Road Trip with Ma & Pa- To Green Bay

In October (yes, I'm still catching up with posts for the past 3 months) Mike & I cashed in our Christmas present from Mom & Dad for 2010- a road trip adventure to wherever our hearts desired! Well, we all know where Mike's heart lies, right in Lambeau Field of course! And we thought it would be a great choice to pick a Packers game road trip to Green Bay, especially because Dad (a since-childhood Packer fan) hadn't witnessed a game at Lambeau- ever- as he only got to see them back when they played in Milwaukee (sorry Dad, if that dates you a bit!)

We hit the road to Green Bay enjoying local Wisconsin beer and cheese curds along the way. In no time at all we were exploring Green Bay and enjoying delish food at Brett Favre's Steakhouse.

Up and at 'em early Sunday morning for their game against the Miami Dolphins; we were some of the first fans to arrive to the stadium! We had an awesome spot and enjoyed a tailgate breakfast, catch, wandering & shopping the Packer Pro Shop.

Even though the Pack couldn't pull off a win (so close in overtime!) that day we had a blast! Thanks Mom & Dad for a great trip!

Biting the Big Apple: Part 2

The morning after the wedding (see Biting the Big Apple Part#1) we made our way by train to the heart of NYC and checked into the Roosevelt Hotel, explored the highest floor you can get to in the Empire State Building, trekked to Little Italy in the middle of the celebration of St. Genaro for the famous Lombardi's Pizza, took in the Broadway show Rock of Ages which was so much fun and totally 80's-tastic, and ended the night with a midnight pretzel in ever-bustling Times Square. It was a whirlwind day but fantastic- could've used several more days but there is always next time!

Biting the Big Apple: Part 1

I've been working on this post since September, seriously. I've tried multiple times to upload a video and it never would successfully upload so I got frustrated and quit trying and have been ignoring the fact that I should just move on with this already! So here I am, moving on and finishing it already. So...last September we went to New York for the fabulous wedding of two friends Brooke & Ted (who we traveled to Mexico with earlier this year)- Mike was a groomsman in the wedding (Ted was one in ours, too). We arrived on a Wednesday and spent time enjoying Long Island where the wedding took place. We got to spend time with the couple and friends and even took in a fun round of golf.

The wedding was on Friday night and Mike and I both agree is was the most fab wedding we've been to (besides our own of course). The reception was at the same place we played golf earlier in the week and it was a beautiful old mansion. The food, people, was AMAZING. We both were embarrassed to admit that we thought the appetizers were the actual dinner- I mean they had a carving station and everything! So to our surprise we were seated for the actual dinner and though we weren't hungry we sure did enjoy even more delicious food (and signature cocktails and dessert plates and an ice cream bar!)

A hilarious and touching part of the reception were the speeches from the best men and maid of honor (I appreciate a good speech because let's not lie they are few and far between!) but the absolute best part was the bride's brother who is part of the NYPD bagpipe & drum band who surprised the couple by showing up and playing for them. These guys were amazing! We got chills it was so great and I would love to share a video of this but as previous mentioned that is apparently not going to happen. Anyways, we all danced around them and the bagpipes & drums and ended the reception in a large circle singing and swaying to New York, New York. The couple planned a fun casino after-party for all the guests at a nearby hotel which aptly got named "Casino Walsh" as Mike was dealing his own craps table til 3am...

Here ends Part #1.

Football Season has arrived

Even though the weather hasn't quite caught up with football season- it is full steam ahead in our household. Usually around this time of year I tell Mike that I'll catch up with him in February sometime after the Super Bowl- his obsession with all things PTI, Packers, Sportsbook, etc. take over all reality. To keep me sane and somewhat in touch I, again, have my own Fantasy Football team and again, to keep us fed and give me something to do on Sundays I'm attempting Soup Sundays again (a different pot o' soup every Sunday of the NFL season). I missed the first 2 Sundays but am back on track with chili & chicken noodle so far and teriyaki beef (todays).

Oh yes, and of course we are cheering on the Hawkeyes who I think are looking great this year.

The annual Iowa vs Iowa State rivalry was awesome this year and of course we Hawkeyes dominated! We spent the weekend with friends on both sides of the coin and enjoyed catching up with everyone in town for the big game.

Ketchup

Time to catch up! Been a little M.I.A. lately so here is the last month or so in a nutshell. I left off in August after our wonderful date night planned by Jessie & Chris. Since then we've had a family reunion, celebrated Jessie's 30th b-day in Clear Lake, went camping over Labor Day, partied with friends for the annual Ia v. Ia State rivalry (next post) and last but not least flew to NY for a friend's wedding and spent a jam-packed day full of fun in NYC (that post is coming soon, too). This keeping up on bloggin is a lot of work :)

Family Reunion at Scott County Park

This year I was in charge of planning a family reunion with a few other family members so I went old-school reverting back to the days of the Kuhl picnic pot-lucks we used to have at Scott Co. Park. We almost had the whole family show and it was a great day of food, games, discussions & pie/dessert contest of course. My peach and blueberry pie, though delicious, did not quite earn the title of winner- but I was in close running for presentation at least! We even made time for churning homemade ice cream for Jessie's b-day, an annual tradition and Uncle Bill led a nice Sunday morning devotion.

