February 5, 2020 by Stephanie

Chiefs Kingdom

I have pinched myself several times this week. I still can hardly believe that the Chiefs won the SUPER BOWL!

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It is unreal!

Growing up in Kansas City, I always imagined what this would feel like. You always rooted for the Chiefs like this was going to happen, but then it never did.

So to watch this come to fruition this year was purely magical.

The Chiefs aren’t perfect, but what a perfect testament to never giving up and picking yourself up each time you fall. They are the only team to trail in all the playoff games to come back and win the whole dang thing. I felt like I was watching a movie all post-season.

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I really don’t know how to explain the spirit behind rooting for the Chiefs in KC.

The Chiefs have been an important part of my life making so many memories possible.

Growing up, it was just what we did on Sundays in the fall. We got home from church and put on our red and yelled at the TV. I would say part of my relationship with my dad was built through this time we spent cheering on our beloved Chiefs.

I still remember the first game I went to with my dad when I was in middle school. I remember feeling the electricity run through the Arrowhead stadium and the pure joy that filled my soul.

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During college, our marching band was fortunate to play at halftime. I remember being giddy for days after the experience of being on the Chiefs field. I also still have that field pass!

When I moved away, football was a connector for me and my family. We would often talk through what was happening and have hope that this year was our year…or move our faith into the next year when inevitably things went wrong.

But that is the thing as a Chiefs fan, you always have the hope.

There is something about hearing “TOUCHDOWN KANSAS CITY” that gives me chills and makes me want to jump up and down.

Being a Chiefs fan is often times agonizing and I bite all my fingernails off, but it also means that all the big moments are BIG. I jump out of my seat with every long pass, and I have lost my voice to many games. Being a Chiefs fan is emotional and stressful, but gosh it is so fun.

I think because they have always been scrappy and a little chaotic, they become so rootable because they aren’t always perfect. We are always the underdog, and that is fun to get behind because no one expects us to win. It’s relatable in a sense. Watching this team come back time and time again has a lot of life lessons in it.

I mean Kansas City is known for being the come back kings. I remember writing a similar post about the Royals…

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But in the end, what I love about being a Chiefs fan is the way it connects people. It ties people together whether you are family or complete strangers. There is beauty in that, so that is why rooting for the Chiefs, rooting for our hometown, rooting for a football game is so enchanting.

And now I get to share that love with my own family. We get to create our own magic moments as my team becomes their team too. To hear my kids say “Go Chiefs” or “Come on Kansas City” brings me pure bliss. The Chiefs have been such an integral part of my life, and I hope it brings them the same level of joy.

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How about them Chiefs!!!

WE WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!

January 5, 2014 by Stephanie

Holiday Stats

Glinn Photography

We just resurfaced in Ft. Campbell after 2 weeks on the road. We don’t even know what to do with ourselves.

Here is a recap on how the past two weeks of our travel went.

Basics

14 days living out of a suitcase (or two)
1 state (Missouri) 2 cities (Kansas City and Jefferson City)
2 Christmas celebrations in JC
3 Christmas celebrations in KC
Drove through the town where our undergrad is and revisited old stomping grounds
Rang in 2014
4 family birthdays

We surprised my father-in-law with a 60th birthday party.

The Dogs

Crosby got a new nickname of Hammerhead, to go along with his others of Crosbastic and Crosbilicious.
Neither dog pooped in the house while we were away. Success.
Grace lived up to her name of the Food Ninja by stealing food off the counters.
We saw Crosby in the snow for the first time (with us anyway). He is not a fan. Grace however, thinks snow is candy coming from the sky.
Crosby demolished a Kong toy in the amount of time it took us to open up Christmas presents.

The unlucky Kong and Crosby.

For Funs

We both got to visit with old friends with typical best friend behavior
- My two best gal pals and I downed Chili’s molten chocolate cake under a couple minutes. As our families watched in awe (or horror) at three grown women fighting over cake and ice cream.
- Tom played hours of video games with his bestie.
I went to my first Christmas Eve service that I can remember. Our family lit the advent candles for the service.

