Introducing a New Member of the Family

Since I drug Lisa car shopping with me the past two Saturdays, she's asked me to write the blog about the newest member of our family. I feel obligated to oblige.

On Saturday, we became the proud new owners of a brand new 2009 GMC Acadia.

Our day started in Omaha when we made on offer on an all-wheel drive Acadia. It fell just beyond our price range so we moved on to Sid Dillon in Fremont, about 30 minutes away. There, we saw a larger number of vehicles on the lot and a few that were really close to what we were looking for.

After test driving a front-wheel drive with the heads-up display, we decided that it wasn't for us (plus it was a black vehicle with black interior...too much black for me).

We came back to the lot and found another FWD without the heads up display, but with titanium interior and a power liftgate. Perfect! So we negotiated a price and came up with what we feel was a good deal for us.

We began our ride home with just 25 miles on the vehicle, but after a 60 mile trek and errands around Lincoln, we're now around 125. It's really fun to drive and my favorite feature happens to be the Bluetooth capability so I can talk on the phone without holding it or wearing an earpiece.

So far, I've noticed that everyone drives entirly too close and I've come to the conclusion that walking all the way across a huge Wal-Mart parking lot is not too far as long as it means not getting door dinged.

We're very excited and look forward to many good times with our new family member.

- ML

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mike and I had a very nice day together. It started off with a trip to Omaha and Council Bluffs to look at vehicles. The Jeep is about to turn over 100,000 miles and as bad as the economy seems to be, we feel this might be an ideal time to strike a dynamite deal and inject our share of capital back into the market. After much deliberation (hours of research on the internet and crack...oops, I mean blackberry), Mike had determined the GMC Acadia was his vehicle of choice. We had an opportunity to test drive one today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to locate one that had all 4 of Mike's key requirements: (1) black exterior, (2) leather seats/heated, (3) all-wheel drive, (4) in the target price range. Finding our way back to Lincoln, we stopped in at a dreaded dealership (I will not name it, but am guessing those in Lincoln know the dealership I am referring to). The dealership is notorious for their pushy, overbearing sales staff. Our experience did not veer from what we feared and we found ourselves sitting across the table from a salesman who was one egg short of a dozen. He asked us several obnoxiously stupid questions, such as "If you were able to purchase a new Acadia with ALL of the bells & whistles...totally loaded with options, but for the price you are targeting, would you be motivated to purchase." How could one not respond with "Ummm, yeah, I guess." However, he was unfortunately, totally missing our message which cleared indicted we are only wanting "basic" options. He left us at his desk for more than ten minutes to which we determined he must have been in search of a key to grab a vehicle for a test drive (which we never requested), so we got up from our chairs, walked out a side door and got out of that lot as fast as we could. Not going back there anytime soon. After that unfortuate experience, it was time to start celebrating Valentine's Day in true form. We headed downtown to the only theatre in Lincoln showing the movie "New In Town". I particularly enjoyed the movie as the setting was in Minnesota (New Ulm). There were alot of "don't cha knows" in the dialogue! Mike got a kick out of it too! From there, we headed to Carlos O'Kelly's for a mexican feast. Our day of love is winding down with Mike at the helm in a game of Playstation. Hope you all had a great day too!

New Year's in Minnesota

So much for the New Year's resolution to be more diligent in blog posting, huh? We had a fun trip to Minnesota to bring in the New Year. New Year's Eve included a night out with Ann/Derrick and Cindy/Kevin. We had a great supper at the Royal Loon in Slayton and brought in the New Year celebrating at Key Largo (also, happens to be the site of a "first" date for Mike and me six years ago...ahhh, the reminiscing).




On a cold, blustery day, we got a chance to cheer on Derrick's basketball team. He coaches the varsity boys' basketball team at WWG (Westbrook-Walnut Grove). They played a small charter school and came out on top...a mere 80 points on top. Don't believe me? I've posted a picture to prove it!

Almost made the Christmas card...

Here are a couple other favorite pics that almost made our 2008 Christmas card!

