date night with kate

Look who got herself invited to our fancy date at Whataburger!

I got the chicken strips and since I am off carbs she got my Texas Toast too!

crawfish boil

Last night we had a true Louisiana crawfish boil!  Not all of our guests were too sure about eating the live crawfish squirming around at the bottom of a brown paper grocery bag.

We all had fun picking up the creepy crustaceans and screaming when they wiggled around trying to grab us.

My mom also had the brilliant idea of make your own mac and cheese.  She boiled three different kinds of pasta and made a fresh bechamel sauce.  We each filled a little dish with pasta, cheese, sauce, and mix ins and then baked then in the oven until they were crisp and golden brown.  It was so fun to see what everyone added into their pasta.

In the end, everyone loved the crawfish and the mac and cheese was delicious.  We ended the night laughing and playing games and a fun time was had by all!

welcome to bluebell!

This weekend, my wonderful cousin Lisa has been in town.  Baby Kate has loved having a new friend to play with and she and "Cousin Lisa" have become very good friends.  It has been a non-stop party all weekend.

On Thursday we went to the Blue Bell Factory.  If you have not been lucky enough to visit Texas in your lifetime then you probably have never had the chance to enjoy Blue Bell ice cream.  It is the best, most delicious, most creamiest ice cream you will ever eat.  (And this is coming from someone who worked for a year at Ben and Jerry's.)

The Blue Bell factory is in Brenham, Texas which is about two hours away from Sugar Land.  It was a beautiful day and the drive to Brenham is quite lovely so we decided to make the voyage to see where the wondrous ice cream is made.

The tour was fun.  We saw a lot of machines and not as much ice cream as I would have thought.  The best part came when my Grandma, Lisa, and I saw several employees dumping out full pints of ice cream onto the ground.  We asked the tour guide what was going on and that only seemed to fluster her.  She refused to even acknowledge our question.  That only made the shenanigans more funny so we started knocking on the windows, yelling, "Wait!  Don't dump out that ice cream!  Save it for us!"

My mom had already been on the tour so she waited outside with Katelyn.  (Katelyn appreciates good ice cream but she is a bit too young to appreciate an ice cream factory tour.)  While outside, Katelyn spent the hour waving to every group of people that walked by.  My mom said that people were stopping to watch the spectacle.  It was like Katelyn was the unofficial mascot of Blue Bell welcoming everyone to the factory.

 

At the end of our tour, we were each offered a free scoop of ice cream at the shop and we sat down to enjoy an ice cream feast together.  Extra scoops were only a dollar so we bought several different flavors and shared them all.  It was fun to try flavors that I wouldn't buy an entire pint of.  (I don't usually branch out from my usual Butter Crunch or Krazy Kookie Dough.)

We had such a great time seeing where the best ice cream on earth is made. :)

baby kate goes to the bayou bucket

Today was the annual Houston Bayou Bucket, a game between UH and Rice where the winning teams gets a trophy with an ugly bucket on top.  Get it?  Like a bowl game but a bucket???  Lol.

My dad and D were already planning to go but when my mom and I heard that the game would take place in the air conditioned Reliant Stadium with seats that have backs, we decided that we were in too.  It was a good thing that the game was indoors because it rained all day long!

This was Katelyn's first football game and we weren't sure how she would hold up in such a loud and crowded environment.  She loved it!  When we first got into the stadium, we found that our seats we right next to the band.  She wasn't too sure about the band and their music at first but after a while didn't even seem to notice.
Every time the Cougars scored a touchdown (which surprisingly actually happened a few times), they would sound a cannon.  And every time, Little Kate would look at us with a concerned expression and then smile when she saw that we were happy.

One of the things my mom enjoys at football games is taking pictures.  She brings all of her high tech gear and sets up a little tri pod to take action sports shots.  At this game, she had a little assistant.

This game was especially fun because the Coogs actually won.  This was not only the first win of the season for them, it was the first time that they had ever been ahead at all.  As my dad would say, "It's a rebuilding year."

During the fourth quarter, my mom and I decided to take Katelyn for a walk around the stadium.  We walked until we reached what we thought was a dead end.  It was actually the fancy lounge area with employees guarding the doors.  We were about to turn around when one of the employees told us we could walk in.  It felt like we had walked into a cruise ship!  And there were couches!!!  My mom and I couldn't believe that we hadn't spent the game relaxing in the lounge instead of suffering on the plastic seats.

