Surprise...Happy Mother's Day!

For the past month, David's been scheming with his dad and planning a surprise trip to San Antonio for Mother's Day. So last Friday, we headed southbound on I-35. We stayed in Austin for the night so that we could get to San Antonio first thing Saturday morning. We had such a good time in Austin!! We stayed with David's best friend, Clayton, and went out to dinner and drinks with some good friends! I love visiting Austin...such good food and such great friends!

We got up super early on Saturday and headed down to San Antonio. We knew that David's mom wouldn't be home, since she had alter guild. We showered and dressed, ran some errands, and then sat at the house waiting for his mom to get home. We figured she'd realize what was going on before she even saw us, since we parked David's truck in the driveway. We assumed that would give it away...

When David's mom finally got home, she walked into the house with her groceries as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Then we heard her say, "Whose car is in our driveway, Bob??" David and I looked at each other like, uh..really?? Then she came out of the kitchen and saw us sitting on the couch and put two and two together!! My goodness. She's never going to live that down. She didn't even recognize our truck!!! 

We had such a nice visit. Saturday afternoon, we went down to Pearl Brewery and visited the farmer's market and had lunch on a patio. Then we walked down to where the city was working to extend the Riverwalk. It was so pretty!! If you're ever in San Antonio, I highly recommend visiting this place!

Yes, my eyes are closed in this picture. It was bright!! And this was the only picture we took that day! ha! Saturday night, we went to dinner at Paesano's on the Riverwalk. I LOVE that restaurant. It's so good!!! 

Sunday morning, we all went to church and it was so good to see Chuck again! Chuck was David's minister growing up and he's the one who married us a couple years ago. For mother's day brunch, we enjoyed the buffet at the "old folk's home" (as David's mom calls it).  David's parents moved into a retirement community a couple of years ago and they're loving it! 

My eyes may be closed in this picture too. What can I say, not a good picture weekend for me! But even though our visit was short and we spent a lot of time in the car, we had such a great time!!

Nathalia Turns 2!

My sweet niece, Nathalia, turns TWO today!! I can't believe how fast she's growing up!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Nathalia!!

Forecast: FOG

Last week, we went to San Francisco to visit my sister. We had so much fun and did so much, but I'll try to give you the short version! We did touristy things - went to Alcatraz, walked around Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf.  We also ate our way through the city - but luckily with all the walking, we balanced everything out! I did a pretty poor job of photographing our trip, but here's what I do have.

On Sunday, we went to Sonoma and visited a few wineries. First, we had brunch at The Girl and The Fig in downtown Sonoma. Absolutely delicious!  We actually did our tastings in Glen Ellen, which is just north of Sonoma.  We bought a case of Merlot at Kunde and also got a few bottles from Benzinger, BR Cohn, and Imagery. I think our favorite wineries were Kunde and Benzinger. BR Cohn was neat since it is owned by the guy who manages the Doobie Brothers, but their wine wasn't particularly spectacular. Imagery is the sister winery of Benzinger, but their wines were not really to our liking.  Sidenote: if you ever fly somewhere and buy a case of wine, it's cheapest to check the box of wine with your luggage and pay the $25. Plus, it flies back with you and doesn't have to spend a lot of time in transit!

On Monday we had lunch at the Crab House at Pier 39 and took the cruise out to Alcatraz - it was so foggy that day! In that first picture, that's Alcatraz from Fisherman's Wharf. You can barely see it! In the last picture, that's the clearest it got for us - that's the view of SF from Alcatraz. All in all, the tour was pretty neat, but Alcatraz is a lot smaller than we thought!

We drove out to Berkeley one day and toured the Pyramid brewery. The tour was free and included a tasting flight! It was such a neat place, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the plant.

Towards the end of the trip, the weather started cooperating, so David and I got to picnic in Mission-Dolores park by my sister's apartment. We got sandwiches at Ike's Place (YUM) and hung out and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Mission-Dolores park is so neat - there were a ton of dogs and their owners just let them run around and play! Casey would have been in heaven!

My sister lives in the Mission district and one day we found all this graffiti art in one of the alleys. Turns out it was the Clarion Alley Mural Project.

On our last night in the city, my sister had a work party to attend, so David and I got a date night! We had pre-dinner drinks at Range and dinner at Bar Tartine. Everything was so, so good! I even convinced David to try bone marrow...!

We had so much fun in San Francisco, but we sure are glad to be home! Here are three things I learned about San Francisco:

1. California is EXPENSIVE. Very, very expensive (compared to Texas at least);
2. The fog in San Francisco is no joke. Also, the temperature can vary pretty drastically between the Mission district (the sunniest area) and any other area of the city; and,
3. San Francisco may only be 7 miles long and 7 miles wide, but when you're walking around the city, it feels like it's 70 miles long and 70 miles wide. My legs might still be sore.

Christmas No. 1

David's parents came in town Sunday evening and last night we had our Christmas dinner with them. I made PW's pork loin with cranberry sauce with mashed potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, and rosemary dinner rolls. YUM! After dinner, we had some of David's mom's delicious chocolate fudge pie. 

After dinner and dessert, we did presents! We got his parents a kindle and a white wine aerator. I think they'll get a lot of use out of both of them. David's parents got us...a fireplace!! We've been looking to install ceramic logs in our wood-burning gas fireplace. We burned firewood last year and it made a huge mess. So even though it was 85 degrees yesterday, we had the fireplace installed and we turned it on!

