Long time no chat eh?

So it's been awhile since I last posted, and I apologize. It's not like I'm super busy or anything, just not motivated to download pictures and such. Last month was full of bike races on the weekends. October 14th - October 18th, I was out in Denver, Colorado for the College of Optometric Vision Development (COVD) Annual Meeting. I flew out to Colorado by myself and met the doctor out there. My plane was running behind schedule and to make matters worse my plane ride was pretty rough. I met the doctor at my gate and we took a shuttle to our hotel. Wednesday we got settled in and ate some supper before calling it a night. There were quite a few mixers and dinners that we got to mingle with other people. Thursday night after our classes were done, we roamed the area to scoop out some restaraunts in the area. Friday was classes all day, and then for supper we ate a restaraunt called Cool Rivers Steakhouse. It was pretty fancy if you ask me. I had a roast short ribs, which was basically a pot roast, some sweet potato fries, and cheesecake for dessert, and a glass of wine to drink. It was way fullfiling, but very delicious. Saturday we had some classes, but we did get to take some time in the morning and venture into downtown. There were quite a few eateries, but I did get to see some guys playing chess in the a little "park." I got back into Des Moines on Sunday. I was glad to be home.




Friday for Halloween, we got permission to dress up for work. My friend/co-worker Amanda and I came up with being Mario and Luigi from Super Mario Brothers. I of course was Luigi. I thought we pulled it off pretty well. Everybody in the office loved our outfits! Shari, who is wearing purple in the pictures was a fortune teller, and Laura was a psycho Huskers fan.
Also Halloween weekend, we had the last central Iowa Cyclocross race before we head to Jinglecross. The girls dressed up as Rollerderby girls. It was a lot of fun dressing up and heckling the riders. It was pretty muddy the first day and all the riders got muddy. I took a picture of Kurt's legs and his bike. YUCK!!!!!! Also you'll see Kurt's invention. It's a boxed wine w/ duct tape on it to create straps for a wine back pack. Creative isn't he? Well that's all I know for now. I guess I'll post more when I know more.

Chilly October

Fall sucks. Where did our summer or even just cool weather go? I think we went from warm to cold overnight. I took a 3 day weekend. Friday I had lunch with Kurt, then headed to West Des Moines to get my hair cut. I love it! I did try to replicate it, but it didn't turn out the same. I guess practice makes perfect.

The Julies and I went for a chilly bike ride on Saturday. We rode on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. We started at the trail head in Waukee, & rode to Redfield, which round trip was like 32 miles.

the Big 3-0

So ya, I can't believe I'm 30! The gray hair is already showing. I had a great birthday. I took off Friday from work. Despite having to go to the dentist and get a crown put on AND a cavity filled, it was a nice day. After the dentist, I went to the Sahar's Salon and Spa and got a 30 minute massage. It felt great!!!!! I also got my eye brow waxed for the first time. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was. After getting pampered at the salon, I went shopping at Torrid and bought some new tops. After some shopping, I had the privilage of renewing my license. Friday night Kurt took me out to Cafe Fusion for some yummy Pad Tai, then home for some movie watching.

Saturday was the first day of cyclocross racing. Kurt and I woke up and he made me pancakes for breakfast while I got ready for my spa morning with my girls. I got a pedicure and a parrafin dip on my hands. After our pampering, we went out to lunch. When I got home, I hopped on my bike and headed down to Kurt's race.


After the race, Kurt and I rode home and got ready for the night's festivities. For supper every year, Kurt surprises me and takes me out to a nice restaraunt. I've been to Ohana's, Taki's, and this year we went to Appare - Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. It's alot like Taki's where you can sit around the grill and watch the chef prepare your meal. Kyle, Julie and Alexa joined us also. We ate alot of food: salad, soup, sushi (had the California Roll, Tuna Roll, and Salmon Roll), fried rice, veggies, and I had chicken and scallops. Since it was my birthday, our whole table got some cake. I also got a shot of "chocolate cake" and a sake bomb from the chef who made our food.

After we ate supper, Kurt and I headed over to the bowling alley, where we met up with our friends Amanda and Andy. We did some Extreme bowling.

On Sunday, we had another cross race. Kurt placed 23rd out of 30 I believe.

It was a GREAT weekend and a birthday to remember!

More August Fun

It's been a busy month. My niece Britteny got married and Kurt has had bike races.

