Awesomistic weekend...beginning of the week of Hades

Ok so it has been a while since I posted on my blog and I have to apologize for it. I wanted to spend the end of Unleavened Bread up in Chicago with Jon and his mother because it would be a while (maybe until July) until I would see them in the summer because I'm going to spend it in Florida. So Ann, Kim, and I decided to visit them this past weekend and we left on Friday afternoon. I had 2 finals that I had to study for on Monday but I thought that there was nothing that was going to keep me from seeing Jon and I thought of it as a risk worth taking. The semester has really been a blur for the last half of it so I really didn't worry too much about not being able to really study until I got back Sunday. I think I had enough good grades to pull it off.
Anyways, I took my books just to make the effort to maybe study and met Ann and Kim in Newton, IA so that we could all leave in my car. The trip went well, smooth, and there was good weather and I know we all appreciated that because it makes the trip so much better. We talked quite a bit, sang along with Destiny's Child, Aaliyah, Alicia Keys, J-LO, Will Smith, Ciara...we had all the girly music going on and I knew the words to all the songs I think. Plus I think I scarred Ann and Kim with some of my Carlton-like/white boy/nerrdy moves but they laughed a lot and we had a great time on the way up.
I really can't describe the feelings I had when we got to Jon's house because the last time we were there it was right a day before 3/12. I was so happy to see Jon and his mother again, especially to see Mrs. Gregory walking around and being such a living inspiration. Now that I write this it's such a surreal feeling that comes upon me because I still have problems coping with it and I can't imagine how they're able to. This is why I admire them so much because they seem to be able to handle life and put a smile on when things are difficult. It was a weekend I wouldn't have traded for anything in the world because I knew we all wanted to see each other and this Feast of Unleavened Bread was something we all needed at this particular time.
Sabbath services were awesome with great sermons and a great lunch in between. We had services in a very nice fancy place and Jon and I decided to bust out the pinstripe suits :) Mr. and Mrs. Millich were up there for services so it was great to see them and talk to them for a while since I won't be seeing them for a couple of months at least with my whole Florida experience.
So after services Jon, Ann, Kim, me, Mike and Aaron Diekmeier, and James Scott all decided to go to Dairy Queen because it apparently is the tradition up in the Milwaukee area. Not a bad tradition at all if you ask me :) So we all caravaned to Dairy Queen's and talked for quite a while and cracked some more nerrdy jokes and gave each other a "tip of the hat". It was the best Dairy Queen ever because they had Linkin Park's Meteora playing and then proceeded to play Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits while we were there. Classics playing during the whole time, something that I can't complain with.
After Dairy Queen everybody except the Diekmeier boys went to Jon's house so we could change from our Church clothes into our "poker clothes" for the traditional Milwaukee Saturday night poker event. So off we went and proceeded to have an awesome night of poker, beer, pizza :) It was the first time I ever played with real money and we had a $10 buy-in with about 13 or 15 people. There were two tables with Texas Hold 'Em going on and I had such a blast. We called James Scott "The Jackal" since he was bluffing his way all the way to be bank basically and it was his first time doing this. It was crazy!!! I think we ended up playing until 2 am and we decided to cash out and James and Jon basically split most of the pot by themselves with about $70 each, I got $24, and I think Mike Deikmeier ended with $15 or so. It was a successful first poker night if you ask me...I'm definitely doing it again soon and making it a tradition :)
So this is pretty long already...I will continue to write later on and say what went on after poker night because after the party, it's the afterparty!!! :) You know what I'm sayyying????!! ;)