Ho! Ho! Ho!

I put off my xmas shopping until the last weekend. When I was heading into Macy's, a bunch of people dressed up like Santa rode bikes through downtown Chicago. I caught a pic of part of the group!

Merry Christmas!

Arizona

So, I sort of lied about the blog coming out of hibernation... seems like it's been a little while since I last posted. Time flies!

Matt and I went to Arizona and visited the Grand Canyon and Sedona a few weeks ago. We had an amazing time and we got to see a lot of beautiful scenery.

Sunset in Red Rock Country - Sedona

We spent the first night in Sedona and the weather was gorgeous -warm and sunny!

View from out hotel room in Sedona

We hiked up Bell Rock in Sedona. There was hardly a cloud in the sky!

Me in front of Bell Rock

Towards the top of Bell Rock, there was snow and ice.

How often do you see cactus and snow together?

Amazing views from Bell Rock

We drove to the Grand Canyon and spent a couple of days there, too.

The Grand Canyon was gorgeous!

Pictures really can't do this place justice!

Later at sunset... looked like a postcard!

We hiked down into the Canyon on the South Kaibab Trail. I was a little freaked at first because it was pretty icy at the top. But the farther you go down, the warmer and sunnier it got = less ice and snow.

Looking down at the path into the Canyon

Views on our hike down the South Kaibab Trail

On our hike

More views

Taking pictures on our hike

Matt loved this tree

Getting back up the trail was no easy feat. The altitude was a killer!

Our time in the Grand Canyon got cut a little short due to the storm that rolled in. Over a foot of snow was expected and we wanted to get out of the area before the roads were shut down.

We left just before the total blizzard hit the Grand Canyon

We made it back to Sedona - after driving through a white-out around Flagstaff. So much for missing the storm! We heard later they shut down roads and schools there and even the highway was closed to one lane each way. For the last couple of days of our trip, it was rainy and cloudy.

Clouds settling in while we were in Sedona

Matt at Cathedral Rock in Sedona

Dinner the last night

Check out our Shutterfly site for more pictures.

The blog is coming out of hibernation

Well, this blog has been a little dormant for a while (well over a month now). So, to get back up to speed, here’s what’s been going on since Sunday, October 16^th (the last post) ---

We dressed up for Halloween

Matt and I decided last minute that we were going to make our costumes. We got the brilliant idea to be red Solo cups (Toby Keith would be proud!), but the process of making them turned out to be a lot more difficult than we thought. We bought all the supplies Saturday morning and spent 4+ hours putting it all together. The result was not too shabby, but we did get a lot of questions of what we were supposed to be. We carried around a volley ball and we were Beer Pong. Maybe if we didn't have the big read straps, we would have been more identifiable.

Red Solo Cup - I fill you up! Let's have a party!

I now have an office with a view

A few window offices opened up and I now have a much better view than before (anything is better than a wall!) Matt is not as thrilled as me… now I am on the same floor as him and we sit about 5 offices apart. Not as bad as when we were first dating and sat literally 5 feet apart in cubicles. Talk about awkward!

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary

2 years ago November 7^th we were married in the Bahamas – I couldn't have asked for a better day celebrating with our family and friends! On our anniversary, we had dinner at Flemings – so.much.food! We had the lobster mac-n-cheese as a side and that would have been enough for a full meal!

One of my favorite pictures

We said good-bye to Grandpa Charlie

My grandpa Charlie passed away on Friday November 18^th. While we were getting everything ready for the funeral, we went through hundreds of old pictures of my grandparents, my parents, family and friends. It was so nice to hear everyone tell stories about my grandpa and his life. He will be greatly missed!

Ross got a year older

Ross really didn’t get a proper birthday celebration with all of us being out of town for the funeral and then the holidays immediately following. Plus, on his birthday, poor Sofie (their dog) got super sick and was hospitalized! We did sing a quick “Happy Birthday” and did a shot at the PO last Sunday for him. : ) Here’s hoping your year finishes off better than it started! Happy Birthday!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with family

Matt and I drove to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with his family. As always, we had a nice time visiting with everyone, watching football and eating lots of delicious food! We went bowling with the whole crew on Saturday. After a 5 month hiatus from bowling, Matt and I did pretty well (210 on Matt’s second game – just like riding a bike!) Since Saturday was a gorgeous day in Ohio, we cooked hot dogs outside over the fire pit and everyone played football in the backyard.

I made pumpkin whoopie pies to take along with us

Matt's Aunt Sandy made us turkey shaped pancakes - so cute!

More cuteness

Playing Horse after dinner

Grilling hot dogs by the fire pit

Matt's serious about his dogs - he waited until everyone else was done

I spent this past week in Philadelphia for work

Not that a work trip is that exciting, but there were a few interesting things that happened along the way. On the flight out there, the pilot announced we were bringing a soldier home from the war, a soldier that had been killed in action. When we got to Philly, there were soldiers and a hearse waiting at the gate to collect the casket. So sad.

On Tuesday around 3 am, I could hear all this chanting and people on the street. Turns out it was the day the police decided to evict everyone from the Occupy Philadelphia campsite that was set up in the city center. When they evicted the people, they started marching up and down the street directly below my window. The next morning, there were bulldozers cleaning up the area. It looked gross.

