Texas de Brazil and Burleson Duck Pond

 Mike and I at Texas de Brazil Friday night after eating our super deliciouso wine, meal and dessert :)  We were excited to spoil ourselves and get all dressed up.  We signed up for email notifications and stuff from Texas de Brazil and they sent me a complimentary dinner certificate for my birthday so we decided to take full advantage of it :)

 Mike picking out what wine we should compliment our dinner with since it's a ginormous list!  I'm not a big connoisseur when it comes to all that, but Mike's pretty good at it, and his choice was great!

 Saturday morning we woke up and decided we wanted to treat the puppies since we had spoiled ourselves the night before.  We decided to take them for a walk and let them swim in the Burleson pond.  When we get their travel crates ready and loaded up in the car, we put both of them in Olivine's crate so here they are.

 With Mike's sprain foot, this is definitely not resting, but he really wanted to get out and about since he had been sitting and resting it so much.  Olivine and I were a little bit in front of Bronx and Mike so we wanted to take a picture of the men :)

 There's a field, pool, tennis courts, and basketball courts just behind the pond so we walk back there and then turn around and walk back when the pups are nice and tired so they can swim.  There are a few ducks swimming around, but I'm not sure if you can see them in there.

 Bronx and Olivine dove right in when we let them off the leash.

 Here they are playing around in the water.  It's so funny because Bronx is a great swimmer (thanks to Mike) and absolutely loves being in the water and swimming around.  Olivine, on the other hand, is not the best swimmer, but does just fine and she loves the water.  When she jumps in, she gets taken by surprise how deep it is and gets the panic face of, "Oh crap!" and starts to swim back as fast as she can.

 Bronx with his big smile cooling off and swimming.  Olivine was running around on land.

 Bronx had jumped out to join Olivine and we caught him while he was shaking to dry off.

Olivine discovered ducks and wanted to be "friends" haha.  We're not sure if she wants to eat one or play with one, but she definitely tugs on the leash like crazy to get to them.

Well in latest news, Mike's dad had a triple bypass and we've been praying for a swift recovery for him.  Jim came to pick him up and they headed to Waco to be at the hospital with Jan while Rich went under.  Matt and Heather were with them as well.  I was at my gang class all day, but Mike kept me updated over the phone.  The surgery went well and now he's at home recovering.  On Easter Sunday, I told Mike I really wanted to get up and go to church, but after having a super busy night Saturday, there was no way I was able to wake up and go to church.  So when Mike and I did get up, we went to WalMart to get fresh mushrooms and asparagus so I could make our big Easter meal.  Oh and HEB and Target were both closed haha.  When we got back, I started fixing the rack of lamb and the sides of fresh mushrooms and asparagus and thew in some tomatoes.  We also had mashed sweet potatoes, which are my favorite!  Mike's not the biggest fan of them since they're sweet, but since I always want them and he never does, we decided to have them for Easter.  While everyone was cooking, Mike put in some of my old CD's from high school and college, which brought back memories!  It was definitely funny listening to those old rap songs and singing and dancing to them.  Mike's not a big dancer so it was a lot of fun.  Once everything was ready, Mike had put in U-571, which we got on Netflix, we sat down and said a prayer, and chowed down.  After all that, I got ready for work and headed in.
Now the month of May is coming and it's going to be a busy one.  This coming Sunday (May 1st), we're heading to Denton for Luci's (our goddaughter) baptism.  I work Saturday night until 0700 and we have to be in Denton at 1115 so it's going to be a long day.  If I don't get a nap in I'm going to take off work Sunday night.  That coming Friday (May 6th), Matt and Heather are coming to stay with us, yay!  And then on Saturday Matt and Heather are going to help Jim and Lexi move.  Mike was going to help, but with his foot that's not going to happen.  That night we're going to Addison to celebrate Guy's 70th birthday and then staying the night out there, so I'm planning on staying at home with the puppies that day and trying to treat them a big before we leave for the night.  Dani offered to watch them so they'll get to be with their Aunt Dani and cousins Pumpkin and Red.  Then May 13th and May 14th, I think there's something going on, Oh wait!  It's Matt and Heather's wedding!!  Yay!!  The Friday before we're heading down there for the rehearsal dinner and all and then Saturday is the big day!  My dress is at the dry cleaners right now and my shoes are ready to go.  I also bought some pearls to accessorize since Kohl's was having an absolutely amazing sale today and I've always wanted some so it all worked out :)  The weekend after that Mike has OCS so that means no talking, but I email him every night to keep him updated on what's going on and it makes it feel like I'm talking to him.  So that is what May looks like for us so far.  It's going to be busy, but a lot of fun seeing all the family!  And with OCS, it just puts Mike one step closer to being done with Phase 0 and moving onto Phase 1, 2, to done!  In June, he'll be gone pretty much the whole month in Kansas and then July, he's gone one weekend and then we get to go on our cruise!!  We're definitely both counting down the days to that one!  Yay!

Mom's 54th in Kingwood

 My mom's work friends threw a surprise birthday party for her a few days after her real birthday (April 10th) at Los Chicos

 Everyone at the party; family and work friends along with my mom's balloons, big birthday hat, and watermelon cake :)-

 Kyle brought his girlfriend Sofia home so we finally got to meet her!  She's a bio-chem and micro bio double major along with Kyle so they have some of the same classes and study together, which works out really well for both of them.  She's only a year younger than Kyle and she's fluent in Spanish, which was her first language.  Her whole family is from Venezuela, but her parents now live in Austin.

 Aunt Liz, Lauren, and Nanny.  Aunt Liz was in charge of getting my mom to the party, which was funny since none of us are the best at keeping surprise parties a secret.

 Me and my super lovely mom :)  It's so not fair how much tanner she is, but then again, she has the 100% Italian skin and I'm a mix with my dad's Scott Irish side.

 My mom took me, Kyle, and Sofia to Galveston to spend some time on the beach and then the Strand on Friday.  This is a picture inside La King's, one of the best old fashioned candy/malt shops ever!  They're all dressed up in serving clothes from the 50's and 60's and it's even decorated like that.  My parents have been taking Kyle and I there ever since we were little so it's a family favorite.  I got a vanilla milkshake, Kyle and Sofia split a chocolate banana malt, and my mom got a vanilla cream soda.  We also bought a lot of candy and I was able to get Mike a chocolate truffle filled with Grand Marnier.  Yummy!!

 My mom, Kyle, Sofia, and me inside La King's sitting at one of the old fashioned tables with all the candy in the background.

 Me, my dad, my mom, and Kyle in the backyard with Sofia taking the family picture.  Mike's not in it because he was at OCS :(

 My mom with all the dogs staring at my dad making faces to get them to look up haha.

 And when we got home, Bronx curled up underneath all my clothes in the closet sleeping.  I've wondered why my clothes have dog hair only at the bottom....here's the reason!

And then there's Olivine with her super flexible self in her seductive pose.  It's always so weird seeing her sleep like that b/c it looks so uncomfortable.

Well Mike is missing from the pictures since he was at OCS for his April weekend.  I headed home Thursday morning when Mike left for work since I had to be back up for work Saturday night.  I had off Sunday though, so I was able to get the house all ready and dinner for Mike when he got home.  My schedule was all screwed up since I had a gang class Tues to Thurs that week in Arlington.  While I was at home, we had a blast all hanging out and getting to know Sofia.  On Thursday, my mom and I had an awesome girl day shopping and running around just the two of us and then we got Culver's Ice Cream!  Woohoo!  It's great custard since we don't have a Carvel down there.  That night, Aunt Liz came to pick us up with Nanny and Lauren and we headed to dinner at Los Cucos, but when we were seated, Whoa!  Big surprise party!  My mom was really happy seeing everyone and grateful for the wonderful family and friends she has.  It was a lot of fun seeing everyone joking around with her and her having so much fun.  We then headed home and hung out downstairs in the living room.  Kyle and Sofia got in late so they stopped by the party and then drove us home.  We were going to have another crawfish boil, but we decided to spend Friday in Galveston and eat out there at Fisherman's Wharf and then hit the Strand for dessert.  My dad stayed at home to work and then walk and play with the dogs, which he LOVES!  It's actually funny, but so great.  He loves spending time with the dogs since it's his man time and he gets his exercise while walking the dogs and playing with them.  Shockingly, none of us got sunburned while we were at the beach, but we all got nice tans.  It was actually really pretty weather.  When we got home, we ate some snacks and all hung out in the living room watching tv and talking until everyone went to bed.  On Saturday, we got up and had a big breakfast and hung out for a while until I had to hit the road to come back home for work.  The drive down and up weren't to bad and actually went by kind of quick.  I was able to get up here in time, unload, make a quick lunch, put the pups up, and head to work.
On Sunday, I cleaned up the house a bit and was waiting for Mike's phone call to say he was on his way home.  That ended up coming around 5ish, so I was psyched!  When he got home, he was limping, but not a lot of cuts and bruises this time.  We unloaded all of his gear from his truck and then decided we wanted Babe's Chicken for dinner!  Yummy!  It was greatness sitting in the dining room with the big spread of sides and chicken watching TV with him since it had felt like forever.  Oh and the limping, yeah that's b/c we thought he broke his foot from the 5 mile hump!  We went to the VA Hospital Monday morning to get it X-Rayed and it came back normal so no broken bones.  It's a really bad sprain so we've been icing and elevating, pressurizing, and trying to get as much rest as possible.  We're hoping he'll be okay for the next OCS in May since it's a 7 mile hump this time.  He came in 5th, which was great!, but he got hurt in the process so that sucks.  So far, his foot still hurts and is still pretty swollen, but we're still trying to take care of it as best we can since resting it is almost impossible with him driving to work and him just not wanting to sit still all the time, which I don't blame him, I wouldn't either.  So other than that, not a lot is going on, except for the next post!