Stormy Adventure

8/10/10

This summer has been a summer of storms! And both AJ and I love storms! However, many of the major storms kept missing us and we were always disappointed. Don't get me wrong, we hate the damage storms can cause, but we love the cool factor of them! The clouds, the rain, the lightening, the thunder - we love it all. After the past couple of storms though, I think AJ and I have both had our fair share of summer storms. 

A couple of nights ago AJ was hanging out in Ames with a friend when a storm came through. He decided to wait it out for a while and then once it looked like it had cleared up, he hit the road home to Council Bluffs. On the way however, he ran into another storm. He pulled off to the side of the road on an exit until it would lighten up. He said the rain was coming down so hard it couldn't hear himself talk and the wind was shaking his car so hard from both sides, he swears the rear of the car was moved some! He called freaked out!! And I don't blame him! He said, for all the complaining I do about missing all the cool storms,  I'm keeping my mouth shut from now on! Luckily, the storm passed and he made it home safely. 


Then tonight, Abbi and I were in Waterloo shopping and when we were on our way back to Grundy Center, we could see a huge storm coming. It was 86 degrees when we left Target. We literally drove into the storm and the dark clouds surrounded the car. We were loving it. It was still light enough outside we could see all the cool clouds and lightning. And boy, it was starting to lightning a lot! We decided to pull over so we could take some pictures and watch the lightning. We saw this HUGE bolt of lightning that stayed for a few seconds! It was crazy! However, after we took some pictures, the wind had picked up and the temp was now 78 degrees. We decided to hit the road and continue to Grundy Center. Soon it started to rain, lightly at first and then it eventually was coming down in sheets. It was blowing right towards the front of my car and at times I couldn't even see the front of my car! We pulled over a couple different times because it was raining so hard. By this time it was dark and the lightning was so bright it was going from daylight to the darkness over and over again. It was freaking my eyes out! And of course it was only making it harder to drive. Finally we pulled into someone's driveway just to get off the road for awhile. After that, Abbi took over driving the rest of the way and we finally made it back to Grundy Center. Then once we got here, we had to get all of our bags from shopping inside the house. It took us two trips and needless to say we were soaked! 

All in all, it was quite the adventure but I'd be okay if it never happened again! I'll be more than happy to experience that type of storm from the comfort of my own home next time, rather than in a car on the side of a country road. However, we did get some cool pictures! :) 

The Perfect Surprise Date Night

Last week had been a long week at work. I was up in Minnesota for a majority of the week working at Farm Fest and it was hot. And then I had a mountain of work to come back to on Friday. All in all, it was a long and stressful week - and AJ had let me vent all my frustrations to him. 

On Friday we texted back and forth throughout the day. Late in the afternoon, I drove into Cedar Falls to pick up some postcards to be mailed out. On my way, I called AJ to chat. He asked if my day was going any better and what my plans were for the night. He mentioned something about going out to dinner and a movie and I said, if only you were here. 

When I got back to my office I had a surprise waiting on my desk! AJ had sent a beautiful bouquet of roses! I was in shock! I texted him, "You got me flowers!?!" However, as soon as I hit send, I turn to see AJ walking into my cubicle!!! He had driven all the way from Council Bluffs to come surprise me! I couldn't believe it! He said my face was priceless! I was not expecting it all but it was an amazing surprise! 

And what I didn't know was as I was driving into Cedar Falls, AJ actually passed me on the road! He said he ducked his head a little and hoped I wouldn't see him! I don't even think I recognized the Grand Am! AJ couldn't believe that I didn't see him! And I'm glad I didn't because it would have ruined the complete surprise! :)  

AJ waiting patiently for me while I finished up the work day - which didn't end until after 5pm... I think I kept looking over at him because I still couldn't believe he was there! We called and made dinner reservations at the Brown Bottle and once I was off work, we took some time to spend down on Main St, Cedar Falls. We went to this little shop called Indulgence and had some chocolate appetizers! Then we drove to the Brown Bottle and once we got there, we asked to be seated outside on the patio - it wasn't too hot or anything - seemed like a perfect night! The host was like, "Going to chance the rain, huh?" And of course that was no big deal to us - plus whenever we want it to rain, it never does. :) 

So we were seated outside and when our waitress came out, she also said to us, "Taking a chance on the rain, huh?" We just smiled and said we'd be fine. We ordered our drinks and AJ ordered some appetizers as well and we sat and just enjoyed each others company. Before our meal came out, it did start to sprinkle some, but we just moved the table under the umbrella more and we were fine. Then our meal came out and it was delicious! We had never eaten at the Brown Bottle before but we quickly realized why it was such a popular place! The food was amazing!

We were close to finishing up our meal when the waitresses came outside to round up the chairs and put down the other umbrellas. We told our waitress she could bring us our check so we could get of their way before any rain came. It had gotten a little darker, cooler and windier. It started to rain again and as soon as we were handing our check back to our waitress and they were clearing our table, it started to pour! AJ and I loved it! We rain to the car and were soaked when we got there! We couldn't think it could have been any better for two people who love the rain! We laughed about how wet we were and hoped we'd drive off before the movie. 

We took off to Waterloo next to head to the movie theater. On the way, we listened to a CD AJ had burned of choral music. When we parked the car, AJ said we had to listen to one song before we could go in. It's a song called Cloudburst by Eric Whitacre. If you have never heard this song, you must listen to it. It's an amazing song - especially if you love the rain. And listening to it inside a car while it rained outside... okay, so we might be a couple of nerds, but it was simply awesome. 

Once we got inside the movie theater, we bought our tickets for Toy Story 3 and still had some time before we could go sit. So we decided to play some games in the arcade. We had a good time. Then we went to find some seats and were the first ones in the theater so we sat in the very back row! I think there were a total of six people in the theater which was awesome. And the movie was great! Very funny and relaxing after a long week. 

All in all, it really was a perfect surprise date night! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband! It was sad to see him leave again the next morning, but we'll be seeing each other again this weekend. So while the weeks might be long and stressful, the weekends have at least been enjoyable and we've been able to spend that time together.