Day 3: Opportunities

My husband played football for MSU. One neat thing from that is every year he is invited back for the homecoming game. We are given 2 tickets for the game and can attend some events put together for the alumni. It is something we look forward to every fall.

This year we invited our daughter, Anna, and her boyfriend, Josh, to go with us. It made it even more fun since Josh had never been to a college football game.
We showed them around a little bit of the campus that included the Spartan statue.

Another fun part was Mark called earlier in the week to see if he could get some on field passes. He was able to get one for both Josh and Anna. It allowed them to be on the field while the team warmed up for the game.

Other then the fact that it started raining in the first quarter and continued the entire game we all still really enjoyed ourselves. ~Happy Saturday!

Project 365 - Pictures Week 3

Week 3 is looking much more organized. In case you are wondering all of the pictures are taken with my iPhone and usually edited/posted to Instagram and Flickr.


January 15: Christmas gift from a girl in my HS youth group. It makes me smile.



January 16: Ready to dig in.

January 17: Hanging out with me while I'm on the treadmill.

January 18: A beautiful bow made by a beautiful friend for my beautiful daughter.

January 19: I'm on day 19 of 21 of a Daniel Fast. I made tacos for the family and here is my version. Corn tortillas, hummus, guacamole, black beans, roasted tomato, and lettuce. They were yummy.

January 20: Brrr!

January 21: "A great day to be a Spartan." Zack set a new PR (personal record) of 61' 7" with the shot put. That mark makes him 2nd in the Big 10 and 8th in the nation.

Oh Happy Day!

Last week Saturday I got to celebrate with my son a reward for all his hard work... he earned his letter jacket from MSU!

It was so fun to share that honor with him. They recognized all of the athletes that earned a letter jacket during the 2010-2011 academic year by calling them out on the field during halftime at the football game.


As big as he is you would think I could find him but in the sea of green I was having a hard time so I was glad when he looked back at me for a moment.


Here he is coming back off the field. His coach shared with me that Zack has the largest varsity jacket they have made and that is including football players. Zack had to point out that his jacket is one size bigger than his father's is also. Boys! Everything is a competition.


The weather was gorgeous for an afternoon football game and we had front row seats which made the day even more exciting.


This was before the game started. You can see how close we were and how beautiful of a day it was.

Here is Zack and his teammate Derrick. They are the only 2 guys on the track team that earned a jacket last season. Zack is on the throws team and Derrick is a pole vaulter. Way to go guys!

MSU Homecoming Weekend

Can you see him? Can you tell who he is? We (we being my 16 year old daughter) were so hoping to get a little closer to him. As in so close we (16 year old daughter) could get a picture WITH him not just OF him. If you are still wondering who "he" is... It is Gerard Butler from the movie "300" or for those of us (me) who don't watch that kind of movie (super gory) you might know him from "PS:I love you". He has a line in the movie "300" where he is playing King Leonidas and he shouts out "SPARTANS, WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION?" and the army of Spartans yell back "HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH!" It has become an MSU tradition when it is 3rd down for the opposing team they play that clip from the movie on the "big board".

This weekend was Homecoming and for those of you not following MSU football (is there anyone who doesn't?) they went into the weekend 6-0. Head Coach Mark Dantonio got Gerard Butler to come to East Lansing for the weekend to get the players pumped up for the game. He also opened the game with yelling into the crowd the chant from "300".


Note the lady in front of us fist bumping too soon... she couldn't handle the excitement either.


Here he is again (leather jacket and sunglasses). He watched the game from the sidelines, on the field, right in front of us, slightly distracting... for the 16 year old of course.


Another really fun part of this game is who was playing in it. #37 was Zack's roommate last year and is a fellow thrower for the MSU track team. He decided to go out for the football team as a walk on and he made it. This was the first game he was allowed to dress for. Very exciting!


