Dinner with Midge and Bruce

We attended church in the student ward with Amanda and Nolan today. Afterwards we had lunch at Bruce and Midge's house. The Nielsons are my friend  Reagan's parents, and the only people we knew from Iowa before Amanda and Nolan moved there! We had baked crepes rolled with chicken inside and topped with Hollandaise sauce. The dinner was cranberry cake with hard lemon sauce on top. All topped with homemade rolls! Yummmmm!

Afterwards Amanda and Midge made beautiful music together on the accordion!

Bruce showed us their antique cars--a 56 Thunderbird, a 66 Mustang and a 31 Model A!

We enjoyed the relaxing afternoon in Iowa City. If we go to bed early tonight we might be able to catch up on sleep from a very fun and exciting weekend!

Hawkeyes for a Day

We were proud to show our Iowa spirit with new t-shirts Amanda and Nolan bought for us. We loved being part of the marching band family for the evening.

We got to march in with and sit next to the band for the big Michigan Iowa game tonight.

We even became friends with Herky, the team mascot!

The highlight for us was the half-time show written and directed by Nolan. It was a salute to veterans and was a real crowd pleaser! We were so proud of him and the band!

And, to top off a great day, we were sitting in the end zone as the football sailed through the uprights as the time ran out, clinching the upset of Iowa over Michigan. Previously undefeated Michigan was a 22 point favorite to win! It's been a week of upsets, and this was one we really enjoyed!

If you'd like to see the marching band show, here it is. I zoomed in on Nolan at 2 minutes and 49 seconds.

Iowa City Highlights

We love Amanda and Nolan's sweet house in North Liberty and are so happy to see how nice it is for them.

While Nolan stayed in town to prepare for the big half-time show, we went to the Amish country to do some sight seeing.

We stopped at a Mennonite market, Stringtown, and got some tasty candy to sustain us on our trip.

Nolan's father, Gary hung our with us for the day. I'll bet he loved shopping in historic Kolona with us just about as much as Ed did!

We were surprised to find a fancy place for lunch there--the Tuscan Moon. We went there on the recommendation of a lady walking down the street with a backpack. Ed wondered if she was the owner's wife. Either way, we loved it.

We drove by some barns with quilt designs on them, finally arriving at Riverside, Iowa the future birthplace of Captain Kirk from Star Trek. Live Long and Prosper!

We had plenty of time left to explore the music building at the college and meander down the cute pedestrian mall in Iowa city before the big game this evening.

Big Trip to Iowa

We dropped off Coda in Denver with Verlene last night, and picked up Crystal this morning to go to Iowa with us.  Ed started driving fresh and ready for 11 hours in the car.

He was glad to have Crystal to spell him in the driving as I'm not supposed to drive.

I was happy sitting in the back seat doing hand, wrist and arm exercises.

We arrived at Amanda and Nolan's house in time to celebrate a belated birthday for Nolan, with Amanda's special pineapple upside down cake.

Nolan's dad came down from Minnesota for the big Iowa/Michigan game tomorrow. We all have tickets!

Crystal was happy to meet her cat nephews for the first time. She might not like them as much after a night with them on the couch with her! We'll see!

New Splint

I'm so happy to be free of my bulky splint! The doctor gave me a velcro wrist splint, but I had to promise to wear it faithfully! Believe me, I will, as my wrist and arm hurt when I twist them too much!

He also told me to do some exercises and play piano, organ, guitar and banjo to my hearts delight. The organ is my favorite. The left hand only plays the tenor part, and the touch is gentle. I might try a little banjo next week after I can flex my wrist better!

Finger Therapy

I've been doing little finger exercises to try to get my fingers ready to play the guitar and banjo by Christmas. I had surgery 10 days ago, and the swelling has gone down a lot, but my fingers are still stiff from inactivity. Today I realized I could play a musical instrument again! Yay!

Her am I proudly playing Loch Lomond! I'm back in the game!

Native American Banquet at UVU

My sister Barbara brought me to dinner for my broken arm. I hadn't seen her since I broke it, and since she wanted to do something nice for me, she took me to a buffalo dinner fundraiser for the native American students at Utah Valley University.

It was fun to sit and visit with Jenna, my nephew's wife during dinner.

Mason was part of the entertainment, but joined us after his first set was over. It's nice they live in Provo now. We're hoping to get to know them better.

They had a keynote speaker, a flute player and a story teller. We were hoping for a full blown powwow, but we'll have to come back in February for that!

I contributed to the cause by bidding and winning a pair of baby moccasins at the silent auction! If the shoe fits, Mabel will be the lucky recipient! If she had any hair she could put the matching barrette in it, too!