A car in the garage? Can it really be?

Don and I have been married for 16 years and I have never been able to park my car in the garage. With four kids worth of stuff and a hubby with too much crap there has never been room for a car. With Don only having to work a half a day today, he decided he'd tackle one project, and with my persuasion the garage obviously won!

Isn't it lovely? My car finally has a home:

The other bay still is housing children's toys and Don's toys, but at least one bay can house my toy! YAY!!! (I sure hope it lasts...please pray for me) :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

to the two greatest father's in our lives! 

Thank you for being there for us, and we love you both very much!!!

My Hubby Don/Daddy...

My Dad Nick/Grandpa...

The Eagles

Don and I had the fortunate pleasure of receiving two tickets to the Eagles concert last night. This is a concert that he & I wanted to go to but weren't willing to pay the high ticket prices of $75 for nosebleeds all the way up to about $180 or so for the floor seats. Many times Mizzou is able to get several comp tickets to give out but we were told this wouldn't be the case for this concert. Many other time Don's friend is able to get us really amazing tickets through his production company, but unfortunately they weren't the company on this tour so we came to terms with just not going. We learned the day before that ticket sales were not got and the just needed to give tickets away to fill the seats...Don & I lucked out. We ended up with really great seats...section 114, row 7, seats 3&4 and had a really great time! It was  fun to hear all of their classics, many of which reminded my of my childhood, and boy are those guys looking old but they can sure jam still!

Unfortunatly my phone doesn't have a zoom function but if double click on the photo you can see it better.

Don & I before the concert in Don's office...

My wonderful date...

Hotel California...

Take It To the Limit....

Glen Frey...

Crazy Busy Weekend

This past weekend was FILLED, FILLED, FILLED with lots of exciting and draining events for us. Here is a taste of what our weekend was like:

Thursday:

• 11 Am - Pick up dad from airport 
• noon - Pick Bella up from school 
• 12:15-12:45 PM- Grad lunch & shove it down throat
• 1 PM - Pick the older ones up (early out & no school on Friday because of conferences)
• Come home and work on auction stuff
• 3:30 - 9 PM - Don at work (football practice, laundry & whatever else they take care of post practice)
• 4-5 PM - go to the older 3's parent-teacher conferences (BTW they were, for the most part, good)
• 5:30 -  Dinner @ Ruby Tuesdays with Dad, the kids, my sister & her new beau and then all back to my house
• After dinner and chillin' for awhile at home worked on auction
• Went to bed!

Friday:

• 8:30AM - back up and gone for the whole day working on the auction
• 9:00AM - Picking up stuff at CCS for the auction
• 9:45AM  - dropped Bail off at Humane Society to work their Open House for the final zootoo push (which we ended #1 in the 1st phase...YAY!)...she worked until 8PM!
• 10 AM - 10PM - was at the fairgrounds setting up for the auction
• 10:00 PM - came home and chatted with dad and then went to bed and watched the end of the Mizzou game
• 11PM - CRASHED

Saturday:

• 6AM - 3PM - Don at football
• 7AM - wake up and head to Nico's final Basketball game
• 8-9AM - Nico's Game
• 9:30 - Pick up the girls and head out again
• 10-11:30AM - Bail & Grandpa are on campus for Bail's history day project (get results and tips on how to better their project for state)
• 10:30-noon Nico has 1st Baseball practice @ CCS
• Work on power point intermittently throughout morning and early afternoon
• 3PM - I'm all clean, dressed & ready to go. Head out to fairgrounds to drop off my stuff for the event, and Bail as she is helping a friend babysit for the evening
• 3:30Pm - head to Gymnastics Meet
• Meet from 4-6PM (Don & I only get to stay until 5 because we need to get back to get ready for the auction)
• Auction from 6:30 - 12:30AM
• Home & CRASH

Sunday:

• 9:30 - noon -Back to the fairgrounds for clean-up
• Rest of the day - I DO NOTHING & TAKE A NAP!!!
• 6:30PM - Don & Ang made an awesome Italian Dinner for us

Monday:

• Back to the normal rat race and Dad headed back home

Are you tired yet?? This is the reason that this was my last year co-chairing the Auction. I have been involved with it for 8 years and it's time for some new blood to have fun with it!

Mardi Gras

Bella is all ready to celebrate Mardi Gras Mr. T style...

Really she only wore one strand of beads to school but she wanted a picture with all of them on. She brought some for her classmates and the rest went to school with the big kids to hand out!

