Funkins

I did something that we have never done before. We did not carve real pumpkins. I found FUNKINS. These are pumpkins that look real but they are not. They are carvable, so they will last forever. They turned out very good.

Caitlin and Tyler's pumpkins

Football,Football and more Football

We had a game in Newberry. We won the game in spite of the horrible calls. Chase made a sweet touchdown. It was a fun game to watch. Chase pushed through to get the team a touchdown. I liked this picture of Chase and Tyler. Tyler is a senior this year and they have been playing together since elementary school. It is crazy to think that they will not be together next year. I will miss him and his family. They are extremely important to us.

Some of Chase's BIGGEST fans--G and PA!!!!!!!! We could not make it through life without them.They do so much for each one of us! We are blessed to have them.

Chase and his girl!!!!

By far..... THE BIGGEST FAN EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My son is amazing!

Evan and Chase...Chase says that they were separated at birth..not sure if Karen remembers that or not but I'm quite sure that I would have remembered giving birth to another child:) Regardless, I will claim both of them. They are precious to me!

Making the girls drool.......

Coach Mattox and his baseball boys! He is an AWESOME coach!

Saturday was Tyler's game in Gainesville. He is getting better with every game. It will be interesting to see how his future pans out.

This was homecoming week. Chase was the rapper Eminem for the Junior Class skit. Not being bias, it was the best one of the night. It was a little disappointing this year. It did not have the atmosphere as it has in the past. The lights stayed on for the whole program.But it was ok!!

Another GREAT touchdown on Homecoming night!!!! We won!

We had a ridiculous weekend. Last night we had Chase's game and today we had Tyler's bowl in LAKE CITY at 3pm and wedding at 6:30 at Jacksonville Zoo and meanwhile Chase had his Homecoming Dance at 7 in Keystone. Needless to say, it was rough however...We all went to Tyler's game, G and Pa left early to get Chase back and dressed for pictures at 5:30. John and I left after the game ended at 5:30. I changed in the car while we were driving on the interstate since we were over an hour away. John changed in the parking lot of the zoo. I know right you are thinking---wedding and zoo, Hmmmmm! Well, it was GORGEOUS! It was at the Jaguar exhibit, in the courtyard area. It was simply beautiful. We were tired when we got home.

Tyler had the best game ever! He made some great plays. We won 19-8.

Champions!!!

Azalea Bowl Champions!!!! Way to go Panthers!!!!

Little R&R

We made a VERY unexpected trip. Our kids had things to do and we decided that we needed some time together. Sooooo at 10:30 on Saturday morning that we would head to the Gulf Coast. We ended up at Maderia Beach.We did not even have anywhere to stay...which is unlike me but it was FUN. We just walked around and found somewhere that we liked. It was the Barefoot Resort. It was perfect for us. It was in walking distance of the shops and resturants. John use to go there with his grandparents when he was little. His best memory was looking for sand dollars. As you can see, we found a few.

The gorgeous sunset...

I love this one with John.

I loved John's statement when I sat down as the sun disappeared..."If you don't believe in God after watching that....you're crazy!!!" I would have to agree. If you have never watched the sun sink into the horizon on a clear afternoon..that should be on your list. The shoreline that we walked each day..

Our footprints in the sand...

The drivers there are so crazy that you are suppose to carry a flag when you cross the street..SO THEY CAN SEE YOU BETTER!! Anyways, it is a law that they must stop at the crosswalks.That cracked us up each time we saw it. All we could think about was the kids and how they would act with those flags... We just wanted to share..

Below is the motel that John stayed at with his family over 25 years ago. We walked around the property and took some shots. He said it seemed smaller than he remembers :) Time has a way of doing that.

Hopefully, his Mema will find a picture of him at this same seawall--if so I will scan it in.:)

LIFE

Life is hard and right now I am feeling like I am being pulled in so many directions. I know it will pass. Life will not beat me down. I know there is THE PLAN in the works, I just wish HE would show me a small glimpse of the future. I'm blessed in so many ways so I hate to get down and have a pity party.....people have it much worse than I could ever imagine. I am on my way back from a quick trip to Madeira Beach with my honey. John is so good...he listens and still loves me..through mysmiles and my tears. He is my soul mate. John is a smart man and always gives me good advice. It was a great trip.

More Football......

The pictures below are against The Villages. They are a private school so it was going to be a tough game. Chase had some amazing catches. We had a scare at the beginning of the game. A fellow teammate, Matt, dropped before kick off with a seizure. It was VERY difficult to witness--his dad being the head coach-running round looking for his kit--throwing things trying to help his son, which that is what they thought caused his seizure. They took him by rescue to the hospital. Meanwhile, his mom stayed at home for the first time ever because she had a bad migraine and it was a long drive for her to make with the other kids. So our boys just rallied together and prayed for Matt. We got word that at the hospital, they did a scan since all of his counts were ok--they found a tumor on his brain. I'm not sure what to say about that and the way I felt at the time that I heard that. I felt so many emotions. I felt for Matt--being 17 and knowing that he has a tumor--I felt for his parents, trying to fathom how we would deal with that.But God is good--ALL THE TIME. Two o'clock the next day, he was in surgery and it was a non cancerous tumor the size of a lemon. He is doing well............. I'm thankful.

We were only playing hour from Aunt Renee. She was coming up for the Gator game so it worked out very nice. It was a great surprise for Chase. She got to see Chase play a great game. Even though they lost, Chase did great.

We were at the Villages on Friday night for Chase and to Alachua on Saturday for T-Dogg!! This was a big game for the Panthers. This was there best game EVER. They are a very good team. It went back and forth the entire game. It came down to the last 3 seconds....and we won by ONE point!!!!

GO#12.................