Losing a Little Piece of my Past...

Most of the Barnes side of my family will be making their way to grand Sedan for the weekend, but our reasoning for gathering isn't really for the fun and loud times that we usually have together when we are all in Sedan (although I'm sure fun and loud will still be apart of the weekend -- how can it be avoided with this group of people). Their reasoning for making the voyage to Sedan is because this is the weekend we are having a sale at my grandma Dean's house to get rid of the 'extra' stuff (and she has alot of 'extra' stuff) that nobody claimed as their own!

The house has been sold to my good pal Brett Dickens and his wife Katy. It's only right that he gets the house after the many things he had to deal with when it came to my grandma!

But its so strange... this house will no longer be apart of our family. So many amazing, wonderful things filled with nothing but laughter and stories happened in that house. But in a day, it will not be our house anymore.

Ofcourse memories stay with you forever... this house was where we learned 'Settlers of Catan' and made it a Christmas tradition, we introduced 'Newt' into our family at this house, my grandpa got sick in this house and when we found out he had passed away, we were at this house, my brother and tons of neighborhood hoodlums invented a new form of baseball that involved a whiffle ball bat and a tennis ball and played numerous games in that backyard, we tried to start the 'Barnes Bowl' tradition with my uncle Kevin in the front yard (but that one fell through after the first game), Jack, Jordan and I played church in the front living room, I fell in love with Aunt Sherron's goolash in that kitchen... to name a few.

Everything has been divvied up... Seth had his name on EVERYTHING, even Uncle Woody's pictures (funny thing is that even though he was kidding, he's really getting those!).

I know that this will be hard on everyone, but probably my mom the most. She has had to deal with the pain of her parent's decline first-hand. Yes, in a way, this will be a bit of a relief, one less thing she has to deal with. But just another blow that this is all real.

So... after all of the wine that my Uncle Steve will bring up from Texas has been drunk, our family will lose a house that has been filled with so much love and laughter. But we have the memories... and I think deep down, that's really all that matters!

My Bad Luck has Followed Me...

It looks like I'm never going to get rid of it. The only thing that I am truly lucky on (other than having wonderful friends, family, blessed life, cute dog, etc.) is finding great parking spots.

Traveled with the ORU volleyball team to Little Rock, Ark., to play UALR (you must call them that - not University of Arkansas- Little Rock - they don't like that!). Last time I went with the volleyball team to Fayetteville, Ark., we lost. This time, we drove four hours... and lost in FIVE games. That's a long trip to take to come so close to winning only to lose and have to drive four hours back home. And they were so close the whole time, which is what is really frustrating!

Well... maybe I'm just bad luck in ARKANSAS! We have our first home game this weekend so I guess we'll see if I am banished from watching them play ever again after Saturday!

(Picture is from this weekend at the best tailgate ever, but most boring game ever as well! Lauren is continuing to love college. If you have facebook and have her as your friend, you'll see that that is all the child talks about!)

I've Been a Bad Blogger...

I was told yesterday by my good pal Megan that I had not posted on my blog in awhile and I realized she was quite right. Geez, it's been about two weeks... the sad thing is, not much has happened in those two weeks.
Let's see....
- Had a surprise party for Matthew... he turned 26! Yowzers! It was a great party and it's amazing that I kept it a secret for over a month. The best part of the night was when one of Matt's buddies kept buying shots and had everyone take them, including Patty Clark, but really, Matt was the only one taking the shot, while everyone else was taking water. Later he asked, "Hey (slurred words)... did you know (slurred) that everyone else was drinking (slurred) water?" It was at that point that I told Matt no more shots because I really didn't want to take care of his 26-year-old butt all night!
- Made my first road trip with the volleyball team to Arkansas. They lost, but it was quite an entertaining trip. Three-fourths of the team is from either Brazil or Croatia (we have a Nebraska girl squeezed in there). Even if they aren't trying to be funny, its still funny because of their accents. I need to grow up!
- Lauren has made it through two full weeks of college... and is LOVING it. Loves her classes, her friends, Kappa... She is really surprising the heck out of alot of people! All I have to say is that I had faith in her the whole time... :) My only complaint is that her first act as a Kappa was to show one of her new Kappa buddies my sick freshman year composite picture in which I looked like a racoon.
- And last but not least, the countdown for my birthday has begun! Three weeks and three days and I'll be 25... I'm one of the few people that enjoys getting older! This, I think, will probably only last a few more years. And usually when I'm in Manhattan, I wish I was 20 again. But other than that, I think 25 will be a great year!
Speaking of Manhattan... can't wait for the first home football game. Will be traveling up there early Saturday morning for a nice, long day of tailgating. Can life get much better than this?! :)