Time For An Update

Thankfully this week has been going by quickly. It's been quite a week. I had something weighing on me this week and after prayer I have my answer, so I feel much better right now. It was something I needed clear direction on and God provided it for me, so now I'm at peace.

Earlier this week we had a scare at work. My favorite little boy had a seizure out on the playground. He started as an infant last year about a week after I started and we formed a special bond. He moved across the hall in August, but he still comes in my room in the afternoon to visit me! It was pretty scary in the moment. I wasn't out there when it happened, but saw one of his teachers carrying someone in and was rushing down the hallway. My co-worker stuck her head out the door so see what was going on and I found out it was my little man she was rushing up there. About 2 minutes later we heard the sirens. It took everything in me to stay in my room and not run up there, but I knew I couldn't do anything anyway. Thankfully his dad only works about 2 minutes away from the daycare and got there right behind the ambulance. I did a lot of praying though, throughout the entire day. The staff all know he's my little guy, so a bunch of them were asking if I was okay! Jacob forgot his phone at home that morning, but when he got home I ended up crying as I was telling him what happened.

We found out later that he was doing well and that they were keeping him overnight to keep an eye on him. He went home yesterday and today dad brought him in to my room so I could see him. I scooped him up and gave him the biggest hug...and told him not to scare me like that again! So that was our big adrenaline rush of the week!

In other news...I'm loving this weather. It's been a little hot, but it cools off at night and it's perfect. I'm excited that October starts tomorrow. I can break out the Halloween decorations. That probably won't happen until Sunday or sometime next week though. I love October!

Tomorrow night we're hopefully meeting up with Jacob's college friends. They'll be in Decatur visiting from Chicago, so we're going to go out to dinner probably. I'm excited to meet them because I've gotten to know them on Facebook and so I already feel like I actually do know them. Vanessa is having a baby soon so I couldn't resist picking up a gift. Baby shopping is so much fun!

Saturday we're going to the Illinois game. It's against Ohio State...so I'm pretty sure we know what's going to happen. But I DESPISE Ohio State so I'll really be cheering on the Illini! I'll be praying for a miracle! Then we're going to go to Villa Grove and spend the night there. Jacob's sister will be there too so we'll celebrate her birthday. And of course I've gotta watch the Iowa game Saturday night and cheer on my boys!
Jacob and his dad will be going to the Cards game on Sunday, so I'll drive home sometime after lunch.

I have a feeling the weekend is going to fly by WAY too fast!

"We're Gonna Fight! Fight! Fight! For Iowa!"

The other night I got tickets for an Iowa game on Craigslist and from that point on I was totally excited about this weekend!

Of course 2 days before the game I got a terrible cold. I ended up staying home from work on Thursday and yesterday seemed like the longest day ever. Plus on Thursday Jacob called me because he had just remembered that he had to be home on Sunday morning for a vocal festival! I was upset because I really wanted him to come with me, even though he said it was okay and I could just take my dad (and after today I'm fairly confident that my dad was glad to be at home watching). We ended up deciding that we would make a whirlwind trip. We left for Iowa when I got off work yesterday and got home again tonight at 6:00.

Mom was out of town, so we hung out with dad for about an hour or so after we got there. They had bought a new flat screen for the basement a few weeks ago and just a got a new one for the living room yesterday, so we got to check it out. I gotta say, watching football on a 48 inch HD TV is pretty dang awesome.

This morning was game day. We left the house around 8:30, but not before having dad get a picture of us! (I LOVE when my husband sports black and gold)

The high today was 56 with a 30% chance of rain in the afternoon. Well...they were slightly off. It started to rain before we even got there. We parked at Coralridge and walked down to wait for the Hawkeye Express!

Once it arrived we hopped on and road it to one of my favorite places on earth. "Historic" Kinnick Stadium! Here I am chillin' with Nile.

We started to go into the stadium and the guy told me I couldn't bring my bag in! Say what!? Anyway, we ended up walking up to another gate. We saw some other people with backpack purses on their backs. I had mine opened up at the other gate for them to check. This time Jacob told me to just put it on my back and see if they'd let me though. I didn't think it would work, but I walked right past the security people and they didn't say a word. Phew.