Kurt waiting for his race to start. This was taken in Boone on August 23rd. He did pretty well in his category.

Off he goes. He finished his 2 laps in 1 hour and 52 minutes.

Here are some pictures from Britteny's wedding. Her and Troy were married on August 15, 2009. It was a beautiful ceremony, even though the weather was threatening rain.

Britteny and Troy pouring their unity candle.

Here is me with my great-niece Shane Marie Babcock. That weekend was the first time I got to meet her in person.

Kurt and I at the wedding. Of course my brother Jeff had to ruin a perfect picture.

Here is my brother Jeff walking his daughter down the aisle.

Not much else is happening. I've been riding my bike to work approximately 2 days a week. Kurt usually rides out to West Des Moines and then we ride a little farther. When we do that we ride approximately 30 miles. We have bike races the next couple of weeks. Next weekend they have time trials, which they ride one lap as fast as they can. Then the following weekend is the 7 Oaks 24-hour Mountain Bike race in Boone. Kurt still hasn't decided if he's going to find a team, a partner, or do some solo riding. Last year was our first year, and we had a blast. It's more of a fun camping trip with some biking thrown in. I've been looking forward to this all summer long. After the 24 hour race, it's pretty much cyclocross season.

Work is going pretty well. School has started, so the majority of my patients are in the afternoon. Staffing got re-arranged a little bit, and now I actually enjoy waking up and going to work. For awhile, it was pretty bad, but I now have a good team at my office. My vision therapy doctor asked me if I'd like to go to this year's conference, and I accepted. It'll be in Colorado again in October. I'll get to fly again!

That's pretty much all I know. I hope everybody is doing well.

August Fun

Thought I'd share some pictures of some of our August Fun. Sorry to hear about the terrible storms that happened back home. I hope everybody is safe. We got some heavy rain and wind, but nothing big Sunday evening.

Friday was Family night at the Blank Park Zoo. Kyle, Julie, and Alexa invited us to go along.

Sunday Kurt had another mountain bike race "Mob the Quab." He had a pretty good time and did very well. I'm very proud of him.

Great to have him home.

Well it's been one long week. Kurt was up in Breckenridge, Colorado. I spent the week staying busy, but it was quite lonesome at night. Monday and Thursday I had to work at Cheese Castle, and Wednesday night I watched Alexa, Kurt's great-niece. We had a good time. Tuesday evening, I hung out w/ my friend Molly and met her 7 week old baby for the first time. His name is Dylan and he's a doll. Friday and Saturday I spent time w/ the girls; Friday w/ Julie S. and Saturday my co-workers Amanda and Christa came over to the house and we grilled lunch. Oh ya and I also went for a 17 mile bike ride on Saturday morning.

Well after a week of being by myself, Kurt finally made it home Saturday evening. It sounded like he had a good time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures he took!

Saturday night we relaxed together, and then Sunday we traveled up to Waverly for the Camp Ingawanis MBT race. Kurt did pretty well, I think he placed in the middle of the sport category. So it was quite the busy weekend.

Homeward Bound

This weekend I headed back home to my parents house. I drove home Friday night and brought home some Papa Murphy's pizza because my father has been bugging me to bring one home. After supper, mom and I spent the rest of the evening watching the movie Gran Torino.

Saturday kept me pretty busy. I got up early...why I have no clue. I hate not being able to sleep in late anymore. Mom cooked my dad and I breakfast and then it was time to groom the dogs. I started with our 3 dogs. After some grueling hours of cutting them, and a brief mental breakdown for me (the dogs stressed me out b/c they weren't being behaved), I started on the relatives' dogs. So total count of groomed dogs.....6! Gotta love schnauzers. The rest of my Saturday consisted of a nap, supper, and a night full of moving watching with my mom. It was fun mother-daughter bonding time.

Max posing for the camera.

Chance is wondering what they are doing in the semi.

Buddy wants to go back as a DOT (Dog on Truck).

Sunday I slept in a little and haven't done much of anything. Dad is getting to leave to go back on the road and my mom is going to my niece's bridal shower. I think I'd like to clean up my old bedroom and get rid of stuff I don't need anymore and give it to Goodwill.

Kurt left for his biking trip in Colorado on Friday night. I haven't heard from him since they left, but I'm assuming he's having a good time. I told his friends that he went to keep him safe and alive and don't let him fall off the mountain.

These pics were taken by Taylor, one of the guys on the trip