My in-laws at Christmas Eve service.

Tom managed to work out every day. He scared a lot of people in the gym with his ranger panties.
On a date with my sister in law, I revisited the winery where we had our wedding anniversary.
I read 2 books and watched one documentary.
The Homemade Christmas items seemed to go over well. More to come on all the crafting that occurred gearing up for the gift exchange!
I got to officially meet the Climes whose son inspired me to run my last half. They are too sweet, except the boys let me die in a nerf arrow fight.
We watched Clemson and Mizzou win their respective bowl games. It is always a good day to be a Tiger!
We gave my parents a Royals neon. So awesome!
My father-in-law works for Budweiser so sometimes we come across gems like these!
We were so excited to give this to them!
Unfortunately, the Chiefs lost by one point in their playoff game. It was a great year for them though!
We only got up before 9am one time. Tomorrow’s 5am alarm is going to be brutal.
I got my brother hooked on the show Castle.
On both the way to Missouri and the way out, we had to stop in the first 30 minutes to search for an open auto parts store in the middle of no where because Tom’s Jeep was acting up.
My dad bought our 3 year old niece a drum set. Bahaha! My poor brother.

Oh grandparents.

Tom got a new gun for his birthday.
We saw snow, ice, rain, sunshine, and temperatures ranging from 4 degrees to 65 degrees.
We told our niece Ava about the Hamburgler, and she went on to talk about the hamburger stealer bad man for the rest of the day. Whoops.
The most played song for us was Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball.”
I took about 1,000 photos, but there are less than 10 that I am actually in. Most of them were the family photos we took.

My in-laws

One of the Christmases with my mom, brother and his daughter

We had a great time at home. And we can’t wait for the days when we don’t have to travel so far to have family time.

I hope you all had a great holiday season. Here’s to making new memories in 2014!

December 2, 2013 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #14

This weekend, Tom actually watched the Clemson football game with me. I blame the loss on his viewing.

Anyway, this is some commentary from my husband. Talk about loss…

Tom-When I die, I want the funeral to be like a football game. There will be beer and a half time. On one side there would be people who like me, and the other side people who hate me. There would be arguments of which side is right. There would be a ref that came in and make a call that hurts the side that is winning for no reason.”

Long pause.

Tom-Who do you think would be my sponsors?

Tom-Evan Williams.

Tom-Nah it would probably be Iams.

Tom-I would think Jeep, but we would need to time travel to have it be the 1999 Jeep not today’s Jeep.

Long pause.

Tom- And you can do the Clemson chant 1234 1234 T-O-M-I-S-D-E-A-D.

Me-(my jaw on the floor)

The thing with being married to an infantryman is that they have no problem talking and poking fun at their mortality.

So yes this conversation happened, and actually continued with talks about John Stamos and treasure maps at the funeral. Yes part of my duties as the widow is to get Uncle Jesse at Tom’s funeral.

Also I want to note that my husband must really love me because he is making his funeral plans around my love for football since he hates the sport.

Yes this is morbid, but I take the sweet moments where I can get them.

October 13, 2013 by Stephanie

Autumn on My Mind-Fall Collage

This is our last link up of this series. I can’t believe it’s been a full month since we started!

“Autumn on My Mind Collage”

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is a link up to show in photos what you love about the season. We would love to see what fall looks like in your community!

Rules of the Link-up:

1. Do one entry or all! It’s up to you!

2. Add your entry’s link below, and be sure to put the button in your post!

3. If you do link up, check out a couple fellow bloggers to see something new.

4. Your hosts (Elizabeth and Stephanie) would love a following on Bloglovin, but it is not required! We are just glad you stopped by for “Autumn on My Mind!”

The leaves haven’t changed so much here. They all just have tinges of orange and yellow. I see it coming in the next few weeks, but that means that I haven’t been able to document fall in this area yet.

Since I don’t have pictures of true fall here, I have a compilation of photos that say what I love about fall.