Should I Wear Orange?

This past weekend we were invited by our good friends the Fains to attend a UT Game. Against my better judgement, I accepted the offer. Let me start over.......We so wanted to be with our friends, that we accepted the offer. The first thing out of my mouth, being a loyal Ole Miss fan in a town inundated with ORANGE, was "Do I have to wear ORANGE?"

My sassy friend Tina replied on my facebook page "if you want tickets and a seat at the game, you better wear ORANGE!" I have to admit, before moving to the Metropolis of Knoxville, Tennessee, I LOVED the color ORANGE. I mean, I am a "Fall" and I look mahvelous is THE color. But this Ole Miss alum just could not bring herself to wear THE color no matter what. I would be a disgrace to my Ole Miss family and friends.

Jake and his friends in our "old seats"

Well, the day came (pouring down rain) and my Knight in Shining Armour called me with some lifesaving news.

My Knight in Shining Armour! in our plush seats.....


"Hey, I have some customers who just offered me 8 tickets to the game.......in the East Club"

How do you like me now?

Not being a UT fan and only gracing Neyland Stadium ......um.......two? times in our 5 football season life here, I had no idea what that meant. Well.......the East Club was like the Rebel Club.....just ORANGE. It means LOTS of good food, drink, and warm dry plush seating indoors, and covered plush seating outdoors.

Food, plush seating......and Tina got the kids in!

The view from the East Club

Roger (Jason's Boss Man and owner) and Amberly

My dilema was solved......no longer did I have to wear ORANGE. I had my OWN tickets......and they were GOOD!

Me, Tina, and Melanie.....no orange except a little on me! What the Heck???

I called up my sassy friend Tina and informed her of my POSH tickets and told her I now didn't have to wear ORANGE. I also asked if she, Paul, Dennis and Melanie would like to join us. Guess her answer.......YEP! And even she didn't wear ORANGE!

Them UT fans like thar ORANGE!

Mini Road Trip

THIS............

is the reason for the mini road trip.........MBG III

and maybe this..........

and this.........

Jamesen, Christian and I headed out at noon on friday for a quick road trip to Mississippi. We made sure that we crammed as much as possible into the 38 whole hours that we were there. First things first.......Jamesen HAD to go fishing.....rain or shine! Lately nothing but rain....he caught a nice size brem before the downpour hit......better than nothing!

After the rain subsided, Jamesen and Chrsitian spent time playing with a toy Mungy had gotten for the grandkids.......but we spent more time retrieving the missles from the trees than actually shooting them off.












After a few hours of what outdoor play we could get in, we headed in the house to check out what had been keeping Mungy so busy over the summer......

Look at all the lovely tomatoes and eggplant!!!!

This is the canning closet.......

and the wine cellar........

and the water cellar........

I guess if things go bad for this country, you will know where to find us! You should see the freezerS! Because of the lack of time and probably traction on the way down, we never got the chance to see the actual garden down in the upper pasture. It would have made ours look TINY, and I can't even keep up with it.

Here are a few of the critters at Mungy and Sandy's.........

This is Moses the kitty......this is where he "hides" when the grandkids come to town!!!!!

This is Mr. Tatoo.....he is a sneaky one......tires to trick eveyone into feeding him even when he has already been fed. He is nacho ordinary wiener dog......very docile and not the least bit uptight.....unlike our wiener dog. I somehow forgot to take pics of the other three amazing animals that live on Mungy and Sandy's 40 acre paradise......Heinz (know why he has this name.....great dog!) ,and the two fiest dogs with such crazy names, I can't remember.....but they are so cute!!!!

The next morning we were up and going by 7am.....that is 8am est. After a cup or two of coffee I was off to visit my sister Margaret and her precious family. She about killed me with an hour walk with uphill sprints all while pushing a double stroller with Charlie and Lucy.....weighing about 60 lbs. all together. With not much time for recovery, we were off to run errands for baby MBG III and his baptism. We made a quick trip to the mall to find her an outfit for the occasion and ended up with two and 4 pair of shoes......great looking shoes I must add!!!! After a quick drive through the drive thru for lunch and back to her abode, I was off to Eggville to take a quick shower before departing to Oxford to see the Ole Miss Rebels play some football....weather permitting.

This is the backside of the Jumbotron.....is that one word or two. Oh how I love Vaught-Hemingway stadium.....the sound of the Rebel fight song and Dixie playing in the distance.....

Mungy and the boys before the game.....look.....no rain!

This was the last pic I took......before I was able to enter the Elevator to the Rebel Club, I was told that I was not allowed to have a camera in the stadium. My how thing have changed since I was last at an Ole Miss game. I had to walk back to the car and lock it up......a scary thought since my last camera was stolen out of my car. The plus was that I saw not only one brother, but BOTH on the way to the car. I guess there is something positive that comes out of every negative situation.

While at the game I did run into a few friends from my college years and had a chance to visit with my old pals Tracey and Terry and lay my eyes on their children for the first time in years.

(no pics......remember ......no camera in the stadium.....)

The Ole Rebels won the game against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions? 52 to 6 I think.....give or take a few from our side of the score. The game was a fun one and has only wet my whistle and has me looking forward to the November 14th showdown against the Tennessee Volunteers.

The next morning came way too early. We were up and going to get ready for the reason we even made our short road trip in the first place.......Michael Blakely Gratz III's baptism.

Man of the day!!!!

My men.......minus two.....

These boys clean up pretty well.......

another precious little man......

Charlie likes MBG's gifts!

Lucy likes MBG III.....

Anne Daniel LOVES little MBG III......(little mama)

quality time.........

girl power.......

Not long after this pic was taken, we shoved a wonderful brunch onto our mouths, compliments of gramma Babe Gratz and Aunt Molly. Grandad MBG #1 help us pack up a doggy bag full of leftovers.......mostly petit fours for me......and we were offfffffff......did I mention Grandad Sandy helped me navigate our second trip out of the driveway......had a hard time the second time around......Jamesen forgot his phone.......enough said......hope the bricks are ok........

Seven hours later we returned home to East Tennessee vowing to make more of these trips in the future.

A Week of Firsts

Great rainbow pic.......

The week of August 17th brought many firsts, starting with the first day of school for all three boys! Our morning started early! Jamesen and Christian have to catch the bus at 6:45 each day, so that means rise and shine at 6am SHARP! Because of the construction and traffic in the area of their schools, things would not be much better if we took them ourselves!

This year Jamesen is in 5th grade and has Mrs. Simon. His class is in the Middle School because of the overcrowding in the Intermediate School. This has only been going on for 10 years and counting. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but he assured me that he would be ok.....I think it was due to the fact that he now has a locker! He is in the AP math class and he is very proud if that.....except for all the homework.

Christian has Mrs. S. Roberts this year for second grade. He is off to a good start. He comes home daily and gets his homework over with. I just hope it keeps up all year long!

First day of school for a teenager.....

yearly neighborhood pic with the Olen girls.......

Jake has assured me that High School is WAY easier than middle school. We only have four classes a semester MOM......less to keep up with......." Let's hope he is right. He is playing football this year which takes up alot of his time. That is a good thing!!!!

First Farragut game of the season......

school spirit!!!!!!

Jake had his first freshman game of the season and beat Cumberland County!!!!!

Oh......did I mention that THIS pic is of his first loves.......the wiener dog.......and his Iphone.......nuff said!!!!