OOOOH how I LOVE Christmas!

And I love to decorate too!!

Notice that we wave that Hawkeye flag PROUDLY!!! Anyone driving by gets to see that we bleed black and gold!

Snowman Tree

Thanks Mom!

My mom was gracious enough to purchase us a new

bathroom storage cabinet...

I wish I would have remembered to take a before and after pictures but just imagine a counter FULL (and I mean FULL) of daily grooming products! Looks SO much better now.

Black Friday

Friday morning (MID morning) my mom, sister, and I headed out to brave the crowds. Lucky for us it had really calmed down for the most part. We hit up Michaels, Pier 1, Sam's Club, and just a few stores in the mall. Really nothing too exciting about our day but I did get most of the Hunecke side finished (Ar-Bear you are all I have left so any suggestions would be GREAT!!! hahah!) and have pretty good ideas for the remainder of gifts for the Gunderson's.

Justin stayed home and got the house back into some order, so that was nice.He had started some of the decorating for Christmas with lights on our deck. I helped him put up a few more in the front yard and I have to say it looks pretty sweet! (we are big dorks!) I was so worn out from the day i ended up in bed by 8:45. I do not remember EVER going to bed that early, I must be getting old!

Thanksgiving 2008 Full of Family and Fun!

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. My parents, April, Jolleen, Grandma Alice, Jessica, and Mitch all came to visit. I got up at 7:00 am to get the turkey primed and ready.... I can honestly say that I have never touched a "bird" like that! Don't get me wrong, I love meat and I LOVE turkey but I had never prepared one start to finish so when I had to take the "bag" of insides and the neck out I felt a little ill and even teared up a little. :) I had to laugh after I got everything prepared because I am sure most people don't cry when they prepare the bird for thanksgiving! And I suppose most don't drop the bird either... (that is a total different story!)

We all sat down together around 1:00 and enjoyed a scrumptious meal, if I do say so myself. I will not take all of the credit because everyone pitched in and to be honest, did most of the work. It was great to just sit down and enjoy a meal where we all could enjoy one another's company.

I had borrowed work's Wii for the holiday so the afternoon turned into a Wii tournament. Everyone got involved, EVEN my Grandma! She loved the bowling and didn't do too shabby at it either. There were plenty of games of bowling, tennis, and golf. It was pretty fun.

My mom was double lucky 'cuz it was here birhtday on Thanksgiving also. We enjoyed a Gunderson favorite ICE CREAM cake to celebrate!

Everyone started heading home Thursday night/ Friday morning. It was really great to get to hang out with everyone but missed those who couldn't be with us. I will try to get pictures uploaded later today or tomorrow...

Hunecke Highlights 11/17- 11/23

10.) Justin helped in Ringsted Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday... They got a lot done but still didn't get quite finished with the corn. Damn WEATHER!

9.) Friday's Dr. appt. went well... not a lot to report, just looking good so that is good to hear!

8.) Got some shopping done for Christmas and most of the food for Thanksgiving (I hate crowds, I am getting better at thinking ahead and shopping BEFORE the day of! Yay for small victories!)

7.) Justin worked all weekend which will free him up for thanksgiving weekend!

6.) Bear is getting a little better at not sticking like glue to my side.... I think the extra walking is helping....

5.) I met a friend from college for a drink and dinner on Wednesday night. It was nice to get out and be with someone who has known me for awhile.

4.) Justin got to do a little hunting while driving through the fields. Apparently the birds knew when he had his gun though, and hid.... Damn the luck!

3.) We are getting in the Thanksgiving spirit with all the decorating (not a ton) and the cooking/baking.... Hopefully everything turns out all right!

2.) Hawkeyes STOMPED the Gophers... oh the sweet smell of victory- glad you could stay with us Floyd!

1.) Mandy went to the ACDC concert with her dad, TONS of fun!

The Season for Thanks

I am sure everyone is VERY aware of what is coming up on Thursday but just in case you forgot.... THANKSGIVING is here! I love this holiday because traditionally everyone in our family (or families) get together and we get to celebrate all the things we are thankful for.

