July - Jon's 30th Birthday

Jon's turn to join me in my old age... :)  Again we gathered the friends for a night of fun chat and games. 

June - My 30th Birthday!

I really just can not believe that I have turned 30.  I still feel like I am 21!  Certainly something must be wrong with the date or year or something.  Luckily I don't feel old, so I don't think 30 is old.  I do remember when I thought 30 was old, but not so much anymore.  I must be growing up!

For my birthday, we had some friends over and just hung out, ate cake and had a good time.  Thanks for all who came!  Love ya!

My Birthday Cake!  Quirky - Like Me.

I think I look a little doubtful about blowing out so many candles!

Our Friends....

May - Danielle's Graduation

Another trip to New Orleans!  My little sister has graduated High School and I can't believe it!  There are no more of us kids in high school at all.  She is college bound and I am so proud of her.  The ceremony was nice and Dad and Cindy had a nice graduation party for her with family. 

Happy Graduating!!!

April - Moving House

In April, Jon and I finally made it out of the parents house (no offense mom!) and moved into our own apartment.  We moved into a great complex that has lots of nice amenities and even better in the building over are some of our best friends from church!  It is nice to have neighbors that we know and a place of our own.  Will post photos up later.  I didn't realize we had none of the apartment and it is still in a slight distressed state from Halloween decor.

February - Mardi Gras New Orleans

As per family tradition whenever possible, Jon and I drove to New Orleans for quality time with the family and for Mardi Gras.  Despite the bad name that Mardi Gras has, it is actually a very family oriented holiday.  Where most people who visit go wrong, is that they go to the touristy only spots where there is 1. lots of drinking and 2. where they are catering to the tourist crowd that can get a bit rambunctious.

As usual, we enjoyed the flamboyant floats, the quirky costumes, and just the all over good time.

One of the floats

King of the Tucks Parade on his 'Throne'

Jon and Myself at Mardi Gras

Saints colored Storm Trouper

January - New Years Trip to Ashville, NC

So Jon and I have on and off played with the thought of where we may go after Houston.  We usually don't think that we will stay here forever especially since the summers are so hot, though so far any moving gets pushed back further and further. 

Anyway, we went and had a little fun on the website http://www.findyourspot.com/.  If you have never checked this website out, it takes some time, but it is actually really neat.  Basically this site has you answer a whole lot of questions about where you want to live - ranging from temperature, sports, school systems, crime, income, to religion.  In the end it spits out cities in the US that fit those specifications, gives you information on each one of them including a lot of links for each.

One of the places that keeps coming up for Jon and I is Ashville, NC.  I have been there once... when I was much younger, but I recall really liking it.  Pretty, four seasons, etc.  So we thought we would head up for New Years just to see if it may really be a place we would want to really move to.

We actually drove from Houston, stopping along the way to visit the family in New Orleans on the way there and back.  It was a good time.  The winter was extra cold this year, but it was nice compared to the heat of Texas.  We went to the Biltmore Estate, which I love, and is one of the big tourist attractions of the area aside from the mountains.  The Biltmore is the Vanderbuilt's mansion and is just amazing!

We went to a beautiful hotel that hosts the National Ginger Bread Competition each year.  There were some amazing entries for all levels - kids, teens and adults.  We also really enjoyed the church ward that we went to.  It was small, but everyone was very nice.  I loved the Sunday School teacher and wished that I was going to be in his class all year! 

Overall it was a great trip.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely, but at the end did not have the pressing impression that we were supposed to be moving there..... at least not yet.  Who knows in the future.  But for those of you who may want to visit, it is worth it and it is beautiful!

Snow in Houston

Snow! Snow! Snow!

It actually snowed in Houston last December. It was real snow flakes too. Not just little flimsy almost snow flakes, but fat winter north snow. Granted it did not stick, but it was fun while it lasted.