Death by March Madness!

I love college basketball and look forward to the NCAA tourney every year. If you were to come over to my house during those 3 weeks and Duke was playing, you would know how the game was going by how much I was yelling at my tv. This year there has been a lot of yelling...I'm fairly certain they can hear me telling them what they need to do through the tv to win the game! :)

I have been a Duke basketball fan for about 18 years. People ask how I became a Duke fan. They want to know if I went to Duke (don't I wish- I wasn't smart enough to get in and couldn't have afforded it if I were!) Growing up in northern Idaho, there weren't really any good college basketball teams to follow. Gonzaga has proven to be a respectable team in the northwest the last few years, but that wasn't always the case. Duke games were shown on national tv a lot and that is how I became a fan.

I take a lot of flack for my love of the Dukies. They are the team people love to hate because they have had great success- they are kind of like the Yankees of college basketball. They have now made it to the Final 4 of this years tournament and they have had some close games in getting there...ones that have made my blood pressure rise a bit. Colin makes fun of me because I love to watch the games when Duke is blowing the other team out and leading by 20, but the close games that other people like to watch drive me crazy! I have been known to yell "they're killing me!" during a close game. I have been fortunate enough to see Duke play in person a couple of times. Once in Portland with my dad in 2001- one of the years they won the NCAA title. I also got to meet Coach K's wife at that game, which was a highlight for me! I saw her in the lobby and said "dad, that's Mrs. K!", she heard me and came over and introduced herself to us. Last year Colin and I saw them play (and lose) in the tournament when they played in Boston in the sweet 16 against Villanova. Not one of my better nights. Colin says things go smoother at our house when Duke wins. :) When we moved to NH 5 years ago, we drove up from Florida and when we drove through North Carolina we made sure to stop in Durham and see the Duke campus and the outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium. One day I hope to actually get to go inside there and watch a game.

This years tournament will be all over in less than a week. Monday night they will crown a new NCAA college basketball champion. Of course, I hope that team is Duke. If you think you hear a crazy lady yelling all the way from New Hampshire this weekend during the games, it's probably not your imagination! :) GO DUKE!!

A relaxing day at the beach.?..Not so much...

We only live a little over an hour from York Beach in Maine. When the weather is nice, it has become one of our favorite places to go. We had some gorgeous weather a couple weekends ago and decided to take the dogs and go walking on the beach. Now, we don't usually take the dogs with us for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons is because they don't really like other dogs. Wally barks at everyone and everything- as you will see in the videos, and Skittles is scared of her own shadow and starts yelping whenever she sees a dog that is bigger than she is. I know this about my dogs, but every time we go to the beach without them, I feel like a bad mom because I left them at home. I see all these other dogs that are well behaved and love to play on the beach, while my dogs are at home in their kennel. I guess you would call it mommy guilt. Anyway, I gave into the guilt and the results are the videos below.

Here we are only a couple of blocks from the house and already regretting our decision to bring them.


The ocean is in sight, and so are all the people..cue Wally dog.


Once we are finally on the beach, they aren't too bad..


After a long day at the beach, this is what I went upstairs to that night.



I've said it before, but I'll say it again- it's rough to be a dog in the Battersby house!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 7 year wedding anniversary. It seems hard to believe that 7 years have passed already. I remember our wedding like it was yesterday. All of our favorite people were there, and it was the happiest day of my life. Through the years we have seen the good-adding little Skittles to our family (the dog, not the candy!), and buying our first house. We have survived the bad- the death of my dad six months after we were married, and Colin's brother Paul in 2006. We have "weathered" 4 Florida hurricanes, a New Hampshire ice storm that knocked out our power for 8 days, and most recently, a New Hampshire wind storm. Through it all, we have been able to count on each other, lean on each other, and grow stronger together. Colin makes me laugh every day and fills my life with such joy. I am thankful every day for him.

Colin surprised me at work and had flowers delivered for our anniversary. Aren't they beautiful?


Tonight it is dinner out to celebrate. Our gift to each other this year is new windows for the house! Happy Anniversary Sweetie! I love you!