Roadtrips to Iowa!

This blog frustrates me sometimes. I really wanted a picture of me at the world's largest truck stop to be upload but it would not cooperate. Oh well. Here are some fun pics from Iowa though. I got to go to an Iowa Cubs game with my friend Ben(1st two pics). We also celebrated Carmen's(my sister in law) birthday in a fancy Italian restaurant. I also got to hold a very cute baby a lot. The last pic is of my new great-niece, Summer Rose. She is a major cutie.

It was a great adventure to head to Des Moines with my mom, sister, and niece. It was a true road trip with our constant picking on my mother and stopping at the World's Largest Truck stop along I-80. That place was impressive. It had a huge truck store where you could buy anything imaginable for a Semi. It also had a large food court and a big souvenir place. It as worth the stop. I was kinda surprised I had never noticed it as I drove to Utah. I guess that I was just too busy driving or something.

We only had one meltdown with my niece which is better than usual. I think the trip back to Madison was just too long. Maybe it was because I missed a turn. Maybe!

Well, it was a blast and it took way too long to write this post, because now I have to get all my pictures from the celebration of the 4th at my uncle's farm. That was a good time too! Happy Trails! A

Random Rhinelander Pictures!

Well, these are a few pictures that span a few weeks. I feel like I have been very busy lately. We went to visit my brother in Iowa and that was a great adventure. I will add pictures of that trip to the next blog. Just wanted to get these pictures on first. The weather in Wisconsin is definitely not predictable. The first two pics are of the hail we got a few weeks back. The next one shows the rain bouncing off the driveway during the same storm. Then, there is a picture of the clouds after the storm...thought they turned out well...and then finally, I got a picture of a butterfly in my yard. It has taken a lot of effort to get a picture of one before it would take off into flight! I did it! :)

Nice Place this Wisconsin!

Well...here I am again from beautiful Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Man, is this place gorgeous. Here are some pictures of the Wisconsin River as seen from Hodag Park. (Remember a Hodag is a mythological creature that is said to run around the woods of these parts!) The one of me is one day when I decided to walk down there. It has now become habit because I like going down there so much. Very relaxing. The other are of the sunset from Sunday night. Wow. Amazing. It just kept getting better...but I only had so much memory on my camera. Spectacular. We had gone down to the park to see the ski show...which really doesn't start until next weekend. But they do have a ski show twice a week. Very cool to see these people get up on skis with people on their backs. I have tried and I can't even get up with nobody on my back! Good times. (the pictures of skiing is from their practice. At least we had something to look at!)

We are still having Adventures with Rebecca Week. My niece has done very well while being here. Her and I even had a movie party yesterday after her day camp was done. We watched "Herbie: Fully Loaded" and ate popcorn. Then we ate dinner with my dad and then she went to bed...at 7pm. I know weird, but we love her anyway.

This weekend was pretty much just laid back. We had steak for Father's day. Nice of my dad to cook for US on Father's Day, huh? It was very good. (I am loving getting spoiled with great food) My dad enjoyed getting his dark chocolate MMs. He is so hard to buy for...but he does love MMs. (That is trademarked by the way...go get yourself a bag!) He also knows he is getting them for every present we ever buy for him. After dinner, I said "I will go get your present now!" And of course he then said: "Oh my MMs." Dang dad...I guess I am just predictable.

Well, tonight I play softball again. Good times. Hopefully one of these days we can actually win. I am starting to think I am bad luck.

Well, here is to winning and to everybody having a great day! Later!

Win or Lose.....There is always Ice Cream!

Pictures: Jesse being bashful(kinda like a roommate I have) and Jeanette, Me with Jeanette being crazy in the background, Kim and Ty enjoying ice cream! Boy do we love ice cream from Briq's. Good stuff. We celebrated after our softball loss (7-4). I figure you should have ice cream whether you win or lose. There should be no rule that you must win to have ice cream!

Not too much to report as of right now. I am loving my Blockbuster membership. I recommend it to anybody who is thinking of doing the online thing. Much better than Netflix because you can exchange them in store, a major bonus if you ask me. I also have found that you can use your blockbuster membership anywhere there is one. I didn't have to get a new one when I came back here to Wisconsin...the other one works! Another bonus!

Tonight I get to play good aunt. I am taking my niece to Spiderman 3. I like that movie, so it is also a bonus for me. Tomorrow I will take her bowling. I like bowling, so yet another bonus for me, even a bowling bonus!

Well, other than that I don't have much to say, so I will keep this blog short and sweet. Enjoy summer because winter comes too soon! :) :(

Bored....already? Not Me!

Well, it has been over a week at home. It has been a good week. I have biked a bit and played trivia a lot. Fun times.

I took a few pictures today. In one, you can see a butterfly. Now, trying to get a picture of a butterfly is interesting. I tried hard to get it with its wings open, but they do not open their wings for very long. Then each time a car would pass our house it would cause the butterfly to fly up and go to a different flower. Needless to say, I did not get the shot I wanted. I am going to try to get one before the summer is over. The other pictures are of some of my dad's flowers. My favorites are the irises because they are so fragrant. But daisies are nice too.