The rain had tapered off and Jacob got a million napkins to dry our seats. He went back a couple times for more and when a guy working there gave him a funny look Jacob told him that his wife spilled her drink. Haha!

At one point the sun came out! I was pretty excited at the point, but it was extremely short lived. (The sun ...not the excitement!)

The view from our seats was great!

Here comes Herky and the IOWA flags!!

Lot's of action during the game. We saw a touchdown in front of us!

The score going into halftime was 21-0! About 5 minutes before halftime the rain came back and it was coming down good. People were getting up a leaving. One guy was like, "I have a TV at home. See you all next week!" I really thought we could stick it out at first, but I was getting soaked and cold! Of course...if I would have listened to my mom I would've brought a poncho!

A lot of people left at halftime. We watched the 3rd quarter from in the tunnels.

Notice how wet I am? (I did keep my hair dry though!)

I could not get warm! Now ever since last year I've talked about how nasty my hot chocolate was at Kinnick, but I finally caved and bought one. This year it was HOT and CHOCOLATE!! Not lukewarm and bland! Well worth it. I finally felt warm enough to make the trek to the Hawkeye Express. We stood in a huge line of people who were also waiting since it doesn't start running until the beginning of the 4th. Fortunately they cram as many bodies on as possible, so we got on within maybe 15-20 minutes.

Walked back to the car and Jacob gaurded it while I stripped off my wet stuff and put on some dry clothes from the suitcase. Then he changed while I was driving. So if anyone hears of any indecent people in the Coralridge parking lot...well...we just wanted to get dry. Haha!

Made the drive home and here I sit. Hawkeyes won 45-0! It was cold and wet, but well worth it. I love going to Iowa games!

The One With All The Friends Captions

All of you who are familiar with the TV show, Friends, probably know that all of their episode titles begin with, "The One...". You also probably know that my friend Emily and I LOVE Friends.

Because today is Emily's birthday, I thought I would wish her a Happy Birthday, Friends style! Thanks for all the fun memories over the years!  (In no particular order)

The One Where Remily Was Invented

The One Where Chubby Wasn't Funny Anymore

The One Where We Just Looked Awesome

The One With The Men's Underwear

The One Where We Didn't Sleep

The One Where We Were Karen Kingsbury's Paparazzi

The One With The Clean Sweep

The One With The Polka Dots

The One On The 4th of July

The One Where We Ate Cake

The One With Our "Little Glasses of Heaven"

The One On Our Crazy Trip To Chicago

The One Where We Rode On A Hayless Hay Rack Ride

The One Where We Were Crazy

The One Where We Outdid Ourselves

The One With The Surprise

The One With The Wedding

The One With The Remily Reunion

The One...IN CHICAGO!

Happy Birthday, Friend! Love you and miss you!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Last night we went to the Central A&M football game because it was music night. Jacob's kids sang at the beginning. We only stayed until after halftime, but it was fun. The Bates' came and hung out with us too!

It was Breast Cancer Awareness night, which is why my husband is actually wearing a pink shirt!

Jack enjoyed climbing up the fence to get a better view.

I love Liam's big eyes in this picture. I had lots of snuggle time with the little man.

These 2 are cute together.



After the game we went to Wal-Mart and bought seat backs for the Illinois game today! We just bought the cheapest ones they had (because to get the ones they have at the stadium they charge you like $40 apiece!) My back felt MUCH better today. Still a little sore, but nothing like the fire I usually feel ripping through it!

Today we got up bright and early and left for the stadium at 8:30. The weather was beautiful! A little hot at times, but I'd prefer to be hot rather than freezing! My face got sunburned too!

The game was against the Northern Illinois Huskies. How cute is that dog!?

The game was a lot of fun to watch. Lots of action...although a lot of it seemed to be at the other end of the field! Plus there was no one sitting in front of us today, which rarely happens, so we had a place to stretch our legs! Don't think that'll happen at the next game against Ohio State! We were both hungry at halftime, but knew we were going to Olive Garden after the game, so we split a pretzel. Illinois won the game, which was awesome! Now they have a winning record. :)

Olive Garden was busy with lots of other Illinois fans that had just come from the game. The lady asked Jacob for his name. He said, "Elam". She handed him the pager and says, "Thank you Elam. We'll call you when your table is ready." I busted out laughing because she totally thought that was his first name!

