home again, home again

So Andy and I along with some dear friends Jeff and Emily and Chris and Julie went on an adventure to Hilton Head Island to celebrate the new year. We left on Thursday at 6:15 pm to make the trek over to HHI. Um, just so you know the normal 6 hours trip that Andy and I have commented on as being, "no big deal" is now an 8 hour trip that is, "the longest trip of your life!" I say this and I did not drive once on the way over or on the way back. The trip down there was especially hard because it started to sprinkle as we left Knoxville. That was not the bad part. It rained harder the closer that we got to NC and then when we hit Ashville the rain turned to sleet that turned to SNOW and caused Andy to drive slowly. Once the rain ended it rained the almost the entire way to the beach. It was crazy. All of us were exhausted when we pulled into the house at 3am. I am not sure that I have ever been happier to see a king bed in my life. If our car had not been so packed with stuff I probably would have smuggled it back to Knoxville with us. We spent 3 wonderful days at the beach. Andy and I were able to take the pup, Laney, with us and she had a great time fetching a stick in the water and being able to play in the dunes. The only bad part is I did not take one picture of us on the beach. Terrible I know, but we actually did make it down there, I promise. The drive home was not much better. There was barely any room for us to move in the car. Even Laney had a little room. I did think at one point I was going to loose it. I was so tired from being in the car, but I rested for a little while and calmed myself down. I was so happy to see our house when we got home, and then when I walked in the door I was in for one of the longest nights of my life. I will have to tell you about that tomorrow. Here are some pics from our car ride.

How do you know you have been in the car too long? When your dog has the glazed over look too!

This is the only picture of Andy and I from the weekend. On the way home, in the car, picture taken by me!

love always,

your long lost friend

Where have I been? The truth is I am not really sure. Not much has gone on lately that I felt was truly blog worthy (although most of my previous post would tell otherwise since they were not exactly exciting news, but...) and we have just really been hanging out. We have some trips planned in the next month or so and hopefully I will have some good stories to share with you then.

One thing that I did do recently was finally get on the BONE MARROW DONOR LIST. This is something that I have been wanting to do since I can remember. I usually give blood when I can (some surgeries have prevented this in my life) and for some reason I always forget to tell them before I give the blood. Well I went online and found out that I could send off for a kit that would allow me to swab my mouth and send it back in and doing this would put me on the list. With minimal hesitation I signed up. I say minimal because this is a really big decision. Donating bone marrow is not pain free and without risk, but knowing that I could potentially save someone I think is worth the pain and risk. I talked to Andy about it (um, after the kit came in the mail, whoops) and he agreed that it was a good thing for me to do. So after swabbing my mouth I sealed up the envelope and sent it away. I am supposed to receive a receipt that they got my donation. I know that the chance of me matching someone out there is very slim considering I am an only child, but I wanted to give my best shot. Here is the picture that I took of the kit. I was so easy. Here is the website if you are interested: http://www.marrow.org/ Just click on the Join the Registry button to get started!

love always,

Little old man!

This will be quick but I got to watch the sweetest little baby on Friday for a few hours, little Hayden Dean. He is just too cute, and in this picture he looks like a little old man. He did not like the flash of my camera very much, his eye's were open before I took this picture. He is so sweet and absolutely adorable. Hayden makes the sweetest noises and hardly ever cries. I love this baby and cannot wait until I get to watch him and his sister again!!!
love always,

Job #3

I tease Andy all the time that I have 3 jobs. It is sort of true and sort of not true. I work my regular job everyday (the one that causes me to be in the office), then after that job I head on over to either soccer practice or a game (this job only lasts 3 months so is it really job #2, I'm not sure), then recently on the weekends I have been leaving my sweet, sweet husband and traveling all over the south to SEC Women's College Soccer Games. I get to commentate the games and it is so much fun. That is part of the reason that it does not really feel like a job, I love doing it and I get to watch really awesome soccer games. The travel can be tough and I don't really like being away from Andy, but it is only for 5 weekends and my last one is this weekend. I will be traveling to Alabama to watch Tennessee take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I am excited, relieved, happy and little bit sad. I am excited to go and do the job itself, did I tell you that it is so much fun! Relieved that it is almost over and I will get to spend some weekends at home. Happy that I can see Andy more on the weekends. Sad because it is almost over and I am not sure that I am ready for it to be almost over. At any rate, all things come to an end and I am not sure that I will be asked to do this again. If I don't, I am okay with that, it was so much fun and a wonderful experience. I was very lucky to get this job, even if it doesn't always feel like work...did I mention that I had SO MUCH FUN!!!

So that I don't have to send you away without a picture, this is what I look like at my job #3 if you have not seen me on TV.

The guy in the picture is Chris Stewart. He does all kinds of broadcasting work for Alabama and is really great at his job. He has helped me so much and is so nice and funny. I hope that if I do get to do this job again that I get to work with him. Since this weekends game is Tennessee at Alabama I am sure that it will be fun in the booth. We will just have to wait and see whose team comes up with the win!!! The game is on Sunday on CSS so you should check it out!!

love always,

you can stop counting

the babe is here!! I would like to introduce you all to Hayden Dean Watson in all his cute glory. He joined us on 10/14/09 at 4:56pm, weighing 7 lbs and 12 ozs and was 21 in long. He is too cute and the apple of his sister's eye. Reece was awesome with him and I know that she is going to be an awesome big sister. The best part of all of this was that Doc made it back to Knoxville on 10/13/09 at 4pm and his baby boy waited just 24 hours later before he met his father. Hayden has perfect timing. Just so you all know, I love him already! Here are two pics from yesterday when Reece and I went to visit him.

Here is the sweet boy!

Here is Reece, Tori, Hayden and baby Ava (Reece's baby)!

What do you think? Do they look alike?

Reece

Hayden

love always,

the countdown is on...

This picture was taken 23 months ago today. Can you believe how tiny she is?! Please ignore us we look terrible. Ha!

Reece Bennett Watson entered this world and captured our hearts. We love her more and more each day. She went from this: her bink looks bigger than her.

To this,

and now to this, she is such a big girl and soon to be a big sister.

Reece is ready to welcome her baby brother Hayden, any day now. She is going to be the best big sister and Andy and I cannot wait to snuggle and sniff (you all should no that I love to sniff a baby's head, there is really nothing sweeter and I know it is weird.) this sweet baby boy. Tori and Doc we love you and are so happy to welcome your new baby boy!!! I promise, tons of pictures when he gets here!!

love always,

i went missing, i know

So sorry for the long delay in posting, and I hate to keep saying it but I have been B.U.S.Y! I am still working my normal 8-5 job, and then coaching in the afternoons. I thought that last year I was busy doing that and did not think that I could add anything to my plate, but I did.

I was called a few weeks ago to see if I would be interested in doing some broadcasting. Now, this is totally something that is Kara's department and not mine but I thought that it would be a great experience so I agreed to do it. It is 5 Sunday SEC Women's Soccer games so it is talking about something that I am totally passionate about. Soccer, women's soccer and the SEC. I have already done three games and have two left. I am tired, but it has been so much fun and I have learned so much. I have been busy prepping during the week for the upcoming game, and watching film of the teams, and learning on a smaller scale of what Kara does for her espn gig.

Here are some picture of where I have been. Can you figure out where? Think SEC!

Here is game 1:

I forgot to take a picture at game 2: it was Lexington, KY to watch Tennessee take on Kentucky!

Game 3:

love always,