Jessie B-day Celebration in Clear Lake

We celebrated Jessie's 30th b-day in style in a literal pyramid of a house right off the shores of Clear Lake. We boated and swam (despite the high levels of bacteria warnings) and danced the night away- it was so much fun!

Camping Labor Day Weekend

We decided to get one last weekend of camping in at our favorite local camp site over the Labor Day Weekend. We had a great time boating and playing horseshoes on the beaches of the Res. We had an impromptu photo shoot starring a pair of awesome jean shorts and we weathered a rainy and windy storm in the new tent that Mike & I bought

Christmas in August- Date Night

A couple weekend ago we cashed in our Christmas gift from Jessie & Chris in the form of our "What I Love About You" date night.

Jessie & Chris planned everything for us and we were not disappointed- in fact we were blown away with their creativity and generosity (as we usually are!) All Mike & I had to do was give them the date and come prepared with our questionnaire about "What I Love About You" for each other (a series of questions we had to answer about memories, thoughts, etc.)

We happened to also have a gift certificate to The Sheraton we needed to use so we made an entire night of it and were quite excited to have a night out back on our old stomping grounds of downtown Iowa City.

J&C had prepared an itinerary for us along with several envelopes we weren't to open until certain points in the night. Our first assignment was to head to Prairie Lights Bookstore for a sort of scavenger hunt but first we stopped for a drink in the Ped-Mall of course.

Our mission at the bookstore was to secretly browse the store away from the other person and find something that the other could put on their desk at work that would remind them of the other. So off we went as we raced around trying to avoid the other person and laughing as we saw each other stumped and scrambling through the store. We both ended up finding a card for each other. Can you guess whose is whose?
After completing the mission and meeting up again we enjoyed a relaxing glass of wine as we explained our choices for the other.

The next part of our itinerary told us to head to Orchard Green Restaurant for dinner so we enjoyed a nice walk through downtown Iowa City on our way there. We had the most amazing dinner (huge steaks of course) and wine and during dinner we read what we had written.

The questions we answered were: I really knew you loved me when...I really knew I loved you when...This is what I remember about you on our wedding day...This is a memory that only we share...I was so proud of you when...This is one of my favorite adventures or things we did together...I am a better person because you taught or showed me...

Each of us were pretty touched by what the other had written and a few water babies may have spilled on my ribeye :)

After dinner we moseyed to The Sanctuary to peruse their amazing list of beers and J&C had another fun list of questions & would you rather's for us to laugh over.

We then hit up a few more places downtown and wondered how we used to do it not so many years ago....






In the morning our last surprise from J&C arrived at 9am with knock on the door- mimosas and a beautiful and delicious breakfast! I couldn't believe it- it was absolutely perfect and we can't thank J&C enough for the thought they put into this gift and for their awesome generosity.











We love you guys so much and thank you for helping us remember why we love each other, too!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Do yourself a favor and read this book soon! It is fantastic and from the moment I picked it up I couldn't put it down.

Ozarks Vacay

We celebrated the 4th this year with family and friends at the Lake of the Ozarks. As usual it is a great time mostly spent boating on the water. We rented a house which turned out to be perfect for our group and it had an awesome dock to go with it. We boated, floated, watched fireworks from the water, ate, drank and had a merry ole time. Can't wait til next year already!

3rd year anniversary pics

for our 3rd anniversary we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner, decadent dessert and after dinner martinis at Daniel Arthurs-our 3rd year in a row celebrating there- looks to be the start of a delicious tradition!

3 years and counting....

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HUBBY!

3 years ago started out as a rainy day much like today. I remember the excitement and nervousness I felt. I didn't sleep a wink the night before. The silent moment after Canon in D contrasted by the booming start of the Trumpet Voluntary. The day flew by. Three years have flew by. Happiness must make the time fly.

A year in the life of Xena

Xena was welcomed into our home one year ago last weekend which of course calls for a tribute blog post if you ask me. She has brought so much joy to our life and I am so thankful to have her to come home to everyday. I now know the truth behind the unconditional love a dog can bring into your life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

our first time meeting little Xena

bringing Xena home when she was 7 weeks old

Xena wiped out after her welcome home puppy party

Xena meets Uncle Angus (Mike's parents dog) for the first time- she thinks they are best friends...he isn't so sure about that

Xena grew up fast!

naughty girl got caught digging in the mud!

first time playing in the water at the Coralville Res

one of many destroyed toys...stuffed toys last about an hour max

Angus, Xena & Echo have a play date

Xena discovers snow for the first time and loves to play and stick her face in it

her first Christmas

Our little pup has come a long way in the last year and we capped it off with a Memorial Day camping trip with her. She got the chance to play more in the water and quickly became quite the swimmer- jumping off the rocks into the Res and fetching sticks- check out the video below.