Katelyn was so good during the game and I think she had a great time but she fell asleep for the best part: the halftime show!  Every one knows that the best part of a football game is watching the marching band!!! :)

baby kate visits the ocean

 Today little Katelyn went to the beach for the very first time in her life.

Actually, it was more like the second time.  Last Christmas, she spend some quality time at the beach, resting comfortably in my stomach.

I know that Fall has officially started but in Houston, that certainly doesn't stop you from going to the beach.  In fact, the weather is perfect in September for a family beach trip.  We got all of our gear together and down to Galveston island to introduce Baby K to the ocean.

Going anywhere with a baby requires a certain amount of equipment and going to the beach increases that by at least seven.  Some of the items crammed into my diaper bag include sunscreen, bananas, and a bag of frozen breast milk which led to an unfortunate incident in the car...

Despite all of the planning and packing, the trip to the beach was definitely worth it.  It was a beautiful day and it was so fun to get out and feel the sea breeze and crunchy sand between our toes.

Katelyn was so good about having her picture taken and there were a lot.

We were really worried about her getting too much sun, so she was equipped for an all out solar flare.  She was covered in sunscreen and clothed in a hat, a robe, sunglasses, and shoes.  I didn't think that she would tolerate wearing those little sunglasses but they didn't seem to bother her at all.

We're not really sure how much she enjoyed her beach experience.  Kate loves water but she hated the sand.  Every time we would try to put her little feet down, she would fuss and cry.  I think that the waves were kind of intimidating to her as well.  She was standing in about an inch of water but I'm sure if you're only two feet tall, a six inch wave feels like a tsunami.

We had such a great time hanging out by the water.  I can't wait to 
bring her back to the beach when she's a little older and can play in the sand.  I have a feeling she will be a beach baby. :) 

baby kate is a little cougar

Today is a very special day in our house.  It is the start of football season!

Really, my dad is the only person who watches football.

But K would have watched the game too if it hadn't been past her bedtime.

let it rain let it rain let it rain

One of the things I missed the most about Texas was the rain.  There was occasional rain in Utah but never the kind of thunderstorms you see in Texas.  I don't remember ever hearing thunder or seeing lightning and the rain never lasted for more than fifteen minutes or so.

Today, I looked out the window to see a massive wall of storm clouds rolling in above the backyard.  The storm brought a cool breeze with it and made it bearable to be outside for a few minutes.  My family and I sat out in the back yard to watch the cloud roll by.

It was a pretty severe storm and all of the birds disappeared.  Suddenly, masses of dragonflies started flying away from the storm across our back yard.  There must have been thousands of bugs trying to escape the rain.  They just kept flying by.

I loved watching the clouds and listening to the thunder.  There was almost a calm before the storm and it was so peaceful.  Sometimes I think back on a memory or era of my life and feel a sense of nostalgia.  I wish I could go back and relive the memories for a day.

Sitting outside, holding my beautiful sleeping baby, enjoying the breezy summer afternoon with my family, I knew that this would be one of those memories.

deep in the heart of texas

so tired after thirty seven hours on the road

I finally made it back to Texas!

After weeks of D searching for a job, we decided that it would be best to move to Houston where he would find more and better opportunities.  When we first made the decision to relocate, I did my very best to contain my true excitement.  I wanted to be sure that D and I made this decision for the right reasons and not be swayed by my love of the Lone Star State.  Very quickly, however my real emotions began to seep out of every seam of my being.  It was like a nuclear meltdown of happiness!

I know I am sounding melodramatic but this was serious stuff.

Contrary to popular belief, Disneyland is not the happiest place on earth.  It is Texas.  Ask any Texan how they feel about their homeland and they will express true and unbridled love.  Display a Texas flag and we will stand and pledge allegiance.  Play some country music and we really can't help but tap a toe.  Offer brisket smothered with sticky sweet barbeque sauce and we will eat it.  Give us the option to move back home and we will jump at the chance.

In order to get down here, we had to endure a long drive in a tiny car with a crying baby.  We fit all of our belongings into a small U Haul trailer that our little car could barely handle.  We could only drive so fast so a journey that should have taken twenty five hours ended up lasting for over thirty seven.  To make matters worse, poor Baby K was sick with a cold and cried a lot of the time.

