Kari's Ring Day

After a series of unfortunate events, mostly due to rain, my baby sister finally got her ring on Saturday morning.  Because of the change of how they were handing out rings on this make-up day, we knew we wouldn't be able to get back to the giant ring statue to take photos after she got her ring.  I loaned her mine for a few minutes so we could get these.



Once it was time for me to get into the photos, I "repo"ed that ring really quickly.  ;)


Love these guys!



Finally it was her turn to go into collect her Aggie bling.





We moved out of the way so that my dad could give her the ring with a little pomp.



It was a very touching moment.  There might have been more than one teary eye in the group.



She's officially one of us now!



Have I mentioned how awesome she looked?



There were some other people that were excited to be part of the day as well.



She sure does love her Rah Rah.





I love my family.



I especially love these two.  Even when we're getting on each other's nerves, there's no one who really gets you like your sisters.



This is probably my favorite picture from the whole day (and no it's not because you can't see that I'm pregnant).  This photo encompasses all of the hard work and effort that we have put into our futures.  It's like a pictorial representation of all of the prayers, love, and money that our parents funneled into us over the past eight years.



Family photo op before we left.



One more good shot of this chick before we left the Association of Former Students.


Right as we were about to walk back to the parking garage, the Aggie Bus drove up, so we knew we had to stop for a few more photos.



There is probably a photo like this of all three of us from each of our ring days.



I don't know that I looked this good though. ;)



Congratulations Kari!  We are all so proud of you, and I know bigger and better (if it's possible to get better than ATM) things are in store for you!

Chip and Alyssa Tie the Knot

Chip (or Maurice as his friends never call him) and Alyssa got married at a picturesque ranch in the Conroe area.  The ceremony took place under a huge tree growing near the banks of the lake.  Behind the couple rolling hills loomed in the background.  It was amazing.

Several months ago, Alyssa contacted me and asked if Emmarie would like to be the flower girl at the wedding.  We of course agreed, but I cautioned her that Emmy would not even be 2 1/2.  I wouldn't be able to guarantee that she would "perform" well.  Alyssa just laughed and said that whatever she did would be cute.

Fast forward to the wedding day.  Everything was beautiful, and we got to see so many of our Hart Hall friends.  It was an awesomely amazing day of fun and laughter.  At the reception we all crowded the dance floor swaying to the music and singing at the top of our lungs when crowd favorites came on.

Chip and Alyssa- if your married life is half as fun as your wedding, you two will be happily married for the rest of your lives.  Congratulations to you both!

We Honor the Twelve

Aggie Bonfire Memorial Day

One of my Aggie coworkers told me a story today.  He told me about his experience on 11-18-1999.

My coworker was in the Fighting Texas Aggie Band.  They were scheduled to work the night of the collapse.  Apparently some of the underclassmen were being "coaxed" into working on Bonfire to the point of their grades and sleep schedule suffering.  I know it is hard to believe that an upperclassmen would ever try to "coax" underclassmen into doing anything that they didn't want to do.

Well, the guy in charge (of the band) told the BQs that they didn't have to go work that night.  They should stay in and sleep/catch up on homework.

As my coworker recounted his experience and how one man's decision may have saved an entire unit from being there when it fell, I was reminded with how close we all come to disaster on a daily basis.

Simple choices and actions such as taking the time to hold a door open for someone could be the moment's delay that you need to see that car coming too fast to see the stop sign.

I guess today while I am remembering our twelve dear Aggies that passed away on that fateful day in '99, I am also thankful for all of the little choices made that saved the lives of so many more.  While we are peacefully remembering the fallen, let us also be thankful to a great God and his perfect plan that we don't always understand.




Photo Source

Our Five Year Reunion: Aggies v. SHSU

Some time back in the summer, I got an email telling me that this year would mark the five year reunion from my tenure at Texas A&M University.  I was immediately like, "Are you sure?"  "I think they did their math wrong."  "THERE IS NO WAY THAT IT HAS BEEN FIVE YEARS!"  But alas, it had.

In the general spirit that I do things, I put off signing up and getting our tickets.  Then all of the games sold out, and I came to the realization that we were not going to be able to go to the game.  I was a little bit sad, but since we have DirectTV now, I knew we could watch the game at home.  No big deal.

Then out of nowhere on Thursday morning, one of my coworkers called and said that her tickets to the game were for sale.  The price was very reasonable, and she was including her parking ticket.  I called Bradley, and he said, "Let's go!"

(Sorry for the chest shot.  This is my new student conference shirt...the first shirt I bought as an official Aggie)






So we went.  The seats were amazing.  We sat in the arm chair section of The Zone thirty rows from the bottom.  Ahhhhmazing. The Aggies played hard (and then they let the other team score some points so they wouldn't go home feeling too badly).  It rained on us for most of the first half, but by the second half, the temperature had dropped, our clothes were, dry, and we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.














Kari wasn't feeling well, but we did get to spend some time with her before the game.  She and her roommate, Katrina, escorted us around campus for our own tour of their version of Aggieland.  So much has changed in just the few years since we left.  I really felt like an old Ag.





For instance, when I was a student here, Fish pond was around here.


Now it's over here.  Guess that's pond hopping at it's finest for you.



Apparantly these new kids don't know how to safely navigate Northgate on a busy Saturday night, so they had to actually build a gate/wall.  Also notice in the background that they have built a new huge dorm across the street.  I can't wait until they knock down those old balcony dorms and really clean up the skyline across the street.




We ate lunch at The Dixie Chicken.





We toured the new MSC.  It's very shiny and pretty.  These new Aggies are a very lucky bunch.

















We had a great time, and it's always fun to watch the Aggies Beat the Hell Outta someone!