Monster Trucks!!

Once again I'm behind in posts....but better late than never...Marty and the boys went and saw Monster Trucks last year when they were in town and asked if I wanted to go this year so I did. I'm not really sure what is so entertaining about these things but it was kind of fun and of course the boys love it.
Desparado....Ground Pounder...this one won the "best donut" competiton....it was loud and smelled of a LOT of burnt rubber.

Outlaw....

Bounty Hunter...this is one of the boys favorite and they remembered him from last year.

The boys...(even though Blake tells me he loves me all the time I'm sure he was trying to give me the "rock on" sign and not the I love you sign....)

Mega-saurus...this dino came out and chewed up and spit out a ford taurus.

It was a pretty fun evening and some cheap entertainment. It was definately better than how we spent this last weekend....we were hit with the 12 hr flu....Blake had it Friday during the night, I had it Saturday during the day and Brett had it Sunday during the night (Marty is to blame as he had it earlier in the week and infected all of us). It was not any fun at all and the only upside was knowing it only lasted about 12 hours. We are all slowing gaining our appetites back and ready to get back on our schedules.

Another whirlwind weekend for the Albright's!

Friday morning was early early for us....we headed to Dallas to watch the Cats play in the Cotton Bowl at 6:30 a.m. This was the 1st bowl trip for the boys, my 4th and Marty's 5th. Brett standing outside the stadium.

The boys did a football toss during the tailgate outside the stadium.

KSU Marching Band came through to get the crowd ready.

The boys are ready for some football. The stadium was huge to say the least and are seats were fairly high, however there was another section above us yet.

Bring on the Cats.

Optimus Klein aka Collin Klein, toughest quarterback ever.

One of Brett's fav players to watch...#4 Arthur Brown. This guy is a machine, glad to have him on our team and he's from Wichita.

The man behind it all...Coach Snyder.

Blake had been up since 5:30 a.m. with only a two hour nap in the car on the way down....he was ready to go.

With our seats being as high as they were...it gave us a great view of the band and their preformance.

Best Conference ever...Big 12 forever!!

This was pretty amazing to see...the flag as big as the field.

One of my fav bands sang the national anthem and did it quite well...The Band Perry.

Willie doing his thing....

Outside view of the stadium.

Obviously we were not happy with the outcome of the game. We were hoping for one more Snyder/Klein miracle and it just didn't come together this time. However the Cats gave us an amazing season....one that most never thought we would've had. I will also now take the time to make my statement "official"....I will no longer attend KSU bowl games as I've now been to 4 and none of them have been winners. I'm fairly certain I'm the jinx so I will take myself out of the equation from here on out. Yes I'm that superstitious. Our season may be over but it last longer than some (KU) and now it's on to cheer on the basketball teams.

We arrived home Saturday from Dallas around 11:30 a.m. just in time to watch the men's bb team beat the MU tigers. That was definately a nice win after our appearance against KU earlier in the week. We then showered, changed clothes, and repacked a bag as we headed to Topeka to surprise my father-in-law, Corky, for his 70th birthday (Jan.4th). He was quite surprised when he walked into the restaurant and saw all of us waiting for him.

The Birthday Boy!!

All the grandkids were there and sang happy birthday to him.

Papa Corky and his "6-pack".

It was a fun evening. We arrived home this morning around 11:30 a.m. to unpack and do several loads of laundry while Marty went to work to get caught up and get ready to go back to reality. The boys did great with all the "car-riding" and lack of sleep.

Dec. 29th...very important day and I forget to post....

December 29th is a special and important day in our family and I notoriously forget it every year due to the holidays.

5 years ago was Adoption Day... Blake officially became an Albright and we officially became a family complete.

The Albright's!!

Not only is it Adoption Day but it's also my sweet little Cali's birthday. She turned 14 this year. She's all of 8lbs., mostly deaf, her eyesight isn't the best, she has 5 teeth but she's mine and she's the best lap dog I've ever had. She's always readily available to sit and cuddle with on the couch.

Cali got a new coat in her stocking this year.

Albright Christmas Paaalooooza!!

Our Christmas celebrations started December 23rd...the boys left cookies for Santa the night before in hopes that he would make an early stop since we wouldn't be home for Christmas. As luck would have it, he was able to stop by.Some of Santa gifts were....Brett got a sports trunk for all his sport gear, a new baseball glove, Blake got a new sled (which he wasn't sure why Santa gave it to him since there wasn't any snow), case for his leapster and games, hot wheels radio/alarm clock and they both got nerf footballs for their indoor football games downstairs.

The stockings were filled with chocolate marshmallows santas, dvd's, spy glasses, and pokemon cards.

Brett also got a digital camera from us that he is super excited about taking to the bowl game. Blake got a new pair of cowboy boots and he was so excited when he put them on that they weren't tight on his feet like his old ones. (They were too small but I had been making him squeeze his feet into them until Christmas.)

The boys also got rockets to build and shoot off with their dad. I love Blake's expression.

And last but no least the boys got a Jordy Nelson fathead. It's lifesize and pretty cool. Can't wait to get these on their walls.

My favorite gift was once again Girls Weekend with my KSU roomies, Kelly and Jill. Marty has given me/us this gift the last couple of years....they plan the date and where...and I get to find out at Christmas. This year we are headed to Manhappiness!! We are staying at the Scenic Valley B and B and hoping to take in a KSU bb game. We can't wait. I also got a new KSU blanket, Bridesmaid dvd, waffle maker (which might Brett's fav gift).

Christmas Eve day we headed to my in-laws. The annual kid pic by the tree was taken before presents. L-R (Erica, Garrett, Emily, Brett, Karlie, and Blake).

Brett with his loot.

Blake with his in-take.

After presents there was a heated game of "Can you name 5".

Christmas Day we drove up to see my Grandpa and Grandma Theye. Even though we missed the rest of the family (they all get together Christmas Eve) it was nice for my Grandparents to actually get to talk and see the boys and us. We even got to play a around of pitch with them before we left and I can't tell you when the last time I got to play cards with them was.

And our last but not least Christmas was at our house this last weekend with my parents, my brother Scott, his girlfriend, Jenn and my nephew Steel. We spent the weekend eating great food (I might be a little biased as Marty and I cooked a mean steak and lobster tail dinner with twice baked taters, steamed brocolli and shrimp and stuffed shrooms as appetizers). Then it was the annual kid pic by the tree before presents.

After presents the adults started their card playing until ringing in the new year. Sunday we took the boys to see Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked and then home to play more games and finally send Scott, Jenn and Steel back to Kansas City. Mom and Dad stayed over and left this morning. It was a great weekend and Christmas holiday. The weather was absolutely perfect in my book and I'm pretty sure we'll pay for it later but I'll take it anyway.

Now we prepare to head to Dallas to cheer on the Cats in the Cotton Bowl!! Look for us on TV...we'll be the ones in purple!!