Hawks Win in Overtime!

Sunday after church Kyle & I, along with our friend's Mark & Kathy headed to Iowa City for a men's basketball game. We've said all season long we wanted to go to a couple games and the season is QUICKLY coming to a close. We met up with Mark & Kathy's boys, Adam & Andrew at Outback steakhouse for a late lunch and then over to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a 4pm tip off!

Kathy & Mark

It was a great game to go to! Very exciting! It even went into overtime and with a 7-0 run to jump-start it really help the Hawks finish off strong!

70-60...Iowa wins!!

We stopped at Coldstone Creamery on the way out of town for some ice cream with everyone and headed back on the road. It was a fun day and great to be back in Iowa City! Makes me excited for next fall!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Applebees Family Supper

Mom B brought Grandma & Grandpa DeWall to town yesterday for a Dr.'s appointment and we planned to meet them for supper at Applebees.

A few months ago they made a comment to Kyle about wanting to there, but that it was just too expensive, so for Christmas we got them a gift card there and they said they wanted us to come when they used it! So we did! And I think everyone had a good time. It's always good to catch up with family!

Pampered Puppy!

I forgot all about Abby in my previous post about our Valentine weekend! I know...how could I ever forget about Abby!?!?!

Well anyway if you've seen her lately you know that she is just a big ball of fur! She was due for a hair cut in December, but we didn't want to take her 'cause she would just be too cold outside in our horrible Iowa winters.

So we held off as long as we could. She has an appointment with the groomer this coming weekend so I wanted to get her all combed through so it would be easier to cut her hair and so they wouldn't have to shave her. Well while I was combing her I had a bright idea...I should try trimming her myself! So that is just what I did! Now I didn't go too crazy, but she defiantly looks a lot better and is 100% softer!I wish I would've taken a "before" picture...but I didn't so you're just going to have to imagine a much "fluffier" dog!

So Abby got her hair combed, trimmed, and her nails cut on Saturday...it was like a doggie day at the spa for her! :)

Happy Valentines Day Weekend!

Well its Monday and we're back at work, but we had a wonderful valentine weekend!

Friday I left work at 3:30 and headed to meet Kyle at our accountants. Got in and out pretty quick and hit the video store to rent some movies for our weekend in! We rented Fireproof, Lakeview Terrace, and My Best Friend's Girl. Then we headed to Subway to get our supper for a night in...$5 footlongs!!! They're back...any footlong for $5! Love it! I usually get ham & turkey, but I decided to switch it up and got the chicken terayki!

We watched My Best Friend's Girl first and it was not too great in my opinion. Pretty raunchy (sp?). So I was glad we got that one out of the way first!

I forgot about the best part about Friday! We stopped at Target and I wasn't sure why, Kyle said he needed something. And so we walk in to the electronics department and he said "Which one do you want" while standing in front of the ipod counter!! I was so ecstatic!!! I've wanted a new ipod for a while, mine is from 2005 and is only a 1gb! So of course I picked the pink nano that happened to come with a free $15 gift card!! I haven't opened it yet...we are talking about maybe taking it back and getting a bigger one. Any opinions on the ipod touch? I don't know much about it. Or do you think I should just get the bigger classic ipod? Which is better for working out?

Kyle took Saturday off. And for those of you who know us, know that he rarely is off Saturdays. It was so nice to have him home for v-day! We slept in till about 8...which was way better than our normal 5:30am!! I got right to my v-day plans. I made Kyle heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast!

Then I got right to baking! I made heart shaped sugar cookies with pink frosting, a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, and banana bread (forgot to take a picture though!). I love to bake, but I hate keeping it around...I could down cookie after cookie and before I know it they would ALL be gone and that would be BAD!! Sssssoooo......

We made our baked goods into valentine gifts for some of our friends & neighbors! I love to do paper crafts so I made a few quick cards, custom treat bags, and put it all together and made some deliveries! It's always fun to do a little something special for those special people in your lives! Now I couldn't do it for EVERYONE!! Was not prepared for that all...this was all done I whim! So I am sorry to all my friends & family that didn't get one! We only did 5...and there are many more than 5 special people in our lives!

By the time I got home from our deliveries of v-day goodies it was about time to think about supper. We knew we were staying in and I just the idea. So I hurried out of the house and got Kyle's favorite...Casey's pizza! And I got my favorite...Applebees spinach artichoke dip! Mmmmm!!

Look at all that cheesy, greasy goodness!

Kyle was happy about his surprise supper! We still had two more movies to watch so we got right down to business and watched Lakeview Terrace. Boy that kept your heart pumping!! That guy is a nutso!! In between we made our own version of Cheddars' Cookie Monster...warm chocolate chip cookie, ice cream, fudge, & cool whip!! Oh holy, yum!!!

So after that movie we popped in Fireproof...while drinking a glass of some cheap wine we bought the grocery store! It wasn't too bad, esp for only $4.99!! :)

Fireproof was definitely a low-budget movie, but has a GREAT message! Here is one of my few of my favorite quotes from the movie...that I can remember: "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." I really want to get the Love Dare book now and do that...sounds like it would be GREAT!

And last by not least for v-day...here is a pic of Kyle & I! We've been married for almost 4 years now and I would have to say that we're very blessed! (sorry this isn't a very good pic...but I wanted to post one!!)

