The Bowens

Who couldn't love that sweet little smile?!

We spent some time with my grandmother on Dad's side later Thanksgiving day and helped her get her tree put up.
The rest of our visit was spent relaxing, eating more, playing games, still eating, and ... SHOPPING!! Usually, Seth and I will get up on Black Friday and do a little running around at about 8am. This year we decided we would get up at 4AM to try to score a TV at Walmart. Well, we drug ourselves out of bed and got to Walmart by 4:30. We got a lot of good deals...but NO tv. Little did we know that you had to be there at 2AM to get a wristband that you could turn in for a tv at 5AM. That was NOT in the ad!! Since, we were wide awake at this point we went to 5 or 6 others stores before we went home.

Later in the day, Seth noticed that Walmart had more tv's on sale Saturday morning at 6am....but thankfully decided we really didn't need to go. At about 4:30 Saturday morning, Seth woke up to the sound of something downstairs...I told him it was probably Dad and to just go back to sleep. Five minutes later...."Jill, I think I'm gonna go to Wal-Mart." Whaaat?? I was still half asleep...so sure enough, he left and came back about an hour later with a tv! He was very proud of his score!

...GO TENNESSEE!!

This past weekend we went to Knoxville with my parents for the Tennessee Homecoming game. Even though this season has been slightly painful to watch, this actually turned out to be a very exciting game to be at! It may have just been pure luck, but we actually played well and looked like a pretty decent football team! I guess there is hope for next year after all!

The Power T marching down the field

It's football time in Tennessee!!

My dad's aunt and her husband have season tickets to the games, so they were there Saturday as well. My parents were able to find them with our handy dandy binoculars. They were on the complete opposite end of field from where we were...but I still managed to get this picture of them from our seats! I love the zoom on my camera!! They are the three in the middle of the crowd waving.

This past weekend was the Fall Festival at Maysville. This year we had food and games inside, then went outside for "Trunk or Treat." I think all the kids had a great time! They left with huge bags of goodies, so how could they not have had a great time! :)

Seth and Daddy J made a couple new games this year. You may remember that last year they made the Frog Launcher. This was a HUGE hit with the kids because they got to be violent. You hit the bullseye with the hammer and try to launch the frog onto one of the lily pads.

This year they made "The Cat in the Hat Game" and "Jack O' Linko." For The Cat in the Hat you have to throw the ball into the top of the hat and it will come back out of the front of the box. It is actually much harder than it looks!

"Jack O' Linko" is the Halloween version of Plinko. Both new games were bigs hits this year too!

If you were to ask me who one of my favorite ballplayers is, I would say Josh Hamilton. The past few days I have been reading his book “Beyond Belief.” I liked him before reading the whole story of his decline, but now I am even more impressed with him. It is absolutely amazing that this young man survived the things that he put himself through. I find it even more impressive that he only blames himself and is not ashamed to give all the glory to God for his success. Even though we may not have exactly the same beliefs and even though he has made other mistakes …I am still impressed with his attitude and determination.

If you were to ask me who my favorite team is…I would have to say…yeahhh, don’t have one…not that big of a fan! :) Ha! But who am I pulling for in the playoffs this year?? The Texas Rangers! Seth and I watched them beat the Rays a couple nights ago. When they went to the locker room to celebrate, I mentioned to Seth that it looked like they were using soda instead of champagne. Was that really what I saw?? Then the next day I read this article, solidifying my support of the Rangers this year!


“In the minutes after the Texas Rangers clinched their first division title in 11 years, the team’s best player hid in the trainer’s room. Josh Hamilton is the leading candidate for the American League MVP award. He’s also made a remarkable recovery since his nascent career was derailed by crippling addiction to drugs and alcohol. So when his teammates popped champagne after clinching in late September, Hamilton absented himself. While the team whooped it up, Hamilton left early to address church groups. Mindful of his absence, the Rangers re-jigged their celebrations after Tuesday night’s Game 5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. This time, as Hamilton jogged into the tunnel toward the visitor’s clubhouse at Tropicana Field, team staffers stopped him and gave him a pair of goggles. As Hamilton walked warily into the locker room, teammates screamed “Ginger ale!” and doused him with bottles of Canada Dry. “It was the coolest thing for my teammates to understand why I can't be a part of the celebration, and for them to adapt it for me to be a part of it says a lot about my teammates,” Hamilton said afterward." ... "Asked to describe his bumpy journey to stardom, Hamilton once told ESPN, “I’m proof that hope is never lost.” "

Now, that’s pretty classy of his teammates if you ask me!!

Phoenix West from the Beach
Kitchen

Our Bedroom

The Living Room

We had a very nice weekend to be at the beach. There was some rain a couple of afternoons, but we still had plenty of good weather to enjoy the sunshine! For the most part, the beaches were very clean where we were at. Seth did find a few tarballs in the water. But the sand was white, the water wasn't oily, and there was no smell. We did see the crews out at night cleaning the beaches, but it was nothing that interrupted our fun. Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

At Lambert's enjoying our rolls!