Dan and Britt

Dementor

2012-02-23T15:53:00.000-08:00

We all have a place that we absolutely dread going. You all know these places. The moment you turn into the parking lot your soul slowly begins to be sucked out of you. Everything goes ice cold and you can’t think of a single happy thought to drive out the negativity. Many have these feelings about the DMV. Personally, my dementor is Wal-Mart, specifically the Wal-Mart down the street.

Finding a parking space is the first impossible task at my local Wal-Mart. The frustrating thing is most of the occupied spaces are filled with shopping carts rather than vehicles. Also have you noticed people tend to hoist their carts onto the median curbs. Really? Was popping a wheely with your shopping cart easier than walking it 5 feet? After looping around the parking spaces for several minutes, I likely end up parking at the subway across the street.

The walk to the building is horrifying. Dumpster cats lurk in every darkened corner just waiting for a chance to pass on their rabies. For every five dumpster cats there is one hoodlum that appears to be the commander of the dumpster cat army. The best thing to do is look at the ground, walk as fast as possible, and pray that I don’t trip.

Then I walk in the cold empty doors, which I am just hoping will be more pleasant than dodging rabid cats, but alas it is not. This used to be the place I would find a welcoming employee. These employees temporarily served as my patronus, keeping the soul sucking experience at bay for just long enough to complete my grocery shopping. These bright white stags have now been replaced with blue lettering above the door ‘Thank You for Choosing Your Local Wal-Mart’. I read the blue lettering and try to feel like a welcomed and appreciated guest. I grab my cart and continue on with my experience.

Without fail I end up with a cart that has at least one messed up wheel. Sometimes the wobbly wheel is barely hanging on by it’s rusty hardware. Other times the wheel doesn’t spin at all; upon further inspection an accumulation of hair is preventing proper wheel function. I learned very quickly to never inspect grocery cart wheels.

The actual shopping experience isn’t terrible, if you don’t mind using all your muscle and body weight to maneuver your bum cart, walking a million miles to get two items, and getting boxed into an isle at least once, usually by a person in a Wal-Mart style jazzy attempting a 25 point turn. Those jazzys are fueled by my draining soul.

Finally, I have all the items I need! I can leave this dreadful place...just one last stop at the cash register. The sight of the line length quickly diminishes any hope of returning home with a smile. The three available lines are backed up to the clothing department. I look at the other 15 cashier stations, none of which are lit up and shake my head in disappointment. With a sigh I take my place in line, which coincidentally is also near the men’s jeans. I was hoping for an opportunity to look at Faded Glory’s new fashion line. The folks in front of me seem like your everyday hoarders, carts overflowing with a variety items that will likely end up shoved in a closet next to their other treasures. Wait...does that person have two carts?

After an eternity, it is finally my turn! I pay for my items and load my cart with haste. I am all but running out the door now. Before I reach the store’s threshold I lace my keys between my fingers, but I do not stop. It’s dark now and the dumpster cats are thirsty for blood. Finally I arrive at my car, load it, return my shopping cart to the designated place, and leave. As the Wal-Mart sign fades from my view, I feel my spirits lifting and my soul returning to its proper place, I barely escaped the dementor’s kiss.

We've Made It...AGAIN

2012-02-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

We've made it through another class. Does it seem like all my posts are related to medical school? I know, I'm tired of hearing about it too, but you'll be happy to know Dan OWNED this class. He worked really hard and I don't think he panicked as much about the test. Either that or I have now acclimated to the panic cycle. Now in case you're doubting the difficulty of medical school let me throw out a little comparison. Medical students take approximately 39 credit hours per semester. While I was completing my Master's degree, in order to complete the program within 2 years I was required to take 15 credits per semester, FIFTEEN. I feel like a real shmuck. What the heck did I have to complain about? Now I think you can fully appreciate my medical school blurbs and when I say Dan owned a test, you know how excruciatingly difficult it is. Well done Daniel, well done.

Every genius has a method to which they attribute their success. Dan's is a little unconventional. Yes, this picture was taken in a public place.

I am now six months pregnant (give or take a couple days). I had a doctor's appointment the other day. The day before my appointment I was racking my brain trying to figure out how many weeks I was...21???22??? 23??? I have already ranted about the timekeeping of pregnancy so I won't revisit this topic. I could not face my doctor KNOWING that I was clueless. Also, I was afraid the medical assistant or someone was going to ask me. What kind of person would I be, if my response was, "UH....well...I....22?" So I counted it out and it made me a cranky, but now I know. For the record I am 23 weeks... and no one at the doctor's office asked me.

We are getting so close to our baby's birth and as time goes on I am getting more and more excited! I keep imagining holding our little guy in my arms. I cannot wait! We are slowly putting his room together. We assembled the crib and bought some bedding. Buying things for our baby has been one time that I have actually enjoyed shopping. I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by, I can't wait to meet our baby boy.

This picture melts my heart! He is already adorable. I just love him. He is going to be the spitting image of his dad.

Other happenings:

I in no way, shape, or form condone gambling. With that being said, this awesome story can now unfold. Dan had posted some of his old video games on craigslist to sell. He got a call from an interested buyer and arranged to meet him at the 7-eleven near our house. We live in a pretty good neighborhood, but we do hear sirens every night without fail (this is not an exaggeration). Those police cars are probably usually headed to the 7-eleven. One night when Dan and I were on a run we could see a helicopter shining a spotlight over the houses in our neighborhood. As we neared our home, the spotlight actually shined directly on us (ever wish you could run faster? A similar experience will do the trick). That helicopter was likely looking for someone that had burglarized the local 7-eleven. I think you all get the point. Dan arrived at the 7-eleven to make the video game exchange a bit early. So he decided to try his luck on a $1 scratch and win. He purchased the ticket and scratched off the gray squares. When he was through, he handed it to the lady and asked if he had won anything. She scanned the ticket and he had won $50! The cashier then began paying out his $50 in five and one dollar bills. All the while some very large and scary men were watching. Dan took the money, made the video game exchange, and got the heck out of dodge. We're thankful that Dan was part of the only safe 7-eleven experience.

Dan on top of the world. Also I am loving the Red Storm t-shirt. Go Red Storm....!!!! (That one is just for you Dan)

What does Dan Sumko buy with $50, you ask?

Are you really surprised? He found a sweet deal on a grill that was posted on craigslist. We have been thoroughly enjoying it ever since.

It's February and I haven't posted about our Christmas yet. We were able to fly back to Utah for 10 days. It was awesome! So much fun to see family and friends. It was great to kick back and relax. We had an extremely difficult time coming home and adjusting back to real life.

At the nutcracker with some very lovely ladies! Grandma Clyd, Me, Keira Mom, Grandma Cevering, & Aunt Jodi. We had had a great time together!

While we were in Utah my sweet and amazing sister planned a baby shower for me. My gosh that girl is amazing! She is a great planner and decorator. I'm thankful to her for planning the event and for all the great ladies in my life for pitching in. I am so lucky to have a loving and supportive family AND on top of it all I married into an amazing family! Thanks to all the Sumko ladies for your help and continued love and support!

Some of the decor and food from the shower. I told you Keira is talented!

My gorgeous cousins!

Aub & Heather thanks for your help!

Love Angie's face in this one! Look at those cute little sandals! LOVE them!!

So good to see friends I hadn't seen in years! What a great time. I can't believe how lucky I am to have such good friends. I can't believe how many generous gifts we received. We're so grateful!

We were also so happy to be able to spend time with our friends the Cooks who drove up from St. George. We miss them so incredibly much! I keep trying to convince them that they need to move to Fort Worth. I won't stop trying until I prevail! Anyway, we met up and went to Nicklecade, it was pretty awesome. I'm not a talented arcade-goer, but it was a great time! Dan was gifted at this game that you flung a nickle into these basketball hoops. He cleaned that machine out of tickets. Our most proud moment was as the four of us were redeeming our massive amounts of tickets a group of kids were gawking nearby and saying things like, "WOW, how did you guys get so many tickets?" We all felt pretty darn cool. We walked away with a sizable amount of laffy-taffys, airheads, fireballs, and a mustache comb. Looking forward to another reunion with the Cooks soon!

We're Halfway There!

2012-01-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Let me just nip suspicions in the bud right away because I know what you're thinking. No I did not meet Bon Jovi, although his song We're Halfway There has been stuck in my head these past few days...and now it's stuck in yours. Also, Dan is not halfway done with school. He did, however, complete his first semester. Upon completion of his last test of the semester, he informed me that he is one-eighth of a doctor. That wasn't very comforting. Although that statement is accurate, his calculation did not account for the years of residency and fellowship that will likely follow medical school. Although he IS one-eight of a doctor, by my calculation we're technically only one-sixteenth or one-eighteenth (depending on what Dan chooses as a specialty) done with EVERYTHING. Translation: WE'RE NOT EVEN CLOSE (we are enjoying the ride though). The good news is, if something horrible were to happen to me I'm confident that Dan would be able to save AT LEAST one-eighth of my life. Jokes aside, I am VERY proud of him. I can't imagine being in his shoes. Medical school is extremely difficult, but he has worked so hard and done very well. I have no doubt this trend will continue. I am married to a genius. I need to go watch an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Magic School Bus, or Shark Week to try to keep up. Helpful tip: I get all my science knowledge from the previously mentioned programs. I supplement with an occasional viewing of whatever is on the History Channel while I'm waiting for my doctor appointment. You're welcome.

So what's the point of this post, you ask? Well, we are halfway to the birth of our baby boy! I am 20 weeks pregnant. Tangent: I think it is inhumane that doctors count pregnancy in weeks. Really, you want me to count every single WEEK that goes by for 40 weeks?! Do they realize that is practically a year? Also, as a person that had previously never had children, any time a pregnant woman would tell me how far along she was, I had to divide that number by 4 and subtract that by 9 months to figure out about how much time she had until delivery. To save everyone time and mental strain, 20 weeks calculates to about 5 months, baby boy Sumko is due May 28th. Now that I have taken care of my hormonal rant, let me just say how excited Dan and I are. We cannot wait for our baby boy to arrive. We are so thankful that our Heavenly Father has allowed us the opportunity to be parents and we pray for our baby's safe arrival.

The Lord has blessed us already with so many tender mercies. First, this pregnancy has been so easy for me, I only hope that blessing continues. I have not had morning sickness and I have had a relatively large supply of energy. This has truly been a pleasant and happy time for me. Second, so far our baby is growing and developing just as he should. We pray everyday that this trend continues. The first time I heard his heartbeat was incredible! Up until that point I kept thinking, well maybe the doctors made a mistake, maybe I'm not pregnant after all. Once I heard that strong little heartbeat all my doubt and worries disappeared. The ultrasound was even more amazing. Our little guy was all but doing back-flips, no doubt he has the Sumko energy. It was awesome to see his precious face and find out his gender. I was excited we were able to find out so early. There are benefits to having a high-risk pregnancy.

Thirdly, I am so thankful that the thought of needles doesn't make me sick. Many people dread getting shots or having blood drawn. My own sister was always terrified of needles, although I think she is recovering from this phobia, or maybe she doesn't mind sticking others with needles, who really knows. Tolerance for needles has made my daily injections of blood-thinners much easier. At first, my tummy was quite bruised. Either my technique has improved, or my stomach has become a large callous, either way I'm thankful that the process has become easier. I'm hoping that the callous scenario is accurate...I've never seen stretch marks on a callous before.

Additionally, I'm thankful they finally came out with a generic brand for the injections and that my insurance covers them extremely well. When I first went to the pharmacy to pick up my first batch, the cashier scanned the prescription and I about passed out! The cost for 30 days worth of injections was about $1,700. Can you imagine paying that every month? The cashier then said she would need to call my insurance company. For the 5-10 minutes this girl was on the phone I was in a complete flop-sweat. What if my insurance doesn't cover it? What if they don't cover it well? What if they lost record of my existence? What if something horrible happened and the insurance company imploded along with my benefits. (The longer I waited the more irrational my thoughts became). After she hung up the phone she shared her notes with another pharmacy tech. They both looked at me and said, "WOW!" This response did not help my case of flop-sweat, "What do you mean Wow?" I responded desperately, "Is that a good wow or a bad wow? Is this medication going to bankrupt me?" They both smiled. It was great news! They had never seen an insurance company cover so much of a prescription before. I was only responsible to pay $5! I was so relieved, I about cried. Every time I hand money to that pharmacy I'm reminded of this great and wonderful blessing.

Last, but certainly not least, I'm so thankful we have a supportive and loving family. Isn't it amazing that a group of people will do anything for you just because you share the same blood or are married to their son/brother/nephew/cousin/grandson (you get the idea here). I THINK SO! We could not be more grateful for our wonderful family!

