straight of having an exam on my birthday...what can you do? Trisha's cake was amazing! All of our friends came over and helped us eat it and then we had to go study :(

Big Toms!!

2009-05-10T20:37:00.004-04:00

Hey guys, been a while since we have posted. Hope everyone is doing okay. I had a nice two week break, ready to get back to start Tri 5, over half way! Cant believe it. Here are some pictures of my first Turkey. I got to do some hunting over my two week break. Let me know what you guys think.

No more "bearded wonder" :(

2009-03-23T22:01:00.004-04:00

The things you do for your wife! Two months of hard "itchy" work just to see it get flushed down the drain...lol. Love you Trish. P.S. Even though I look intoxicated in the first picture I promise I'm not. When you take pictures with a beard you have to look "hard." Plus I had to show my resemblence to "Kimbo Slice."

Another Good laugh

2009-03-12T21:42:00.000-04:00

I promise...last post of the day...lol

Good laugh

2009-03-12T21:28:00.001-04:00

March Madness

2009-03-12T16:24:00.002-04:00

It's almost here....Selection Sunday is this weekend.

No more T.O.

2009-03-05T06:23:00.003-05:00

Tell me what you think. Did Jerry make a good decision or a bad one???

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3953647

Watch this...

2009-02-22T11:07:00.005-05:00

Think you would have been able to react that quickly? Talk about incredible composure under extreme pressure!!!

For some reason I cant embed the video but here is the url:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMbnmLLnsfw

Pat Green

2009-02-04T16:18:00.005-05:00

Just went and picked up the new Pat Green CD. I think it is his best album yet. Trisha and I have so many memories that involve Pat's music whether it be concerts or Friday nights in the Camaro. I attached a video from You Tube of one of my favorite songs from the new album. If you like it go out and get the CD, I am all for supporting Texas Country Music. $10 at Best Buy. Let me know what you think...

New Truck!

2009-01-25T15:40:00.005-05:00

Right before Christmas Ole' Blue decided he wanted to go to Heaven. So we did what we always do when a car dies, we sent it to the Graveyard... aka (Dads front yard) lol! This was the fifth car I have driven in the past five years, so when Trisha and I started looking for a new "used" vehicle, we were looking for something a little more dependable. We were trying to find something before we went on our ski trip, because school started the day after we got back, and we knew we would be pressed for time. Unfortunately we never found something in our price range, so we were nervous about how we were going to be at two different places with only one vehicle. Little did I know that while we were in Colorado, my dad was locking up the "Dad of the Year" award. My parents had watched Maddie for us while we were gone so when we got home from skiing, we went straight to their house. I was going crazy when we pulled up and saw a brand new truck parked in the front yard. Talk about surprised. Thanks again Dad!

A Christmas to Remember

2009-01-12T22:15:00.009-05:00

This was probably one of the best Christmas vacations that I can remember. School got out Dec. 19th finished up another trimester, and two days later Trish and I were on a plane headed for St. Thomas with my Mom, Dad, Christina, Caleb, Audria, David and Daina. What an incredible week! Caleb had some great in depth posts about the trip so I am going to post a link to his blog for those who want to read more. http://calebandaudria.blogspot.com/

We got back the day after Christmas, and after a long day of traveling Trish and I needed some rest. Luckily we had nothing on the calender for the entire week, because Trisha came down with an ear infection, and didn't crawl out of bed for a couple days. After some rest, a round of antibiotics and lots of adjustments she got feeling better. Even though she was feeling better we didn't want to push it to hard so we rented a ton of DVD's from blockbuster and spent two straight days doing nothing but watching movies. It was awesome!

Then we got in the car with three of our good friends and headed North to Colorado to do some skiing. We were headed to Steamboat Springs, ski town USA. Little did we know we were in for an incredible week. After about 14 hours of nothing but Kansas praries we finally hit Colorado and some cold weather. We were in need of a wake up call, unfortunately this wake up call came by a game of Freeze Out. For those unfamiliar with the game, I will explain. When you have really cold weather outside, you roll all the windows down and drive as fast as possible. The first person to give up and roll the window up is the loser. Normally in Texas with 40 degree weather the game last a few minutes, but when you are in Colorado and it is -24 outside you cant take but a few seconds before it is hard to breathe. Somehow nobody wanted to lose so the game last a lot longer than I thought it would. We went for over two minutes, it felt like an eternity. It took me nearly an hour to warm back up again.