(not to mention all the wonderful food we will get to consume- what can I say, my life pretty much revolves around a good meal!)

Anyway, I thought since I know my mom will ask us at dinner what we are most thankful for I would just figure it out now and be prepared!

I am so very thankful that I have such a wonderful family (and extended family) because with out everyone's support/love/affection I would not be who I am today. I am also very thankful for all of you wonderful friends out there. I know I may not show it as often as I should but I appreciate everything you have done and will continue to do for me. Without friends and family like you life is just too boring! :o) For those of you we will not get to see this holiday, we will miss you and hope to see you soon!

I am also thankful that I have health and happiness. I realize that without this I couldn't continue to live my life everyday.

I hope each of you has a wonderful holiday and whateveryour family's tradition is- Enjoy it. I know that sometimes with all the hustle and bustle, travel, and overeating sometimes we forget what this holiday really means to us.

(I am speaking in a family sense, not the Pilgram/ Indian sense)

Enjoy your family or friends or whatever you choose to do! And above all REMEMBER TO GOBBLE TILL YOU WOBBLE! Happy Turkey Day!

ACDC Concert and our weekend in review! :o)

Even though JR had to work this past weekend we kept pretty busy. Friday night Bear and I enjoyed an evening of laundry and other fun housework duties (though lookin' at my house today it doesn't look like I did much!).

Saturday I started to feel really crappy so I basically laid around all day. No fun! I was hoping and praying it would pass and lucky for me it did. I have to say I think the the Hawks WHAMPING on the Gophers... Gotta love a sweet victory like this one! 55-0 what else needs to be said?!

Sunday was the part of the weekend I was looking forward to the most!!! The day had finally come- I got to go to the ACDC concert!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!

My dad and I had SO much fun. Our evening started at the "Downtowner" where we enjoyed a nice beverage and FANTASTIC cheeseburger. 6:00 rolled around so we headed over to the Excel Center to find our seats. We had great seats (if I do say so myself). We were in the balcony but in the very first row. It was great because we didn't have to worry about anyone standing in front of us, or so we thought! (more on that later). I especially loved them because we were on the aisle and I knew I wouldn't be totally claustrophobic since no one could corner me! Here are a few pictures from our night.

Getting ready to get in and find our seats

Here we are gearing up for a great time!

View from our seats- Rocking out!

Here is the entire view of the stage.

I had such a great time and I think my dad did too. :) we had to laugh 'cuz literally the first note of the first song a nice wave of weed floated past us. Quote of the night " that was fast!" We both thought it was pretty funny since we had been joking about it ever since we had gotten the tickets.

When I said earlier that I had something to say about people standing in front of us here is a funny story.... About 45 minutes into the concert a very intoxicated man comes barreling down the stairs, hops up on the railing, and sways back and forth trying not to topple forward and on top of a crowd or falling backwards on top of us. It was seriously crazy. I really thought he was going over. :) Lucky for us he did not fall and all was good.

There were tons of cool things that happened during the concert and it was definitely a rockin' time but I think the highlight for me was just getting to hang out with my dad for the night. It is a night I will always remember!

Here is one last photo: By the end of the night we were tired and ready to head out. We found a shortcut to our car so we took it--- My mom wasn't impressed!

Sickly girl

I am HOPING AND PRAYING that I am not getting sick! I have been feeling pretty crummy the past few days.... lots of headaches, coughing, tummy aches, back aches- among other things. I had attributed it to my meds but now I am beginning to wonder! (No, I know what you are thinking and NO, I KNOW I am not pregnant)

The other day when JR and I were at the doctor's office I was asked if I wanted a flu shot.I said no like I have been doing since they started pushing them basically due to the fact that I usually don't get sick. Justin ripped me a new one and said I need to get one, and I am starting to wish I had! Hopefully this doesn't really turn into anything 'cuz we have family headed this way for Thanksgiving- wouldn't that be a pretty picture- everyone eating while I throw up, yippee! :) Maybe when I go back to the Dr. I will re-think the flu shot, you know me and needles!

