Amy's visit, Dancing with no stars, Beating Kansas

It was another busy week in the small city. That's what Amy's boyfriend Corey called Des Moines - and he's right. One skyscraper IS pretty small. We like our small city and lack of big city traffic. I wish we would have had longer than an evening to show him around.

Amy and Corey add another state to their USA passports

Amy and Corey arrived last Tuesday after a long drive from Denver. They were on their way to Pittsburgh where he will live for the next 6 months for his job with GE. They took the scenic route - meandering between here and Pittsburgh through Madison, Chicago and Michigan. During their short stop in DSM, we took them out to eat at Alba. Amy's college roommates Jenna and Rachelle met us later for a drink. Conversation was such fun!

In the morning, they were treated to Paul's breakfast casserole. Paul and I each took a couple of vacation hours from work so we could hang out with them a bit longer. It was very nice to meet Corey and we hope to see him again soon. Amy will be back  in DMS for a few days this week before she returns to Denver. Yay!

Thursday night was Ballroom Dance night with Jim and Suzi, our instructors. We kicked it off with a stop at the Tavern for pizza. Last week we enjoyed their broasted chicken - which is very good. I thought the pizza was okay - not great. At dance, we moved from Fox Trot (named after Vaudeville actor Harry Fox) to Swing - which is more up our alley. There were more couples in class this week - probably 16 - thus more people to dance around. Maybe we'll try to work in some practice time this week. I need to work on my "frame". It's good exercise if nothing else.

Friday night we went to the movie Birdman, which has many Academy Award nominations. It was...interesting.

We traveled to Creston on Saturday afternoon to attend the 50th Wedding Anniversary of some of the nicest people we know - John and Kathy Tapken. Their four children held a party for them at the Lobby. We arrived a Creston a little early so I'd have a chance to check out the stock at one of my fave shoe stores, Family Shoe, operated by Steve McCann aka Dr. Shoe. He's got all my fave brands - Merrill, Clark, Dansko and more. And he's got the Bargain Basement. I scored some great Merrill boots down there - $75!

The Tapken/Goldsmith connection goes back a long way. John Tapken has been part of our lives since we moved to town. He was the director for Union County Conservation and served on the board for Paul's work. We met Kathy through him and they attended our church. John was and is very active in the state with Resource Enhancement and Protection grants. He also hired Jud for his first job - at Three Mile Lake in Afton. He was a great mentor for our son. Kathy was Amy's confirmation sponsor.

The reception for John and Kathy was very nice. I met his oldest child - son Doug, for the first time. He'd graduated from high school by the time we arrived in Creston. We were also able to see a number of longtime Creston friends at the party - Mary Moore, Bob Snodgrass and Gerry Katzer to name a few. We didn't stay long as we had a "next act" planned for the day.

After a quick stop at home to let the pooch out, we headed to Ames for a big basketball game - ISU vs. Kansas. This year it was even bigger than ever because ESPN had made it the location of Gameday. We joined our friends the Ehreckes at Scheman Hall for a meal of pulled pork before the game. And what a game. It was - sold out and rocking - even more than usual with excellent signs that only college students can come up with. Stuff like "Bill Self wears Crocs". Funny. But the final score wasn't funny. Cyclones win! We had a beer with a group back at Scheman after the game - to relish the big victory. Fun stuff. Too bad the Packers weren't able to hold on for a victory Sunday to complete the happy weekend for the Gsmiths.

view from the cheap seats