Saturday, October 28th, 2017

Right now I am drinking a cold beverage and enjoying the huge win for the Iowa State football team today.  The #25 Iowa State Cyclones upset #4 TCU, 14-7.  That is the second top-5 team that Iowa State has beaten this month (they beat #3 Oklahoma 38-31 three weeks ago)!!  With the win, Iowa State became bowl-eligible.  Kyle Kempt threw two touchdown passes for the Cyclones, and the ISU defense came up huge by forcing 3 TCU turnovers and not allowing an offensive touchdown (the Horned Frogs scored on the opening kickoff of the second half).

As this was ISU's Homecoming game, I helped to push LaVonne in her wheelchair for today's festivities.  This morning we went over to the Bergstrom practice facility where the ISU Alumni Band practiced the songs and went through the choreography for the formations.  After that we took group pictures, had lunch in the Scheman building, and eventually marched our way towards the football stadium.  I stood on the sidelines with LaVonne, aunt Susan, and LaVonne's friend Gail.  This was the fourth year in a row that I have helped push LaVonne onto the field while she performed with the Alumni Band.  Last year Kansas State defeated ISU, two years ago Iowa State beat Texas, and three years ago ISU defeated Toledo for homecoming.  It's not bad that ISU is 3-1 in the homecoming games I have helped with :)

It has been quite a while since I've seen two top-25 football teams play.  I believe the last game I attended that matched two ranked teams was back in 2002 when Seneca Wallace led the #19 Cyclones over #20 Nebraska, 36-14.  As far as I can remember, those have been the only two games I've been to that have been top-25 showdowns, and I am glad to say that ISU is 2-0 in them!

This was the 3rd time that I have seen ISU play TCU in football.  The first time was back in 2005 when TCU beat Iowa State in the Houston Bowl.  Then in 2015 TCU beat ISU in Ames, 45-21.  It was nice to get a little revenge for those games with the win today!

Happy Halloween, and Go Cyclones!

Wednesday, October 18th, 2017

Today after work Elizabeth and I took the boys over to Hilton to watch the #22-ranked ISU volleyball team defeat West Virginia in 4 sets (25-18, 25-18, 24-26, 25-11).  The Cyclones piled up an impressive 19.5 blocks during the match. 

We only managed to stay until the end of the second set because it was getting to be the kid's bed time, but it was still fun to go and support the Cyclones.  Of course we had to get a clone cone to split... Nolan seems insistent on ice cream every time we go there!  Maxwell was a really good boy for most of the first two sets.  He was actually watching the game, and he would clap along with the rest of the crowd.

This was the second volleyball game that we have been to this season.  We also saw ISU defeat Kent State in the season-opener. 

Here is the opening serve of the match between ISU and West Virginia.

Saturday, October 14th, 2017

Grandma Becky very kindly agreed to watch the boys this weekend, so today Elizabeth and myself were able to enjoy an ISU tailgate and attend the game vs Kansas.  It is kind of weird not having the boys around, but I think that it's good to have a little "adult time" once in a while, plus it gives the kids some bonding time with grandma.  Anyways, Elizabeth and I enjoyed ourselves quite a bit at today's game.

Kickoff was set at 11:00, so we had to get up early to have time to tailgate.  Unfortunately, it has been raining for most of the week, so the G7 grass lot that we normally tailgate in was closed.  Our group was re-directed to a paved lot just southwest of Hilton Coliseum.  It did rain most of the morning, which made tailgating difficult.  Everyone huddled around under three tents that were set up to stay out of the rain.  It was our usual group of friends from Wide Right Natty Light... Dan Becker, Tim & Lydia Nevins, Kyle Perkins, Ryan Butler, etc.  I'm glad the kids were not with us because they would not have enjoyed being huddled under a tent just trying to stay dry.  Everyone brought food to make breakfast burritos, and we all enjoyed our adult drinks quite a bit :)

I headed into the game with Elizabeth around 11:00, but little did we know, there was a 30 minute rain delay.  We had our rain gear on, but it was still hard not to get soaked.  Luckily by the middle of the first half most of the rain had quit. Our seats were pretty nice as we were in the 16th row of section 30.  The game itself was fun for us to watch, as the Cyclones completely destroyed the Jayhawks, 45-0.  Trever Ryen had a nice 68-yard punt return for a touchdown, and David Montgomery rushed for 3 touchdowns.  

This was the fifth time that I have seen an Iowa State football game vs Kansas.  Iowa State has won all five games as well :)  The previous years were 2015, 2013, 2011, and 2002.  

A view of the game action in the first half.  Kansas's offense only managed 106 yards all game.

The Cyclones driving the ball in the second half.   Kyle Kempt would complete a pass to Allen Lazard for 19 yards on this play, and on the next play Montgomery would run 4 yards for the touchdown.

Sunday, October 8th, 2017

This weekend I took Maxwell with me to Omaha to visit Amy, Brandon, and baby Logan.  Eben also drove down for the family weekend, but Elizabeth and Nolan stayed back in Ames because Nolan was running a fever.  Anyways, it turned out to be a fun and memorable family weekend :)

This morning before driving back we spent a few hours exploring Vala's Pumpkin Patch.  There were all kinds of things to see & do there, and honestly I probably only experienced a third of what was there.  We saw a big mechanical dragon that ate pumpkins, a "pumpkin chunkin" cannon that shot a small pumpkin far across a field, I walked Maxwell through a haunted house, there were pig races, all kinds of games (throwing footballs or baseballs through holes like at a carnival), the sledgehammer game where if you hit it hard enough it rings a bell... not to mention a pumpkin patch, lots of animals, a big slide, and lots of places to eat.

This chair is a little too big for me...

Family photo :)

Amy posing with the goats

Logan is such a little "pumpkin"

Here I am helping Maxwell make a basket

Yesterday was also quite the memorable day.  First, it was Logan's 8-month birthday.  Second, my Iowa State Cyclones shocked the college football world by upsetting the 3rd-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, 38-31.  I won't have to go into much detail about the game here because I doubt that I ever really forget it :)