We got our Never Ending Pasta Bowls. We had an awesome waiter. I asked him if I could get my 2nd bowl to go. He said, "Well, I can't do that. But I'll bring you the bowl and you can pretend to eat a few bites and I'll give you a to go box." Haha! Worked for me because now I have lunch for tomorrow! Besides, I couldn't eat a 2nd bowl when I knew THIS was waiting for me...

That's right my friends, Pumpkin Cheesecake. Jacob and I shared and it was so yummy!

On a side note...on this Saturday, 2 years ago, Jacob asked me to be his wife! 2 years ago! Doesn't seem like that long ago, but it has been! I love that guy!

We got home and took at nap at 6:00 because we're staying up to watch the Iowa game, which doesn't start until 9:30!!! 10 minutes til kickoff! GO HAWKEYES!!!

VICTORY!

This will be a quick post, but I have to write about the weekend!

Saturday morning just seemed to drag by because of my anticipation for the CyHawk game! Thankfully I felt much better Saturday. Friday I had a terrible day at work and to top it off I had a raging headache from noon until the time I went to sleep.

We were only able to watch the first half of the Iowa game because we had to leave for Champaign, but it was an amazing first half! At least for us Hawkeye fans!

I wish I could have been there in person, but there was lots of cheering coming from our house. Yep, even Jacob cheers for the Hawkeyes as long as they aren't playing Illinois. (Which won't happen much anymore due to the Big 10 changes. Booo!) Mom texted me to tell me that they were watching the game on their new 42 inch HD TV. No fair!! Because it's football season a game wouldn't be complete without chips and queso, so I threw out the diet momentarily so I could enjoy some!

After the first half we got ready to head to Memorial Stadium!

Jacob waving the flag I bought for the car. Yeah...I lasted all of 20 minutes before we stopped to take it out of the window. It was making terrible noises and we were fairly certain it was going to break and fly away!

I switched into my Illinois shirt. I had a hard time taking off the Iowa shirt while the game was still going! This is my first orange Illini shirt. I figured after 2 seasons it was time to own my own instead of wearing Jacob's. I love the games. I love to cheer for them, but never ever will you catch me singing, "We're loyal to you Illinois!" or "Hail to the Orange, Hail to the Blue"!! Believe me...my loyalty will always lie with my Hawkeyes!

Those Hawkeyes, by the way, won the CyHawk series once more! GO HAWKEYES!!!!!!!!

We enjoyed the game. I even got to put my hoodie on for the 2nd half. I do love hoodie weather! It was perfect out. I hadn't been hungry at all until half time, so we got some hot dogs. They have the best hot dogs, I tell ya. I believe I described them as, "juicy deliciousness".

Illinois went on to win the game! Nothing like good atmosphere and a win!

I'm already looking forward to this Saturday's game! Hopefully more wins ahead for the Illini and the Hawkeyes!!

Randomness...Does That Surprise You?

Randomness. Because I can't think of anything in particular to write about.

• Despite having a 3 day weekend, it just wasn't long enough! The babies have had several emotional breakdowns this week, and even I did yesterday when I had to say goodbye to one of my little guys.
• The other night I was riding our new bike and thought my sock was slipping. 6.5 miles later I take off my shoe and a cricket jumped out! Ahhh!
• I have lost 11 pounds in 7 weeks! My goal was 15 in 12 weeks!
• I am currently excited about watching Iowa stomp all over ISU during the CyHawk game.
• I am also excited to go to the first Illinois game of the year on Saturday night. I wonder if it'll be cool enough that night, that they'll be selling their delicious hot chocolate?
• I am LOVING the weather! It's been beautiful outside. It's great to have the windows open all the time, and I plan to take advantage of it because winter will be here soon enough and I'll be frozen like a popsicle until the snow melts. It totally makes me want to:
• go to a bonfire
• go on a hay rack ride
• make s'mores
• I'm excited that fall shows are coming back soon! Survivor starts Wednesday night! I'm such an addict. I also love that my mom and I still watch it together and text each other!
• I miss my sisters and my Iowa peeps.
• I am getting addicted to searching for online coupons. I haven't gotten great at it or anything, but it's fun to save a little money! My best deals so far were $5 worth of deodorant for $2 and saving $5 off a pack of razors. Woot!
• I think my brain is fried because normally I have a ton of random thoughts stored up in my brain, but it's totally blank.

