An update by Rob:
Good night to be a guy around the house. Pizza, NASCAR qualifying, and a chance to watch the Bulldogs play on ESPN. Living in Iowa, we do not get a chance to see Fresno State play much on TV. Tonight, my alma mater is playing the Broncos from Boise State. Should be quite a game as both teams are undefeated in the WAC.
People around here are big Iowa State Cyclone fans (I guess we are too now that we are here). I was talking about Fresno State today with some friends and they asked, "How do you think Fresno State would do against a Big 12 school like Iowa State?" I told them that, "I would be afraid..." "Of what, Rob?" Confidently I replied, "I would be afraid that Fresno State would run up the score!" Not a lot of smiles after that comment.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Not Getting Any Better
So another week has gone by before I got around to posting on the blog but I have some news- next month is "National Blog Posting Month" and the challenge is to blog every day for the month of November. I'm going to try it and hopefully I can make it.
My parents went home on Wednesday and I was sad to see them go. We won't be making a trip for the holidays and I won't see them again until February. We had a lot of fun playing cards with them quite a few nights while they were here and the guys turned out to be the big winners at the end of the week. My mom and I started to make a comeback but it didn't quite happen. I took Tuesday off while they were here and we went to Pella, a small town with a strong Dutch heritage east of Des Moines. It had a very cute downtown that was inspired by Amsterdam. We had a delicious lunch at the Windmill Cafe and bought a lot of treats at the Jaarsma Bakery.
We took a few days to recover and do laundry and clean up but we did go out on Saturday. We went to Des Moines to do some shopping where I got some new shoes (except mine are in black), some stuff for the kitchen and Rob got his shaving supplies which I like to refer to as his "Man Make-Up." We also went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then came home. Apparently we don't get out too much during the evening hours because we were shocked to see all the Halloween decorations that people had up. I've never seen houses with lights on them for Halloween! I took a picture of one to share as an example.
I can't wait to see what people do around here for Christmas!
My parents went home on Wednesday and I was sad to see them go. We won't be making a trip for the holidays and I won't see them again until February. We had a lot of fun playing cards with them quite a few nights while they were here and the guys turned out to be the big winners at the end of the week. My mom and I started to make a comeback but it didn't quite happen. I took Tuesday off while they were here and we went to Pella, a small town with a strong Dutch heritage east of Des Moines. It had a very cute downtown that was inspired by Amsterdam. We had a delicious lunch at the Windmill Cafe and bought a lot of treats at the Jaarsma Bakery.
We took a few days to recover and do laundry and clean up but we did go out on Saturday. We went to Des Moines to do some shopping where I got some new shoes (except mine are in black), some stuff for the kitchen and Rob got his shaving supplies which I like to refer to as his "Man Make-Up." We also went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then came home. Apparently we don't get out too much during the evening hours because we were shocked to see all the Halloween decorations that people had up. I've never seen houses with lights on them for Halloween! I took a picture of one to share as an example.
I can't wait to see what people do around here for Christmas!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Another Week, Another Posting
Geez, I have been bad about posting new entries lately- at least now it is bad because we have been really busy instead of not doing anything. My parents arrived on Wednesday evening last week and we've been touring around with them. I was able to leave work at noon on Thursday so I took them to the Reiman Gardens. They know so much about plants and flowers and what everything was so it was great to go there again with them and learn a little more.
We visited the butterfly building where there were a lot of butterflies- around 800 to 1,000 they told us. There were so many different ones and they were beautiful. In the first picture below, I pointed this out to my mom and said, "Look how this one's wings come away from its body in the middle. That's really unusual and looks cool!" My mom laughed and laughed at me and then clued me into the fact that maybe that wasn't just one butterfly but rather two of them getting their butterfly love on. It's fairly obvious in the picture but I couldn't tell when I first saw them. Oops!
