Oh Man! Wylie and had the best trip! Nov. 20 was my dad’s 60th birthday, and naturally, as we Blevi do, we had a big throwdown in the PHX. Wylie and I went out for the whole week, since we didn’t want to miss Thanksgiving! So, we hopped in the car right after work on Friday the 20th (around 4pm) and started driving West. We drove and drove. And drove. Wylie was very good at spotting nighttime wildlife–I think he saw a coyote and a fox and several deer by the time we were back in Bryan. I was not so skilled, but champed Wylie at car-napping fo’ sho! We ended up stopping for a (chilly) few hours’ sleep just outside Kent, TX.

It was exciting to get to show Wylie where I am from and give him a chance to see the desert and saguaro’s and, most importantly, The Thing!!! (He was less impressed than I had hoped, but if you are ever on I-10 just East of Tucson, you should definitely stop. It is well worth the $1 and you can get some DQ while you are there.)

We made it to my house about 26 hours after we left here, and that was pretty good time, I think! The week was jam-packed from the start–we tackled “The Mountain” at Mary Coyle’s (which included 7 lbs of ice cream), saw the Hoover Dam (and the new bridge that will be done soon), had a great time in Las Vegas (we saw Big Elvis, had frozen hot chocolate, and absolutely fell in love with Love–the Cirque de Soleil that features the Beatles). It really was an amazing trip–complete with Steak & Lobster for Thanksgiving dinner! (For $12.99, of course. It WAS Vegas!) It was really wonderful to spend some time with my family and for them and Wylie to get to know each other.We were also able to meet up with two of my super BFF”s along the way…and that was awesome.

Things are starting to slow down a bit at the SCS this week and next as the students have finals and leave for the holiday break. I am happy to be filled with a good dose of Blevins Family fun and frolic, and Wylie seems to have survived and reports that he is willing to return for more!! Hooray!

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Ahoy there, 10-gallon-friends!  It has been a long time (too long of a time) since I was on here, and unfortunately that seems to be the trend for me…perhaps 10 Gallon Hat will make it to my New Year’s Resolution list…

In the meantime, I have had some good reasons for being absent. In the few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, things at the Student Counseling Service really kicked in to high gear. I was seeing a ton more clients, and hence, was really wiped by the time I got home. It has been really great to be learning so much about therapy and being a therapist full time, but I will be honest that there is a bit of an adjustment period. Luckily, Wylie is very nice and supportive. In addition to all those students who somehow just realized that they should have been doing their homework all semester, we have been reviewing applications for interns for next year. I am enjoying being on this side of the process, that is for sure. The SCS got about 90 applications this year and we will invite about 30 folks for interviews…it is very interesting to see how it is done.

We have been fortunate enough to squeeze in some R & R on the weekends–today we went and got massages, which was awesome. And the weekend of Nov. 14 we went to Houston to see some friends. (The son of my dad’s BFF from his Air Force days and his wife). I was pleasantly surprised by what Houston had to offer, and it was really fun to see Joe and India and their wonderful pooch, Lennon. We went to a showing of The Big Lebowski in a park downtown, explored the Montrose area vintage shops, and saw the butterflies at the Museum of Natural Science.

It was a really wonderful weekend, and a much needed break…and a nice getaway from Bryan/College Station. We are looking forward to getting back to Houston in the spring for some rodeo action, and some NASA action as well…

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Well, Vegas and some other things. Over the week of Thanksgiving we drove out to Phoenix where Teresa’s parents live. From there we drove up to Las Vegas for a couple days. Then it was back to Phoenix, and then back home to Bryan. It felt like a whirlwind trip and like a lot of it was spent in the car (it was), but we enjoyed it.

The drive out was fun, and it was the furthest I West I have driven. We decided to drive all night as opposed to spend the night in a hotel. This was partly to save money, and because we thought we could do it. We ended up driving until something like 3am before stopping to sleep for 3 hours at a truck stop/gas station. We saw lots of deer along the side of the road, both alive and dead, and I think I saw a coyote. On Saturday we arrived at Teresa’s parents house early evening and had a lovely dinner before sleepily hanging around until we had to go to bed. The next few days were filled with driving around Phoenix, a big-bash-birthday party for Teresa’s dad, and a hike that showed me some neat cactuses.

After those few days in Phoenix, we drove up to las Vegas for three nights. We stayed at Paris Paris for two nights, which was fantastic. Being right on the strip was amazing. At night we could hear the fountains from the Bellagio. For our third night we moved to The Rio, which was very nice, but is a little off the strip.

Let’s see, what were some of the things we did while in Vegas… Well, we watched the Bellagio fountain, we ate at Serendipity3, we walked through Caesars Palace, we ate at the Hofbrauhaus, and went to Freemont Street. We gambled at the Hard Rock Cafe, Paris Paris, Binions (I think), Caesars Palace, The Bellagio, and Bill’s Saloon (where we saw Big Elvis). We also had a steak and lobster Thanksgiving dinner, well I did not, but everybody else did. And to finish our trip we saw the Beatles Love Cirque de Soleil production at The Mirage. That was fantastic, we all loved it. There was a chance we were not going to see the show due to some lighting problems, but Maria, Teresa’s sister, did some phone magic and ended up getting us better seats to the later show. Wooh!

On the drive home from Las Vegas we drove to the Grand Canyon, which I had not seen before, and Flagstaff Arizona.

Next it was a day again in Phoenix before driving back to Bryan. It was a great trip, and I was glad to be a part of it. Many thanks to Teresa’s parents for for being very generous and including me on their yearly Christmas trip, which was moved up to Thanksgiving time this year.