Amazingly, all of these beads are left over from our Mardi Gras trip to Mobile, AL last year. As a matter of fact we still have 3 shoe boxes full of beads even after today...I guess we're set for a few years!

This is Don & I last year at the Mardi Gras Ball. Actually, this is the only photo that I have of the 2 of us that evening because he was pretty sick and left right after this photo (you can tell by the look on his face that he wasn't doing well). The poor guy missed just about the entire Ball.

MU Athletic Dept. Christmas Party

Last night was the annual athletic department Christmas party and this year it was held at the Stoney Creek Inn. We all had a great time with food, drinks, story time (which is a tradition...Mike (our AD) read Twas the Night Before Christmas before Santa came), Santa...which the kids were very excited about especially Liv & Bella, gifts...the kids all got one, Don got a gift certificate to Sophia's & I "won" a gift certificate for a one night stay at the Stoney Creek Inn in a theme room-woohoo, and friends!

3 1/2

3 1/2 is the number of years that Miss Bella has been addicted to her pluggie, and 3 1/2 is the amount of days that she has been going through withdrawal without her pluggie.

To be honest, I feel they (A&E) should have an episode of Intervention for pluggie users. For those of you who aren't familiar with Intervention...it's a show on Monday evenings on A&E, and it follows a person's plight with addiction, whether it be drugs, alcohol, eating disorder, etc. Don and I have watched this show several times, and if you haven't seen it I highly recommend that you do. The show can be very disturbing and upsetting at times but it really gives you some insight as to what an addict and their families goes through. It also makes think about your own family and what you need to do to lessen your families odds of becoming victims of these horrible addictions.

Anyway, this whole experience with the pluggie really has made me think of that show and Bella's difficulty in kicking her pluggie addiction. I don't recall any of the other three kids being quite so attached to their pluggies but maybe they were (heck I can't seem to remember anything...oh boy I sure hope I'm not plagued with Alzheimer's in my latter years...I digress). Also, in her defense she has been using it longer then we let the others (about 6 months or so)...which I will take full responsibility for because I have been trying to hang on to my sanity as long as I could. I think it's safe to say that this whole situation has pushed my sanity to whole new level that I didn't even know existed! (& I think Bailey's sanity was compromised too...she has been such a great help with this - THANKS baby!) I do feel bad for her because she doesn't know how to handle her emotions through all of this, and boy does she have them...I have had to deal with some doozy temper-tantrums which I'm sure are because of sleep deprivation.

With that said, my guess would be that tonight will go much smoother than the past two! Not because I think the habit has been kicked but because Don will be back home...just Murphy's Law...when you need them the most they aren't home & when they come home all just seems peachy again!

PS. Don has been in San Antonio for the past two nights for a site visit for the bowl game. He says it will be a great time & our hotel is attached to a mall (yeah!!). I sure am anxious for him to get home though! :)

Our Votes are IN!!!

I have to say we picked the best time to head to our location...we got there at 9am, walked right in, got our ballots, voted and were done all within 10 minutes. I was voter #509 and Don was #510. 

Don's ballot had just been taken...

October Employee of the Month

Don is not one to toot his own horn and doesn't care for recognition (heck he didn't even tell me about this, I had to hear about it from some of his co-workers), but I thought it was important for me to document this at least for our children (but really I wanted you all to know too...I've got too brag every once in a while). One day the kids can look back on this and know what kind of person their dad is/was and the kind of work ethic that he exhibits(ed).

Yesterday was the monthly athletic department staff meeting and this when they recognize the Employee of the Month...prior too everyone is informed via email!

Here is the email that went out:

Congratulations to Don Barnes, our October Employee of the Month. Don was recognized for his people skills and his ability to lead people. His integrity, the ability to create good relationships and the ability to lead by example goes over and beyond. Not only does he show a genuine liking for people, but he always has a pleasant personality and the willingness to help out. The ability he has to multi-task is indescribable. I’ve also never seen him without a pleasant work attitude. His out-going, tactful, courteous, and professional nature makes it easy calling “Barnesy” the BEST Director of Athletics Equipment. Sometimes his persistent, cheerful, positive demeanor is all we need to keep things in order and to keep the work day moving smoothly.

Way to go babe, we are VERY PROUD of you and love you very much!!

No More Tears (& no I'm not talking about J&J's soap)

I think it's safe to say that Bella actually likes school now...no more tears! She had a great day today and has been talking about it ever since I picked her up 2 hours ago! YEAH!!!

