The Day I Almost Died!

Dramatic, what?

Me?

Never!

I ran a half-marathon yesterday...

and I'm pretty sure I was on death's door when I crossed that finish line.

The first 6.5 miles FLEW by...

but the latter 6.6 miles, not so much.

I'll blame it on the monster sized mosquitoes that were sucking my blood before the race.

That's of course, why I didn't have enough energy ;)

The race was on the beach- beautiful 60 degree weather with a slight ocean breeze.

 There were 8 people from our ward representing at the race!

Here we are...

ready to go!

(or something...)

 ANND- across the finish line.

Phew... those last 3 miles were killer.

I probably could have walked faster than my snail pace.

 Me with my medal... and a fake smile.

Glad it's over...

that's all that is left to say.

The Rodeo is KIND of a big Deal in Texas...

How does one explain the Houston Rodeo?

It's somewhat impossible to describe if you've never been here...

particularly if you've never been in Texas.

The Texans claim it as the "Largest Rodeo in the World"...

but they would. 

It's Texas after all.

That being said-

it's the biggest rodeo that I'VE ever heard of.

We're talking one solid month of cattle roping, carnival ride riding, mutton bustin', BBQ cookin', barrel racing, livestock showin', deep frying, country music twanging...

and it goes on.

Last year we went to the rodeo portion AND saw Rascal Flatts in concert.

(see last year's post here...)

But this year we hit up the BBQ competition AND the carnival.

It was quite the night!

 

Eating some BBQ...

 Jon isn't the BIGGEST fan of country music- so he naturally loved this... 

Jackson plugging his ears while the country music was blaring in the background

 The crew

Now onto the carnival!

We love the ferris wheel!

 And we even took a ride...

 A look at the hundreds of BBQ tents down below!

 Good story of the day-

we were walking around the carnival and this guy runs up and asks if anyone is brave enough to ride THIS huge ride...

 

Turns out this guy bought a ticket for him and his wife to go on the ride...

long story short- he ate a little too much BBQ and didn't fit on the ride.

Thus he needed a replacement because he'd already paid for the ticket.

Jon was the lucky winner!

He loved it!

And we topped of the night with some deep fried goodness...

 No, that is not a corndog.

It's a deep fried Snickers bar.

Yummmmmmmy!

 

We heart the Rodeo and all it entails.

To the Zoo!

Sooo... we've been in Houston for a year and a half and I hadn't been to the zoo...

(And it's a popular thing to do here!)

Thank goodness I have a friend to help me out and show me the light.

Yes- I can now proudly say "I've been to the Houston Zoo."

And here are pics to prove it :)

Ummm... this is a bird of some sort... not too exciting soo...

moving on.

 The rhinos and antelope... in the same place.

I'm not gonna lie I thought the antelope would have been impaled by now.

But maybe that's just me.

 Mr. Monkey

 The monkeys were our favorite...

 The monkey cages always look like so much fun.

I kinda wanna live with the monkeys at the zoo.

 Mr. Monkey eating his cabbage.

*gasp*

I thought monkeys eat bananas?

 He loved the monkeys :)

 But this is just funny.

Geese...at the zoo?

I thought you are supposed to see exotic animals at the zoo?

They probably got them from the local pond...

 Elephants!

 Cute baby elephant.

"Is this water sanitary? It looks questionable to me!"

 Did you know that Jon (my Jon) was named after the lion at the zoo.

Click on the picture-

it's a perfect description of him ;)

 Jonathan...

 They're so regal aren't they?

 Up close and personal...

lunch time.

 Another monkey- with an awesome snout.

 These fish could have swallowed him whole!

 Nemo :)

 "He is my squishy, and he shall be mine!"

Sometimes it's nice to get out of the zoo of life,

and go to the zoo of... zoo.

Yes- you can quote me on that.

The Sun...

I know some of you in other parts of the country have begun to wonder if the sun really does shine, 

or if it will ever warm up...

Well Spring Summer has sprung already in Houston!

And we've been doing a lot of this...

How can you not with 80 degree weather?

Don't worry...

come June- we will NOT want to be in Houston :)

Beautiful...

Definitely shed a few tears over this one...

Reminds me so much of Poland,

and so much of folk dance.

Two things that I miss oh so dearly.

Happiness is...

 

Need I say more?

Love, Love, Love

Jon was in charge of Valentine's Day this year...

which means that I planned everything, naturally.

Actually I'm not giving him enough credit-

"I heart U" pink pancakes...

 

and roses were courtesy of Jon.

 We took a splurge out to Carrabbas that has robbed us of our date night budget for the next two months!

 

But it was OOOOOOHHH so delicious!!!

Can you tell by our faces?

 That night we dipped strawberries...

 made Valentines cupcakes...

 And stuffed our faces.

How romantic :)

Happy Valentines Day!

-The Weekend-

Sometimes I go through these phases where I feel so self-centered and think

"Why do I even blog in the first place?"

Surely no one wants to read about our existence...

except my mom...

and maybe Jon's mom...

and that's about it.

So this is for the moms, and anyone else who cares to read :)

I feel like weekends are mini-vacations... and that they were divinely inspired.

I don't know how we'd get through life without weekends.

That being said- we try to make them interesting.

We're in love with painting our own pottery...

so we went again.

 

Jon's piece is my favorite... a big "Y"... wonder what that's for.

 We now have a collection of 2 cereal bowls, 2 platters, salt and pepper shakers, and a cup that's been painted by us.

So fun.

Another one of our obsessions, as of late, are these.

You guessed it.

Another murder mystery party!

It was a night at the speakeasy with a bunch of Mafia members from Chicago up to no good.

Torchy and Billy Thrower

 

Harrow and Molly Mawbster

 

Ernie G. Ambler and Silky M. Adam

 

Scoop and Socks

Love, love, love a good murder :)

And last but not least, I talked Jon into doing this on Saturday.

Standing in line from 9:00 am to 6:00 at night...

to do what?

To audition for "America's Got Talent"!

(I wasn't able to go with him... and I'm the one who suggested it in the first place.

Some supportive wife I am...)

 

Lots of lines

and lots of waiting.

 Look for him in bright lime green when they show Houston :)

Oh and we'll find out if he makes it at the end of March...

If all goes well

maybe we'll be millionaires by the end of the summer ;)