Lamar Classic

BB scoring another two points for a total of 18 points in the Hector game
Fallon toughing out the ballgame, she was waiting on "Mems" to take her to the locker room to see Auntie B !

We had a good start to the Lamar Classic Tournament ballgame.....then it went south from there. We beat Hector girls to move on to the finals with Westside and for some reason, our girls could not penetrate or hustle in any direction. It was 0-6 when B hit two 3 pt shots to tie us up in the first quarter, it seemed no one else could hit much of anything, just hitting and missing shots every now and then. Against Westside, BB had 14 points, 8 rebounds and fouled out of the game when Westside was up by 4 pts. Another night and another game. We are 9-2 now, can only get better thru time on the floor!

Christmas of 2008

Kale & B 'Happy' Paul opening his gift like a 'kid'...LOL
Fallon looking at her book she received from Mems

Kale receiving his MP3 player and Tommy bag.....

Posing for the camera prior to 'ripping' open their gifts...

Dad and Fred visiting after eating a huge dinner

Mems and Fallon still eating.....LOL

Paul wanted his picture taken so he wouldn't feel left out...LOL

Steph and B

Grandma (100 years young) and B.....

What a Christmas to remember.....all the family together! Even Grandma who has 100 years of experience in "living" healthy and long, was happy to share in the day of visiting, eating and celebrating!

What a morning...cooking, cooking, cooking and cooking

Chocolate Pie
Fresh Pecan, Chocolate and Reeces Peanut Butter pies

I have been working to get everything ready for dinner tomorrow. Mom still doesn't feel the best, so I volunteered to cook IF she didn't invite every member of our family to eat...I knew that would totally take 2 days to cook, LOL.... I have made 3 pans of cornbread for the dressing, cut up all the veggies, onions (green and yellow), tomatoes, celery, and bacon (for fried corn and green bean casserole), made a 7 layer bean (Mexican) dip for tonight. Later on I will get my fresh frozen corn out to start thawing. I will be taking Homemade rolls, cornbread dressing, buttered carrots, green beans, pies and corn for tomorrow. Mom will cook the ham and turkey. Hopefully Melissa (sister in law) will do potatoes and anything else we need!

I have a "Herbie" car.....

While we were in Ft. Smith yesterday, my car (Herbie II) turned on Kelley Highway, and drove itself down to the Humane Society......no matter if I turned the motor off, it kept going~ So BB and I decided 'what the heck', we were not going anywhere since he had a mind of its own! We got out and went inside. Really not knowing what we were doing but looking at cats! This story is so funny...let me prep you first......my good friend from Kansas "Pam" is a Mickey Mouse fan! All she has is Mickey stuff....(story) so we found a cat we wanted to take to the 'visitor' room and play with, he was 'blue and white' in color which he really does look blue instead of gray color. It warmed up to us quickly and purred to BB. BB said she wanted to 'pray' to see if this was the cat she wanted. Once she prayed she looked at me and said, "I don't hear anything," I said, "lets go look at his name" thinking that his name had to be horrible since he was so cute and to help eliminate that cat.....(laughing) we got out there and looked at the tag and his name was "MICKEY"...we both started laughing and I said, "there is your answer from above".....we now have a new addition to our home! He is house broke, neutered, chip in him (like he would get past our dogs outside if he did get out of the house)...just happy he has a home, we looked at it as 'we saved a cat'..... BB has a tendered heart for animals!

So he loves my box...! He is young and loves to play!
Smile "Mickey"

Snowing.....see it?

Can you see it snowing on my blog? Isn't this so cool? I love to find new things! Yes, I do get bored, I am not sure why, but I am always looking and observing others. I believe we learn off observation and listening!

For the next few days I will be busy cooking.......which I love to do, so if my blog is not updated, I apologize. I will take pictures of our family and post later! Oh yes, for my family in Texas....I will make a chocolate pie for you! I love you and will be glad to see you soon! Miss you Texans and I miss TEXAS! I am having withdrawals!

Babysitting

Melvin....the cat!
He was comfortable as soon as he got here!

