I Can Smell The Pigskin

If you know me at all, you won't ask me to profess my love for FOOTBALL. You already know the love and passion I have for the greatest sport ever! (Insert my husband's plea for baseball as the greatest sport ever, although he loves football almost as much as I do). Nevertheless, it's that glorious time of year and we ARE ready for some football.

High school football in Texas kicked off last night. There's nothing quite like the sight of stadium lights in the distance or the sound of marching bands and annoucers coming from the stadium. My Bronchos are playing in Odessa as I type, although it's not looking too good thus far - ouch. We have plans to go to a Royse City Bulldog game in a couple of weeks. It should be a fun Friday night. If all goes according to plan, we will make our way to Odessa at the end of October to watch the Bronchos battle the Panthers in the annual cross-town rival game. I can taste the cotton candy now.

College football will start next week. ESPN's College Gameday is kicking off their season here in Dallas next Saturday morning. LSU and Oregon are playing that night at Cowboys stadium. We are ready for our Saturdays to be filled with non-stop college action. Not that we just sit around and watch football all day on Saturday, but it's there for the taking all day long!

And thank goodness...DING DONG the lockout is dead! I'm so happy that the lockout ended in time for NFL football this fall. We've enjoyed a little bit of pre-season, but very ready for the real deal. The NFL regular season will start on Thursday, September 8th. We've had a tradition in the Ussery house for several years that we order pizza for the first game of the season and this year will be no different. We plan to continue this tradition as long as we can! The Cowboys' first game is on Sunday Night Football on September 11th. We already have a "snack night" planned for that night. Oh I can hardly stand the excitement. Since I have a little one growing inside of me, I'll have to learn to take it a little easier this season. I tend to get pretty animated during games - screaming and jumping about...or yelling and getting my heart rate up. This will be an adjustment - haha!

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 is our Fantasy Football draft. I'm super excited! I love our Fantasy Football league because it's all family (12 members) so it's oodles of fun to play aganist each other and "trash talk", but in a loving way! We've been playing Fantasy Football for several years and just love it. It adds another way to keep up with all that's going on in the NFL. Unfortunately, I didn't have the best team last year, but it was still enjoyable. Let's hope this year is like 2007 when I won it all! John may have plans of his own too...he's won it twice.

On a COMPLETELY different note, I had to share about a gift I received yesterday. My thoughtful husband blessed me with a Willow Tree figurine to symbolize our season of life right now ~ pregnancy. It's called "HOME" and the card with it says "Together, our family is home". One description online said, "A couple holds one another and admires the miracle that pregnancy brings. The creation of a family and home to love and to hold. For wherever our family is, so is our home."

We have two Willow Tree figurines already - one we received as a wedding present and one I gave John for an anniversary. The are beautiful and so special! Thank you again, my dear. We've displayed it in the living room next to our sonogram picture.

Happy Saturday!

Until we meet again...
Riley