At some point during the game I didn't realize that I was sitting on our bread for the week. Luckily I didn't smush it too bad.

We finally got to Steamboat after about 17 hours of driving. Right when we pulled up it started snowing and did not stop but for a few hours the entire week. Trisha and I were really looking forward to doing some skiing because it had been about three years since the last time we got to "shred" (skier talk we picked up from the locals in Colorado) lol...

Two of the people we were with had skied before but one of the girls had never even seen real snow. She grew up in Texas. Luckily Trisha has incredible patience and she spent an entire day helping Belinda learn to ski and before you knew it she was with us skiing down some Blacks!!! Quick learner.

The first two days of skiing were great. Everyone was having a good time and getting some incredible runs in. By the end of the second day everyone was extremely tired from working muscles that we never even knew existed. The group decided that there legs couldn't take another day of skiing so we decided to call it an early night. I had been listening to the snow report and knew it was supposed to dump that night so I was planning on getting up early and catching some runs before we decided to hit the road and head back home. Turns out I would have one of the most amazing days of my life!

It snowed four feet that night. Steamboat declared it powder day, which is when the town decides that this is going to be the best skiing of the season so they shut down the stores and allow the employees to hit the slopes until lunch. I was on the first gondola up to the top of the mountain. I was riding with Ski Patrol, they were heading up to close off half of the mountain because it snowed so much they were worried about avalanches. I had the first tracks down the Two O'clock run which is probably one of the most famous runs at Steamboat. When I stepped off the gondola I immediately sank to my waist in powder. I had the hardest time pushing myself to the edge of the mountain, but when I got there it was one of the most breathtaking experiences I have ever experienced. I leaned back as far as I could to keep my ski tips from diving down and I started to take off. There was no stopping until you got to the bottom of the hill because if you did you would sink and it would be almost impossible to get going again. This was my first time to ski true powder. I had heard my dad talk about the good old days in Montana when blizzards had come through and left amazing powder behind and now I know exactly what he was talking about. You feel like you are floating in the air, you cant even see your legs but you know they are there. Unfortunately I was skiing by myself so I only have pictures of the mountain, but you can still see the beauty.

It was an awesome Christmas break, all we can do is attempt to top it next year!

Coming Soon!

2009-01-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

I admit we have been slacking. Okay, really slacking!!! I promise the perfect post is coming soon. Until then here is a nice picture from one of our vacations over Christmas break.

Trivia~ Two points for the person who can name where this picture was taken

Back to School

2008-09-08T07:34:00.002-04:00

Alarm clock came early this morning. It was a great break, I enjoyed spending lots of time with friends and family. Found myself singing this song in the shower so I hope you enjoy.

Texas Dove

2008-09-07T11:49:00.003-04:00

For the past few years I have been in Arkansas and missed the opening of Dove Season in Texas. We have some friends who have land in Granbury and they have incredible sunflower fields which means incredible dove. I have really enjoyed being only a couple hours away from some of the best dove hunting around. Here are some pictures of me and my Breasts!! Dove breasts that is. Get your head out of the gutter!!

Montana pictures

2008-09-01T22:30:00.011-04:00

Here are some pictures from Montana. They are in random order, we took over 500 pictures! I tried to pick some of the best ones. Anyone want to move to Montana with me???

MONTANA!!!!

2008-08-21T10:36:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the short post. Today marks the last day of Trimester 2. Thank God. I am taking my 8th and last final of the week in an hour and a half. Why am I writing a post and not studying? I don't know??? Trisha and I are headed to Montana for a nice 10 day vacation in the Mountains. Some of our really good friends are meeting us up there. Charlie (my best man), and Josh and Russ who were pledge brothers from Harding are all getting there late tonight. Should be a good time. We will make sure and take lots pictures. Thanks to everyone who has me on their prayer list, this trimester was an extremely hard one (64 exams in 16 weeks), and I could not have persevered if it weren't for you. Thank you.

