Friday, September 13th, 2013

Happy FRIDAY THE 13TH....  (insert spooky ghost noises here)...

I have a little down time at work at the moment, so I thought I would make a quick prediction prior to the Iowa State-Iowa football game.  It's always difficult to pick a close score in these rivalry games, and this year it seems especially difficult.  Mainly this is because both teams look down at the moment, and it's hard to know how each will respond. 

On one hand, Iowa State's young defense did not look good at all in their first game of the year.  We could not tackle or stop the run at all.  It's embarrassing to say that they were upset by the UNI Panthers.  There are also questions on ISU's offense as their starting center Tom Farniok was injured in the game against the Panthers, and Quarterback Sam Richardson has been in a walking boot for precautionary measures this last week.  On the other hand, the Iowa Hawkeyes are only 1-1 after their opening loss to Northern Illinois, and they struggled against a very bad Missouri State team in their win last week.  What could happen tomorrow?  I really would not be surprised by anything...

As of now the Iowa Hawkeyes are a 2.5 point favorite.  Big surprise.  If there is one thing that I've learned about these games, it's that the Hawkeyes are almost always over-rated.  I pointed out last year that in the last 15 ISU-Iowa football games, Iowa State has beat the spread in 12 of the 15 meetings.  The Hawkeyes have been favored in 13 of the 15 games, yet Iowa State has still won 9 of them.  A 2.5 point line in favor of the Hawks?  That's about as useful as the points on "Whose Line is it Anyway?". 

My prediction:  Iowa State wins, 26-20.  I will say that Aaron Wimberly runs for a TD, and Sam Richardson throws at least one TD... let's say to Quenton Bundrage.  How do they score 26 exactly?  I don't know, but 6 sounds like a good winning margin for the Cyclones!  I'll also say that Mark Weisman scores two TD runs for the Hawkeyes. 

GO STATE!!

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

Happy Labor Day Everyone!

Today we took Nolan down to Des Moines to visit great aunt & uncle LaVonne and Gary.  He did really well today on his third car trip ever (first was Parkersburg, second Eben & Lynn's place).  He slept all the way down there, was a good boy for LV & Gary, he slept while Elizabeth and I grabbed lunch at A&W, and he slept during the car ride back home.  He's such a good boy!

Nolan with his Awesome like Auntie shirt :)

LaVonne holding Nolan

Then last night Elizabeth and I finally opened the last bottle of wine that we brought back from our honeymoon (I think we had brought back one bottle of white wine that we drank right away, and this bottle of red wine).  It was fun thinking back to our honeymoon :)

Our honeymoon bottle of wine

Sunday, September 1st, 2013

Today is a day of recovery after a very hot and disappointing season opening football game for Iowa State.  After being favored by 9 and 1/2 points, the Cyclones were upset by the UNI Panthers, 28-20.

Iowa State's young defense just could not stop the Panther's David Johnson.  The Junior running back ran for 199 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a pair of touchdown passes.  Plenty of poor tackling from Iowa State was seen as well :(

The day itself was incredibly hot as the fans suffered through mid-90 degree weather all day while tailgating.  We waited to arrive at the tailgate until around 3:00, but within a half hour from being outside I was already sweating quite a bit.  Usually we try and play a few games while tailgating, but yesterday we spent mostly huddled in the shade under tents. I went with Tim Nevins, his girlfriend Lydia, Dan Becker, and Jeremy Seago.  Elizabeth stayed home with Nolan.  This was definitely too hot of a day for our little guy to be outside.

Nolan all dressed up for Cyclone gameday!

This Second quarter TD pass from Sam Richardson to James White made the score 21-14 UNI.

Cole Netten's second career field goal makes the score 21-20 UNI. It was looking like Iowa State was making a good comeback until Johnson scored his 4th TD of the game in the fourth quarter on a 29-yard pass from UNI quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen.

Monday, August 26th, 2013

This past weekend we took Nolan on his first overnight adventure.  Saturday morning we left Ames and headed up north to my parents' farm.  We arrived around 9 in the morning, and at lunch time we had quite a few family members stop by to meet him for the first time.  Great grandpa Dick, Terry, Deb, Becky, Great grandma Natalie, Susan, Chris and Marcia all got to meet him for the first time.  Amy also made the drive over from Omaha for all of the fun. 

Great grandpa Dick with Nolan :)

Eben is still getting used to being called grandpa

Great grandma Natalie and Nolan

Four generations of Saltons

Elizabeth took Nolan for a walk around the farm and let him meet the horses

Today I'm also looking forward to the start of Cyclone football season.  It's only 5 more days until Iowa State kicks off against UNI!

Sunday, August 18th, 2013

Nolan is 5 weeks old today!!  He's been such a well behaved baby recently.  On Friday night he actually was able to sleep for 5 straight hours which is technically "sleeping through the night"... that was awesome to get a little extra sleep :)  Friday was also the first time that he was able to meet his Aunt & Uncle Amy and Brandon.  They came over around noon while I was at work and got to hang out with our little guy all afternoon.  That night we took him out to a restaurant for the first time to West Street Deli, and he was a very good boy.  Then Saturday we took him on his first road trip as we drove to Parkersburg for the annual Kevin Kyhl golf benefit.  There he got to see grandma Becky, her brother Kenny, and a couple of Elizabeth's cousins (Alissa and Jenna).  It seems like Nolan enjoys going for car rides because he was able to sleep for most of the drive to and from Parkersburg.  I think the bumpiness of the car ride puts him to sleep.

Amy with Nolan for the first time :)

Brandon meeting Nolan

Great Uncle Kenny with Nolan.  Check out Nolan's Iowa State onesie.

Elizabeth and Nolan at the golf outing

Nolan was a sleepy baby!

Sunday, August 11th, 2013

Today Nolan is officially 4 weeks old, and it seems like that time has flew by!  The highlights of today for our little guy included going for a walk around the neighborhood in his stroller, getting some play time in on his play mat, and he just got done with a bath! 

Here is a YouTube video of him playing :)
Today is also his aunt Sarah's birthday.  Happy 42nd Sarah!

Sunday, July 28th, 2013

As of today Nolan is now two weeks old!  He's been doing very well and is gaining weight like a healthy baby boy should.  He's also been waking up mommy & daddy quite often during nighttime (which is to be expected).  He's had a lot of visitors over this past week... Aunt Rachael met him last Monday, Grandma Kyhl got to see him for a second time Tuesday, Elizabeth's co-workers Tara & Kristina got to meet him, Tim Nevins was here yesterday, and Erick Ude stopped by this afternoon. 

Our main struggle to date has been finding time to get enough sleep for ourselves... Elizabeth has been trying to take naps here and there when he is napping during the day.  He was pretty fussy this afternoon, but I was able to get him to sleep for over two hours while I held him on my chest.  Of course an hour and a half of that time we were watching the full replay of ISU football vs #2 Oklahoma State 2011 on YouTube, so I like to think that the Cyclone football is what calmed him down and got him to rest :) 

Aunt Rachael meeting Nolan for the first time!

Quality time for Nolan with Grandma :)

Taking Nolan for a stroll around the neighborhood.

Erick with Nolan.

Erick gave Nolan some awesome Harry Potter themed clothes!

Nolan & mommy :)