Photos of our Christmas

Our tree in Clemson. I never watered it so it was pretty brittle when we left. I won't be surprised if its disintegrated on the floor when we get back!
Christmas Eve breakfast at Shoneys. Yes, you read that right. SHONEYS. I felt like I was cheating on my body. We were in a hurry before the guys had to head to meetings. Please note the looks on their faces. They wanted to do an "awkward angry" photo to capture their feelings about Shoneys. How tender.
Our tree and gifts in our hotel room. This white tree was the only one left at Wal Mart for $8. Katie, please note the p-nut butter m&m's in the Santa bowl.
The team had a Christmas Eve gingerbread house decorating competition. This is the one the offensive line made. Impressive, if I do say so myself! They used lettuce from Christmas dinner as the grass. They didn't make it in the top 3 and I'm afraid Thomas is going to lose sleep over it tonight.

***Thomas would like me to add the following: A. the walkway leading up to the front door is made out of ground p-nuts that were leftover from the dessert bar. B. "lamp posts" at the front of the tray are made with tea lights from the tables. C. the flashing lights on top of the roof.
Post-Christmas Eve dinner in front of one of the 239482937578 trees in this hotel.
Some of the lights at our hotel. Jesse, the gardens are real! A picture just doesn't do it justice. I can't imagine what the power bill is!
A tree made out of poinsettias. I took this picture for my mother, the master gardener.

Sugar's Ribs and Double Bed x 2

If you read my blog back when I started the thing, you may recall we stopped at Sugar's Ribs in Chattanooga on the way TO AND FROM Colorado. We love the place. Thank goodness its four hours from our house because we'd eat there once a month if it were any closer. Thomas has been telling his teammates about it and a few of them stopped with us today on the way to Nashville. Everyone was overjoyed with the food and the waitress kept asking us if we were on the way to watch the game....yes ma'm, we are.....

Can't you tell Thomas is in his element here?? We really enjoy watching other people enjoy food that we enjoy, while enjoying it with them. Yes, I was an English major. No, that probably isn't correct grammar. Oh well.

There were also these interesting goats at Sugar's...don't ask me why, but they let us go feed them cornbread. Of course Thomas chose to throw the cornbread AT the goats and they all had to get up from their comfortable seated positions and run away. And there is the city of Chattanooga in the background.

When we arrived at our hotel in Nashville we checked in and found out our room had not one but TWO DOUBLE BEDS. Yes, they gave the married man and his wife two double beds. Thank you Clemson Football, we really appreciate that. We've slept in a double bed twice while married, and slept fine, but for five nights??? I don't think so. I made Thomas go back to the front desk (which was no small favor, this place is HUGE and there are like 5 lobbies) and he got us a room with a bigger bed. And now I am utterly content to use the simple things in life we don't have for free back home like the Internet, satellite TV, a shower that doesn't leak into the basement, and a really lovely gym.

Pictures to follow of our Christmas celebration here in Nashville!

Hilarious story #23489734958345987

A couple of weeks ago, I got the truck stuck. Really, really stuck. In a ditch. Across the street from our house. And I couldn't get it out. And Thomas was in class and couldn't answer the phone.Oh, don't mind the big dent in the side of the truck in the photo, its been there for years. Anyway, long story short, the truck was stuck in the ditch and since I couldn't get Thomas on the phone, I had to call in to work and admit my predicament. Humiliating. Then I ran into my house because I didn't want the neighbors to see me and laugh. Or even more humiliating, ask to HELP! I waited until Thomas got out of class and assured him that it would be easy for he and our friend Ben to push the truck out of the ditch. When they arrived, they gave it one look and thanked me for thinking they were so strong, but they'd never be able to push it out. Therefore we had to call our friend Will to come in his large vehicle to come pull the truck out with one of those big fire hoses. And I am the laughing stock of our household. Which means only Thomas laughs at me every time he passes that ditch.

O Christmas Tree

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in awhile. Things have been crazy. We did go get our Christmas tree the day after the loss to South Carolina. Thomas needed some rejuvenation so we headed to the Merry Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our very own. My family used to pile (all 6 of us!) into the cab of the truck and go cut one down at the local tree farm every year, but Thomas had never been. They had too many allergies in their house. :) Thomas was pretty excited about getting to be a "real man" and cut the tree down himself. We had to find a small one because we have very little room in our house, but this one was perfect.

The best part of our time at the Merry Christmas Tree Farm was that we knew one of the people working there. He insisted on showing us around the 40+ acres, and much to Thomas' chagrin, we actually walked the entire property. Okay so not the ENTIRE property, but we were sweating by the end of the walk and Thomas kept reminding me how many calories he burned in the game the day before. All in all, it was a wonderful trip and a great way to get our minds off of the loss.

Seeing as our tree from Food Lion last year fell over THREE times, we were determined this tree be firmly screwed into its tree stand. After about 30 minutes of bickering about whether it was ready to be decorated or not, we were satisfied. Decorations? Check. Lights? Check? Star atop the tree? Check. Four days later, our tree was no longer upright. However, the poor little thing didn't fall down, it just slumped forward, and seemed to be saying: "help! Give me a push back in the right direction." But being the NON perfectionists that we are, the tree is slumped forward to this day. I've had good intentions of propping it up with a book or brick or some solid object, but just haven't done it. Last night, we decided that the tree has been slumped for so long, we're just going to leave it the way it is. Perhaps I'll post a picture of the pathetic thing later this week.


This was my favorite part of the Merry Christmas Tree Farm:

2 posts in one week!

I know, this is a huge deal that I am posting twice in one week, but I HAD to share this recipe. Some of the other player's girlfriend's and I made this last night for about 20 guys and they loved it. It's hard to figure out what can be made in bulk without compromising flavor, and this turned out perfect.