While she was in school Don and I went on our usual walk....I have to say it was the best one yet! I decided it might be fun to walk through campus and I was right (as usual) :-)...I was able to get my people watching & walking in at the same time...LOVE IT!!! BTW someone needs to plant the What Not to Wear team on campus...holy cow there were some horrendous outfit choices but it made the walk all the more entertaining! Oh yea, I'll be walking there again on Tuesday!

I have a fun evening planned with some girlfriends and I'll clue you in later!

PS. This morning Bella hopped into bed with me so we could cuddle before getting up. As she's loving on me with my chin in her hand she says, "Mommy, there was two puppies going down Olivia's bed last night!". Not sure if that was a dream or what but thought it was funny!

A Day with Red Bull in Nascar

Pull out anything that I have ever done without my wife or children being involved, and this was hands down the coolest thing I have ever done in my life!!! I think I am the most blessed person on the face of the earth, not only do I have the hottest and most beautiful women in the world as my devoted and loving wife, I have 4 perfect children that I love watching grow up.

God has given me the best job in the world, at the best school in the world, my job is really my hobby, I don’t view it as work, the day I do, I will probably get out of it. I have been blessed to be around some cool things in sports and entertainment, Kenny Chesney did laundry in my office, I worked out with Rascal flats in our weight room, I poured beers for Joe Montana and Marcus Allen when I worked for the chiefs, I worked with anyone that was anything in the sport of Pro Beach Volleyball, I have been around numerous Sports Illustrated cover shoots, commercials, documentaries, Heisman Candidates.

I can honestly say this day was up there with all of that. I went to be a spectator last Friday, but I left hooked for life with an insight that most fans never get. When we were walking around with Jay, we meet a guy that came up and gave Jay the international symbol of friendship and a big smile and handshake and introduced himself as Jimmy Johnson, by the way, he has won the last 2 Sprint Cup trophies and is in the lead for this year, and the guy that won this race. We gave Dale Jr. a Mizzou helmet, Dale Jr is to Nascar is what Tiger is to Golf as far as the fans are concerned, but when you get to meet him, he is just a cool guy, just like Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Chase Daniel, Brett Favre, all of them are just cool guys, they are just like you and me, except they have some exceptional talents. More important to me was meeting all the guys that work in the Pits and the Garages, the guys that “do” all the work, those are the guys that I can identify with, and I saw how they did things and looked at ways we can do things around here and in our daily job at the office. What you see on Sunday at the race is just the tip of the iceberg, it is a culmination of a mad race that restarts every week on Thursday when the trucks and staff reach the track, and they do this circus act 38 weeks a year!!!!

What an amazing operation and I can’t thank my good friend Jay Frye enough for allowing me to be a part of this experience! Our next goal will be getting Jay to be the equipment manager for a day and work our National Championship game in Miami!!! (cross your fingers) There is not a race that week and he has us penciled in on his schedule.

This is the view on top of the Red Bull Hauler...

Standing in front of Jay’s RV looking at the Garage area...

View off the top of the Red Bull hauler looking into the garage area, you can see the track and the start of the grandstand...

Adam, myself and Dale Earnhardt Jr, outside of his RV, he has a pretty big helmet collection, but just got the best helmet in the country to add to it, he was a really cool guy...

This is the the Hauler looking back from the garage area...

Andy Hill giving Carl Edwards some words of wisdom moments before qualifying...
Adam and I in front of Carl’s car as he is getting ready to Qualify...

“Dream Team”
Me, Andy Hill, Jay Frye, General Manager of Red Bull Racing, Adam Borts...

~Don

PS. Sherri, the Kids & Ang hung out at home on Friday evening, ate pizza and watched the movie Enchanted.

Thursday Mental Health Minutes

My metal health minutes were actually very good today! Don and I took a 3.5 mile walk today on the trail and it felt awesome! The weather was perfect and my company was even better...not only do I believe that self time is important but time to reconnect with your significant other is just as important if not more. Rarely do we get alone time like this so I definitely cherish it when we do!

Thanks for taking the time to do this with me babe...I love you!!!!!!

Don's Celebrity Collage

Boy he lucked out with mostly hotties...I knew I picked a good, but Travis Tritt & William H Macy not so much. I could deal with Don looking like Edmund Stoiber when he gets up there in age...I've seen worse!

Pictures

This is what was waiting for me on the morning of our anniversary from my sweetie:

Balloon Illumination...this 1st photo I took from my phone as Liv & I were just getting there:

The Monkey "Gordo" was the kids and my favorite...there was a guy dressed as a banana (of course nobody took a pic of him) handing out cards about this balloon.
"Gordo's" stats: 2005 Lindstrand 77A, 63 feet tall, envelope weight (I have no idea what this means) is 250lbs, and his smile is 4 panels wide....

