Houston: the food and other important stuff

Next to friends and family, my favorite part of Houston is the food.

I talk about it all the time...obsess about it is more like it.

Seriously, two months before the trip I was strategizing my list of restaurants and meals that would most certainly have no part of Weight Watchers.

And here is the list of our stops!

Tommy Bahamas - obsessed with Bungalow salad, bread & butter, and tortilla soup

Brix wine bar - new obsession is their santa fe chicken salad

Carrabas - a throw back to the good ol days!!!  Andy and I still argue over who introduced who to this place......and I still stand firm that it was me.

Oh my goodness, just seeing this picture makes me hungry.

Carrabas pizza is ridiculous.  I used to think it was the best.

Until I met Grimaldi's.  Andy and I have been talking about this pizza for months. 

We met a bunch of our friends there on Saturday night....and I have no pictures....too busy eating!

Red Fish - ridiculous seafood and sushi...thanks mom & dad!

Rummels on the Green

lots and lots of Chick Fil A

and last but definitely not least.....LUPE TORTILLA.

Addison was cramming the tortillas into her mouth and ate her whole quesadilla....this is the girl that eats like a bird......though not at Lupe.

I just wanted to take a bath in the queso.

California??  You must acquaint yourself with queso.

I have been in withdrawal.

But it's the memory of Lupe Tortillas beef fajitas that is making my mouth water now.

That stuff is crack.

I must make my copycat recipe again soon.

Not on the list that I'm still trying to get over was Black Walnut and ....CHUYS.

How on earth did we not get to Chuys?

Creamy Jalapeno dip....

tears...

Other spots we had to stop by....

Market Street....got my fill of Maggie's candles!

Addison found her own store...

Random picture of Kat and sweet Merrick at Lupe....

Another spot that we frequented three times was Bouncing Bears!

The kids were able to bounce off some energy despite the rain.

Dad even joined us one day.

And then we made it down "south" to Pearland to visit with "GG"

and see Aunt Karen & Uncle Rob.

Addison did great and loved playing with GG's "vintage toys".

Graham finally racked out for a nap while we all watched Aunt Sarah's two hour wedding video.

Yes Sarah.....we watched the whole thing.  Grandma couldn't believe I had never seen it before.

Now I have....and so has Addison!

We love getting to see GG and Karen & Rob though.....wish it could happen more often.

Houston Homecoming 2012 was a great success!

Now I'm already counting down to Houston girls weekend in the fall....sans kiddos and hubbie.

Chuys will certainly not be missed then.

Houston: back to where we began

While we were in Houston, we did quite a bit of driving.   Some of this driving involved scouting out potential areas to move should be ever get transferred back.

This was really just an excuse to drive around and explore because a transfer in nowhere in the immediate future (at least we're hoping).

Anyways, while driving, we happened to be near the area where the church we got married is.

Andy and I never went to this church...to be honest we just thought is was a beautiful church and in a good location....and that fit the bill for us at the time.

Anyways, being the sentimental romantic that I am, I wanted to take Addison by and show her the church.  It was POURING down rain so I thought it was going to be a quick drive by.

We drove under the portico and I actually got out to try to see if it was unlocked by chance.  

(There were no cars to be seen in the parking lot)

It was, and Andy said, "You want to go in, don't you?"

Yes!  I hadn't been back in seven years and I just thought that would be so cool to show Addison since she has been extremely into wedding pictures lately.

That, and I was just being sentimental.

We got the kids out and once inside tried the sanctuary, which was open as well....but pitch black.

This church has the MOST BEAUTIFUL stained glass I've ever seen.  It was my favorite part.

So I just stood there for a minute in the black sanctuary with the thunder booming from outside and it was beautiful.

After a few minutes, the building manager came by to check us out.  Once he heard that we had gotten married there and were reminiscing, he offered to go in and turn all the lights on.

Then he took a few quick pictures for us.

Although they didn't turn out great, I love that we have these pictures with our kids on the same alter where we said "I do" almost 7 years ago.

It was seriously one of my favorite memories from our Houston trip.

I told y'all I'm sentimental!

Houston: Meeting the babies!

One of THE hardest parts about not being in Houston is not being around for the births of my closest friends' babies.  I got a text on November 27 that my best friend was giving birth to her TWO boys.  I have been going crazy for 3 months not getting to see and love on Cash & Walker.

I cannot tell you how happy it made me to finally lay eyes on them and hold them......not to mention just getting to catch up with Mark & Jacqueline.  It was heaven.  And so was Mark's cooking....that never gets old.

Can you believe that Cash was born at 33 weeks 3 months ago?

 I would say that this cutie has definitely caught up in growth!

Cash is a total mini Mark and Walker definitely looks more like Jacqueline.  They are so precious!

    Everytime I see these pictures, I can't help laughing because I feel like I'm looking at pictures of baby Mark Donat.  I mean, he's even got the same expressions~ it kills me!

 and Walker is just super sweet.

love getting to hug on these two!!

 and then cute little Davis!!!  Last time I saw this pumpkin, he was just 6 weeks old!  He is the happiest, sweetest love.....Sheila is so blessed!

 and then my sweet friend Kat just had her TWO little boys late January.  They actually had just come home from the NICU the week before we got to Houston!  I loved getting to hold precious Merrick & Taylor.  Let me say it again, I DETEST not being around to do this all the time!!

Houston...here we go!

 We just got back Tuesday night from a great 9 day trip to Houston.  It's always fun to get to take the kids back, let Nana & Poppy babysit, see friends, and eat a lot of great food.  We have only been getting to take the kids back once a year (because buying 4 plane tickets is not so cheap)...so we try to make the most of our time there and extend/cram in as much as possible.

 I have to say, since traveling last year with them (and holding Graham on my lap for the 3 1/2 hour flight), traveling has gotten about 100 times easier....thanks in part to Apple and the DVD player.

This is how they spent much of their time.            

 

 I actually got to read 2 magazines...amazing.

The kids adjusted quickly (too quickly) to the time change and were up bright and early the first morning.  They got to spend lots of good time with Poppy & Nana.

 And Graham also introduced Poppy to one of Apple's "gifts" to parents of young children.

 There was lots of reading time with Nana and lots of "show" watching thanks to the 7 days straight of rain we had while we were there.

The weather sure wasn't doing much for the "move back to Houston" campaign.

 The one day it DIDN'T rain, Nana took the kids down to feed the ducks.

Graham loved it.

 Then we took the kids up to my mom's old school.  She was principal there for over ten years when she retired a few years back (the year she became a Nana).

They surprised her with the honor this year of naming the library after her.

Addison was excited to meet everyone but I think she thought it was cooler that her picture was up on the wall.

 Much much more to come....

        

The one with no pictures of my kids

Last weekend I went back to Texas...

wait for it...

BY MYSELF.

It was one of the best weekends of my life. No lie.

Now I love my kids and I may even love my husband more after last weekend since he was the one that made it all possible.

But it was a little piece of heaven to go back to Houston, and spend 72 hours with friends, family, good food, shopping, and no distractions.

I even had 3 hours to myself at Market Street.

I'm anxious to see what this store turns into...

The weather was toasty, but nothing like what I was afraid it might be.

On Sunday I was hanging out with my mom and she commented about what a gorgeous day is was.

I looked down at the car thermometer, and said, "Mom, it's 98 degrees!"

She was like, "I know!"

But really, the weather was beautiful.

After spending some time with my parents on Thursday night at Carrabas, I got to meet my sister in law & niece at Starbucks, and then headed up to the Woodlands and connected with Sheila & Becky.

And I got to love on little Davis too! I hated that it took me 5 weeks to meet this little punkin.

Long distance sucks.

After doing some shower prep on Friday with Sheila, we headed out to Grimaldi's that night.

It was amazing....two of my closest friends in one of my favorite spots ever. Oh, and there was red wine....and no kids.

Saturday, it was all about celebrating Jacqueline and Mark's two little miracles.

Words cannot express how happy I am for them. I have been waiting to help throw this party for a long time.

Because Mark & Jacqueline had kept the gender of their twins to themselves for 8 weeks (rock solid discipline), we used the colors blue, pink, and green to decorate.

Becky made adorable invitations and print outs to go with the theme.

I was almost in tears when this picture was taken.

The football one below me.

A&M played OSU....and lost.

It was a good thing that Andy was in California because the thought of having to lose and look at his grinning, obnoxious, orange clad self would have been too much.

Then it was time for the big reveal!!!

Mark & Jacqueline hadn't even told their families what they are having.

We were all in suspense. I had been trying to (over) analyze everything she's said for the last two months.

I went ahead and chose my pink clothes pin (we had to guess) and waited...

Unfortunately that Houston heat sucked the helium out of their reveal

but it was still awesome...

black balloons? WTH?

Nice try. We know you're not waiting until December.

Tell us already.

Let's hear it for the BOYS!!!!!

and then there were lots of hugs and happy tears!!

Mark & Jacqueline, we are so happy for you!