Friday wasn't too exciting. I left work at noon like I usually do on Fridays and we went to Target and I drove them around town for a little tour. We also dropped off a bill at city hall. Wow. But yesterday was really a LOT of fun. We all went to the Madison County Bridge Festival and ate our way around Winterset, Iowa. We also took the bus tour that the Rotary Club was doing to 4 of the 6 remaining covered bridges. It was a beautiful drive around Madison County although the 2 hour tour was much longer than I was expecting. It seemed to go by really fast though and it was very enjoyable.
Winterset is also the home of Marion Robert Morrison, more commonly known as John Wayne. They have a museum there in the house he grew up in which would have been pretty cool to see but it was already getting late in the day and we were wanting to leave. It was dinnertime when we left there so we drove home and stopped on the way at the Outback Steakhouse (or the Outhouse Steakback as I have been known to accidentally call it). I had some chicken that was good but the best part was the baked sweet potato with butter and cinnamon on it. YUM-MY! I even have leftovers to look forward to today. In fact, that is probably our biggest excitement today. We were going to go on a cruise of the Mississippi River but it is raining quite a lot and it's supposed to be like that all day. We decided it was better to just stay home and relax today. I've got some more things planned before they leave and it's really nice just to spend some time together, not doing much.
We visited the butterfly building where there were a lot of butterflies- around 800 to 1,000 they told us. There were so many different ones and they were beautiful. In the first picture below, I pointed this out to my mom and said, "Look how this one's wings come away from its body in the middle. That's really unusual and looks cool!" My mom laughed and laughed at me and then clued me into the fact that maybe that wasn't just one butterfly but rather two of them getting their butterfly love on. It's fairly obvious in the picture but I couldn't tell when I first saw them. Oops!
Friday wasn't too exciting. I left work at noon like I usually do on Fridays and we went to Target and I drove them around town for a little tour. We also dropped off a bill at city hall. Wow. But yesterday was really a LOT of fun. We all went to the Madison County Bridge Festival and ate our way around Winterset, Iowa. We also took the bus tour that the Rotary Club was doing to 4 of the 6 remaining covered bridges. It was a beautiful drive around Madison County although the 2 hour tour was much longer than I was expecting. It seemed to go by really fast though and it was very enjoyable.
Winterset is also the home of Marion Robert Morrison, more commonly known as John Wayne. They have a museum there in the house he grew up in which would have been pretty cool to see but it was already getting late in the day and we were wanting to leave. It was dinnertime when we left there so we drove home and stopped on the way at the Outback Steakhouse (or the Outhouse Steakback as I have been known to accidentally call it). I had some chicken that was good but the best part was the baked sweet potato with butter and cinnamon on it. YUM-MY! I even have leftovers to look forward to today. In fact, that is probably our biggest excitement today. We were going to go on a cruise of the Mississippi River but it is raining quite a lot and it's supposed to be like that all day. We decided it was better to just stay home and relax today. I've got some more things planned before they leave and it's really nice just to spend some time together, not doing much.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Weekend Review
I haven't written much lately because it seems we haven't done anything very exciting lately. See below for proof.
Does everyone care that we ordered a Dumpster for yard waste last weekend and we have been pulling weeds and cleaning up the back yard since then? Probably not. The back yard has been, and continues to be, a struggle for us because I think it was neglected for a while and now we're stuck trying to get it back in shape. It will be wonderful someday but this is something that really takes some time to do. Our front yard looks great and I've been excited because my clearance-rack Dahlia bulbs started blooming this past week and they look great (they're yellow). I had no hopes for them because they were totally cheap and I planted them rather late but they are doing wonderful.
