April 29, 2004 FINAL FOUR EDITION

Wow! What an adventure we have all had since the last time I wrote the "Bidness". I really don't even know where to begin. I guess since the last newsletter was about Melvin dying I should let you know that we got our new puppy. he is so cute, a heck of a lot cuter than Melvin. We named him Eddie Swoosh Bobik after Coach Sutton. We have discovered that Eddie is a wimp. I took him to get his nails cute and he was yelping so loud that you would think he was getting his nails ripped out instead of cut. It was very dramatic. he is a great little dog and Daniel and I were so excited thinking that we had him potty trained pretty well and that potty training was easy until we found a little pile of crap under Jaxton's bed. I know that's gross, the darn dog, but these are little puppy turds so we cleaned them up and Jaxton's room is off limits to Eddie. Jaxton and Eddie play very well together. There have only been a few times that I have had to separate them. Eddie gut put in his cage fore biting and Jaxton got put in his room for trying to poke Eddie's left eye out. They were both tired!
March was definitely MADNESS but probably the most exciting month of our lives up to this point. I'm so glad that I got to experience the entire ride with my mom and my sister who I would like to thank for coming with me everywhere and supporting Daniel like you both did. It wouldn't have been the same with you.
It all started in Dallas at the Big 12 Tournament. After the Cowboys had won the regular season championship they went to Dallas hungry for the tournament championship. They got to the championship game and beat Texas for the third time in one year, to bring home the hardware (UNBELIEVABLE). It was a great tournament and we had so much fun! We got to spend a lot of time with Mary Ann and Don Alexander, whom, for the record, and no longer our "adopted" grandparents they are officially the real deal. We love them so much and they love us and support us just like grandparents do. They were there more than an hour early to every single tournament game and that meant a lot to Daniel to see them up in the stand waving at him and ready to cheer. Thank you for everything Mary Ann and Don, we love you so much. Ralph and my dad were also there along with Dennis Bunker and the Bone's we all had a great time.
Kristi and I started dressing alike for the Big 12 Tournament for good luck and it worked. The now famous Horse Dance also came to be in Dallas when I just couldn't sit still for the William Tell Overture anymore. For those of you who might not have seen a glimpse of the horse dance during the games on CBS it is kind of like we are pretending to be jockeys in the movie "Seabiscuit," but without a horse. it's kind of hard to explaining words, you'll just have to ask for a demonstration when you see me or Kristi. Honestly, we had no idea what we were starting but I'll tell you about it later in this letter.
Although the Cowboy's won the conference for the first time in 50 years and the conference tournament they were denied a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament so we took a #2 seed and a few days later we were off to Kansas City, Missouri for the first round. I packed up my little traveling buddy Jaxton and we drove up there and picked my Mom and Kristi up at the airport in KC. This was a really fun place with a lot of shopping and yummy restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory which we visited at least once a day while we were there. The games were fun and for some reason we really caught the CBS camera man's eye. The Horse Dance took off again but this time when we finished the OSU crowd stood up and started clapping for us. Kristi and I took a bow and I said, "Thank you we will be here all week and in New Jersey next week!" As soon as they won both of their games in Kansas City we all drove back to Stillwater and made arrangements for the next weekend in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Plane tickets were a joke for OK to NJ so I decided to fly back to Utah with my mom and Kristi, leave Jaxton with my did in Utah because Manhattan did not need a 21 month old named Jaxton running around, and then fly from Utah to New York on Jet Blue. We weren't even home for 24 hours before we had to leave again and by the time we got toNew Jersey we were tired. But like you can go to New Jersey and be right across the river for Manhattan and just chill-we were there to PARTY!!!
On Pittsburg game day we went to the little mall they had in East Rutherford and found us those good luck hats and glasses that we were wearing. We knew they were ugly when we bought them but we made them official good luck charms when we made the rules that we would only put them on at halftime if we were losing. The horse dance because so popular that while in NJ Channel 5 news in OK asked us for an interview so they could get an up close and personal demonstration of the horse dance. Let me tell ya'll something; the moonwalk doesn't have anything on our horse dance! Everybody loved us so much that the Athletic Director asked Kristi and I to do the horse dance for the Pep Rally in front of all the alumni that traveled with the team. Of course we would! We were a hit! The band leader and the mascot Pistol Pete because our new best friends because they couldn't believe that we actually did that dance in front of people let alone on national television! Kristi and I also busted out our "Cool Chicks Wear Orange" T-shirts that we had made (total high school flashback) and those were even more popular than the horse dance! We made it on national television again that night and the next morning people started calling stores here in Stillwater asking where they could get one of those shirts. Chris' University Spirit, the most popular store here, started making and selling those shirts while I was still in New Jersey but they knew the idea came from me so they are paying me a 10% royalty. Hooray for me!!! The store sold over 800 shirts in less than a week. They also told me that next year I could design the shirt and make it cuter which will be so much fun for me. I am quite the business woman and you know now that I have talked the talk saying that Cool Chicks Wear Orange I have to walk the walk and wear orange almost daily. It's my new favorite color for real!
Anyway, back to basketball, the next game against St. Joe's in my opinion was the best game of the whole tournament. We were so out numbered as far as fans were concerned that it wasn't even funny but we were ready to cheer our little butts off and that's exactly what we did. I don't think that we sat down once the whole game and when we rode the horses this game we rode with all of our might with our good luck hats and glasses and our shirts that said, "Ride Em Cowboys!" After Daniel got his finger on that ball that Jamere Nelson shot (NICE DEFENSE BABE) and they won, we went crazy, I mean crazy!!! Daniel came over and hugged me and with tears in his eyes he asked, "Can you believe it? We are going to the Final Four." After this game we met Tim Robbins, the white actor in Shawshank Redemtion, he is a pretty cool guy and he was there because his son Jack had OSU picked to win the whole thing so they came to the game. We got a picture with him and he complemented us on our horse dance and then he went in the locker room and told Daniel how cool he though Kristi and I were. It was hilarious! Back the the hotel, it was madness and I heard here in Stillwater people were going "bonkers" as they put it. Everybody was so excited! Coach Sutton came up to Kristi and me with a huge smile on his face and told us that he finally looked up to watch our horse dance during the time out and he thought it was great too. I tell you we had no idea what we were starting but it's become more famous than any other tradition OSU has right now. They want us to teach the entire student body next year, oh dear.
We got to spend a lot of time in Manhattan shopping and exploring and that portion of the trip was very exciting.
Next was San Antonio, TX for the Final Four, can anybody believe it? I still can't, it's crazy!! I got to fly with the team because according to Coach Sutton I am a business woman now because of my t-shirts. That's not the real reason. It had something to do with NCAA rules but there are so many rules I don't even try to keep track of them. We got a police escort from the airport to the hotel where the players were just mobbed with media when they got off the bus. I don't think I had a clue how big the Final Four was until I got there. HOLY SMOKES!
The next morning my family arrived in San Antonio- Mom, Kristi, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Ricky-the whole fam. They got a few hours of rest and then we were off to experience the whole thing. We went to fun restaurants and got spoiled by our grandpa and grandma. I think by the time we left we each owned one of every Final Four thing that was made to see. THANKS GRANDPA AND GRANDMA. We went to the team practice session and supposedly Coach Sutton told the band that they couldn't practice while they were on the court until he saw that we were there and then he allowed them to play the William Tell Overture. Coach Sutton himself went over to direct it and do a little version of the horse dance himself. Of course Kristi and I couldn't resist and when the song was over we ourselves got mobbed by camera men and newspaper writers. The main CBS guy came up to us and said, "I am the one that has made you guys famous." We talked for a little while and he had no idea that I was Daniel's wife. he got so excited and said, "This is even better than I thought!" Random people were coming up to us asking for pictures with us or autographs. We felt like celebrities, walking around in our twinner outfits getting stopped by everyone. My mom had seen us getting more famous throughout the tournament but the rest of my family was like, "What is going on here?" We really had the time of our lives. That night we were LIVE from San Antonio on the OK news and they advertised about us "The Bobik Twins live from San Antonio at 8:00 tonight," the whole day. Too much fun! People were telling Daniel" You know we really enjoy watching you play but we just LOVE you wife!" Daniel has been so cute about the whole thing. when I asked him if we were embarrassing him he said, "Heck no, I think it's freaking hilarious!" I am so thankful that I married a man that let's me be me, no matter how crazy I may be at times. He said he is just so happy that I can be having as much fun as he is. Now I know that I haven't written a lot about Daniel through all of this and that is because they were in hotel arrest. I got to see him for no more than an hour or two each day so all I know is that he watched a lot of Sports Center and Infomercials while he was in his hotel room. he even ordered me a "Bun and Thigh Master"!
