Last Minute Road Trip

Saturday I took an unexpected road trip to Kansas City!! I packed my bags quick...
Had some cereal in my favorite bowl...

And my sister, Mindi, and I hit the road!! She had a wedding to go to and I was going along for the ride & to surprise my friend, Jenna, who lives in KC!

We had a few snacks along the way...

Some healthy...

Some, not so much! ;) The 4+ hour trip flew by, I always enjoy sister time!!

Our first stop was the Legends at Village West Outlet mall!!

Mindi made friends with some "animals"!!

We couldn't shop on an empty stomachs though! We made a quick stop at Five Guys, a new try for me!

I got the "little" burger, but there wasn't much that was little about it! ;) But it was one good burger!

Mindi's got the little burger too...but went "all the way" with her toppings!

Word the wise, if you go to Five Guys, get the regular fries! Our little container was overflowing. We barely made a dent in them!

We shopped the afternoon away and I made a quick call to my friend, Jenna. She had NO idea I was in town and was TOTALLY surprised!! I love surprises!!!

We met up downtown at The Plaza for some more shopping. It was EXTRA fun to see her because she recently got ENGAGED!!!
For supper we hit up one of my favorites, Cheddars! We had their homemade onion rings...LOVE these!!
And I got the chicken tender wrapper! I think they changed something on it though 'cause it wasn't the same as past times. Why mess with a good thing?!?!

We enjoyed supper and met up with my sister from Omaha, Stef, who was also in town for a wedding. It was a fun girls night! Oh and Jenna asked me to be a bridesmaid!!! Can't wait for your big day Jenna, you're going to make a gorgeous bride!!!
Sunday involved sleeping in, more shopping, and Mindi & I made the drive home! We didn't get back till after midnight though! I was one tired girl!! It was worth it, such a fun weekend!

Hayden, the Monkey!

On Halloween Hayden and Wendi came up to hang out for the day!

We did a little shopping and stopped to meet the Millers!  

Isn’t he just the cutest monkey!!

We spent the evening passing out candy & enjoyed some chili & cinnamon rolls! I think Hayden was happy to be rid of his costume at this point!

Iowa Hawks vs Michigan State Spartans

I felt like the game was a complete repeat of the WI game, 2:30 start and we ate at the Vine again! Good plan though! :)

Afterwards we made the trek back to the stadium, ready to cheer on the Hawks! We played the #5 ranked team, Michigan State.

Since it was so close to Halloween, Herky (our mascot) wore a costume!

He wasn’t the only one though, check out these people, they were teeth, a toothbrush, & toothpaste!

Bumble bee!

Spiderman & look, even Waldo!

Kyle’s favorite, a whoopie cushion! lol

Anyone know who this guy is? He kinda makes me laugh!

Ok back to the game! ;) Our team came out fighting, half time the score was 30-0!!!

We ended up winning 37-6! A great win, over a highly ranked team, and especially good after our bummer loss last week!

After the game Kyle and I made the trip home. On the way we stopped for supper, Subway!

t’s so much more fun to drive home after a win, compared to last week’s game! We got home and I crashed! Felt great!

Iowa vs Wisconsin Badgers

Kyle and I did a few last minute things around the house Saturday morning and then hit the road to Iowa City to cheer on the Hawkeyes!!! Game time wasn’t till 2:30pm so we didn’t have to leave at the crack of dawn!

We decided to forgo tailgating (easier not to have to pack all that food, supplies, grill, etc!) and go out to eat for lunch before the game. We went to the Vine, close to the stadium and lots of TVs! ;)

After lunch we walked to the stadium ready to cheer on the Hawks!

We played Wisconsin. If you know anything about college football, WI beat the #1 rated team the week before. We knew we would have our hands full.

The good part of the game is that it only rained for about 10 minutes, tops!

The bad part, we didn’t win. :( We lost by 1 point!!!!!!!!! I think Kyle went through an entire box of tissues, j/k! He was quite bummed though! Hoping to finish out the season with NO more losses!

