Since John and I have been considering partaking in a little house hunting lately, we decided to do birthday celebrations on the cheap this year. I had considered getting him tickets to an Iowa Hawkeye game, seeing that he is the ultimate superfan, but that didn't fit in the potential home buyer budget. So, I thought I'd get the next best thing: tickets to an Iowa Chops game, Des Moines' minor league hockey team. The fierceness to the right of your screen is their logo. Preettty intense there, Des Moines.

Anyway, right before the game starts the lights go off, and fire starts shooting out of the jumbotron thinger in the middle of the room. Next thing you know they're flashing this fierce pig logo and people are screaming like a bunch of wild banchys. Let me tell you, it was intense. These people really go all out.

The game itself was alright. I'm not too big a fan of hockey, I sort of feel like I'm going to seizure from looking back and forth all over the place chasing this tiny object around with my eyes. It was the extra special Iowa touches that made the game awesome and created a night I hope to share with each and every individual who comes to visit me in the great Hawkeye state. Now, I've already mentioned that the team is the Iowa Chops, with their mascot being a ferocious pig. These lovely ladies are their cheerleaders, the Baby Backs. Clever. And to top it all off, their motto or slogan, if you will, is "GO MEAT!" Yes, I'm serious. A whole venue of Iowans were standing around, ringing their cowbells with great vigor, and screaming like those men in the Hillshire Farms commercial. Oh, and at intermission the Baby Backs drove around on the Pork Patrol while people participated in a game called "pitch a pig" (basically they just threw stuffed pigs into the rink; frankly, I didn't understand the concept).

All in all, John and I had a damn good time at what I figure to be one of the most "Iowa-riffic" things we've experienced since our arrival. I leave you now with a picture of an awesome Chops fan with an even more awesome Chops hat.

Due to my lack of posts in the past month or so, and lack of current time to devote to an entire narrative, I have decided to switch things up a bit and construct a picture collage post.

Let me begin with a picture from Christmas time, which is nearly where we left off before. This is a picture of the predicament we found ourselves in when Iowa experienced a December heat wave. As it turns out, roofs do not need actual holes to leak. Lesson learned. It's a good thing we had a home builder/general contractor at our resources to construct us such an advanced leak channeling system!

This next picture is a snap shot into how we spent our New Years Eve. John managed to score us an invite to his friends pajama party so we could ring in 2009 in the coziest way possible. This picture is when John got in on the inversion table action. It's supposed to be some sort of contraption that stretches out your back, but mostly it just freaked me out. Needless to say, it's pretty fun to watch after having a few drinks.

Shortly after Christmas, John and I took a mini trip to Chicago to take care of a little engagement ring business, and freeze our asses off - windy city style. During our little excursion, I remembered one of the things I hated most about living in Chicago: people still want to go outside and do things, as if it weren't -20 degrees outside. Here in Iowa, people don't go outside and brave the cold, they stay inside and cook pork roasts or something. I much more prefer the latter. Anyway, we got a pretty awesome deal Shatner style through priceline. This picture is the view from our room's window. (On a side note, our sweet deal of a four-star room for $50 wasn't as awsome when we discovered the $48/night parking fee.)

This is Ashlyn, my future niece and style icon. At the ripe old age of three years old, she has the best selection and follow-through of any fashionista I know.

And lastly, this is a brief look at my next post about mine and John's outing to an Iowa Chops hockey game. It was as incredible as mud wrestling, monster trucks, and Nascar all mixed into one! Go Meat!