notre game

recently diana and i went to a notre dame football game. 'why on earth would you go to a notre dame football game?' you might be asking yourself confusedly. and that would be a very good question considering how little i like sports.
the reason we were there is because we were invited to join a couple of diana's friends, sara and vince, to the 'blue and gold' game at notre dame. the real draw wasnt really the game, the real draw was the tailgating before the game! i havent actually ever been to a tailgater for a sporting event (shocker, no?), and diana and i had the day free, so we agreed. the game started at 1:00pm, but they were going to be out there in the parking lot by 7:00am! yikes! we certainly werent up for getting there that early, the hour drive and extra hour time change kind of forced our hand on that one... but we did join them by around 10:00am. we got there and everyone was having a great time, playing games on the sidewalk, chowing down, and enjoying some adult beverages. diana and i didnt know anyone at all except sara and vince, but that didnt stop us from having a great time! we did a lot of walking (since the closest bathroom was about 1/4th mile away...) and chatting with sara and vince's friends. when the game started we found seats but only stuck around the stadium for about a half hour, then it was back out to the grill for some brats and more fun!
i think we might have to join them again next year!
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happiness is

diana and i dont go out too often, but the other day we took a little trip for fun out to merrillville. we didn't do anything in particular, we just wandered around the mall for a while. we didnt buy anything, we just kind of wandered. we didnt have anything in particular to do, or anywhere to be.

i've got to admit, these are some of the best times we have together. i am so thankful that i have a wife who i love and who loves me! we can have a great time doing stuff even if there is nothing to do!

mulch better before

diana and i had been planning to do it for a while, but we finally found a night to fix up the front of our house. we have an area by our front door where there is a couple bushes, a sad little tree (why wont that thing grow?!?), and a few hastas. every two years i put new mulch in there to make the place look pretty again, and it was the second year. we went down to the local gas station and bought a bunch of red mulch bags to put on a fresh topping of new mulch. here is the picture of the front yard 'before', click here to see the amazing 'after' picture!

new members

we made it to church on time (barely), and found a place to sit. during the service pastor kris invited all the new members up on stage to be welcomed. it was really great to be able to stand up and become a member of our new church family at crossroads and to have all those we love there with us to support and encourage us! we love our new church and look forward to growing in our spiritual walk there!

(i asked bubba to take a picture of us while we were up there, thus the quality of the picture...)

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too much chit chat

the parents soon arrived and we sat down and talked for a bit. it was great to see everyone in the same place together- it doesnt happen very often! its so great to have a family that loves each other so much- my mom and dad really enjoy spending time with diana's mom and david, and the kids just love to have a bigger audience for their silly antics, so everyone was happy!
after chatting for a bit, we all went over to the texas corrall for a big dinner together. we had planned to have an hour and a half to have dinner and make it to the church. apparently we were having too much fun because before we realized it, we only had 20 minutes till church started! yikes! we quickly finished up and raced to the church!

the front yard lounge

as we waited for the rest of the family to arrive, the girls made a comfortable place for themselves in the front yard- soaking up the rays! the kids each got a fudge bar to chomp down as we enjoyed the beautiful day!

its the tooth

saturday morning tim and jill took the kids to cabela's to check it all out. diana and i slept in, thank you very much! at lunch we got a call to come and join them for taco bell, so we met up with them and hung out there for a bit. while there bubba's loose tooth finally came out! (you can read all about it on my sisters blog here) after our bellies were full, even if bubba's mouth wasnt, we headed back home- my mom and dad, and diana's mom and david were on their way over!

games and dolls

part of the fun of having tim and jill over was having the kids there for the night! diana and i had been looking forward to having them hang out with us for a while, so we got all our best toys out for them! i had recently found my lost recharger for my ds, so i told bubba that we could play a couple games with each other on it- he was thrilled! diana pulled out her old barbies for the girls to play with as well. the kids had a great time and we reaffirmed our place as their favorite uncle and aunt! score!
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come on down!

recently diana and i took membership classes at our new church. our families were very excited for us and wanted to come out and be there for the welcoming service. our church has two services on sunday and one on saturday night. we were asked to come to as many as possible to be welcomed by the congregation. we figured it would work great for the family to come out saturday afternoon and we could go to church that evening with them and they could still get home at a reasonable hour. they thought that was a great idea, but tim and jill thought the kids might want to stay a bit longer, make a weekend out of it! we were excited about the idea, and asked them to come down friday evening and spend the night.
we live in a duplex and rent out the other half but as it turned out, the other half was currently empty- so we invited them to sleep over on that side and save some money on a hotel room! they were all for that idea and headed on down!