So this weekend we barbecued steaks on Friday night and I watched Pushing Daisies that I had recorded from Wednesday night. It had gotten a lot of great reviews so I decided that I would give it a try. I am giving no other shows a try because I already think I have too many. Anyhow, it was a little bizarre but in a great way. I wouldn't say I'm hooked after only the first show but it's looking that way. On Saturday, I went to the gym (Rob's back has been hurting so he stayed home) and then we went out to lunch and I picked up a new Barenaked Ladies album. So it turns out it has been out since February and I just now figured it out. For a big fan of BNL, I sure blew that one. We worked a little around the house, ordered pizza and watched We Are Marshall. I knew it would make me cry but I couldn't believe how much. I gave up after a little more than an hour because I just kept crying almost the whole time. I decided that was not a fun way to spend my evening so I ended up reading my book instead while Rob finished watching the movie. Today, we went to church, the grocery store, mowed the lawn, cooked a little and I baked some Snickerdoodles. They're very good if you like that kind of cookie, which I don't really. But that's good because then I'm not tempted to eat them. I'm sending them to work with Rob so he can share them. I love to bake but two people don't need 4 dozen cookies. Here's a picture of them.
Besides that, I've been busy posting some more photos from our wedding that our photographer took on my Flickr site so check that out if you are totally bored sometime :o)
Does everyone care that we ordered a Dumpster for yard waste last weekend and we have been pulling weeds and cleaning up the back yard since then? Probably not. The back yard has been, and continues to be, a struggle for us because I think it was neglected for a while and now we're stuck trying to get it back in shape. It will be wonderful someday but this is something that really takes some time to do. Our front yard looks great and I've been excited because my clearance-rack Dahlia bulbs started blooming this past week and they look great (they're yellow). I had no hopes for them because they were totally cheap and I planted them rather late but they are doing wonderful.
So this weekend we barbecued steaks on Friday night and I watched Pushing Daisies that I had recorded from Wednesday night. It had gotten a lot of great reviews so I decided that I would give it a try. I am giving no other shows a try because I already think I have too many. Anyhow, it was a little bizarre but in a great way. I wouldn't say I'm hooked after only the first show but it's looking that way. On Saturday, I went to the gym (Rob's back has been hurting so he stayed home) and then we went out to lunch and I picked up a new Barenaked Ladies album. So it turns out it has been out since February and I just now figured it out. For a big fan of BNL, I sure blew that one. We worked a little around the house, ordered pizza and watched We Are Marshall. I knew it would make me cry but I couldn't believe how much. I gave up after a little more than an hour because I just kept crying almost the whole time. I decided that was not a fun way to spend my evening so I ended up reading my book instead while Rob finished watching the movie. Today, we went to church, the grocery store, mowed the lawn, cooked a little and I baked some Snickerdoodles. They're very good if you like that kind of cookie, which I don't really. But that's good because then I'm not tempted to eat them. I'm sending them to work with Rob so he can share them. I love to bake but two people don't need 4 dozen cookies. Here's a picture of them.
Besides that, I've been busy posting some more photos from our wedding that our photographer took on my Flickr site so check that out if you are totally bored sometime :o)
Monday, October 1, 2007
Change of Plans
The first set of parents visited and though some of the things we had planned didn't happen, we had a wonderful time. We didn't go to the German Festival or do the river cruise but we did go to the Reiman Gardens and Rob took them to see the sprint car museum in Knoxville. For lunch one day, we took them to our favorite restaurant. Pop put our barbeque together so we cooked up some steaks on the new grill one night. Here are a couple photos from the visit.
(I had trouble posting photos tonight but I imported the photos below from Flickr so you can see them there.)
My parents will be visiting next week and I think we'll try the river cruise again with them. We've been taking it a little easy after the visit since we were so busy trying to get things looking good around the house. I ordered a 3-yard Dumpster and we worked in the backyard this weekend. The weather was so beautiful and it was just really nice to be outside.
(I had trouble posting photos tonight but I imported the photos below from Flickr so you can see them there.)
My parents will be visiting next week and I think we'll try the river cruise again with them. We've been taking it a little easy after the visit since we were so busy trying to get things looking good around the house. I ordered a 3-yard Dumpster and we worked in the backyard this weekend. The weather was so beautiful and it was just really nice to be outside.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