Mustangs

Congrats A-R Mustangs on a great season and on being Runner Up in 8-man football! We are very proud of your accomplishments! GO MUSTANGS!

LEEP Vacation blog

A few weeks back I mentioned that we had started a blog at work. It is finally finished and as promised I am adding the LEEP Vacation Blog link so you can take a look at what we offer. All of the 2008 vacations are up, including slideshows. Check out Disney World and Las Vegas and you will see the groups I traveled with. Hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of what I get to do at my job.

I am interested to see.....

I got to thinking earlier today- I wonder who all really reads our blog? I see on the map down towards the bottom of our page lots of different towns across the country but I am not sure who is actually reading. I try to figure it out but sometimes I am totally stumped. So here is what I am hoping you can do for me.....

If you read this before the end of November will you PLEASE leave me a comment on this post and tell me who you are and where you are reading from. I am just really interested in who is keeping up with our lives. I am excited to hear from all of you.

I think it is awesome that so many people have been reading about us, I just hope you have as much fun reading as I do writing!! Thanks for humoring me! :) click here and scroll down to comment

*** For more information on how to comment; click here***

Just getting weird

Ok, I wasn't going write about this but it is just getting TOO weird. I have been having lots of random thoughts lately that some how seem to happen.... Things that are totally out of my control and truly don't matter much but none-the-less I kind of take a step back and think what the?!

These are some of the things that have been happening: Random people have been popping into my head and out of the blue I hear from them or someone says something about them... thought about the fact that I hadn't had any real trouble with my dental work- tooth breaks the next day. Thought about not having any real car troubles lately- Tahoe starts chugging and doesn't want to drive. Many other things have been happening but they are too hard to explain and just make me seem crazy!! :o)

Here is why I am concerned: I keep having this dream that Justin and I find out we are having triplets. I have had this dream not once, or even twice, I have had it 3 times in the past few weeks.... This could be VERY scary if it did happen!! I guess we would just learn to roll with it! :)

Our Crazy Weekend

Ok, so as I promised earlier today I am finally getting around to writing about our FANTABULOUS weekend!

It all started Friday morning when we headed south to Cedar Falls to catch the big A-R game. As you probably already have heard, they won! YIPPIE! 57-20, def. not the score I was envisioning when we started but definitely something that was very exciting to watch! Justin and I were all decked out in our #43 jerseys so that was pretty cute. (Let me just say that I had picked out the outfit before Justin did BUT we won't mention that!) After the boys won the game they came over to the stands to thank everyone for being there- I realize I am a sap but that really got me, not gonna lie, I teared up a little! :o)

That night we got together with some of our best friends. We met downtown for our typical Toad's Friday Night special. It was a much needed evening full of great memories and fun times.

This is Nate- He LOVES limes.... I still can't believe how he sucked on those

like they were going out of style!

These are all my ladies (well almost all)


How cute are we?

Still not sure what he was doing but I THINK he is saying he

just realized he smells funny! HA! OR he just saw his reflection!!

Stance and Me hanging at the Blue Room

As you can tell, it had been a long night! Josie and I hangin at the Blue Room. I am still hoping she didn't find "the dress" so she can come up to MN and shop!

Saturday morning came a little early for me but I suppose I can get over it. Justin got me up with lovely smell of coffee. (I really hate the smell of coffee esp. in the morning, and ESP after a night out!) We did a little shopping and finally got him his long awaited Carharts. We must be getting old when we go to Farm and Fleet to buy presents! Afterwards we headed over to Waterloo to check out my friend Emilie's new store and we even got to see Haiden! Before we headed back to Ringsted we went over to Stacy and Josh's new place (Super nice, good job guys!).

That afternoon we headed back to Ringsted to help my parents with fieldwork. They had about 300 acres left and with all the crappy weather they had been dealing with nothing was really working out very well. Unfortunately by the time we got back everything had thawed too much so I couldn't go out and work ground like planned. Everything got put on hold till the next morning.

Sunday morning I was up and in the field before 5 am. NOT exactly the way I wanted to spend my birthday but I was happy to help. :) The rest of the day was spent jumping between the combine, tractor with Justin, and watchin' the Packers. Not an eventful day but I suppose that happens when you are as old as we are!

Justin is still in Ringsted and will be down there through Thursday. I hope they can get a lot done over the next few days because everyone is getting a little nervous.

Well, not much else to report.... Have a good week!

Gay Marriage- Keith Olberman

I am a strong person and I can admit that not too many years ago I was a VERY closed minded person... I didn't "understand" lifestyles different from my own, (I have no excuse really but I had lived a somewhat sheltered life). I wasn't completely for gay marriage until about 5 years ago. As I said I didn't "understand", I hadn't ever met anyone who was openly gay and I guess I never thought about it. Now as I think back I wonder, why? Why did I think that the only way to live one's life was to live it the way I live mine. What right do I have to say who you love? Sometimes I wonder who really thinks they hold the only key to happiness... As far as I know there is no template that we all have to fit into, that is the beauty of our world. I want everyone to be happy and I think that it is only "fair" that everyone be "allowed" the chance to do that.

I stole this website off a friend of mine's facebook but I felt that it only appropriate to share with all of you. Please take some time to read this Keith Olbermann Article because he has some great things to say.

"....This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives. And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it."

I think the ultimate goal for anyone- EVERYONE- is to be happy. Love is the greatest gift anyone can be given and in my opinion, everyone has the right to love whomever they choose. As you can imagine I am very disappointed that Prop 8 was rescinded because what does that really mean? Now all of the couples that did marry are suddenly not married? How does that happen? Why does this happen? This is soemthing that I REALLY don't understand. Sometimes I think for such a "progressive country" we are pretty far behind in the times......

Hunecke Highlights 11/09-11/16

10.) Pretty good trip to the Dr. - Staying + :o) Next week we will learn more...Hopefully

9.) We got to eat at Toad's in CF- ooooooooh SO missed!

8.) Hawks (maybe they will keep it up!) & Packers WON! Vikings LOSE! (YAY ME! BOO Justin)

7.) Got to do some "farming" - Let me tell you 4am is EARLY especially on your birthday!

6.) Bear and I started walking longer and much more often (workin' on his separation anxiety and rowdiness- anyone have any other suggestions?!)

5.) LEEP had it's first Annual Special Olympics Banquet- AWESOME, got teary eyed more than once!

4.) Justin got his long awaited Carharts- yippie!

3.) A-R football team won the Semi-Final game 57-20. play in finals on Friday 11/21 @ UNI Dome

2.) We got to hang out with some AWESOME (and very missed!) friends and family in CF

1.) Yesterday was our Birthday!!

I will definitely be writing more later about our weekend but I haven't had the time yet- It was a BUSY one! :)

Happy Birthday to us!

Happy 26th Birthday, hun! I hope you have a fantastic day. I am guessing we will not be spending much time together today since we will be "farming" but I suppose that is ok...

I just want you to know how great I think you are. Without you I don't make sense (as if you don't already know that!)

Thanks for the great weekend with my friends and I hope you enjoy your new Carharts!

PS I still hate sharing "my day" with you- LOVE YOU!

Go Mustangs!!

Way to go A-R! Congrats on making it to the Championship game next Friday!!!!

The game was super exciting yesterday. I had a blast watching the boys whamp on the competition!! The game started out rather exciting with Stanton intercepting our first pass and capitalizing on it with a touchdown and 2 point conversion... Thankfully we responded with a touchdown and it just kept going after that. The final score was 57-20 which is rather amazing in itself! We all had a blast cheering for our team. It was definitely a great day to be a MUSTANG!

*Only 1 complaint about the tournament.... We still had 9 minutes to play when the Ankeny fans (for the following game) began to fill in around us. They would climb over and across us with no respect for the game we were watching. More than once there were groups of people standing in front of us and we couldn't see what was happening, I can't believe how rude their fans were.... It would have been nice if the Dome staff would have done a better job making sure that there was a traffic pattern. We couldn't even get out of the stands because of the mobs of people trying to get in for the following game. Can we say ANNOYING?! I hate to complain about an otherwise fantastic day but come on, have a little respect!!!