Red Beans and Rice

1 package Turkey Kielbasa, chopped (we used 10 packages:))
1 onion
1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 tsp cumin, or to taste
1 tbsp butter
2 c. bismati rice, cooked according to package directions

1. Heat butter in skillet. Add onions and saute until lightly browned.
2. Add kielbasa and saute until hot.
3. Add kidney beans, cooked rice and cumin and mix until heated through.

That's it. So. Stinkin'. Easy. We served it with cornbread and the boys went wild over it.

Par for the Course

Here we are documenting our hilarious lives. In case you aren't already aware, Thomas was injured in Saturday's game against NC State. He hasn't experienced a "serious" injury since we've been married, so I was having a slight panic attack in the stands when someone notified me #65 was down. I had no clue what to do or where to go after I saw him go off the field on crutches, so I did what the other man in my life (my father) said to do, aka "stay put and stop worrying." Yeah, right. 5 minutes of me sitting with my head between my legs later, I received a text from an unknown number saying "hey its Thomas, what's up?" WHAT'S UP?! THAT'S ALL YOU'VE GOT?! Funny husband, really funny. Long story short, Thomas sprained the middle part of his left foot. Happy Birthday Thomas...

I'd already asked Coach Swinney if Thomas could ride home with me for an extra special birthday present, and I was planning to take him for his first visit to Ruth's Chris. However, we just couldn't see ourselves traipsing into an upscale restaurant with Thomas on crutches, in sweats, and with a special ice machine in tow. Sadly, I called and cancelled the reservations. We ate at Outback instead. Thomas was happy because he said he didn't know what he was missing at Ruth's Chris....what a shame.

I told Thomas I would do whatever I needed to do this week to help him get on the field for the UVA game, which will be his final home game . In sickness and in health..... right?? I began regretting this statement about .5 seconds after I found myself getting ready for church Sunday morning in the West End Zone locker room as I waited for Thomas to get treatment on his foot. Since then he has gone to treatment 4x a day (beginning at 5:45am), and needed me to drive him places at precisely the most inconvenient times. I've reminded myself many times this week that this is just the "normal" that the Lord saw fit for our lives. It is not that different or unique from anyone else's, and we're just called to be prepared for anything and roll with the punches.

9x13 Appetizers

I'm not sure if I've said this before, but fajita night in our 3ftX6ft kitchen is CHAOS. Add to that the fact that these boys can put away TWO 9x13 appetizers every single week. Add to that the fact that 5 boys ate an entire appetizer before anyone else arrived and dug into the second before I could stop them. Thankfully my friend Brooke intervened and hid the second appetizer so when the rest of the guys arrived they could actually have some.



The aftermath:





This week I threw the appetizer into aluminum pans because the dishes are just too much to handle. The guys BEG me to make it every week and I can't let them down. It really is so easy for a large crowd, and not too bad for the arteries either. Here is the beloved recipe:





8oz. cream cheese, softened (I use fat free and they can't tell the difference)


2 cans turkey chili


2 c. shredded cheddar cheese





-spread the cream cheese in the bottom of a 9x13 Pyrex. Pour the chili on top. Spread the cheddar on as the final layer.


-bake at 350 for 20 minutes.


-be sure to cool the appetizer for about 5 minutes. Just ask Thomas' taste buds....



And last but not least, here is a picture of what the guys do post-fajitas.

Everyone sits around as four people play Mario Cart. I'm sure this is a load of fun for the four people playing Mario Cart, but for the rest of us its B-O-R-I-N-G. But for some reason, they all sit around and watch each other play anyway and yell and scream and make all the dogs in our neighborhood bark. So, I guess I'm the only one who thinks its boring.

When it rains, it pours

Remember how Thomas' truck was in the shop for 3 1/2 months this past summer?? Well, we finally got it back about a month ago, and it still isn't back to normal. He was going to take it to another shop yesterday to get a second opinion, but never found the time. Well good thing he didn't take the truck, because someone pulled out in front of me yesterday and ruined the front end of the Camry! The best part was, the accident happened about 5 feet in front of the West End Zone, so every coach, player, secretary or anybody else who walked out of the WEZ saw me during the hour it took the police to write the accident report. Although I wasn't at fault for the wreck, the other guy moved his car so that others could pass by, so it looked like I was standing next to my car in the WEZ all alone because I had done something wrong. Everyone was coming over to ask me if I was alright, and someone went to get Thomas out of his meeting. It was chaos. The right front of my car is ruined and I couldn't even drive it, so I had to wait even longer for the tow truck. WHAT IS OUR LIFE?! Thankfully I can drive Thomas' truck, minus the fact that it shakes like a freak show every time you stop at a stop light.

In other news, we won against the #8 team in the nation in Miami on Saturday, in case you didn't already know. It was such an amazing game, Thomas even caught the ball for .25 seconds before realizing he would get penalized for being an ineligible receiver. The temperature at the game was only 84, but the weather said it felt like 104 and the humidity was 90%! It was exhausting for everyone involved.

The trip was hilarious for me as I traveled with 3 girls who date different players. We were planning to go to South Beach and see all the sights of Miami, but long story short, after our initial $40 taxi ride, we never made it to South Beach or even downtown Miami at all. We stayed where the team stayed at Shula's in Miami Lakes. Thankfully it had a great little downtown area and plenty of places to eat. So in order to make up for this trip to "Miami" in which we never saw the REAL Miami, we're hoping to play in the Orange Bowl on January 5th. You should come.

Here we are in our post-game bliss. I literally almost jumped on top of Thomas I was so excited.

Train Ride Extravaganza

First and foremost: Jacoby credited his huge catch the other day to the AUSTIN's Fajitas. Thank you Jacoby, for making me feel as if the chaos at our house on Thursday nights is worth it! This was the scene last Thursday night. I'd made the idiotic statement, "I hope more guys show up tonight for fajitas because we have so much food!" Well, about 25 guys showed up and our 3x6 kitchen had me sweating. Every time I needed to open the oven I had to shout "everyone please back up 3 steps!" It was wonderfully chaotic. Needless to say, all the food was gone.

Second, we went apple picking with Jordan and Sarah Kathryn Sorrells over fall break. It was a blast. I think Thomas and Jordan had the most fun. Here they are picking apples to throw at the chickens that were wandering around the property:
Great teamwork boys. I really must apologize to anyone whose children witnessed them throwing the apples at the chickens. It was horrifying. Thankfully no chickens were injured. However, Thomas did talk me into buying HALF A BUSHEL of apples for $15. He's already eaten the majority of the apples.

Now, on to the main reason I am writing. I've said we shouldn't travel any more because of all the chaotic things that happen to us when we do, but we happen to have a life that calls for lots of travel, therefore lots of chaos.

I rode the train last week. From Washington D.C. to Clemson, SC. I want you to know I did not ride the train voluntarily. I have an older sister who can talk me into doing almost anything. When we were little, she would coerce me into cleaning her room and make it sound FUN. She still has that power over me.

My dad had surgery in Baltimore, MD and I went up last week for the surgery. My sister and her family had been in Georgia for a wedding so they were able to pick me up on their way back to D.C. I was planning to fly back to SC on Thursday, but my sister happened upon an Amtrack ticket for just $87. It left D.C. at 6:30pm Wednesday evening arrived in Clemson at 5:30am the next morning. It all sounded wonderful when she explained it over the phone: walk to the train station from her house, read, eat and sleep on the train, arrive in Clemson where Thomas could pick me up...all for the low price of $87!! It was too good to be true, so I agreed.

The first time I realized this was a mistake was when I boarded the train. Jeannie told me I would have a seat to myself, room to stretch out etc. FALSE. The train was PACKED. I had to scramble for a seat. Thankfully, I chose to sit down next to the cheeriest looking person I could find, and we hit it off instantly. She was a personal trainer so I got some great tips in our 11 hours together. Mark that down as the only positive thing about my train ride.

My sister had been so kind as to provide a pillow and a blanket for me to use on the trip. The pillow was great. However, the blanket was one that she'd planned on giving away to Goodwill, and I found out why. A. it was HUGE. B. it was WOOL. C. it was SCRATCHY. D. it was TERRIBLY HOT. But if you know anything about me, you know that a blanket is crucial for sleeping because it makes me feel safe. So, I had to suffer under the weight of this awful blanket, minus the 5 minute intervals when I tossed it off to get some air.

My sister had also been so kind as to advise me NOT to take an Advil PM. She said someone might steal my belongings while I was zonked. Therefore, I slept about 2 of the 11 hours on board the train. I tossed and turned (as much as you can from a train seat) and I had NOTHING to do after they turned the cabin lights out at 11pm.

The climax of this trip occurred when we arrived in Charlotte, NC at 2 a.m. Of course I was awake, so I was happy to see we seemed to be running ahead of schedule. Much to my chagrin, we proceeded to sit in Charlotte for the next thirty minutes. At 2:30, the conductor walked down the aisle shouting "last call for Charlotte, this is the only smoke break." Ohhhhhhh, I get it. We'd been sitting there for 30 minutes so that people could smoke themselves to death. Makes perfect sense. As I was thinking this, a larger lady sitting across the aisle from me stood up and said "oh %$#@ nobody told me this was the smoke break! Help me get my smokes out!" I looked at the conductor like "no way, you're going to tell her she missed the break, right??" He looked back at me helplessly and proceeded to get her back down for her. We waited another fifteen minutes for her to smoke her life away, then FINALLY began moving again.

I arrived in Clemson at 5:39am, fell into bed at 6am, woke up at 10am and then called my sister to say "next time you have a 'great idea' I will remember what I feel like right now."

All this to say, she did make me a really wonderful ham sandwich for my train ride. And let me borrow her ipod shuffle for the train ride. But still, I'll never ride the train again.....

Snakes=Satan

If you know anything about my dear husband Thomas, you know that he is deathly afraid of snakes. When I say deathly, I mean that he would sacrifice MY life in order to get away from a snake. I'm not joking here--we should've written something about snakes into our marriage vows, something like: "In sickness and in health, and in case a snake crosses our path." Once, Thomas pushed me closer to a snake so that he could run away. Another time, he attacked my roommate Katie with a wire coat hanger because she held a dead snake near him.

The most recent snake incident came the other night when my friend Brooke was leaving our house around 11pm. She came back into the house and calmly said "umm, y'all have a snake on your porch," to which Thomas and I both jumped onto the couches. Now, it's alright for me to be afraid of snakes because I'm a girl. But Thomas was literally crouched on the arm of the couch so that he could SEE the snake but didn't have to put his feet on the ground. Meanwhile, Brooke is laughing hysterically. Thomas began ordering Brooke around like a sergeant, telling her how to kill the snake with a 5lb bucket that was also on the porch. Brooke is perhaps one of the sweetest folks we know, so the thought of killing the harmless black snake was appalling to her. However, Thomas insisted that she raise the bucket and attempt to smash the snake with all her might. Brooke turned into an amazon woman for 2.5 seconds and brought the bucket down with the strength of Goliath. The snake flopped off of the side of the porch and has not been seen since.

Thomas now considers Brooke his lifelong hero.