Today has been kinda slow. I tried to write more on my novel. Unfortunately I only got about four paragraphs written...but it is good because I think I got a better beginning. A good "hook" so to speak. I just wish I would be more motivated to get down to it and write like for hours on end. I cannot sit still that long. I also took a nice long nap. It was nice.

It is kinda muggy here. Muggy means humid. On my bike ride today I thought it was in the 70s. I was off by ten degrees. Luckily for me there was nice winds. For some reason, I am being totally lazy and hate getting on my bike. I hope to get into a routine.

Tomorrow is softball in Wausau. One of the things I really look forward to each week. Hopefully it will not be a blowout like last week! (the other team beat us 25-10) I like more of a competition. The other team probably felt the same way.

Well, that is all I have! Have a great day and be sure to check out my other posts with the fun pictures from the road trip home.

p.s. The other pic besides the flowers and the butterfly is one of a dragonfly. Very cool little insects but also very hard to take pictures of them!

Home Sweet Home!

Well, I survived another road trip from Utah to Wisconsin...with a detour in Las Vegas. It is nice to be home, even though I thought to myself yesterday that I have only been home one day; how could I possibly already be bored! I guess I will have to use "my inner resources" (one of my roommate's terms) in order to keep myself busy and out of trouble this summer. Writing on here is a good activity.

Las Vegas was a blast. It always is. I was able to see my friend Lesley McBain. She is a riot. I also got to meet her boyfriend which was awesome. I like to see my friends dating. I went to an exhibit called "Bodies" which had cadavers and lots of stuff to read about the cadavers to learn about the body. If any of you truly know me, you know that I am way into that kind of stuff. I love how amazing the human body is and how it works so well! Marla wasn't too interested in the exhibit which I understood but was glad she let me ditch her for an hour so I could go!

I showed Marla the strip and the Lions at MGM, we also saw the white tiger at Mirage. It was so hot that we didn't get to see much and we only really had a day. I wish I could have shown Marla more of Vegas. I guess she just has more reason to go again. (No eloping Marla...we want to know about your future wedding!)

Alliance, Nebraska was the next adventure on our road trip. It truly was the adventure! Marla and I always have some weird adventure, like the time we tried to get soda from a machine in Idaho and I wanted Sprite but it gave me Rootbeer and Marla wanted something else but she also got Rootbeer. And then there was the massive storm in Texas and the crazy Southern lady at the hotel that told us it was good that we had already ate because nothing would be open.

This time we tried to stay in Sidney, NE but every single room in the town was booked. Actually, let's say every single DECENT room was booked. It was kinda late and we were tired but really had no choice but to drive to the Days Inn in Alliance. We knew they had a room because we called before driving the two hours. Okay, I take that back MARLA called because sometimes I do not like talking on the phone. She also had to get directions to the Highway that we needed to go to Alliance on(which was actually the road we took to the gas station!) because I would not do it. She picked on me about that. When we got to Alliance two hours later, we saw a Holiday Inn Express right away and decided to go there. We were very glad that we made that decision because it was AWESOME! It was so clean and new and even smelled like My Little Pony (My friend Mary Beth is the only person who would appreciate the My Little Pony expression because we stayed at a nice hotel in Salt Lake and it smelled like those little horses!). The beds were amazing, the pillows even had whether they were firm or soft embroidered into the cases. Even the towels told us they were smart. We lived the good life that night!

The next morning we took in the great tourist destination known as Carhenge. You can learn more about Carhenge at www.carhenge.com. It is so very cool. (Pictures of Carhenge are also on my previous blog, as well as pictures of Hoover Dam and Marla and I in Vegas. Be sure to check them out!)

We then drove to Des Moines, Iowa and spent some time with my brother, Erich and his family. They seem to be doing very well. Erich just got a big shot pilot job and is so excited. Sunday afternoon we headed to Madison, Wisconsin and had dinner with my sister, Andi and her family. It was a crazy house, but if it weren't I would have worried.

I then dropped Marla off at her house in Wausau and then headed to Rhinelander to my parents' house. I have spent the past few days adjusting to summer life. I took a long bike ride yesterday 11 miles, and then did laundry and wrote a bit of my novel. Starting a novel over is hard work. It will be interesting to see it progress though.

It is good to be home with my mom and dad. I am always glad to have the opportunity to spend time with them. My mother and I already went to her favorite spot, The Claridge, and played some trivia(which is one of my favorite things in Rhinelander). I am sure that there will be lots more trivia playing going on in the next few months.

Well, I am off to try to find some softball shoes for my first game tonight. I am excited to play but a little nervous about my ankle still. It gets sore now and again. Hopefully, playing will make it even stronger.

Thanks for reading the world longest blog, and have a great day!

Pictures from Roadtrip!

Pictures: Cars in sculpture at Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska, Me inside the ribs of a dinosaur sculpture at Carhenge, Marla at Hoover Dam, Marla and I at The Rainforest Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada. Obviously, the pictures are in no particular order.
This is the only fault (weird placement of text and pictures) I have found so far with this program....not so bad!