Santa Fe

My mom, dad, sister, her kids, and I all had a nice time in Santa Fe over the beginning of Spring Break. Brandon and my brother-in-law had to work, so they didn't get to make this trip with us. Sorry guys! Somehow, all of my pictures are of Ava, and I didn't get any with my mom, sister, or me. I think I mostly took pictures the first day, and we had been traveling all night to get there, so the rest of us were looking pretty rough and didn't want our pictures taken. After that, my mom and sister got some group shots, and I just figured I'd get their copies, so I hope those turn out!

The weather was pretty cool and windy, but the sun was shining every day, so we still enjoyed walking around the Plaza and getting out. We ate at some great restaurants (Pasqual's, Blue Corn Cafe, Upper Crust Pizza), went to some shops around the plaza, the library, a bookstore, art galleries, a children's museum. We saw a lot in 3 days considering we also all went back to the hotel in the afternoons to take naps with the kids.

Ava was so excited when we left Abilene at midnight. (Our plan was for the kids to sleep through the night, but it didn't exactly work that way.) Ava and I were in the back seat, and she would loudly whisper, "KATE...do you see Santa Fe yet?"
"Sorry, Ava, no...we're just to Lubbock. Can you go to sleep and dream about Santa Fe, and then maybe when you wake up we'll be there."
"Tell K-Papa that if I fall asleep, I want him to wake me up when we get close."
"OK. I'll tell him."
"Maybe I should sleep with one eye open for Santa Fe just in case."

Ava and Pierson at breakfast at Pasqual's after the nine-hour drive. They look surprisingly perky here, but that didn't last long. Other than that though, they were great travelers and perfectly pleasant doing all the things we dragged them to.

Ava and K-Papa dancing

Yeah, I don't know what to say about these. Ava thought they would make good pictures, so she posed with them and asked me to take her picture. Funny girl!

During our middle-of-the-night car ride, I told Ava about the staircase at the Loretta Chapel, so we made sure to go see it.

And Ava and Summer enjoyed painting their faces at the children's museum.


















And now it's Easter weekend, and then I get a Monday off before I have to go back to work. Love that!

My first (and hopefully last) baseball injury

Last Saturday night I was at the ACU baseball game like normal, and I was sitting on the front row just behind first base and to the right of the dugout. I was visiting with my dad and Brandon's mom and enjoying the weather and the game when I suddenly saw the ball come off the bat straight at us. I tried to turn and get out of the way, but I wasn't quick enough. It nailed me in my left arm just below the shoulder. Immediately the trainer and the people sitting around me starting asking if I was okay. I was so relieved it didn't hit me in the face, so I told them I was fine, but then the tears filled my eyes and the pain started to set in. I went in the clubhouse (with my dad and mother-in-law) and the trainer got me some ice and pain medicine. Brandon came in and checked on me as well as my brother-in-law and niece who were also at the game. Ava asked a lot of questions. She wanted to know why I was crying and what the ice was for. Then she said in her matter-of-fact little voice, "It finks in here." (Translation: stinks) The bruise started out just in the shape of a baseball and has changed colors and started spreading down my arm. I think it's starting to fade now, and the soreness and swelling has gone down too. I think I'll go back to my regular seats at the top of the stands where you get a little more warning before the ball comes at you.

A relaxing Saturday with Kate...

The weather today is so cold and rainy, so I have spent the whole day inside the house in my pajamas with a fire going watching movies. I made bacon, eggs, and biscuits for breakfast and then made a tuna salad sandwich for lunch and ate them while watching "Woman of the Year" and "Pat and Mike," both Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy movies. I love watching old movies, and Kate and Audrey Hepburn are my favorite actresses from that time.


Last night Brandon and I enjoyed a nice dinner out with Summer and Chad who happened to be at the same restaurant for their Valentine's date, so we had a fun double date at a new restaurant in town and enjoyed our conversation with them.

On Valentine's we went to the Homer Hiccolm and the Rocket Boys concert at the Paramount. Their music is really good, and it's pretty rare to get to hear live music in Abilene, so it was a nice Valentine's treat.

Tonight I'm going to Sing Song. I was jogging around ACU earlier this week when everyone was in costume going to the dress rehearsal. I have 3 cousins in it this year. It is completely time-consuming for those involved, so I'm sure they will all be ready for a break soon.

Spring Fever

"An optimist is the human personification of spring." Susan J. Bissonette
I'm not very good about blogging about the daily things. I tend to mainly go event to event even though I enjoy and appreciate other people's blogs about ordinary, everyday life. I keep a journal and that's where I write more about the day-to-day things I do, but I'd like to share more of it here as well.

I feel so ready for spring. I want a break from teaching and grading to just sit and read a good book and take a long nap and maybe travel and go to a movie with Brandon. Baseball season is just starting for him which means I will have some weekends where I spend most of my time at the ballpark and some weekends where I'm here by myself. I enjoy both. I've been very thankful that the last two weekends have been warm, sunny days. It makes watching baseball games so much more enjoyable. I think Brandon is going to make a great head coach someday. And I'm very glad that when I go to his games here I can enjoy the company of my parents, his parents, my sister and her family, and our friends at the game.

On weekends when he's out of town, I usually spend some time reading, go to garage sales, and maybe do a little work around the house. I really really need to clean out the garage. I hate it when I know I have something but I have absolutely no idea where it is. And our garage has been the catch-all for anything that didn't have a place in the house. I need to organize and get rid of a lot of stuff. Spring always makes me want to do that. Yesterday, when looking for some of our wedding shower invitations and gift lists--I know I saved them SOMEWHERE, didn't I?--I found some pictures from middle school. I wish I had a scanner so you could appreciate my middle school B team basketball picture with my permed hair, short bangs, skinny legs, high shorts, and socks halfway up to my knees and scrunched down. I also found my backpack from high school with a note I carried with me everyday from my sister. She left it on my car the first day of my senior year. More treasures are waiting to be rediscovered whenever I get the energy to excavate the ruins.

My weekends would be so much better too if I didn't have to grade. I try not to bring papers home to grade whenever possible because I don't want the guilt of taking them back to school Monday morning without having accomplished anything. But it is inevitable, so this afternoon I'll probably go to Starbucks where I can't be distracted by TV or books or even cleaning the house (which, compared to grading, would be more enjoyable) and read essays.

I spent the weekend with my college girlfriends for our annual MLK weekend trip. This year we were missing six girls who couldn't be there including Jenna who is in Guatemala and Leah who is on bed rest so her twin boys don't come too soon.

It is so nice to be able to pick up right where we left off even though a lot has happened in the past year among our group. We were able to go to the Saturday night service at Richland Hills and hear Christine sing. After all the prayers for her health and the frustration of her many hospital visits over the past year, it was so great to hear her singing and praising again. When I lived with her in college, I always loved to hear her sing around the house.
This year, Kayci's in-laws were nice enough to let us all stay at their house, and they helped baby-sit Truitt so Kayci could enjoy some girl time. They were so kind to do this because we pretty much took over their house. We enjoyed her mother-in-law's good cooking while we were there and we spent a lot of time at the house just talking and catching up with what's been going on with everyone. We saw the movie "27 Dresses" which was very funny and a great one to see with girlfriends; we ate out at Pei Wei, one of my favorite restaurants; and we spent some quality time at Super Target. I left feeling relaxed and refreshed, which is something that I was really needing. Girlfriends are great therapy!

REVENGE and Ski Pictures (finally)

A couple of weeks ago we took part in rolling some of our friends. And Monday, they got their revenge on us. When I came in from work, I tried to turn the lamp on and it didn't work. I tried a few other switches and then figured the electricity had gone out. Then I noticed all the clocks and the fans were working and our shoes were randomly scattered around the house. Aha....they got us! The light bulb went on (metaphorically speaking, that is) and I knew something was fishy (literally). So I check out the rest of the house to discover hundreds of Dixie cups filled with water and stapled together lining our kitchen floor, and fish floating in the tub and toilet. We think a few more people had a hand in this than the initial victims, so everybody better watch out! The best part was a picture Kara emailed to me of Will and Levi on our bed mooning the camera. They teach them early at the Sheets house!






Even despite the extreme cold, we had a wonderful time on our "Stomble" family ski trip. We spent a lot of time sledding on a hill behind the house. We created a jump, so you could actually get some air before you landed at the bottom. We also entertained ourselves by playing a lot of games and watching movies. And of course the skiing was fun too, just a little too chilly for my taste.

