A Little New Year's Recap

This was a New Year's for just the two of us. When we realized we wouldn't be spending it with the kids, Hubby did a little research and discovered that our college team was playing a home game on New Year's Day, so we decided to head to Iowa State for the weekend. Well, not actually the college itself, but the town. We drive by there whenever we go visit our kids and often stop for BBQ, but this time we stayed for the weekend. It was a sweet time together.

We saw the movie Parental Guidance and thoroughly enjoyed it. I like to see movies that just make me laugh and maybe even wipe away a tear or two. I'd see it again.

We had a BBQ lunch with a college friend and her son. We always enjoy seeing her and her family and are thankful to have been able to keep in touch through the years. She and Hubby knew each other from the Bible study that was made up of marching band people.

We spent a day in Des Moines doing some shopping and having lunch and a Peppermint Chocolate Chip shake fix from Chick-fil-A. I usually am not a huge fan of shakes, but this one is soooo yummy! It's a seasonal offer, so we try to find a Chick-fil-A a couple of times over Christmas.

I know this isn't sounding very riveting, but we enjoy being together in a bigger town with actual shops and restaurants.

One night at dinner I pulled up on my phone something I had saved in my email that had a list of conversation starter questions. It's not that we have a hard time talking to each other, it's just kind of fun to talk about questions we might not think about on our own. Here's a few examples:  

Think back to your childhood or teenage years. What do you miss doing the most? 
Can you name three qualities that attracted you when you met me/got to know me? 
My funniest memory of our dating days is when ...

I will say it was especially sweet to talk about when we dated in the town we fell in love.

We spent some time driving around town looking at the places we used to live. I spent a lot of years in this dorm. Fourth floor up, second window from the left.

When I think of it now, I just cannot imagine living in a dorm....shudder. I lived in the dorm longer than most because I ended up working 15 hours a week in the food service and it paid for my room and board. My last year there I would take the bus across campus to spend the evening with my sweetheart. He lived in this attractive building:

His apartment was the second floor on the right.

Oh college life.

Anyway...

New Year's Eve we discovered a sweet yummy restaurant with great atmosphere and enjoyed a  very delicious meal. We finished the meal of sharing this:

Yes. It was as good as it looks.

New Year's Eve after we switched rooms because the smoke alarm started malfunctioning and periodically beeping, we watched TV in our new room and enjoyed some treats I had bought earlier in the day.

Then, like I said before, we went to the home basketball game on New Year's Day.

These guys are not the Cyclone players. They are just a bit too short. :)

 Now these players are a little taller:

 

But this little guy next to us thought it was a good idea to bring his blankey to the game. (And with the headache I had, I would have loved to curl up with my blankey.)