Iowa - Denver Summer Swing

Long time, no post!! I know it has been a while; surprisingly, it is a friend of mine (whose last name rhymes with Mold) who reminds me I am slacking on the posting front. I think he uses our blog as a time killer between the hours of 9-5 on most weekdays.

It has been a fun/boring/long/way-to short/happy/sad/joyful/tear-filled past couple of weeks. Granted, it is mid-July but it took this long for Jen and I to recoup from a great two and a half weeks spent between Iowa and Colorado. I will do my best to keep this short, but we have a lot to share…

Jen departed from Sanford Airport the afternoon of June 20, 2008. Her first stop was in Des Moines to meet up with her parents for a quick dinner and visit in Newton, and then she was headed east to convene with me (who had spent the morning driving from Indianapolis to Cedar Rapids). As you can see from the first day, we have a tendency to squeeze 10 lbs of crap into a 5 lb bag. My mom and Dan were still residing in the luxurious Heartland Inn motel, awaiting the completion of their brand new home the first week of July. Luckily for us, we have two of the best friends, Brett and Lindsay, who opened up their home to us for the long weekend. Along with their lovely daughter Addison, the five of us were lucky enough to spend a few meals and a little normal time together during the stay.

Golf was the primary objective the following day. The 6th Annual Woods Family golf outing was on Saturday, June 21. This is becoming the replacement for the Woods’ Christmas for me. It is absolutely great to get to see so much of my extended family, along with playing golf with my dad and friends. The golf could have gone better, but we had a great time and beautiful weather. Following the golf, we made our way out to The Farm to have dinner. The crowd was small but energetic. We laughed, shared stories, and had a great meal (this could be the underlying theme of the entire trip). After a quiet bonfire and beers back at the Kellogg’s, we called it a very long day…once again tons of stuff crammed into one day.

Brett and I shook off small hangovers with a great breakfast prepared by our beautiful wives the next morning. For lunch, Jen and I headed to Aunt Debbie’s. We enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch with more family there. We were quick to get on the road and head west to pick up Sarah for dinner, ice cream and some Cubs that night. We had a great evening with Gunnar and Sarah; we enjoyed seeing her and her apartment.

A quick night and 18 holes of golf later, Jen and I were back on the road headed to Cedar Rapids. Monday was my last day in Iowa so we hurried back to spend the remaining hours with Brett, Lindsay, Addison, Mom, and Dan.

Tuesday was a day filled with travel. A short lunch with Lindsay and Addison, then a two hour drive to Moline with Mom capped my trip to Iowa. As I headed to Atlanta for the work week, Jen headed west to meet up with her parents. Jen, Jim, and Donna spent the next three days preparing for Denver and making a journey to Eldora to visit friends and a trip to see Grandpa Jack in Hampton.

After a ten hour tour of western Iowa, the entire state of Nebraska, and the Northwest corner of Colorado, the Sogard’s, plus a Rempt made it to Denver. A swift evening filled full of hellos and welcome’s was all that fit before the Sogard Clan headed to Breckenridge on Friday, the 27th. Brad’s business partner and friend, Ian, provided his newly completed (and stunning) mountain home for the family to hang out in for the weekend. Between rafting trips, hiking excursions, and hot tub sessions, the family had a great time. One note on the rafting trip…if anyone can get a copy of the team photo that was taken before that rafting began, I would love to post it on our blog (even if some family members would rather not see it showcased!).

I reunited with the family Monday, June 30, 2008 at Matt and Abbie’s home in Denver. Jen and my week started completely different. I headed to work on Tuesday morning while Jen, Jim, and Donna headed to an ultrasound set up at Jamie’s office. From what I hear, Jen was crying for approximately 40 of the 42 minutes spent looking in at our baby boy. Jen and I both were very happy that Jim and Donna and Jamie were able to see him, and were very thankful that Jamie was able to set up such a great gift for us (Thanks Jam!). I wasn’t able to go to the ultrasound, but we were provided with a DVD that recorded the entire thing, so I did get to watch it later. What an experience!

Jen and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on July 2, 2008. Two years in a row we have spent our anniversary on the road with family. It was great. Matt and Abbie recommended a beautiful place for dinner and we stayed in a nice hotel that night. We had family over so the kids could play in the pool and we could enjoy everyone’s company (we can have alone time when we get back to Florida). It was a wonderful night. Jen and I celebrated the past year’s highs and lows and also enjoyed our family at the same time. It could not have been better.

For the sake of trying to keep this short…the 3rd of July was spent on the golf course. The morning 13 holes were with Brett, then 18 more in the afternoon with Jim, Matt, and Doug. It was a long day- some good shots, but more bad ones.

Our country forever must share its birthday with Kate Sogard, so on the 4th, we celebrated America’s 232nd and Kate’s 4th birthdays. Jim, Matt, and I spent the day on ladders and buckets painting Matt & Abbie’s home. The weather cooperated and luckily (for Matt) I didn’t make any mistakes big enough that Jim or Matt couldn’t fix. Jen, Donna, Luke, and the birthday girl met Jamie, Brad, Brett, Lindsay, and Addison at Pirates Cove for a pool party during the day (while the men showered themselves with white paint and Ab supervised). By the time everyone reconvened, the birthday bash was only hours away. Surrounded by family and friends, Kate blew out four candles, opened gifts, and ate like a queen. By the time nightfall had set in, most of the guests had left and we hurried to catch a glimpse of nearby fireworks.

Saturday concluded my stay in Denver. Following our mandatory stop at the OPH and a quick bargain hunt, I loaded my stuff into the car and headed to the airport. Jen soaked up a couple more days with Matt, Ab, and the kids until she departed for Orlando on Monday the 7th.

Whew!! That was long. Like I said, we fit as much as we could into the couple of weeks. Below is a slideshow of pictures from the trip. Jen isn’t very good at taking pictures at my family stuff yet, but she is working on it (claims it’s tough with no little ones there yet). The pictures are in order, so you should be able to follow along with the meandering story I just told. Below is also a list of people we wanted to thank that helped make the trip possible, as well as so enjoyable.

Special Thanks To (in no particular order):
Jim and Donna, Karen and Dan, Randy, Brett and Lindsay, Matt and Abbie, Brad and Jamie, Sarah, Pappy, Grandpa Jack, Sharon, Erin, Jen W, Jill, Jeremy, Ben and Abby, Kate, Luke, Daniel, Debbie and Steve, Brian W, Steve and Connie, Rinker, and the Big Guy upstairs.