P.S. My running buddies and I ran a 5-mile race last night. Official Time: 48min. 17 sec. Took second place in my weight division. Longer detailed post with pictures when we get back from Montana. Hope you guys have a great weekend.

Bear

2008-08-08T12:36:00.009-04:00

For the past year or so Trisha has been talking about wanting to add a small dog to our family. She spent most of the year going back and forth between different breeds and after long thought she decided on a Yorkie. Me being the incredible husband that I am, realized that our 3 year wedding anniversary was coming up soon, and this would be the perfect time for a surprise puppy. My aunt owns a Petland in Montana and knows some really good breeders, so I made the phone call and got the process rolling. She found us a good dog, and since my Mom and sister were in Montana on vacation we put him on the plane home with them. Trisha called on her way home from work and I told her I had a surprise when she came home, put the puppy in her lap, and sure enough I am the front runner for husband of the year award.

Here are some pictures of Bear. He is a toy Yorkshire Terrier 13 weeks old, 2.4 pounds

Here is a video of Bear at David and Daina's house. First encounter with a Mirror. Dont make fun of my amateur Movie Making abilities. I think I might leave the movie making to Caleb.

Here are some videos of Maddie and Bear playing together. We were a little nervous about how Maddie would react to having a new puppy in the house but she has done great. She has been really patient with him and I actually think she likes having someone to play tug of war with.

Liberty 5K

2008-07-04T14:30:00.003-04:00

For the past month I have been training with some friends from class for the Liberty Annual 5k Race. Yes its true Carl and running same sentence!! Running was something that I never enjoyed in high school or college. Usually it involved some sort of discipline for having a bad game, making too many errors, etc. Well now that athletics are over I have found that I really enjoy getting out and going for a run with some friends after a long day of class. I believe it is the best stress relieving workout ever.

Anyways, today was the big day. I went to bed last night with butterflies in my stomach just thinking about this morning. Trish thought it was funny that I have played in all these big state championship games and I never got nervous before them but here I was at 5a.m. this morning absolutely FREAKING OUT about this race. I think it was because this was something new for me, I have never competed in any kind of race before, and I had no Idea what to expect.

We showed up and there were over 800 people registered in this race. I was put in the Clydesdale Under 30 group (Clydesdale is the group they put males over 195 lbs. in). I was excited I didnt have to try and beat the 140 lb. 21 yr old from Kenya. Thank God! I was still worried because some of the guys in Clydesdale were just over 200 lbs. and here I am weighing in at 228. Back to the story...Butterflies going like crazy, trying to stretch thinking I am gonna throw up. Ready to get the race over with, but excited about the opportunity to compete. Horn goes off, everybody takes off running, AC/DC blaring in my iPod, first two miles go by fast, third mile, fatigue starts setting in, still pushing hard...last turn, probably about 3/10 of a mile from the finish line. Freak of nature soccer mom pushing her 2 year old in a "racing stroller" starts to move like she is gonna pass me, competitive nature steps in and the adrenaline overpowers the fatigue and I take off. Dead sprint for the last quarter mile, a lot of friends from class come out to cheer us on, I see them running with me to the finish line. 24 min. 11 sec. Finished. Best feeling ever! Ended up taking first place in Clydesdale under 30! Couldn't believe it. My goal was to try and break 25 minutes, goal completed. Belinda, a girl from class that we have been running with, won first place in her age group females 20-24 with a time of 21:59. Incredible day! Next race July 19th, I will let you know how it goes. Here are some pictures from the race.

Before the Race.

Post-Race.

Belinda and I with our first place trophies!

"Da Eagle"

Arkansas

2008-05-02T13:13:00.006-04:00

Trisha and I had a blast in Arkansas. Got to see all of our old buddies. It was a couple days packed of fishing, golfing, four wheeling, and scary movies. We went fishing both days, and Trisha got to come out on the first day. It was her first fishing experience, I think she enjoyed herself. On the second day it was just the guys. Hands down the best fishing day ever. 75 degrees, sunny, wednesday afternoon so not that many people on the river. Easily caught 60 Trout by the end of the day. 60 fish in 3 hours!! CRAZY. Got some good pictures. Hope you enjoy!

The crew at the driving range.

