This was the last full week of classes. Jared's birthday is coming up. I'm going to make a donut mountain instead of a cake. I'm flying to Phoenix in June. It's starting to warm up here. We can't wait to go to the beach. This June we will have been married for two years. We're having a baby in November. We really wanted Butler to win the Championship. Jared and Jimmer have the same hair. Why is it called Cracker Barrel?

I have a bit of a situation...

There is an old man who keeps calling my phone. He has called 103 times since October 10th. It's crazy. He is in a nursing home and is trying to call his wife. I feel bad because he is trying to call her but he can't and I know he's frustrated. But I'm frustrated too. I have to keep my phone on silent because it rings constantly. I really want the calls to stop. Here are a few things we have tried:

1. I called his phone number and kindly told him that he had the wrong number and that all his calls are coming to my phone, not his wife's phone.

- He called back and left a voicemail for his wife saying that some girl called him and told him he had the wrong number and asked his wife to look into it.

2. I picked up the phone when he was calling me and said, "Sir, you have the wrong number."

- He responded by saying, "No! You have the wrong number!"

3. Jared picked up the phone when he was calling at 2:00 in the morning and said, "Sir, I know you're trying to get a hold of your wife, but if you keep calling this number you are not going to reach her."

- He responded by saying, "It will go through eventually."

4. I changed my voice mail to, "You've reached Stephanie Clay's phone. Stephanie Clay is unable to answer her phone. If you leave Stephanie Clay's phone a message, then Stephanie Clay will call you back."

- He is still calling. He just doesn't leave messages anymore which was the best part because his messages were funny.

I don't want to be mean and I don't want to change my phone number. What else can I do?

I really love law school. This week has been fall break and I must say that I love fall break too! I love law school because it gave me fall break. I love fall break.

This week I have been enjoying my fall break in the kitchen baking all sorts of delicious treats (if you had been wondering whether this blog was being written by Jared or Stephanie you should have a pretty good idea now). I made sweet yeast rolls, honey wheat bread, and peanut butter cinnamon chocolate chip cookies! yummm.

Today was the funnest day of fall break! We went to a cute little local farm to get pumpkins. There were many beautiful perfect pumpkins so Jared and I decided to look for the weirdest and ugliest ones. I think we succeeded. We have a light pink pumpkin with warts that look like peanut shells; a blue pumpkin with cracks all over it; a weird gourd that is a mixture of red, green, and white; and an orange pumpkin that looks normal on one side, but has a nose on the other side. I love our pumpkins.

I love fall break.

Hey (to the two people who know this blog exists),

This posting is a shout out to family.

Gary and Valerie drove all the way to Virginia Beach from Roxana, IL to be here for Stephanie's birthday. They were able to breathe the clean ocean air for at least a few hours at the beach before driving 16 hours back to Roxana (and working the next day).

Crazy. And Awesome.

Just a reminder that family means something more than just blood. And it definitely means more than work or rest.

Summer in the Cities

Stephanie and I have enjoyed our summer in the cities. From a high rise luxury apartment in Chicago, to our parents' basement on the outskirts of St. Louis - it has been an adventure.

The Windy City was a blast:

- Steph ran the Chicago 13.1 half-marathon in blazing speed (I sat at the finish line and blazed through the food set out for the runners).

- We watched Toy Story 3 on Imax 3D. I am a fan of Spanish Buuuzzzz.

- 3 trips to Chicago style pizza joints and 5 lbs added to my joints.

- Celebrated our anniversary in an old WWII submarine and ate the best steak in town for dinner (I wonder who's idea that was?).

- rode the subway around just because we could

- made some really great friends at the federal district court - Molly, Rebecca, Dave, Judge Der-Yeghiayan, Claire, Alec, Talin, and oh yeah, ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Yes, he came up one day at lunch break and met all of us clerks - a very friendly fellow.

- Celebrated the Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory with 2 million crazy fans on Michigan Ave - I didn't tell them we are Red Wings fans.

- hey Mom and Dad! we had a good time hanging out with you too! (and Zach too, he rode the train all the way up from Alton)

- Stephanie is in love with Garrett's Famous Popcorn - it is delicious

til next time . . .