Apparently my womb is a little fuzzy :), but here's a photo of our little guy taken today. He weighs 11 ounces. Just four weeks ago he weighed 5 ounces...he's growing like a weed!

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-29T19:04:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving adventures began on Wednesday night. The weeks

leading up the holiday I had an internal battle about making pierogis (a

yummy ravioli-like food stuffed with cheesy and creamy mashed

potatoes). They are delicious, but like most scrumptious foods, they

are a pain in the bum to make. I swore weeks ago that this year we

would under no circumstances be making pierogis; a few days before

Thanksgiving I caved. What kind of Sumko’s go without pierogis on

Thanksgiving! Wednesday night we began to cook. Last year, our

friends, The Cooks helped us roll out and cut the dough, we definitely

took for granted their helping hands. With just the two of us the

process was much more difficult; we were both a bit cranky. In the end

it was worth it, our efforts resulted in a very tasty treat.

Dan hard at work

Pierogis...YUMMY

This was also my first experience making pies. I baked a pumpkin and

chocolate layer pie. They both turned out quite tasty, if I do say so

myself. The pumpkin pie, however, had strong spots of clove. The store

didn’t have ground cloves so I bought whole ones. I do things like

this fairly often. It can’t make that big of a difference, right?!

Somehow I’m always surprised by what a HORRIBLE difference

little changes to recipes can make. The cloves were by no means an

exception. I tried to crush the cloves with several everyday kitchen

tools (in one attempt I used a spoon). I learned just how solid cloves

are. My impatience eventually got the best of me and I through the

bits of clove into the pie. It wasn’t terrible, but every so often

you’d get a bite with a high concentration of cloves. LESSON LEARNED,

next time I will hopefully remember that it WILL make a much bigger

difference than I think.

Thanksgiving was splendid! We got together with a group of friends to

enjoy our feast. When we arrived Andee asked for some help with the

gravy…spoiler alert: this is the beginning of cooking disaster number

two. She was using electric beaters to stir the gravy while I poured

in corn starch. We started out pouring small amounts of diluted starch

into the gravy. As we got more impatient I suggested we start dumping

in the non-diluted starch. Again we started out slow, but as time went

on without much thickening happening, we started dumping in large

spoonfuls. Have I mentioned I’ve never made homemade gravy before?

Anyway, we finally got the gravy to the perfect consistency and

everyone sat down for dinner. We all finished our first plate, when

Dan got up for his second plate, the consistency of the gravy was less

than perfect. Andee has this chicken gravy boat, the gravy comes out

the chickens mouth they call it the puking chicken. When Dan poured

the lumpy, chunky gravy out he said, “Now it really looks

like it is puking”. We all had a good laugh. We took some

gravy home as leftovers and it only got worse. This picture says much more

than my words can:

The amount of corn starch added to gravy does makes a bigger difference than you think! LESSON LEARNED

I thought about shopping on black Friday for about .03 seconds. We

slept in and it was glorious! We did a lot of movie watching and

vegetating all day. Friday night we decided to venture to the Parade

of Lights. We bundled up in sweaters, scarves, and coats and headed

out the door. Neither of us had been outside that day, turns out it

was about 75 degrees. We peeled off our layers and enjoyed a

delightful display of Christmas floats…well, I thoroughly enjoyed the

parade, Dan, on the other hand, was less enthused. He did enjoy

laughing at me for waving back at the folks on the floats and shouting

Merry Christmas as a response to their well-wishes to the masses.

I love parades.

Happy spectators

I'm sad this isn't a better picture. Guy dressed as Doc Brown in a delorean...AWESOME

Bless Dan’s heart for not studying for two days. By Saturday, he

couldn’t take it any longer and off to the library he went. Once he got

his knowledge fix, we went to the mall. I honestly can’t remember the

last time we went to the mall together. As much as I sometimes despise

shopping, this outing was surprisingly delightful.

We had a great holiday weekend. The taste of freedom from school and

work has us anxiously awaiting our Christmas vacation. Utah here

we come!

