Baylor Homecoming, Bella Style

Baylor Homecoming was a highlight of the Fall, as usual.  It was my quickest one yet, but I still got there.  Twenty-two years and counting!  I rode down with my parents Friday afternoon, and if you know them, you know that Miss Bella came along, too!

{Bella does Baylor}

{Cute parents and pup}

{Bella and the Bear}

I hopped around from various activities on Friday night.  I've never done that, and it was quite nice.  I was feeling pretty un-focused as I'd just had a crazy week at work on top of moving, so it was nice to go wherever my little heart desired.  

I stopped in at Pigskin to see the Deltas perform,

then over to hear my old BRH choir sing for a bit at Singspiration 

and then to the bonfire!

{Green and Gold fireworks!}

I met up with Amanda and Megan and their hubbies, and we had a great time catching up.  The fire was HUGE and quite warm.  We stopped for Starbucks first while waiting for everything to get under way.  Of course now that we're gone, they put one in the library on campus.  Maybe I would've gone more...

Probably not.  :-)

{Annual Dad/Daughter bonfire pic}

{Cuzzies.}

Saturday morning, we made it for the end of the parade, just in time to see our peeps.  (The floats are really cool, but I was just focused on friends this year, especially!)

{Me and Lyndsy}

I wonder if some day we will look back at this and question why we wore such large sunglasses.  But I know it is because we are so in style.  Duh.

{Bella and Dad are Baylor-ed out in BU jackets and hankies}

{Papa, me and Bella}

Papa and Jonita came down to see Anna in Pigskin.  They stopped by First Baptist's gym to say hello before heading to the 2 p.m. show.  They made it earlier since the game ended up being on TV later that night.  

{Laura, Papa, Me, Mom & Bella}

Nearly a complete family photo.  (Yes, T-roy still comes home for BU Homecoming.  Love it.)  Adam was working part of the weekend, and I was there for such a short time, it would've been a lot of driving for not a lot of Baylor-ing.  So next year, we have already requested time off that weekend!  Woohoo!

{BSB friends--me, Allison and Madeleine, Rebecca and Leah}

It was a quick weekend, but lots of fun.  I'm so thankful for yet another year of memories and time to catch up with friends!

Weekend Nine: Adam comes to BSB

Baylor Summer Bunch weekend is jam-packed full of family, friends and fun.  It is always fun to catch up with these friends.  This year was a big deal for me, because I got to bring Adam.  I was super excited for him to be a part of the weekend...I pulled photos of all nine families from Facebook so he could see that he'd already met half of them.  (Clearly, very excited.) 

I was so excited that I didn't really put myself in his shoes until we walked in the door to my parent's lakehouse and all the moms turned and gave a high-pitched, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"  I thought he might just turn around and leave--ha!  Everyone was excited to meet him, and Adam hung in there and met all 40-some-odd people. 

After the initial shock of meeting all these new faces, Adam settled in and learned all about the BSB from his buddy, Gerald.  We have three scrapbooks ('80s, '90s and '00s) with birth announcements, wedding photos, Baylor Homecomings, Christmas Cards and BSB trips.  (I know...we might be slightly over the top.)

Because of this crazy heat wave and lack of water in the lake, we spent a lot of time indoors.  Not everyone stays at our lakehouse (we rented a few more nearby), but it was the hub of all the activities, so it got quite loud sometimes.  At some point througout the weekend, most everyone had to go outside and collect their thoughts, I think.  It was just SO LOUD! 

We played games Friday and Saturday night.

We hung out and played with the new babies.

We boated.

We tubed.

We played more games...this was the "Minute to Win it" night.

This was everyone hanging out Saturday night in the den.  That's a lot of people.

More "Minute to win it" games.

We ate a lot of yummy food and all hung out and chatted.  Adam stayed until after dinner Saturday night before heading back home to go to work the next morning.  He was such a great sport!

Sunday mornings, we have a little singing and devotional time.  Troy played the guitar this year while the three Deily sisters sang.  They did great.  :-)

We also celebrate the high school and college graduates and pray for them as they "launch" a new chapter in their lives.  Scott was the youngest in the group, and he's starting at Baylor today!  The photo above is the first "launchees"--Lauren, Laura and Allison, and the last, Scott. 

Our parents have said once Scott was launched, the kids aren't invited, and they'll all go on a cruise instead.  We'll see how that plays out next summer!  :-) 

Then we pose for group photos.

