Updates

This week was a rather slow one. Kyle was in New Orleans for 'work' and I had the house and Tucker to myself.

Tucker decided, more like plotted, to let his evil twin reside at the house for the week Kyle was gone. He tore up two of my spiky-green plants in the flower pots. He chewed the hose in half...again. He chewed holes in the outdoor mats and decided to take our firewood apart, one by one, and chew on them in random spots throughout the backyard. Our yard literally looks like a puppy playground, and not a human backyard. At least none of the destruction zone was inside the house!

I have also come to the conclusion that the stairmaster is out to get me, as well as the Easter candy left sitting on my table. They are plotting against me.

On a brighter note, Jill is in Michigan helping out the new parents with baby Blake and emailed me an updated picture of the happy family. I seriously can't wait to meet this little man!

Hope everyone has a fun and fabulous weekend! Praying the wildfires stay away...they are creeping closer and closer, and this weekend we are supposed to have winds from the SouthEast. Pray for rain for us, and I will contiue to pray for sunshine and warm weather for you all up north!

Fiesta Texas

To celebrate Easter, Kyle and I hosted a BBQ for some friends on Saturday afternoon/evening. There are 3 others that are working down here our age, that did not fly home for the holiday. I quickly found out as well that the traditional ham and potatos for dinner is a Northern thing. Here, for Easter, it's a BBQ. Ribs, briskets, fajitas...anything you can put on a grill. So we decided to embrace this and had a BBQ! Kyle and I grilled t-bone steaks, another friends grilled pork tenerloin, and another grilled a sirloin steak with some cheddar-jalepeno brats. I made some pasta salad, guac, and special k bars to go with it. Needless to say, we were stuffed.

So on Sunday, Kyle and I went to church. We FINALLY found one we like, and are excited to go back and talk with more people. After chruch we rounded up the friends and went to Six Flags, Fiesta Texas. It is one of the only days on the weekend were it was not too-crowded (due to the holiday) and the boys didn't have to take off of work. So it worked perfectly! It was a slightly breezy, sunshining day. Perfect for riding roller coasters and water rides.

We rode all of the roller coaster, the two pictured on the right were our favorites! Some we rode multiple times...by the end of the day we were all wiped out.

And of course, it was so hot out we had to ride some water rides. And of course, Kyle got DRENCHED. He always does. No matter what. I somehow I always end up sitting next to him, getting soaked as well. Kyle got so wet he had to ring out his socks. Twice. :)

Inbetween rides we took a break and played some games. We all played "fill the cup" and we all won capes! This opened a whole new world to us. I think we all felt like we were 10 years old again!

Last but not least, we stopped at the candy store. Kyle was, literally, a kid in a candy store. He stood there for minutes just starind and touching the candy bags. He finally settled for an assortment of jelly beans, and treasured them all afternoon. I think the cape is quite fitting, no? :)

Overall it was a great weekend, but we missed friends and family up north. Hope everyone had a fun and wonderful holiday weekend!

Baby Trey

Trey Anthony Krueger was born to one of my dear friends on Tuesday, April 19.

I wish I could teleport myself to ND to see him (and make a pit-stop in MI to see Baby Blake!).

Congratulations, Shannon! She was my roommate throughout college, in my weddng, and a dear friend, even after I moved thousands of miles away. Can't wait to meet the little man in July!

My Plants

Planting flowers used to be a thing mom and I would do. She was really good at getting each of us girls out in the dirt, helping her plant. (Planting a farm is way more work than a little backyard.) Anyway. So, as much as I wished she could have been with me to help pick out plants (and at Babe's Blossoms...not Lowe's) and help me plant them...Kyle helped me!

On Saturday we ventured out to Lowe's and bought some plants. I had no idea what to plant, what liked TX and what didn't. I did pots, so I needed something that would work potting, not just in the dirt as well. So...it was an adventure. Overall, I think they turned out great! So far Tucker has not dug up/chewed on the flowers (knock on wood) so I am hoping he can keep that up. Since we planted on Saturday, both flower pots are already starting to bloom! Can't wait for the Hibiscus plants to bloom, too!

Next on our backyard "to do" list is replace the fence. I'm pretty sure if strong winds came through it would blow it over. I wonder how Tucker would like playing with the neighbors Rottweiler?

Weekend of Relaxation

This weekend was one Kyle and I have not had in a long time.

We did next to nothing, and it was amazing.

On Friday we had friends over and we fired up the grill. Kyle and I grilled chicken, others grilled steak and sausage, and another grilled pork loins and brought corn on the cob to grill for everyone. It was a fiest! We also had guacamole and watermelon to compliment all the grilled food. We enjoyed all this outside on our patio as the sun set and the humidity cleared.

After the humidity cleared, the temperature DROPPED. Like, from the 80s to the low 50s. It felt cold...so we got a fire going! It was the perfect night to sit around a fire and warm our toes....and eat s'mores! I have been waiting ever since February to make s'mores. They were well worth the wait. They tasted heavenly.

Saturday was another adventure that involved a trip to Lowe's, but alas, I forgot my camera at home so I will blog about that at the next one!

Until then, I leave you with thoughts of summer (that will come to poeple in MN...sooner or later ;)

New Nephew!

