Hut 1 - Hut 2

KU Football is here and I couldn't be more excited!

KU plays Florida International today at 6 p.m.


Running...

and still running.

Dad and I getting some practice time on the field.
I'm not sure who was having more fun...me or dad.
Yes, I got some points for the escape and reversal.

Ready, Set, GO!
Dad and I getting Todd Reesing's autograph on my KU football last week when they had an open football practice for the public.


The Hill

Coach Mangino

Yea for a long weekend!!

I'll tip my glass of juice, with a little lime and salt, to a long weekend.

Henry T's...tonight...Coopers Cause

There is a good reason to skip slaving over the stove tonight making dinner and head on over to Henry T's. Tonight volunteer servers and bartenders, including my mom, are working for tip money to support Cooper's Cause. Cooper Keefer is a very courageous 8 month old little boy who was born with multiple heart defects and has fought through multiple open-heart surgeries. He is growing strong and they are so very blessed to have him. Many of their friends have stepped forward to organize various fund raising events to help their family deal with the financial side of their journey. The event tonight at Henry T’s is from 6:00-10:00p.m. All tips collected between 6-10pm will benefit pediatric heart patients. Below is a picture of the flyer that my mom took out of the plastic holder on one of the tables at Henry T's when we were there for orientation. I went with her because I completely support her taking time away from home to do this. If you want to learn more about the Keefer family you can visit the below website and check out what the Lawrence Journal World did on them. Also below is a link to Cooper's Cause website. Also tonight there is a raffle with lots of great prizes.Come out and join the fun if you can.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/aug/25/infants_illness_spawns_charity/



This is a really crappy picture, but you get the idea.

Hairspray!

My cousin, Courtney was in the "Hairspray" production through the Bonner Springs City Library Performing Art program. They did a combo "Hairspray"/"Mary Poppins" show and we were able to watch both. It was a lot of fun. She did a great job and I'm glad that my mom and I were able to be there to see her stellar performance. Believe it or not, when we walked backstage where all of the performers were getting ready, there were a lot of hairspray cans. Everyone's hairstyles were really cool, with lots of "poof" and required A LOT of hairspray. Great job Courtney. Thanks for inviting us to come watch.

The actress.
More characters.

Giving my cousin a "Job Well Done" kiss.

Me trying to give my mom a glance into the future. Just wait mom, the time will come.

Then I gave my mom a real heartache...I found myself surrounded by 3 pretty girls who found me awfully cute. It's way too early for that.

Then...my mom called me, and the pretty girls realized that this little guy is already taken, at least for now.

While we were at the Bonner Springs High School, where the performance took place, my mom took my nephew to his locker and did a locker inspection. My mom said that he had way less crap in his locker than she ever did. Maybe guys are different. Brad, it's a good thing that you had it cleaned up for the random locker check from your Aunt Shelly.

Some of my favorite things...

Animals! Dogs, cats, whatever I can get my hands on.

Preparing for my Nascar future. I'm always practicing when I get the chance.

Yoplait yougurt, but more importantly, making a huge mess when I eat.

Sno-cones. My nickname out at the Quarter Midget track is "Snokone" b/c I am often seen chowing down on one.

Here's to Budweiser

The last day of our stay in St.Louis my mom and dad went on a tour of the Budweiser plant along with my dad's cousins Joan, Doug and Jane. Mom and Dad highly recommend taking the Budweiser tour if you're even in St. Louis. It's free, it's impressive and there's FREE beer at the end! I think they had a lot of fun. At least it seemed that way because they were in awfully good spirits when they came home.

Was it possible that they were in such good spirits because they stayed in the hopitality room with FREE beer a little too long...possibly. It was fun nevertheless.

Doug and Doug standing in front of cans, cans and more cans of Bud Light on the packing line. Mom, Joan and Jane stopping to take a picture at the place on the tour with a sign that said "Photo opportunity," so that's what they did.


Mom and Dad with a huge Budweiser delivery to make.


Dad's excitment was hard to hide after getting served his 4th FREE beer when the limit was only 2. It was like a kid on Christmas morning.



Cousin Doug was just as happy coming back with his 4th FREE beer. These two were having a blast drinking FREE beer.


Was the beer really free? Yes, well no, let me explain. The beer was free while we were in the hospitality room long enough to grab 2 extra FREE beers. After deciding that we'd had enough fun and needing to be own our way the first thing you see as you step out of the hospitality room is the gift shop, so we strolled into the shop and came out with much less $ in our pockets and a bag full of stuff that we were not sure why we had purchased. So, yes the beer was technically free, but I think Budweiser probably won out in that battle. And we wondered why they kept serving us beers...I think they knew what they were doing!

St.Louis Road Trip Part 1

Last weekend my mom, dad, Grandma Linda, cousin Calvin, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Brad and cousins Reyna, Tyller and Anabell made a trip out to St.Louis to visit my great-grandma White-Gardner and the rest of my Grandma Linda's family, which includes her two sisters, Aunt Sally and Aunt Joan and all of their wonderful children and grandkids. We made it a long weekend by leaving on Thursday and coming back home on Sunday. We fit so much in while we were there and it was a lot of fun. We thank everyone for all of their great St.Louis hospitality while we were there. It was great to see everyone and we'll be looking forward to visiting again sometime soon.





Me playing on the slide in Aunt Sally's backyard. I spent a lot of time going back and forth between the slide and the pool!

My cousin Morgan helping me go down the slide. Morgan: Anytime you want to come to Lawrence and babysit me, you're more than welcome.
Aunt Sally and Uncle Charlie's dog, Nikki. Nikki was also a great host during our stay. She was extra helpful in cleaning up the floor after all of my mealtimes. Again, I love animals so this was a bonus to spend time following her around because I was missing my own dog, Duce who was busy at home folding the fort down.
Uncle Charlie, cousins Dylan and Calvin and my Dad and I in the dugout at the new Busch stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Here we were busy discussing the batting lineup for the next innning. Serious stuff man.
Boys hanging out in the dugout.
The regular crew plus my dad's cousin Joan, daughter of Uncle Charlie and Aunt Sally and Dylan's mother.
2006 World Series Champion tropy!
Me doing a little "Cardinal Dreaming"
Calvin looking at me wondering when I'm going to get out of his mug and quit taking so many picutres.
More stadium pics.
A cool plaque showing the old stadium layout vs. the new stadium layout.
Showing my Cardinal spirit.


The boys posing at the Arch museum.
We did not go up in the arch b/c when my dad saw the size of the seats used to haul people up, he said "No, I don't think so."








Then he said No, #*&% No when he found out that these contraptions were built to seat 5 people while going up. I guess he's not real hip on tight spaces with a lot of people.

Calvin and my dad and I standing next to the arch.

The crew next to the arch getting ready to go into the museum.
Cool view of the arch.



Calvin and Grandma Linda relaxing after a long trip to St.Louis.
Aunt Joan on the piano bench and Aunt Sally sitting on the floor.
White Castle! It's a tradition ~ It's the first place we stop once we pull into St.Louis and the last place we stop at before leaving town.
Me crawling in Grandma Gardner's walker basket. If it is something I can crawl into, resembles a box, is big enough for me to stand in, I'm going to find a way to get into it.
Grandma was so kind to let me plant myself in her walker basket. I'm sure it won't be too much longer and I won't be able to do that little trick anymore.

On our way to St.Louis we stopped at Kingdom City, where we've been known to lose a wallet or two, but always manage to find it. We let the two boys run around in the McDonald playground.