In order to feed little Katelyn, I had to pump milk in the back seat so that I could feed it to her from a bottle and save some time.  Several lucky truckers got a free peep show I'm sure.

I only got to ride in the front seat for about an hour and a half at the very beginning of the trip.  I spent most of the drive sitting in the back, holding a pacifier in Katelyn's mouth, singing "Old McDonald" and flashing the other vehicles.

Everyone said that we would never make it in just two days.  Little did they realize that this would just further my resolve.  I am stubborn like that sometimes.

Right before midnight on Thursday, we stumbled into my parents house.  The exhaustion of our trip gave way to excitement and we stayed up until three in the morning talking and laughing.

We are so happy to be here (some of us probably more than others).  D is still trying to adjust to the heat but Katelyn seems to love it and I feel right at home.  Now we are looking forward to happy Texas memories.

on the road again part two

Early Thursday morning, we packed up to get out of the creep motel and back on the road.  We had a seriously long way to go.  One of the first stops we made was in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.  Every time my family makes this drive, we stop at the grave site of Billy the Kid.  We like to pay our respects to Billy by throwing pennies on his grave.

There are two different tributes to Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner.  The first is in the middle of the city and is the "official" Billy the Kid museum.  It was pretty big so I figured that was the place to stop.  It had been a really long time since I had visited Billy's grave.

We searched for the tombstone but couldn't find it.  It was early in the morning so the museum wasn't open and we couldn't ask anyone about the grave.  We decided we needed to drive on.  I was really sad because I had been telling D about this excursion for weeks.

d posing as a wild west outlaw

d was not happy about posing in the wagon

On our way out of the city, we saw a billboard advertising the "real" grave site of Billy the Kid.  We turned at the exit and drove for a few miles (enough to make us think that we were lost) until we finally found the site that I remembered.  It was like a ghost town - we were the only visitors ever it seemed.  We tossed some pennies on the kid's grave and took some pictures.

the elusive tombstone

the tombstone is locked because people have tried to steal it

note that this is authentic grave site of billy the kid

After that is was back on the road.  We were no where near Texas and we had a long way to go after that.  Finally we crossed the Texas border and it was time to celebrate.  Katelyn wasn't born in Texas but she got there as fast as she could.

finally made it to texas!

It was really sad every time we had to put Katelyn back into her car seat because very time we took her out, she would stare at us and smile.  She did not like being stuck in that seat for so long.  The rest of the trip was pretty much a blur but we finally made it to Houston just before midnight and were never so glad to get out of the car

on the road again part one

Our trip to Texas was quite the journey.  There were several times that I thought we couldn't make it and would have to just settle right where we were.  It was a tough drive but we had some fun along the way.

We started very early Wednesday morning.  We were really hoping to get most of our driving out of the way on the first day.  He had a trailer attached to the back of our little Kia Rio so the fastest we could drive was 55 miles an hour.

where's waldo? i mean where's baby kate?

At the beginning of the trip, we made pretty good time.  Katelyn slept for a while so I was able to sit in the front seat and talk to D.  We made one of our first stops in Helper which was a little bit out of our way.  We saw a billboard advertising "Utah's Tallest Coal Miner" so we just had to stop.

he was a really tall miner

Next, we made it to Moab where we stopped at the Hole in the Rock.  The Hole in the Rock was actually a person's home that had been carved into the red rock.  It is now a museum and gift shop and was full of random sculptures.  My favorite was FDR's face carved into the rock.

this is the site of the famous "the cactus bit me" story of my childhood

D and I totally thought that this was real for a minute

honoring FDR

this is only the gift shop - the actual house cost money to tour :(

just a foreshadowing of the longhorns we will see later in texas

fore!

D and I spent the trip looking for license plates from different states - we hit the jackpot with this one

When we made it to Albuquerque, Katelyn decided that she had had enough.  She was sick to begin with and got really tired of being in the car seat.  She started screaming at the top of her lungs; it was horrible.  I knew if we stopped in Albuquerque that we would never make the trip in two days so we really needed to make it to Santa Rosa.  I sat in the back seat with Katelyn and tried everything I could do to keep her calm.  We finally made it to Santa Rosa just after midnight and checked out a room in the creepiest Motel 6 I have ever seen.  Katelyn was so exhausted that she fell asleep right after she nursed and slept through the night.  We actually had to wake her up in the morning to get her into her car seat.

good night Katelyn