Friday Fun

Here are some pictures from our weekend about 3 weeks ago. Joe started working at a different location and took on a couple new projects. He didn't have to work that Friday so after I got off we went to lunch and then had a fun date=) There's this BBQ shack right off of one of the county roads here in Pearland that Joe has wanted to try so I decided to humor him and told him we could go there for lunch. You can see the road behind him and how close we were to it=)

This is the little shack. We think the guy is the pastor of the church that's just to the left of it.

Joe got a sausage sandwich and said it was pretty good.

I got a chicken sandwich.... and it was literally a thigh and a leg (with the bone in) between two pieces of bread! Really? How am I supposed to eat that!? I picked like two bites off the chicken and then settled with just eating my chips. Not just based upon this experience, I have learned that I don't really like Texas BBQ. In Utah it seems like BBQ is more about good bbq sauce and here it's more about the smoke flavor of the meat. (which I really am not fond of) So, I told Joe he needs to eat BBQ when he goes out to lunch with the guys from work. I'm done=)
After lunch we went to this place called Pitch Putt and Play. The weather was perfect and there was hardly anyone there so we felt like we had the place to ourselves! We had a lot of fun joking and teasing each other and it reminded me of when we were dating. I kept up with Joe pretty well for the first 9 holes or so and then fell behind on the last 9 but it was still a blast!
Joe looks so cute! He gets all into it and loves ANYTHING golf!
After miniature golf we decided to hit some balls at the batting cages. I think the last time I held a bat was in elementary school! I surprised myself and Joe by hitting almost every ball!! He said "maybe our kids wont be as hopeless in sports as I thought they would be if they get your genes!" Ha ha ha! Rude!=)
Joe started playing softball again every Wednesday night and loves it! He was a pro at hitting the ball.

He tried hitting the fast baseball pitches. I think he hit maybe two! Good effort though! I didn't even attempt that!=)

We had such a fun time! I must say that I love the winters here in Texas. It gets cold enough to wear coats but it doesn't stay cold for too long and then it's warm enough to play outside again! I love that Joe is so adventurous and always wants to be doing something. I feel very lucky to have him as my husband! There's never a dull moment! Love you Babe!

Indy 500..... HERE WE COME!!

Joe has been wanting to go to Angleton and drive Go Karts for months now! These Karts go up to 48 mph on a 3/4 long track with banked corners. Then if you are good enough you can upgrade to the 60 mph Karts and ultimately the 75 mph Karts. When he first found out about them, it was SO hot outside and was one of the last things I wanted to do. Then winter came and it was really cold, but the weather was perfect two weeks ago!! We invited our friends to go and we ended up having a blast! The weather was so nice. There was a wait when we got there but they had a balcony on the second floor where we could go up and watch the go karts and race cars. They had a 24 hour race going on! I'm not 100% sure what the rules and stipulations are but people bring their own cars and rotate drivers every couple hours. Joe said there's a limit as to what they can spend on the cars and also a cost limit on the things they add to the car. There were some pretty creative cars and it gave us something to watch while we waited.

This was one of the groups ahead of us racing the go karts.

These were some of the race cars going around the track.

Joe and Jason were like two little boys watching the cars and go karts.

Joe, Jason, and Jillian

Getting ready to race! They gave us these masks to put on before our helmets. We looked like we were ready to rob a bank=)

Ready to go!

We had a blast! I was a little more chicken than the boys. I don't think Joe hit the brake too many times. He was leading the way most of the race. He even ended up lapping me! I got hit by some kid, and busted up when Jason lost control and ended up going off the track. I didn't come in last, so I considered that pretty good!=) ha ha! Joe's craving for race karts has now been taken care of.....at least for the moment!=)

Little G!

A couple weekends ago Joe and I got to watch Grayson while James and Shelby went out on a date! Joe is so cute when it comes to his nieces and nephews. He calls Grayson "Little G" and he says it in a funny voice that makes me smile every time! He gets so excited to see him!

Look at that sweet little face! SOOOO cute! When he smiles it just melts our hearts.

I love when he wraps his hand around my finger! He's so precious!

The look on his face cracks me up! He's staring at him right in the eyes=)

He has this cute puppy dog that sings and he absolutely loves it!

Joe loves playing with Little G!=)

I fed him his bottle and he fell asleep. Uncle Joe Joe wanted to hold him before we put him in his crib for the night.

What a little angel! We had such a fun evening spending time with him!

Valentine's Day

A holiday that I once hated, has now turned into one of my favorite days of the year!=) We didn't do anything extravagant and I don't demand anything huge from Joe. All I ask is that we get one another a card, and something small. While I was at the gym Saturday, Joe went and got a dozen red roses and some white lillies and made his own flower arrangement and had it on the table when I got home. It was SO beautiful!

On Monday he came home with a box of chocolates from Godiva that he had gone to pick out, and a card. I had gotten him some new golfing clothes.... A pair of shorts and a couple shirts. (He's always doing sweet things for me so I wanted to spoil him a little) Earlier he had asked if I wanted to go out or stay home. I didn't really feel like fighting the crowds and we had gone out on Saturday, so I decided to make a candlelit dinner we could enjoy in the comfort of our own apartment=) I don't know why, but when I think of romantic meals, I think Italian. I got some of those refrigerated fettucini noodles and made chicken fettucini alfredo, salad, and garlic bread. I never make that, so it was a treat. It was SO yummy! We turned all the lights off and just ate by the light from the candles and it was really fun! We enjoyed the meal and there was plenty for Joe to make lunches for a few days.

