Three Days Gone...

...and our okra plant grew 9" pieces!!

The plant has gotten huge!! (Please ignore the massive amount of weeds that have overgrown in the background... That's more than three days...)


And Zoey is up to her same antics! Plus she grew a bunch- in just three days!



Where's Zoey?



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Chicago Weekend!

Jason and I plan to visit our families once more before we head to Norway. We were thinking we would visit Chicago in late September, but after hearing my Babi (Czech word for Grandma) was in the hospital we made plans to go visit sooner.

After having surgery to remove a significant amount of fluid in her lungs, Babi was transferred to a rehabilitation nursing home to regain her strength and recover.

We flew in to Chicago Saturday and grabbed a bite to eat before visiting the nursing home.

Chicago has a chain of fast food places called Portillo's. They are famous for their hot dogs and sausage. Yum! Jason also got a chocolate cake milkshake- not yum...

Then we headed to see Babi! While we were there my dad and Mary gave us an anniversary gift so Babi could see us open it. It's our last name framed beautifully with Chicago landmarks as the letters.


We stayed with Babi until she was ready for a nap. She was doing pretty good, but is easily tired.


We left the nursing home and headed to the outlet mall. That's right. Another mall! There are just some things you cannot get in Houston...down jacket, boots, and some sweaters! Plus Babi needed some pajamas so Mary and I each bought her a new set.

We swung by the nursing home to give Babi her new jamies and then headed to an authentic Czech meal at the Bohemian Crystal. It's a favorite that we always visit when we are in Chicago.


The food is amazing and the waitresses all dress is traditional Czech garb.


We got a nice light meal of dumplings and meat. I swear there are green beans under that pile of meat...


And for dessert Jason and I shared a blueberry fruit dumpling! We tried to make them last New Year's Day and while they were edible, they were nothing like the Bohemian Crystal's!


Sunday we went to church and then helped Mary get ready for the afternoon of visitors. Her cousins from Michigan were in town and Babi and Aunt Marie had passes to come over.

Jason and I went to go get Babi and Aunt Marie and bring them to Mary's house. I don't think I realized how spread out the 'burbs of Chicago really are! It seemed like we drove a lot, but it was worth it to get to spend more time with those precious ladies!

When we came back we had a delicious spread of Czech food (We have to get our fix while we can! We'll eat salad this week I promise...) and then Dad and Mary surprised us with a cake!


We slept in on Monday and had leftovers for lunch before heading back to spend the afternoon with Babi.





We took her to dinner and are now heading back to the house so we can go to bed early. (Our flight tomorrow is at 5:30 am and we are heading straight into the office.)

We've had a great visit, but a tough visit too. It's hard seeing Babi so weak and struggling. We are praying that she makes a speedy recovery so that she can Skype with us when she's back home!

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Two Week Bullet Point Update

It's been a couple weeks since I blogged last... wait, I think we've been here before. Every once in awhile life takes over and I let something slip... said blog. However, I want to capture the memories and moments so here's the bullet point update since my last post:

We took the Summer Beer Pairing class with our friends Meredith and Kyle at Well Done CC. The salmon glaze that we made was divine and we will definitely be making it again!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? No idea. But a cough drop lasted the 45 mile drive I had every day last week to my training class in the Woodlands. 45 miles each way meaning that I drove 450 miles in five days. I don't know how people make that commute on a regular basis. I was against traffic and still found it horrific.

In addition to being physically exhausted by my drive last week, I was also mentally exhausted. I was in a preparation course for the Professional Engineering exam. We went hard 8 - 5 with two 10 min breaks in the morning/afternoon and an hour lunch. The rest of the time we worked problems, reviewed concepts, asked questions, and then drove home like mummies unable to absorb anything else. Jason was a HUGE help that entire week from cooking dinner to picking up the house. I love that man. Thanks Bug!

My mom's birthday was last week and while we could not celebrate with her, we are excited to go out there in September and celebrate then!! We sent her flowers and she got a super cute gift from her friend Phyllis - two little dachshund statues to remind us of Lenny and Squiggy!

Jason went with me to pick up my packet at the MS 150 Tour of Champions reception. I am so excited for the trip to CO next week, but not as much the bike ride in altitude since I haven't been training... yikes!

Jeff, my mom's husband, came to Houston for a conference and stayed with us. We enjoyed seeing him and had an excuse to visit another restaurant on our list for Houston Restaurant Week, The Tasting Room. Almost everything was delicious except the boys' steaks unfortunately. We would definitely go back though!

We took the kittens to the vet for their last round of shots and talked to her about possibly separating the kittens and taking only one of them to Norway. She said they do not get attached like dogs and that CeCe will probably be thrilled if Zoey is gone. Don't get us wrong, we love Zoey. But it's just not feasible to take two cats to a small apartment in Norway when we want to travel, etc. We are not even 100% sure we will be able to find an apartment that allows CeCe, but we are looking into it. Jason talked to the Norwegian consulate and it's super easy to take a cat. CeCe just has to have rabies (which she does) and get tapeworm medicine within 10 days of leaving. No quarantine or anything like that thank goodness! We are also searching for a loving home for sweet Zoey and have a couple options that we hope will work out for her.

CeCe was scared. Zoey explored!

We spent the weekend working on the house again. We've sold a huge amount of our stuff at this point, which is fantastic! We've also been able to sort all of our rooms and have a pretty good idea of what we are taking, storing, and selling.

Sunday we had a potluck for our group of friends from the Honduras Mission Trip. We exchanged pictures, stories, and just had a ball visiting with one another. Jason and I made a delicious Jamaican pulled pork recipe we recently got from our Food Men Love II cooking class at Well Done CC

I've decided that it's imperative that I transfer my old VHS to the computer since Jason says that I cannot store them and have to get rid of them. Yep, that's Spice World- high quality movies!!. 

Monday night we hosted FamD for possibly the last time. :-( We cooked another delicious meal of gumbo from the Dinner on the Bayou class we took at Well Done CC last year. (They have FABULOUS classes and recipes! Check them out here!!)

Wednesday we had an absolutely wonderful dinner with some friends from church, the Kovacs.We laughed the entire time and it made me sad that we hadn't got to know them sooner before we are leaving. 

We had date night Thursday- the usual dinner, dance lesson, and helping Jason hair dry his car. Wait, you haven't used a hair dryer on a car before? Yeah neither had I... But we don't own a heat gun and since Jason lowered his car, he needed to bend the metal lip so the tire wasn't hitting it.

And I've saved the best for last :-) OUR NEPHEW WAS BORN!!! We drove down to League City Friday after work and had dinner with our family and got to meet Jaiden (80% sure- subject to change! ;-) ) He is absolutely precious and a little blessing!

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