Let's roll!

 

Bowling has started back up and look what the bowling alley has for us this year...

This is going to make Monday mornings a little rougher for some people!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My parents came up to Chicago for a visit this past weekend and to celebrate my Dad's birthday. He always likes to go the Auto Show, so they did that on Saturday while the girls went shopping in the 'burbs. We finished off the day with a great dinner at my Aunt Amy's house. My Dad's sisters also came into town, so there was quite a crowd at Amy's house!

We also celebrated my Aunt Lucy's birthday... hello lots of candles! : )

My Dad got this cool gadget for his birthday from Brett and Sandi - a donut maker! Of course, we had to try it out on Sunday. The donuts turned out really good! I may have to pick one of these up!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got these beautiful flowers delivered to me on Tuesday! They've been keeping my office smelling nice all week!

Matt and I had a nice dinner at Nano with Ross and Erin = double date Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year!!!

Matt and I spent the holidays with my family in Rochester and Quincy, IL. I actually forgot to bring my camera home, so the only pics I have are from my phone (ie - not that great!). I really can't believe I did that!

I think we've found a new Christmas Eve tradition... my Dad, Ross and Matt fried a chicken and a turkey! So delicious! Considering how accident prone my Dad is, I'm glad there were no injuries and the house remained in one piece.

Safety first... using the welding gloves just in case!

Dad and Ross

Matt liked the finished product

Christmas Day was spent opening loads of great presents and spending time with the Otte family.

This Iowa pillow pet has already gotten a lot of use!

Me and Matt on Christmas

Ross and Erin on Christmas

On New Year's Eve Eve, we went to the PO to watch the Iowa bowl game. The place was the most packed I've even seen it! Lots of overflow from Four Shadows, I think. We had a fun time. Dave gave Matt and Brian these Iowa hawkeye hats to wear. They LOVED them!

Love the hats!

Beak fight

It's all fun and games until someone loses a beak!

We spent New Year's Eve at our place with Erin and Ross. It was basically and taco and pajama party. Comfy clothes, good food, fun games = a great way to ring in the New Year! Sofie was the first to pass out again this year! She did get her second wind at midnight.

Sofie kept Matt entertained

Getting ready for the midnight toast - gotta get them all the exact same

One of these years, we'll actually go over to Navy Pier to watch the fireworks in person

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. : )