Oregon in Wisconsin

As we all know, Eli plays soccer. a lot. So during summer soccer he had a soccer tourney in Oregon, Wisconsin. (terrible deceiving, i know) It's one of my favorite soccer events of the whole year. i'm not totally sure why. SO this year we went. as always. We were in charge of taking Eli and Jeff. VERY last minute (10 minutes before we left) tony decided to come as well. We took two cars, because it's always crazy driving schedule stuff at this. to get the players there at one time, and the spectators there at a more realistic time. We always stay a block from a mall, so that's an added bonus.

Mom and Dad enjoying shade at halftime

Eli has got some good speed.

So if i remember correctly, they played a game mid morning on saturday. This team was RIDICULOUS. our team got two broken arms in one game. that's not fair. we lost pretty badly. but it was still fun to watch the game. It was Wisconsin, in July. The heat was pretty unbearable. 

This team really attacked Eli, but i always said 'it's pretty easy to figure out which guy to block once they know how good he is. they just have to find the black kid with the sweet mohawk' haha

These guys fought a good fight though. for sure.

They had an afternoon game later on saturday. I got really distracted during that game. And the guys were exhausted. So it didn't end well i'm pretty sure. EDIT: dad corrected me: this game ended i a shoot out. these guys played their heart outs until the last minute! i'm almost certain we won this game.

we were done for the day! it was back to the hotel/mall. The great thing about this tourney, mom and dad get two hotel rooms! one for the stinky boys, one for the normal exhausted adults. The guys have this down, they bring their x-box and just camp in their room with the A/C on high. haha

 Saturday there was another midmorning game. that was a rough game. we were short players. for injury, and then with heat exhaustion. it was rough to watch. but they pulled through. EDIT: again, this game ended in a shoot out! they had NO subs for awhile, but they kept up with the other team. i'm pretty sure this is the game the lost to in a shoot out.

Sometime during a lunch break (i think on sunday) dad and i found a WELL a/c'd hole in the wall mexican restaurant. Then we headed back to the fields for more futbol.

I'm glad i went. Dad always stands. Since eli always plays forward dad stands on whatever the field eli is playing on, so he can watch his son better. and he will walk around and talk to random strangers! it's kind of miraculous to me. This socially anxious man, talking to random strangers. it's so great to see! but since dad is always off, mom and i get to sit together and watch the games. by the end of this tourney, we stopped bringing out the chair for dad. haha But we are all pretty great fans. Mom and Dad know the names of almost every kid on the team, i cheer so loud and get eli so mad. it's all good fun! :-)

jeff, tony, trenton, eli

After a long weekend of soccer, these boys were beat! time to head home! Oh, Trenton, our old neighbor (they moved this summer) and their school soccer teammate and friend, decided to come along and support his friends.

The funny thing about this weekend is the massive amount of Gatorade and Diet Dr Pepper we went through. Every year, by sunday we are stopping somewhere for more ice and more light blue gatorade. It's good there's 3 Kwik Trips in the tiny town of Oregon, so there's lots of places to buy it.

This year, since dad drove the boys down, mom drove them back. That left dad and i to go on an adventure! we stopped in Madison and Cracker Barrel for some delish dinner. Then headed north. i had my photog eye going, so i stopped for a pretty farm picture, but that led us on some driving adventures. Dad wanted to take me on the ferry he once found on accident. so off we went! and we found it!!

Watching the Ferry come across the river

me on the ferry

dad with is beauty

We all made it home safe and sound and exhausted. It was a fun weekend. Lots of soccer, lots of talking. But it's always nice to be home again.

i'm cheating a little

i found a sneaky way to post about lynn and the girls trips!

http://holmfeet.blogspot.com/2011/08/big-trip-colorado.html

http://holmfeet.blogspot.com/2011/08/big-trip-utah.html

i hope that works. that way we dont have to blog about all of those adventures again! :-)

Utah Bound

Dad posted a picture from Buford in July.

In August Tony and i drove through Buford again on our MOVE out to Utah.

We had a very uneventful (car troubles wise) trip out to Utah. All the thanks and credit goes to mom and dad, for giving into my tearful pleas and requests of not wanting to drive a beater out here and continue to put money into something that wont last long. Mom and Dad bought us what feels like a brand new Toyota Yaris. and it is WONDERFUL. so we got to drive that across the country.

in the driveway, ready for a drive across the country!

Tony was a seriously great road tripper! he can drive for as long as he wants. then falls asleep almost immediately in the passengers seat. its the best kind of road tripper.

check out that smile of tonys! LOVE IT!!

we stopped mid nebraska for the night, thanks to mom and dad. and then kept on driving. 

on the drive from Meeker to Buford tony commented on how far out in the middle of no-where they live. 

but i'm pretty sure he loved it once he got there. he said he wants jimmy and ethan to come out there sometime. and he said he'd live out there and run a bed and breakfast. it was neat to hear. 

tony loved the guest house

we went up and explored the lake. it was beautiful

love this kid.

he thought Dinosaur, CO was the coolest thing ever

Tony and I made it all the way to Utah in one piece! and we didn't kill each other. neither of us got much sleep, but we made it. And i'm so so glad we are here!

Nauvoo... in August.

August 18th i had a best friend get married in Nauvoo. Since Lynn and the girls were visiting (that post will come later) Lynn and I decided to go on a sisters road trip down for it. I had a blast! it was definitely eventful, but we made the most of it all. 