Just wanted to let you all know that Kyle and I have a brand new nephew! Blake Steven Bruns was born to Jason and Sally Bruns on Monday, April 11, 2011. He was 6 pounds 8 ounce, and very healthy! Both mom and baby (and dad!) are doing great! I will post a picture as soon as I can. Now we have 2 birthdays in April...Brayden and Blake! Welcome, to the family (chaos) Blake! :)

The handsome little Blake (above) The new family- Jason, Sally, and baby Blake

NASCAR

That's right. NASCAR. Kyle and I went to our first official NASCAR race this past weekend. I know what you are thinking, something along the lines of "What ever possesed them to do that?" or "NASCAR, really!?" Well, Kyle's work invited him to go, and he was originally going to turn them down so he could spend time with me (awwww) before he starts traveling the next few weeks. Turns out, his boss couldn't go either so they turned his ticket into my ticket and off to Dallas we went! With a friend watching Tucker for the weekend, we enjoyed our King Suite hotel room in Dallas for the weekend. We arrived late Friday night and headed to the tracks around 10 AM on Saturday. We had a chance to walk around and see the sites before our Garage Pit Tour at 1 PM. The pic on the L is one small portion of the Texas Motor Speedway. 4 Dallas Cowboys Football Stadiums could fit inside this track. On the R is part of the track with condos overlooking. Yes, those are condos, and yes, people actually buy them! Crazy! Then we had our Garage Pit Tour. We were able to walk around the pits and see the mechanics working on the cars, watch them do their thing. It was really neat to see the cars up close and personal, as well as watch the mechanics work. They are amazing! TL: All the race trailers lined up inside the garage pit TR: Kyle and me with the 3M car! (3M is the one who sponsored our trip to the races. It was nice hanging out with some Minnesotans for a change!

BL: Inside the garage. #24 is Jeff Gordon's car.

BR: Watching the mechanics fuel up the car. They can fill their entire tank in seconds.

After grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying the AC (it was super HOT and WINDY) we ventured out to find some souveniers. Because I am not much of a NASCAR fan to begin with, I found a koozie with the #3 (Dale Earnhardt) on it. We then headed to the track for the race! 334 laps. 500 miles. Let the race begin!

TL: The cars all lined up in the pits before the race started

TR: Taking off out of the pits for the warm up laps

BL/R: All lined up in the warm-up laps!

Here is a video of the first lap! Crazy noises, crazy people, crazy fast. The average speed was 208 for this race. Only one small crash, at about lap 147 involving Go Daddy, Napa, and Furniture Row cars.

(Please don't mind the cell phone and the bald guy in the video) Thanks :)

The race was "under the lights" for the first time at the Texas Motor Speedway, and I think it was a success! The cars were going way too fast for my point-and-shoot camera, but you get the picture. Also pictured are the results at the end of the race, complete with fireworks!

Kyle had taken a photo with the "Crown Car" earlier that day in our Garage Pit tour (becaues he LOVES crown, so I thought it was fitting), and that was the car that ended up winning! Kyle got a picture with the winning car!

All-in-all it was a great day and a fun, new experience. Definately something to cross of my "bucket list." :)

Wanna go for a walk?

Since the weather has been nice, and Tucker has grown in leaps and bounds, I try to get home at a decent time so I can take him for a walk around the neighborhood. Whether it be just to the mailbox or around the whole subdivision...we go for a walk. I'm not sure if he loves being out with me or looking for neighborhood cats more ;) Now I take him for walks AFTER supper, as it is too hot before. Yes, it is already in the upper 80s and 90s...too hot to take an excited lab on a walk! Around 7-8ish it is much cooler and more pleasent. So, everyday I ask him the same question, "Tucker, wanna go for a walk?" And lately he has been answering me. I didn't try to teach him to react this way, it just kind of happened. Check it out!

Epic Weekend

Over the weekend we had our good friend visit, Kelly Roebke. She is one of those friends that can make you laugh at just about any situation. It had been almost a YEAR since I had the chance to hang out and have some fun (for longer than 1 or 2 hours). We had 3 glorious days. Thursday night she flew in in the afternoon and went to Kyle's softball game with us. Met some of our friends, and enjoyed the wonderful Texas spring evenings. Friday I asked her what she wanted to do...anything in San Antonio or surrounding areas. What did we decide? SEA WORLD. I LOVE that place. I had a season pass last year, and now again this year.

Here we are at the gate. We had a full day (in the sun!) Little did I know I was getting BURNT. :S Not a hard-core burn, but enough to make me look red later that night. Anyway. We started off by going to see the Sharks and the aquarium. Then we headed over to the Azul show; beluga whales, dolphins, arial acrobats, and parots are all involved in the show.

After Azul, we got some frozen lemonade because we were roasting, and saw the flamingos on our way to the Believe Shamu show! Killer whales are amazing. And, FYI, if a flamingo is not "pink" it means they are lacking shrimp in their diet! After the whale show we saw the sea otters, fed the sea lions, and saw the sea lion show! (Kelly's favorite!) I think she liked the walrus the BEST :)

It was a hot long afternoon but so much fun at Sea World. Later that night we grilled and we took her downtown to the Riverwalk. Always a good time down there! Saturday one of our friends had a Crawfish Broil. I had never tried a crawfish before, and neither had Kelly, so we decided to check it out! They didn't fool around at this thing either...they even handed out T-shirts! It was good, along with the shrimp, corn and potatos! It was a great experience but not too sure when either of us will be eating crawfish again. Not sure if it was something we ate or drank, but something didn't like us the next day ;)

After the crawfish broil we had some friends playing at Texas Pride BBQ (remember that place? If not...check it out here). We drove out there and enjoyed the evening with drinks, BBQ, and a few dances as well. (I had to DRAG them out on the dance floor though!) Below is Kelly with the horse walking around the TX Pride parking lot, and the other is the group at TX Pride. (L) Josh from Boston. He works for PCI in the traveling group, and is helping out Kyle's branch at the moment. Jason, Kelly, Kyle and me!

It was an amzingly fun weekend! It made me miss all my friends up north even more! Thanks for coming down, Kelly! Can't wait till the fall ;)