Go Hogs Go!!

John and I have had the good fortune to attend the first two Razorback football games this year.  John loves football, and being an Arizona State University fan, he has become quite the devoted Razorback as well.  He calls the Hogs, does the wave, screams "First Down" at the appropriate times and wears his red and white with pride.  We were lucky enough to get four tickets from a friend to the first home game.  We drove up to Fayetteville with Kerry and Clay.  We knew at that game that we might be in for a long haul this year.  They just weren't the same Hogs from the prior year.  Sure, we won the game, but it wasn't an easy win. 

Fast forward to the next weekend in Little Rock, and we were leading 7 to 28.  Now, one would think that one could leave early and take advantage of the very obvious win.  Right?  Wrong!!!  We were able to treat a few friends to the game, as well as, sit with Kerry (Clay was shooting at the U.S. Open), but we also wanted to see some of our Little Rock friends while in town.  We are not ones to waste these opportunities.  So, off we went...heading to our friends' house.  Got there, visited, turned on the radio to hear how badly we beat the University of Louisiana at Monroe and got a pretty big shock.  Well, we all know how it ended and unfortunately, we were able to turn on the TV to see the brutal overtime loss.

We still love the hogs, and John is still proud to wear his red and white, but it was a sad sad night for those poor guys!

Below are pre-game photos when we were happy and had no reason to believe it would end so badly!

The Happy Hog Calling Couple

Delivering the Game Ball--not bad!

The Festivities

Romney/Ryan 2012

The RNC Convention was in Tampa at the end of August, and once again, John was able to attend.  He has had the good fortune of attending the last three conventions.  Each time, he has gone in a new role, so he has had a wide variety of experiences as far as GOP conventions go.  This year, he went as a donor.  John and I have supported Romney since 2007.  In fact, he was offered two jobs in 2007, but it was at a time when we were getting ready for our wedding and faced with uncertainty because Mom was recently diagnosed with cancer.  It should have been a very happy time for us with a new marriage and incredible job opportunity, but it was a really dark time.  That is life, I guess, and we both look back at 2007 and it seems so long ago.  It really isn't that long ago, but I feel like a lifetime has passed since then.  John helped raised money in 2007/2008 and was eager to get back on the Romney train in 2011/2012.  When Governor Romney announced his first fundraising push in Nevada, John was there--dialing for dollars.  He was the first supporter in Arkansas and certainly the first to write a check.  It is easy to be "on board" now, but last year, it was not so easy.  John talked to a lot of people about Governor Romney's credentials and background and argued why he would be the best candidate to put up against Obama.  He was able to get some early money out of like-minded family and business people, and therefore, he is a "Founding Partner" on the Romney team.

He was invited to attend the convention as a "black hat" member.  He did this four years ago and was one of the guys on the floor wearing a black hat with an ear piece.  He was responsible for throwing out a protester during McCain's speech.  As the legend goes, he was the closest team member to this guy, although he was not very close at all.  The Secret Service needs "staff" to escort the protesters out of the building and they can't "touch" anyone without staff giving the go ahead.  So, if you have a crazy guy screaming obscenities, the police et al are at a loss until instructed by GOP staff.  So, John recalls that all of a sudden, he hears chaos ensuing above him, and in his ear piece, he hears, "Eddy, it's all you!"  He turns his head from the floor up to the upper echelons of the balcony and knows what must be done...he must run like the wind lest John McCain will be humiliated by this crazy person.  He runs and runs and runs...his lungs tighten and tighten and he finally gets to him.  As he bends over to gasp for oxygen, holding his chest, he utters..."Get him out of here!"  And, there you have it, the legend of the black hats.  I kid, I kid...it is an honor to be asked to do this, but as you can read, he was also honored to be wined and dined in luxury with the other donors.

He said the trip was great, and he met a lot of new people while rekindling lots of old friendships.  I really need to attend at least one convention.  That is on my bucket list!  Below are just two pictures that he sent me.  Of course, he went to all kinds of restaurants, sailing excursions, behind the scenes tours etc, but he is not the photo taking type.  Nope, I just got these two!

John & Wade

Overview of the Convention Hall

Happy Birthday, Suzanne!

August was the end of a long line of Jucas birthdays.  I kick off the summer with an early May birthday, and Kerry follows me up two weeks later.  John is in June and then Clay and Suzanne are in August.  Dad literally celebrates all summer long.  Suzanne's birthday is the finale of birthdays.  The last one before football season and fall roll around.  We celebrated a week after her birthday down in Shreveport.  John and I have enjoyed our easy trips to Shreveport since living in El Dorado, but this was extra special because we were joined by Kerry and Clay.  We swam, we cooked, we dined out, we went to Mass and we slept in.  Ah...it is like going on a mini-vacation.  A stay-cation, if you will.

On Friday night, we were down early enough to get some grilling in with Dad.  He grills the best salmon.  Really, it is the best.  In fact, we discussed that eating salmon at restaurants is just not very good anymore because Suzanne has a great marinade, and Dad is superb on the grill.  He isn't even one of those guys who just loves to grill and talks about grilling all the time.  He is just good.  Meats are never over-cooked or tough.  Ok, I digress...

We stayed in bed Saturday morning until the smell of coffee was just too much.  After a little bout on the treadmill, we were all in the pool where we stayed longer than we should have.  Two sunburned guys and a bottle of sunburn soother later, we were heading to Mass.  Oh, we did get a special visit from John and BJ Boubelik, our long long long time family friends.  They had their granddaughter with them who is the spitting image of her mother.  Literally, she is a clone!  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of their visit.  We were in the pool, eating a late lunch, taking our showers etc.  Mass was at 4 PM, and then we snuck away to buy Suzanne some plants for her birthday.  As a side note, she is very difficult to shop for.  She doesn't try to be, she just is.  It doesn't help that we hear stories about how they go to Dallas for a whole weekend and she leaves empty handed.  She literally tries on dozens of outfits and doesn't buy anything.  This is foreign to me, however, it scares me to death to try and pick out something I think she would like.  Dad suggested a few hydrangeas and some lantana for their backyard.  This, is totally doable.  Finally, we made it to Superior Steakhouse where we gorged on the likes of oysters, steak and creamed spinach! Dad somehow managed to get away during the day and pick up Suzanne's cake and drop it off at Superior Steakhouse as a surprise.  I don't think she realized Dad had gone through the effort because she kept saying..."Wow, they usually just give you a small piece of cake for your dessert, not an entire cake!"  I think Dad finally told her he had delivered it earlier in the day...ha,ha.

Sunday was also a good day for sleeping in and fine dining.  We ended our stay by enjoying brunch at their Country Club.  It was divine-minus the kid who touched every piece of fruit in the fruit bowl on his quest for grapes.  If it wasn't bad enough that he was flicking honeydew back into the serving bowl, his mother was standing by him and watching adoringly the entire time.  Note to self, what is cute at home is not cute in public.  Our entire table laughed at first, but then it kept going on and on and on.  Then it became more of a thing to be ridiculed.  Finally, the manager of the club told the kid he was finished digging in the fruit.  Sadly, they did not take the bowl to the kitchen and even pretend to "get fresh fruit."  All in all, it was still funny...if not a little annoying!

As always, a great visit to Shreveport and we were spoiled beyond our deserving.

The Three Amigos-notice the only one protecting his scalp!

Kerry & Clay

Suzanne's plants

Admiring her green gift

I think the picture is cute-even if I also captured their garage which is a "work in progress"!

Kerry & Clay

John & Tracy

Dad & Suzanne

Best Oysters Rockefeller

Yeah, I know--food pictures.  Oh well, the steak did not disappoint and the creamed spinach was delightful.

Suzanne and her birthday cake