Weekend Update: Cowboy Up!!

Jay joined me on a business trip to the Toughest Cowboy finals in Chicago this past weekend. Toughest Cowboy is a reality show on SPIKE TV produced by Mark Burnett (Apprentice, etc.) in which cowboys compete in three events each night. One cowboy gets eliminated each week leaving the final, Toughest Cowboy with the grand prize of a ranch in Wyoming. My company is providing the ranch for the winner and sponsored 2 cowboys that were competing in the show. I was excited to bring Jay along to share with him what I've been working on for the past 6 months! I also went to the first show last month in Raleigh and had a great time so I wanted to share that part with him too!

We arrived in the Windy City around noon on Friday. It was a beautiful day, so we took the train from the airport into town and walked from there to our hotel. It was pretty cold and windy but we didn't really mind. We were luckily all bundled up!

Cool statue we walked past. I tried to get Jay to reenact it with me (we had our suitcase and everything!) but my request was quickly DENIED!

Overlooking the river

Trump Tower

Friday afternoon we went shopping on Michegan Avenue (aka: The Magnificent Mile) and then out to dinner with all of my co-workers and ended the night with a nightcap on top of the Hancock Building - 96th floor!

Jay and I at dinner.

Saturday we got up to catch the end of the hotel's free breakfast before taking a walk down to Navy Pier. It was only a few blustery blocks away from our hotel.

Jay pointing ahead as to say "I'm not stopping for a picture in this cold a%$ wind!!"

Looking back at the city

I had read in Southwest Airlines' inflight magazine that there was a coffee festival at Navy Pier this weekend, so was excited to check it out. Unfortunately the coffee fest ended up being a trade show, so the only thing we got to see was a Barista competition. As you can see, it was a pretty big deal (to these people at least):

We also were blessed with a beautiful snow storm on Saturday which was such a treat! Here is a picture from our hotel window. It was also fun to spy on people in the condos across the way. We saw some...um...interesting things over there this weekend!

Toughest Cowboy was Saturday night at the United Center. We got there early to take pictures with our team and the cowboys we sponsor. It was great getting to show Jay around backstage and introduce him to everyone.

All of us posing on the dirt before the show.

Jay and the Bulls

The beginning of the show introducing the cowboys

A saddle bronc ride

I was so happy he was there with me this time!

Hanging out with the cowboys after the show while they signed autographs.

Toughest Cowboy was nice enough to let us take this cardboard cutout with us. It will be displayed at our Wyoming office on Wild Horse Ranch near Laramie. You'll have to watch the show to find out who won a beautiful piece of Wyoming :)

We left Sunday afternoon and after a few hassles with flight delays, got home around 9:30. We are both looking forward to a quieter and more relaxing weekend ahead :)

Packing for Toughest Cowboy

Cowboy Boots: Check.
Belts: Check.
Belt Buckles: Check.

Western shirts and tight jeans: Check.
Husband to keep me warm in the Windy City: Check.

I think we're ready to go!

The Surgery

Before:

Forearm cyst - this is the newest of the 2

This is the one he's had for 8 years now. We put a pea there for your reference :)

Jay had to be at the hospital by 9am for his 11:00 surgery. We got there on time and checked in. I had to wait while they got him hooked up in Pre-Op and then was allowed back to hang out with him until they were ready for him. It was quite a wait so we had a fun time taking pictures!

