December 2025

Our first Christmas with Gibby Boy! Cory got us these adorable and only semi-ridiculous matching PJs and we had an amazing day - morning was just the three of us in front of the fire opening gifts and then Grandma, Grandpa, Lolly, Pops, and the Conatsers joined us that afternoon and evening for Christmas dinner. The most memorable Christmas we've had yet for sure!

November 2025

Our sweet angel baby boy arrived on November 3, 2025! Gibson George was born at 9:56 PM and, to the surprise of both mom and dad, weighed just 6 pounds, 15 ounces. There was a bit of drama at the end of his birth as the doctors used a vacuum to get him out into the world quickly, but he was healthy happy and perfect and Cory forgot all about the pain and drama of labor as soon as she held him in her arms. We are absolutely in love and over the moon to be a family of 3!

October 2025

"Classic Halloween" was the theme this year and Frankenstein Daniel and Black Cat Cory made it around a few blocks in North Center with the family before heading back to the Conatser home to prep for a chili cook-off and hand out candy. We are already thinking about costumes for 3 for next year, with baby boy Koop coming in just a couple of days.

September 2025

Daniel's 35th birthday and last one before becoming a dad! We spent the day at home with friends and family watching Notre Dame whoop Purdue and eating Sweet Mandy B's - Hudson and Wyatt each got to blow out a candle.

August 2025

Baby(bebe)moon in Newport, RI! We loved The Vanderbilt, the town of Newport, the Whaler's Rise APA (spectacular can), and, of course, the lobster rolls. This was our last trip together as a couple before baby Koop joins the world

July 2025

What a weekend - can't believe we actually pulled it off. Mike and Faye (with an assist from Jim Bess) were nice enough to host all of Cory's closest friends from Boulder, their significant others, and their kids. There were about 25 of us boating, eating, playing games, fishing, and enjoying some live music in the backyard - couldn't ask for a better weekend and group of people.

June 2025

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! After more than a year of searching we found our absolute dream spot. The house is unbelievably perfect and we are so excited to spend the next few decades here. It's also only 4 blocks away from the Conatsers on the same street, so it's official - Club Dearborn is re-branding as Club Claremont!

May 2025

Speaking of babies, Joey and Francie welcomed sweet Fitz into the family in April and Daniel was able to get to Oklahoma City to meet him and see Joey, Francie, Maggie, and Lucy. Cory was battling debilitating pregnancy sickness so sadly couldn't make it, but she will meet this sweet boy soon. He is adorable and Daniel was so thrilled to meet him (and get some practice in with holding and feeding a baby!).

April 2025

Not surprisingly, the bebe has become the focal point of our lives over the past couple months. We are so, so, so excited and can't stop thinking about him - and yes, "him" is official! We got the genetics back towards the end of April and Jamie had Sweet Mandy B's make us a cake to tell us whether we're having a son or daughter. The frosting inside was blue so son it is and we are absolutely over the moon - it's going to be so much fun!!!

March 2025

PREGNANT!!!!!!!! After a hell of a journey through IVF and Cory being an absolute superstar for months, we finally got the best news we could possible get, the news we were so desperately hoping for - Cory is pregnant! We got the call on a Monday morning from one of our favorite nurses, Dani, and as soon as she said "Congratulations" we both flipped out and started crying tears of joy. Couldn't tell you what else she said on the call, all we could think about was the good news. We went to Walgreen's to get a home test and it confirmed the great news!

February 2025

More fries!! These ones have very special meaning though. The tradition with IVF is to go to McDonald's to get fries immediately after an embryo transfer - it's supposed to bring good luck for a successful implantation, but even if that's bullshit the tradition is delicious. The picture below was taken just after Dr. Nguyen at FCI implanted one of our embryos in Cory and we hope and pray that embryo will grow into our first child.

January 2025

Double burger Sunday for Cory's birthday - 34 is going to be a great year! We started out at Leavitt Street Tavern (pictured below) for a shared smashburger at the bar - we played cards and chatted with the owners Sarah and Teddy for a while as well. One burger wasn't enough so we headed to Gretel afterwards for another one at a place that's really special to us.

December 2024

First anniversary trip to Paris! Played a lot of cards, strolled through Paris, and ate our body weight in foie gras, steak frites, and croissants. A spectacular trip!

November 2024

Weekend of football, cards, golf, Wicked, and fertility shots in Arizona over Thanksgiving!

October 2024

A really special one as we got to meet the newest addition to the Conatser clan, Ruby Lake, after she came into the world on October 6. We immediately fell in love with this sweet angel and can't wait to get more babysitting on the books to spend more time with her.

September 2024

MONSTER JAM!! Possibly the loudest thing either of us has ever heard and we likely represented 75% of the college degrees in attendance and it was so much fun. The boys had almost as much fun as Daniel did!

August 2024

Croatia with Lolly and Pops! This was the front end of our trip to Dubronik and Greece - we spent the weekend in Croatia and then Lolly and Pops flew to Ireland while we flew to Santorini and then Athens. Can't say it was the trip of a lifetime because we already had the trip of a lifetime for the honeymoon in January, but it was a spectacular trip and wonderful to be able to spend part of it together.

July 2024

Another first - this one of Cory's first Madden's experience. The extended Koop family has been coming up here to northern MN once per summer for 40+ years - this was our first time in attendance together. We golfed, spent time with family, ate a lot of ice cream, and relaxed by the pool and lake.

June 2024

Daniel's first Bob Chinn's experience!! An iconic spot in the nothern Chicago burbs that Cory grew up with and at - the garlic butter rolls are abolutely out of this world, the seafood is amazing, and the ambience is exactly what you want from suburban midwest seafood spot - plastic bibs, Hawaiian shirts, kitschy decor, etc. We will be back!

May 2024

The start of lake season in Wisconsin and no better way to kick it off than with a crab boil. Nobody loves crab more than Graham but we are both tied for second place.

April 2024

LUKE! We'd been dying to see our absolute favorite artist (and author of our first dance song) Luke Combs live and we finally got the chance to see him in Milwaukee at Brewer Park with Joe and Nora. He was every bit as good as expected - a spectacular show. Didn't even mind the early morning flight to Arizona the next morning because the show was so good.

March 2024

These boys are absolutely nuts but so much fun. We brought Hudson and Wyatt to Culver's in Ravenswood for dinner and they basically just never stopped running all over the restaurant (Wyatt absolutely insisted on trying to walk out the door once every five minutes or so).

February 2024

Two of our best traditions combined into one - cards and trivia. We played a lot of cards during the honeymoon and decided to keep that going by bringing a deck to Butch McGuire's every Tuesday night to play before the rest of the team arrives. It may even help with trivia when we get questions about the Bedpost Queen or the Suicide King.

January 2024

Could it be anything else? The honeymoon of a lifetime! This particular picture is a professional "action shot" taken by COMO Maalifushi's resident photographer - we couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole photoshoot experience, but we also got some great pictures out of it!