Iowa for Christmas

Twas the Saturday before Christmas, and a mid morning flight,
brought lines for southwest out the door, quite a horrible sight!
We stood for the skycap, not a moment to spare,
as we debated if we just leave our bag, we didn't care!

A delay of the plane left us some time to rest, as our holiday travel was put to the test!
The flight was uneventful, in Omaha we land,
as Lowell and Judy and Kristin were there, Dr. Pepper in hand.

The weather was cold, and I can't stress it enough
-26 with the windchill was really tough!
Now Henry!  Now Liv!  Now Sadie the dog!
In Iowa there is no shortage of food from the hog.

At Kathy's, we made cookies galore,
And ate them until our stomachs said "No more!"
Christmas Eve was presents, steak dinner, and church with candlelight,
Then a viewing of "Christmas Vacation" that had us laughing with delight.

Plenty of card games and the lack of TV
made for a calming trip inside for the family Lee.

It was a nice trip with the family, good for the soul,
But we will see the parents in Arizona for the BU FIESTA BOWL!!

Holiday tidings and parties

This was pretty much our only holiday weekend before Christmas, so we tried to make the most of it.  On Saturday we went to a performance by the DYAO(Denver Young Artists Orchestra), which Matt sits on the board of.  It was their holiday performance, so they played the Nutcracker Suite, one of our favorite holiday compilations.  It was a very enjoyable concert and a good turnout.

After the concert we drove south to our friend Leah's house for her ugly sweater party.  Since we had just come from a show we didn't have ugly sweaters, but it was nice to see some friends and have some yuletide cheer.

Sunday was a lazy day, as we got ready for our last week of work before we left for Iowa.

Fiesta Bowl Bound!

This past weekend included a lot of football watching...but came with a (sort of) surprising result! With Oklahoma State losing in the morning, which we didn't think would happen, Baylor's game against Texas ended up being a de facto Big 12 championship game. Baylor's win got them a Big 12 title and a trip to a BCS bowl game - the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. Woo hoo!! We were wondering what we'd get each other for Christmas so we booked our flights, bought our tickets to the game, and say "Merry Christmas" to each other. :) We're staying with Karla's parents in AZ and Lowell is going to the game with us...so our next task is to convince him to wear green and gold!

On Sunday, Karla co-hosted a baby shower for her friend Naomi. It was really fun! Matt went with Ryan to the bar - they wanted to stay as far away as possible from all the shower activities. :)

November Catch-Up

We've been delinquent in writing in our blog during November! So here's our November catch-up entry...

Karla was able to make it to the Hyman Christmas this year, which was awesome because we didn't make it last year. It was a blast! She played cards with Grandma Hyman, had some amazing meat that John brought, got an awesome Iowa Hawkeyes cap in the gift exchange, and got to spend time with some cousins she hasn't seen in a few years. She snapped a picture of Grandma and her to post on Facebook since Grandma is on there now!

After Christmas, Karla rode back to Chicago with Kristin where they made dinner at the Ronald McDonald House with friends. It was Karla's first time making dinner at the new House so she was pretty excited about that!

She stayed in Chicago for 4 days since she had a work meeting there, then headed back to Denver to put an end to Matt's week of bachelordom.

We went to see Book of Morman with Naomi and Ryan. It was hilarious and quite inappropriate at the same time. After the show, we kept our tradition of post-show hot chocolates from Starbucks.

We were in Texas with Matt's family for Thanksgiving. Apparently our nephew Caleb really, really wanted to go fishing with Uncle Matt and Aunt Karla, so we had to do that as soon as we got there. We didn't catch anything (as per usual), but we had a blast.

We went to the Parade of Lights in Fort Worth the day after Thanksgiving (after watching Iowa put down a beating on Nebraska). It was almost more fun to watch Caleb and Avery than it was watching the parade. Caleb was really into it and loved the lights, firetrucks, and horses.

Matt's highlight (over than seeing family and stuffing himself on Thanksgiving) was probably going to the Baylor vs. TCU game. We met up with some college friends of his before the game and he got to see some people he hadn't seen in years. The game was probably a little more stressful than we would have liked, but Baylor pulled it out in the end.

Pumpkin carving and Broncos football

This weekend started like any other. A party with friends!  Our friends Brandon and Ashley were having their annual pumpkin carving party, and they also had just brewed some pumpkin ale that we were to drink.  Costumes were optional, but Matt decided to dress up like a banana thanks to a friends costume they weren't using.  He should have won for best costume, but there wasn't a contest.  

The Pumpkin Ale was not very pumpkin-y, so it was actually really good.  Pumpkin carving was successful, and Matt was proud of his Chicago Bears logo pumpkin, especially in light of the fact that Brandon and Ashley are staunch Packers fans.  It was left on their front doorstep, likely never to be seen or heard from again.  Karla made a really cool ghost pumpkin, but given it was a party with alot of architects, our design skills didn't match up.

