Big Mama at the Bulls game!

The last week of pregnancy isn't my favorite. I get so big and uncomfortable and pretty much just feel like hibernating in my pajamas and avoiding all contact with the outer world.  But a week before Nori was born Taber scored some tickets to a Bulls game, and that was exciting enough to convince big mama to put on some clothes and get out of the house. 

The weather outside was frightful, but inside the Untied Center was one big party.

 It felt so good to be out of the house! I even let the Chicago Bull take a photo op with Big Mama.

Those Bulls put on a good show, when the flying bull blimp started cruising around the arena I was like, "This is awesome!"

 Naomi and Kevin came with us and we had a good old time. The Bulls were destroying the 76ers, so there wasn't a question of whether or not they would win, but they have a deal with McDonalds that if the Bulls score over 100 points, everyone at the game gets a free Big Mac! When the score starting climbing into the 90's the whole crowd started chanting, "BIG MAC! BIG MAC!!" Every basket they scored set the crowd on fire as we got one point closer to greasy goodness on a bun. With seconds to spare, the Bulls sunk the last basket that tipped us over 100. The whole arena exploded!!

The cheerleaders ran laps with giant Big Macs on a stick. Everyone was going NUTS!! It was awesome!

Totally worth shedding my pajamas and getting out of the house!

"Collapse Complete"

That was the headline of the Sports Section Saturday morning after the Boston Bruins sealed their place in the hall of shame as only one in 3 teams EVER to lose a series after being up 3-0 after game 3. I don't know how they choked so bad but we were there to witness the final meltdown in game 7.

The house was packed, the fans were on fire. I have never been in a more fiesty and pumped up crowd. They wanted to send the Flyers packing and they were thirsty for blood!

At the end of period 1 the Bruins were up 3-0! The excitement in the arena was electric.

We were dutifully playing our part as fan wanna-bes, sporting Bruins t-shirts and waving our rally towels with hardcore devotion.

But things went sour very quickly. Philly scored twice and the Bruins fans started getting antsy. When a third goal was scored tying the game, a fight broke out in the stands next to us with a Boston and a Philly Fan slugging it out. The whole arena turned to watch the fight and then began chanting "LET HIM STAY! LET HIM STAY!" when the security guys were escorting the Boston fan out.

The fans rallied around their team for one last push. People were up on their feet, screaming, stomping, cheering those Bruins on to end. But Philly scored again and somehow the Bruins went from this score:

to the most pathetic and dismal loss I've ever witnessed. When the final buzzer went off everyone started booing and throwing their towels on the ice. People were throwing their beer too which wasn't cool when it started raining down on us. As we were leaving I heard more potty language than I have in my entire life. On the way out we saw grown men close to tears yelling things like,

"41 games of my *bleeping* time and *bleepity bleep* money! What a waste!"

"I'm Humiliated! *bleeping* HUMILIATED!"

It was sad.

Guess that's the benefit of just being a wanna-be fan. : ) Despite the doom and gloom around us were still in high spirits. We had a babysitter and we were in Boston on a Friday night! Heck yeah!

We hailed a pedicab (I've always wanted to ride one!) and weaved through the game traffic to the Omni Parker House hotel, birthplace of the very first Boston Cream Pie.

While thousands of dejected Bruins fans were drowning their sorrows in beer, we were happily enjoying this marvelous creation.

When all was said and done I learned a few important things from our evening in Beantown.

1) Boston fans are passionate and they mean business. Don't mess with them or their teams or you might get punched in the face.

2) Pedicabs are awesome, and pedicab drivers deserve every penny you pay them because they work HARD!

3) If coming out here to visit us isn't enough incentive for you, at least come for the Boston cream pie. Amazing : )

A Favre FHE

A few months ago Taber bought us some tickets to a Vikings game. At the time Brett Favre wasn't even a blip on our radar. Well then of course he signed on to play with the Vikings and suddenly our tickets to the Vikings vs. Packers game became a pretty hot item. We thought about selling them but at the end of the day I thought, "Geez, if people are willing to pay that much to go to this game, it must be worth going to!!" So we held onto the tickets and I'm SO glad we did.

This was my first NFL experience and HOLY COW!! I've never experienced football like that before. I mean, I thought the cougar fans could get intense but those Vikings fans are C-R-A-Z-Y!! Case in point, this guy I'm standing with in the picture below. Notice the NFL tatoo on his bicep. Yeah, these fans are intense!!! The stadium was sold out and the fans were on their feet the whole time, cheering and booing with every play like it was a rock concert. Of course they were all pretty drunk from the tailgating which made for some pretty colorful moments. : )

Here's a pic of the concourse jam packed with all the fans. We went the wrong way to get to our seats and it took us almost 40 minutes to navigate the crowd. Good thing we came early!

Once inside we got pretty excited when we saw that our seats were on the third row. We had an awesome view of the field and in the second picture below you can see good old Favre, number 4, getting ready to make a play.


Can you see the excitement in Taber's eyes? I'm telling you, that stadium was buzzing with energy. The rivalry between the two teams, the legend on the field, it was all the makings for a great game.

