Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

It's hard to believe that in a little over 3 hours it will already be 2014... it's definitely been a good year though!  The arrival of Nolan in July was the highlight of the year for sure! 

I just got back from another Iowa State men's basketball game, this time it was an easy 99-63 victory over the Huskies of Northern Illinois.  DeAndre Kane was the player of the game for Iowa State in my opinion.  He was only 2 rebounds away from a triple-double (16 points, 12 assist, 8 rebounds), and that was only in 28 minutes of playing time.  He was one of 6 Cyclones in double figures along with Ejim (17), Naz Long (17), Niang (14), Dustin Hogue (11), and Monte Morris (11).  The most exciting play was a transition alley-op from Kane to Ejim. 

Overall the atmosphere in Hilton was somber though and not as rowdy as usual.  Before the game today an Iowa State legend and longtime coach, Johnny Orr passed away at the age of 86.  There was a nice video tribute to him and a moment of silence before tip-off.   I'm glad that Orr was able to be honored this year for the Michigan game one last time in front of the crowd. 

Iowa State wins the opening tip.

So close to 100 points!

Wednesday, December 25th, 2013

Happy first X-Mas to Nolan :)

Here is a link to a video of Nolan opening his first Christmas presents...

What did Nolan get for Christmas then?  He got a Jumparoo (a big thing that he can jump in and play with toys that are mounted all around him), a high chair, some baby gates (to make the stairways safe for him), some clothes, a wooden puzzle of his name, and other practical items for him (bottle brush, etc).

Santa brought me a nice Shutterfly photo album of our wedding (lots of pictures from other people that we hadn't developed yet), a yellow Iowa State t-shirt, a flag pole for my ISU flag, and a beer can chicken holder. 

Santa brought Elizabeth some Iowa State sweatpants, a Iowa State t-shirt, a bottle of rum, a speaker that lets her listen to music in the shower, and then she had a scavenger hunt for her last gift.  She has been wanting to re-paint the kitchen, so the gift was a paintbrush and an "ok" from me to paint. 

Grandma Becky has been down sharing the day with us, and it has been very fun.  We just finished eating some "Northwest Steakhouse" style steaks that were cooked in butter.  Happy Holidays to all!

Saturday, December 14th, 2013

FIVE MONTHS!!  That's right!  Our little guy is a whole five months old today, and looking pretty good I might add (I did dress him of course).  I've been watching him myself for most of the day today as Elizabeth went down to Des Moines early this morning to run in a 5k race.  Brrrr.  December is way too cold of a time for that if you ask me!

Today I'm still pretty pumped up from the big Cyclone basketball victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes last night, 85-82.   The game was far too stressful for my taste, but thankfully at the end the good guys had prevailed.  For a majority of the game the Hawkeyes actually had the lead (they were up by 7 points at halftime), and it seemed like Iowa State just could not pull even.  The Cyclone's free throw shooting was pretty bad for most of the game as well (23 for 36) which was very frustrating.  Georges Niang was the player of the game for Iowa State in my mind.  He was their main source of offense in the first half which kept them in the game, and he hit the go-ahead reverse layup in the final minutes.  Mike Gesell did have two free throws for the Hawkeyes at the end which would have given them the lead, but somehow he missed both of them!  During those free throws, Hilton was as loud as I think I've ever heard it.  Dustin Hogue secured the rebound from Gesell's miss which ended up securing the win.

The crowd in Hilton before the game... almost no empty seats!

Jeremy Seago with the scoreboard (and a guy in a fat suit) after the game.

Good triumphs over evil.

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

I just got back from Hilton Coliseum where I was able to enjoy watching the ranked Iowa State Cyclones (#17 AP poll, #18 USA Today Coaches Poll) dominate in a 99-70 victory over the Auburn Tigers.  Now, I understand that Auburn is not very good this year, but it was still a solid victory over a team from the SEC.  It's starting to look like Iowa State will have a very good non-conference resume come selection Sunday in March :)

As for the game, Dustin Hogue was clearly the player of the game for the Cyclones.  He was a monster on the boards and had himself a double-double before halftime.  His final stats included 22 points (on 8 for 10 shooting), 16 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.  Other Cyclones in double figures scoring included Melvin Ejim (14), Matt Thomas (14), Monte Morris (12), and Naz Long (11).  It's nice to see so many different players for Iowa State are able to fill up the score sheet.

Gold uniforms again!

Cyclones win... almost 100 points!

Thursday, November 28th, 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2013!!

I just thought that I needed to make sure and share the fact that Nolan just ate his first solid food!  On Thanksgiving no less :)  Elizabeth started to feed him some baby food squash, and surprisingly he really enjoyed it!  He probably ate a third of the little jar.  Last week our pediatrician told us that we could start to try and feed him a little bit of solid food.  We had tried to give him just a little bit of mashed up avocado or a little bit of mashed banana, but he spit those out right away and was not having it.  Apparently he loves squash though!  That's even a traditional Thanksgiving food :)

Earlier today we all went over to Chris & Marcia's place for a big family Thanksgiving.  Nolan got lots of face time with everyone, so he's pretty tired now...

He did have a good hour and a half nap where he cuddled with great grandma Natalie.

Grandpa Eben holding Nolan.

Like my goatee?

Brandon and I are goatee buddies now :)

Monday, November 25th, 2013

Tip-off between ISU and UMKC.

