Olympic Fever

Otherwise known as "Better Late than Never" 

(I had this post almost ready a week ago...just remembered to post it...oh well, I thought I would share anyway!)

I don't know about you, but our family really enjoyed watching the Olympics! So last weekend we were very excited when we found out about a "Welcome Back" ceremony at Drake University for the Olympic athletes from the state of Iowa.  We just happened to be going to Des Moines anyway, so it was great to be part of this awesome event to welcome back 5 athletes from Iowa: Miranda Leek (archery), Lisa Uhl and Lolo Jones (track), Jake Varner (wrestling), and of course Iowa's newest official citizen, Gabby Douglas (um, duh - gymnastics) :) Really, she is now an honorary citizen of the state of Iowa. She has a certificate from the Governor and everything! :)  

There were also a few other special guests - including Shawn Johnson and Liang & Lee Chow from Chow's Gymnastics in West Des Moines. Yeah, we are so awesome to be rubbing shoulders with some pretty famous people! Heh heh.

The Knapp Center at Drake - all decked out!

I was also excited to hear The Nadas from Des Moines for the first time. Both my sisters are fans of theirs, but this was the first time I had heard them. They were great!

Warm Up band - The Nadas

Miranda Leek (Archery)

By the way, the guy in the red tie is a sportscaster for one of the Des Moines TV stations. I have no idea what his name is, but I managed to get him in just about every single picture!

Lisa Uhl (Track)

Jake Varner (Wrestling)...notice the gold medal!

The Chows

Lolo Jones (Track)

Shawn Johnson (no explanation needed) :)

Gabby Douglas (Honorary Iowan)

The whole group...welcome back to Iowa!