Mark & Jenna Visit

Our friends, Mark & Jenna, from Kansas City came up for a weekend. Mark was in a wedding so we enjoyed the day, Saturday, with Jenna!

She was excited to meet Hayden!! Don’t you just love his little “booty” running socks! 

Hayden hardly made it through the visit, he was one tired boy!

Jenna parent’s came to town for the day, so we all went out for supper! They are just too sweet!

Wendi joined us for supper too!

After supper Wendi & Hayden called it a night, Jenna’s parents headed home, and we got ICE CREAM!!! Pumpkin to be exact!! Mmmmm good! :)

When Mark was done with his “Groomsmen” duties he met up with us! LOVE this couple!

He was SO hungry! ;)

We met up with a few other friends! The girls…

And the guys!

Good times w/great friends! Wish you guys lived closer!!!

Applefest 5K

Kyle and I didn’t get home Saturday night Sunday morning until after 2 am! Needless to say when our alarm went off before 8am we weren’t ready to get out of bed with only 5+ hours of sleep….but we did!

We had a 5K to run! And to top it off the start line was about 1 mile from our house! Score!!! It was a chilly 34 degrees, so hats & gloves were welcomed with open arms!

Packet pickup was a breeze. We pinned our numbers on and headed to the start line with right around another 100 runners. Not bad for a local race!

The gun went off at 9am sharp and we were off. Kyle stuck with me for about the first 1/2 mile, but was feeling good and I told him to run ahead. Doesn’t it just stink that guys are so much faster! He hasn’t run since July 22nd, but I’m proud that he decided to this race me.

Ok back to the race!

The race went through town and a few neighborhoods. I welcomed a “new” route, but it was fun to be familiar with the surroundings! My legs were quite tight & sore from yesterday’s run, but I pushed through and maintained right around a 10 min/mile pace.

I turned the last corner and gave it all I had. It was probably a bit too early & I was hurting, but I saw Kyle at the finish line and that was my motivation! My finished time was 32:15 and I was happy with that!

Not only was there a long sleeve tee (my fav!!) included with our race registration, but also made to order omelets!

Afterwards we headed home, but ended up being unofficial 10K race cheerleads/staff! There was a 10K race that started an hour after our race and the route went RIGHT by our house! There were quite a few turns on the race route so Kyle & I volunteered to help keep the runners on course. It was SO fun! Maybe we’ll have to volunteer to help with more races!

Oh and in the meantime I got a text from a friend and said there was an awards ceremony after we left and Kyle got 3rd place in his age division with a time of 28:15! Way to go Kyle!!! 3rd place with no running  in 2+ months, I’m impressed! They are going to mail him his medal.

Iowa Hawkeyes vs Penn State

Saturday morning hit the road for Iowa City, not as early as usual since it was a night game!

We stopped mid way in Des Moines for lunch. I had the awesome idea to shop and cut our tailgate time short! Luckily, Kyle went for it! ;) I found some great deals! Gap = MY FAV!!!

Yellow tank, $1.38

Purple tank, $6.99

Purple sweater, $10.30

Pink striped tee, $5.59 (got one in green too!)

I got quite a few other things I forgot to photograph and of course a few things for my fav nephew, Hayden!! :) I got 18 things for $110! I <3 Gap!!!

We had a short 20 minutes left to get to Iowa City. Once we got to our parking spot and got settled.

We walked around a bit and saw a few friends. Remember Heidi from this post? She’s a rock star, just signed up for an Iron Man next summer!! She is my fitness idol!!!

Game time came around and the stadium looked AWESOME!!!

It was Homecoming and we played Penn State. We had an awesome 1st half, a dull 2nd half, but pulled out a win, 24-3! I <3 Hawkeye football!!

We jetted out of there right away, game got over after 10pm and we had a 3+ hour drive home!!