The end

Weekend Recap Time

Since apparently that seems to be about the only time I actually sit down to blog anymore!

Friday night we went to St. Louis for the Cards/Reds game. It was so much fun! The entire stadium "BOOed!" Brandon Phillips every single time he was up to bat and didn't stop until he walked clear back to the dugout. It was pretty much awesome. The Cards hadn't been playing so hot, so I was slightly nervous that my luck might run out, but fairly confident that it wouldn't. Cards won!!!

This video is of some of the booing! The cheering at the end is because he got out!

It was a perfect night at the ball park. Finally not a 100 degree game! Plus there were fireworks afterward. I love fireworks at Busch!

Saturday morning my parents got here around 11:00. We spent the next few hours watching Iowa and Illinois play. They were playing pretty much at the same time so we did lots of flipping back and forth! My Hawkeyes prevailed! (I mean, I totally saw that one coming, but it was still fun!)

Illinois wasn't as lucky. It looked like it for awhile, but their luck ran out and they lost their rivalry game once again.

We got our flag hung up out front where it will stay for the rest of football season!

In the afternoon we were all hard at work doing something. Dad helped trim our tree and uproot a tree that decided to sprout up about an inch from our house! Mom pulled weeds and I helped drag them all back behind the garage for now. Jacob mowed the yard and dad helped with the trim. Mom helped me do some organizing down in the basement. I started a pile of garage sale stuff. I'm planning to have one  next spring. She also hung up some stuff on Jacob's wall in his Man Cave and we made room for the recumbent bike that we bought.

So now we have a big pile of junk in the basement and behind the garage that needs to go to the dump. Waiting on a couple of people we know with trucks to hopefully help us haul it away next Saturday.

I made supper that night. It turned out quite tasty if I do say so myself. Then we just kind of hung out that night.

Yesterday we went to church and then mom and dad treated us to Angelo's for lunch!

Came back to the house and dad put together the bike while mom and I attempted to put together our grill. Haha! That was a hilarious experience. The "instruction manual" was just a picture book. After mom screwed up on Step 2 (which caused about 20 minutes of grief trying to pry the wheels back off), I took over deciphering the instructions and we managed to get it put together!

Next we went to Springfield so Jacob could get a game at Best Buy and then we went to the "fancy" WalMart. Seriously...Wal-Marts have 3 categories in my world. 1. Ghetto WalMart---meaning a WalMart with no grocery store. 2. Super WalMart---self explanatory 3. Fancy WalMart---Bigger, nicer, cleaner

Came back home and mom and I headed to the WalMart here to buy dirt. Dad dumped a few bags near the foundation of our house where water comes in when it rains. Hopefully that'll help some.

Dad showed Jacob how to use the grill, and Jacob grilled us some burgers!

They were delicious!! In fact, we have more meat, so Jacob's going to grill burgers again tonight! Mmm.

While waiting for the grill to warm up...

After supper we went to DQ for a treat. Although I cheated once with the ice cream, I've now officially lost 10 pounds, so I didn't feel guilty for eating it! We came home and ate it on the front porch and then mom, dad and I went for a walk and sat on the porch a little longer. Just was we were getting ready to go in we heard screeching tires and a CRASH! Dad wanted to know where it was so he jumped off the porch and we followed. It was about 2 blocks up from us. No one was hurt, but it was fun to go watch the action.

Today mom and dad headed home. Mom wanted some pictures before they left...which she didn't tell me so I was still in my pajamas, but oh well!

It was lots of fun and I'm glad that they could come for the weekend. Jacob and I have just hung out all day and enjoyed having a  paid day off. Probably me more than him, since he got the whole summer off! I just watched TV, rode the bike and messed around on Facebook. Could I get another paid day off tomorrow please?