I wish I had taken my camera along but it is big and bulky so we had Mark's and it doesn't take the greatest of pictures. If you are wondering why our other 2 daughters aren't in the picture, well they aren't such big sport fans but they do like to shop. Does that make any sense? Maybe this will help, it is $50 a ticket and we only get 2 free (Mark played for MSU) so we let the kids decide. Come with us or stay home, get fun snacks, rent a movie, and get $20. We come out way ahead on that deal. I wish they would come with us but not if they are going to keep asking "home much longer is this game?"


Saying goodbye to the "big guy". He stole some toilet paper out of the back of my suburban (what? don't you store extra toilet paper in your trunk? OK I confess I was lazy getting groceries and left it in there.) apparently the toilet paper that the dorm supplies isn't so soft, poor baby. He also stole a mint from his momma. That can cost you your life or at least a slapped hand. I take my mints seriously.

Oh wait I almost forgot.... MSU 36 Illinois 6!!!!!!!!!!
MSU is now 7-0.

Wordless Wednesday - Throwing in Green!

Zack's first MSU track meet. He took first place! Way to go Zack!!!

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday - MSU move in day!

Final goodbye picture....

"Quick honey, one last Zachary sandwich..."


"We love you Zachary!"

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for Libby. Yesterday was her first day without hives. She had an appointment with an allergist on Monday. Apparently what ever set off the hives put her body into histamine overdrive and is causing her body to put out histamines over everything now. We need to use all dye free and fragrance free products until Libby is off all medications and remains hive free. She put Libby on 2 more medicines that will give us a longer lasting effect than the Benedryl. The allergist thought I was probably right about the seasoning packet causing the hives but Libby can't be tested until the hives have stopped and she is off all of the medicine. She has to be weened off the medicine so it will be awhile before we find out for sure what she is allergic to. The allergist also told me that there is always the possibility that she doesn't test positive for anything and we might not ever know what did it.

This picture was taken Wednesday before the hives hit her face.


On another note, last week Wednesday Zack signed his letter of intent to Michigan State. We are very happy for him and glad that the recruiting process is over and he can focus on his last HS track season.


Here he is with Mark and me and his HS track coach and throws coach.

Are you ready for some Football!

Zack, Coach Sloterbeek and his wife Dawn, Coach Cataldo and myself all went to an MSU football game today courtesy of MSU.

I should take this moment to tell you all that Zack has verbally committed to MSU and we couldn't be more happy for him. We have a second generation Spartan in the house. Woot, Woot!

We headed out early this morning and met up with MSU throws coach John Newell so that he could give Zack's HS coaches a short tour before the game of the campus and show them where Zack will be working out.

The game had a noon kick-off. It was such an intense game between MSU and Wisconsin. The score was close the entire game but MSU pulled out a victory in the last 12 seconds with a field goal to make the final score 25-24. That is some great football! If you have never been to a college football game and felt the excitement in a football stadium I am here to tell you it is incredible. I love college football. Fun times!

Coach Sloterbeek and Zack

Zack and Coach Cataldo

Zack and the final score, if you click on the picture you can see the scoreboard.

MSU visit

We had a great visit to MSU this weekend. Below is Zack, Mark, MSU Throws Coach John Newell, and Aaron. Zack competed against Aaron 2 years ago and now Aaron is a thrower on the MSU track team. We were waiting for Mark's friend, Ed, to get into town with our 3 daughters. We were able to purchase 4 extra tickets right next to us for the MSU vs. Notre Dame game so that our girls could join us. It was also Ed's 40th birthday so we paid his way. He is a huge Notre Dame fan. (We don't hold that against him, we love him despite it.)


We (Zack, Aaron, Mark, and me) were given field passes so we took turns down on the field before the game. It was really cool to be right down there with everyone getting ready. Below is Anna, me, and Zack.


Below is Ed, Libby, Zack and Aaron.

Below is Kaylyn enjoying the halftime show.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter we were finally in the shade. Here are the guys during an intense part of the game.

Smiles!