Hunting and Girl's Weekend

A few times a year some of my college friends and I try to get together and just catch up, which is what we had planned for this weekend. Meagan, a friend in Dallas, who is in PA school just finished up her finals and was ready to get away and relax. Unfortunately Kristina wasn't able to make it in with her. Meagan's flight was cancelled on Friday due to the snow in Houston...who would have thought? She didn't get to come in until Saturday morning. We did a Houston home tour and stayed at each of our houses over the weekend. We window shopped and really had lots of girl time in the evening just to chat. It was great getting to catch up with everyone, as our lives are all so busy now! I can't wait until the next time.

Kurt was invited on a hunting trip this weekend in Lubbock with his friend Dusty. They actually stayed about an hour north of Lubbock, and he said it was freezing and felt like summer when he returned to Houston. It usually warmed up to the 30's but was around 11 degrees in the morning. They were bird hunting every day and he was able to enjoy time with his friends too. Apparently they had to break ice just to set out bird decoys in the morning, and because all of the water was frozen over, the birds landed on the frozen ice when they fell. He said it was lots of fun, but he was glad to be back home in some warmer weather. What a weekend!

Kurt
Dusty

A successful trip

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

On Friday the forecast for Houston and the surrounding area was...SNOW! We had been hearing that it was supposed to snow on Friday all week, but we couldn't believe it until it actually starting falling on Friday morning. They dismissed most of the schools early on Friday, because the temperatures kept dropping, and the roads were getting icy. At first the snow wasn't really sticking, but it started coming down much harder later in the day. Brittany and I took our class out to play in the snow, and they all had their mouths open trying to catch the flakes. It was really cute to see how excited they were. During carpool it was literally freezing, and one of the Moms at our school brought us all Starbucks hot chocolate. It was so nice! Kurt took our video camera and digital camera with him on a hunting trip, so I had to pick up a disposable camera on my way home. Our yard and roof were white when I got home, but I don't have those pictures developed yet. It was neat to see snow so early in December, and it definitely put me in the Christmas spirit. Brittany and I after school on Friday!

Happy Halloween

It's hard to believe that it's already November! I'll have to say that we ended October with a bang! Nick and Lauren (Kurt's cousin) had their first annual costume party at their house in Houston. It was a blast. The house was decorated so cute...not a surprise if you know Lauren - such an entertainer. It was so much fun getting to see everyone's costumes and looking twice to see who it was behind the face paint. Kurt and I had been brainstorming costumes since the beginning of the month, and believe me we were in rare form for Halloween...you'll have to just see the pictures for yourself. He called me Darlene all night, and his costume name was D Wayne...yes, very classy I know. We had a blast and can't wait until the party next year! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Halloween cookies I made for the party.

Darlene and D Wayne...I know I look amazing here, but I could hardly keep a straight face when I looked at Kurt. That mullet was too much!

Buddy the Elf (Dusty) and a christmas tree (Leslie)...she made this costume herself. It was so cute, even with presents on her legs!

Beetlejuice (Kyle) and girl scout (Daphanie)

Rainbow Brite (Lauren) and husband Nick...his costume was really funny. Guess you'll have to check out the SNL video for this one.

Beetlejuice, Cleopatra (Kelli), and D Wayne/Joe Dirt

Taylor Swift, Christmas tree, girl scout, Cleopatra, Darlene, Lucy, and Rainbow Brite

Wordless Wednesday...

Not sure about you guys, but I'm ready for bed!

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Well, it's that time again! Kurt and I decided to have our annual pumpkin carving contest at home. Yes, it's only the two of us that participate, and there really isn't a winner, but it's still fun. Kurt started calling it our Pumpkin Carving Contest, and it started sometime late in college. We decided it would be fun to get pumpkins and then try to carve these intricate designs in them that took hours to do...yes, fun to some people. Anyhow, we were at it again this year.
Kurt picked out this mummy to do, which ended up being a pain in the butt, then our small saw broke, so we were having to share one tool, but we survived and despite a few teeth missing on my pumpkin, they turned out alright.
On Saturday, I woke up feeling so awful and Kurt had to work most of the day, so we ended up staying in and watching movies at home Saturday night. We decided that the weather was too nice to stay in all day on Sunday, so the pumpkin carving was a perfect Sunday treat! Now we just have to get our Halloween costumes ready to go in a few weeks! Happy Halloween!!!

Corrie's pumpkin - Bugaboo

Serious pumpkin carver at work...

Kurt's pumpkin - Mummified

Kurt took pictures of our pumpkins in the bathroom with the lights off...he couldn't wait to see what they would look like when they were lit.

Our Kitchen Gets A Facelift!

As many of you know I've been on the lookout for kitchen hardware (knobs) practically since we moved in last November. It's hard to believe that in one month we'll have been in our house for an entire year already. Anyway, we finally found some kitchen knobs that we could both agree on, and Kurt put them on last week. I keep forgetting to take pictures when we do stuff to the house, but I remembered this time! Since we've moved in, Kurt has also installed fans in both of our front rooms, and I repainted an armoire that my brother built just out of high school. We also put knobs in our bathroom, but haven't purchased ones for the front and upstairs bathrooms yet. We're taking baby steps but making some progress. Just thought I'd post some pictures. I took one close up, because the others are kind of hard to see. Kurt measuring before he used the drill...guess that's a good thing!

