A blog with pictures to come!

Friends and family,

Just wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten you! As you know, the holiday season is a busy one, but a wonderfully blessed one.

I will be posting a new blog on Monday after the New Years weekend! We are leaving town again, so it will be easier to post when we return.

We love you all so much and wish you a safe, happy, and reflective New Year!

Blessings.

My Birthday! A Real Treat :-)

Friends and family,

It has been such a good weekend! Despite being away from family, my birthday was very memorable and several remembered me :-) Thank you for your cards, phone calls, texts, Facebook posts, and gifts. You are all so wonderful to think of me!

Scott had a full weekend planned out, which started with his friend from work, Derrick, dropping us off at the Magnolia hotel in downtown Houston on Saturday afternoon.

It was a beautiful hotel, decorated from Lobby to the 23rd floor in ruby red Poinsettias, large Christmas trees, gold and silver ornaments, and big bows!

We dropped off our one suitcase in our room on the 21st floor

and I opened my gift from Scott--as if he hadn't already done enough!

It was a very cute blouse from Tracy Porter (a designer whose blog I follow faithfully).

We then took advantage of the hotel's complimentary town car service by having them drop us off at a shopping center about 4 blocks away.

One of my favorite places to shop is a store called Forever 21 and you would not believe the size of this one!! It took up almost an entire block and had two stories!! Poor Scott... God bless him though, he pushed through telling me what looked cute, holding my coat (putting it on at one point!),

and taking pictures along the way.

After purchasing a very cute, white sweater with a grey print, a large pair of gold earrings, and a bottle of nail polish, we left and went across the street to Books-A-Million. I couldn't be completely selfish with the shopping trip, plus I enjoy a good book, too!

We walked back to the hotel, changed into our fancy clothes,

and enjoyed a DELICIOUS dinner at a place called The Grove. "When they can", the chefs use local, organic ingredients from area farmer's markets and farms. We shared a roasted quail with mustard sauce along with a slice of brie cheese served with handmade pear jam and crusty bread for our appetizer. YUM!

Then Scott had a Glazed Berkshire Pork Belly that was part of the "Small Plate" menu..... it was indeed..... small. But good! It was about the size of a plum served with a smear of smashed parsnip (by that, they took a knife with a bit of parsnip puree and drug it across the plate). I had a wonderful pulled rotisserie chicken sandwich with sauteed mushrooms, white cheese, and french fries! It was a hefty portion, so I gave Scott half of my sandwich and some fries. We ended the night with a Texas Pecan+Brown Butter Cake and a scoop of ice cream! Perfection! Scott told our waiter, Salvador, that it was my birthday and written across the top of our dessert plate in chocolate sauce was "Happy Birthday!" So nice!

We came back to the hotel just in time for the cookies and milk buffet! Wow! I had half of a peanut butter cookie and half of a double chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk.

Scott had the other halves. We stayed in for the rest of the night, went to bed early around 10:30 and woke up at 8:30. Breakfast was served on the 2nd floor and included hot eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns with fruit, muffins, bagels, coffee, and orange juice. We hopped a taxi back to our apartment and now I am sitting on the couch in UTTER denial that I have two finals this week. I REALLY don't want to study..... in fact I just might be blogging right now just to avoid it.....

Anyway. The moral of the story: my husband is amazing. I in no way expected this but it was very memorable and special.

You all are amazing too! I can't tell you how nice it was to be remembered on my birthday. Your words and gifts were so thoughtful and heartfelt.

Blessings to all to all a good Sabbath Sunday.

We love you.

This will be a long blog post! But a good one.

Friends and Family~

It has been a little while! We had the week off for Thanksgiving and this past week was my last week of classes, so it was a little crazy! Like last time, I will tell you of the week in pictures.

This story begins on the week of Thanksgiving. We packed our bright blue suitcases into the back of our little blue sudan and headed up Hwy 290, through College Station, Hearne, Cameron, Rogers, and, at last, we arrived in Belton, TX to stuff our faces with all things good!