Falsies

2011-11-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

While shopping for make-up, have you ever seen the eye shadow with a diagram that shows just where to apply each color and wondered to yourself: What ridiculous person buys this? Or asked yourself why would a person buy the foundation that magically matches to their face rather than purchasing the proper foundation color. I’m embarrassed to say, I am a consumer of both of those products. A former co-worker of mine once told me that her daughter-in-law purchased make-up that has a recording that speaks instructions to the user during application. This is my dream item, I have been searching for talking make-up for years! Clearly I am not a make-up expert; I need an owner’s manual in order to not look like a clown. Some days, even when I read the diagrams and instructions, I still end up looking a little strange. Now I know you're thinking, 'oh my goodness this poor girl's mother never taught her how to wear make-up'. Remove such thoughts from your mind. If you have ever seen my sister, you would know this is not true. My mother's make-up is always perfect, she is an expert. My sister successfully grasped hold of the expert techniques passed down from our mom. I, on the other-hand, was daydreaming during the make-up classes. I snapped out of it only long enough to truly appreciate the necessity of mascara. Since then, I have never been able to live without this eyelash enhancing item.

I am always on a quest for the perfect mascara. The other day my sister texted me and said she had found it: THE PERFECT MASCARA. I purchased the same mascara and I am in love! I feel like everyone should know about it. I have you on the edge of your seats now, what is this life changing mascara you speak of. Maybelline brand mascara called Falsies. It is the best! AND the best part is you can buy it for less than $5!

While talking of gorgeous lashes, here's my one and only make-up trick. Tina, one of my first college roommates had this handy tip that I use every day. Put your mascara on first. Then do your hair, or whatever while you allow it to dry. Once it’s dry, grab your eyelash curler and stick it under your hairdryer for a couple seconds. Then curl your lashes. Be careful not to leave your eyelash curler under the heat too long, you’ll burn your eyelid and that hurts! I have found this keeps my eyelashes curled all day long. Eyelash extensions are gorgeous, but for those of us on a tight budget, this is an excellent alternative.

The Trick Is to Thank the Lord for Letting you Have the Ride

2011-11-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

Medical school has been quite the ride. I am happy to report that Dan is doing really well. I have, however, started to notice a panic cycle. Once a new class starts, Dan is usually feeling pretty good about the material. As the test day gets closer, the amount of panic increases. Once he takes the practice test, a couple days before the actual test, he goes into panic mode. I can usually detect panic mode because we have a conversation like this: first he says something like, "there's no way I'm going to learn all of this material." and then I'll respond with something like, "you said that last time and you got an a on THAT test how could this possibly be any different" and then he'll say, "no, but I mean it this time." It doesn't matter what I say beyond this point, panic mode has already taken control. This usually results in 18 hour study days, sleepless nights, skipped meals and blood-shot eyes. Then the test comes and goes and SURPRISE Dan gets an A on his test. This cycle is the only constant thing in our lives. So we went through the cycle again with Neuro. This is one of the hardest classes any med student ever experiences, so when panic mode set in, I was even a little nervous. I SHOULD KNOW BETTER BY NOW! I'm proud to say, Dan has done it again! Regardless of the mounting positive outcomes, I know the panic cycle will live on (as we speak Dan is going on the 14th hour of study, the end of which is nowhere in sight). Dan is very smart and has been working so hard! I couldn't be more proud. His hard work and success make it easy to shrug off the panic that is constantly looming over our household.

On a more fun note. We celebrated Dan's birthday! He is now closer to 30 than 20. His actual birthday didn't seem very fun at all. He had a test that day and was preparing for another test the following day. To ring in 26 years of life he...studied. He came home for about 30 minutes to enjoy his barbeque dinner and open presents, then promptly returned to his study cubicle. Not exactly an ideal birthday. I think he made up for it in the following days. Modern Warfare 3 came out a few days after Dan's big day. As luck would have it, he had just finished an exam and was able to pick the game up at midnight. He went on to play video games all night long. Is it surprising that a 26 year old man ONLY wanted a video game for his birthday? I was talking to a co-worker about Dan's love for Modern Warfare. His wife then chimed in and said, "Oh my gosh I love that game. I'm totally my hubby's wing-man". I'll never be THAT wife. I can't steer the army man and move their head at the same time. I end up looking at the ceiling running in circles. Honestly, I don't aspire to obtain such skills, but it is great to know there are some awesome women out there that love video games as much as their man. Hats off to them. I am glad, however, that Dan has something he enjoys. He spends a lot of time in class and studying, I think he deserves to have some fun. I really hope his inner-child lives forever, it keeps us both youthful. A friend of mine emailed me the other day and said she remembered a couple of years ago Dan saying, "I can't have a child, I still laugh at the word fart." I think his silly sense of humor is what will make him a fun dad...and fart is kind of a funny word.

