NFL Players the Sequel

Well, day two was not as exciting as the bowling night but still was fun. Definitely came home with more adrenalin on Monday but it was still fun.


On Tuesday, we went to Cooper for the charity basketball game that consisted of Cooper coaches playing Dominique Rhodes (number 34) and some other people he knew (like his brother who is standing to the right of Rhodes in the picture of the guys in white Cooper jerseys).

The even was a lot less formal than I anticipated. Jason spoke with the gentlemen that seemed to run the event from the night before and he told my husband to come after the game and get the jersey (pictured). We did so, and got Rhodes to sign it after the game. Even though the event was not what I expected, it was still very fun. Rhodes and Daniel Manning had run a football and cheerleader camp during the day. Every time the basketball players fouled (and even sometimes when they did not but the referees made things up to call a foul), instead of the players shooting from the free throw line, some children that signed up would come and make the shots. It was so cute to see these little kiddos getting so excited, even if they did not make their shots. They players would even pick up some of the smaller girls and hold them near the basket for a better chance.
Overall, the event was fun and I think Rhodes made some good money for his charity. He even auctioned off other Colt player's jerseys (thus the line of jerseys). Peyton Manning's jersey went for $300!

Another thing that was funny is that the two teams tied 66 all!

This is the jersey that Jason won on Monday night. Doesn't he look like a football player! And to prove it is authentic, here is a picture of the Rhodes' autograph. All-in-all, we had a great two days. Who would have known buying two little tickets to go bowling would have caused such an eventful two days. I'm going bowling more often!

(Please forgive the picture setup. I still do not know how to do this so if anyone has instructions on how to make the pictures look right with the words, please help!)

Fantastic Bowling Night June 23, 2008

Well holy smokes, did the Favia's have a terrific day today! Jason and I went to an event this evening that was given by Dominique Rhodes, the Colts NFL player that went to Cooper High School here a few years ago, to raise money for Abilene. The event was held at PrimeTime and about 100 people showed up to the event. Well, not only was Rhodes there, a Chicago Bears player, Daniel Manning, also came to the event. Well, for the two people on the planet who don't know this, Jason is a HUGE, MONSTROUS Bears fan. I mean, ENORMOUS.

Well, to tell this tale, I will start at the very beginning. We pull up to the parking lot and Jason says, "Oh my gosh. That's Dominique Rhodes." I had no idea what he looked like (I did know his name though so I think that counts for something). Well then, my husband about fell out of the SUV when he squeals, "OH MY GOSH. That's Daniel Manning!" So we park close to where the players are standing. Jason gets out of the SUV and walks around to where I was standing and Mr. Manning says, "Sup" to Jason, who returned the same greeting. Well, I thought I was going to have to take my husband to the hospital due to a heart attack, he was so excited, and he grinned from ear to ear.

So we get some food and were totally star-struck, watching the NFL players give autographs and take pictures with fans. So we begin to bowl, which was the whole point of the fund raising event. The rules were that every time someone bowled a strike or a spare, we had to go up to Mr. Rhodes and get a card (from a deck of cards). After two games, the person with the best poker hand would win a prize (top three adults and top three kids win a prize).

So let me pause there and say that during the games, I observed both football players just having fun and enjoying their fans. The kids had a ball, jumping all over the players and talking to them. The players also made their rounds, talking with adults that came to the event as well. Well, Jason wore his Urlacher's jersey, a Bears middle line backer (and yes, I did have to ask Jason what his position was). So during one of the games, Daniel Manning came over to Jason and says "Hey Urlacher". The two struck up a conversation and Jason was eating it up and loving every minute. Well, being the dork I am, I gush over my husband's obsession for the Bears and how he is from Chicago. I then asked if I could be a nerdy wife and get a picture with the two of them. And Mr. Manning obliged. Here is the photo. Isn't Jason cute! Wait, he would not be happy I wrote that . . . isn't he manly? The other one is a time that both Daniel Manning and Jason were bowling at the same time. (Jason is on the far right and Manning is on the far left). He was really really nice and down-to-earth.

So anyways, back to the story of bowling. At the end of the two games (I bowled one of the best games I have ever had, a 123, which I was way excited about), I ended up with a full house, fives over jacks. Jason also had a full house, kings over aces. So we turn our cards in and waited for the results. Well, they announced the kid's winners first and it was too funny watching all of the little kids get so jealous of the first place winner who gets a signed autographed football tomorrow night at the fund raising basketball game that is being held at Cooper High School.

Then the adults were announced. The third place was announced who received an 5X7 autographed picture of Dominique Rhodes. Then the second place winner, who received an 8X10 autographed picture of Dominique Rhodes and an 8X10 autographed picture of Daniel Manning was announced. And the winner was Melissa Favia! I could not believe it! What a great feeling. By the way, Rhodes picture says "To: Melissa" on it and Manning's picture says "Good Job Bowling".