Before...

After

Happy 28th Birthday Kurt!

Kurt turned 28 today! Not sure how happy he is about that, but life just happens that way, doesn't it? We had a small get-together at our house for he and Kyle's birthday today, because after all, they both turned 28! We had burgers, chips, potato salad, dips, stuffed jalapenos, and ice cream cake. It was mostly family and some friends that came to celebrate their birthday with us. I told Kurt that this weekend was HIS weekend and we could do whatever it was that he wanted to do. On Friday night he watched his favorite tv channel (discovery, history, etc...) and I baked his birthday cake. About the cake...Mamoo (my Dad's Mom) has this recipe for a jelly roll cake that is filled with ice cream. When we were in Beaumont for Labor Day weekend, she suggested I make it for Kurt's birthday, because I had been talking about wanting to make a cake. She made it seem like such an easy process. On Friday I probably consulted her by phone at least 4 times during the course of the mixing, sifting, baking, and ice cream filling just to make sure I was doing it right. After I did the first cake, the second one wasn't so bad. They turned out great, and I must say I was pretty proud of myself for my first attempt at that cake!

Since Friday night was pretty uneventful, on Saturday night we rode out to Kurt's dove lease, and we sat on the back of his truck watching birds and laughing at Cash taunting the cows in the pasture. It was really nice to just hang out - the 3 of us - our own little family. Kurt and I just talked about life, laughed hysterically at Cash and often each other, which is just what we needed to do. We got home and he wanted to eat Mexican food, so we headed to a local favorite - Lupe Tortilla. Before we were seated, Kurt was standing with his back to me looking at pictures on the wall of the restaurant, and I whispered to the hostess that it was his birthday...well, practically. So we sat down and had dinner, and then they came out with THE SOMBRERO! I wish I had my camera and could have taken a picture of the look on Kurt's face. He kinda wanted to wring my neck, but when I started grinning, all he could do was laugh even harder. It was great, but I can tell you all now that I've got it coming! We had a great weekend, and I hope that Kurt and Kyle had a great 28th birthday. I'm pretty lucky to have such a great husband, and after the cakes turned out so well, he agreed to keep me around for a while too... Happy Birthday Kurt!

Kurt said he had to get a picture of the cake baking process. He said he'd never seen so many dirty dishes from one recipe...What can I say? It was a labor of love.

Cash got his birthday bone this weekend...he was so happy!

Kurt and Kyle with their gifts from Kelli - "I love my sister" necklaces, which I'm sure they'll be wearing throughout the week.

THE BIRTHDAY CAKES!

Make a wish! Each cake had 28 candles...

Congratulations Johnette!

We were in Beaumont 2 weeks ago for a very special occasion. Johnette, my stepmom, was graduating from college with a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology. I was really proud of her, after all, she had been working on her degree for over 25 years! And that's not all either - she graduated with nearly a 4.0 GPA and was literally one of the only graduates I saw with the yellow lapels on her graduation gown, which also made her easy to spot. My pictures are actually not so great, but I posted them anyway. I didn't get my camera out afterwards, because her sister was taking lots of pictures. Anyhow, it was great to see her finally finish something she has been working very hard on for many years. Way to go Johnette! That's her in the yellow near the front of the picture with all of the other graduates coming out to take their seats.

Pinot & Picasso

I know I am way behind on posts, so since I had some free time this afternoon I thought I'd update our blog. About 3 weeks ago I went on a girl's night out with some of Kurt's wonderful family. We decided to start at Lauren's house and had pizza and her famous amazing salad. From there, we headed to a place called Pinot & Picasso. It's such a neat idea, and we all had a blast. You bring your own wine, beer, or other beverage of choice and snacks if you'd like. There is one painting for the night and the artist teaches you step by step how to complete the painting. You're free to paint whatever you like, as Kelli did, and you can change up colors too. It was lots of fun, but we were missing Amy and Sally, so we'll probably head back for another painting some time soon. Our paintings actually didn't turn out so bad. Kurt really didn't believe me when I brought it home and said I had painted it. I think he was just being nice! The colors are a little bright, so we don't have it hanging in our house just yet - maybe one day though. Picasso's in training: Rhonda, Wanda, Lauren, Karen, Kelli, Jennifer, & Corrie

Wanda was really concentrating.

Cheers!

Jennifer was cracking us all up, as usual...

Can you resist this?

