Friday Fun!

I woke up and spent Friday morning with all of my favorite kiddos. It was Bike Rodeo at the girls' elementary school...we did it at my school growing up, so it definitely took me down memory lane! Lainey's grade came out first. They watch a bike safety video, and then the policemen are outside on the bike course to remind the kids about safe bike riding. Here is Lainey:And here are Havana and David, being silly and waiting to see their sisters ride bikes. They did get to ride bikes and scooters in between the grades. They were wishing they were big school kids...
Here is Holli, chilling and enjoying things from her stroller...or is she enjoying things?! not sure...
Once the first graders headed out, Ruth grabbed Aimee's bike, and took it for a ride...the policemen got more of a kick out of it than Ruth and I did, I think.
Go, Ruth!
Here is Aimee, ready to ride at Bike Rodeo with all of her school friends and classmates.
After a day at Bike Rodeo, and some work on wedding invitations, I picked Brian up at work and we headed downtown for engagement photos. Besides all the traffic that we got in, we had tons of fun taking engagement photos. As we were all around the city, I got so excited! I miss Boston, but I realized there was lots to do, experience, and enjoy in Houston...it will just be more work since I am not living right in the city. I don't know why I love my big cities, but I do, I love all the exploring and meandering, I love their individual cultures and appeal. We wandered around Rice Village. We decided to have dinner at Shiva, a really yummy Indian restaurant!

Here is Brian, with his dinner sampler plate-we each got one of the sampler plates, which means we got to have several dishes and sides. I love Indian food, and Brian, he loved it...he kept saying, "This is so good," "This is really good," "Oh man...I love this food, it is so good." Do you think he enjoyed it? I think so ;) I have now decided that it is my quest to learn to cook for Brian so that he says the same thing of my meals, "This is so good," "Oh wow, this is really good," over and over. I think it may be a lifelong quest, seeing that Brian is a better cook than me, and more of a food snob than me ;) But I will take the challenge!
After a delicious dinner of Indian food, we wandered around Rice Village, a very fun area of town, right around Rice University. There are lots of restaurants and shops. Here I am with the wart hog...he is supposed to be a replica of one in a plaza in Florence...did I miss the real thing back in 2002 when I visited Florence with my parents and little brother, Alex?! Bummer.
And Alex, here is for you...remember those red bikes all over Salt Lake City, and how we mounted one, the both of us, while Mom tried to snap a picture...well, they make them better in Houston...they are bigger, of course, and they have flat seats for you to sit on...this one was a tandem with 2 seats. Here I go for my ride!
And here is Brian getting a little carried away on his bike ride...
We had a fun night, and opted not to do any wedding plans...we had a real date night, just the two of us, and left wedding plans far behind in our memories. We really do deserve nights like that more often...I guess maybe we will get more of those after the wedding, once we are married and not planning a wedding!

Only 5 weeks until the wedding!

God Bless Texas!

There are many things that I am being reminded of all the time about Texas, what it means to live in Texas, and what it means to be a Texan. Even though I should claim being Texan, and was mostly born and raised here, it has been about 8 1/2 years since I lived here, and I am having to remember a lot about the great state of Texas.

Last night I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the largest rodeo anywhere, and had a blast. James and Ruth invited us (Brian and I) to go to Alan Jackson with them, and Ruth's mom and sister came, along with another couple. We got there in time to get some good rodeo food, watch the rodeo events-buckin' broncos, barrel racing, and lots of other favorites. Our new favorite was mutton bustin' where 5 and 6 year olds ride sheep and see who can stay on the longest-it was hilarious. Then we enjoyed the Alan Jackson concert. I love the rodeo, it brings out the cowgirl in me, kinda.Here is the Reliant Stadium, where the Houston Texans play football, converted for rodeo time. The rodeo had just ended and the concert was getting set up.
I ordered a baked potato with chopped bar-b-q on it, and jalapenos, and was quite apprehensive, it weighed like 5 pounds and was the size of my head. Okay, not really, but seriously, everything really is bigger and better in Texas. But don't you fret, I ate the whole entire thing, and yeah, Brian did not even finish his ;) I really am the eater! There were deep fried twinkies, nutter butters, oreos, etc. on the menu. I don't really love any of those things, but maybe I will have to try them in the next couple of weeks...just to say I have. Brian and I have 2 more rodeo shows to go to-Tim McGraw next week, and then Keith Urban the next week with his family.
Brian and I at the rodeo (love this man!!!)

Last week, I went with Ruth to get Havana from her cousins, and we had to head south. We stopped at one of those huge, great outdoor stores, and Ruth, Holli, David, and I had fun...being redneck or something.
Ruth and Holli; Holli is wearing some princess hunting hat that Ruth tried on her...nice.
Here is David holding a gun, he was so stoked to get to do something so BOY.
Here I am helping David with the gun, not that I am much better than he is; we paid 50 cents to shoot like 25 or 30 times...it was not for real.
Here I am hugging my brown bear (Brian gives the best Brown bear hugs, and he even sent me my very own brown bear to have while I was far away from him in Boston). So while he was at work, I had to opt for a hug from this great big brown bear.
And here is David, being Davy Crockett or something, in his raccoon hat.

I love Texas...and I guess maybe I forgot ;)