LSU Game Day!

Saturday we spent the day on the campus of Louisiana State University.

It was the day of the biggest game in college football.

LSU vs. Alabama

It was the ultimate in college football, and ESPN College Gameday was there.

And so were we...

my sister Rhonda and her husband John, and Fletcher...

Fletcher and me...

(I was just about the only one not wearing purple!)

Rhonda and John...

(true LSU fans!)

and over 150,000 other people on campus that day!

(Most wearing purple and gold!)

This was my first LSU tailgating experience and College Game Day.

As a first timer, I had a lot to learn about being an LSU fan.

1. Dress appropriately.

Here are some of the fashion trends I saw on Saturday:

Purple jeans, comfortable shoes, a backpack...

this is "college" afterall.

We saw a lot of ladies wearing gold sandals. This was a

good choice because it was in the 90 degree temperature range!

Shorts were a good choice, and any combination of purple and gold.

I don't know who these guys are, but this was the typical outfit for men tail-gating.

Note: buttons, t-shirts, hats, sunglasses and "extremely relaxed" look.

These ladies did not want to be mistaken for Alabama fans!

I wonder where you can get a set of these overalls?

You could wear yellow jeans!

(With a purple shirt of course.)

And then there was the connection to the upcoming

Presidential Election.

One pre-game tradition at LSU is for the team to walk down the street

and into the Stadium followed by the Tiger Band and Cheerleaders.

The following are a few photos of this event minus the band

because my camera battery "died" before the band got there.

This is where the team will enter the stadium, so we had a front row view.

The Referees arrive first with a police escort.

We thought it was funny that they arrived in a "prisoner transport" vehicle.

The media gathers, and the crowds begin to get restless from waiting...

Our view of the stadium...

waiting...

waiting...

waiting...

The team arrives!

Coach Les Miles leads the way!

Quick! Get a glimpse of the team!

Can you find the quarterback?

He's the tall one in the center.

I can't remember his name, but maybe you do.

And then the cheerleaders...

The Tiger Band followed the cheerleaders into the stadium.

Well, the game didn't turn out the way the LSU Tigers had hoped. Alabama won.

But, there's always next year...

Rhonda made all the dogs an LSU Tiger scarf, so they were

able to participate in our College Game Day too while they stayed at home.

I didn't take any pictures of the actual Tailgate that we attended. I actually didn't think about taking pictures probably because we were busy eating and talking and sweating. I had on long jeans and regular shoes with a little bit of a heel and socks, and a sweater with a shirt under it! Good grief! WHY?? I definitely would not recommend this outfit for tailgating and Game Day activities! Next time I will wear a team t-shirt (even if it's not my team just so I can blend in better) and

tennis shoes for lots of walking and possibly shorts if it's going to be hot.

The LSU campus is really pretty with stately oak trees, and we got to see the new book store on campus. It is two story! We visited the student center and walked all around campus. On game day, there are tailgaters everywhere! The excitment is contagious and there was a brief moment when I actually thought about how much fun it would be to have gone to school at LSU!

We appreciate the friends who invited us to tailgate with them, the food was fantastic, and we had a great time with Rhonda and John as always. I am so thankful to have a sister and brother-in-law that we enjoy so much!

We went home in time to see the kick-off of the game on TV since we didn't actually have tickets to the game.

Tailgating and Game Day at LSU was quite an experience!

I'm glad we went.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

It is a good thing to stay busy!
This week my mother and daddy came to visit me while Fletcher was out of town. They were here all week and we had such a good time together. I am so thankful that I have always enjoyed spending time with my parents. They arrived on Monday and left this morning on Friday. My mother loves to shop and so do I! Baton Rouge is a shopping mecca. There are so many places to shop around here that you can't possibly go to every store. There's always some undiscovered territory to explore in this city. First we went to the Citi Towne Center which is right around the corner from my house on Jefferson at Old Hammond Road. It is a great place to go when the weather is nice. The anchor store is a grocery store called Whole Foods. I love going to Whole Foods, but it is not my main grocery store because it is too expensive for my budget, but it is the most interesting grocery store I have ever shopped in and I love to explore it and look at different things. The Citi Towne Shopping Center also has many of your basic mall stores plus some exclusive Louisiana stores. That is something I love about shopping in Baton Rouge. There are many stores that are "local" or regional/state Louisiana stores that carry things you just don't see anywhere else. On Tuesday, we went to Macy's. Macy's is located in the Louisiana Mall in Baton Rouge, but it is one of the largest and best Macy's stores I have ever shopped in, and I have been to many Macy's stores in Texas. It takes a while to shop there because you have so much to look at and then you might need to try something on, and there's the coupons and discounts that have to be figured out. It's loads of fun to shop at Macy's and leave there feeling like you got a bargain! So, we only went to Macy's on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we went to Heroman's Florist and Gifts on Old Hammond and North Harrell's Ferry Rd. I am giving the address because there are several of these stores around in Baton Rouge. It's not just a flower shop/nursery, it is full of many wonderful things to look at and to buy for the home or for a gift or special occasion. From there we went to Goodwood Hardware Store which is also just around the corner from my house. This is no ordinary hardware store, it is one of the best known local stores in Baton Rouge and it has just about anything you can imagine to shop for including LSU gear and much more! You would have to visit there to understand. From there we went to the Red Door on Corporate. I love just walking through this store and admiring the creativity of all the decorations. Right now they are getting everything decorated for Christmas. This is the store that gives me inspiration for decorating our home, even though I don't buy much there, I love just being in the store and looking at all the colors and designs. After that we ate at Ci Ci's Pizza which was great for getting our pizza fix. After lunch we ran over to Steinmart and Marshall's two of our favorite discount stores that are also near our home. On Thursday we struck out for the outlet mall in Gonzales. This was my first visit to the outlet mall in south Louisiana. It isn't very large like some of the outlet malls in Texas, but it had all of our favorite stores like Chico's, Banana Republic, Coach, Naturalizer, Black/White and many more. We actually spent the whole day there and ate at Wendy's for lunch. Wow! I got a lot of shopping in this week which included some Christmas shopping. Sadly, mother and daddy left on Friday morning, and I will miss them, but I hope they will come back to see me again soon. After they left, Rhonda and John were headed down to Baton Rouge to visit with us for the weekend. We are going to LSU ESPN Game Day tomorrow to see all the festivities for LSU vs. Alabama. This will be my first LSU tailgating experience, so I'm looking forward to having some fun! It should be a busy weekend!!

A Good Report!

This month marks two years since I had a lumpectomy to remove an "area" that was found on an annual screening mammogram. I was diagnosed with DCIS in August of 2010. That was followed by surgery in October of 2010. Following that surgery, my diagnosis was changed to LCIS and I did not need any radiation or chemotherapy since it was not invasive, and many doctors do not even consider LCIS to be "cancer" - Praise the Lord!

I am happy to report today, October 2012, two years later, I have received an "all clear" mammogram and there is no sign of any cancer or abnormalities! I am so thankful for a good report! The doctor that I saw today says that I will only need to have six month follow ups for one more year, then she would recommend that I only have a mammogram once a year after that as a regular follow up.

Now that's good news! :)

We Moved ... again.

I know it's hard to believe, and if you know me very well, then you are probably tired of hearing that we have moved...again. Yes, my extended "vacation" in Northwest Arkansas has come to an end. Graeble Van Lines packed up our Bentonville, Arkansas home on Thursday/Friday, June 21-22, and delivered all our worldly goods on Tuesday, June 26, to our new (older) home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Of course we would plan to move during the record-breaking hottest week of the year which is part of the Scott moving tradition. Our kids probably remember the year we moved from Whitehouse, TX to Dallas, TX on the fourth of July in 1996. Well, this move brought back memories of that move! It was so HOT!!! The crew was stinky, sweaty, and exhausted by the end of each day, and of course the air conditioner had trouble cooling the house with the doors wide open. We had to go for a long car ride at the end of the day just to cool off! It took a couple of days for our air conditioner to catch-up and cool down the house. If you know Fletcher very well, then you know how much he will miss the cooler, dryer weather of Bentonville, Arkansas, but I feel at home in the heat and high humidity of south Louisiana. Yes, it does feel more like home here to me in so many ways. Even though we are both originally from north Louisiana, there are many similarities to south Louisiana such as the large towering pine trees, and many other types of large shady trees, lots of flowers, and the thick moist humid air of the south. There is a huge old magnolia tree in our front yard here in Baton Rouge, and the street is lined with many large old magnolia trees and large old crepe myrtles and large old oak trees, and flags are flying for the Fourth of July. The birds are prolific here in south Louisiana, and there is a wide variety of birds living right in our backyard. It usually "comes up a thunderstorm" every afternoon down here, which I hadn't even realized how much I had been missing a good summertime afternoon thunderstorm. The rain and clouds are a cool and refreshing relief from the afternoon heat each day, and there is no need for a sprinkler system here. Yes, it just feels more like home to me. We have met a few of our neighbors all of which are retired and have lived in this neighborhood for over 30 years! They are friendly and everyone seems to have at least a dog or two, so we are fitting right in with our two dogs and no kids. Another unique thing that you don't see too often anymore is that the mail is delivered here by a mailman on foot who comes directly to your front door and places your mail in a small mailbox attached to the house. Now, that is nice. All we have to do is open our door and reach out to get the mail. Also at this house we have a circular driveway that is large enough to accommodate all of our vehicles! Although, we don't have an enclosed garage, we do have an old-fashioned covered carport attached on to the back of the house and plenty of parking in the driveway. And we are at the end of the street in a cul-de-sac. I want to say a special "Thank you" to my mother and daddy for coming right away to help me unpack. I probably wouldn't have gotten it done as fast and efficiently without their help. I really did appreciate it, and it really helped us to get through the first week in a new town to have them here. Thanks, Mother and Daddy, I love you!

Well, I've only taken a few pictures so here they are...

Mother and Daddy in Baton Rouge to help with the unpacking.

Packing and loading up in Bentonville

Bailey at the end of the first day of packing in Bentonville.

Tommy at the end of the first day of packing in Bentonville.

Tommy and Bailey had to wait outside for the carpet and floors to be cleaned.

It was a very hot day in Bentonville!

This is the front of our home in Baton Rouge.

Bailey has become a good "Watch Dog" since we have moved here!

This is her watching out the front window.

Thank you so much to our friends Deb and Bob Baldwin for having us over for dinner and also Bill and Denise Hart for bringing the steaks and joining us at the Baldwin's home on our last night in Bentonville. And thanks also to the Baldwins for letting us spend the night at their house so that we could be at our house the next morning to have the carpet and floors cleaned and to turn in our keys. We cannot ever repay the kindness these friends have shown to us and we will miss their friendship. They were like family to us while we were in Bentonville, and I hope that we will stay in touch. Even though we have only known them for the short time that we lived in Bentonville, we have so many fun memories of going with them to the Friday night auctions in Springdale and so many other times when they have included us in their family activities, and had us over to their home. We will truly miss you so much!! Thank you so much for all you have done for us!!

We also will miss Janie and Mike Robinson. They were the very first people we met when we drove into Bentonville in the late spring months of 2010. They are both Realtors at Crye-Leike Realtors in Bentonville. Janie spent many hours riding around with us for two whole days to help us find a place to lease in Bentonville, and we still didn't find anything. But she didn't give up, and she talked one of the other Realtors in their office into getting one of her clients to take their house off the market and lease it to us for at least a year. She went to the house and took over thirty photos so that we could see it, and then we leased it based on those photos and her recommendation without ever stepping foot in the house until we arrived with our things. And the house was more than perfect for us! We ended up staying there for two years! Thank you so much Janie and Mike for taking us under your wing and trying to help us to feel at home in Bentonville. Janie, you are a great ambassador for Bentonville, Arkansas, and thank you for being my friend too. I loved getting to know your family, and thanks for all of those lunch counseling sessions we had while Fletcher was always out of town and I was planning two weddings, and for being my "breast cancer buddy" too. I hope we will stay in touch.

Another special group of people we will always remember is the Goss Sunday School Class of First Baptist Church Bentonville led by Susan and Steve Goss, and their close friends and our family deacon, Susan and Jim Byrum. They constantly reached out to us and included us and helped us to feel at home and a part of our church family while we were in Bentonville. Right here I could make a list of about twenty people who became our close "church friends" that we bonded with through Sunday School where we met together each week to study God's word and we shared prayers and prayer requests for each other and fellowships. I can't say enough good things about First Baptist Church of Bentonville Arkansas, it is an extraordinary place full of people who love and serve the Lord and each other and reach out to the community of Bentonville as the hands and feet of Christ to show His love and mercy to others. We are so blessed to have spent a short time in their midst and we will always remember their love and kindness, not only to us, but to so many others. One other person I would like to mention in particular is the Pastor's wife, Laurie Smith. She was constantly reaching out to me at Ladies Bible Study and whenever I was around her she had a special gift that just made me feel like we had always been friends, even though I had only known her for such a short time. And there were other ladies in the FBC Bentonville Ladies Ministry that really made a special effort to make me feel welcome in their group. Thank you all so much!!I will miss you.

There were others in Bentonville that I crossed paths with that were like angels sent from God. I won't go into too much detail about each one, but I will carry those memories in my heart of a time of such extraordinary grace and mercy that could only have been the hand of God reaching out to me and Fletcher when we needed it the most. There was a meal that was brought to me after surgery, there was a lady that I met at the hair salon, the ladies at the BellaVista Christian Women's Club who prayed with me and prayed for my children that they have never met, and another "new friend" that talked me into going to Bible Study with her because if she hadn't wanted to go I might not have ever gone alone, we had great neighbors next door, and there were several doctors in Fayetteville that took good care of me, and I will forever be grateful for all of these people. God is well represented in Northwest Arkansas!