Aimee and Bella...

Aimee, Bella & Grandma Wilma (sorry it's a bit blurry)...

Don's Training Camp Hours:

Sun, 8/3/08: 7:00am-7:00pm 12
Mon, 8/4: 6:00am-11:45pm 17:45
Tues, 8/5: 5:20am-7:30pm 14:10
Wed, 8/6: 5:30am-5:45pm 12:15
Thurs, 8/7: 5:30am-6:30pm 13:00

Fri, 8/8: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30

Sat, 8/9: 6:15am-11:00pm 16:45
Sun, 8/10: 5:30am-6:15pm 12:45
Mon, 8/11: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
Tues, 8/12: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
Wed, 8/13: 5:30am-10:30pm 17:00
Thurs, 8/14: 6:30am-6:00pm (but he also had to somewhat work a function at Pinkel's house that we both attended til 9:30pm) 12:00
Fri, 8/15: 5:30am-9:00pm 15:30
Sat, 8/16: 6:45am-1:00pm 5:15
Sun, 8/17: 3pm-6pm (Awesome short day...Don loved the sleeping in!!!) 3
Mon, 8/18: 5:30am-10:15pm 16:45
Tues, 8/19: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
Wed, 8/20: 5:30am-6:45pm 13:15
Thurs, 8/21: 5:30am-6:00pm 12:30
TRAINING CAMP IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!

Here is the final total of hours: 240:45

Welcome Don's New Love & Baby

"We promised more details on the new semi-trailer that rolled into town yesterday, and here they are, straight from Director of Equipment Operations Don "El Guapo" Barnes...

The new trailer was purchased by the Athletic Department from Kentucky Trailers out of Louisville, Ky. for $40,000. The "van," as it is known in the industry, is a 53-foot Kentucky Electronics Van with an Air Ride shock system, which makes it a smooth enough ride that this type of trailer can be used to transport flat screen TVs. Barnes said that while the team doesn't transport anything as fragile as that, it still is reassuring knowing that all of the equipment - especially the $95,000 headphone system it lugs around to each game - will be safe and secure. The new trailer replaces the old trailer that MU had been using since 2000 when it was purchased used from Frito-Lay for $7,000 - the old trailer was used to transport Doritos, among other Frito-Lay products, before it became Mizzou's.

Barnes said the new trailer was purchased as a stock white unit, and was taken to St. Louis, Mo., where it was customized and remodeled by Craftsmen Industries, with much help from company president Joe Helmsing. Helmsing's company painted the trailer black and applied the decals that can be seen all over, and the decal system allows for the flexibility to add other information in an efficient manner. The new trailer has hardwood floors on the inside, a translucent ceiling which allows for more light which is helpful for loading purposes, and has the ability to add moveable floor sections around, as well as straps to secure items - something the old truck wouldn't support.

Speaking of the old truck, plans call to house the old one in the parking lot just behind the south endzone stands at Faurot Field, where various items will be stored there throughout the year. In case you were wondering, the old truck was depreciated down to a worth of exactly zero dollars by University adjusters!" -excerpt written by Chad Moller on the Mizzou Footblog

Notice the Belly boxes on the side, those allow us to store ramps and other items under the truck for quick access...

The floors is so clean and shiny you could eat off of it.
I almost don't want to roll any trunks in it..

5 feet longer than the old one, that makes for a full 53 feet of love...

We also had a roll-up door added to the back, the swing doors were cut off, this allows us to back up to any dock and be able to unload...

Notice the E-Track on the inside walls, it allows to straps down the trunks and also add the extra layers you see inside, we can put boxes, coolers etc in them...

The door up on the front lip will allow us to all the travel bags there and get to them easily and quickly...

*note this is Don's 2nd post (forced by me his wife only because I have been hearing about this truck/his love forever and only thought it fitting for him to blog about it)!

15 Years...Holy Cow!!!

Happy 15th Wedding Anniversary Baby!!!

I can't believe that we have been married 15 years already! Where has the time gone? I want to thank you Don for the most amazing 15 years of my life!
Four beautiful children and three states later I couldn't ask for a better life then the one you & I have built together!
You are such a wonderful, kind hearted, hard working, compassionate & loving person and an amazing father!
I Love you so much and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together!

15 Years Ago Today:

Here are some photos of photos of our wedding day
(wow I look like a linebacker in that dress but that was the style):

Now:

My how we have changed...in so many ways: