Thursday, March 31st, 2016

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!  Today I celebrate 32 years since I was born... way back in 1984.  How has my day gone?  It started off pretty nice.  Elizabeth bought a Casey's breakfast pizza which I was able to enjoy for breakfast before heading off to work.  I had my usual very busy day of work... and because it was the last day of the month it was extra busy as we needed to have all of our charges turned in before we left.  So I stayed later than usual to get all of my paperwork done.  Then I came home and had some good cuddles with the two best little boys ever :)  For my birthday cake, Elizabeth made me a New York style vanilla cheesecake from scratch.  She was worried how it would turn out (since she had never made one before), but of course it was delicious.

Here I am holding Maxwell and posing with my birthday cake :)

We only had one candle, so pretend there are 32 candles instead...

Saturday, March 19th, 2016

IOWA STATE ADVANCES TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN!!!!

Today I was happy to watch the Iowa State Cyclones advance to the Sweet 16 by defeating the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans, 78-61.  The Trojans were champions of the Sun Belt conference this year.



Senior Georges Niang led the Cyclones with 28 points tonight.  The game itself was very enjoyable for me to watch since Iowa State held a double digit lead for most of the game and caused me a minimal amount of stress.  So far this year there has been a lot of drama in the tournament as 10 teams seeded #10 or higher have won a game.  That included #15 Middle Tennessee shocking #2 Michigan State, and #11 UNI hitting a half court shot at the buzzer to upset #6 Texas.  This same Little Rock team defeated #5 Purdue in double overtime on Thursday.  You can never take a team for granted during March Madness!

Of course, all of the tournament fun began on Thursday when the fourth seeded Cyclones defeated the 13-seed Iona Gaels, 94-81.  This was another stress-free game to watch as Iowa State led almost the entire game.


Iona is a small college located in New Rochelle, New York (about 20 miles from Manhattan).  This year they were the champions of the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).
Up next for Iowa State is a battle with #1 seed Virginia next Friday.

Saturday, February 27th, 2016

Today was a great day.  For starters, it was an unseasonably warm 60 degrees here in Ames!  That is a heck of a lot better than the usual winter weather we get this time of year.  We were able to actually hang out in our yard as I started the grill for the first time this year and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch.  Then, later on this afternoon, I took Nolan with me to watch the Iowa State men's basketball team defeat the Kansas State Wildcats, 80-61.  Nolan actually behaved really well throughout the whole game (which was nice for a change).  He even clapped along with the crowd many times.  I believe that this was Nolan's sixth time in attendance at an ISU men's basketball game.  The last game I took him to was this year's regular season opening game against Chicago State.
Today was also the second time Nolan has been to a Big 12 conference basketball game (his first was the epic Melvin Ejim - 48 point game vs TCU).

Tip off between Iowa State and Kansas State.

Cyclones win, 80-61.

A number of Cyclones played well today, so it is hard to pick just one player of the game.  I suppose that I would go with Jameel McKay as he scored 14 points and pulled down 17 rebounds.  Kansas State is typically a physical team that focuses on rebounding, so having that many boards for McKay is impressive.  Matt Thomas also had a big game for Iowa State.  He scored 20 points for the Cyclones, and impressively had a four-point play in the first half.  They were joined in double figures scoring for the Cyclones by Georges Niang (17), Monte Morris (11), and Hallice Cooke (10).  Sadly, this will be the last time that I get to watch Georges Niang play basketball in person at Hilton Coliseum.  I will not be able to make it to Senior Night to watch his last game this coming Monday.  His Cyclone career has been a lot of fun to watch over these last four years :)

This marks the fourth time that I have seen Iowa State defeat Kansas State in basketball.  The previous times were in 2013, 2012... the Royce White game winner, and way back in 2003 when I was a student at ISU.

Tuesday, February 9th, 2016

Today Maxwell was able to meet grandpa Eben and great-grandma Natalie for the first time!  They came down for the day, and little Max was able to take long naps on each of them.  There is nothing better than holding a newborn while they nap :)  Max is now only 8 days old!

Maxwell taking a nap on grandpa Eben.

Maxwell meeting Eben and Natalie for the first time.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016

On Monday, February 1st, at 9:22 PM Elizabeth and I welcomed Maxwell Christian Salton to the world :)

He original due date was January 25th, and we were getting very anxious waiting on his arrival!  I had just dropped Nolan off at daycare and was getting ready to head into work when Elizabeth called me and told me to come to the hospital instead!  Maxwell was born weighing 8 pounds, 11.5 ounces, and he was 20.5 inches in length.

Yesterday Grandma Becky brought Nolan to the hospital so the two brothers could meet for the first time!  Here is a YouTube video I took on my phone.

 Today we brought Maxwell home from the hospital.  He's been very sleepy, but when he is awake he has been very hungry too.  We're so lucky to have two healthy boys at home now!

Here is the proud mama with her new baby.

Grandma Becky holding Maxwell for the first time!

Happy family of four :)

Monday, January 18th, 2016

#19 IOWA STATE 82, #1 OKLAHOMA 77.

The Cyclones take down the #1 ranked team in the country!!

What a huge win for the Cyclones!!  Tonight marks just the second time in school history that Iowa State has defeated the #1 ranked team in the country (the first time was way back in 1957 against Kansas).  This was also an important game for Iowa State, who had slipped a bit in the polls after starting 1-3 in conference play.  The game tonight was very entertaining from start to finish.  Neither team committed many turnovers.  There were 18 ties or lead changes.  Oklahoma shot extremely well from three-point range (17-32 for 53%).  Despite the hot shooting by the Sooners, Iowa State was able to come out on top by winning the rebounding margin (43-32) and by scoring 20 more points in the paint than Oklahoma.  It really all came down to the last minute when a Monte Morris jumper gave Iowa State the lead 77-75 with 19 seconds left.  Iowa State was then able to get a stop and hit a few free throws to seal the win.

Mainly because of his last minute jumper, I would say that Morris was the player of the game for Iowa State.  He finished with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.  He was joined in double figures scoring for Iowa State by Georges Niang (22), Abdel Nader (20), and Matt Thomas (12).  Nader was clutch from the free throw line tonight, making 10 of 12.  Buddy Hield led all scorers with 27 points, including seven three-pointers.

Lets see.  Tonight is the fifth time that I have seen Iowa State play Oklahoma (the Cyclones are 4-1 in those games).  The previous years being: 2015, 2014, 2013, and back in 2003.  Tonight was also the ninth time that I have seen Iowa State play in a showdown of two top-25 teams (Iowa State is 8-1 in those games).  This was obviously the first time that I had seen Iowa State play a #1 ranked team.  Before tonight, the highest ranked opponent that I had seen Iowa State defeat was the #7 Michigan Wolverines back in 2013.

Jeremy Seago enjoyed the game with me tonight.

Wednesday, January 6th, 2016

Happy New Year!

I just got back from watching another Iowa State basketball game, this time a 76-69 victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

It was not exactly the dominant performance that I was expecting out of the Cyclones, who came into the game ranked #13 in the country.  Part of that was probably due to the foul trouble that Georges Niang got into.  He hardly played in the first half and was scoreless at halftime.  Still, Iowa State played well enough to be in control for the entire game.  Matt Thomas was the player of the game for the Cyclones.  He scored a career high 22 points and connected on 6 three-pointers.  He was joined in double figures by teammates Jameel McKay (19), Georges Niang (14 in the second half), and Monte Morris (11).

This was the fourth time that I have watched Iowa State play (and defeat) Texas Tech.  The other times were: 2015, 2013, and 2012.

In non-basketball news, Elizabeth is now only about two and a half weeks out from her due date for baby #2 on January 25th!!  We're getting so close!

Dad came with me to a game for the third time this season.  Go State!