Trisha feeling sorry for the Fish. We catch and release, but she still felt like the hook was hurting their mouths. What a typical GIRL!!

Russ with a nice looking Rainbow.

The rule is you take a picture if you catch the first fish of the day, the largest fish of the day, or the smallest fish of the day. Here is my picture with the smallest! :)

Brum with a nice Rainbow, beautiful colors, proably one of the older fish we caught that day.

Tri 1 Complete

2008-04-26T11:03:00.007-04:00

Yes it is true there has been a Carl sighting! Yesterday was my first day in 4 months of not having to go to the library to study. It was GREAT! Thanks for all the prayers, couldnt have got through TRI 1 without them. 25 out of 98 didnt pass, and unfortunately they have to spend another $15,000 to retake TRI 1.

I have the next two weeks off and then TRI 2 starts up, I have decided not to sleep the next two weeks so that I can take advantage of every hour I dont have to study! So if you want to hang out give me a call! Here are some pictures from the past 4 months, most of them are me and Trisha with my buddies from school. We had a couple weeks where we had 2 or 3 exams/practicals everyday straight, so common theme in the pictures is surviving and being happy you havent killed yourself. Most of us lost like 10 pounds over the 4 months, basically because eating took up valueable time that could be used for studying.

What is Chiropractic?

2008-03-09T20:49:00.004-05:00

Hey guys, sorry that it has been so long since our last update, but as you can imagine things have been busy. Carl had an assignment for a class and he had me proof read it for him and I was completely blown away and told him that he should put it up on the blog. The assignment was to write in two pages "What Chriopractic is to you." It was really hard for him because he felt like he could write a hundred pages and still not cover every aspect of Chiropractic, but he condensed it down into two pages and this is what he got. He wanted me to make sure and let you know that this is extremely shortened and abbreviated but I think that was the whole idea. Until know I did not know what a Chiropractor does but this really cleared it up for me, maybe it will do the same for you? Hope you like it...

What is Chiropractic?

To me Chiropractic is an alternative approach to good health, without having to fill a prescription. We know that the human body was created to heal itself, and as long as the Central Nervous System is allowed to communicate with the body, then “good health” is attainable. Unfortunately there are things that we encounter everyday that cause interferences in this communication process. These things might be the fact that we have to sit at a desk and stare at a computer screen all day inevitably leading to improper posture and stress on our spine. Or our bodies may be involved in some kind of trauma, either a car accident or slipping and falling down. Probably one of the biggest stressors that are bodies encounter is the food that we put in it.

In today’s culture we have become so accustomed to this fast paced lifestyle with “instant gratification.” If we can throw down 5 dollars and get a meal at McDonalds in just a matter of minutes, most of us will. Our bodies are able to adapt to handle and process these types of foods everyonce in a while but not every day. These foods contain fillers, which are basically like toxins to our body, and these toxins cause stresses, which can lead to interferences in the nervous system. As time goes by all of these stressors add up and our nervous system begins to experience decreased function. Which is what today’s culture commonly refers to as “being sick.”

Where Chiropractic comes in to play is we have the ability to locate and remove these interferences, which are called “subluxations” and in essence restore proper function in the nervous system. This is a really simple analogy to a really complex and compound process, but when you have your foot on a water hose, you are keeping the water from coming out the end, when you remove your foot from the hose, water begins to flow normally through the hose. The same can be related to the nervous system in the human body. When you fall down or are involved in a car accident your vertebrae may become misaligned causing interference between the communication of the brain and spinal cord to different areas of the body. When this happens the body tries to heal itself, and this is when we notice pain and inflammation. Which is a natural process of healing, but the misconception in today’s world is I just need to take some “medicine.” When really all you are doing is reducing a symptom (i.e. headache, soreness) and not fixing the real problem at hand.

This is where a Doctor of Chiropractic is best utilized. He can evaluate the spine and find the area that is misaligned and with proper contact on the vertebrae he gives an adjustment putting it back into normal position. When this occurs it is just like taking your foot off the water hose and restoring normal function. The brain is able to communicate with the area of pain, allowing the body to be able to heal itself. The Chiropractor is not the one doing the healing, he is just removing the interference allowing the body to work its magic and heal itself the natural way without having to “go under the knife” and physically remove something that God designed and gave a specific function in the body.

