Go Big Red!

Well, I can't believe it's that time of year again! On Saturday, we watched the Husker's football season opener. They played in Lincoln against Tennessee-Chattanooga. My parents hosted a party at their house - but last minute, my dad got invited to actually attend the game, so we missed him there! So, altogether, it was me, Brad, my mom, my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, and my aunt Janis, uncle Rich, and cousins, Josh and Kyle. It was a lot of fun! Also, we learned that we don't know how to cook for smaller groups of people. We had enough food to probably feed the entire football team if they had stopped over after the game!

Lots of food! :)

Janis, Rich, Josh, and Kyle

Thought this was so cute! My aunt Janis got this for my nephew, Cooper.

The Amazing Flying Dog

Last Sunday, Brad and I went to Lincoln to spend some time with some of his closest friends. We asked his friend Clayton, who also lives in Omaha if he wanted to ride with us. Brad and Clayton had spent a few hours after church getting homemade dough, homemade sauce, and all the fixins' for Brad's yummy pizza ready to serve. They packed it all up and we headed to his friend Gene and Whitney's house. We arrived in Lincoln and Brad and Clayton got to work, put the pizzas together, and popped in them in the oven.

While they did that, I pretty much just played with Gene and Whitney's 2 year old son, William and held their adorable, smiley 9 month old, Henry. I was pretty upset that I forgot to get a picture of them, because they really are adorable kids...like the kind of kids who should be in commercials...seriously. :)

Anyways, after dinner, Gene asked if we wanted to come with him to the park while he ran his dogs through some practice drills. Brad had told me that he trained dogs and was really talented. I must be honest...I was kind of skeptical. I thought, "Wow, impressive...he can teach dogs how to sit and stay." Boy was I wrong...

When we all got out of the car, Gene had a vest on. I asked what that was for and he said, "So I don't get scratched up when the dogs jump off of me." WHAT?!?!? Gene has two dogs, Mabel and Bandit, whom he has trained to do really cool frisbee tricks. They were amazing! I could've watched him work with his dogs for hours! I couldn't believe how incredibly smart they are and how enthusiastic the dogs were to do it!

You can seen Gene at Vala's Pumpkin Patch this season, as he was hired to do shows there with his dogs - whose stage names are Air Bandit and The Magnificent Mabel! Their schedule for October is...

Fridays: 

5pm and 7pm

Saturdays: 

11am, 2pm, 5pm, and 7pm

Sundays: 

11am, 2pm, and 5pm

I hope you all can make it out to see Gene and his amazing dogs - you will be impressed! :)

Cooper Time and Mini Golf

This past weekend, my brother and sister-in-law were getting ready to go out of town, so they asked me to stop by and hang out with my nephew Cooper so they could get more done without distractions. My brother calls it something like the "WalMart Effect." Cooper is like WalMart in that every time you go there, even if your intention is to only pop in and grab something quick, you end up spending a lot of time in the store. With Cooper, you mean to just bend down and give him a kiss as you're doing laundry and getting chores done, but before you know it, you've spent 20 minutes giving him endless amounts of kisses, playing peekaboo, and going to embarrassing lengths to get him to smile. SO...of course Aunt Stacie came to let John and Jessie have a couple hours of diligent, distraction-free packing.

Cooper is so much fun! He's now officially 6 months old and rolling all over the place! Towards the end of my time with him (nearing his bath/bed time), he got a little fussy and my sister-in-law told me to take him outside. It was AMAZING. Cooper apparently loves being outside. The minute I opened the front door, he stopped crying and was quiet as a church mouse until we came inside...at which time, we went back outside. :) He didn't even care if we were walking. He enjoyed just looking around while sitting on my lap on the front stoop.

This is exactly what he looked like the entire time we were outside - tired, but quiet and observant.

I tried to get a picture of Cooper sucking his thumb as we were sitting outside, but he reached out and bumped my phone as I was taking it. I still kind of like the picture. :)

On Saturday night, Brad and I went on a double date with my parents. We went mini-golfing and then got ice cream. Brad won! It's was his dashing good looks and mini golfing skills that reeled me in! It was a lot of fun and a nice time spent with my parents.

We had a long weekend - jam packed with lots of things to do, so it was tiring, but it was also fun. And back for your enjoyment, here's another adorable picture of Cooper. :)