Unruly patient
Thumbs up

Dead Sexy

It was great because the waiting room had a screen just like the cell-phone lots at airports. I had Jay's secret patient number and could follow his progress on a scrolling screen! The surgery took just under an hour at which time the surgeon came out to tell me that everything went really well. Because he had general anesthesia, he had to spend over an hour in recovery which I wasn't allowed into. Once he was ready, one of the nurses got me and went through all of the rules, medication, etc. Keep in mind that one of the rules was to go directly home from the hospital before doing anything (even before dropping off the prescription). She then told me to go grab the car & they'd be right out with Jay. I tell ya, valet parking at hospitals is awesome!! The valet got our car and soon after Jay was wheeled out and looking great but a little loopy :)

First thing out of his mouth: "CHINO BANDITO!" Yup - my husband was starving. Having not allowed him anything to eat prior to the surgery, he would not let it go and didn't give me much of a choice. It was only a couple blocks away, so we grabbed some to go and went on our way. Of course 2 minutes into the drive home he wanted to drop off the prescription AND grab a movie at Blockbuster! Needless to say, my patient was pretty much a pain in the butt but I was so glad he was normal. Just like any other day - hungry and back seat driving :)

Here is the post-op photo we took at home:

Last night we were allowed to take off the bandages to Jay's relief. I get a little woozy with these pics, but check out the "final" result:

He goes in tomorrow to get the stitches out. We're not yet sure how long it will be before he can fly again, but so far driving has been ok.

Thanks everyone for your concern these past few days. We love you!!

Weekend Update: Low Key

Since our weekend pretty much started on Friday with Jay's surgery, it was pretty low-key compared to the last few. I'm going to do a separate post on the surgery, but here's the run-down on everything else!

Friday night after I finished up some work and Jay took a little nap, we headed over to the Sanocki's house to celebrate Raelyn's 11th birthday. The birthday girl made her very own signs for the event:

The night included Guitar Hero/Rock Band video game stuff, a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt, and all the kids got to decorate their own cakes! Birthday girl is bottom left of this pic sporting her sparkly tiara:
Saturday was Valentine's Day, so I made Jay dinner. The dinner he made me last year was pretty darn good, so I had a lot to live up to and was glad to have received good reviews. (To have your Nebraskan husband tell you you cooked a steak perfect is no small feat!) The recipe I made was Steak with Parmesan Butter, Balsamic Glaze and Arugula. I also made a side of roasted tomatoes. After dinner, we enjoyed some out-of-the-box brownies (I know, how unlike me!) and a movie before heading to bed early.

Sunday we went up to the Maxham house for their 2nd Annual Daytona 500 party. You couldn't miss the house if you tried!
It was nice to spend time with friends and enjoy junk food all day! Jay was lucky - they even had non-alcoholic beers for him to drink since he was still on some strong medication from the surgery!

Ok...on to post about the patient :)

Love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Weekend Update: Friends!

We just came off from another busy Davis weekend.

Friday after work, Kelley stopped over and enjoyed some black bean hummus that Jay made for us. It was a really tasty and healthy treat! It was also a treat to have Kelley stop by and visit... even though I couldn't convince her to have a beer with me :)

Saturday we headed over to the dance studio. This time we had a double lesson - so an hour and a half of salsa and west coast swing. Jay was being really hard on himself learning some of the new moves, but I think he did great! We do need to practice more though...never can seem to squeeze in enough time during the work week.

After dancing, we headed up to the NW valley to see Myla and her new house. Both house & owner look great! We went out to grab a bite to eat, chatted for a long while and then headed south to Glendale's Chocolate Affaire with Jeff, Tara and Alistair. If you have never been to downtown Glendale, you are missing out! It has the cutest little main street strip (Glendale & 58th Ave area) filled with shops and restaurants. We browsed the booths and taste-tested lots of delicious chocolately treats before heading to Haus Murphy for beer and German food! Come to find out, they are going to be featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" - one of our favorite Food Network TV shows on February 23rd. Make sure you tune in to watch!

Jeff & Tara

Drinking like the Germans do!

Alistair was not happy when we told him he couldn't drink the beer!

Sunday we got up early to visit Kiera and Joe and see their new place. It's a really cute house and right near another nice downtown in the area - downtown Gilbert. It was Kiera's due date, so to celebrate we had breakfast at The Farmhouse. It did not disappoint! Still no baby as of yet, but hopefully we'll meet the little one sometime this week?? We're in suspense and can't wait to find out if it's a girl or a boy!

Boys doing "Blue Steel"

After breakfast I took a nap while Jay spent some time visiting the Sanocki's. I also managed to get some much needed cleaning in and admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it! I know, what's wrong with me?! We wrapped up the weekend by going to dinner with the Sanocki's and then came home to watch the movie "Holes" that Jay had recorded earlier in the day.

As I'm sure you can tell by now, we have been keeping really busy lately. It's becoming more and more frequent that we have these jam-packed weekends, so we made a vow to make April as plan-free as possible. That is, except for the weekend that my sister Stacy visits. She's hoping to come in April but we haven't set a date yet. Other than that, April = Lockdown Month!

This Friday (yes, Friday the 13th...my superstitious self can't stand that it's this day!), Jay has surgery to remove 2 ganglion cysts from his wrist. Though it's a minor outpatient surgery, I will be taking him in and then working from home in order to make sure my hubby is ok! The doctors are putting him under for the procedure so he's sure to be a bit loopy afterwards. I'll definitely post about it after it's all done. Who wants before & after pictures?! The good thing about the surgery is that Jay will not be able to fly for a while. He'll still be working in the office, but no 16-hour days flying until he's healed!! Woohoo! I think we're both equally happy about that part.

Weekend Update

We had a busy weekend and unfortunately have no pictures to prove it! Jay has been working super hard these past few weeks, so we decided that Saturday was going to be our day to spend some quality time together before he had to head out of town for his currency training. 

We started the day off with a delicious breakfast followed by our dance lesson. We both agreed that it was nice dancing on the weekend when we were both awake and not coming off a full day's work. Gourmet pizza next door to the dance studio followed. We have been talking about going to the place next door for a while and finally gave it a shot. It was very tasty! After a few errands, we headed home to relax for a bit before heading out to a surprise date that Jay had planned. He told me to get dressed up but not where we were going. I was excited and surprised to end up handing our keys to the valet at Mastro's City Hall Steakhouse in Scottsdale!

We each enjoyed a drink at the bar while waiting for our reservation. I noticed that they had homemade orange-infused vodka on the bar & asked for them to whip something up for me with it. The bartender made me a delicious cosmopolitan - the best part being that it was poured over dry ice so it bubbled & smoked like a witches potion! It was really cool and very cold!

We shared tuna tartar for an appetizer which was really good. I'm not usually a seafood person but I knew that I'd enjoy this dish. I had the bone-in filet (medium rare of course) while Jay had the rack of lamb. Both melted in our mouths! We had their signature warm butter cake with ice cream and homemade whipped cream for dessert which did not disappoint. We highly recommend Mastro's for anyone in the area planning a date night!

I am so grateful to have had Jay to myself for the whole day. The past few weeks have been pretty rough for us trying to find time to spend together. He never fails to amaze me - 16 hour days and still comes home with a smile on his face!

Sunday after dropping my love off at the airport, Kelley and I headed to the FBR Open. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it attracts the largest crowds on the PGA Tour and is famous for the 16th hole where fans break free from the "golf clap" and cheer/boo/jeer at the players. There are bleachers completely around the hole filled with people doing the wave, etc. It's a great time! Might I add that we enjoyed free valet parking and clubhouse (vip) tickets thanks to my boss! The clubhouse had *real* bathrooms (no porta potties for us!), a huge selection of free food, free drinks, and a great view of the 18th hole. It was a beautiful day so we really enjoyed the time in the sunshine. 

16th Hole - photo courtesy of phoenixopen.com

The Super Bowl was next. Kelley and I headed over to Ryan's house to watch the game. Jeff, Tara, Kathy and Alistair came and brought spinach dip along with delicious pulled pork that they had smoked all night. It was way better than a pizza! Kelley made a 7 layer dip that was a huge hit as well. Though the Cardinals didn't win, it was a great game and such a nice time with friends. We all missed Jay but I at least kept in touch with him via text message throughout the game. He comes home tomorrow night & I can't wait!