Melvin the cat, is Kale and Fallon's 'pet'.........(I see why they had him declawed)! They went to Branson for the Holiday's so they ask us to babysit while they were away. The good thing is he is house broke! He has been good, he started sleeping at the foot of our bed, now he moved his way up to my head As you see he is part of our home! Until Fallon and Kale return home!

Lady Warriors vs Mountainburg

B is back! She did real well in the game last night against Mountainburg! She came out and hit 2 - 3 pointers right off the bat, got the teammates motivated! She had 11 pts and I couldn't count the rebounds! It seems who ever shot the ball she was under the goal waiting to rebound! I am proud that she has fought back after being out with her ACL. Now if she can just get used to the brace hitting her other knee and bruising it! LOL Oh, yea, we won by about 15-20 pts....... our record is 8-1

PICTURES ARE HERE......lol

As promised.....here are the pictures from Dixie Stampede....."See" lil Pam is barely 4 ft tall! She did email me today and said, "oh thanks for the making me spit my coffee all over my monitor this morning. I am still laughing." She went on this blog and read the post below and I made her smile today! :) It was all worth it!

You really had to be there....last Saturday night, both of us being raised in the rodeo circuit, barrel racing, roping, we are 'true' cowgirls.....the Dixie Stampede shop is full of 'want to be' (aka Drug Store)cowgirls and cowboys hats, boots, dresses and more! I say, "do not let Pam and I" off by ourselves, we can cause lots of people to laugh, we put on these hats that looked like someone "sat" on them and smooshed them flat as a pancake! We "HAD" to put these hats on to try (grant you we were laughing our guts out) along with us playing around, we had our play 'rifles' and I actually acted like I was shooting Pam, we were walking around the store when we headed over to our table to inform BB, Greg and Randy that we had just purchased these hats to run barrels in.....of course we didn't, but they didn't know any better! Pam and I didn't crack a smile when we sat down! BB looks at us like we are crazy, and says, "no you didn't?" Randy he just gives us this funky look, Greg said, "Oh S_ _ _".....everyone else was laughing because we looked holy ridiculous!

We have now decided every Christmas we are returning to Branson for a weekend of fun! We will NOT be telling anyone in Branson we are returning because they will shut that place down and tell us they are closed! Pam and I just can't help it......we enjoy making people laugh!

I just had to post this quote.....

"All I needed was to see your family again cause I missed you all." As my friend emailed me this today.......I have tried telling my dear friend "Pam Weatherby" from Coffeyville, Kansas that I am soooo special! She just now realizes it, LOL, LOL....just wish I had a picture of her to post now, that will come soon! We went to Dixie Stampede in Branson and got our picture taken!

While you are waiting on the picture, let me give you a visual.....she is 4 ft 1/2 inch tall, blondish hair, big eyes so she can see the barrels when she running her horse Holly, she is funny as heck, you never know what she is going to say.......her husband Randy, he is quiet (mainly because Pam talks all the time, LOL), she has a great family, and we became friends (by the grace of God) when we drove all the way to Kansas to try out this barrel horse for BB, which we purchased...Gypsy Marie.

I have to thank her because she may be small, she is powerful........... so much that when she found me Bunny Lou (my mare), I bought her on the word of Pam (site unseen). Since then, I have purchased the 3rd sister "Lil Bit" (Pam found me her in Texas)....Pam and I think alike and love the same sport...Barrel Racing! :)

REMEMBER......PICTURE COMING SOOOOONNNN!

LAMAR Ladies Win.....!! Close call......

Ever since BB returned to playing basketball, her shot has been off just a little! She is one of the 3 pt shot girls........I still see her playing 'safe' and still hesitant.....with the knee brace on. She leans to her right leg more for support/balance instead of trusting her brace, but they will come over time. Anyway this has caused her shot to be off to the left side.

