Greatest Hawkeye Comeback EVER

And I was there! Due to a busy schedule, my fiance's father, Mike gave me two tickets to the Iowa v. Pitt game. So I gave the other one to my dad and we and mom went to Iowa City. Mom and Dad drove together and tailgated at their friends from I.C.'s house and I rode with Kurtis and Liz. The game was AMAZING. Down 17 point with 12 min left. The Hawks scored 4 TDs in 10 minutes and the action was right in front of us at our 15 yard line tickets (row 34). Had a great time and hope the momentum carries for the Hawks. And funny enough, I sat next to a older man and lady and they asked me where I was from and I said, Washington, IA. Then the guy is like, I'm originally from Brighton, IA! Small world. Told him my name, he saw dad, dad saw him, and next thing I know dad and I are switching seats so they can talk about the past and whatever.

 Kurtis and Liz at the tailgate.

 I-O-W-A

Nile Kinnick chillin outside the stadium.

Home Sweet Home

Livin' in Pella and rocking it in Brook Circle. Below is a picture of my house that I rent in Pella with Cody Thie and Shane Hallengren. It's nothing spectacular and I'm not about to host Thanksgiving, but its got a nice kitchen, 3 bedrooms and my king size bed fits great in my room. Just thought I'd post the picture so Mo and Fuller can see it.

53 Brook Circle

MFL Heavyweights

     About a month ago, my friend Kurtis asked me if I wanted to help coach a 5th and 6th grade football team in Pella. We landed a group of 14 hilarious 5th and 6th grade heavyweight boys that we are supposed to teach to play football as a team, very interesting. MFL stands for Marshalltown Football League and we play our games in Marshalltown. Our first game was this Saturday morning against the West Marshall Bears. We are the Pella Redskins. We won 25-18! The boys were really excited and I had a great time coaching and watching them play today. I didn't think I would be doing coaching like this until it was my own kid, but I'm glad I got to do it, the season should be fun. Here are some pictures from the game today.

 Telling the QB the play.

 Halftime motivation from Kurtis.

 National Anthem, a good shot of the young dudes

 Timeout. Explaining that blocking is kind of important.

Letting Luke know he's kicking ass

3-0!

     Believe it or not, Alex's Central girls soccer team is undefeated! I joked about it after the first one, but three in a row now! For those of you that this is a "whatever" to you, let me put it in perspective, they won 2 games ALL last year and 1 GAME the year before that. The wins they have now, equal the last TWO years of soccer. ha ha. She is in a great mood more than usual which is easier on the relationship! :) I'm a proud fiance, and she is kicking some butt so far in this early season. She is off to Illinois for a couple road games this weekend and has a chance to make it 5-0.

After her big last minute win at home to go 3-0!

Merrill Lynch = Paid Stress

As of August 1st, I began the quest of studying for the nation's 4th hardest exam, the Series 7. This is the evil monster of financial exams and I have to pass it on Friday next week (Sep. 16). I am stressed out like no other. I go in at 8 and leave at 4 at work and my one job is STUDY. ALL DAY! The wonderful catch, they have invested in me. They pay me to do this studying all day and that fact puts even more pressure on me to pass the exam.
     On a brighter note, I love the office and the potential of the job. I am getting used to being a "Pellican". I've also started to get used to investing in the community (church, sports, etc). I can promise one thing is my kids will not have that stupid Kyle Korver hair cut, where they have to flip it back every 10 seconds. ha ha. I've been very blessed to have a very good job, nice office, and support all around me. I feel very lucky to be in the position I am, now I just have to pass the exam so I can stay here. ha ha.

 Name on the door and everything!

This is the office. The master sits in that chair.

Labor Day Weekend

     Labor Day Weekend didn't involve much rest for me. I took advantage of the three day weekend and had some fun with friends and family. It all got started on Saturday morning nice and early when Jordan, Mike Kleis, and I went to Iowa City and watched the Hawks destroy Tennessee Tech. As the pictures show you, it POURED! Despite the rain I had a really good time.
     I came home to Pella on saturday and went to a movie with Alex. We saw Crazy Stupid Love with Steve Carrell. It was a pretty funny movie. Then came Sunday and after church I chilled at home for a little then drove to Ames to hang out with high school buddies, Trevor and Spencer. That was great, I don't always get to catch up with high school friends, we had a fantasy football draft then played some XBOX and went downtown Ames.
     I woke up nice and early on Monday morning and watched my fiance, Alex, win her second game in a row to start the season 2-0!! (They won two games total last year). It was a fun soccer game because my parents and grandparents came to watch Alex play, and she played really well and the game went to overtime. I continue my battle of learning the game of soccer.
    Sunday afternoon was then filled with golfing with Cody Thie and Spencer and Trevor drove down to Pella to finish out our foursome. Was a great time and an awesome finish to a very active and fun filled holiday weekend.

 Taylor, myself, Trevor, and Spencer in Ames.

 This is how close Cody came to hitting a hole-in-one.

 Our seats at the Iowa game, it was dry for about 20 min

And this is yours truly, soaking wet going back to the tailgate.

Spencer, probably about to slice it into the other fairway.

Back to Blogging

I figure there is a lot going on in my life right now and blogging would be a good way for friends and family to keep up! My sisters Ashley and Morgan have very neat and successful blogs (in small circles, ha ha). But I love reading and viewing pictures about their daily lives because I don't live close to them anymore. This is my 3rd attempt at holding a blog, and now that I have a concrete schedule and a lot of new things entering my life, I feel the blog re-boot has good timing.

Also, later today I will have my first official "real" post and if anyone has a better title for my blog page, let me know, I can't think of anything. I'm looking for something creative with a reference to my name or location or job or something. So comments welcome!