The best part of the whole story is yet to come: I woke up at 7am the next morning to find Thomas flailing about in bed, screaming in his sleep. I knocked him as hard as I could to wake him up, and he breathlessly told me he was having a nightmare in which Brooke dumped a 5lb bucket full of snakes over his head. This dream has now occurred 3 times, only now he dreams that he shoots the snakes with a machine gun. Which is annoying for me, because the flailing about and shouting in his sleep continues...

We Should Just Stop Traveling

First things first: I woke up with fever the morning of the Boston College game. I am such a smart person when it comes to medical things such as this, I decided to take some meds and "ignore" my fever. It just so happened to be the day Clemson set a school record, and not in touchdowns or rushing yards: the game was delayed TWICE due to rain. Therefore, my fever only worsened and by Monday night, I had what was semi-confirmed to be H1N1. It was a horrible 2 days on the couch watching the only channel we get, WYFF 4. I can tell you ALL of the local happenings, things you do and do not want to know. I have been fever-free for 24 hours so this is a good thing.

One exciting development this week has been this bruise on Thomas' arm. This colossal thing popped up after the BC game. Supposedly Andre Ellington's helmet did this:

Ok the other exciting event happened Sunday morning. Thomas was scheduled to speak at an athletic retreat Toccoa, GA. By the time we arrived in Toccoa around 10:45am, we were driving 15mph. The streets were filled with rushing water. The retreat director called to tell us to turn around because the bridge to the retreat was under 4 feet of water. Being the stubborn folks that we are, we thought SURELY we could just wade across the water (all for the Lord right?!) When we arrived, this is what we saw:

If you look closely, you can see where the bridge is definitely under water. Being the determined York girl that I am--I rolled up my pants legs and attempted to wade across. Needless to say, I made it about 4 feet before I turned around. We got back in the car and this was what we had to drive through on the local highway:
This made me love the Camry even more. She was very trusty in these circumstances! Thomas began to panic for fear that we would get stuck in the car in Toccoa, GA. Therefore, he did what every trusty offensive lineman would do and he stopped to buy chips. 2 bags of them at that--just in case!

We are defintely thankful to be alive, but came to the conclusion that we should just stay home for the rest of our lives. Terrible things happen to us when we travel.

Singe Lashes, Singe Pizza

Well, my sister accused me of being BORING for not having posted since mid-July. I was highly offended!

Here are some highlights from the past 2 months:

-Margaret going to multiple scrimmages and sweating immensely in Death Valley to support her man in the hot August sun. I stand by my man, do you stand by yours??

-Thomas participating in a fake aka scripted fight during the last scrimmage. This was in order to demonstrate for the Freshies how worthless it is to fight during a game and get yourself kicked out of not one but two games. I hope my husband took his own lesson to heart........

-Going to Frankie's Fun Park for a 7 year-old's birthday party. Watching Thomas do a front roll to avoid getting hit while playing Lazer Tag=priceless.

-Thomas making a "B" in yoga. I told him if he made a "B" it would mean I could publicly ridicule him. So I'm taking this opportunity to do so. All he had to do was A. attend class 3x a week. B. participate in class. C. make a body chart. Thomas procrastinated on making the body chart (simply tracing an outline of your body onto butcher paper). He procrastinated so long, he FORGOT. Therefore, he received a "B" for yoga. Feel free to email or call him to ridicule him further.

-Thomas, Michael Palmer, and Mason Cloy on a 2hour local radio talk show. Anyone could call in and ask questions. I called in an hour and 45 minutes into the show and asked when Thomas was coming home.

The most recent event, and perhaps the funniest, would be my cooking adventures last night. I'm mastering the art of grilling (grilled 17 lbs of chicken breast for our last fajita night--by myself!) but I haven't gotten the full hang of it yet. Last night I was really excited to surprise Thomas with grilled pizza. We usually do take-out pizza on Sunday nights, but in an effort to save $$ I decided to make it myself.

I proceeded turn the grill on. I got the gas going and moved to lighting the burners. However, I forgot that the middle burner must be turned on first in order to ignite the others. I found out that this step is crucial because shortly after I turned on ALL FOUR BURNERS and hit ignite, a huge WHOOSH of flames lept out of the grill. When I say huge, I mean HUGE. Oh, if only you could've seen me. I was convinced I was on the verge of burning our back porch down, so I searched frantically for any flames that may have gotten loose. None. Breathing a sigh of relief, I thought how fortunate I was to have come away unscathed.

I put the pizza on the grill and checked on it religiously for the next 8 minutes or so. After the last check, I thought "ok I can leave this for a bit and come back." False. When I came back about 5 minutes later, the pizza had burned to the grill. Like, the bars of the grill were part of the pizza. After scraping away the remainders, Thomas walked in to find his dejected wife mourning the failed pizza. Being the resourceful offensive lineman and husband that he is, he suggested scraping the toppings off (they weren't burned) and transferring them to another pizza crust. It wasn't quite as tasty as it could've been, but it was still edible.

Shortly after dinner, I walked into the bathroom and discovered, to my horror, that the tips of my eyelashes were white! SINGED. I began looking at the rest of my body and found that the hairs on my arms were singed, along with the hair on the front of my head! I can't even explain to you the trauma that occurred in our home. Thomas sat reading while I ran in every 2 minutes to remind him to be thankful I was alive--and that he was a horrible husband for not even NOTICING the singed hairs all over the parts of my body that were anywhere near the grill.

That's all for now folks.

Thomas Austin for Outland

First and foremost, we are official Chick-Fil-A Ambassadors. Yes, that's right--as if we weren't already telling everyone we know how wonderful Chick-Fil-A is, we are now officially OBLIGATED to. Somehow, we got invited to the private opening of the Chick-Fil-A in Clemson two nights ago. There was a red carpet where we got our picture taken with the Chick-Fil-A cow, and best of all, there was free Chick-Fil-A. I wish you could've seen how happy my husband was. His cheekbones are still hurting because he was grinning from ear to ear for 2 hours straight. He ate about 30 chicken nuggets (literally), an original chicken sandwich with fries, a slice of cheesecake, and a cookies and cream milkshake. Then, on our way out, the owner handed him a bag containing SEVEN chicken sandwiches. Oh, the sheer joy. The best part of all was the fact that Thomas' strength coach was also at the party, periodically reminding Thomas that "you reap what you sow." Obviously, Thomas was not deterred and he is still hoping to sponsor his very own Chick-Fil-A one day.

Other things to note as of late: Thomas' truck has been in the shop for TWO MONTHS. That's right. TWO. Here is a photo of the truck. It has been sitting like this each and every time we've gone by to check on the progress. It's the one with the hood up. And the doors unlocked.

Because of this predicament, Thomas has been riding his moped 100% of the time. And the most unbelievable thing happened last Friday night. Thomas got pulled over. On his moped. By a female cop. FOR GOING 38 IN A 25! Did I mention he was on the moped? Being the polite gentleman that he is, his conversation with the officer went like so:

Thomas: Ma'am, I am not trying to call you a liar, but my moped cannot go over 35mph unless I am going downhill, and I happened to be going uphill when you stopped me. It really cannot be possible that I was going 38mph.

Thankfully, Thomas did not get a ticket, but she did take the time to give him a written warning. I do not think this lady was very popular in junior high.

Last but not least, we're selling our very own poster of Thomas Austin, #65. I'm not sure if you've heard or not, but there is a "CJ Spiller for Heisman" campaign going on in Clemson. We got our feelings hurt that there were so many people scrambling for CJ Spiller posters, so we started our own "Thomas Austin for Outland" campaign. There is only ONE poster available, so it's first come, first serve. Here is a photo of the poster. It's definitely life sized. And definitely available for a limited time only!

We obviously do not have the internet

Sorry--I can't really keep up with this blogging thing without Al Gore's Internet. We DO get a little bit of wireless in our front yard, but the neighbors really stare when we sit on the stump out front to check our email. We're probably not considered the coolest people on our block.

Here a few of the happenings in our life lately: last night we had a cookout for the football team. Coach Napier contacted Thomas last week to give him the heads up that skills and drills would be cancelled, so we planned a cookout. About 75 people showed up. Thank goodness we bought 60 lbs of ground beef and 320 hot dogs at Sam's. Of course, I was right and we had way too much food, but I think Thomas thrives off of cramming food into our freezer. The cookout was a success. I made an endless amount of hamburger patties by hand while Thomas dominated the grill. The football team took over the common area of the Woodlands Apartment complex as all 70-something people dominated the volleyball and pool area. It was a tad overwhelming but lots of fun. Pictures to follow.

I am by no means aspiring to have a cooking blog, but I did want to include this "recipe" for grilled corn. Makes my mouth watering just thinking about it. Our friend Chuck Perry found the recipe and we've now had grilled corn 3 nights in a row.

1. Shuck 6 ears of corn.

2. Melt 1/4 stick of unsalted butter.

3. Add 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, a dash of sea salt, garlic powder and 2 T. of chopped fresh basil to the melted butter. Whisk lightly.

4. Use a basting brush to evenly coat the ears of corn with the butter mixture.

5. Grill on medium heat for 15 minutes, turning once.

I just killed a huge tree

I'm currently sitting in the computer lab on campus. I just broke the printer because I tried to print 600+ pages. Before you judge me, let me defend myself for a millisecond by telling you I DID try to print front and back. But when I realized it was printing out a 100 page bible study only on the front side, there wasn't much I could do to stop the printer. I also could not stop the printer when some girl attempted to print one page from the public printer that I happened to be hogging. Poor thing. She waited for me while I made SIX sets of the 100 page bible study. I apologized profusely, wishing I could crawl under the table and hide as she glared at me and said "what class is that for?" I didn't have the heart to tell her I don't even go here anymore, much less that I was killing trees for the Lord. It took 15 minutes to complete the print job. After my papers were finished, I realized the printer was out of ink. Again, I wanted a super power in order to make myself invisible. Too bad I'm still here an hour later, waiting for the maintenance man.
In order to entertain myself, I'm thinking about the fact that Thomas is sitting in geology lab. Yes friends, in order to graduate from our beloved Clemson University, Thomas Adam Austin V must take a one hour geology lab to fulfill his science requirements. You have no idea the joy this brings me. Especially when I walked into our house the other day to find him sitting at the table, magnifying glass in hand, peering at his rock collection. Pictures soon to follow, I assure you.

That girl needs to check her bag.

I was home for a total of 3 days before it was time to leave again. We went to Mr. Ramsey's funeral in Greensboro on Monday, which entailed a caravan of about 12 football guys who wanted to be there for Ben. It meant so much to him (and to us) that they all came. We made two stops for food in the three hour journey. On average every hour and a half. Totally unnecessary. Hardee's and Krispy Kreme. Roughly 1000 calories per boy. That's half of my daily caloric need.