Friday night she tried so hard trying to get her 3 pt shots back on. They were so close, but just not in. Cedarville girls played us hard, they would be up by 6 then we would go up by 6......until the last 2 minutes of the game. We were tied up in the game. We had position and killed about a minute off the clock when Coach called a time out. We got down to about 20 seconds when Cedarville tipped the ball out of our girls hands, BB went after the ball to help us keep position when B had the ball long enough when the defence girl tripped her, both girls fell to the floor with B hanging on to the ball by a tread, Coach quickly called time out, which was 6.1 seconds left on the clock and game tied! When we threw the ball in, they were short on time, when B got the ball and new her time was limited she shot it with 1.2 seconds left on the clock, the ball seemed to hand in the air forever when the ball ripped the bottom of the net for a 3 shot....put us ahead 51-48 and the buzzer went off, EVERYONE was standing and yelling! BB I guess was warming up during the game to make that all important shot at the end to win the ballgame. She played really good defense! Hustled very hard, stayed aggressive. She had a total of 8 pts and I lost count of her rebounds, she had a lot, I am proud of her trying really hard to bet back her game!!

Branson Trip - Ho! Ho! Ho~

We set off to Branson early Saturday morning......oh, we had to drop off Cowboy at Steph and Paul's house on the way, but was soon on our way! Leaving at 6:30 a.m.

Our goal was to meet our friends from "Kansas" Pam and Randy Weatherby early around 10:00 a.m. so we could shop, visit, eat and have fun~! Except one minor problem! Pam called me around 9:30 and ask where I was at. Responding 10 minutes out of Branson, she continued saying she was at the motel waiting on us! LOL I couldn't believe she got up so early! YEP, I knew it was to good to be true! She just left home, they overslept! So they were 2- 21/2 hours out.

We decided to go shopping until the Weatherby's arrived....which I had most of my shopping when they finally arrived, lol!

We had a great weekend! Went to Dixie Stampede, drove thru the "Trail of Lights" at Shepherd of the Hills, went shopping again, ate, ate and ate! We always have fun when we are together!

Oh, I forgot, I was informed to mention "Pam Weatherby" on my blog because she 'trained' 2 of of my 3 horses and she felt I didn't give her enough recognition when BB won her 3 saddles this year in the NBHA! Seriously, Pam and Randy are both very 'gifted' riders and trainers on barrel and Roping horses! THANK YOU for giving us the opportunity to have 3 wonderful mares that I absolutely love! :) ps~ When Jake makes the NFR next year, B and I are going with you and Randy, someone needs to keep you in line and babysit! LOL

Grandma's Hands..............

This doll quilt was made for me by my Great grandmother Meek when I was very young. I would guess about 30 years ago!
I took a close picture of the quilt so you can see the detail of Grandma's hands.....

Here you see Grandma's rocking chair she used to set in when I came to visit.....I cherish things that were once my families treasures!

Native Americans........

This picture I took at Cheyenne WY last summer after observing a Powwow! Look at the detailed costume.....you can read so much just from this picture!

I do not share my passion for the love of Native Americans with many! But if you go into my spare bedroom, you will notice that I have strong feelings toward them and that they hold a special place in my heart for their heritage/culture and love of their traditions. I feel the Indians taught us about food, the land we live on and mostly they taught us about love. I read and study about the Indians of the late 1880's and early 1900's. I guess you could say I was born a century to late, I love horses, growing my own garden, using my own home grown beef and pork...don't get me wrong, I love my big truck and conveniences of today, but feel I do have a calling to help the Native Americans who continue to live on the reservations.

As you see, BB's trophy saddles and prizes she won have taken over my front bedroom. I will have to wait until spring to see what saddle will soon be going on what horse! I will have to break them in before riding in them. Just need another room and more space! :)

Lady Warriors vs Jesseville....!

In the Plaineview Tournament we won our first game with Wonderview and almost had this team, Jesseville until last quarter and we petered out......Just ran out of juice! Two players not at 100%, one has Upper GI problems and B has her bum knee....

Hopefully in a couple of weeks we can return to normal and 100%....

Got to luv the sport of basketball!

BB's first game since her injury....

