We opened the front door and saw the snow piled up on top of our garbage can.
Using the ruler method we saw on the news, our front step had about 5 inches of snow at that point.
Jess and her boots braved the measuring of our sidewalk.
Jess and her boots braved the measuring of our sidewalk.
It measured about 7-8 inches.
Our landlord's son had come sometime earlier in the day to plow out our driveway as best he could, so it had only accumulated about 3 more inches.
Our landlord's son had come sometime earlier in the day to plow out our driveway as best he could, so it had only accumulated about 3 more inches.
The drift by our mailbox measured about 11 inches.
Our neighbor Rose (who lives downstairs) had not done any shoveling yet, so her step had about 9 inches or so.
My car didn't get much more covered than what you see here - the drifts accumulated with about 1-2 feet away from my car, so it wasn't too hard to shovel her out in the morning. The right side you see here had about 1-2 feet just piled against the side of the car, but the top wasn't too bad. 
Jess & I outside braving one of the worst storms in 20 years (according to the NOAA).
Heading back into the house.
I finally won Der Meister (sometime in September)! After about 4-5 months of weekly poker nights, I came out a winner. Twice, in a row. Haven't won again since then! 
Nelly's 19th birthday was in September & we had a party at the river - roasted hot dogs, made smores, & had some homemade cake from Nelly. A rousing game of movie charades ensued.
Nick, Katie, Lindsay, Meghan, Jess, Nelly, & Deniss.
September also brought the Pufferbilly Days parade - I haven't gone since high school. It was a fun day with family. Kelli & Marcus brought Miya & Isaiah and they were really fun to watch.
Isaiah had fun & took off a little down the street to check out the marching band. He kept us all on our toes!
For Mom's birthday in September, we took her to see Wicked in Des Moines. We made an evening of it & went to dinner at Centro before the show.
We also entertained ourselves with Mom's camera while we waited for the doors to open.
And this one is totally random - but I got a high score on my electronic Yahtzee - notice I had a total of 4 Yahtzee's!! (My previous high score was 535!)
For Halloween I made my own costume this year. I like to call it "Shark Attack". I found an actual costume online, but it was $50 so I made my own out of a sleeping bag, some cardboard, styrofoam & paint.
The rest of the Halloween party crew (minus Cloudy w/ a chance of rain, a cowgirl & Facebook -Trisha, Emily & Janelle)
Jess & I took a 2 day trip to Omaha in November to see the Season 5 SYTYCD tour. It was A-MAZING!! (Sadly, no pictures) but we spent the day at the Omaha Zoo before the show.
And the best part of the zoo.....they had elephants! We tried to see them a couple years ago, but it was March & they weren't there. It made my day. (Then the tour made my night!!)
We were literally standing about 5 feet back from this little embankment & we were straight in front of the elephant as he started walking right toward us. I began to hyperventilate a little & quickly moved away from him. The picture wasn't taken in time, but he extended his trunk to grab some leaves next to that bush. I had no idea how close he could really get to us, but I didn't want to stay there to find out!!
The parents:
The candles:
The blowing-out of the candles: 
The typical ugly-face sister picture:
The dinner at Spaghetti Works:
The eager anticipation of Shawn Johnson & Friends:
I keep inviting Joshua, but Money Mike keeps crashing the party.
Money Mike & Dollar Delores - notice the knee high Halloween socks, my favorite personal touch.
I put this up because Sean looks scared...
Time for some actual poker.
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