Sunday, October 16, 2011

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!


Saturday, October 15, 2011

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.

Omaha

The first weekend in October, I went to Omaha to visit with a couple of high school friends. We all live in different cities, but get together once a year. This year, we all went to Omaha (where my friend JJ lives). It's so nice to catch up with them!

We grabbed dinner and drinks in the Old Market area Friday night. We even did a little late night shopping! We went to this store that had the strangest combination of books and things. There was a whole section devoted to bacon. And they had books with titles like "How to mess up your kids (without even trying)".

On Saturday, we watched the kids play soccer (Stryker is 8 and Tori is 5). We also went to the largest pumpkin patch I've ever been to - Valas! This is like a big fall fair with tons of things going on - hayrack rides, pony rides, face painting, shows, pumpkin cannons, a huge corn field maze, pig races, etc.

The kids in the witch's cauldron

Make your own snowcone - so many flavors

Face painting - Crystal got hers done too!

Huge tic-tac-toe board - with toliet seat O's

At the entrance to the corn maze

Huge "bubbles" to jump on - these looked like so much fun!

On the hayrack ride
On Saturday night, JJ's husband Jerry grilled out some steaks for all of us and we carved up the pumpkins we got earlier that day. Messy, but the kids loved it!

I made a bear claw

Crystal picked a very green pumpkin!
More pics from the weekend saved on our Shutterfly site.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Welcome Kayla Marie!

On Sept 26, Hany and Grant welcomed their new baby girl to the world. She was born around 12:20 pm and weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long.

Erin and I went to visit them at the hospital and little Kayla was adorable! So tiny! She has a head full of dark hair.

Congrats!