It has been a l-o-n-g 3 1/2 weeks since her injury! We had to be patient for the recovery, Physical Therapy and her brace......if you do NOT have a teenager in your home, I can say that with raging hormones and being a 'female' (that should be all I have to say, laughing) it is definitely an experience and a test of my patience! As of today, her ACL was torn, but not enough for Dr. Martin to warrant surgery, so he had her set out an extra week for R/R, and on her visit last Wednesday, he was very pleased that she had improved so much. She will have to wear her brace every time she steps out on the court, with her age, she should recover 100%, but we couldn't keep her off the court any longer!


Lady Warriors played against Wonderview in the Plainview Tournament Monday night 12-1-08. We never lead the game until 4th quarter with 4 minutes left in the game. It wasn't until the last 2 minutes did we realize that we had a good chance of winning. 4 timeouts were called and this was the longest 2 minutes of my life! With 8.9 seconds left in the game, we put pressure on them, knowing that their #14 would try a 3 pts shot, since we were up 3 pts. They shot, we rebounded and WON the game! We play again Thursday night against Jesseville, they are very talented and it will be a hard game. We have to make our shots and patiently wait for our plays to work!

As you see, her left knee is the one that she injured....
#34 doesn't look like her brace or knee has interrupted her playing..

Point Guard and BB talking over a 'sneaky' play.....

Had to put this picture in....to funny

Fast break after getting a rebound

Takes part in helping bring ball down.....

One of her 3 pt shots she made when needed....

We Won~ Our record is 5-0

Light Bandit...in Arnold house

Little did I know that I had a "Light Bandit" housed in my attic! While pulling everything out of the attic over Thanksgiving Holiday's, I have everything organized in boxes and each box has written on the outside what the inside includes. While putting my lil western Christmas tree on my kitchen table, I pulled the box out that had "Lil Christmas tree lights" and wwwaaaalllllaaa, there was not one Christmas light in that box!

I proceeded in looking in all my boxes for my lil Christmas tree lights thinking I had placed then in a different box last Christmas, I went back up stairs to the attic, looked everywhere, with no luck, I have now determined that in the Arnold attic lives a bandit! So if you are missing any lights, I am sure that my bandit has been at it again!

For the time being, I will have to do without lights until I can reach the discount store to purchase more. Once I purchase lights for my tree, the bandit will return my old ones :)!

Happy Thanksgiving....!

Wow, am I stuffed! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was up at 6 a.m. to start my cooking. I made a red velvet cake last night (Wednesday), this morning I cooked sweet potato casserole, pecan pie and fresh cream corn....(yes I had to cut the corn off the cob).....I love fresh corn! There is just something about having a common denominator.....(memories)

good food+good company= memories!

BB had to work so she ate early and had to leave. I am sure she will stop on the way home at Aunt Veda's house to eat again! LOL

Happy Thanksgiving to family and friends! Now it is time to hit the bed early, I am actually thinking about getting up at 5:00 to go shopping on Black Friday! Don't know for who and what, just the excitement of seeing what I can find! LOL

NBHA Awards for 2008 year...

NBHA Awards District 10
More awards..............
Perfect Attendance Awards (BB on Right)

High "Money" $ Awards (BB on right) Wonder were all the $ is....LOL

1-D winner (Saddle 1) BB Arnold

2-D Winner (Saddle 2) BB Arnold

3-D Winner (Saddle 3) BB Arnold

Picture of all her saddles she won this year!

Brandon Oakly's band (Four Aces) They play all over the US, they do a great job, love to hear them, his wife is our Barrel Racing Director

Over 125 people were there to eat, enjoy and visit along with the awards!

Our cooks! He is from Texas (the state I love), he cooked beef/chicken fajitas, rice, ranchero beans, salsa, chips, fried floured tortillas, then members brought the desserts, dips, salads.....I made 3 pecan pies, 2 batches 7 layer bean dip, 2 batches of Texas caviar, snickerdoodle and lemon cookies, the only thing that was left was 1/2 of Texas caviar (BB was happy, that is her favorite).