I hope you had a chance to hear some of our electric Van & Bonnie Blooper Bowl this morning!  It was certainly a defensive battle, but New York beat New England at the last second with a safety!  The score...2 to 0.  We want to thank our band, the half-time entertainment and of course, our providers of the electric football games...Denny Benbow and Carolyn Veldhuizen.  We also did predictions for the Super Bowl...

Mark Allen - Giants over the Patriots 24 to 17
Van Harden - Patriots over the Giants 27 to 26
Bonnie Lucas - Giants over the Patriots 27 to 24
Steve Locker - Patriots over the Giants 21 to 14

Our special guests this morning at 6:35 were Scott Math of Heart of America Properties, Tom Boesen of Boesen The Florist and Deb Crowley of Jester Park Equestrian Center.  Be sure to get in on our Insider Point auction to win a Sweetheart Sleigh Ride, an overnight stay at the Wildwood Lodge, dinner at the Machine Shed and a beautiful floral bouquet from Boesen's!  To purchase a sleigh ride for Valentine's, call 515-999-2818; for an evening at the Wildwood, call 515-222-9876 or go to www.TheWildwoodLodge.com; for flowers from Boesen's, call 515-244-ROSE (7673) or go to www.boesen.com.

Our special guest at 8:35 this morning was Sarah Hicks, a special guest conductor for the Des Moines Symphony this weekend.  Sarah just recently finished a two-month tour with Sting as conductor of the final leg of his Symphoicities Tour.  For tickets (Saturday 7:30PM, Sunday 2:30PM), go to www.dmsymphony.org.

We're down to just about 4 cabins left on the Alaska cruise and tour.  I think Holiday Vacations is going to try to get Princess to part with a few more; so if you would like to go and have not yet signed up, please give them a call and let's go to Alaska!!!!  It's an awesome itinerary, not normally available from Holiday Vacations or Princess...it's been set up special just for WHO Radio listeners!  Don't miiss it!

Drive carefully tonite and tomorrow!

Bonnie

It's Ground Hog day and we want to thank the Iowa Pork Producers for helping us with our Van & Bonnie "Ground Hog" drive-thru for free pork certificates!  We gave out over 600 certificates from 6-9AM!  That's a lot of cars thru our parking lot!  We really want to thank Joyce and her crew for the great ground hog goodies we had in the studio...walking tacos, ground hog meatballs and ground hog chili.  Whether you came thru our drive thru or not, Ground Hog day is a great day to enjoy pork!  For great pork recipes, go to www.porkbeinspired.com or www.iowapork.org.

Gary Garles of Bob Lenc Landscaping & Lawncare also joined us in the studio this morning.  They designed our "Outdoor Garden" for the Des Moines Home & Garden Show coming next week Thursday thru Sunday at the Iowa Events Center.  It's going to be gorgeous!  We invite you to stop by (lower level of Vet's) and vote for our "celebrity garden" early and often...if we get the most votes, we'll give the $500.00 prize to the renovation fund of the USS Iowa. 

Tomorrow, tune in to hear our Van & Bonnie Blooper Bowl.  We'll be playing the New England Patriots (Van) against the New York Giants (Bonnie) on an electic football game!  Should be a hoot!

Have a great day...we'll have updated weather info on the weekend storm tomorrow morning...maybe we'll get lucky and it will be all raiin here???!!!

Bonnie  

Governor Branstad joined us in the studio this morning to sign the Bill to allow $3,000,000 in funds to help restore the USS Iowa!  He used several pens and when he got to his middle initial, the ink pen he used had blue ink instead of black ink like the rest of the pens.  Immediately we received a call from a WHO listener who offered $100.00 to the USS Iowa renovation fund for that blue pen.  You can still help with the renovation by clicking on the USS Iowa logo on the home page of www.whoradio.com and purchase a USS Iowa hat or windbreaker.

Chuck Reed and Laura Miller joined us in the studio after 8:30AM on behalf of The American Cancer Society.  It's Daffodil Days!  Now is the time to order...flowers arrive March 12-16.  To order, call 515-727-0053 or go online to www.cancer.org/daffodils.  New this year is a teddy bear with a bunch of daffodils.  You can order it for someone or have one delivered to a hospital for a child undergoing cancer treatments.

Tomorrow is the big day for the "Ground Hog" giveaway.  Starting at 6AM, the Iowa Pork Producers will be in front of our building at 2141 Grand, handing out $10.00 pork certificates and recipes.  Every so often someone will receive a $25.00 certificate instead of $10.00.  We'll also have some pork trivia oon the air for your chance to win!  We'll give out the certificates thru 9AM or until 325 are gone.

Have a great day...enjoy every warm, dry moment...Jeriann Ritter of TV-13 says changes are a comin' for the weekend!

Bonnie

Governor Terry Branstad joined us on the show this morning to show his support for the USS Iowa!

Thursday, February 2nd, is Ground Hog Day!  Van and Bonnie are celebrating by hosting a "ground hog" giveaway in our drive on the south side of the WHO Radio studios (2141 Grand).  Courtesy of the Iowa Pork Producers, we will have 300 $10.00 pork certificates to give away as well as some $25.00 pork certificates that will be thrown in randomly!  The FREE PORK GIVEAWAY will be from 6-9AM or until we run out of certificates.  Be sure to tune in for fun trivia, plus we'll have great recipe ideas for "ground hog".

Thank you to Ruth Comer for calling to let us know about the new Hy-Vee Ap for your I-Phone or Android Smart Phone.  You can download the new ap from your "marketplace".  The ap can help you find items in the Hy-Vee grocery store in which you are shopping.  It can help you with a grocery list and you can download the current Hy-Vee flier.

Governor Branstad has asked us to get the word out about nominating Iowans for the Citizen Service Before Self Honors national award presented to three US citizens each year by members of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.  Nominations must be received by Friday, February 10, 2012.  Nomination forms can be found online at www.CitizenServiceBeforeSelfHonors.org. 

Governor Branstad will be on with us tomorrow morning after the 8:00 news with an announcement regarding the USS Iowa.  Please tune in!

Have a fantastiic day!

Bonnie 

Congratulations to Allison Crawford, Donovan Waters and Carolyn Vos on winning the Hershey's/Hy-Vee $1,000.00 gift cards!  Congratulations to Alisa Collins on winning the $1,200.00 chocolate diamond ring courtesy of The Diamond Centre! 

Check out the WHO Radio contest page....a lot of new contests just started today!  You can also check out the "What's Happening" button on the left-hand side of this page to see what's going on with Van & Bonnie.

The U.S. Department of Energy is having a contest called "America’s Next Top Energy Innovator Challenge." This is a contest where people with start-up companies in science and technology, who work with DOE Laboratories can participate and they have a chance at being invited to attend the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit where they can meet with other innovators and investors. The winners are decided by votes from the public who visit the website.  Of the 14 teams who submitted 1 minute videos, one is from our own backyard. IPAT (Iowa Powder Atomization Technologies) is a company started by two recent Iowa State University Ph.D. graduates, Joel Rieken and Andy Heidloff, both Iowa natives working at The Ames Laboratory, a DOE lab operated by Iowa State University in Ames.  Right now their video is in 3rd place of the 14, and if we could get the word out I think that we could easily get them into first place. The website is

http://energy.gov/americas-next-top-energy-innovator-challenge

We are down to just two or three cabins left on the Alaska triip, so if you want to go, please call Holiday Vacations as soon as possible to get your cabin reserved!  1-800-826-2266  The trip leaves June 30th and runs thru July 14th...6 days land and 7 day cruise!  It's a fabulous itinerary put together just for us.  This is not available from Holiday Vacations any other time...it's your only chance at this itinerary!  We'd love to have you join us!

Eat too much over Christmas and then the Chocolate Breakfast...call Medifast at 1-800-504-3694 or log onto www.medifastwho.com and use the promo code "WHO56" to get up to 56 free meals and free shipping!

Enjoy this gorgeous January day!

Bonnie

Thank you to all of you who attended the Van & Bonnie FREE Chocolate Breakfast sponsored by Hershey's this morning!!!!  Thanks for the huge pile of canned goods you brought for our food drive.  Thank you to the Hy-Vee Conference Center for the great job of hosting the event!  Thank you to Absolute Transportation for providing our "chocolate shuttle bus".   And, a huge thank you to all of our fantastic chocolatee vendors for providing such wonderful chocolate items for everyone to eat!  Those of you who won George Strait tickets will be notified later this afternoon or first thing on Monday.  The 3 $1,000 Hy-Vee gift cards from Hershey's will be given away on Monday morning as well as the $1,200 chocolate diamond from The Diamond Centre.  Tune in...it could be you!

Van and I are looking for an electric football game to borrow for next Friday morning.  If you have one we can borrow, please give me a call at 515-245-8852. 

Would you like to win new countertops for your kitchen courtesy of Granite Transformations or new gutters for your home courtesy of Midwest Construction?  Go to the home page of www.whoradio.com, click on the corresponding logo in the middle column of the page and get entered before next Friday.  Winners will be chosen at the Des Moines Home & Garden Show!

Would you like to see Barry Manilow with Mark Allen...get registered on the web page.  Winners will be announced next Friday morning!

Lots more stuff coming up on Van & Bonnie...check out our calendar by clicking on the "What's Happening" button on the left-hand side of this page.

Have a great weekend!

We're broadcasting the Chocolate Breakfast LIVE right here on our page.  Just click play below to see some of the action!  You can also Listen Live to the show while you watch by clicking here.

The Hershey's/Van & Bonnie Chocolate Breakfast arrives at the Hy-Vee Conference Center tomorrow morning, 5-9AM!  We have all kinds of great chocolate ready for you!  See the complete list of vendors by clicking on the V&B Happenings button on the left-hand side of this page.

Cold Stone Creamery is one of our chocolate vendors and Janet Otis joined us in the studio this morning.  They will be sampling their famous "cake batter" ice cream!  When they're not at the Chocolate Breakfast, you'll find them in the Jordan Creek Town Centre or in Johnston, right across from the Texas Road House. 

Paige Harden and John Desaulniers of Wellspring will be sampling some fantastic raspberry fudge bars and lemon blueberry bars!  They also announced the Wellspring Espresso Bar now officially has a new name..."Pages Cafe"!   Wellspring and Pages Cafe is located at 104th & Hickman.

A brand new product to Iowa will be introduced tomorrow at the Chocolate Breakfast....CrumbleOns!  The are S'Mores crunch pieces that stay crunchy in whatever you use them....pancakes, ice cream, pie, parfaits, on cereal...the possibilities are endless.  Wait till you sample them!  They are only available on the web at www.crumbleons.com.

Remember, parking is on the east side of the Hy-Vee Conference Center...or you can catch the Chocolate Bus courtesy of Absolute Transportation in the southeast corner of the Lutheran Church of Hope parking lot and be transported right to the front door of the Hy-Vee Conference Center.  The bus will run from 5-10AM.  Please, iif you can, bring canned goods for our food drive!

Remember...no take outs for the office!  This is a "sampling event"!  Ya'll come for a great time!

We'll see you tomorrow!

Bonnie