The Dads.

The Moms.

The girls.

The boys.

And Laura and Allison with their newest additions, Emma and Madeleine!

Loving the bows.

Emma and Madeleiene.

Whew.  Just looking throuh these photos makes me tired again!  The fun part is that normally we see these friends again at Baylor Homecoming in November, but it was fun to say, "See you at the wedding!"  :-)

Homecoming 2010

The feeling of anticipation of seeing friends on stage during Pigskin.

The smell of the bonfire smoke.

The sight of familiar faces.

The feeling of Baylor Pride.

The embrace of college friends.

The sound of laughter and squeals of delight at the Parade.

The view of clouds rolling in before the game.

The feeling of a downpour on your back & a two-hour rain delay at the football game

The celebration of finally going to a Bowl game.

This is Baylor Homecoming.

Sweet BSB Friend, Liz, in town from UT--she couldn't stay away!

Delta Love.  Bonfire Style.

BSB friends: Drew and my cousin Austin at the Parade

Smoo came in town!

Football game

{We sang "Texas, Our Texas."  I don't remember ever doing this before...}

Sic'em

We're going to a Bowl Game!  

We might've been a tad excited...

Coming Home {Day 2: Getting There & Settling In}

I applied to Baylor the first day humanly possible.  Soon after, I received a call from my admissions counselor, Melissa.  That's one of the things I love about Baylor--it's so personal.  She let me know that I'd been accepted, and that I'd receive my official letter in the mail soon.  It was an exciting day at the Dixon house!  My mom happened to grab my camera while I was on the phone and was able to capture the moment.  I'll have to see if I can find it somewhere.

We had a family friend who had a niece my age also going to Baylor.  Julia and I met over Christmas break our senior year of high school and hit it off.  Although we were different in a lot of ways, we figured we had enough similarities that we could live together.  It sure beat going pot luck!

This was move in day in our tiny room of Collins 257.  {And also the day of my most embarrassing moment.  Ask me about it sometime.}  Imagine us, plus both sets of parents, and then people dropping by to say hi.  It was insanely packed.  But in a good way.  We rearranged our room not long after we moved in to create a little more space.  I still marvel at the fact that I walked down the hall to the bathroom for an entire year...amazing how college will stretch you!

One of the reasons I think I felt so comfortable at Baylor was that I still had "family" there.  Our Baylor Summer Bunch had lots of kids at Baylor.  I loved running into them on campus, sitting with them in Chapel, calling them for advice, or just hanging out.  It was so nice to see a familiar face.  This was dinner one night at Rudy's when we all ate together.  (That didn't happen too often, but it was always fun!)

{BRH Choir Christmas Party}

Another thing I knew I needed to do very quickly was to get involved.  That's always my first piece of advice to college freshman.  One of the reasons I didn't love high school was because I struggled to find a place where I could fit in.  I wanted that to change at Baylor, and I made a conscious effort to be different.  When someone asked me to go and do something,  I went.  Every time.  (Unless of course they asked me to smoke pot or something.  Ha.)  

One of the ways I got involved was trying out for BRH Choir.  Two of my BSB friends were already in the choir, Laura and Allison.  I auditioned and got to start singing with them twice a week.  They graduated that year, and I will always think of BRH in '05-'06 as my favorite year.  We met on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-7 and sang in Miller Chapel on campus.  Singing that often made my heart happy, and getting to see two girls I looked up to so much was also a treat.  I got to know the rest of the choir as well, and they, too, became an extended family.  

About once a month, we'd travel to another city to sing at a few churches.  This was our way of fundraising for our end-of-year mission trip.  Although I was in BRH for three years, I only went on one trip.  I lucked out and got to go to Australia after my freshman year.  Way cool.  

The other thing I did my Fall semester was get involved with FCC (Freshman Class Council).  Honestly, we didn't do much, but it was a great way to meet people.  We got to be in the parade and walk with our float.  It was a fun thing to do, and I enjoyed it.  

And of course, the Fall semester wouldn't be complete without Homecoming.  It was so fun to share this with my family.  Pretty sure this was our Christmas card that year.  Although Troy didn't end up coming to Baylor, we don't give him a hard time about it.  :-)  He still asks to come home for the Homecoming weekend, and he loves it as much as the rest of us.  I guess when it's in your blood, it's just hard to ignore.