Well, after winning second place, I knew then what that meant. Jason had a better hand than I did! So first place was announced and sure enough, Jason Favia won! He about had to be picked up off of the ground due to amazement and excitement! He won an autographed jersey from Dominique Rhodes! Well, the next fifteen minutes or so were spent schmoozing with NFL players, like it was nothing. Manning actually shook our hands and gave us both a congratulatory hug! They kept saying how they couldn't believe a husband and wife team won first and second. Mr. Manning also told Jason he expected him to be at the Texans game this fall from the conversation they had earlier in the evening (Greg and Bobbie, we are going to need a place to stay . . . hint hint!) Jason got to talk with them for several minutes, which was exciting for him and fun to watch for me because of how excited Jason was. So anyways, we left on cloud nine and can't wait until tomorrow night when we will attend the charity basketball game. Jason will be presented his jersey during half-time. You better believe that I will be taking the "proud wife" pictures and posting more about the events tomorrow night so stay tuned!

My Tay-Tay

I was looking through the pictures on my computer today and got to looking at my cousin's daughter, Tayler. As you may (or may not) know, my family has helped to raise Tayler since she was about three months old. Jason and I, as well as my sister and her husband, my parents and my dad's sister, Judy, have all had a hand at raising this fantastic child. I have joked many times that she will either be the best behaved little girl, or need so much therapy, it is not even funny. Well anyways, Tayler is now, as she would tell you, 5.8 years old (her birthday is in October) and while she stays with her mother most of the time in the Dallas area, we still get to care for her every now and then. Jason and I will keep her some as she LOVES to spend the night, and at her last visit to the Favia's house, we took some pictures. Looking at these makes me happy, but also a little sad because of how fast she has grown. It seems like it was just yesterday she was still crawling around the house. Here are some pictures of Tayler when she was little.

Is she not adorable! Man I love that little girl!!

She was SO little. And SO cute!

She loves her Jason!

And then there is Tayler now . . . so big and grown up.

We still like to have fun though!

And she still loves her Jason!

And Tayler, we LOVE you too.

The Zoo

It is summer time and for me, that means two words: Summer camp. While I look forward to this time every year, I am certainly ready for school to start come August. I love summer camp, everyone knows it, but it is very stressful at times because there is always a risk of not seeing all of the clients for the month which means the possibility of fines for the company, which adds stress. Therefore, one has to be extremely organized and sometimes pushy to get everyone scheduled. Getting ahold of parents can be a pain and I have become very good at calling every day to reach some of them. I have found that becoming a pain in the backside will get phone calls returned. However, there are a lot of ups as well. I only see one kiddo in the morning and one in the afternoon which is much different than seeing six kids (on average) for an hour every day. It is weird sometimes to think that I see my clients the same number of times all summer that I do in one month of school. They just are seen more at one time of course during the summer. Anyways, this setup does make it harder because there is no down time during the summer. I will often crave Fridays because it is the "office day" but usually I don't even get a full 8 hours of alone time because I will have worked a lot more during the week and overtime is not good to turn in too often. However, it sounds like I am complaining, which I am not at all. I really do enjoy the summer. It is a nice change of pace and the kids really like it. Jason has a hard time feeling sorry for me during the summer when I complaining about being tired from the day which will often include things like bowling, going to the park, Mr. Gattis, Fantasy World, Prime Time and going to my boss's ranch, just to name a few. He will ask me why I am tired and I don't get the sympathy I am looking for when I saw, "went bowling and drew pictures all afternoon". I just don't understand it! :-) Anyways, another place I will take the kids is the zoo. I took a little one earlier this week and had a blast! Abilene has a new snake exhibit and since my kiddo was a little boy, I don't know, call me sexist but boy . . . snakes . . . it seemed to be a good idea. Well, I tell you what, I don't know who had more fun, him or me. We went in the morning, which meant that the animals were actually awake and looking alive instead of laying there wishing that death would come instead of having to lay in the heat. I have been to the zoo, I don't know how many times, and I have never seen the bears actually awake and the peacock was amazing. The best part for me (who knows what the child liked, I was too busy looking at the animals to ask) was in the snake exhibit. No, it was not the 120 pound python named Alice that was my favorite. It was the cobra, who is new to the zoo and was not a happy camper that day. He was in his snake trance/fighting snake position, looking at all of the visitors, ready to strike. It was very neat to watch. I could not help but sing the song one thinks of when cartoons show cobras. You know what I am talking about: Da da daa da da da da da daa da da daa. The snake even swayed a little back and forth. Well, I overheard the zoo keeper tell someone that if he did not settle down soon they would have to close his exhibit for the snake to calm down because they were afraid he would hurt himself trying to strike the people (but really striking the glass and either killing himself or getting one major headache). When we checked back later (okay really when I made my kid follow me back to the snakes), they had paper over the glass. I guess the snake did not calm down. Anyways, I had a lot of fun. I attached some pictures of the animals. On a side note, this is obviously the first time I have added pictures so please forgive the format as I am trying to figure this all out! Oh, and you know I could not add pictures of animals without adding my little lioness. She was playing at Granna and Pappy's house in the picture. Too funny, that Fluffie of mine!