After church on Sunday Kyle & I went to a local buffet that has $5.99 brunch/chinese buffet! Kyle loves breakfast food & I love chinese! Afterwards we headed home and took a nice afternoon siesta! In the afternoon Kyle joined me for a nice Sunday run! I think he's going to be sore tomorrow!

We hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! I know we sure did...and for those of you who are off today for President's Day....you stink! (j/k)

This is a test...

I've seen a lot people with links to photo albums using Picasa Web Albums so I wanted to see if I could figure it out! These are just a few of the pictures we used on our Christmas card this year (oh and one of me & Wendi, my little sister)

Test Album

Hope everyone is having a great February! Hard to believe it's almost half over!

New Curtains!

We bought a new curtain rod for our living room bay window about 6-8 months ago and FINALLY got it hung up this weekend! And I found some new curtains at Target that are a much better offset to the wall color. Our old ones were tanish in color and didn't really stand out or pop. Plus these ones were on clearance for only $14.98!! The reason we purchased a new curtain rod is because we still had the ones up from the previous owners and it didn't strech the whole way across the window and plus I wanted to double rod to have a sheer layer underneath! I'm pretty happy with the result...I just need to get rid of our blue pillows in the window and replace them with some more neutral tan ones!

Double rod!

Like em? Kyle's first comment was, "Why do we have pink curatins?" Ha ha! And he thinks I'm color blind!! ;)

Long awaited update!

I have to apologize to all of our blog readers...I know it's bee FOREVER!! I promise I will be better about updating our blog!!

Let's see where to start...

We had a nice Christmas. Christmas morning is always with my sisters & Mom. We had it at Mindi's house this year. Jeff, Pam, & Maya joined us again this year. Pam is Duane's daughter...or I guess she would be my step-sister! You can never had too many sister's! :) We had brunch and then opened gifts. Our cousin Dar also joined us for the morning. He lives in Oklahoma and is in the Air Force, so it was good to see him too.

All the girls!

Kyle & Mindi

This is Maya, Pam's daughter. She is 3 now and such a fun, cute little girl! I think she was trying on Geoff's glasses here!
Maya opening her gifts with Grandma Greene's help!

Mom & Duane always give us scratch cards. Unfortunately niether Kyle nor I won. :(
Maya wanted to help Stef!
Sorry Maya...I cut your mouth off!
Cousin Dar

Afterwards we headed north to Britt to Kyle's Aunt & Uncle's house for our extended family Christmas with his Mom's side. They always have a big dinner and then we do a grab bag gift exchange, which always bring lots of laughs! Two of our cousin's have a kids now so it makes the gift opening even more fun! They are about 1.5 now and so cute!

Mom & Dad B @ Dodge's on Christmas Day

This is Caleb, he is our cousin Kristin & Ryan's little boy...so cute!

Kyle & I
Kyle & I with Mel & Steve...the newly engaged couple!!

This is Sam, our cousin Tim & Hilary's little boy. He is just like his Dad! He wanted to help Great Grandma DeWall open her gifts!
Caleb & Sam!
Sam & his Aunt Amy reading his new book!

We did our immediate family Christmas on the Bangert side a few days after Christmas. We had pizza for supper...a family favorite! Sharon makes great homemade pizza! And then we headed in the living room for our big gift exchange! It was a really nice evening and we got & gave some great gifts!

Laura & her new book! I am acutally reading this right now, I love their show!

Kyle & his new AC/DC CD! "Back in Black" is his favorite!

Steve & Mel with Mel's new CD!
This is me testing out my new gorilla pod...a great new "toy" for my camera!

Travis...doesn't he look excited about his new shirt!?!?

Kyle & Laura - she made this for him...looks awesome in our "hawkeye basement"!
Dad B & his new vest...looks great!
Mom B & her new camera from all of us kids!
Kyle & his new scooter, stool thing! We like to have races down the driveway at our neighbor's house!

Grandma & Grandpa Dewall, we always like to play cards after we open gifts!

Stef & Geoff went home the weekend after Christmas. They were here for two full weeks. It was great to have them around for so long, but I am sure they were ready to get back to Georgia where it is a tad bit warmer! Wendi was home till the 4th of January. So we kept busy on my week off of work, shopping, working-out, lounging...among other things! I'm always sad to see her go back to school. She will be playing basketball this year. They are currently ranked #2 in the nation, so that is pretty exciting!

We didn't do a whole lot for New Year's. Just went to Mindi & Preston's house for a some movies, which put Mindi & I to sleep. Kyle woke me up and we headed home and were in bed to watch the ball drop and welcome 2009!

New Year's Day brought lots of excitement! It was time for the Hawkeye Bowl game and it was an early one...10am!! The Hawks played great and pulled out a great win, perfect way to end the 2008 season. Kyle watched many other games that day too while Wendi & I did some more "girly" things! :)

Other than that we really haven't been up to a whole lot. Work has been really busy with the spring semester starting. But two weeks into it now it's starting to slow down a bit, which is good! Kyle is looking forward to the super bowl this weekend. I think we are going to root for the Cardinals since Kurt Warner plays for them and is from Iowa!

We hope everyone has a great week!