As many of you know, Cash is a pretty big part of our lives. After all, before you have kids your dogs are as good as it gets. So since we don't have kids to post pictures of, I thought I'd try to catch Cash in many of his "Kodak moments" that we think are funny. Over the weekend, we were looking around the house for him and couldn't find him anywhere. He was sleeping in the pantry! The door wasn't shut...it was just slightly cracked, so it wasn't like he was shut in there. I guess he just thought it was a good, cool place to sleep. When we opened the door, he just looked up at us like, "what, just trying to catch an afternoon nap." Also, since I've been home some days during the week when I'm not working at Pottery Barn, Cash has become quite the lazy summer dog. We usually go for a walk in the morning before it gets too hot, and then he literally naps all day, then when he's bored he walks to another place in the house to nap some more. He seems to get a burst of energy in the afternoon when Kurt gets home, which is such a nice surprise from his early puppy days when we couldn't do enough to wear him out.

So anyway, last week I was cleaning around the house and I opened our front guest bedroom so I could vacuum. I forgot to shut the door back and Cash took it as an open invitation to get some sleep right on the bed. He makes us laugh so often and is great company when I'm at home by myself. Oh the joys of having a dog!

Happy 30th Birthday Jane Anne!

We traveled to Austin last weekend to celebrate my cousin, Jane Anne's, 30th birthday. Some of her close friends threw the party for her at the Broken Spoke dance hall in Austin. It's one of the oldest dance halls in Texas...maybe not as old as Gruene, but its been around for a while. On Saturday, my Dad, Johnette, Chad, and Mamoo drove to Houston to pick Kurt and I up on their way. We were a tight squeeze, but made it there safely. Yes, Mamoo went along for the trip with us - what a trooper she is, and she even went to the Broken Spoke until nearly 11pm! Of course, I didn't get any pictures of the birthday girl, but there were quite a few of us there and she stayed busy making sure she was able to visit with everyone. We also got to see Chris & Amy who recently left the big metropolis of Beaumont and moved to Austin with their girls (who were the flower girls in our wedding). We hadn't seen them since our trip to LA in February, so it was great to visit.
On Sunday my aunt Margaret cooked breakfast for us before we got back on the road. We even had Mamoo's famous blueberry muffins, which are Jane Anne's favorite. It was great getting to see my family this weekend. Kurt and I have been so busy this summer and it seems we're off on another adventure every weekend. The pet boarding place knows us very well! I've missed getting to see them, so it was nice to catch up! Until the next time... I've never seen Kurt in a cowboy hat before...pretty handsome for a cowboy.

One of my favorite pictures EVER...with 2 of my favorite people EVER!

Corrie, Amy, Dad, Mamoo

Mamoo, Amy, Johnette

Aunt Margaret, Amy, Erin...great family I wish I could see more often!

Happy 4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July with some of our friends in Corpus Christi. Dusty, one of Kurt's close friends from high school, invited us to come up as well as 3 other couple friends of ours. We arrived on Friday and hit the beach. That night we ate great, fresh seafood and called it a night. It's amazing how tired you are after staying in the sun all day.
On Saturday we decided to check out the Texas State Aquarium that was only blocks away from the condo we were staying in. It was lots of fun, but as you would know, the dolphin show (best part of the aquarium) was outside and just happened to be at 12pm, in the heat of the day! We were all sweating our butts off by the time the outdoor show was over and were ready to be in the pool. We decided to do the pool after being at the beach on Friday and having trouble finding a spot in the water to cool off without stepping on a jellyfish - they were everywhere. We hung at the pool on Saturday and then Kyle grilled some amazing hamburgers for us on Saturday night. We ate burgers and watched fireworks from the balcony of the condo. Lots of fun!

Just a side note for some of the pictures: While we were at the pool we discovered an owl (not real) just hanging out by the side of the pool. We decided it looked like he could use a dip in the pool, so we took the opportunity to take pictures with the owl while it was in the water.

The wives and girlfriends - Meggie, Daphanie, Leslie, and Corrie

The infamous owl...

Kyle decided to smother the owl.

I was the picture taker on this one.

Happy Birthday America....as Kurt was saying all weekend long.

Dallas Bound

This weekend we loaded up the car and headed to Dallas! Yes, I know it seems like we have something planned every single weekend, and we really do...And we thought last summer was busy! We headed to Dallas to visit with Kurt's Dad, who we haven't seen since before Thanksgiving. I actually forgot that I had my camera the entire weekend until we met up with some friends on Saturday night. We didn't get to town until late Friday night, and hit the sack shortly afterwards.
On Saturday we had lunch at Sneaky Petes on Lake Lewisville - it was definitely hot sitting outside, but the food was tasty. We then took a tour of the Gaylord Texan hotel that was nearby. Kurt and I had never seen it before but heard about it. Pretty cool place! Then we went to a theater that served food and beverages during the movie. We saw the Hangover, which was funny, but definitely a guy's movie. On Saturday night, we met up with Kurt's good friend Rory and his wife Roxy. We hadn't seen them since our wedding last summer, so it was great catching up. We ate sushi and then stopped by this chic hotel (NYLO) to check out the scene. It was very modern and had a fun atmosphere. We stayed for a bit but headed back to his Dad's afterwards, so we could get up in the morning in time to be back in town so I could tutor on Sunday afternoon. We had another great weekend, and it was nice getting to see Kurt's Dad and visit with great friends.
Lounging on the outdoor beds by the pool at NYLO

Inside the hotel lobby

Roxy and Rory Huddleston