Wednesday I packed up again to head to D.C. to visit with my newest niece and namesake MARGARET JOY. She's a beauty: More on her later. I flew out of Charlotte, which meant my mother had to drop me off at the airport. This entailed an outrageous scene where she literally stuffed baby clothes into my sweaty running shoes so that she could send more things to my sister. This included her shoving a half gallon of strawberries from my uncle's produce farm into my purse. Oh, and did I mention she put sugar snap peas ON ICE into my suitcase? I was only taking one carry-on, mind you. I'd already packed light, but this was outrageous. I was dreading the scene that would take place when I actually tried to get through security like so. Jeannie insisted on taking a photo of the produce:

Security was a breeze. It took all of four minutes. Unfortunately, I thought I was in the clear with all the produce and baby items. Not so. When I boarded the plane, I realized my suitcase was too large to fit in the overhead bin. This realization came at the exact moment when everyone gets that frantic look in their eye as they scramble to get out of the way of the other passengers attempting to board. I saw no other option but to sit down and hold my suitcase while I thought of plan B. My suitcase was simply too high to fit into the bin. I began inwardly blaming my mother for this predicament as I stuffed baby clothes into my purse. On try #2, it still didn't fit. People were staring and muttering "that girl needs to check her bag." I was sweating. My face was red. I sat down again, thinking of the $20 down the drain if I had to check the bag. I had to do the unthinkable and pull all of my personal undergarments out of the top pouch that was causing the whole problem. I quickly shoved them into my purse along with the baby clothes, strawberries and snow peas. The stewardess was quickly approaching. Someone must have warned her about me. Try #3. It worked! Remarkably, the suitcase fit into the overhead. I sat down traumatized. Needless to say, my sister was elated when she received all the goodies. I'm slowly but surely getting over the incident.

In other news, my niece is 100% adorable. My sister and brother in law are doing a fantastic job as they learn this whole parenting gig. I've been trying to help Jeannie get a little sleep so this morning Margaret slept in the bed with me for two hours. It was glorious. I babysat today while Jeannie and Jesse went on their first date since 'lil Margie was born. She started fading towards the end of our special alone time, and was basically wailing her lungs out. She suddenly grabbed my thumb and held it next to her face for comfort. Thankfully Jeannie walked in just in time to get a great picture:Margaret and I have gone on long walks around the capitol every day in her fancy stroller. On the other hand, Thomas is most likely eating Super Taco and Seneca Family Restaurant each day of my absence....

Home again...or not

I don't know where to begin about our trip home. Most of you know about the situation with Ben Ramsey's dad. We were so thankful the Lord orchestrated things so that we happened to be and hour and a half away from the hospital and were able to be with Ben and his family throughout that time of grief. It is a comfort to know that Tom Ramsey is with his Heavenly Father. From our time with his family, it was so evident that his life reflected the glory of the Lord. What a testimony that he taught his children so much and had such a wonderful relationship with his family. I keep telling Ben to concentrate on the traits about his dad that he respected so much. Maybe later Ben will let me post the "Tom Ramsey Top Ten Financial Rules" in his honor!
We left the hospital around 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon. We drove 9 hours to Kansas City. We then stopped at IHOP at 10pm for dinner. It was my first time. Let me just say, if you've been riding in the car that long, and you're married to an offensive lineman, IHOP can truely become a fine dining experience.
Back in the car, Thomas was fixated on sleeping in a tent at least one night. Thanks to Coach Scott REMINDING Thomas that I deserve better....we stayed at the Comfort Inn and I must say, as picky as I am about hotels, the sheets were AMAZING. End of story. The next day we headed South for a ten hour drive to Camp Desoto where I'd worked the summer after my freshman year. Some of the mishaps on this leg of the trip: waiting until 2pm to eat lunch at Cracker Barrel aka bad moods because of extreme hunger; our GPS taking us to a non-existent Chick-fil-A for supper; me beating my extremely competitive husband at "The Alphabet Game" right before we pulled into Camp. My good friend Emily Shuler hooked us up with a great cabin for the night. We slept with the doors open and could hear the little waterfall the entire night. Great sleep. The next morning Emily and Sarah Hurt fixed us breakfast at the farm that camp owns. Here are some of the newborn babies at the farm:


We FINALLY arrived home Thursday afternoon at 5:30. I immediately dove into the wedding festivities for my good friend Sarah Kathryn. A truely hilarious occasion. After SEVEN years of dating, Sarah Kathryn finally got to marry Jordan. Praise the Lord. Sunday I read a mindless book in bed from 1:30 in the afternoon until 6:30 that evening while Thomas played a video game. Maybe its just us, but we think we deserved the restful few hours.

Drumroll please.....THE INCLINE

We did it!!!! We officially completed The Incline, also known as The Vertical Mile. It's a solid MILE of steps. Doesn't sound that bad, right? Beforehand, Thomas and I discussed the fact that we can "do anything for one mile." Not so. Come to find out--Thomas is terrified of heights and I have zero mental toughness. I stopped for air as often as possible. We hiked it with Keri and Nicole. Keri, the one who had a baby 13 months ago, kicked all of our butts! Sweet Nicole stuck with me, even though she does The Incline like once a week. We finished it in around an hour, thanks to Micah and Skylar who cheered us on from the baby backpack. They'd hiked the 4 mile path that zig-zags up the mountain. Here are Keri, Skylar and Micah at the peak. They've been our gracious hosts for like ten days now:


On Friday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and The Air Force Academy. At the zoo, we found out that people will not park in a parking spot while an offensive lineman stands guard. Parking was a nightmare, so Thomas stood in an empty spot, while holding Skylar, while chatting on the phone. People gave him horrible, dirty looks, but no one attempted to park here....Here we are at the Air Force Academy where it was FREEZING. I was not dressed appropriately for the altitude/gale force winds. We met up with Ben Ramsey and his family at the Welcome Center. His brother-in-law, Jay, is helping open up a Chick-Fil-A in Colorado so his whole family came for a visit! Although we see them regularly, there is just something about seeing people you know in a faraway place.
The only other notable event took place for about nine hours today. Micah slaved over the grill, making homemade ribs for all of us. We ate them tonight after smelling them alllll day. Micah and Thomas reverted into cave-man mode, grunting and gnawing at piles of ribs. Keri, Nicole and I watched in horrified silence, fearful for our lives. Now, they're continuing "man time" by laying on the floor and watching Saturday Night Life re-runs.

These are the Rockies, right??

I'll try to outline the highlights of our Colorado trip thus far. It has been absolutely amazing! Keri, Micah, Skylar and Nicole are wonderful hosts and have shown us a great time.
Saturday morning we went to watch Micah's brother-in-law Andy participate in a triathlon at the Air Force Academy. It was a dreary day with lots of fog, but apparently our cheering did some good as Andy came in 2nd in his age group! Afterwards, Nicole took us to Chipotle, our new favorite burrito place. Way better than Moes. Not even a close second. The cilantro-lime rice is to die for! We didn't do much Saturday afternoon or Sunday as the weather was yucky. (Thomas and I were thankful for the time to catch up on some rest after our psycho cross-country trek.)
On Monday we toured the Olympic Training facility here in Colorado Springs.It was cool to see all the athletes in training. Many of them spend 3-5 years at the training center, perfecting their sport. Thomas especially loved meeting Brandon Slay, the 2000 wrestling gold medalist. To be honest, I was thrilled to hear that Olympic swimmers the AquaJogger. Although I doubt they flail and sputter in the water quite the same way I do...
As much as I enjoyed the Olympic facility, Barracuda Bazaar was the highlight of my day. It makes me sad that I live so far away and can't check out their weekly shipments. Keri, Nicole and I dug through the clothes while Micah and Thomas looked at a book about...cracks. They're quite mature.
Tuesday we hiked around in the Garden of the Gods. Such a neat place. But really very strange to see all the orange rocks in the middle of Colorado Springs. Then, Thomas and I headed up to Spring Canyon, where we stayed in the honeymoon cabin for 2 nights! On the way there, we had disaster #689439845 of our trip when Thomas clogged up the toilet in a diner in some tiny ghost town. He said he had two choices: run from the scene, or own up and ask for a plunger. He chose option 2 while I sat with a couple of old chain smokers in the corner. Pretty hilarious.
After we finally made it to Spring Canyon, we had the most relaxing time and of course, ate wonderful food. Fabulous brick oven pizza at Amicas and dinner at Tennessee Pass Cafe in the highest city in America, Leadville, Colorado. Oh, and did I mention we ate at Kay's hamburger joint in Buena Vista THREE TIMES?? We'd heard how great it was, but it's so good it doesn't even have a website. On our way back to Colorado Springs, we stopped at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It wasn't exactly "on our way" back--it was 2 hours out of the way. I was in a horrible mood, frequently reminding Thomas that I thought the sand dunes would be man made and a scam. It turned out to be one of the most bizarre places I've ever been. Definitely worth the trip through the middle of no where. Here are some photos from our time thus far.

Pictures don't do the scenery justice. But this lake was very close to Spring Canyon. Can you tell how bizarre the Sand Dunes are?? Snowy peaks in the background. Enormous Sand Dunes. A river. What more can you wish for?

Thomas with the deer carcass we found while hiking in Sand Dunes National Park. K's fine dining. Our favorite.

We made it.

Astonishingly, we made it to Colorado Springs in one piece. We took the northern route passing through Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City, and finally Colorado Springs.
We've always joked that we'd love to be BBQ critics. Little did we know Road Trip 2k9 would turn into just that. We had BBQ from two distinctly different (but equally fantastic) hole-in-the-wall joints. Sugar's Ribs in Chattanooga was more my style with 4 sweet sauces and the most amazing grilled okra I've ever tasted. I had the pulled pork which was exactly that--8 oz of pork that had fallen straight from the bone onto my plate. Thomas opted for the half rack of ribs, much more his style as he was able to gnaw the meat straight from the bone, with perfectly moist grilled cornbread sticks on the side. We left Sugar's entirely satisfied. Here is Thomas enjoying ribs:

We stayed the night in East St. Louis with folks we've met once. That's right. The Austin's have no fear when asking for free things, including a warm bed. Shane and Kristin are working in East St Louis with an inner-city ministry called Rebirth International, and were incredibly hospitable. (Jeannie--we slept in a double bed and had a GREAT night's rest. It is possible for a combined total of 450 lbs to sleep well. Anywhere.) We were encouraged hearing about their ministry and the things the Lord has done thus far.
The next morning we toured the Anheuser-Bush Brewery in downtown St. Louis, thoroughly enjoying the free beer at the end. We'd planned to visit the St. Louis Zoo, but it was raining so that didn't seem very attractive. Thomas mentioned the fact that we were a total of 12 hours from his sister's house in Colorado Springs. We both got a wild look in our eyes........
We were planning on spening Friday night in Ft. Leavenworth. Instead, we decided to leave St. Louis at 12 Central time, cramming down turkey sandwiches from our cooler. People kept calling us and telling us we were crazy. My brother related driving across Kansas to "4-5 hours of Purgatory." These things only spurred us onward.
Took a pit stop in Kansas City for more BBQ at Arthur Bryant's. The portions were colossal. It reminded me of The Beacon in Spartanburg. The man taking my order stressed me out as he stared me down and yelled "whaddya want?!" Meanwhile, Thomas chatted it up with the locals, finding out what he should order. He got smoked ham and beef briscuit. Piles and piles of it. Since I hadn't asked anyone what to order, I got a BBQ sandwich. I love sauce, but there was entirely too much on this for one sandwich. The homemade dill pickles and french fries made up for it. I had to drag Thomas away after he said he wanted ANOTHER sandwich. Look how much meat is on there!
Things were uneventful until I-70 began leveling out in western Kansas. We began playing this newlywed game we've never had time for. I was driving and lost track of my speed. I'm sort of notorious for my lead foot, and this was no exception. Thomas had mentioned this fact quite a few times throughout the last 300 miles, but we were having such a good time answering quiz questions, neither one of us saw the blue lights. The police officer waltzed up to my window. This was no ordinary police officer. Long story short, Thomas ended up sitting IN THE POLICE CAR with the officer, chatting about the best route to Colorado Springs. Meanwhile, I was doubled over with laughter in the Camry, confident this man was NOT giving me a ticket. Not so. Apparently this guy gets his kicks making people like me think they're off the hook, then slapping them with a $135 ticket and a "have a nice trip now will ya?" The only thing that negated this horrible human being was the fact that the cashier at our next gas stop gave us chewy SweetTarts. Free of charge. A surefire way to our hearts.
Thomas insisted we follow the horrible police officer's directions. He'd claimed it would cut 45 miles off of our trip, informing us that our GPS would "lie" to us and send us another way. Turns out, the police officer also gets his kicks from sending unsuspecting folks through parts of Kansas with literally no civilization. It reminded me of this scene from North by Northwest. No towns, no gas stations, no houses, no lights. Just land. Amazingly, we arrived at Keri and Micah's at 11:30 pm Friday night.