We left Marshfield mid morning on wednesday and took the backroads so we could go Bargain Nooking. it was a fairly productive trip shopping. lynn found me a $1.50 denim skirt. and i know she got at least one really REALLY cute shirt (i can't remember what else). So there we were, on our way to Nauvoo. We were planning on staying close to Nauvoo but not IN Nauvoo. Well, we stopped in Dubuque for lunch at arbys. that is a very beautiful drive coming into Dubuque!! all of these old red brick buildings and homes going up a hill from the river. it was wonderful (but very hazy because of ALL the humidity) well after lunch, we're driving up a hill and i look down and panicked. 

the engine was hotter than it should be! the needle wasn't all the way up, but it was higher than normal. it was at... where the gas needle would be if the tank was 3/4 full. does that make sense? it does to me. that image is engrained in my mind forever i think. So i immediately pull over at a gas station and call daddy. haha. I follow his directions and go inside and buy coolant and fill the coolant tank. then some very nice gentleman (with no top teeth, and a van full of kids) stops and asks if we need help. He takes the radiator cap off and fills the entire radiator. it was basically empty!! NOT GOOD. mom (the amazing woman that she is) had already started looking for a Honda Dealership for us to go to. we hop back in the car and head straight there. they get us in, take forever to look at it (why would someone take a chevy truck to a honda dealership for an oil change!? stupid people), and then they hit us with it. head gasket. over $2000. i'm trying not to cry. dad says he's driving the Echo down to us so we can keep traveling, and he will 'tow the honda home.' mom and dad get us a hotel room in Dubuque (i got us a better room by telling her our sob story about our car breaking down) and lynn and i have the evening to relax. we walk across the parking lot to Olive Garden for dinner. Then went hot tubbing! eventually dad showed up and told us his real plan. he was just gonna drive it home. he ended up researching forums and getting this product he put in and it was supposed to seal a head gasket leak. and so far.. it's working!!

so anyways, lynn and i got up and drove the 3+ hours to Nauvoo (in the Echo). I was driving like a crazy person at the end. but we got there. i missed them coming out of the temple (which seriously made me cry) but i still got a ton of awesome pictures, and i still got to hug sammi. Then Lynn and I went and toured Nauvoo. We did a carriage ride to Inspiration Point. we toured a few buildings. we ate dinner at a diner. we got to go and learn about our heritage! on our way back to the hotel i heard this dragging sound and then a 'thud' and then i saw this piece of metal in the middle of the road in the rear view mirror. i ran back to get it. we got to the hotel and i tried and tried to figure out where this rusted piece of junk came from but i had no idea. so i took a picture, sent it to dad, then put it in a walmart bag and took it home. and then i got a terrible migraine and poor lynn had to sit in the hotel with me all night since i couldn't do anything. 

on the carriage ride!

friday morning we got up and i took some family pictures for the Plesheks (since their family had just grown!) Lynn and i shopped at a few stores in Nauvoo, then we hit the road for Muscatine, for sammi and jeffs reception.

sisters enjoying a morning in Nauvoo.

We got there a bit early and decided to go see a movie. The Help. we walked to the theater (that was kinda difficult to find using googlemaps) but we LOVED the movie!! it makes you laugh and cry. After the movie we hit up this amazing Thai restaurant downtown Muscatine. it was delish. Then we walked over to the reception. it was out on a patio of a historic building. it was wonderful! we talked, danced, took pictures. loved it. 

at the reception. we were the self dubbed photographers

saturday morning we got up and drove back to dubuque. shopped for clothes for the photo shoot for the girls. then eventually headed for home. but we stopped at grandma jeffersons! we got to grill out with grandma, mom, lynn, me, toni, rich, carolyn, and mark. we had a blast! then we were finally home. 

4 generations

3 sets of sisters.

Manchester United vs Chicago Fire

Saturday July 23rd Manchester United played the MLS team Chicago Fire at Soldier Field.

Dad, being the diehard futbol fan that he is, found out and mom got us all tickets. they got enough tickets for all of us to bring a friend. (mom and dad were each others friend) Tony brought Jimmy, I brought Sammi, and Eli brought Ryne.  it was a phenomenal experience! we were up in the nosebleeds, but it really didn't make a difference! Sam and I had the telephoto lens on the camera so we could see close up when we wanted to (so i could announce after half time that Rooney was out on the field!!) It was a pretty intense day though. Mom, dad, tony, jimmy, ryne, and eli left early saturday morning for Chicago, they came just a little bit late (but still got to see the majority of the game) and then turned around and drove straight back to Marshfield. It was a long day, but i think they enjoyed it.

The game was sold out. They announced that we made a new record for the number of people at a chicago fire game. We were lucky enough to NOT have to look into the sun, after a certain amount of time we didn't even have the sun shining on us.

p.s. it was RIDICULOUSLY hot this day. really. terribly hot. and we ALL had to walk a gazillion miles from our cars to the field. and then up a ton of stairs. but it was a great experience. it was so fun to see so many familys of fathers and sons there watching soccer. this shows to me that it's a growing sport that more and more americans are learning to enjoy. even though there were plenty of hispanics there too. :-)

final score: Man UTD 3 - Fire 1

this is what a sold out crowd at Soldier Field looks like.

tony, jimmy, ryne, eli, mom, dad. 

soldier field!

mom and dad, i dont know that we ever really thanked you. So i'll publicly say it now. Thank you so much for this amazing experience and opportunity. I love you!

Autumn in Wisconsin

Mom and I took an afternoon drive northward to Rustic Road #1 and a quilt show in Phillips.  We got there too late for the quilt show but found some nice harvest scenes.

And a few from our drive home from Grandma's Sunday afternoon conference.

Cranberries, anyone?





OK, Sara. You asked for more.

A view at the top of the Buford-New Castle road.  Try this longer short-cut from Glenwood Springs to Grandma's house in Buford.  Before reaching the highlands of Colorado, this trip in late July/early August included Kansas City for a visit to the new Livestrong Soccer Arena and a stop in Denver for a Colorado Rockies game.

I have more but couldn't upload.  So that's all for now.