Today was Nolan's first time going to an Iowa State men's basketball game!!  We only stayed for the first half of the game because it was getting past his bedtime, but it was no longer a competitive game by that time anyways.  The Cyclones played against the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos, and the game was a blow-out from the start.  Iowa State led by a score of 52-17 at halftime, and they ended up winning 110-51.  It's worth noting that before the game Iowa State came in ranked #17 in the country by the AP (or #22 by the USA Today Coach's Poll).  I believe that this was the first time I've attended a men's game where Iowa State has been ranked at the time.  

We're also looking forward to Thanksgiving later this week!  Our plan is to head up to Eben & Lynn's place Wednesday night, stay there until Friday, then on Friday and Saturday we will have another Thanksgiving in Macon City with Elizabeth's side of the family.  It should be a fun time to see everyone!

Sunday, November 17th, 2013

WOW!  I just got back from seeing an amazing basketball game at Hilton Coliseum.  I would say that was definitely my favorite basketball game that I have seen in person to date!  It was quite the upset as un-ranked (for now) Iowa State defeated #7 Michigan, 77-70!

Melvin Ejim returned from a knee injury that has kept him out of our first two games of the season to lead five Cyclones in double figures.  Ejim ended up with 22 points and 9 rebounds.  Naz Long also had a nice game for Iowa State, scoring 16 points including 4 of 6 for three-point range.

After the game it was fun to watch the student section storm the court to celebrate!

 

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013

I just got back from another fun men's basketball game at Hilton Coliseum where I saw the Cyclones defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 80-50.  What made this game especially enjoyable for me was the fact that I was able to move up to the second row from the court in section 134!  My friend Jeremy Seago messaged me after the game started that he had an extra ticket, so I moved on down to sit with him.  They were his boss's seated, and boy were they good ones!

I took a few videos just to show off how awesome our seats were:

As for the game, the Cyclones were in control the entire way, and five players scored in double figures: DeAndre Kane (15), Matt Thomas (13), Dustin Hogue (13), Georges Niang (12), and Monte Morris (11). 

Here is the view from my regular seats at tip-off...

...and here is the view from the upgraded seats!!

The band was right next to us.

Cyclones win big!

Sunday, November 10th, 2013

Happy 17 weeks to Nolan!

This was a busy and fun homecoming weekend for us.  Brandon & Amy stopped by to share in the fun... We played quite a bit of Settlers of Catan, Cards Against Humanity, and we went to a volleyball game.  During the volleyball game on Saturday, Iowa State played very well and was able to sweep the Oklahoma Sooners in three sets: 25-14, 25-22, 26-24.  Then today I met up with Jeremy Seago for the first Cyclone basketball game of the season!  I have really been looking forward to basketball season quite a bit, especially with football season being a disaster.

Sophomore Naz Long was very impressive in Iowa State's season opening win over the University of North Carolina Wilmington Seahawks.  Long led the Cyclones with 26 points, including 8 for 11 from three point range.  He was one of five Cyclones in double figures along with Georges Niang (16), DeAndre Kane (13), Matt Thomas (10), and Dustin Hogue (10).  With all of the offensive firepower that we lost from last year's team, I was afraid that this year Iowa State would not be able to keep up the pace from long-range.  Hopefully I am wrong about that, especially since the Cyclones combined for 15 threes in the game today.

Nolan was enjoying pulling mommy's hair a little too much...

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

Happy 15 week birthday to Nolan!  Our little guys is getting so big now!  105 days old :)

This weekend his Grandma Becky came down to watch him.  She was nice enough to take care of him for most of the day yesterday while Elizabeth and I went tailgating for the football gave vs Oklahoma State.  Sara and Mike were in town visiting from Chicago, and Erick Ude also came up to tailgate and stay with us.  I was the only one of our group that ended up going into the game (which was close for the first half but ended up being a blowout loss for Iowa State).  After the game we went out to OddFellow's for some burgers.  I ordered the grilled cheese burger (a double bacon cheese burger with grilled cheese sandwiches in place of buns) again. 

I did manage to catch a couple of highlight plays for Iowa State during the game.  The first was a 22 yard touchdown reception for Quenton Bundrage in the first quarter, and the next was a 11 yard touchdown run on an option play for DeVondrick Nealy. 

Monday, October 14th, 2013

Happy 3-month birthday (a quarter of a year) to our little boy!  I can't believe how fast it has gone!  You make mommy & daddy very proud Nolan :)

Yesterday we took him to d&orfs photography to have his 3-month pictures taken.  Check out how photogenic he is!!

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

As of Monday this week Nolan has started going to day care while mommy & daddy go to work.  Since he's been such a good boy at day care, we decided to take him to Hilton Coliseum today for his first official Cyclone sporting event.  Nolan turned out to be a good luck charm, because the Iowa State volleyball team won in straight sets over Kansas State, 26-24, 25-19, and 25-18!  Not only that, but I ended up winning a small prize package at the game.  It was "80's night", and at one point in the game they announced that the first person to show Cy a driver's license of a person born in the 80s would win.  Just before then we had noticed that Cy was walking by our section, and we had gotten up to take a picture with him... and since we happened to be right beside him it was easy to show my I.D. and win.  I ended up winning a t-shirt, water bottle, and a small toy volleyball :)

Here we are posing with Cy after I won the prize package.

Nolan with the toy volleyball that we won :)

It looks like he's enjoying himself at the game!

A shot of the action...

Go State!

We also ran into Cy before the game started and got a picture... Nolan's first picture with Cy!

Aww, and this picture was on Monday right when Elizabeth had to drop Nolan off for his first day of daycare.  Mommy is looking sad :(