We love it!!!! Not only does it look pretty, but it puts off some heat! 

David's mom has given him a Christmas ornament each year since he was born. This year, we got TWO! One for him, and one for me!

Isn't mine so cute?! Cupcakes!! I think that it's my favorite ornament now (with the exception of our wedding ornament). 

Riley got a new litter box for Christmas. I think he might be undecided on whether or not he likes it...

Casey got a new bed, although she couldn't be less interested in it...but she did look festive in her Christmas collar!

Since we had the fireplace on, we had to open the windows to cool off the house a bit...Riley wasn't complaining!

David's parents checked out of Hotel Montgomery first thing this morning, and David and I are tidying up the house and washing sheets and towels in preparation for our second holiday guest, MY SISTER!!! She'll be here tonight and she's staying until Sunday! Can't wait to see her and celebrate Christmas No. 2 on Saturday!

It Squeaks When You Bite It

Last weekend we went to Wisconsin for the Cowboys v. Packers game! David's uncle manages and partially owns the Best Western Bridgewood Resort in Neenah, Wisconsin, and he was able to get us tickets to the game. Lambeau was pretty cool...!

That's Vince Lombardi on the left and Curly Lambeau on the right.

Well, needless to say, the game was terrible, since the Cowboys were 1-6 going in and ended up 1-7 at the end of it. YUCK. Such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad game.

We did, however, have a very nice visit with David's aunt and uncle! I even had the opportunity to try cheese curds for the first time, and they were quite tasty. David's aunt informed me that when cheese curds are really fresh, they're supposed to squeak when you bite into them. The cheese curds I ate squeaked, so they must have been fresh.

David's mom wanted to buy some Packer memorabilia, so we ventured to the mall one day. David and I took that opportunity to snap a photo with Bucky Badger.

Except for witnessing the absolute slaughter of the Cowboys, our trip to Wisconsin was a lot of fun!

DFW to DCA to DTW to DFW

Last Sunday, I flew to Washington, DC for a training class at the FDIC student center. The class itself was pretty darn boring (as expected), but lucky for me, it was over by Friday. When the class ended on Friday, I flew from DC to Detroit for David's cousin's wedding!! I was exhausted after all my flights. I flew from DC (eastern time zone) to Chicago (central time zone) to Detroit (back to eastern time zone). By the time I landed, I wasn't sure if I was in the air or on the ground, much less what time it was supposed to be. I've never gotten sick, or even felt remotely sick from flying, but Friday was horrible!! 

Saturday morning, we met with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Margaret for dim sum. I meant to take a picture of all the delicious food, but I was so hungry I forgot!! I'd been craving dim sum for a while, so I was glad to finally satisfy that craving! Now I want to go to San Francisco to have dim sum with my sister... :)

Saturday evening, we drove out to MacRay Harbor in Harrison Township for Kim and Adam's wedding! It was absolutely beautiful. 

Kim's sister-in-law giving one of the readings...

The sand ceremony...

Kim's mom (David's aunt) made their wedding cakes!! Don't they look great?!?

She also made the centerpieces...

And I'm guessing she made the name cards, too! :)

Us!

And finally....Mr. & Mrs. Adam Pokowski!!

We had such a good time at their wedding!! Congrats to the happy couple!

Summer Vacation Project No. 2 : Hallway Collage

We've been married for almost 10 months and I realized a few weeks ago that we don't have any wedding pictures displayed in our house! Zip, zero, nada! So, one of my summer vacation projects was to take my lazy butt up to Michael's and get new frames. Our entry hallway is 18 feet long and has looked like this pretty much since we moved in two years ago.

I love these pictures. My sister took them all during her trip to Morocco. I picked these six out and she printed them and gave them to me. But since we had paid so much for our photographer, we really needed to display our beautiful wedding pictures! Not to worry - the old photos will be moved to the study and displayed there!

So after about an hour of putting all the pictures in their frames, and another hour of David and his dad trying to figure out the template and anchors and screws......our hallway now looks like THIS!

I love it!! And there's ample space on both sides to keep adding pictures as our family grows!

Summer Vacation Project No. 1 : Herb Garden

David and I took a week off from work...we needed a BREAK! His parents came to visit Tuesday through Friday, and while they were here, we put them to work! Ever since we moved into our house, I've been wanting an herb garden in the backyard. So David's dad brought up all his saws and building supplies to help us (David) build it!

Before...

Our supplies...

We used untreated cedar - David's dad said that termites stay away from cedar and I wanted untreated wood because I read somewhere that if you use treated wood, the chemicals can seep into the soil.

Sawing away...

All done!!! Now all we need to do is clear out the grass and fill the flower bed with soil and herbs!! YAY!! Doesn't it look great?!?

Dirty Thirty

Today is my brother's 30th birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Albert!!!

He's gone from this dorky little guy...

To this wonderful father of two of the cutest little kiddos...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Hoppy Easter!

We had a pretty relaxing Easter weekend. It was our flex Friday, so we ventured out to the outlet malls in Allen, with high hopes of finding some good deals! Unfortunately, we came up empty handed. :( Saturday morning, I got my haircut in Dallas while David played tennis with a friend of his. We grilled steaks for dinner and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Sunday we went to the gym, finally! I made carrot cake cupcakes, and they turned out absolutely delicious!

For dinner, we made cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and roasted brussels sprouts! YUMMM!

We hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend!