Annie's Special Day

BIG Surprise for Annie's 21st Birthday

Saturday, April 14 all the kids came out for Annie's 21st birthday dinner, one night prior to her actual birthday on the 15th.  We made Thai lettuce wraps and cheesecake per Annie's request.  Hannah bought her a touring bike and Ben bought her the riding accessories she will need to ride in style.  The boyfriends, Jason and Derek, also enjoyed dinner with us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL YOU MARRY ME? - HUSKER STYLE!

For months Annie's boyfriend, Jason, has been planning to surprise Annie on her birthday by proposing to her.  Of course he had previously done the respectable thing and asked us for her hand in marriage and we eventually said YES!  Annie & Jason met while on the UNL band squad a couple of years ago and would always meet on the "N" at the center of the field after the games.

In a nutshell Jason's plan was to have Annie picked up in a limo, brought to the north stadium, escorted by Sharon and I through the tunnel walk and onto the field where he was waiting on the "N".  Even though it was quite windy everything went off without a hitch.  Jason was a bit nervous on the previous day when the Huskers spring game was cancelled and almost rescheduled for the 15th!

While Jason was proposing, about 25 of their friends were climbing in the limo where they were waiting for them upon exiting the north stadium.  We all met up later at Grisanti's restaurant later for a wonderful dinner with family and friends.  We love Jason and are looking forward to having him a part of our family!

Tunnel walk.

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Jason touches the famous luck horseshoe!

Husker Locker Room

Husker safety PJ Smith is Jason's friend and helped pull the whole thing off!

Here she comes!!!!

Sharon inspects the ring!

The BIG question - She said YES!!!!

April 1-13, 2012

Trip to Spokane

The 2012 Northwest Public Power Association conference and trade show was held this year in Spokane, WA at the Riverfront Doubletree Hotel.  The snow melt flow in the river was thunderous and beautiful.  Every morning I ran 3 to 4 miles along Centennial Trail that is a 70+ mile path that follows the Spokane River and passes right through the city.  Riverfront Park was located just behind the hotel and provided awesome views of the dam, falls and power plant spillway.  Two kayakers went missing the week I was there.

I enjoyed some amazing fresh caught salmon and halibut while there and also was able to golf at two courses with business associates.  The first course was called Hangman Valley and was very hilly with lots of pine trees.  It even had a couple of 600+ yard par 5 holes!

February 2012

February started out with a heavy, wet 10 inches of snow on Saturday the 4th.  Not wanting to miss our exercise, Sharon and I suited up with our boots and parkas and went for a 1-1/2 hour walk around town. The wet snow caused many branches and trees to break. Fortunately we didn't lose any from our two hack berry trees.

The week of February 6 was spent moving all the furniture and file cabinets out of our south office into our north office to make room for new paint, carpet and tile flooring. I had to move into one of our small empty cubicles for two weeks, which was very challenging.

Every weekend was spent working on the ongoing remodeling project in the basement and by February 26 the ceiling and lights were done and the entertainment was very close as well.

On February 19 we celebrated Hannah's achievement of making the Dean's list at UNL! She and Derek joined us for lunch and we made three kinds of Indian curry chicken over rice. Way to go Hannah!

Entertainment center getting closer.

Ceiling and lights done!

Working on the ceiling.

Thai yellow curry, Thai red curry and Kashmir curry sauces.

Hannah celebrating her Dean's list achievement.

Office empty and ready for remodel.

Feb 4 snow

Indoor track at Concordia where we have been running.

January 2012

Getting Back In The Groove

I have been slacking off big time since the new year on blog posts. A combination of being very busy, and lack of diligence.  I will try to recap the month as best I can starting around Christmas 2011.

December 23 several of us from the class of 1980 gathered at the Doug & Vikki (Hughes) Gremel residence. There were about 11 of us who spent an enjoyable evening remembering fun times from the recent and not so recent past.

Christmas was a fun day with all the kids and their significant others over for a fun feast. The weather was in the 50's so we decided to make rosettes in the garage in the late afternoon. All the kids joined in and many fried rosettes were consumed by all.

I took vacation from after Christmas until January 3 and spent one day helping Derek and Hannah paint at Derek's house in Lincoln. The rest of my time off was spent diving head long into remodeling the basement stairway ceiling and family room. The family room project included new paint, new ceiling tiles, an new built-in entertainment center and lights.  I made pretty good progress the first week then spent as many weekends as possible working on it. I also decided during this week that I was going to start up a serious diet and exercise program. Eat less and exercise more - not too complicated.

On January 9 we were forced to break down and buy a new kitchen sink, faucet and disposer since the old faucet was leaking badly. I was disappointed that the faucet only lasted 9 years but I guess you get what you pay for. The new sink installation went well and Sharon loved the way it looks! A winner!

January 17 - 20 was spent in Toronto, Canada attending the EDIST tradeshow at the Hilton Hotel in Markham.  The trip out went without a hitch but my return on Friday, January 20 was delayed and complicated by a blizzard at Chicago O'Hare. After a 6 hour delay I was able to catch a flight to Omaha and then ride a shuttle to Lincoln where my vehicle was parked. It was a long, grouling day of travel.

The week of January 23 was spent attending the DistribuTech show in San Antonio, all my flights were on time which was nice.  The weather in San Antonio was pleasant and the Riverwalk was beautiful.  On Thursday an old friend and his wife, Randy & Ann McConnell met me at my hotel for dinner. We had a great visit.

The month ended with us selling our piano to make room for a game table in the remodeled basement family room. It was a bittersweet experience but the buyer's paid us cold, hard cash!!

The Alamo

Starting the basement remodel project.

The beginnings of the entertainment center.

Class of 80 at the Gremels.

Cool frozen groundwater on Plum Creek.

My new diet. Veggies, protein, whole grain and vino!

New sink installed!

Starbucks in O'Hare.

Chicago O'Hare Blizzard

After almost 3 hours in the plane, the airport is closed.

Peter's Steakhouse in Toronto.

Making rosettes on Christmas day.

The Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Basement stairway project.

Christmas dinner.

Weekend Before Christmas

Friday, December 16, 2011

Had another very busy day at the office, Sharon worked late so I made a bean dip for Jason's graduation party.  While at Wal Mart I noticed the guacamole dip had about 50 ingredients, none of which were avacados.  Even thought the avacados at Wal Mart weren't the ripest, I decided it would be better to have real guacamole in the bean dip even if it meant a bit more work.


Saturday, December 17, 2011

Today was Jason's graduation from UNL.  Sharon had to work at Habitat so I went solo, bean dip in hand.  It was a nice gathering of Jason's family and friends, as well as Annie, Hannah and Derek.  After spending an hour or so at the party, I decided to run out to see Sharon at the Habitat store.  Just so happened she was about to take lunch so we went for a walk around the shopping center.  We stopped at the chocolate store and also went to the steak & seafood store.  While at the meat store, we were given a sample of smoked shrimp, which was very good.  I stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home for a few bottles of 2-buck Chuck and made a couple of pizza's when I got home.

When Sharon got home we were visiting in the office having a glass of wine when out of the blue she became very sick to her stomach.  She spent much of the night and all of Sunday very sick and sore.  We think maybe the little shrimp sample she had was the culprit.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

With Sharon being sick all day, I spent the day nursing her, attending the Kettenburg Christmas celebration and also golfing 5 holes! It was around 54 degrees and sunny.  Hannah, Annie, Derek, Jason and Johnny all went to play frisbee golf down at Plum Creek Park.  By evening Sharon felt good enough to sleep upstairs again and I slept on the couch so as not to disturb her rest.

My Gourmet Wife!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Sharon worked at Habitat today, a gourmet cooking and gift store she got hired at last month. She really enjoys the atmosphere and the people there. I like that she gets good discounts on cooking gadgets & stuff.  Wednesday evening she came home in a mood to cook - I love it!  She scored some little cooking pans that are made for baking little appetizers of all kinds.  She decided to make shrimp scampi with two kinds of cheeses on them and I grilled some asparagus. YUM!  After a quiet meal with Christmas music playing in the background we settled in to watch TV and of course I fell asleep in the chair....again.  It was an enjoyable way to spend a dark, long, cold winter evening.