Pigskins and Pearls

Although I will admit some of the technical football jargon went WAY over my head, it was very interesting to meet and greet with some TECH BULLDOGS and have a fun girls lunch today at Pigskins and Pearls. Glad to have this picture with my Mom, as we don't take many of these nowadays :)
I have already misplaced my brochure with the section entitled: "Football Phrases to Impress Your Man" but I did remember some of them and tried them out tonight during dinner. Jeff was in stiches...
Oh, and one last thing, hats off to Amy Stegall for asking the question about the laundry. Who knew they do A TON OF LAUNDRY A DAY in football season. WOW! I guess I shouldn't ever complain :) Have a great weekend!

I wish they all could be California days.....

Sorry about the picture overload but literally ALL of my pictures turned out so well! Jeff and I had a WONDERFUL time together in the Napa Valley these past few days. It's hard to compare different experiences at different times in our life, but I think this was my FAVORITE trip ever with my super sweet hubby!

Jeff usually plans our vacations, but really wanted me to do it this time because of the pressure to plan "the perfect trip" so I rolled up my sleeves and got to planning. Our resort, The Meritage/Vino Bello (don't know why but they called it both names), was just about perfect. The picture where I am in the dress is in the lobby our first night before dinner-we had Ristorante Allegria that night. They even had a shuttle service to take you downtown to eat so you would not be drinking wine and driving:) The ONLY downside was I reserved a King bed and we got two doubles but they comped us free breakfast the whole time (expensive hotel breakfast!) and I even talked them into room service dessert one night so I was placated.

Our first day we took a Playtupus tour (name of company) to four wineries: Archer Martucci, Casa Nuestra, Tudal Estate and Failla. Included is the picture of our ROWDY group. Now, if you know me you know I am NOT shy especially after sipping wine all day but these peeps were CRAZY. More details if you are interested.....We bought some really rare wines and had a blast!! Had dinner that night at ZuZu's per Aunt K-K's recommendation and it was great.

The next morning we were up way before the sun for our hot air balloon ride--SO glad we bit the bullet to do this!! It was so much fun--I even got to pick a walnut off a tree while in the AIR! Super cool. There was a little drama when it seemed we might land on a Red Roof Inn...but thankfully we made it into the street and the cars went around us-I'm not kidding!!!! They then served us a lovely champagne brunch which woke us up so we went shopping. We didn't do too much damage...then some pool time before tasting at Artessa then boarding the wine train...

Wine train was a little cheesy. Ok, I will admit it. And the food/wine mediocre at best. (That sounds snobby, but I am just sayin'...) It was not cheap so what you were paying for was the ride...which was quite nice I will say. Part of it may have been we didn't eat til about 8...who has seen hypo-Shelley??

Next am we tasted wine all day!!! Cakebread Cellars, Pine Ridge, Silverado Vineyard and Hagafen were much fun. Of course, we ate meals and snacks, and even strolled through downtown between all of that.....it was a perfect relaxed day. We ate a casual dinner at a taqueria called Casa. Jeff said his chicken taco was the best he had ever had. I got a white bean and a mahi-mahi which were both great! We rented The Bucket List from our hotel and called it a night....

THANKS to both our families for keeping Preston....he had a BLAST! Love to you all and more soon...

An Invitation....

It was such a surprise to come home this evening to find this sweet invitation and gift from my PRECIOUS sister asking me to be her Maid of Honor!!! You can't really read the little poem because of my poor photography skills, but it brought tears to my eyes. Also, she told me she selected the pearl necklace to commemerate both our June anniversaries. I am so incredibly blessed to call you my sister, Kendal, and am SOOOOOOOO excited about all of the wedding fun to come!! (Oh, Kevin--I think you are OK too :)

Preston's Vacay 2010

Since we cancelled our trip to the beach this year because of the oil spill (JUST a personal decision--that actually involved other factors than the oil spill but it was the main reason), we had to rearrange our plans for the summer. Jeff and I found a great deal on a trip to Napa in a couple of weeks, but we thought Preston needed his own "vacation." I had been wanting to see what the Great Wolf Lodge was all about and Jeff has always wanted to take Preston to the Ft. Worth Zoo (one of the top five in the nation and I see why now!) Sooooo, we decided to head over for the 4th of July weekend. We were also VERY glad that Nana joined us for the trip. I think Preston may think she is moving in and is going to MISS her :)
There is NO WAY I can put all of the cute pics I took, but I will try to post my faves. I will download the rest to a Kodak album and shoot it to family, and I may put up a few on facebook...we'll see..
Friday night was Preston's first night in a "big boy bed" and didn't this picture turn out cute??? None of us got very much sleep that night--the hotel room was smoky, YUCK!--but I had to document.
Saturday morning we headed to the zoo and were there when the doors opened. We saw the WHOLE thing, and it was definitely the high point for Preston. I would say his favorites were the turtles, fish, monkeys and parrots--but it is hard to say because he mostly loved everything :)
When we were planning this trip, we hoped that after our lunch Saturday Preston would nap on the way to Great Wolf....this did NOT happen :( So, needless to say, we had a sleepy baby boy on our hands when we arrived. We did get straight into our suits before we even checked in, but Preston was SO INCREDIBLY TIRED he wasn't even having fun. We were actually afraid he was going to hurt himself. Sooooo, we got into our room and took a catnap. Afterward we swam, cleaned up, ate, went to storytime and went to BED! We did get in some better swim time this morning..and Preston discovered the jetskis :)
After some shopping and lunch at the Rainforest Cafe today, we headed home and are ready to get back on some sort of routine. We did have a BLAST though and know this is just a taste of fun family vacations to come. Hope you are having a Happy 4th!!!

PS: Sorry to Nana that I don't have a picture of you on here! You KNOW how hard I try to get a picture :)