Hard to see, but the white dots are all the bike cops blocking the road; the rest are the protestors

On Wednesday, some sort of emergency alarm was triggered in the hotel I was staying at. The alarms started going off and someone came over the speaker to say there was an emergency, but we weren't allowed to get on the elevators or take the fire exits. So, basically, I just sat in my room for 25 minutes waiting to hear what the emergency was and if I needed to do anything. All while the annoying alarms kept going off in my room. Not cool! Especially, because in the end, there was no emergency. Considering I was on the 26th floor, I was so glad there wasn't a fire!

I got sucked into the Hunger Games

One good thing about all the traveling I've been doing is that I've had plenty of time to read. I finished off the Hunger Games series in less than a week. Loved those books! I read the first one all in one day on Thanksgiving. They sucked me in, kind of like the Harry Potter or Twilight books did.

Oh, and this is what I returned to in the fridge

Before we left for Thanksgiving, I tried to throw out some strawberries that I knew were going to be bad by the time we got back. But, Matt was adamant about keeping them. And they were still in the fridge when I got back from Philly on Friday night. I'm so glad we kept these. Gross!

Maybe he's doing a science experiment?

I decorated our condo for Christmas
I put a few xmas-y type things around the kitchen and family room. Per "Matt's Law", we will not be getting a xmas tree (real or fake) while living in this condo. He's such a scrooge! So, I put up our 1.5 foot tree again this year on top of the kitchen table. It has lights and a few little ornaments that aren't heavy, so that it won't fall over. Matt says to me, "oh, I didn't realize how small that tree was". Yep! People have bigger ones in their offices at work. : )

Happy b-day Erin (a little late)

Last night, we went out with Ross, Erin, Brett and Sandi to celebrate Erin's birthday. It was a few weeks ago,  but we haven't had a chance to go out yet. We went to Nano for sushi and then to the PO to watch the Iowa game. We all had a good time... and today Matt and I have been veg'd out on the couch recovering. We're kinda old.

Flaming sushi!



Brett and Sandi got this Halloween costume for Sofie - it was a hit!



At the PO - getting ready to do Hawkeye bombs

Too cute!

Hawkeye bomb (this may be why he feels like crap today)

That's a lot of yellow!

Happy birthday to my favorite sister!

Um... I think that's supposed to be for Sofie!

Um... this is what happens when you do too many shots!

Another great Sammy Fund Weekend!

Of course, this will be known as the "year of the flu" because there was a nasty stomach bug going around that hit at least 13 people that I know of. My parents came down with it on Saturday night and were out of commission until Monday morning. So awful!

For those of us that managed to keep our food down... the weekend was perfect! The weather was gorgeous - sunny and warm! Matt and I got into town on Friday and met up with Chuck at the Tangerine Bowl for lunch. Matt loves the pork chops there!

Nope, not a mini-bun, this is a mega-pork chop! Gotta love bowling alley food!

Matt golfed on Friday afternoon, while I ran some errands and got a mani/pedi. : )

The weather was perfect for the race/walk on Saturday morning. The leaves had started to turn colors and the walk was beautiful.

Getting ready for the run on Saturday morning - "Hi Matt!"

Sandi and Brett showing off their Disney half marathon shirts

Traditionally, we head to Jed's after the run/walk for chili dogs and beer. This year, we went to Spring Street, but there were still plenty of chili dogs, beer and fun!

Traditional chili dogs after the race

Mom, me and Erin at Spring Street

Andy and Michelle made the trek from Chicago for the weekend too!

My cousin's daughter Madeline kept everyone entertained

My aunt June met Mark Bortz at the YMCA (I think) and he stopped off at the bar for a drink. He played on the '85 Chicago Bears team that won the Super Bowl and he also played football in college at Iowa. So awesome!

Me, Mark Bortz and Erin

Found this on some Bears website

On Saturday night, Matt played in the Texas Hold 'Em tournament. I went to a wine tasting party held by the place my cousin Kelly works. Despite being a tad underdressed for the event (we were in jeans and people showed up in cocktail dresses and suits/ties), the wine and food were so good and we had a fun time! We were camped out by the cheese table = my favorite station!

The golf tournament on Sunday could not have been on a more beautiful day! Is this really October?!?

Keely filled in for my Dad who was under the weather

Grant, Keely and Ross ready to golf

My team - Brian, Andy and Matt

Time to rally (this was also when Brian realized he lost his keys a few holes back)

Beautiful trees!

Hard to tell by a picture... but Andy decided they should drive in reverse for the second 9 holes

Cheers! (They are driving in reverse - we are driving forward at them)

Um... who's driving this thing?!?

After we finished golfing, everyone went out to the 2nd hole to help Brian find his keys. He had lost them when they first shot-gunned a beer. When they went to do the second one about 5 holes later, he realized he didn't have his truck keys anymore. Oops! Even bigger oops because Keely didn't have a spare set with her! Luckily, he found them on the 3rd hole!

We all ended up staying in Quincy on Sunday night after that. My parents were still not up for the 2 hour drive back to Rochester, so they were definitely staying. Keely and Brian weren't up for driving all the way back to Chicago either. So, we ordered in pizza and watched football. We all were exhausted!

More pics from the weekend are on our Shutterfly site.