Slideshow Time

We're back! I apologize for not posting for so long, but I have been busy with work and then my sister and James came into town. They came last week and stayed through the weekend. Most of their time was spent in Disneyland, but they stayed with us Sunday-Tuesday. Since I normally post a couple of select photos (usually the ones where I look the best--how selfish!), I decided to download all of the photos on a slideshow. Also included amongst the family photos are ones of Gizzy, of course. As Julie will attest, I am a crazy, obsessive mother. As for the family vacation, we went to the Getty Museum and the Griffith Observatory. ...I added music to the slideshow, let me know if it works...Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

ISU vs. Baylor = Unfortunate

One of my co-workers, Brianna Rasmussen, went to Baylor. When I first met her (almost a year ago) and found out she went there, I immediately thought about how ISU would play her team in hopes to have some sort of tick mark in the win column that season. With that in mind, I told her about this ISU alumni bar in Long Beach were we could watch the game. I figured we would win, so it wouldn't be a big deal for me to bring 1 Baylor fan to an ISU alumni game watching location. Wrong. To back up for a moment, I had been receiving alumni emails for the past 4.5 years. Recently, I decided to actually read one. It was worth it. They explained how the local ISU fans gather at a bar in Long Beach (about 30 min. north) to watch the games. Brad and I loved the thought of meeting up with more Iowa folks so we decided to finally take advantage of the alumni emails. Here is the Iowa representation yesterday: Boone, Spencer, Fort Dodge, Lehigh, Perry (myself), and Grimes (B-rad). There were also people from Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin who went to Iastate, but were not from Iowa. Go Cyclones! Anyway, we thought it was pretty exciting to know people from rural Iowa ended up with a similar life as us. End of story goes something like this...we lost. Again.

Here are some other updates:
1. I got summoned for Jury Duty.
2. My sister and James come into town next Wednesday.
3. Gizzy and Smokey are still not friends.
4. I colored my hair darker.
5. We are coming to Iowa for Christmas!


Brad and I

Brianna (Baylor's only fan) and Myself

While Smokey is Asleep

The Wagner's Farewell

Tessa worked with me at Gettys for over a year, and tomorrow she and her husband, Stephen, are moving back to Oregon. Tear. Today they had a little BBQ to send them off. We, I mean everyone but me, played croquet, ate yummy grilled food, and caught up with some great people. Let's go back to the croquet portion of the evening. I started on team "ballard," but I quickly felt the pressure of the game with the first swing. I realized--I'm not good! What is that all about? I'm always good at sports. Then, once I realized it is not a sport, I gave the mallet to Brad. When this happened, we were in last place. Once I was out of the picture, team "ballard" won! Here are some pictures of the victory. Oh, and there was also a cat from the neighborhood that became our croquet onlooker. Brad thinks his name should be Tiger, I'm going with Morris. Enjoy!


My First and Final Attempt

We Won!

Morris (I post, so I win)

Jeffrey

Tessa (left)

Angels Game

My friend and IIDA counterpart, April, invited me to go to game 1 of the Angels playoffs game (vs. Red Sox) this past Wednesday. I didn't know if I wanted to go on a weeknight, but then Brad let me know how cool it was, so I accepted. She works for Allsteel, which is a furniture manufacturing company out of Muscatine, IA. We had 3rd row seats right next to 3rd base. After the game we went to a local bar where we met Craig Sager. He is a sports announcer for TNT. April has those pictures on her camera, so I will post them later. Here are some pictures of the evening from my camera.


From Our Seats

April and Myself

April and I Leaving