Christmas card- WHAT?!

I ordered my Christmas cards yetserday, does that make me old?! Guess I better get my addresses together so I can get them sent out after Thanksgiving. Wow the preparation begins!

no clevor title... sorry!

So, today marked the beginning of the next round in the Hunecke Dr appts...

Not a whole to to report EXCEPT she is a little concerned that I do have an endmetrioma (sp) on my right ovary... This could be not so good but we are going to wait and see. IF it stays the same (like it has over the past 4 months) and we don't get pregnant this time around, we will be taking another month off and go back on the baby blockers. This will also mean that we will do more tests and possibly a minor surgery to remove the "cystic structure" as she put it. If I would become pregnant she would keep a watchful eye on it but isn't concerned. Apparently it shouldn't cause any problems during a pregnancy.

Lucky me I GET to have Justin give me some more shots so that should be lovely.... I doubt it will be as funny as the last time around but who knows... it could be interesting!

To be honest I have been pretty lucky and as of yet I haven't been overly sick on any of the meds. I was worried because last time I did all this stuff I was running to the bathroom, waste basket, or covering my mouth and running more than I wasn't. Hopefully it rings true with this new round of meds.

Well, off to another month of drugs, blood tests, and ultrasounds. Stay tuned!

Top 10 things that happened this week

Hunecke Highlights for November 2- November 9

10.) AR's football team won and will be headed to UNI on Friday to play ball, which means we to go to CF for the night!

9.) Packers lose (Bad for Mandy!) Vikings win (Good for Justin!)

8.) Justin got 2.5 pheasants this weekend. (apparently he "helped" with his .5)

7.) Saw lots of old friends Friday night.

6.) Our birthdays are a week away

5.) It snowed!!! (could be good- could be bad!)

4.) HAWKS WIN!!!!

3.) Obama was elected President of the USA

2.) Got to be with my family all weekend

1.) ALI AND TRENT are getting married!

oh, and one more thing.... only 46 days till Christmas- are you ready? :o)

Always a good time at Merrits

After the boy's big win last night we headed uptown to Merrits to celebrate. I ran into a Amy Hoyer (a fellow blogger) and we caught up (in person!) finally. It had been way too long. :o) here we are enjoying favorite beverages

Here are all the mommies hangin out together!

Me and one of my favorite guys (my first son will have his name as his middle name- oh yeah, it is also Justin's middle name but SHHHHHHHHHHHHH! )

I spent some time catching up with a few old friends as well. Lots of fun!

We had a great night with lots of celebrating!! Ali and Trent called us to let us know that they were engaged!! YAY! I know I already wrote about that but we are all really happy that Trent will be part of our family-OFFICIALLY! YAY for us!

on a happier note!

2 quick things!!!!

#1 AR won tonight so THAT MEANS I WILL BE IN CEDAR FALLS ON FRIDAY NIGHT!! Look out people, MANDY is back in town! WOOT WOOT! Sorry NSK but tonight AR just out played you. Brooke said it best, I assumed the game would be close but it wasn't... I was pretty surprised with the final score 49-14.... It was one hell of a COLD ass game! It was good to see Brock and Brett play though. I hadn't seen them play before so that was fun!!! Congrats to the Eagles on a great season.

#2 Ali and Trent got engaged!!! YAY congrats to the both of you (oh and to Homer and Mowgli, hope they get along!)

What a great night! More stories tomorrow but for now good night!

and the verdict is.....

Today was D- day - or something. We had another Dr's appointment to find out how things are progressing with all of our fertility treatments. Well as I suspected nothing had really changed..... so in short this basically means- no baby. (at least not this time around! :o) ) This really wasn't a surprise to me because the Dr. had said she didn't think my body was really taking to the Clomid so we will change to a different med this next month... So the moral of the story is.... we are off to another round of meds, blood work, and this time we are doing a roto-rooter procedure as Justin calls it. (also known as tubal dye study to everyone else) We shall see where this takes us. Wish us luck!

