Worst Blogger Ever

Well, I'd say it's official. I am the world's worst blogger! I didn't forget about this little blog but you see, things just kept popping up! Ugh, so I will try to be better. I promise.

Let's see, my last post was how long ago? August? Yikes. I'm sure a million things have happened since then...let's see if I can come up with a run down.

September: About runned myself to death by taking too many graduate courses. I took 16 credit hours (and had to beg my advisor to let me take that many because the courses were so difficult) and on top of that I was doing all of the Business Manager work in Salina. I had a lot of late nights, breakdowns, and WTH am I doing moments. But I made it through and passed every class with an A or B. Go me. September also brought hockey back. Yee-haw! We sure do love our hockey.

October: I can't remember this month---it was a whirlwind of work and school!

November: Once again, a whirlwind! But we did buy some cute new furniture for the living room. Not major stuff, but two small chairs and a little table between them. I don't think I have any photos but will try to take some and upload. It really completes the look of the living room.

December: Our local hockey team was hosting a tournament for an Under 18 league. The owner of our team lives in Atlanta, GA and his son's local team was one of the teams competing in the league so they were asking for billet families to take in a player or two for the weekend. We volunteered and had two boys stay with us for a weekend. They were great kids and their team won the tournament so that was fantastic. We really enjoyed having them around so we're talking about billeting a player next year for the entire season (Jim wants to get the basement finished first so we'll see!) We went for a mini vacation around Christmas...to St Louis to watch the Red Wings play! Now, I did some research before booking our hotel and had a sneaking suspicion that some hot hockey players would be staying at the same hotel. Jim thought I was full of it and kept telling me "Now don't get your hopes up, the odds of the team staying at this exact hotel are pretty slim". We went to St Lou the day before the game for a couple reasons. One, because we could spend the entire day doing things around St Lou. And two, because the Wings had a game in Detroit the night before so I knew they would be flying to St Lou after their game so if they WERE staying at the hotel then we had the best chance of meeting them in the morning. So we get up in the morning and decide to head down to breakfast (of course we were both wearing Red Wings shirts) and as we're getting closer to the hotel restaurant I see Jonathan Ericsson up at the buffet. And I turn to Jim and I say, "I told you!" OMG LOOK! It's Lidstrom. And OMG there's Zetterberg. And then I realize OMG THAT'S THE RED WINGS. WHERE'S FILPPULA?!? So we of course both start tweeting and facebooking. I was shaking, it was so surreal! So we sit down at our table and I'm sneaking pictures with my cell phone of course because NOBODY was going to believe that we were eating breakfast ten feet from the team! Jim is contemplating going over to Nick Lidstrom and saying hi but I said it was rude to interrupt them while they're eating. He eventually did, and shook Lids' hand and congratulated him on his first career hat trick. Lids was at the same table as Zetterberg so he talked to him as well. PRETTY FREAKING AWESOME! I think all in all we saw Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Ericsson, Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, Osgood, Howard, and Franzen at breakfast (I swear there was one more person but I can't remember who---no sighting of Filppula though). At that point we went back up to our room to compose ourselves! I knew the team would be heading to the rink for their morning skate but was unsure what time they would go. We hung out in the lobby for a bit waiting and ended up heading out since we thought we probably missed them. We went to Union Station, an old railroad depot turned into a mall...kindof. I think at one point it was a mall, but now it's pretty run down with a whole lot of nothing! So we headed back to the hotel. As we walked around a corner we saw Mickey Redmond, play-by-play/color analyst for the Wings. He was talking to someone so we were waiting until he was finished when all of a sudden Jim grabs my arm and says COME ON. NOW. So I follow him blindly into the elevator. And I look around. To my left...Dan Cleary. To my right...Darren Helm. Next to him. HOLY MOLY. NO WAY. Valtteri Filppula (and next to him was Johan Franzen but at this point all I could think about was I am in the same elevator with Filppula who I swear is my soul mate!). And I can't think. I can't speak. I'm just in shock. So Cleary says, "Are you guys here for the game?" And we said yes. Now, looking back at this, we were all riding to floor 3 from floor 1, so this conversation couldn't have taken very long at all. But I swear, it seems like it was a long conversation! Anyways, he asked where we were from and we talked about that for a minute. And then I get up my nerve and shyly look at Fil and ask if I can get a photo with him. He smiles and says sure and starts to move so he can stand next to me. And I go, "Oh not now, the lighting in here is really bad. I'll get it later." Jim is still, to this day, giving me crap for that. He says, "You have waiting HOW LONG for this and you're going to say 'I'll get it later?!?' What were you thinking???" haha Ok he has a point. So Cleary chuckles and says, "Oh no. Fil likes to get his picture taken. He's like a model." And all the players laugh. So I say well we can just do it on your floor. So we all get off (like I said, we only went up two floors but it seems like it was so much longer!) and Fil is begin very patient. Jim took one photo with our camera and then I asked if I could have a second one with my cell so I could put it on Facebook. He chuckled and said yes. I had been carrying around a Sports Illustrated magazine that has this amazing photo of Fil scoring from the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 where he's like flying through the air and I asked him to sign it, which he gladly did. We asked if they were tired from last night's game and he said not really (in his oh so cute Finnish accent). I told him congrats on his goal from last night and said it was a great goal and he said thanks. And then Jim said, "but that goal was amazing" meaning the one in the magazine and he chuckled and said yeah it really was. So Jim took the second picture and I swear I had died and gone to heaven. And then we parted ways. Oh how I wanted to follow him. haha. We went back up to our room so I could compose myself. :) We ate dinner after that and went back up to our room again so I could grab my coat and in Kris Draper rode in the elevator with us. He was super friendly and we talked with him on the ride up. All the players were so great...so absolutely great. We didn't carry our jerseys around with us so we're a little disappointed we didn't get those signed but I have a sneaking suspicion we'll have another chance! Anyways, that afternoon we went up to the top of the Gateway Arch and then went to the game. Unfortunately the Wings lost, but even that couldn't bring down our excitement! :) Drove him in a snow storm just in time for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was so fabulous.

January: Jim's 29th birthday! Decided to only take 12 hours of classes this semester. Smart move! :) But that pushes my graduation date to July as I'll have to take two classes this summer. It's worth it though just so I don't have a meltdown! We did hire another Business Manager in Salina (finally) so at least that was finally taken back off of my plate! Covering for about a week turned into about 8 months! Sheesh.

February: ??

March: ??

April: I went to Palm Springs, California again for work (it's rough, I know!) I was training a new Business Manager there. It was fabulous like always and super relaxing. Jim wanted to go but was unable to due to work. Maybe next time! Playoff hockey started. Yahoo! Since our May is super, super busy, I'm having to cram all of my school work into April so I can finish up early and make time for May, so that's been the big push lately!

May: Wow, May. So much going on. The first week of May we are super busy as our local hockey team is hosting the Robertson Cup. It's the finals for this league and as the host, our team gets a bye into the tournament. Our team was great this year and finished the regular season at the top with the most points. However, our top goal scorer was injured with a concussion and won't be back this season---if ever. So the team has really struggled since then and I'm not sure how they'll do in the tournament. Fingers crossed! The second week of May is a week of tying up loose ends...getting things ready...because on the 13th we head to Europe! It's only 16 days away and we are just so excited. I can't believe that it's actually almost here! There were times that it felt like this trip was never going to get here, but here it is! I have a few more things to do for the trip but the majority of the planning is done. Tickets are bought, apartments are booked, I think I've remembered it all. :) Even did a packing test last weekend! And I'm glad to say we are taking only ONE suitcase (excluding carry ons). ONE suitcase that even has a bag folded up in the bottom in case we need extra room on the way back! Not too shabby, huh?

Anyways, that's the run down. I'm actually typing this out at work, so bear with me, but when I get home tonight, I'll upload some photos! Until then...