Did you notice I had a conversation with a co-worker in the above tangent? YES, it's true I have co-workers again!! This has definitely been a bitter-sweet occurence. It is great to be working again, but I miss my sabbatical already! It stinks being a grown-up sometimes. I remember being a teenager dreaming of the day I would graduate from college and be free from the bonds of education. If only I knew then what I know now! The grass always seems greener on the other side doesn't it? It's so easy to wish away periods of life. Some days all I can think about is getting through these next 8 or so years of medical school and residency. This is, however, a great time in our lives. Dan and I are constantly learning new lessons and growing closer together. I am certain I'll look back on these times with fondness, although I am positive I will never want to repeat them. God gives us trials, but he also gives us so many blessings. Sometimes we're too focused on our problems to notice the many tender mercies in our lives.

Thanksgiving is a great time of year because it forces us to stop and think about the blessings in our lives. At this time in my life I'm thankful for so many things. I am thankful for a supportive family that is constantly calling to make sure we're surviving. I am thankful that we can always respond that YES, we are surviving. The Lord has always taken care of us and we have never been without things we need. We have also been blessed to have so many things we want. I am thankful to have amazing friends that love us and help us through tough times. I am always thankful for health. Most of all I am thankful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, without whom I would be completely lost.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. Most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey-delays, sidetracks smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." (Jenkins Lloyd Jones in Gordon B Hinckley, "Four Imperatives for Religious Educators"

This Thanksgiving I AM thankful to the Lord for letting me have this ride! Here's to hoping we can all be thankful for where we are in our lives!

Top 4 Best Things

2011-09-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

Dan and I were sitting around talking the other day. Dan explained that he read an article that indicated attending an NFL game was one of the top four best things that a person could experience in a lifetime. He continued his sales-pitch with something like, "and since we live so close to Cowboys stadium, we could easily have this experience." How can you turn down a proposal like that? I agreed that we should definitely make time to attend a game during our four years in Fort Worth. The VERY next day we had tickets for the Cowboys Monday night game against the Redskins. Dan doesn't waste any time. I'm afraid he's learned from experience that if he doesn't act quickly, my mind will often change. He is getting much too smart for me.

I have always been a closet football fan. I anticipate that I am going to hate watching a game, but then ALWAYS have a great time. The more I've learned about the game, the more I have enjoyed watching it. I have to say, I am tremendously grateful for my father-in-law. He taught me all I need to know to enjoy a game. While Dan was playing college ball I would sit next to his parents. When a penalty was called, or something happened that I didn't understand my father-in-law would explain. Watching Dan play high school and college football also increased my love for the game. There is nothing better than watching someone you care about catch an interception or tackle a 9 foot gigantic opponent (this really did happen, Dan is a stud).

Dan in his glory days at Dixie State

Dan was, or course, excited about the game. I am not ashamed to say that I too was openly excited. I decided that if we were going to experience one of the top four best things in life that we needed to have appropriate attire. Wal-Mart really does have everything. Although, my shirt is courtesy of the little boys section, they didn't have any women's NFL shirts, go figure. Dan was grateful he didn't have to dust off his childhood Cowboys shirt.

Dan and I sporting our Cowboys shirts

Of course we started our adventure with some famous Texas barbecue at Railhead.

Chris (ladies he's single and will someday be a doctor), Dave, Emily, & Dan

Once barbecue sauce was pumping through our veins we proceeded to Cowboys stadium. The stadium is amazing! The stadium can hold up to 110,000 fans, has one of the largest jumbo-trons in the world, and the ceiling is retractable.

An outdoor view of the stadium

Dan and I anxiously awaiting kickoff

It was a great game; a nail-biter until the very end. We were on our feet screaming several times. The guy in front of us insisted that everyone be involved in cheering the Cowboys on to victory. Thankfully they pulled through with a win (final score 18-16).

Dan was quite creative with his complementary towel.

The boys enjoying the game

The girls even had a good time

The gang enjoying the game from the nose-bleed section

We had a GREAT time at the game. I would definitely like to attend another in the future. Would I say it was one of the top four best things that I've ever experienced in my life? Perhaps. It IS quite exhilarating to be surrounded by 80,000 cheering fans. Don't take my word for it, experience one of the top four best things yourself.