The Hills Hit Houston-- bonus post!

Although I've already written about the amazing weekend we spent with our Louisiana family... there is a HUGE part that I left out. And I've finally been given permission to share it now.

When everyone arrived PD let me know that he'd brought a newspaper with him so I could have the coupons (I'm desperately trying to become a couponer, thanks to the help of the "couponmom.com"). I thanked him and kept preparing dinner... no need to interrupt my rolled steak for a free tube of toothpaste!

Later, we sat down for dinner and PD informed me that Minnie Mouse had been kidnapped from Disney World. I was shocked! How could that happen? Where was the character handler? PD said there was a huge article in the newspaper and Justin kindly brought me the newspaper to read. Well, we were in the middle of dinner so I thanked him and left the paper folded on the table. I wasn't going to interrupt dinner for a Minnie Mouse story!

A few minutes later PD mentioned that LSU football was in trouble and there was an article explaining the situation in the newspaper. Chris, immediatly grabbed the newspaper to read the story. I guess LSU football is worth the interruption!

As soon as Chris opened the paper, he saw this:

!!!!!!!

He turned to me and said, "you might want to see this."

I knew I wasn't pregnant... I knew Johanna had already told us she was pregnant... and I knew that Laura had been drinking beers all night! So... what was going on?!

I dutifully turned to page 4A where I saw this:

A closer look at the sonogram shows that this is Laura and Justin's baby!!!!

I was so happy that I created this delightful face:

And hugged the new mom:

Turned out Justin was drinking beers all night and refilling the bottles with water for Laura. What? I was foiled again! I told the group that I wasn't a good Sherlock Holmes and PD quipped I wasn't even a good Watson! Touche.

Laura and Justin had woken up early that morning and put this special newspaper on PD's front lawn. That's how he found out. Later, on the car ride over to Houston, they had shared the newspaper with Jeremy and Johanna:

Laura and Johanna's babies will be about two months apart. Chris and I are SO excited to meet another niece or nephew in January! And we're especially delighted for Justin and Laura who will be amazing parents.

I'm sure it will be a house full of creativity, learning and laughter:

Hills Hit Houston Part Three

The Hills left Houston on Sunday... which also happened to be Father's Day!

Chris and I are SO blessed to each have wonderful Fathers who love their kids and love who their kids love (follow that?). We wanted to give them a fun experience so on Sunday morning the boys took PD and my Dad to an old timey barber shop for "The Works". This included a hair cut, a straight razor shave and about a million towels.

Here's my dad getting ready for the experience:

When they all walked in, the barber shop attendants looked a little nervous. Remember Justin and Jeremy?

That's a lot of hair! They breathed a little easier when they found out it was just PD and my dad that were to be attended to.

Here's PD getting ready, with Justin in the foreground:

And here's what the dads looked like mid-session:

As the boys were on their outing, the ladies stayed back and prepared brunch. And we all enjoyed it at my parent's house.

My Houston family:

And my Louisiana family:

It was such a fun weekend bonding with the family-- we look forward to spending more time with the Louisiana Krewe soon!

Monday morning came early and I felt really bad for the guys that pick up our recycling:

After a full weekend of entertaining we had a lot of empty bottles and containers for them to collect!

The Hills Hit Houston Part Two

On Saturday evening, we took the Baton Rouge Hills (and Couvillions) to a Houston tradition:

Miller Outdoor Theater!

I've been going to these free performances since I was a very young child. There is a large theater with covered seating and a larger hill for picnic goers. Although I've been to Miller countless times, I think I've only sat in the covered area twice. It's just so much more fun to lounge and enjoy the performance from the hill.

We had our picnic basket full of snacks and wine... but my dad made one last important addition:

You can't have a picnic without watermelon, right? Except there was one problem: my dad didn't bring a knife! Thankfully PD had a Swiss Army knife and somehow my dad was able to get the watermelon open!

It is was a good thing because everyone enjoyed it:

Especially Justin:

Miller Outdoor Theater plays host to a variety of performance arts and this night it was hosting the Houston symphony.

We all enjoyed our time on the hill and I was so happy to share this part of Houston with my Louisiana in-laws.

One last cute tidbit: Chris and I met the summer of 2007 and many of our early dates included Miller Outdoor Theater.

Here we are on the hill on one of our very early dates:

And here we are in 2011 on the same hill:

I'm sure there will many more memories made (and photos taken) by us at Miller Outdoor Theater!

The Hills Hit Houston Part One

For Father's Day weekend, Chris' immediate family came to Houston. It was a wonderful visit!

Because there are five of them and two of us, it's usually easiest for Chris and I to drive to Baton Rouge... so it was really nice to have the chance to host them.

The weekend started off low-key. The family drove in a few hours before dinner so we had a chance to catch up, laugh and do some cheers/toasts.

Here are Justin and Jeremy with their (unplanned) matching outfits:

Tootie (Justin and Laura's dog) also visited:

I think she came because she wanted to play with Gordon, but my anti-social dog wanted none of that. Poor Tootie!

I prepared a really tasty (if I do say so myself) entree from the Williams Sonoma catalog: Rolled Flank Steak.

Although easier than it looks, it's impossible (I think) to make it look as pretty. But I tried my hardest!

Later we tried (unsuccessfully) for a group shot at dinner:

The evening turned to night which turned into late night... it's always nice to tell stories and laugh with the family. 

The next morning we went on various shopping excursions... but not before taking two cute pics.

One of the ladies:

And one of the men:

That night, Chris and I took them to a Houston tradition... which I'll tell you about tomorrow!

Three's Company with K-Dog

The Hill House has a new resident:

K-dog! And his amazing grill: The Big Green Egg!

With which he's made us tasty dinners!

Really tasty dinners:

K-Dog (aka "Ryan") is an architect and just got a job working at Academy's corporate office.

He was a groomsman at our wedding:

and is now looking for a good home in Houston. Until then, ladies, you'll find him at our house.

(Don't forget... LIVE blogging begins on Monday!)