Valentine's weekend and such...

Friends and family,

Hello, hello! I am sorry I am a bit delayed in writing this blog! We were out of town this weekend, which meant school work was in the line-up once we returned! Man, what a fantastic weekend! We went home to Belton for my mom's _____ birthday! (I can't reveal how old she is without her permission.... hint, she looks MUCH younger than she is! Natural beauty. Hope I inherited it!)

So... what did we do, what did we do.... Well, I should start with Scott and I's Valentine's date on Thursday, Feb. 11th. It was too much fun! I got to dress up, he was in a suit, we ate AMAZING French food, and saw our friends perform in the Romeo and Juliet ballet, which was so stunning. Ty and Marissa are a married couple that live here in our complex and they dance for a ballet company here in Houston--Ty was Romeo and Marissa was Lady Capulet. They both performed wonderfully and it was so fun to watch them!

This is a necklace that my Daddy gave me for Valentine's Day when I was 9 years old. He always took me out on Valentine's dates and surprised me with a piece of jewelry every year :-) Love you, Daddy.

It was POURING down rain!

Scott and I at Max and Julie's Brasserie--a nice, quaint, restaurant serving French cuisine!

My dinner--Pepper steak with pepper sauce, fried mashed potatoes, and grilled vegetables! Scott had the duck.

We ventured home the next afternoon, arriving in Belton after dinner. We were greeted by 2 dogs, my mom's parents, and of coarse, the family. They had already dug into my mom's birthday cake, which was a TO-DIE-FOR Strawberry Jello Cake with strawberry frosting! Wow, so good! It's been a favorite of mine for YEARS! My Gram makes it and it seems like she and my mom have tweaked the recipe so many times, I don't know who owns the right recipe. The next morning, Scott and I went for a run in 32 degree weather!! Ah! It was freezing and I was not aware that Belton had so many hills! We went 2 miles in just over 20 minutes--not too bad! My aunts and uncles came in shortly after and we had a day of Sunday School planning, recipe book making, jewelry making, Killer Bunny playing, Catan settling, Indian Chicken cooking, and good-byeing.

I helped my brothers make these really cute heart necklaces for their girlfriends. Of coarse, I got one, too! The pattern is on Martha Stewart's website. Very cute.

All of the cousins gathered for a game of "Killer Bunny", a pretty funny card game in which you are trying to kill your opponents bunnies so that they cannot receive the "Magic Carrot".

My parent's dogs, Danny and Phoebe. Phoebe is brand new to the family! She is a yellow Labradoodle. JoJo was put down on Friday because she was very sick.

"Playing" Settlers of Catan with my brothers. I think Jim and Levi did more texting on their iPhones than strategizing....

More Settlers of Catan--such a great game!

On Sunday, we went to Scott's parents' house and attended church with them, then came home for a really good lunch of grilled chicken and greens! Yum! It was so nice getting to talk with them and play with the dogs. David and Scott grilled the chicken outside and I'm pretty sure the temperature dropped a whole 10 degrees while they were out there! A cold front came through a few hours before we headed back to Houston. We also enjoyed a bowl of Blue Bell's Peppermint ice cream--good even after Christmas ;-)

It's a tradition for Scott and I to stop at good ol' Texas Burger on our way back to Houston! It's a tiny burger joint located in Cameron, TX that I have been going to as long as I can remember. We used to go to Mema and Papa's house (when they lived in Hearne, TX) very frequently as kids and we would meet them here for lunch/dinner before our parents would hand us over to them for the weekend/week. Texas Burger still as the same wallpaper up inside! It makes the memories that more alive :-)

As we headed back towards Houston, we stopped by Mema and Papa's house to say hello and chat for a while. It's such a blessing to be able to visit grandparents. As I have gotten older, I realize more and more the value of their wisdom and the importance of spending time with them. Mia, my grandmother's dog, was VERY excited to see us! She is the funniest dog; whenever someone comes over that she hasn't seen in a while, she starts this rapid wimpering, her eyes get HUGE, and she runs in circles around the living room! It's hilarious! She starts on the couch, runs across to the side table, slides across the side table, lands on the floor, jumps on the first of two chairs, hops over to the second chair, and REPEAT. It's too funny. We had a great conversation with them with the Olympics playing in the background and were treated to a bag of Mema's homemade chocolate chip cookies (the best in the world!) on our way out.

Well, I have three recipes to share, but I will do those in separate blogs so that this one doesn't last for all eternity!

Blessings to you all.