New Coffee Table

Last weekend was a unique one in that we had no plans, no committments, no company and no home Husker game. We could hardly stand to be in the house for very long (it will be a long winter), so Saturday afternoon led to an impromptu shopping trip to Omaha. We had been passively looking at new coffee/end tables at furniture stores in the past few months. Previously, we had a quite large, glass coffee/end table. Whereas we've enjoyed it for the past 5 years (Mike married into it), I was tired of investing in Windex to keep it clean and it was taking up more space that we were willing to give. So, drum roll please, we purchased a new coffee/end table, which has certainly added a new look to our living room. As an interesting accent, we also came home with a unique accessory for the coffee table. Pictures attached.

Yabba Dabba Do!

Happy Halloween! One would think we've been scared off the blogspot the past two months. To those who actually check in on us, we promise to be better. During September and October, we spent more nights away from home than at home (for work and for fun). Work took me to Kansas City for a few days in September and Mike had back-to-back trips to St. Louis and Dallas in October. We've made it to nearly every Husker home game (with the exception of the first - we were in Branson) and managed to squeeze in a weekend trip to the exciting city of Ames, Iowa, to witness a 35-7 victory (yes, I do pay attention to the score, not just the band and cheerleaders). Over Labor Day weekend, we enjoyed a wonderful vacation with Mike's family to celebrate Howard & Donna's 40th wedding anniversary in Branson.

The following weekend, I took a trip to Minnesota to take part in Hadley's baptism.

In mid-September (a bye weekend for the Huskers, of course), we took advantage of some frequent flier miles and flew to Denver. We were able to see family, Fran and Nancy Lefler, and our good friends, Steve, Kathy, Drake and Darian Bytnar. We cheered on the CSU Rams and the Denver Broncos to wins that weekend.

We enjoyed having visitors when Ann, Derrick, Addeson, Hadley, Mom & Dad traveled from Minnesota to spend a weekend with us. We had great fun checking out the Omaha zoo.



Last weekend, we went to a costume Halloween party, posing as Fred Flintstone and Betty Rubble. Our trick-or-treaters were up in numbers this year - 47 of them (up from 24 last year)! Unfortunately, Evan wasn't feeling well, so we missed seeing his pumpkin outfit. We heard Hadley was planning to sport a pumpkin outfit of her own to go trick-or-treating with her big sister, Princess Addeson. Happy Halloween Birthday to my Mom today!!!

Husker Power

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to have tickets to BOTH volleyball and football games. Our seats in each venue were really good! We arrived to volleyball (my favorite of the day) in time to see 40 minutes of warm-ups. Upon finding our seats, I was quickly scolded by the lady sitting next to us (who went out of her way to mention she's been a season ticket holder for 15 years) that flash photography is not allowed as it could cause injury to a player. Yikes! What was I thinking!? We were far enough away that I don't believe I was putting anyone's life at risk, especially during warm-ups. I assured her our camera has an option to turn off the flash. Had to show it to her to prove it. Interesting, no announcement was ever made to let such a rule be known to the rest of the 2,700 people in attendence. I think she felt bad for being so cranky and tried to make "small talk" with Mike throughout the rest of the match!

The football game was equally as exciting (as least for Mike). We had a easy walk from the Colliseum to Memorial Stadium and watched 70 minutes of pre-game activities. There was not much of a breeze and our seating area was full of small looking wasp insects. They didn't seem harmful enough to sting, but they sure were a nuisance. There were a little old lady who sat down one row and to our right. One of these little bugs hovered in her hair - stayed there the entire game. I think he was trapped by hair spray. Not likely he'll be discovered until she goes in for her next beauty salon appointment next week.

In the first few minutes of the game, one of the "Scarlets" (dance team...pseudo cheerleaders) was feeling light-headed and caused quite a scene as an EMT tended to her. Gatorade did the trick and she was back in action by the next quarter. I think a cheeseburger would have proven a better remedy as she likely hadn't eaten since last Tuesday.

In the second half, Clarence Thomas was recognized on the field. Probably the closest I'll ever get to a Supreme Court judge. (I guess his wife is from Nebraska.)
Larry the Cable Guy was in attendence and kept the crowd fed as he threw out hot dogs from his suite!

Unfortunately, every fan in our row decided to come to the game. Unfortunate, because, not everyone fit the dimension of their alloted seat assignment. Got to be good friends with the guy sitting next to me. I've determined Nebraskan's are known to be the "greatest fans in America" because you might as well get along with the guy you're sitting on top of week by week!

Mike finds it interesting the things I remember about the game. I had to ask him what the score was before I could post it here. The Huskers were victorious, 38-7. GO BIG RED!!!!