Cake Balls

Later today, our church is having a "Linger Longer." We were asked to bring some finger foods to share with everyone. So I decided to be adventurous and make cake balls for the first time. Here are some pictures. They taste great and I will definitely be making them again sometime!

Aftermath of Surgery

I should let you in on a little bit of history. A few months ago, I noticed a small, quarter size bump on Joe's back. He had back surgery 5 years ago so I thought it was something from that. It stayed the same size and didn't cause Joe pain until last week. The small bump exploded and got huge and started causing some serious pain.

So, that brings you up-to-date. Wednesday, Joe went to the doctor because of the pain. I told him to call me at work only if he had to go to the hospital. Lo and behold, he called me at work. The doctor looked at it and said he thought it was a serious infection but wasn't sure how deep it was so he would operate on it later that night. Joe came home to pick me up and off to the hospital we went. His surgery started around 7pm and he was out by 8pm. He went under general anesthesia so was very loopy and out of it afterwards. We got discharged around 9:30 and had to drive around forever looking for a 24 hour pharmacy to get Joseph a whole bunch of medications. I am pretty sure the pharmacist thought I was a drug addict because I was in such a rush to get the prescriptions for Joseph. We finally got home around 11:30 and Joe was fast alseep. He has seven staples that will come out eventually... and lots of gauze that I get the lucky job of repacking every night. Last night, I got pretty grossed out but hopefully tonight will go better. That's been our exciting week in Houston! Hopefully, that's the most excitement we have for a while.

Here is a picture of it. The red piece that looks like tape in the end of the gauze that is packed in his back.

Dog oh Dog

This weekend was one I was looking forward to since we found out we were moving to Houston. It was the Reliant Park World Series Dog Show! Obviously, I was very excited and it was well worth all the excitement. We saw many dogs do agility, disc dancing, and flyball. We also visited every Rescue Organization in Houston to play with the adoptable animals. I fell in love with the beagle breed! And I got to pet TONS of dogs... more than I thought I would get to see. I didn't take many pictures but I did take videos so here are some highlights.

Some weird-looking dog we saw.

This is the agility yard activity

The weigh-pulling sled activity.

This is the disc dancing activity.

 This is flyball. We watched for an hour; it was very interesting.

My Very First Ferris Wheel Ride

As a child, I have a horrific, traumatizing event happen on a roller coaster. My dad took my siblings and I to an amusement park when I was about five. He convinced me to go on this train ride that looked easy and non-eventful. I didn't want to go on any roller coasters but agreed with my dad that the train ride looked innocent. Boy, were we wrong! It was a full-blown roller coaster. Since that day, I have been very skeptical of amusement park rides and quite often do not even come close to going on fast, descending rides. I prefer just watching. Living in Kemah, one of the big attractions is the Boardwalk, where they have lots of amusement rides. Joe LOVES roller coasters and really wants to go on the one here but we compromised this weekend and went on the Ferris wheel instead. I have never been on one that I remember. It was a great experience and I would definitely do it again sometime! Here are pictures of Kemah and the ocean from the Ferris wheel.

View of the ocean from the Ferris Wheel

First time on the Ferris Wheel

View of Kemah/Seabrook in Texas

The roller coaster called the Bullet that I won't go on

Saturday, we went and saw Brave and it was very good. It is a classic Disney movie so it's predictable but still a cute one. After that, we went to Burlington Coat Factory down the road (never been there before) and I had a wonderful time looking at shoes. I found two pairs of shoes for 20 dollars (fancy name brand kind that I NEVER buy and normally cost 40 dollars each!). We will definitely be going back someday.

My new shoes!

A 4th of July craft I made recently.

4th of July

This Fourth of July, Joe and I enjoyed just chilling out in Houston. I had to work that morning and then had the rest of the day off. Then, Joe helped me make a cool patriotic cake that turned out pretty good.

It is supposed to look like a flag except the blue part started to slide.

Decorating the top of it.

At night, we drove to see the Kemah fireworks, which several people told us were the best in the Houston area.

 

Then, this last weekend, we went to Austin as Joe's brother flew down from Utah to visit family. We enjoyed finding out we will have a new nephew around Christmas time! We went to a natural springs at Zilker Park and enjoyed swimming around a lot. We played board games and stayed up way too late for me! I don't think I've stayed up that late (midnight... sad, I know) for at least a year.