Saturday we went down to Parker to watch the Iowa - Northwestern game with Doug & Jamie.  They appreciated the company, and we had some good tailgating food.  Plus Iowa won!  one more and they are bowl eligible, which Karla didn't think would happen early in the season.  Since our friends Clint and Stacy moved down to Parker recently, we decided to stop and see them on the way home.  Granted they moved halfway to Mexico, so just getting home took 50 minutes.  Don't envy that commute during rush hour!

Since Baylor played Kansas, Matt watched the game at the bar for a bit but it wasn't a game.  Go Bears!

Sunday was funday as Matt and Karla got to go to their first Broncos game!  tickets provided by Matt's parent's for his birthday, and since we didn't own any Broncos gear, a stop by sports authority to get some shirts was in order.  We biked to REI and then walked to the stadium.  It was gorgeous weather, if anything on the warm side at close to 70 degrees.  We got to the stadium in time to walk around.  If there's one thing you can say about denver sports stadiums, its that they have really good beer.

Matt had a conundrum this game, since the  Broncos were playing the Washington Redskins & RGIII, who while is a Baylor alum, is also on Matt's fantasy team, along with Washington's running back.  So basically he was rooting for both offenses.  

Our seats were facing west, so we got great views of the field and the mountains.  Very cool.  RG3 didn't have his best game, but the Broncos won and so did Matt's fantasy team.  Karla's favorite was when the opposing team missed a pass, the whole stadium yells "IN-COM-PLETE!"

A great day!

Beer, fishing and football

After the insanity that was Chicago, we thought the best way to get over alot of beer and booze was to go to a happy hour with our volleyball peeps!  Since we won the mid season tournament, we got a $200 gift card to a cool bar called Bull & Bush, an english style pub that makes its own beer(probably redundant in Denver to say that, but still...).  We had our PDD(pregnant designated driver) thanks to Naomi, but we really only wanted to go for a few beers.  Our friend Kristina showed up a bit late, and she wanted to catch up by doing tequila shots.  There went that plan.  Also our friend Garrett decided to end the night with Jaeger bombs.  Or was it that the Jaeger bombs ended our night...?  either way, Matt was cursing Garrett's name all day Saturday.  Still a good time with good friends.

Saturday Matt was a bit sluggish, but we did manage to go to Red Rocks for an hour hike.  Karla was impressed Matt could even get in the car.  The rest of the day was watching college football, and feeling bad for Iowa State as Baylor beat them pretty good(sorry Lowell!)

Sunday Matt & Clint got up early to go fishing in Deckers.  It was a chilly morning, and we only fished till noonish, but it was a good time.  We tried a new spot on Cheesman Canyon, which you had to hike to, but was a bit more secluded and we saw lots more fish.  Saw, not caught.  The trout of colorado still elude our keen trapping devices.  Next time its dynamite.  A house party at Naomi & Ryan's wrapped up our nice semi relaxing weekend.

Weekend in Chicago

On a bit of a whim, we decided to go to Chicago for the weekend to take advantage of Matt's bank holiday on Columbus Day.  The Bears were playing Thursday night football, so Karla flew in Wednesday night and went to the game sans Matt.  He was delighted that Karla was able to watch the Bears without him.  Matt flew in Thursday night and took Friday off.  Since Karla was working, Matt went on a tourists day.  A 4 mile run along the lakefront, lunch at costello's with Scott Kalmus, frozen custard at Scooters, and a walk through the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Karla was delighted that Matt played while she worked all day.

Friday night Matt, Kristin, Kristen and Karla went out for tapas, which was delicious.  Saturday we were able to get to the farmers market for Wisconsin cheese curds, a staple that Matt has been missing in his diet since moving.  We were able to see some old friends, and then it was off to Lockport to stay with Jeannie and Patrick and watch the Baylor game against K-State.  It was closer than usual, but the Bears pulled it out in the end.

That night our old soccer crew went out to eat and it was officially Bowtie Night!  The guys donned their bowties and looked dapper as always.  Hilarity ensued at the restaurant, and the night ended with the guys going to the casino in Joliet, and making a few dollars of dinner back.  Yay for Craps!

Sunday was pretty chill, the marathon was happening in Chicago, so we watched a bit of that.  Matt had dinner with his cousin Adam at Bad Apple in Lincoln Square, one of our all time favorites.  What was supposed to be a casual dinner turned into a night of bar hopping and karaoke with Adam, Matt and Raf.  Closing down a bar on a Sunday night is always fun!

A casual Monday with old friends and Karla's work friends and we hopped an afternoon flight back to Denver.  Quite the fun 4 day weekend!