Now we have moved to Baton Rouge and now maybe it's time for us to reach out and minister to others. We will be on the lookout for opportunities to serve and hopefully we will have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ as we seek to serve Him in our new community. We know that God is always at work in our lives and in our hearts and in the lives and hearts of those around us. We just need to pay attention so that we won't miss the opportunities that will come our way to share the love of Christ in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

What's Up with the Scott Family?

The Scott's Scoop began as blog about the Scott Family, so here is an update on each member of our family:

Fletcher and Pam are still married after 32 years!

(This is what we looked like after being married for 1 year.)

On April 4, 2012 we celebrated our 32nd Wedding Anniversary.

We went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Rogers, Arkansas.

We are so thankful for all of the blessings God has given to us through our marriage.

Of course our most precious blessings are our three children and the years we have spent

watching them grow into adults.

Fletcher is still employed with the Community Coffee Company which is headquarted in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a brief time of living in Northwest Arkansas, Fletcher and Pam will soon be moving to Baton Rouge, LA so that Fletcher can continue his career with Community Coffee. During the past twenty-two months he has been the "Walmart Team" representing Community Coffee. When we moved here just 22 months ago the purpose was for Fletcher to lead a "team" to represent the Community Coffee Company and for the company to have a "presence" in Bentonville, Arkansas where the Wal Mart Home Office is located. All of that has changed and the "new" plan now is that we will move to Baton Rouge and Fletcher will be working out of the office there.

The photo below was taken on Fletcher's 53rd birthday!

We celebrated by going to the Naturals game in Springdale, AR.

(It was Dollar Dog night!)

The photo below is of me and Tommy

on the back deck of our home in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Our oldest child, Dan, is married to Kim.

They celebrated their One Year Wedding Anniversary

on February 5 this year.

Dan and Kim still live and work in Houston, Texas, and are both very active in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Dan has recently changed jobs. He is now employed with the Cobb/Fendley Engineering firm in Houston, while Kim continues to be employed with MD Anderson as a supervisor in the area of Cancer Research. Dan and Kim are both graduates of Texas A & M, and Kim has completed her Masters degree in Hospital Administration from the University of Houston Clear Lake.

They recently got a new little puppy!

He is my third "Grand" Dog, and his name is Buckshot.

They call him "Buck" for short.

Jennifer and Jarred got married on January 14, 2012.

This is a photo taken at Christmas of them with their little puppy "Bella" my second "Grand" dog.

Jennifer, our second child, is furthering her education as she is working her way through the Pharmacy Doctoral Program at The University of Texas. She graduated with an undergraduate degree in Nutrition Science from Texas A & M in 2009.

She still has two years to go to complete the Pharm D program at UT.  

She and Jarred recently bought this home (pictured below) in the Austin, Texas area of Cedar Park.

They have one sweet little dog named Bella, and two larger dogs Jackson and Jewel. Jarred continues his career as a Paramedic in Hearne, TX. Yes, it is a long drive for him, but he is making the sacrifice for Jennifer to complete school, and he really enjoys his work.

Amy, our youngest daughter, is currently living in New York City and working on a marketing degree at Parsons School of Fashion.

This degree is in addition to her degree in Finance from Texas A & M University which she completed in 2009.

She will complete her Marketing degree at Parsons in August and hopes to find full-time employment in the Fashion Industry in New York City. This past spring she had an internship with the Mary Kate and Ashley Brands, and this summer she is interning with The Limited Corporation. We have enjoyed keeping her car for the past few months while she has been living and working in New York,

and we look forward to keeping Bailey for the summer. We enjoyed Amy's recent visit to Arkansas.

This photo was taken of Amy and Bailey while they were visiting us in Bentonville, AR.
Bailey was our first "Grand" Dog, and she is two years old.

Well, that just about sums it up!

As for me, I'm just trying to keep up with the day-to-day responsibilities.

I enjoyed my short time as a Substitute Teacher here in the Bentonville and Rogers School Districts this year,

but now I must get ready to move back "home" to Louisiana. We have been blessed with

so many friends and good memories from our short stay here in Northwest Arkansas.

We are so thankful for all of the wonderful people and new friends we have made here in Bentonville. Many people have been extraordinarily kind to us during the short time we have been here. God has truly shown mercy and grace to us here, and it has been a time of much needed rest in many ways. We are so thankful for this time we have had here, and we look forward to what God has in store for us in Baton Rouge where He has already gone before us to prepare a place for us and to bring new opportunities for us to serve Him there. The Lord has already provided a home for us to lease there, so we will be moving very soon!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

"I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God."

Ecclesiates 3:12-13