Also kind of cool, right below us was a VIP section on the field and a bunch of players from the Minnesota Twins were sitting there. They went on to win a big game tonight in the same Metrodome!

The Vikings had an awesome game with some great plays and emotional moments. We bonded with our seat mates, jumped, cheered, screamed, yelled, sang, danced and just had a really good time. Favorite quote of the night: When we were walking to the stadium, an insanely drunk guy at the tailgating party was staggering around, shouting in heavily slurred speech, "We'll take Brett Favre if they don't want em!" Heck yes we will! I know I haven't been a big NFL fan in the past but things are changing because I've finally found my team! Skol Vikings!!

p.s. Many many thanks to our amazingly kind friends Patrick and Maria for coming to our house to watch the girls all evening! We love you guys!!

Dating

I think it goes without saying that Taber is hot. And well, not to brag or anything but he totally asked me out last week! What can I say? I'm a lucky girl; ) We hang out quite a bit (marriage kind of has that effect on people) but when he sees me, it's in the morning when I first wake up, bed head, morning breath, no makeup, blah! Or in the evening with frazzled mommy hair, kid food, fingerprints and drool all over my clothes, certainly not looking my finest. So yeah, dates are always a good time to remind him (and myself) that I actually DO have other clothes besides my workout pants and t-shirts and that we are not only a great mommy/daddy team, we are a great couple!

He took me to a Twins game, tickets courtesy of his boss who is always so generous to hook us up. We doubled with our friends Cameron and Wendy and had a great time chatting, laughing, and being couples. We've gone to a few games before with the girls but the game looks a lot different when you're trying to entertain a 3 year old and keep a 1 year old from putting every scary germ infested thing from the bleachers into her mouth. (special thanks to my dear friend/life saver/angel of a neighbor Kara, who watched the girls for us even though she is due with her baby next week! Thank you for making our date night possible!)

We had great seats (thanks again to Taber's boss) finally made it to the 7th inning stretch,(never done that with the kids) and the Twins won! I would definitely say our date night was a huge success.

Extra bonus: The boys even treated the ladies to some ice cream (well, they gave us their wallets and told us to go get some) Good enough for me!!

Since my camera is broken...

I thought I'd do a random post on some of the pics I took before it's demise. Here's our little update:

the weather has been nicer, fickle at times, but we packed away our winter coats and haven't had to get them out again, so that's good!

On a particularly sunny day we played in our front "yard" (aka patch of grass) and did side walk chalk in our drive way. It was a little bit windy and Brinley got a kick out of having her face blown in constantly.


With the good weather that means more running outside! Taber has done a couple runs with Teya in the jogging stroller and her reward for staying in and not complaining is a stop at the park! She is a huge fan of that deal!
And speaking of running outside, we are getting pumped about starting running season! This Saturday we have a 5K, in two weeks is our half marathon and we have some more big races in June and August. (more on those in another post I'm sure) Here's a fabulous picture of me looking oh so lovely after my first double digit run. We did an 11 miler and even though I looked pretty bad after I felt like I needed my picture taken to document that important moment in history. : )
Another fun thing we did a couple weekends ago was hit a Twins game in downtown Minneapolis. Taber got 4 tickets from work so we packed up the kiddos and headed out for some fun family time.

Outside the stadium (notice we are wearing short sleeves! Yippee!!!)

Everyone around us was thoroughly entertained by Teya and Brinley. At one point they started playing that "Do a little dance, get down tonight" song and Teya got up on the stairs and starting shaking her little hips like she meant business! Everyone was cracking up! The girls expired during the 7th inning but apparently after we left the Twins scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to come back and win the game. We were bummed we missed it but the truth is, the girls had fun so that's what counts!

Sports Fans

Two tickets to the University of Minnesota Football game: $40

Staduim Hot Dog:$5

Popcorn from the concession stand: $4

Having 1 on 1 time with Daddy: Priceless

Go Twins!!!

When Taber's boss gave him 4 tickets to the Minnesota Twins vs Kansas City Royals game, we thought it would be fun to get a babysitter and go with some friends. They weren't able to make it however, so we decided to be adventurous and bring Teya and Brinley along. I was definitely worried about how Teya would do since the game didn't even start till 7 and I knew she would be up past her bedtime. My worries were unnecessary though. Teya had a blast and was totally excited about every last detail of the experience. She clapped almost non-stop for the first 10 minutes, then she settled in and enjoyed the popcorn, the music, and the exciting atmosphere of the game. She made it to the 7th inning and was still a happy girl when we left. Taber and I had a great time too. Our seats were awesome, the kettle corn was amazing, and the hotdogs did not dissapoint. Here's a fun little clip of some Teya at the game. I love the first part when I ask her what she's watching and she says, "A movie!"

p.s. Brinley did great at the game too. Everyone cooed and awwed at ther when we took her out of her carseat. The girl sitting next to us seriously watched Brinley more than the game and was really bummed when we got up to go. : )