Texas State Fair 2011

We look forward to going to the state fair each year. This year we rode the train down and checked out some of the venues. We stayed long enough to see the bird show, go a couple of rides, look at the cars and watch the fireworks. We had a good time.

Landry watched everything go by on the way down.

Yay! We're almost to the fair.

The Texas ferris wheel is the largest one in North America.

Landry wanted to ride the "paddle" swans. It was more fun than I thought it would be.

She also enjoyed pretending to drive the cars.

She picked some good ones to drive.

The size of this car made us think of a wind-up toy.

A Texas shaped mattress-really?

It's the largest one. Does mean there are other Texas shaped mattresses out there? Hhhmmm...

The view from the top of the ferris wheel.

Family pic!

Downtown Dallas.

We look forward to next year's fair.

Cowboys 101

A few weeks ago a friend of mine invited me to with her and some other girls to Cowboys 101. What in the world is Cowboys 101? It's where you get to go to the stadium and learn little about football, sort of like an introductory class. I had a blast!

When we arrived we went down to field level to enjoy some drinks and heavy appertizers. I couldn't wait to go on the field.

Given that we live in Texas and have a child named Landry people assume it's for Tom Landry. If you're reading this you know our Landry is a family name.

One of the people that talked to us was an official NFL official. He talked and then we were able to ask questions if we had any. If you look closely at the ref's right wrist (left in the pic) you can see a black band with a loop hanging down. He asked us if we knew what that was for. We didn't know. Do you?

Unfortunately the Cowboys haven't seen much of this gesture this season. Did you know the width of the goal posts is 18 1/2 ft and the longest field goal is 64 ft? I didn't either :)

There's Pepsi! I wonder if Brad could get tickets through work? Hmmm...

After talking with a defense coordinator, the ref and an offensive coordinator we went into the guest locker room to chat with 2 of the cheerleaders.

Moving on...we talked with athletic trainer Greg Gaither. Then we went to the Cowboys' locker room!

In the locker room with Jon Kitna and

Stephen McGee. I feel like either of these 2 guys could do as well if not better (it wouldn't take much) than Romo has been doing this season.

As we were leaving I snapped one last picture of the field. Look how small the cheerleaders are and how big the screen is in comparison. It's really is a humongo screen.

Hopefully the Cowboys will have a better season next year. Wins and losses aside, it was still really cool to be on the field and walk around, go behind the scenes, in the locker room and meet 2 of the Dallas Cowboys.

Pumpkin Carving

The weekend after Landry's birthday we bought and carved our pumpkin for Halloween. Landry drew some faces on paper and Brad picked the one he could carve.

Yummy!

She asked if punpkin pies were made from pumpkin guts and we told her yes.

Reaching in for more.

Making sure all of the guts are out.

I think the excitement of cleaning out the pumpking wore off...

what do you think?

Thank goodness the pumpkin was so close to being emptied.

This is the last of the pumkin's insides.

Time to carve!

Landry did a great job supervising.

Tah-dah!

Landry was so excited to have a pumpkin to put outside by the front door.

Tuffer Dog

Tuff Johnston (Von Luckshoff)

January 1, 2003 - September 24, 2011

We lost Tuff on September 24, 2011, but he will forever be in our hearts. Tuff was so many things to us that it is still hard to believe that he is gone. He was our four-legged child, security system, security blanket, workout partner, garbage disposal (at times), snuggling buddy, play friend, etc. It is so hard to get back on schedule when someone that was a part of everything you did during the day is not there to do it with you anymore. The house is so quiet without his barking, shaking, toenails clicking on the floor and his heavy breathing. Funny, but you could always hear Tuff no matter what he was doing. Tuff was always a good sport whenever Landry wanted to play or squirt him with water or throw the tennis ball. He was also a great companion, he would always be by your side no matter what. I can't count the number of times that I had to make him go into the bedroom and go to sleep because he wanted to stay up late with me while I was in the living room working all hours of the night. He was the best dog ever.

He has also touched so many other people and taught them that Rottweilers aren't the mean and vicious dogs that TV makes them out to be. Tuff was a 120lb baby. He required loads of attention and was convinced he was a lapdog, although his head was about the only part of him that would fit comfortably in your lap. That didn't stop him from trying though.

Here are a few things about Tuff you may not know.

Mary Elise and I got Tuff when he was 6 weeks old from friend of our's mother. We got a chance to meet Tuff's mom (Lafayette) and it really felt more like an adoption then it did buying a dog. All the puppies were just cute little balls of fluff the first time we saw them. I think we actually made 4 or more trips over to see the puppies before actually getting to take him home. Naming him was funny because Tuff turned out to be tough, but never mean. He used to play with Jack, Mary Elise's cat from Jackson,MS, they were about the same size and Jack would get the best of him sometimes, but Tuff quickly grew up and Jack knew better, but they would still chase each other around. Funniest thing to see a Rottweiler running from a cat.

I remember when I was travelling a lot with PwC, Tuff was my savior because Mary Elise was left home alone and we had moved out to Sterlington where we really didn't konw anyone. Tuff would sleep in the bed with Mary Elise at night and make her feel safe. The only downside was that he got so used to sleeping in the bed that when I came in on the weekends, he thought I was sleeping in his spot so he would crawl in between us and put his paws in my back and try to push me off the bed. I think the funniest thing was when he "marked" Mary Elise's side of the bed trying to tell me something. This is hilarious, but this is how Tuff liked to sleep.



Another thing about Tuff is that he was the only dog I knew that would lay down on his belly and tuck in his front feet and cross his back legs. It always cracked up guests when they would see him do this.


Landry has also grown pretty fond of Tuff, after all, he has known her all her life and was very protective of her. If she screamed or laughed really loud he was coming to see what was going on and usually going to bark just to let you know he was there. They were big buddies. She also loved the fact that Tuff would come into her room every night and lay in her floor until she fell asleep. We would joke that he was guarding to door so that no trolls or goblins could come in because he would eat them.

Tuff really made us all feel protected from anything. I remember one time the UPS guy came to deliver a package and he knocked on the door and Tuff started barking and by the time I could get the door open the guy was already in the truck driving away!

One of the funniest memories that I have of Tuff has to be when Mary Elise and I took him from Monroe, LA to Orlando, FL driving all the way in a single cab truck. On the way there is was great, Tuff just laid in the floorboard and enjoyed the AC blowing on our feet. When we got there Dustin was watching a dog for his friend, it was a hyper-active Husky. He warned us the dog was a little off and may jump around a lot, but it was pretty funny that when we got there the Husky jumped the fence and tried to jump on Mary Elise but Tuff took his big ole paw and slammed the dog down and held him there. He didn't hurt him, but it was like he was saying don't mess with my mama. The drive back was crazy, the AC in the truck went out so it was hot as Hades and then it started pouring rain so we couldn't roll down the windows and Tuff sat between me and Mary Elise and was just drooling buckets on both of us. It was so gross and I was scared that Mary Elise was going to decide Tuff was walking home, but she stuck it out and Tuff has shown us so much love since.

I don't think we could imagine the hole that Tuff left when he passed away, but after a while we have come to understand that Tuff was a huge part of our family and we are happy to have shared the time we had with him. I can honestly say that there isn't anything that I would have done differently with Tuff, I feel like we provided him the best life possible and we never ever took him for granted or treated him like just a dog. I really hope to see him again one day as I still miss rubbing his head and taking him for walks.

Cherish everyone in your life whether they are a pet or a parent, we never know how much time we have with them and you never want to have regrets about the time you spent with them. Make the most of every minute and you won't regret it later. We are really thankful for every moment that GOD let us spend with Tuff, he was definitely an angel sent from above to make our lives better.

WE LOVE YOU TUFFER DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!