Game day again Georgia Tech was nerve raking. I had a "Cool Chicks Wear Orange" shirts made for my mom and a "Groovy Granny's wear Orange" shirt made for my grandma so we were set. When we got to the Pep Rally everyone else had our shirts on too! Kristi brought orange, black and white watermelon flavored suckers that we passed out to 400 people and then of course they had us do our horse dance in front of everyone, up on a stage this time. sometimes during the horse dance I would get laughing so hard that I wouldn't be able to finish.
As everyone knows they lost that game by 2 points, which was heartbreaking, but OK cause that's life. I'm just glad that Daniel isn't a senior. Personally I think the team will be better next year. I know they just signed a big guy and I'm pretty sure they will be UNSTOPPABLE!!!
I have been working on Daniel's basketball scrapbook this last week and it's going to be awesome! You should have seen the pile of newspapers that I had to go through. I have great pictures also because a studio here in Stillwater takes nice, professional pictures at all the home games and he was at all the tournament games too. The camera man's name is George and we are tight so he takes lots of pictures of Daniel and lots of pictures of me and Kristi! I told Daniel that pictures were something I would be spending money on because pictures are priceless.
Daniel has just been catching up on school since they got back. They were about a month behind so he's been busy and has finals next week. he got a new calling as the Priest Quorom Advisor. We have been speaking at a lot of things lately. He got asked to speak at a community thing then I got asked to speak for Mormon week up on campus and then we both got asked to do a fireside for the youth up in Ponca City. We enjoy doing stuff like that and hopefully somebody can learn from our experiences.
Jaxton is such an awesome little boy and I'm not saying that just because he's our little boy. He is so much faun and has the best personality I've ever seen in a little kid. The loves of his life right now are Elmo, horses, and Pistol Pete. he loves anything that has to do with any one of those things. He watches the movie "spirit" at least twice a day and anything orange or anything that has the OSU logo on it reminds him of Pistol Pete and he goes crazy! He does the best horse sound I have ever heard and he also pretends to ride. Next year he'll be doing the horse dance right along with me. Jaxton loves stuffed animals and he has to sleep with almost every one of them. he sleeps with his monkey, his dog, his Mickey Mouse, his 4 horses, his 2 Elmo's and his Pistol Pete. Trust me, he knows when one is missing and he won't sleep until it's found.
He is saying so many words. Pistol Pete, hot dog, pancake, chicken, outside, park, thank you and I could go on and on. He repeats everything we say and says it over and over again with a huge smile on his face. he knows he's funny and I can tell you already that he is going to be a big tease. Jaxton can tell you the sounds of all the animals; you would think that we live on a farm or something. WAIT, we live in Oklahoma! He also knows all of his body parts and we are working on his colors, he gets blue and green mixed up. He is so observant of everything and so creative. it is so fun to see his mind at work. The other day he was sitting down playing and his foot fell asleep. he couldn't quite figure out what was going on so he hobbled over to me pointed at his foot and said, "hot, hot".
We have been taking time to enjoy the simple things in life lately and have been going to the park a lot or just going outside to play baseball or to ride his bike which he loves. Being with him just brings out the kid in Daniel and me and we have a blast with him. I can't wait to start taking him swimming because I know he is going to love that. he would stay in the bathtub forever if we let him.
Have a fabulous day, week, month and I'll try to stay on top of things now that life has settled down a bit.