Thursday October 25, 2012 - The View From Section EE

I will start off with the video I tried to load last week. Here is Emily and her Old McDonald song. She has sense increased the words a little, but this was all she had at the time. 

I will start off this week with a little bit of school safety information. Yesterday we had scheduled Brianna's conferences during lunch since I am stuck at work on the evenings. We had Kristy's grandpa's truck removing more leaves from the yard. We dropped off the leaves at the dump and drove up to the school. We were about 10 minutes early so as we drove by the schools playground we saw Bri outside, so we parked and watched her play. We said to each other that we felt like creepers watching kids at recess. We then went inside to go to Bri's conferences and the Principal walks up to us and asked us if we were driving a pickup truck. Turns out the crossing guards, two girls a few years older than Bri, were to report any suspicious cars while they are outside. Turns out they did a good job and at least reported us! Like I said, we thought were were a little creepy. Its a good thing they are being observant. 

Tomorrow marks a pretty big day for us. Closing day for the Omaha house! It only took 17 months to sell the house and a financial headache, but its sold. We went out last weekend to get the last of our belongings out of there. It was a little rough. We were fortunate enough to get into the housing market when they were passing mortgages out at the street corner and we were able to get a brand new house. It was everything we needed in a house. 

Brought home a few monsters into that home. The yard felt so big when we brought Reagan home. Looked like he could run and run and not even get close to the neighbors house with his little puppy strides. Then as he got bigger and decided to disobey us and go to the neighbors deck it was time to fence him in. Turns out wooden fence posts, large dog, and some nasty wind doesn't bode well for the fence. Bri decided to leave her lasting impression on the house after we had the carpets cleaned professionally for Christmas one year. We, begrudgingly, gave her cup of hot chocolate from Starbucks. Roughly two sips into it, it gets dumped on the carpet. 100% our fault. Everyone from the Myans to Nostrodamus to anyone on the street knew she was going to do that, yet we gave in and let her have it. As we were leaving, the carpets looked good, but there was her huge stain of hot cocoa. Emily was there the shortest amount of time, but she still left her mark, or we failed to clean her mark up. A couple cute hand prints on the stainless steel of the oven was cute enough to just leave. 

As rough as it was to leave, we do realize that from the very beginning we knew we weren't going to be in that house forever. Its just too bad it took so damn long to sell! 

Prediction:

Last week the Iowa State offense showed once again its one of the worst in the conference. For some reason they started out really well taking a 10-7 lead. Then the wheels fell off and they failed to move the ball at all. Its a little frustrating since the running game was suppose to be so good, but it has been anything but good. If I had any say in the matter, and from 19 rows up in the end zone my opinion is pretty much ignored, I would run the ball with Jeff Woody more than the 5 times a game he gets now. They need to play the game 10 yards at a time and use Woody to chew up 3-4 yards a play. Eat a lot of clock and punch it in with lengthy scoring drives. 

This week brings Baylor to Ames. Baylor has one of the better offenses facing a good Iowa State defense. The Baylor defense is literally the worst defense in the country. Its too bad the Iowa State Offense is so bad, but this should be a game they put some points on the board. I do not have a very good feeling about this one, but I hope I am wrong. This is a turning point for both teams, the loser goes home with a difficult chance of making a bowl game. The winner sets them self up for a bowl chance and a strong finish. I have that feeling Baylor will win this thing, but there is no way I can predict Baylor to win. ISU gets the running game going and they pull off the win. 

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Thursday October 18, 2012 - The View From Section EE

It turns out that having a nice new work phone and a lot of time with Emily in the mornings that I happen to take a lot more videos and pictures of her. The other day she just started to sing a song, and I had no clue where she sang it before. Very similar to Brianna when she sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep" constantly. Here would be her "Old McDonald" video but I will have to delay that. Turns out I'm having issues posting a video. I'll throw a picture in just to suffice for now.


This past Sunday we went to my grandmas for a Thanksgiving style lunch. A typical Evans meal. There was a whole lot little Brianna did not want to eat, so she asked for a pear. She got her pear but grandma said she had to eat her food first. After she suffered through eating bits and pieces, Kristy gave in and let her eat the pear. Not so fast! Grandma didn't approve and took the pear from her and told her she needs to finish her lunch since it was so much work to make. The look on Bri's face was priceless. If it was us or either of our parents, she would have argued back and probably gotten her way. She was speechless. Just sat there wondering what just happened. We couldn't help but laugh. After she choked down some more food and spit out some squash in the bathroom she finally got her pear. It was very funny.

Prediction:
Last week those Wildcats of Kansas State got by the Cyclones once again! They do everything they need to do to win, and they have a chance to make a ton of noise this year.

This week ISU travels to Stillwater, OK to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The same Cowboys that ISU knocked out of the National Championship game last year. Fortunately, this is not the same OK State team. They lost arguably their best offensive players in school history. This year they are playing very well on the offensive side of the ball but they are lacking a relevant defense. The ISU offense has not been good at all, and you can even call it awful. I don't think it can get any worse and matches up with a below average defense, this could be the week it wakes up.

I believe the ISU defense is good enough to shut down OSU, it's just the offense needs to score enough to win. I am taking ISU in this one by a couple touchdowns at the very least.

41-17 Cyclones!

Thursday October 11, 2012 - The View From Section EE

This week brings a couple Emily stories. I think Brianna will be OK with her not being mentioned this week.