Notice our matching "Stover/Womble 4th annual ski trip" shirts!

I'm so glad this is a 3-day weekend! I need it so badly, and in just a few minutes I will be heading out of town to get together with girlfriends from college for our annual MLK Girls Weekend! I'm looking forward to relaxing, eating, maybe shopping a little, and laughing a lot.

We had a great time over Christmas with our family. We got together first with my mom's side of the family in Abilene. I love it when we are all together. My mom is the oldest of five kids, and there are 11 grandkids, 3 grandkids-in-law, and 2 great-grandkids. It's a full house when we all get together, and I LOVE it! This year everyone came to Abilene. Here are some pictures from our time together...

Summer and her cute kids

Jason, Ava, and Bradyn doing their mean faces. Don't get on their bad side!

The girl cousins: Summer, Kasey, me, Jenny, and Carly

This year Seth broke his dad's record for the number of egg rolls eaten at one time. It was very entertaining for the onlookers cheering him on. Seth, you make our family proud!

3 generations: Summer, Grandma, Mom, and me

This is a picture of all the cousins. My uncle Don had shirts made of our my grandmother's family symbol. We were all proudly displaying our Japanese family heritage.

And here we are with my parents and sister's family. We had a Pierson family gift opening before our extended family came to town. We are so blessed by our families!


After Christmas we went on a ski trip with the Stovers and Wombles.
More pictures of that to come...

Favorite Christmas Music Memories

I'm not someone who enjoys Christmas music all year long. In fact, it really bothers me to hear Christmas music playing in stores before Thanksgiving. It's like when you eat too much of your favorite dessert until you don't really like it anymore. I love Christmas music so much that I don't want to spoil it by over-indulging. But when this time of year rolls around, and I pull out my old favorite Christmas CDs I love how each one takes me back to a different memory I have of listening to that music and who I was with and what I was doing at the time. So with each CD, I will share my favorite Christmas memory. (This is not in chronological order, but in order of my favorite CDs.)

1. A Very Special Christmas 3

This is my favorite Christmas CD ever. I love the collection of artists on this CD--Sting, Smashing Pumpkins, Natalie Merchant, Snoop Doggy Dogg with Salt N' Pepa, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveler, Enya, Hootie & the Blowfish, Chris Cornell, Mary J. Blige, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds (my all time favorite Christmas song!), and Tracy Chapman. I was introduced to it my sophomore year of college. This was a unique Christmas for me. My parents were living in Japan, my sister had gotten married the summer before and was having her first Christmas with her new in-laws, so I tagged along with her and spent Christmas with my brother-in-law's family. His mom decorated a special little tree for me with pictures of my family. I thought that was so sweet of her. Since we were out of school for a month, I also spent some time with college friends and their families. It was a Christmas that made me really appreciate my family and being able to all be together! And it made me thankful for those who go out of their way to make others feel at home.

2. Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas

This was the CD we listened to at home when I was growing up. Aaron Neville can really belt out those Christmas songs, and that high-pitched vibrato puts me in the Christmas spirit every time. I have great memories of decorating the tree with my mom and sister, and dancing around the living room with my dad. Since my sister is four years older, she always talked me into dressing up when we were younger. We would be elves in Santa's workshop, and then when she got too old to dress up, she would create a costume for me to wear and stage me for the picture as Santa with his reindeer. This Christmas music also reminds me of the smell of baking cookies and fresh coffee.

3. Point of Grace - A Christmas Story

This was my roommate Jenna's CD before I got my own copy later. It brings back memories of living in the dorm with her, listening to this CD while trying to finish writing my papers that were due at the end of the semester. It also reminds me of one of my funniest Christmas-decorating experiences. We were living in Sikes Dorm and decided to hang some Christmas lights around our window. Since we didn't have a ladder, I had Jenna sit in the armchair in the corner to hold it down while I stood on the back of it to hang the lights on the top of the window. While I was up there, our phone rang, and instinctively, Jenna jumped up to answer it. As soon as she did, the chair fell backwards and I ended up folded in half in the corner between the chair and the walls with my hands and feet straight up and Christmas lights dangling around me. It might've hurt if we hadn't been laughing so hard. She moved the chair and helped me up, apologizing profusely. It's one of the many funny memories I have of living with Jenna.