On the Road AGAIN!

This weekend we will be headed back to Iowa for a jam packed weekend..... Tomorrow night we are going to be catching the big A-R vs. NSK game in Armstrong. Hopefully the Mustangs can pull out a win!

(it would be awesome if they win 'cuz then we would have an excuse to head to Cedar Falls next weekend AND it is our birthday on Sunday so how sweet would that be?)

My sister is coming home from DC so we will all be spending the weekend together. I haven't seen her since she moved out there back in August. It will be nice to be together. Not really sure what our plans are going to be but it should be fun. Hopefully the snow will hold off and not effect her flight!

I have Monday off to observe Veteran's Day so that will be nice. JR actually has to work so I guess that just kinda figures! :)

Have a great weekend!!!

Relax!

I started reading a new blog One Minute Writer (suggested by Blogger) and this one is kinda cool. The idea behind this blog is to give bloggers subjects/suggestions to write about. There are a few that I have found kinda fun to do/read so I thought I would try it on for size!!

Today's Writing Prompt: Relax
You have two hours to do something relaxing, and a budget of $100. What will you do?

If I had 2 hours all to myself with $100 to spend I would be sitting at a spa.... I would definitely relish in a massage!!

See short and sweet but it is kinda fun!

Happy Early Birthday To ME!!!

I just found out that I "have" to go on a Caribbean Cruise with LEEP this December. I will be gone 12/15-12/20 enjoying fun in the sun. WOO HOO!! Hopefully there isn't a huge blizzard that makes you all super jealous while I am gone!

As of now I don't know the exact route we are going on because it needs to be finalized but no matter what I am SUPER excited!! I just can't WAIT!

*** found out my itinerary today! We are going to be heading to the BAHAMAS instead! Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turks are the island stops... I can't wait!***

It Feels So Good!

I love how passionate EVERYONE has been about this election. It has been awesome to see how everyone has been standing up for what they believe in. I am such a nerd and just love watching all the states turn blue or red. I am glued to the TV and I can't stop!!! Go USA!

VOTE!

As if you didn't know what today is already, (and if you didn't then you have been living under a rock!) I am just doing my civic duty reminding you to get out and V-O-T-E!!! Whichever candidate you feel most fits what our country needs, go let your voice be heard.

Justin and I went together this a.m. and I got to vouch for him. He hadn't registered yet so I had to say he was my hubby-luck him! :o) Kinda find it funny that no one looked at my ID... Does that happen everywhere? I get carded to go to a bar and drink but not to vote for how our country is run.... Is there something wrong with this picture?! Anywho... we rocked the vote, go do the same!

Weekend Warrior

Our weekend was kind of our "typical" weekend. Justin was working so that means I was on my own. Saturday I actually spent working- I took a group of participants to a MSU football game and out for pizza. It was pretty nice to be out and about (even if I wanted to just be at home cuddled up on the couch!) the weather was great so that was nice.

Today I got busy... Laundry, cleaning, vacuuming, and I even finally unpacked AND rearranged the scrapbook/office/guest bedroom!! YAY ME! I have most everything in its place (FINALLY) so I can finally feel like I could be somewhat productive when I get to scrapping. Oh the little luxuries! I guess this is what happens to a person after moving 5 times in 3 years. BOO!

I watched the Packers today and unfortunately they lost... I don't want to get into it too much but really- get out of the pocket and move Rodgers, oh and where are you blockers?!?! GRR, lol enough said!

After posting Bear's singing last night, he has been getting offers to become part of several choirs (still not sure if he is a soprano or a baritone....) after his Internet debut... We are sifting through the offers and we will see which one fits our needs the most. He has become quite the hot commodity! :o)

Thank you Suave hair products....

Bear loves this commercial so much he had to sing along. I missed the part where he looks TOTALLY confused about what is happening when the it starts BUT I caught the rest! Enjoy!