I HEART HOUSTON

Unlike some people I know who are so timely when posting pictures and stuff on their blogs as soon as things happen, I have only just now been able to sit down to blog about my trip.

As has been the trend over the last few years, I have been making it down to Houston about ever year and a half or so. Not including this recent trip, I expect that now that my parents live in Denver (less than half the drive it used to take to get to Texas) I don't know when I will be going next. I'm not dogging my good friends that are still down there, but let's face it folks trips like that for me are pricey!

The reason for my trip was for my best friend/"brother" Ben's wedding to the love of his life Bella! Before I ever even bought a ticket down there, I knew that I was going to be there for their big day. Since Ben wasn't able to be at my wedding (he was on his mission at the time), I promised him years ago that I would be at his. I also knew that since I don't make it down there very often, I wasn't just going to fly in to town the day before and leave the day after. I thought that if I was going to spend the money on the ticket then I was going to take advantage of the opportunity of being there and doing some fun things.

To make a long story short, the highlights of the trip were going with Michelle to get her tattoo celebrating her mom being a cancer survivor; helping Ben and Bella decorate for their reception, being at their sealing; shopping till I dropped; going to the reception and seeing people I haven't seen in years; lunch with Scott; watching chick flicks with Michelle; going to Galveston Island and eating at Gaido's; walking along the beach; getting 2 henna tattoos; eating kolaches and REAL glazed donuts (sorry Utah, when it comes to donuts, you seriously SUCK); dinner at Barnaby's and apple pie at House of Pies; laying out in the sun by the pool relaxing; and just lots of laughter and catching up with Michelle over the weekend!

Houston will always and forever be where I call home; whether family is there or not. I love the busy city life, the memories there and the wonderful and dear friends that I have known for over half of my life (feeling old right about now). Like some people say "you can give me miles and miles of mountains, but I will always love the beach".

Ignorance is Bliss? Maybe in Most Cases...

I have to start this post by saying that I know there is no shortage of idiots in the world today. I am no stranger to ignorant people making stupid comments, especially having worked in the Deaf Community as an interpreter, having a husband who is Deaf, and the fact my niece and nephew are inter-racially adopted. My sister has a myriad of things she could tell you about ignorant people's comments to her about her children.

A few weeks ago, my husband, the boys and I went out to Costa Vida, (one of our favorite restaurants) and there was this lady standing behind us in line. We were playing with our boys and trying to keep them entertained as we waited in line and she asked us how old they were. I told her the boys' ages, and she replied that they were so close in age (2 1/2 and 1). I replied saying they were our foster children and that they really do keep us busy. She looked at me with surprise and said "They're foster kids?....But they are so cute!". (What? Are foster kids supposed to be ugly?!!!!!)

Needless to say I thought she was an idiot for making such an ignorant statement. Maybe I shouldn't judge, but seriously??!!!

Koolaid Mustache

Just a short blog on this one. Do you remember when you were a kid and would drink your Koolaid and get the inevitable "mustache" that came with it? To this day, it must be the way I drink Koolaid because I ALWAYS get one unless it's the pink lemonade flavor.

So this is out there now, I am a woman in my mid-20's that still gets them.

"Growing older is not an option, growing up is!"

And We Have a One-Year Old!

These pictures are a little backwards so scroll all the way down then scroll up and they will be in order!

Anyway the younger of our two foster boys turned 1 last Saturday and we had a party! I made cupcakes for the first time in my life and they turned out yummy! I ate way too many! I used the confetti cake and frosting from Duncan Hines. We had invited so many kids and parents that we decided to throw the party in our back yard. I went and bought some cute decorations and made it a Mickey Mouse themed party. Several people showed up and the baby got lots of clothes and things for his birthday! You will also see the pictures of the gradual process of him eating his first cupcake! It was fun to watch!

The above picture was him in his "birthday" suit after we washed his hair out from getting frosting in it! Enjoy the adorable pictures as well as the priceless one of Hunter!

Hi Sexy!

As most people know we have a wonderful little dog named Lexi. With Hunter's little speech delay and in his own special language when Lexi comes in to the room from another room or from downstairs he hollers "HI SEXY HI!"

Or in mimicking me when I holler her name for her to come inside he yells "SEXY"!

Haha enough said.

Ran a 5k? Yeah... Not So Much

Last Saturday I drove my fat apple down to Draper to the city park to run in a 5K benefitting children who are Deaf. I was really looking forward to it since I have gotten to the point where I am jogging over 4 miles now and doing it comfortably. So I get there and see TONS of people that I know from the Deaf Community before the race. They had announcements and explained how the course was set up for the 5k. They told us that there would be 2 places to grab water as you jogged by. Well needless to say I never saw 2 places to pick up water. They neglected to mention that we had a specific place to turn in order to make the run a giant circle, meaning most of the runners ended up jogging 4.4 miles instead of the intended 3!

I was incredibly fortunate to run in to an old friend of mine from USU. She and I ended up jogging together until the finish line. I just knew as we were jogging that it had to have been longer than 3 miles, and needless to say we found out VERY quickly that there had been a mistake! The only thing I can say about that was that it was great to run a new trail with a good old friend! My time was consistent with my personal jogs that I do a few times a week. I am just so grateful for my iPod, because music is what gets me going and keeps me motivated on my jogs.

So even though I ran much further than anticipated, it was a great feeling to know I ran that far unintenionally! Great day and great workout!

Allergies Issues, What Would You Do?

I am feeling very bad for a friend of mine that just found out the hard way that her little girl is allergic to peanuts, and even after that when they conducted more allergy tests, they found out her little girl is also lactose intolerant. They had to get her daughter a Rx for an Epi-Pen to have with them at all times.

As a result of this news , it has turned this family's world upside down. My friend is the kind who doesn't handle stress very well (kind of like me) and didn't even know where to start when it came to grocery shopping for her daughter. I know from my own experience that there are things out there like soy milk (I drink it by choice), soy yogurt, soy ice cream etc. Luckily for her in this day and age many food labels have warnings that they contain things such as nuts, gluten (for celiacs), peanuts etc. Too bad for me, all nutrition labels say how much sugar they have but I STILL eat them. Anyway, I was talking to my husband that said my friend has taken the extreme approach that applies to the WHOLE family: no one is allowed to eat or drink normal dairy products anymore. They can't have ice cream, yogurt, or anything. I can definitely understand the shock and stress of being told your child can't eat certain things, and that you would take the most obvious and drastic approach when your knowledge is limited. I understand that my friend wants to make things "fair" for her little girl, but what about her older siblings that aren't allergic to the same things? Do you think it's not being fair to them? What would you do in this situation?