Joe always makes me laugh with the ideas he comes up with. Our friends gave us a bottle of sparkling cider on New Years Eve and we hadn't opened it so we decided to have it for dinner. Joe got out our big ceramic popcorn bowl and draped it with napkins and filled it with ice. Just like you see in the movies=) He was so happy with what he had done that I just busted up laughing! Gotta love him! I must say, it was very romantic.

After dinner we read our cards and then cuddled on the couch to watch tv and enjoy some chocolate covered strawberries. It was nothing extraordinary, but I just loved spending time with my husband and doing things a little out of the norm by eating by candle light. It's so fun to have someone I'm in love with, and to be able to celebrate that love. I'm a lucky girl!

Besties

Last Friday Ashley came to visit! I hardly slept the night before because I was so nervous her flight was going to be cancelled because we were supposed to get snow during the night. I can't tell you how many times I would wake up and pull the curtains back to check for any sign of snow. Around 6am I came out to the living room to check online to see what the airline was saying about her flight. I was relieved to see that it said "ON TIME"!!! She got here around 1pm and the fun lasted all weekend!

Joe stayed home because the roads were closed due to extreme ice, so he went with me to pick up Ash.
After we picked her up we headed to Chuy's for lunch. She loves to get some good Mexican Food in while she's here!
After lunch we dropped Joe off at home and headed to Charming Charlie and the Pearland Town Center. A lot of the things we had wanted to do that day were closed because of the weather so we just stayed around home. We had a blast! That night we went to BJ's for Dinner!
We saw this dessert on the menu and decided we had to try it! Ash had heard about them and said it was a dessert from New Orleans. It's called a Beignet and it was SO good! It's got some sort of pastry at the bottom (Similar to a donut) and then topped with vanilla bean ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream. All I can say is YUM!!! It's my new favorite dessert!
Saturday we went to the Museum of Fine Arts. Ashley is majoring in art right now and absolutely loves it. She's an amazing photographer, and she's talented in many other areas. It was actually really interesting and fun to go with her because she was able to teach me some new things!
I had looked up "Things to do in Houston" and on one of the lists I got from Google, people were raving about this place on Harwin Street. Well, when we got there we felt like we had just arrived in Mexico! We were a little nervous but it ended up being quite the experience. Ash ended up getting quite a few things, and we had some good laughs!=)

That night we met the family at Seoul Garden to celebrate James and Shelby's birthdays!

It was a first for Korean food for Ash and she really enjoyed it! We even used chop sticks the whole meal!=) Serena said it would be a good diet to just have to eat with chopsticks=) ha ha! We had a lot of fun! Everyone except Anthony and Julie and their family) was there, including Joe's Grandma and her friend. We had a really fun time!

We brought Costco cake so they could blow out some candles and be sung to. Shelby had made some awesome carrot cake cupcakes too! You can never have enough cake, right?!=)

After dinner we headed down to the Toyota Center with Joe to go see the Rockets play! We bought some tickets off a scalper and they ended up being pretty good!

It turned out to be an awesome game! It went into overtime and we won 95 to 93 against the Grizzlies

Ash loves Hakeem Olajuwon so she had to get a picture with this! He used to play for the Rockets

Sunday was Chloe's blessing day. I didn't get any pictures for some reason. After the blessing we went to Dave and Serena's for lunch and hung out for a bit. That evening we had a little Super Bowl Party at our apartment. Dave and Serena and their kids, and James, Shelby, and Grayson came. That's the most people we've had in our apartment at one time, and I don't think it was too bad=) We had fun chillin' with everyone and watching the game.

On Monday Ashley and I went to Trellis to get facials. It was SO relaxing! We didn't take any pictures because we weren't wearing makeup=) But, believe me when I say it was AWESOME!
After facials, we headed to Sam Moon to buy purses! Ash brought an extra suitcase just to take purses back in! Last time she came she bought a few purses for her sisters and friends and sold them all! So, this time she planned to buy more. I think she bought over 10 purses! We went through the store twice and then she took her cart to an isle at the back of the store to decide which ones she really wanted to buy and count how many she had. The ones on the floor are hers to. She was dividing them into piles by price.

The final cart full!=)

She came out with two HUGE bags filled with purses! I helped her carry them to the car but made her hold them both so I could snap a picture! The ladies that checked her out couldn't believe she was buying so many. We LOVE Sam Moon! Just for the record.....I only bought one!=)

After Sam Moon we went to the Heights where they have some cute boutiques but most everything was closed because it was Monday. Kinda weird, but oh well. We did find one really cute boutique that we loved that was open! After that we headed to the Galleria. This photo was taken in Dylan's candy store!

There's just candy everywhere!!! They even had Aero bars!=)

We had to stop for a picture by the skating rink just to remember the day. We had so much fun just talking and laughing. I love spending time with my best friend!

She was craving one last mexican meal before she went home. We left the Galleria at 9 and she'd decided she wanted Lupe's. We pulled in to the one by our house around 9:20 and IT WAS CLOSED!!! I had no idea that all the restaurants down here close at 9 on weekdays! In Utah they all close at 10 so we were thinking it was the same here. So, we drove to about 3 mexican restaurants just to find they were also closed. We ended up at a little restaurant called Del Pueblo or something. I don't think they were too happy that we got there around 9:40 and they closed at 10. I had never had such fast service though!=) Our food was out in 5 minutes! We left at about 10:05 so we didn't keep them there too late! Another story that we were able to laugh about.

It was such a fun weekend. I have to thank Joe for just letting me go off and spend time with Ash while she was here. It's been so hard to be away from her but it makes me cherish the time we get to spend together even more! Who knew when I transferred schools after Christmas my 5th grade year that I would find the girl that would be my best friend for the rest of my life!? Love her!