Early B-day to Me

So Rachel called me last week Sunday after the Packer game to see what Jon and I were up to this coming weekend when the Packers play the Vikings here at the Metro Dome. Turns out they have tickets for the game and will be coming for the weekend! Yeah, visitors two weekends in a row!

Anyway, I was telling Jon that they planned to come over for the game and said we should try to get tickets too so that we can go as well. As soon as I said this he told me to sit down where I was and don't move until he came back. A minute or so later he came back with his hands behind his back and said... "Before you get any bright ideas, I am going to give you part of your birthday gift early".

YEAH TICKETS TO THE VIKING PACKER GAME ON SUNDAY!!!!

Its going to be a fun day....more to come later on that....

M&D Visit

This weekend my parents came to visit. It has been awhile since they have been over to our house in MN so we had to show them all the projects that we have been up to. It was great to see them although the weekends seem to go so fast. Here is what we did.

On Friday night we had a cookout, which Jon's dad, Jesse, and Joey all joined us as well. Then on Saturday we took my parents to the Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, MN. We had a fun day going through shops, eating, and checking out the shows. Our neighbor Jim is the High Sheriff at the festival and we ran into him a few times while we were walking around. He follows the royal court around the festival and protects the king and queen.
On Saturday night we went out to dinner at Kahns and then had a campfire in our backyard. My parents brought me a birthday present as well, which I opened. They got me some new workout clothes which I desperately need. :) Thanks M&D!Then this morning we hung out for a bit prior to my parents leaving to head home shortly before noon.

New Job

I started a new job on September 6th with John B. Collins Associates, Inc. as a Senior Analyst in the Client Claims & Accounting Services area. This is also a reinsurance intermediary like Benfield is and I will doing many of the same type of activities. However, being that Collins is a smaller and growing company I have more opportunities to get involved with additional things and bigger projects.

One great thing about a smaller company is that there is more opportunity to do things, as well as surprises like we had on Friday. On Friday afternoon two of the guys in our department thought it would be nice to bring in some afternoon refreshments for everyone. It was a great surprise that was well accepted by everyone. :)

Twins Game

On Wednesday night Jon's company had an outing at the Twins game. They played the Texas Rangers and won the game 4-2. It was a fun time although the stadium was not full due to the Twins being out of the playoff race.

We rode the Light Rail to and from the game like we usually do. While on the way home I noticed Jon was wearing his hat off his head, which I think looks hilarious because it makes him look like he has a huge head. He never really understands what I mean, so I showed him what I look like doing the same thing. Needless to say he too thought it looked funny and like I had a huge melon.

Stormy weather

On tuesday night we had some severe storms go through the metro around dinner time. There were quite a few spin up cloud sightings and a few actual tornado touch downs. One of the tornados touched down just blocks away from our house, but I believe it was only for a brief moment.

Anyway, the sky was doing some pretty amazing things so I thought I would try out the camcorder feature of my new camera. Here is a posting of the quick video I made of all the cloud moment. Believe me it was a lot more exciting in person.

P.S. By this time the storm was past our house/county.

Bonding Time

Last night Jon and I went to dinner and then came home to watch a movie. This gave us some good bonding time with Bailey who likes to get cuddly at night when she gets tired.

New Project

This weekend Jon rented a skid loader to push around the dirt piles in our back yard. Yeah, no more dirt piles. He was so cute acting like a 5 yr old on a digger in the sand box, but he was allowed to use a big boy toy!

Jon first had to push all the dirt into one great big pile, which Bailey really liked!! P.S. Jon wanted me to mention that these piles were huge but the picture I took does not do it justice. I think he was proud of his work. :)

Happy Anniversary G&G Weber

On Friday September 7th Grandma Grace and Grandpa Emery Weber celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. On Saturday Jon's parents had a get together with the extended family on the Weber side to celebrate Emery & Grace's 50 years together.

Betty ordered a special anniversary cake, which Grace & Emery fed to each other like on their wedding day.

Cowboy Mouth

On Friday September 7th Jon and I joined Ryan and Ann at the Cowboy Mouth Concert at the Fine Line downtown Minneapolis, MN. This was probably the 5 time we have seen Cowboy Mouth and it was just as fun as all the others. Cowboy Mouth puts on such a great concert that anyone could enjoy it as long as they like to have fun! We met Ann and Ryan at his house prior to the concert for a few co cocktails and then continued on to the concert for the rest of the evening. It was a great night to hang out with some great friends to enjoy some great music.

Jon even requested a quick stop at the White Castle on the way home...that's identifiable to a great night. Ymmm... chicken rings.

Golfing

Last Sunday Jon, my parents, and I went golfing at Crystal Springs golf course in Seymour, WI. My mom had a coupon to do 18 holes, so thats what we did. I, however, did not golf so well and therefore decided that there was no need to keep my score and also that there was a few holes that were hopeless for me to complete. I think I need more practice with my new "used" clubs. My aunt let me have her old clubs once my mom got a new set and was no longer using them. However, Jon and I have not had a chance to get out on the course very much this summer. Hopefully, we can get some holes in before the snow flies.

Melissa & Greg Wedding

On Saturday September 1st Melissa Gorges and Greg Somers were united in marriage in Appleton. Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs. Somers.

Here's a nice picture of Jon and I with Bailey prior to going to the wedding. (potential christmas card??)

The reception was held at Butte De Morts Country Club. Below is a picture of my high school girlfriends (Rachel, Nikki, and Kelly) and I prior to dinner, which was very delicious. Don't mind my odd face, the guys were just taking some funny pictures right before this one... I guess I forgot to go back to acting normal. :)

We all had a blast dancing the night away...okay that was mainly me. But, look what happens after a few shots are poured... we start to get less civilized. We took the bet on who would lick the ice sculpture - ALL OF US!

Kickball Tourney 2007

The 8th Annual Dustin Raley Memorial Kickball Tournament was held on August 24th - 26th in Fall River, WI. (Thats near Sun Prairie area). The theme this year for our team was babies since our 1st basewoman (Carrie) is pregnant and unable to play. She took head coaching duties this year.

It was awesome kickball weather the whole weekend. The picture at right is Oliver banging the gong anytime a run scores. Below Jon was starting the team Cannonball (Boones Farm).

Our first game was Saturday morning at 9:50, in which we lost 2-1. This meant we spent the rest of the tournament weekend working our way back up through the losers bracket. Not a problem for a team like ours. We came back to beat all the teams we faced in the losers bracket including the team that beat us on Saturday morning. Our last game was against the undefeated team called Netteshiem Farms, but by this time we had just finished playing 3 hard games and I think we ran out of steam. That was alright with us since we like the NF team as they are a good sport team compared to a few we played earlier in the day. So overall we ended up taking 2nd place in the tournament.

Every year the Netteshiem Farms team has us join them on a tractor ride around the fields. At right is Justin Netteshiem, our favorite tractor driver. Below Holly and I were going to take the tractor for a ride! Overall it was a really fun weekend.

Surprise Mom!

On August 18th we threw a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom at my aunt and uncles house. She turned 50 on July 19th so we waited a month before throwing her a party so she would be surprised. Needless to say she was! :)

Later in the day the Gorilla Gram came to wish her happy birthday as well.

Happy 50th Mom!

Wedding Cake

The week following our 1st wedding anniversary we were in Appleton and decided to take our cake topper out of the freezer to see if it was any good a year later. Suprisingly, it was! It was not as moist as the cake was the day of our wedding, but for being frozen for a year still retained some of the moisture. Our cake topper was two flavors, Raspberry swirl on the top half and marble on the bottom. The raspberry swirl is my favorite. Thanks Pat's Cakes.