November is Going By Fast

It has been a mild November in Pittsburgh according to the locals and the weather averages. We experienced several days around 60 degrees and no snow yet. However, most all the trees are bare of leaves.

I got to take a week long trip back home to Minnesota. The main focus of the trip was to visit Rachel Grove and her new little boy Eli Kevin Grove. He was born on November 11th and was 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches long. What a delight he is! Rachel and Jeremy are already wonderful parents.

Below is Rachel's college friend Kayla holding Eli, myself and Rachel.


Baby Eli looking so precious.


While in MN I found out that Derek and Mari (my brother and sister-in-law) are having twins. They are due in May. Congratulations you two.

They have a one year old Soren. He is smiling so cutely in the photo below and wearing his first camo in the second photo.


I spent a few days of my Minnesota trip visiting my Uncle Joe (Dad's brother). He experienced some trauma starting November 5th. He came down with a fever and cramping and took himself to the emergency room. After they ran tests, they found out he has Lymphoma and an infection. The infection was Fournier's Gangrene and it nearly took Joe's life. One week later, after a whirlwind of medical complications from the infection, Joe was slowly taken off the sedation drugs and recovering. He truly experienced a miracle and we are so grateful to have him here with us still. In doing further testing they found Joe to have stage 4 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Just Monday Joe got to return home. He is lucky to have a wonderful wife (Barb) to take care of him and love him.

I almost forgot to mention that I did spend some quality time with the rest of my family while home.

Before my Minnesota trip our friend Jeff Higgason, Tuff's college freshman year roommate, visited us here in Pittsburgh. We enjoyed seeing the Pittsburgh sights, including the incline to Mt. Washington and the Pittsburgh Zoo.

Pictured below is Jeff riding the incline to Mt. Washington with downtown Pittsburgh in the background.

Picture of the football stadium from the top of Mt. Washington.


In the bottom corner of the picture is the car we rode up the incline. The incline has been providing public transportation since 1877 for the residents and businesses of Mt. Washington. It uses two original 1877 cable cars.


Jeff posing with George Washington and Native American Chief statue.


Tuff's favorite at the zoo was the gorillas.




Jeff and Tuff stopped for a picture with the lions in the background.

Tuff and Jeff attended a Steelers fundraiser function, where they got to mingle with the public and play billiards and ping pong. Jeff was pumped about meeting several of Tuff's teammates, including Troy Polamalu. Tuff and Jeff also attended the Steelers vs. Bengals game. Too bad the Steelers lost.

Next on the agenda is Thanksgiving in Wheeling, West Virginia with our dear friends from Nashville, Mike and Leslie Voorheis.

In the pictures below Tuff is holding his divots, which are usually that big. We are thinking about starting a divot photo collection.



As always, I will update you all if there are any changes in Tuff's career. For now he is still working hard on the Steeler's practice squad.