Fall 2025

 The rest of September consisted of softball games, volleyball games, soccer games, and all the practices. We were very busy, but it was fun. Elliott's soccer team finished above .500 and they had a great season. They improved, had fun, and we had great weather for the majority of the games. Emma's softball team did pretty well overall. They finished around .500 and won a couple games in the playoffs. More importantly, Emma met some more girls her age and had a great time. Volleyball went a lot better this year, and the team was improved. They finished with a winning record and they definitely had fun. But, the parents still came out victorious for the player/parent game. Oops!

Volleyball 

Our new patio furniture from the fair 

October 2025

In October, I was lucky enough to be sent to Atlanta for the 2025 Magnet Conference. Avera was actually up for it's 6th Magnet Designation, and was able to celebrate it at this conference. So, we got to walk across the stage and have our hospital and 6th designation announced. I had a great group of girls to hangout with, we ate some good food, saw some Atlanta sights, and enjoyed ourselves. The sessions got kind of long, and there was really nothing that applied to surgery, but I enjoyed the trip and break from work. I'm not sure if I would ever go to a Magnet Conference again or not, but I'm glad I got to go. We saw the Atlanta Aquarium, Coca Cola World, Olympic Park, and a few other sights. Atlanta was pretty dumpy in some areas, and sketchy in some places and a lot of homeless people, but we felt pretty safe the entire time we were there. 

Fall softball 

Abby and Emma 

Soccer 

Lunch at Tin Lizzies in Atlanta 

So good. Lobster taco, chicken taco, and regular. So good. 

Sky top bar 

Georgia tea 

Georgia peach melt 

Getting ready to walk across the stage 

All the Avera employees who went to Magnet 

And again 

Authentic southern fried food 

After the Magnet conference, I took the kids to Omaha to the zoo. We hadn't been there in at least 4 years. We had a beautiful day to walk around and see all the sights. The kids had their first virtual reality experience, and they loved it. Then, we walked through the aquarium, the desert dome, the rainforest, and basically everything. We also did a loop on the skyfari. We found some lunch, and we spent a solid 6 hours at the zoo, before heading back home again. It was a great mother-children trip. 

Ready to take on the zoo 

To wrap up October, we attended the Dakota Marker game in Brookings. Katie, John and I made a day out of it. We went up early to watch the SDSU Volleyball game, which we got into for free with our football tickets. The volleyball game was really fun and we got to watch a really good team. Also, we got on the big screen and Katie was wearing her NDSU gear, so we got booed by the entire stadium, which was hilarious. After volleyball, we headed to the tailgating area before the game. It was really fun. It was full of people. food, and good times. The game started at 7:00pm, and SDSU got completely stomped by NSDU. We had to play our backup quarterback, and it did not go well. It was maybe the worst Jacks game we had ever been to. But, the atmosphere was fun, and we had a great day. 

Halloween was the last activity in October. We ended up having Hannah P, Hannah T. Rachel, and Emma at our house to trick or treat, and then the boys went to Polzins to trick or treat in their neighborhood. Emma made her own costume and was some kind of cat character. And Elliott was a character was K pop demon hunters. And Emma made his mask too. 

Practicing for Halloween 

Volleyball 

Tailgating 

Friday Night Lights 

We upped our Halloween decor this year.