There was lots of cooking...

Eating...

Gathering...

Brothers...

Sisters...

and dogs....

We ended the week by purchasing our first Christmas tree as a married couple! And my first ever LIVE Christmas tree! (No allergies yet....)

And, to continue a multiple generation tradition, we strung popcorn for our tree garland! The house smelled of butter and pine! Quite a lovely combination. Stringing popcorn with needle and thread is a new tradition for Scott (his fingers are proof--poor things were victim to many a needle stab) but he completed it with only a few injuries and minor grumblings....

TADA!

Our parents gave us all of our ornaments that have been collected for us over the last 23 years and we finished the tree off with those.

The rest of the house has been decked with gold and silver Christmas ornaments piled in clear glass bowls, and stockings are currently being sewn with my ammeter sewing skills and pattern purchased for $1.99!

One more thing before we go--it SNOWED in Houston on Friday!! It was REAL snow! It started snowing at about 9am and didn't stop until 6pm. Only about an inch of it stuck and it was all melted by morning, but we were excited none the less! (Can't you tell by my face how happy I was?!)

Well, that is all I have to tell! My birthday is on Saturday and Scott has some festivities planned for the weekend! Hopefully our next post will be sometime next week.

We love you all.

P.S. Here is a sneak-peak of the coming Huddleston Family Christmas Card 2009! You will have to check your mailboxes in the next 2-3, maybe 4 weeks to see what the final result was! (It's a good one.)

A Good Week

Hello! Sorry it's been a little while since the last post.... I had a horrendous test in my Aphasia class last Thursday, so I spent the week studying for that. Whew! Glad it's over!

Well, here is the week in pictures! We had lots of fun and made good memories.

Scott and I made our first Thanksgiving turkey for our Small Group Thanksgiving dinner! I used my mom's recipe, so you know it was GOOD....! These are our friends, Eric and Sarah, who host Small Group. Scott is attempting to consume the neck of the turkey. It took a little bit to figure out what body part that was.... gross.

So much bloody juices! I used about half a bottle of Comet and mopped the ENTIRE kitchen, high to low, when we were finished with this bird!

After the bird tackle, we enjoyed some ice cream. I just realized how much I look like a 1960s housewife in this picture.... Ode to My Grandmothers! And all other 1960s housewives who raised our parents! You done good!

The wish bone from the turkey! Make a wish! Scott won this particular wish battle.

We had some really tasty food this week! I made this Chicken Noodle Satay--it was SOOO YUMMY! Lots of noodles and chicken, soy sauce, peanut butter, nuts, spinach.... Delicious!

This past Friday, Scott and I had a date night and went out to "Little Bigs", a small joint a few blocks from our apartment that serves teeny tiny burgers called "sliders", fries, and the most creamy and rich chocolate milk shakes! Yummmm!

Scott with his sliders. We each got the sampler, which had a beef, chicken, and black bean burger.

Look how cute they are! We downed that milk shake!

Scott made a wonderful breakfast on Saturday morning! He loves to cook breakfast and he always does so in his underwear, so I couldn't post the picture I got of him using that skillet to whip up this burrito of eggs, steak, bell peppers, and green onions on a fried tortilla! Wow!

Last night Scott and I decided to have a homemade pizza and game night with just the two of us. It was so much fun! I made the crust from scratch! The dough had to rise and everything! I wasn't brave enough to do the tossing, so I let Scott do that part. Way to go, babe!

Topping included: spinach, tomatoes, turkey, mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, and marinara sauce. Soooo good!

We played Scrabble. Such a good game! I am very focused on my next killer move....

Now, some of you know this and some of you don't, but I NEVER beat Scott at games! Ever! But.... I stomped him at this game of Scrabble!! I didn't have it in me to rub it in his face, but BOY was I excited!!!

Well, that was our week! It was a week filled of fun, GREAT food, and lots of love!

We can't wait to see all of you tomorrow and later on the week! Yay for Thanksgiving!!!

Blessings to all and to all a good Tuesday.