This is really long, just realized, but please read about visit to ccf in bold, it is the best part.
Ben and I dropped the girls off last Friday in Kerrville to spend the weekend alone for our anniversary. We have been asked several times what we did and with all honestly - we slept and ate! We got to Dallas later than expected on Saturday. We checked into our hotel, got dressed and went to eat at the Grand Lux Cafe. It is owned by the same company as the Cheesecake Factory, which is our fave dining destination. It was really good, very loud and very cramped. I am not sure it was any better than the C.C.F. One cool thing is that they make your desserts when your order them - so we had fresh baked apple pie. It was really good, but we were kind of stuffed from shrimp scampi and steak, which we had shared. They did not have my fave tea, so I settled with water. Afterwards, we drove to Highland Park to see the Christmas displays, very fancy neighborhood, great displays. Sunday morning, we slept in and then got up and watched the marathon, hoping to get a glimpse of Marcus and Anna - it was really COLD and wet - 40 degrees and dropping - KUDOS to them!! We went and ate brunch - Benedict's - it was good, but pricy for breakfast. I had a Denver omelet and Ben had eggs bendict. Then, we went back to the hotel - b/c it was raining and 34 degrees. At 1:00 we had a couple massage. This was the thing I was most looking forward to, relaxing, heated bed, it has been a year since my last massage. She commented on the fact that I was so tight, must had been awhile before she bruised every muscle in my body. She was this little tiny Asian girl and she beat me up!! I kept thinking she was working the knots out and then she was going to go back and give me my relaxing massage, nope - times up! I was kind of disappointed, but I took the best nap afterwards. Ben had Olga - he said she was great! Got up from our nap and met my girlfriend (bridesmaid in each other's weddings), Kim and her husband, Staphen, for Mexican food at the Blue Goose. Great tortilla soup if you are ever in the area. Chatted with them and then went back to the hotel. We sat around for awhile and then decided to go out for dessert at the Cheesecake Factory -it was early and we had a big nap:) One of our big things about going out is the conversations - our dates and meals are always graded by our conversations. So, we figured C.C.F. would be a great place to eat dessert and have some grown-up conversations. Yeah, right. Almost as soon as we sat down this younger trio were sitting at the table next to us, the guy was kind of loud and it was very easy to hear all of his conversation. We tried to not listen, b/c we was sharing a little more than we cared to know, but after about 15 minutes one of the girls asked about his dating and sex life. He then proceeded to tell her about his ex-boyfriend. She replied, well I have known for several years I was just waiting for you to tell me. The guy came out of the closet right there in front of us, Ben almost spit out his strawberry shortcake and I almost choked on my cheesecake! It was the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced in my eaves dropping days! He came out of the closet, right there! Needless to say our conversation was over, we hung on his every word! We went back to the hotel still talking about his conversation. The next day, we ate at Bread Winners, our fave place for b-fast, Ben had pancakes and I had eggs Benedict on a croissant. It was so yummy, but I wish we had waited for lunch, b/c the sandwiches looked scrumptious. We drove home in the fog, the entire state of TX must have been covered, b/c it was foggy the whole way. We got to Center Point to see our girls and had Gigi's homemade chili. We had a great time, very full and ready to get my gym membership tomorrow!
I have been told a lot over the past week that I am the best wife. After six years of pouting and gaulking at every motorcycle that drives by, I finally agreed to Ben getting a motorcycle. I coordinated it with our anniversary and C-mas, so I could "give it as a gift." The weather has been sunny and dry for six months, now this week it has rained every day and he has not been able to ride it. Thursday, at lunch he came and switched out so he could drive it before it starts raining again today.
Bell loved the noisy ornaments
LE decorating the tree
Bella's first ornament
apple shaped bell - from a student
Ben's first ornament from me (he caught the kitchen on fire)- it is Daffy on a fire extinguisher
Mother's Heart from Avery's (from my mom)
my fave ornament from Ben, LE and I
Nana's memorial flower
This is really long, just realized, but please read about visit to ccf in bold, it is the best part.
Ben and I have been in Dallas all weekend for our anniversary. I have been anxiously waiting to get home all day, so I could blog about our adventures. I am pooped and the girls are needing me more than my blog friends. But, I want to stay in the challenge, so I apologize for the uneventful blog, but I want to go cuddle with LE, (Bell already crashed). See ya tomorrow.
I am going to be an aunt (again, I know). My brother and sister-in-law are having their first baby! They are so excited! Marissa is not feeling real hot, but she is so happy! I am so excited for them. Ben's younger brother has a son, so I am already an aunt, but it does feel different that my little brother is having a baby! They want a boy, I am hoping for a girl!! Ryan needs a girl:) July 6th is the big day!!
Some of you got my e-mail yesterday about our Christmas tree. For our 2nd anniversary, Ben bought me a gorgeous C-mas tree for our huge living room window. This tree was huge and full, so big I never found a tree skirt big enough for it, so I had to use a quilt. Anyways, since we have moved into our rental I knew there was no way the tree would fit in the living room with our furniture and there is no room in the garage for furniture. Since we were not going to be able to put it up this year and probably not next year I decided I should let someone else enjoy my tree, instead of three Rubbermaid containers just sitting in the garage. SO, I sent an e-mail yesterday to my friends at church and asked if they knew of a family in need of a tree. Maria Bunkley replied fairly quickly and told me of a family who had just moved to the area. They had three kids and were not planning to have a tree this year. A few minutes after telling Maria they were welcome to it, the mom called wanting to know when she could come get it. In a little less than an hour she arrived with her 3 kids to the get the tree. The mom was so excited and the kids were bouncing in the back seat. There was a communication barrier as I tried to explain how to assemble the tree, but she said she would have her husband call if he had any problems. About half an hour later, he called asking me how to assemble the tree. Needless, to say the family was very excited and could not wait to put the tree up he explained. It was a great feeling being able to bless someone else the way I blogged about earlier this week! 
