And So It Begins

When November rolls around in the Boelk household, that means get ready to camp out at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Between season tickets to men's basketball and wrestling, as well as numerous visits for women's basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, etc. Carver ends up being our second home.

This began quickly this year as we have already attended two volleyball games, three men's basketball games, and the Iowa wrestling duals. The first weekend in November was full of Hawkeye sports as Friday night we were at the women's volleyball game, Saturday we were in Kinnick for the football game, and Sunday at Carver for the men's basketball game.

Of course, up until now the focus of Hawkeye sports has been on Hawkeye football. As it should be! What a season. We finished the year of tailgating and games by taking the kids on the Hawkeye Express train into Kinnick.

We then went over on the south side of the stadium and greeted the football team as they came off their buses.

Following that, we went over to the Rec Center and watched the Hawkeye Marching Band show, and followed that up with some tailgating at Amy's parents.

We love you Hawks and are very proud of you no matter win or lose!

Tricks and Treats

We all enjoyed another wonderful Halloween weekend. How can you beat kids in cute costumes, caramel apples, candy, and carving pumpkins!

Making and eating caramel apples has quickly become a tradition in our house.

And as most of you know, carving pumpkins has always been a tradition with Amy and I. Even prior to having kids. This year each kid and adult was able to pick out their own pumpkin and how they wanted it carved.

Kinnick went with the Batman signal to match his costume to be seen later.

Carver decided to go with a scary skull.

Taylor chose a cute chiahau for some reason.

Amy went with her always favorite big pumpkin eating the smaller pumpkin. Or as I like to call it, jack-o-cannibal. Unfortunately we do not have pictures due to it's graphic nature. And I had to honor our wonderul Hawkeyes by carving an old school Hawk with a cursive Iowa.

Finally, but certainly not least, comes the costumes and trick or treating.

Following trick or treating we had the neighborhood families with kids over for a Halloween party. It was a great time and it was fun to see all the kids in their costumes enjoying treats, dinner, and playing together. The adults were actually outnumbered 12 to 10!

Nine Wonderful Years

Well, I know we haven't blogged for quite some time. I hope to get out a Halloween blog this weekend with lots of pictures of the kids in their costumes and our cool carved pumpkins of course. With that being said, I would like to sneak in one other blog first in honor of Amy and my 9 year anniversary yesterday!

I have been greatly blessed by The Lord to have found my soul mate and true companion about 12 or 13 years ago, and then be lucky enough to have married her 9 years ago. Wow, how 9 years quickly fly by! Those 9 years have been absolutely wonderful and full of many laughs, some tears, 3 kids, 4 dogs, one cat, many fish, two houses, and countless Hawkeye sporting events. My life would not be complete without my wonderful wife as she truly has been the best partner I could ask for as well as a fabulous mother to our 3 children. I look forward to the many years ahead together and sharing them with all of you as our friends and family.

How did we celebrate our anniversary you may ask? Well, that is a good question with an interesting answer. In fact, the answer may probably seem sad to most of you, but to us it was just fine. :-)

Due to our busy schedules and the three kiddos at home, we did not want to have another babysitter come over last night so we decided to get together for lunch instead. Yes, we took this opportunity to dine in style at the University IMU River Room. Of all places in the Iowa City area, why there? Well, this is where we spent many hours as students enjoying lunch together and studying or hanging out with friends, so why not revisit those moments. It was a lot of fun as we embraced some old memories and pondered all the different choices of food.

For the evening events we enjoyed a nice meal together as a family as always, and it seemed that the kids were more behaved then ever for this dinner (which doesn't take much) which was a wonderful anniversary gift in itself. We then played a crazy game of Candyland and Bingo with the kids, and concluded by watching Just Married (one of our all time favorite movies) together once the kids were in bed. May seem lame to some, but to us it was just perfect as it was time together enjoying some of our passions in life.

Amy, thank you for being married to me for these 9 wonderful years. I love the fact that I married my best friend and soul mate, and wonder what great things lie ahead for us in the future.................

Maybe watching a Rose Bowl together!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary!