a cosmo emitting rays of energy (starlight)

So Friday night Adam and Daniel came over and we had a little game night. Games varied from Catch Phrase, to Fluxx, to Hearts. Adam arrived about 8:00 and we started playing games about 8:30. I finally went to bed at 3:30, despite the jeers from Adam and Ryan (I think it was 5:00 before they finally gave in). The problem with games are that sometimes you get stuck in a game of Hearts that goes on for several hours…or you get a bunch of competitive people playing catch phrase and you can’t quit playing until everyone is satisfied with how much they have won or lost. Me, I love Fluxx. My heart was so happy when we got to play three or four times! Such a fun game. We would’ve played a round of Dominoes, but to our dismay, we discovered we are missing two. Oh well. Guess that’s what you get for using them to prop up your chest of drawers for several years.
Anywho, because we stayed up so late on Friday, we barely left the house on Saturday. Just ended up watching movies on TV and getting caught up on all of the stuff we had built up on the DVR. We did venture out to Braum’s for a large chocolate shake for me and a swirl yogurt cone for Ryan.
Sunday we went to church, then to Kincaid’s. Ryan ate almost his entire cheeseburger, all of his fries and a large vanilla shake. After all, lent does not include Sundays you know. I sipped on my diet coke. After what seemed to be only five minutes he was done and we headed off to see Granddad. It ended up being such a beautiful day! Granddad’s grass was all green, jasmine climbing over his trellis swimmingly, and his two tomatoes looked pretty good (I’m assuming he brought them in out of the cold on Friday and Saturday). Mom brought over lunch (and Aunt Terri) and we all had a really nice visit with Granddad and Aunt Shelia. Afterward we headed home and enjoyed a nice quiet night at the house.
Overall a very relaxing weekend. Which is a really good thing seeing that we have our schedule booked to the rim for the next several weeks. Love to all! Have a happy week!

Lazy Day

It was extremely hard being at work this week while lots of friends and family were on Spring Break. Not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of tourists milling around downtown Dallas. A lot more people than normal. I think a lot of folks must have stayed in town and gone to the DMA and the Aquarium. It was a perfect week for Spring Break though. Absolutely beautiful outside!
On Thursday night I went over to mom's to hang out with everyone before Becky and the girls headed back to Lake Jackson. Quinton jumped in my arms when I got there. He was wearing his little soccer shorts, shin guards, and cleats. He explained he was about to go to his first soccer practice on his first organized sports team ever. He was thrilled. Matt took him and had explained to Quinton that it was a big deal. Quinton very seriously looked at Matt and said, "Daddy, I've been waiting for this my entire life." How sweet is that! And Trisha verified it is true too! Watching your two older brothers play soccer, tee ball and such, and he finally gets to participate. Later that night Trisha called me. After Quinton's practice, he and Matt came to Harold and Mathis' tee ball practice. They were sitting in the car waiting for the practice to finish when Quinton propped his little feet up on the console of the car and proudly announced while looking at his shin guards "Uncle Ryan has got to see this :o)" So anyways, Ryan and I are probably going to try to go watch a few of the boys' games this Spring. After all, Ryan does "have to" see it :o)
Last night we met several friends we hadn't seen in a while up at Ozona's for dinner. It was the perfect night to go there and sit outside...but after waiting almost an hour, we decided to just sit inside. So nice to see everyone and catch up a bit. On our way home, I sneezed in the car. Came home and was washing my face and noticed I'd burst a blood vessel in my eye. Anywho, trying not to strain the eyes too much today. I told Ryan if it gets any worse I'm going to go get an eye patch to wear so people don't have to look at my crazy looking eye.
We just finished setting up our tent in the backyard to air out after last weekend. Then tore down all the dead passion flower vine. In the process we discovered our Lady Banks rose had climbed to the other side of the trellis. How fun is that! We aren't sure what we are going to do with the rest of our day. It is nice to be at home, that's for sure.

St. Patrick's Day

So yesterday my day started off pretty well (other than Ryan waking me up by pinching me for not having on green…come on man, I just woke up). I had one of those nights where I slept really well, then woke up refreshed. To make things even better, Ryan and I rode together to work and he even got me to work early! One of the girls in my office and I had been planning a lunch outing for a while. She knows the Oakcliff area like the back of her hand. So off we went. We headed down to the Bishop Arts District. We moseyed around a few shops, then ate at a place called Vera Cruz. Wow…the food was wonderful! I ate every bit of my Enchiladas Suizas (two blue corn enchiladas stuffed with marinated chicken, topped with Huasteca red sauce, queso fundido, and cream sauce and served with rice and black beans), every last drop of my salsa (and I am quite the salsa snob), and even got the flan for dessert! I can’t wait to take people there! Before we left, we walked into their back room. One of the walls is completely covered in old cabinet doors and drawers! All the same stain. It looks so cool. I’d go back just to get a better look at it. We had wanted to go back to one of the shops and purchase a few specialty sodas (orange cream, raspberry, yum!), but we had been gone for almost two hours! Yikes! So easy to get lost in such a beautiful day.
Then after work, the relaxing, fun day continued. Krystal and Howard met us in Uptown. We went to Cremona’s, one of my favorite Italian restaurants. Mozzerella sticks, lots and lots of garlic bread, salad, and a chicken entrée later, we walked over to the Dream Café for coffee and dessert. We sat outside, people watched, and enjoyed a wonderful spring night. A few notes about this place…you really can finish the Crème Brulee regardless of what the waiter tells you, the cinnamon “snail” is really a cinnamon roll, and their fruit “crisp” isn’t really very crisp at all.
Overall an absolutely wonderful day…

Campin!

Ryan and I love to go camping. We love getting to spend time out in nature, by the campfire, cooking on the campfire, taking little hikes and such. But this past weekend…none of that happened. Trisha had done the mass majority of the shopping at Sam’s, but Ryan and I went on Friday night and picked up the odds and ins from Walmart. Went back home and baked some goodies for Matt’s birthday(Saturday the 14th), while Ryan packed up the Nissan. We got in bed right after midnight. Woke up and got on the road about 8:30. It had quit raining for the most part, but it was quite chilly. I was SOOO excited to see the bluebonnets along the highway. I love this time of year when all the wildflowers start to bloom! We got to Fairfield Lake State Park about 11:00 and were able to check in immediately. We got two pretty good spots right next to each other (so the kids would have plenty of room to run around). Since we were the first ones there, we went ahead and got our tent all set up and somewhat settled. Wet leaves were everywhere. My first comment…when does the firewood get here! We walked down to the water and back, but it was so cold and drizzly, we weren’t very motivated to go very far. We decided we couldn’t wait for the rest of the group for lunch so we drove into Fairfield and ate at a Subway. Mom called while we were there and she followed us back into the campground. We played a game of Fluxx and had just finished when Becky, Stace and the girls arrived. It is amazing how much the little ones change in only a few short months! After we got them settled, we unpacked all the food. Just as we finished up getting that done, up drive Matt, Trisha and the boys. Those little ones could have cared less it was cold or rainy. They were so excited to see each other! One of the first things the kids wanted to do was to ride their bikes/scooters down to the playground around the corner from our campsite. Now sweet little Quinton had just received the okay from the doctor to run and play normally again (he had his tonsils taken out a couple weeks ago). So he was pushing his little scooter down the road, but it couldn’t keep up with the bigger kids. We’d fallen about twenty to thirty yards behind the other kids, so I asked him if he wanted me to carry the scooter and he just run to catch up. It was so cute, he didn’t even respond…just shouted “WAHOO!” and took off running! For the rest of the time we were there, the other kids would ride their bikes around…Quinton would just run. So cute!
So after we played for a bit, we headed back to the campsite where the men had been charged with starting dinner. And they had. The charcoal was lit and in the charcoal starter pitcher. Then the park ranger walks up (dun dun duhhh). He informs us there is a burn ban in effect and we could not have any cooking fires or camp fires. Only propane grills were allowed. Uhhh…what? It’s getting down into the 40s if not colder at night and you expect us to not have a fire! Luckily Becky and Stace had a griddle for cooking. Now, if you have never tried to prepare meals for 15 on a griddle the size of a legal sheet of paper…I don’t recommend it. Thank goodness for Becky and Stace’s trailer too. It has a microwave, small oven, and stove top. After dinner, everyone was pretty tired from the day. Everyone was in bed by 11:00. And then it got cold. Really cold. Ryan and I’s tent is built for summertime…it is a solid tent until about halfway up, then it’s mesh. We had the rainfly on, but still…heat does not stay in at all. Ryan woke me up about 3:00 in the morning shaking. We both got up and walked down to the bathhouse and back. I put the space heater mom had let us borrow right on him. I think it is the only time I’ve ever been warmer than Ryan in a situation like that. I was really happy when the morning came. I woke up to the sounds of Wesley and Quinton quietly playing in Matt and Trisha’s tent next to us. I got my toothbrush and started to head off to the bathhouse…I stopped and zipped open Trisha and Matt’s tent and peeked in. Sweet little Wesley started saying “Dunuh, dunuh (how he says Dayna).” I smiled, zipped it back up, got myself ready, then went back over to their tent. Trisha had gotten them dressed and sent them out with me. Quinton made a b-line for Becky and Stace’s camper where the rest of the kids and memaw had slept. Wesley just hung out with me, giggling and smiling, and talking up a storm. Breakfast started as soon as Stace awoke…we made eighteen eggs, two packages of bacon, homemade deer sausage (which rocked!) and two packages of biscuits…and there were hardly any leftovers! Now Sunday it rained off and on all day. So most of the day was spent under the awning of Becky and Stace’s trailer. Ryan had hung a tarp between four trees right between the two campsites, but the food was closer to the trailer :o) Becky brought out their karaoke machine and the kids went to town taking turns singing songs for us all. That afternoon Ryan and I packed it all in and headed off for home just at the end of naptime. We had such a fun time getting to hang out with everyone, but we needed to get back home so we could get ready for our week. We didn’t see the sun at all until we hit downtown Dallas. Then it was sunny the rest of the way home. We unpacked, ate dinner, got showered, and immediately went to bed. What a fun weekend…next time I think I’ll be sure to make sure the burn ban is lifted before I go camping.

first signs of spring

It is amazing what the first signs of spring do to people. People are cheerful, happy, and excited at the new beginnings and the changes going on all around. Then you are zapped back into reality by cold, wet rain. For sure changes the mood in an office. I witnessed that first hand. Last week people were itching to get outside...a sense of excitement in the air. Not this week. How is it that when such a gray uphappy day after a few sunny days can make us so lethargic. Personally, I enjoy the rain...sounds like a brillant Brandon Rhyder (I love the rain) or Walt Wilkins (Eighteen Days of Rain) song. There's something soothing about it. But, the cool thing is...Spring brings both the sun and the rain.
Susan Gibson sings a really cool song called "the first signs of spring" (can't find it online, but this is what she sounds like...Together Strong). Her songs are always fluttering around in my head in the Spring (we follow a lot of singer/songwriters so we get a lot of songs stuck in our heads that no one has ever heard of). I hope you have a fun song in your head this wet/dry/happy/sunny/not-so-sunny spring. No, not MC Hammer or Huey Lewis, but something original.

Yellow Roses

So Friday when I heard Ryan drive up, I opened the front door and was handed a dozen beautiful yellow roses!  They have bloomed and are gorgeous!  

Ryan started us a potted plant garden today.  Early girl, homestead, roma grape tomatoes, jalapeno, sweet basil and mint.  I'm very excited!  And anxious for the tomatoes.  I can taste the fresh bruschetta now :o)

Have a happy week everyone!

HAPPY TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

Ryan and I had a pretty nice weekend. I stayed up until 3 in the am on Friday night/Saturday morning after being sucked into Titanic. Saturday we slept in, did some errands and went over to visit Trisha, Matt and the boys. Sweet little Quinton is such a champ. You can tell he doesn't feel good (he had his tonsils taken out last Thursday), but he's taken the pain so well. I'm so proud of him! And he cuddles right now too...which he hasn't let me do in a couple years!
I made us chicken salad and potato soup for the week yesterday after church. Then last night Ryan and I went to the White Elephant in Fort Worth to hear our friends Walt and Tina Wilkins play and sing. Across the street is the Stockyards Saloon. The sign read as follows..."Mardi Gras Party Saturday Feb 28th Cowboy Up!." Anything odd strike you about that...I laughed for about thirty minutes about it.