The Last Four Months

Didn’t go anywhere for another two months. Then we headed to Charleston for Spring Break. A friend had generously offered us his condo on the Ashley River (just one of the perks of being married in college.) Day 1: Thomas sat on the glorious king-sized bed. It broke. We ran to Lowes to get boards for make-shift slats. Lowes did not have a working saw. They referred us to Home Depot across the street, where we discovered Thomas’ estimation was one inch too short. The slats fell straight through the bed. We put the mattress on the floor and slept there the rest of the week. Day 2: We ran into my dentist at church. He and his wife graciously took us to dinner at Blossom Cafe. Another blessing of being married in college. Day 3: raining so we went to the aquarium. Ate “supper” at 4pm at Bubba Gumps because in the words of Thomas Austin “it just smells so good. Let’s cancel our reservations at ___name of fancy restaurant____ and just eat here.” Day 3: Cypress Gardens in Monks Corner. Canoed through a swamp full of alligators, azaleas, and camellias . Dream come true for me. Day 4: On our way to ride bikes, Thomas glanced over at the GPS for directions, only to smash into the front of a car in the left lane. Inside the car were two 79 year-old women on their way to visit a dying friend in the hospital. We felt horrible, especially since the front bumper of their car fell off and there was not even one scratch on Thomas’ truck. We waited for the policeman to fill out the accident report while I attempted to drop facts about Thomas being a Clemson football player. Hey, you gotta use that to your advantage when you can…. however, these laides were clueless and probably hadn’t even heard of Clemson much less football. They did invite us to church that night for St. Patty’s Day supper.

Am I still on Day 4?? Yes, because after we hit the old ladies, it was time for our cooking class. We’d been looking forward to it all week, only to find that I’d registered us for the WRONG DAY. No refund. Did I mention no refund? $50 down the drain. We headed to drown our sorrows at “The Wreck,” a fabulous hole-in-the-wall seafood restaurant in Mount Pleasant. After finally finding the place, we discovered it was only open for dinner. We headed to restaurant No. 2 at 3:00 pm. Not hungry anymore because we’d waited so long. Rode bikes in Old Towne Mount Pleasant. Absolutely fabulous. Headed back to “The Wreck” for the long-awaited dinner. Also fabulous. Drove around for an hour looking for a movie theater that didn’t exist. Went back to condo to drown our sorrows in the sixth season of Friends (Thomas’ obsession.)

Day 5 and 6 were wonderfully uneventful.

Stuck around Clemson for another three weeks. I went to New Orleans for a presentation with my Global South/Dirty South class. Took my friend Caroline with me. Had a blast. Stayed in a random, slightly creepy, extremely old bed and breakfast called the St. Charles Guest House.

I got back just in time for the Spring Game. Uneventful like always. We headed to The Masters the next day (yes, we went to The Masters on Easter Sunday. My mother was horrified.) Split the two tickets with my brother and sister-in-law. We hung out at Starbucks for the AM while they attended the tournament. Thomas took a nap in their mini-van while I caught up on school. Thomas woke up quite confused by the automatic doors and proceeded to lock the keys in the mini-van. Good thing my AAA card still works from my days of being single. We waited for TWO HOURS as the system was backed up with calls from the greater Augusta area. Stupid Masters. Of course, we drowned our sorrows in the closest food establishment. Which was a Mexican Restaurant. Called El Charro or Los Bravos or Tres Amigos, I can’t remember. We ate “light” since we’d heard how great the food is at The Masters. Chicken quesadillas, chips and salsa. Thomas dumped the salsa all over my brother’s beloved Sports Illustrated. I threw my body in front of the trash can to keep him from throwing the magazine away. Daniel, you can thank me later.

I guess that gets you up-to-date on the events of our marriage thus far. My sister requested I start a blog for our two week trek to Colorado. I resisted. But after our twin mattress predicament and my time at Pendleton Tire watching Thomas eat Waffle King, I realized it had to be done. Not to mention the fact that I regularly feed anywhere from 2 to 30 football players at a time. But we won’t get into that. Sorry this first post is so long, but it was imperative that I give you some background before we officially begin our journey. By the way, they fixed our tire for just $19. Thank you, Pendleton Tire.