Prayers for Carl

2008-02-12T22:09:00.002-05:00

Hey guys I just wanted to ask that you keep Carl in your prayers. He has something like 15 exams over the next couple weeks. His first exam is tomorrow morning at 7. I cant even imagine the amount of stress he is feeling right now. I was looking at his calendar on his desk and he literally has an exam or a lab practical every day for the rest of the month. He has been doing really well on keeping up with the material, and he is extremely smart so I'm sure he will be okay, I just thought he could use a little extra support.

Thanks,
Trisha

Cowboys Playoff Game

2008-01-27T17:39:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks back we got to enjoy the Cowboys devastating loss in person at Texas Stadium. Even though we were dissappointed we still had a blast. We got some great tickets (thanks to Ann Hastings), we were like 30 rows up in the endzone. Great view. We stood up the whole game, I think Caleb and I were solely responsible for the noise and confusion on the play when Eli got sacked. Got sick and had absolutely no voice the next day but it was worth it. Hopefully next year we will be able to enjoy the ride home, and maybe have a Super Bowl Party for the cowboys??? Here are some pictures, don't have that many because we were more interested in watching the game, sorry. The random guy with me and Trisha is Randy Rogers. Great Texas Country Musician, his hit song right now is "Kiss Me in The Dark." Probably one of Trisha and my favorite artists. He asked if he could tailgate with us! Not really, but it was still pretty cool running into him.

"A Tail Waggin' Day"

2008-01-03T10:13:00.001-05:00

One of our gifts from Christmas was a puzzle, so Trisha and I spent a couple nights wrapped up in blankets on our couch putting together a puzzle called "A Tail Waggin' Day" Of course we had help from our own "Tail Wagger" Maddie. (P.S. You can now click on the picture and see the full size version. Special thanks to Staci Knowlton, the professional blogger!)

Christmas

2008-01-03T09:45:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures from Christmas. We had a really nice holiday season. A quote from Trisha, "stay in school as long as you can because when you get out you have to go to work everyday and your Christmas break goes from a month to one day!" I dont think it could have been said any better. We hope everyone else had a good break as well, and we wish you all a great 08!

Here is a picture of my sister and her Christmas present.

Happy Holidays

2007-11-26T16:27:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-30T14:35:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-29T07:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-23T17:46:00.000-04:00

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!!!

2007-10-07T20:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-01T16:38:00.001-04:00

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

2007-09-27T12:24:00.000-04:00

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!!!

2007-09-24T17:44:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-13T15:02:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-06T14:37:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-03T23:57:00.000-04:00

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!!!!!

2007-08-24T17:10:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-08T22:34:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-26T00:06:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-17T00:31:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-01T21:02:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-20T23:32:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-14T00:44:00.000-04:00

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!!

2007-06-04T23:27:00.000-04:00

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!!!!

2007-05-20T00:33:00.001-04:00

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

2007-05-13T23:55:00.000-04:00

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!!!

2007-04-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

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!!

2007-04-21T01:59:00.000-04:00

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

2007-04-13T00:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-04-07T22:08:00.000-04:00

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.

Here goes nothing!

2007-04-03T22:47:00.000-04:00

Trisha and I decided that we wanted to try out this whole "blog" thing. Not real sure what we are doing but hopefully it will be a good way to keep in touch with all of our friends and family who are not familiar with facebook.

We have 6 weeks until Trisha graduates and we move back to Fort Worth. We have a "ton" of stuff due in our classes over the next couple weeks, but we can see the end in sight. Trisha is about to finish her first dress in her fashion line. She has four more dresses to go! I will try and figure out how to post some pictures with the blog that way I can show you how talented she is. It would be greatly appreciated if you threw some prayers of perseverance our way. We are in for some long nights.

On a better note, Audria and Caleb are coming to stay with us over the weekend. We cant wait to show them a good time up here in Arkansas. My goal is to try and convince Caleb that he needs a 4-wheeler that way I can have someone to play with when we move back to Fort Worth. Thanks for visiting our blog, we will try and get some more posts on here to catch everybody up with our lives. Leave a comment that way I know you stopped by.