Grandma's Craft Boot Camp

This week my Grandma Ruby came to visit and I felt like the luckiest girl. She always lived close by when I was growing up. I used to stop by her house (sometimes while I was supposed to be at school) to visit and hear stories, raid her pantry, and chill. Plus, she was the one who really taught me the art of eating out and shopping. So, living far away has been an adjustment.
While she was here I had a checklist of things I wanted to do together. It turned out to be something of a craft boot camp. She taught me how to make her famous spaghetti and frosted cake. We also bought a few cake decorating tools and she taught me how to make frosting roses. It will take some time before mine reach her standard of excellence. She also helped me create a floral masterpiece. My grandma is truly a domestic goddess.
Other fun things we did were:
going out to lunch (She's a real trooper. She tried cajun and tex mex-- not on the same day, though)
Easter dress shopping
attending the temple to do family work
It was a really fun visit. I think I might have worn her out, but in my defense I only had a few days to squeeze in enough Grandma to last until the next time I see her.

Perks

Brandon and I are enjoying some of the perks associated with his job. US Synthetic kindly gave us free tickets to the Houston Rockets and Rodeo.
We took our friends Lori and Greg to the Rockets game on Saturday. I'm not really a basketball fan, but I had a pretty good time watching them win their 18th game in a row.
Then on Tuesday we had ourselves a real Texan experience with Scott and Lesley at the Houston Rodeo. For those of you who aren't from Texas, the Houston Rodeo is a BIG DEAL! We got there early enough to feast on heart-attack inducing food. Brandon and Scott looked like cavemen eating their giant turkey legs! After we'd eaten too much junk we watched a little bit of the rodeo. It was actually a lot of fun! I always thought the rodeo was about guys trying to hang on to a bull for 8 seconds. Turns out that there are lots of events-- barrel racing, calf roping, bucking bronco, etc. Our favorite was the calf scramble. They lined up 18 teenagers and 14 calves. In order to win a calf the kids had to chase them down and rope them up. It was hilarious watching the kiddos run around the arena and take down the calves. By the end of the scramble it looked like the calves got the better of the kids. There were a lot of torn pants, shirts, and exhausted kids.
After the rodeo activities we stayed for the Rascal Flatts concert, which was AWESOME! They played for almost an hour and a half. They were very entertaining. I was happy to hear all of their hits, but especially "Life is a Highway" (which was their final song).
Thanks for the good times US Synthetic!

My Favs.

Okay, so I admit it-- I LOVE American Idol. I anxiously await every new season and dvr every episode. There I've said it. Judge me if you must. So, all of my favs this season are guys. There are some girls with serious talent, but they bore me. All the dudes I picked are unique and musically talented (so far all of them have played an instrument on the show). To borrow a phrase from Randy, "you guys can blow!" By the way, I also considered posting Michael Jonhs on this list because of his killer version of Bohemian Rhapsody during Hollywood Week, but I left him off because he hasn't had a stand out performance since then (last night came close). Go ahead discuss... I'm waiting to hear who your favs are.

Poor Mr. Puppy Pants

This morning Scout wouldn't stop chewing on his leg. I wasn't concerned about it at first. I mean, it seems like normal dog behavior-- right? After I noticed the leg twitching while he was resting and then him hopping around in order to avoid putting pressure on it I was a little concerned. I thought that he might have been bitten by a Texas-sized spider or bug. So, like any other neurotic puppy mommy, I took him to the urgent care vet. They inspected his leg for bug bites and took an x-ray to make sure that it wasn't broken. Turns out that it is just sprained. He has to wear a cast for a week (so that he is forced to take it easy and let his leg heal) and take puppy pain relievers to cut down on the discomfort and swelling. Poor little puppy pants...