First Story:

This past Sunday we raked up a billion leaves in the yard. While running the leaf blower, I look over and Emily is walking up to me and talking and not really making a lot of sense. This had been a common theme while running the leaf blower and not being able to hear her. A minute later Kristy stops me and tells me to look over at Emily. She must have been telling me she had to go to the bathroom because I look over and her pants are down in the middle of the yard. Luckily she had not yet gone, otherwise she would have peed all over her clothes! I guess it took a couple times in the summer when other kids/boys happen to go to the bathroom in the yard to make her think she can go too. This wasn't the first occasion, but first occasion where she wasn't wearing a dress or a swimsuit.

Second Story:

Since Kristy has a new daytime hours job, we have had to use the day care place in town on occasion. Yesterday was one of those occasions. Emily was there all day as we both had to work early in the morning. Turns out she has been doing pretty good. She doesn't like tomato's and nacho's, but we knew that. Her report yesterday had a couple interesting points. One, she is kind of bossy. Who knew with a sister like Brianna that Emily would turn bossy?!?!?! I guess it was just a matter of time before we found that out. The next point is interesting. Emily naps really well in the afternoon for us. Turns out she naps well there too, but it took a twist yesterday. The workers found Emily after she woke up walking on top of currently sleeping kids. I didn't believe it when I heard it. I asked her about it today and she said she walked on them and it was fun. Nothing new here, but what Emily wants, Emily gets. I guess.

Prediction:

Last week I thought ISU would win by 14, and they did! The ISU offense did score more than I predicted, but that's a good thing. They switched to the back up quarterback, Jared Barnett. Obviously that was the correct move. For some reason, they seem to respond a lot better on offense with Barnett in the line up. Jantz may have a better arm, but Barnett gets the offense moving.

The past three ISU/Kansas State games have been decided by a total of 15 points, all K-State wins. The things old man Bill Snyder has done at K-State is tremendous. He took on of the worst football programs in the history of football and made them a winner. He retired then after three bad years returned to continue what he has done in the past, win. ISU is due in so many ways to beat the Wildcats. Three years ago an amazing catch in the end zone as the game was ending resulted in ISU needing an extra point to tie the game. Go figure, it gets blocked and K-State wins. The next year ISU was down 7 late in the game when Austen Arnaud overthrew a wide open Alexander Robinson that would have resulted in the potential game tying touchdown. Then last year in a cold blustery day in Manhattan, ISU just couldn't get it down and lost by 7.

This year K-State is ranked in the top 10, and for the first time in a long time, ISU is ranked 25th in the Coach's Poll. Turns out this Saturday the weather could play a major factor. Sounds like a lot of rain throughout the day and even thunderstorms and potential severe weather. K-State is a team that does not make mistakes, but they are playing a solid ISU defense. I think ISU will be able to stop K-State's running attack and force them to pass, and if the conditions are as bad as they say they will be, this bodes well for Iowa State. The ISU offense must not turn the ball over. That is the key. IF they turn the ball over less than K-State, they win. Its that simple. Bill Snyder teams make other teams look bad by capitalizing on their mistakes. I the magic number is 24. If ISU gets to 24 first, they win the game. I look for it to get sloppy at times, but think ISU pulls the upset.

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Friday October 5, 2012 - The View From Section EE

Not a whole lot to report this week, then as I failed to set my alarm and as I scramble to get Bri ready for school, she makes me laugh. We were about ready to head out the door when she wanted to go get her library book and return it. Then she says "When we go to Okoboji next summer, I want to go to the Spencer  Library and look for Dewey." I was pretty confused, so in the short amount of time I ask what she means. She checked out a library book and the book was about a cat named Dewey and he lives in the Spencer Library. She showed me the page where it shows a library in a town of Spencer. So without a doubt, she will probably remember and next summer we will be searching for a cat in the Spencer library.

Emily has been having a bout with this nasty cough. It seems to be getting better, but enough to drive us all crazy when she cant sleep in the middle of the night. At least she still lovers her Pingu on Netflix. There is only one actual word on the show, and its Pingu. A bunch of grunts and mumbling. Similar to an Evans family gathering. Here is Em and her Pingu song.

Prediction:

I am now 2-1 after last weeks debacle on the offensive side of the ball. The defense did what it needed to do to win Big 12 games. It will be tough to shut out Big 12 schools so the offense needs to show up week to week. That was one of the worst offensive performances we have seen in a while. It was a challenge, but ISU's quarterback Steele Jantz won that challenge by only passing for 3 yards in the first half, and that was two completed passes. It was brutal to watch, and its hard to pinpoint where the began. Bad quarterback play, bad play calling, bad offensive line, etc. Hopefully things will change tomorrow or it could be a long season.

Prior to the season I thought TCU could be a team to beat. Its their first year in the Big 12 and even though they have had some success, they have not played the difficult schedule of the Big 12. I assumed they would be closer to .500 winning percentage by the time the season is done. Then ISU looked awful last week, so I was leading toward a 14 point TCU win. Then Wednesday night, TCU's starting quarterback gets picked up for drunken driving and is suspended. That changes things a lot in my mind. TCU now will be starting a quarterback who was about to play some running back due to their injuries at that position. With two days notice to prepare, I think the TCU offense will struggle, not like ISU struggled last week (no team can have a worse offense performance) and the ISU defense shuts them down. If ISU can straighten out half its poor offense and put up 24 points, I think they can win.

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