Monica's Baby Shower II

Monica had her second Baby Shower at Kayma and Jerpa's house. Many family and friends were in attendance.

Jerpa was the server for the Shower. He did a fantastic job making sure everyone had plenty to eat and drinks were constantly refreshed.
Monica is excited to open her gifts. I'm sure our Little Girl can't wait to sit in her new Bumbo.
Isn't Claire the cutest? She loves visiting Kayma and Jerpa because it means she can eat as much candy as she wants.

Monica's Baby Shower I

Monica had her first Baby Shower with prego sister, Nancy on March 15th at her Sister Lorena's. She had a lot of family there including her sister, Diana and Niece, Isabel who are visiting all the way from Texas.

The local Costco ran out of TP thanks to this fun game.

Monica shows off the handcrafted blanket she received.

One thing is for sure, our Daughter is going to have plenty to wear.

The Roselle Townsends go to the Chicago Bulls Game

Monica, Mason and I went to the Chicago Bulls Game vs. The Utah Jazz and former Illini Deron Williams.

The Bulls built a pretty good lead in the first half and despite being as crappy as they are came away with the victory.
I know it looks like we were far away but believe it or not we sat courtside (our camera is really old and makes things look far away than they actually are.)


As I said, the Bulls won but Deron tore up Heinrich for 18 points and 14 assists.

Mason Celebrates his 13th!!

Mason Celebrated his 13th Birthday on Feb. 5th. Here he is showing off his new skateboard....now if it will only stop snowing he can give it a try.

Report card time for a future University of Illinois Student

Mason received his second quarter report card on Friday 2/8. It is difficult to see but he received straight A's for a GPA of 4.0. Monica and I are both very proud of our future U of I student.

Mason's first trip to the Assembly Hall

I took Mason to his first Illinois Basketball game at the Assembly Hall on Saturday February 2nd against Purdue.

Both teams warm up before the game.

Mason is all smiles and ready for a great game hopefully ending with an Illini Victory.

Mason isn't the only person taking in his first Illinois game at the Assembly Hall. Sitting much closer to the court in the corner is Michael Jordan.

Illinois played pretty well and actually shot over 80% from the free throw line which is quite out of the ordinary. Unfortunately Illinois was not able to overcome turnovers and lost the game.

Mason still had a good time despite the Illinois loss. Hopefully Illinois will pull out the victory next time.

Daren and Monica go to the Rose Bowl to watch the University of Illinois take on the University of Southern California!

After spending the night at the Las Vegas Airport, Monica and I were ready for some warm weather and a good time. There was even an appearance by some Chief Illiniwek look a likes.

Judging by their behavior they must have traded some fur skins for whiskey earlier in the day.

Illinois hung in the game for 2 and a half quarters before succombing to inexperience and turnovers. The final score does not show it but the game was actually a lot closer than it appears.

The Illini finished the season 9-4 which is remarkable considering they had 4 wins in the last two years combined. We are encouraged that the Illini will make more appearances in the Rose Bowl.

After the Rose Bowl Monica and I drove to Ontario, California for a day of shopping and relaxation before flying back to cold, wintry Chicago.

Overall it was a pretty good trip. I was able to watch the Illini play in another BCS Bowl Game. Hopefully the next one I go to we will be able to pull out a win.