4. Josh Groban - Noel

I got this CD this year from my mother-in-law and am really enjoying it. So far, while listening to it I've been writing a paper and finishing a very special quilt for some good friends. I'm sure I'll add more to it, but that memory will always stand out to me when I listen to it.

I spent most of Thanksgiving day sick in a hotel room, but despite that, we had a nice holiday. I am sad that I missed out on one of the days of the year when you're allowed to eat hoards of delicious food without thinking twice about it. I almost convinced Brandon to take me to Luby's for lunch today just so I could get a little turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie. But soon Christmas will be here and I'll be able to partake of my favorite holiday cuisine...Grandma's egg rolls and sushi!! We came back to a snow-covered Abilene Thursday night, and then were excited to get more snow today! My dad and I even braved the cold weather yesterday in Lubbock to watch the Abilene High football game. Now I'm trying to get motivated to get ready for school this week, but really I'm just soaking up my last few hours of vacation! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving holiday!

I'm very glad God has allowed me to work with high schoolers. They are so much fun and keep me entertained. Tonight our junior huddle girls had dinner at our house (the boys went to another house to eat), and we played a competitive game of 4 on a couch--blondes vs. brunettes. These are such sweet girls. I can't believe they're already juniors! I'm glad we get the opportunity to be with them all 4 years in high school.

Last weekend I enjoyed being a part of the West Texas Girls Conference. My friends Kayci, Sarah, and Kara (among others) did an amazing job of putting it on again this year. I love the sound of a roomful of girls singing. It was encouraging to see so many girls gathered to worship and share.

It's an odd and interesting thing teaching at my own high school. It's another nice thing about Abilene--the interconnectedness of everything and everyone. Many of my former teachers (I dare not say "old" because that could be me someday soon) are still working there, as are some of my classmates. Of course, there are days when I'm exhausted and just ready for the next holiday, but I also appreciate being in a job that gives me interaction with high school kids every day. They are surprising, sarcastic, witty, maturing, energetic, eager, and incredibly blunt...God bless them!

Did someone order a Route 44?

We had a great time dressing up for Halloween again this year. I always love a good costume party. This year I went as Kara when she worked at Sonic in high school, and Brandon was the Corvette she unfortunately collided with while on skates. You can read more about the story on her blog. It is quite funny. And it really is tricky to carry a tray of anything while skating. My inline skating skills were a little rusty. That's probably why I always wore wrist guards when I roller bladed around ACU back in the day. Remember those days, FMS girls??

Ava telling Brynn a secret. It must be a good one!


Will and Levi looked so sweet as Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Here's a cute one of Brandon holding Levi, or Snoopy taking a ride in the Vet.

Kara and me as Kara

The Walters were a family of monkeys, and little Pierson was a banana. They looked so cute!


I had a successful garage sale Saturday morning and got rid of some furniture to make room for some other furniture I got at an antique store recently. So now I get to do a little redecorating which is always fun. I can't believe it's almost November already! I love fall weather. This semester is shorter than usual since we started school later this year, and it is going by so quickly.

Brandon and I had a nice time 2 weekends ago at ACU Homecoming. It was his 5-year reunion, so we got to visit with some of his former roommates and friends from college. We also enjoyed spending time with some of my family during the weekend. We dominated Chris and Jenny in bowling on the Nintendo Wii. Not really. But seriously, it was intense. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of that, so Team Thompson, we challenge you to a rematch over Christmas--this time with cameras.


Here we are with Allyson Ocheskey and her daughter Camden (Jay is a football coach so he was working that weekend); Ty and Charis Dishman; and Heidi, Phillip, and Harper Houston at the reunion dinner.

Everybody's working for the weekend

Being back to school makes me appreciate the weekends so much more! Last weekend I went to the Abilene High and ACU football games and to my friend Amy Stroup's concert at Redbud Park. Dad sang "Blowin' in the Wind" with her. The weather was perfect!

I think Pierson really enjoyed his first concert.

Saturday morning I went to garage sales, and found a variety of things to add to my collection: vintage kitchen chairs, a never-been-used tent, a dog house (the dog I already had from a previous garage sale), red trays, a quilt rack, and a plant stand. I also spent some time cuddling with my nephew and working on a quilt. All in all, a nice, relaxing weekend.