memorial day

some others from our week in tejas

a champagne toast, of course!
(you should see the series of pictures on this one- it'd make a hilarious flip-book)

"playing" mom's organ

these two love margaritas!


and i love la madeleine!
(if any of you have connections... tell them to open one near us! i've asked, but i don't seem to hold much clout and they haven't listened)

dr. mom

we have SO many beautiful photos from this wonderful weekend of festivities. i've tried to choose some of the favorites.

rice university has such a beautiful campus. i could have taken pictures there forever (though hugh would probably say i did). the courtyard where they held graduation felt like we were at an old european university, with its turrets and brightly colored banners and marble... quite breathtaking.

(where hugh decided to stand during graduation)



congratulations mom!!

(quick note on the amazing job rice did with graduation festivities... ceremonies, special concerts with champagne toasts, reception, dinners, an impressive fireworks show, and enough bottled water and snacks at every event to make sure everyone was cool and happy! good job)

Congratulations Dr. Mom!!

this morning, my mom graduated with her Doctorate in Organ Performance from Rice University... and we are so proud of her!




(pictures, etc to follow...)

derby fever

i love the kentucky derby.

we lived in louisville for a number of years when i was a kid and ever since i have been in love with (just about) everything derby. the fanfare and festivity surrounding the event are full of excitement and fun and i love it.

this year i decided that despite the fact that i didn't feel like organizing a derby party, i'd do something that would still allow me to celebrate.

so i made derby pie (a chocolate pecan pie) and we watched the 135th annual running of the roses. faith suggested a 10c wager, so we made our bets anxious for the 30-cent pot :) we all did terrible, with hugh's winning pick coming in 10th. good thing we're not betting people.

in honor of the hat parade, i donned my (easily accessible) beach hat


mmmmm


delicious!
quite possibly the best pie ever made

the best of both worlds

we dog-sat a neighbor's dog this weekend. it stayed at their house... and played at ours. a pretty good deal if you think about it.

across the street...

celebrate

mmm, easter. one of two favorite holidays. as i've said before, it's favorite for a combination of reasons... an instrumental piece in my personal belief system combines with the family tradition of togetherness and celebration to make a lovely holiday.

it's been a great weekend. hugh and i had a perfect lazy saturday together (which included sleeping in after a 3 a.m. return from DC thanks to some crazy storm systems) and an early easter dinner. our church has a festival after church on easter sunday and we volunteer to help each year (pics below) so we decided to have our special traditional dinner on saturday.


now, sunburnt and tired from the festival, and back from a quick bike ride to the library, i'm sitting on the couch while my best friend (hugh) makes french toast for dinner.

:)

go bears

tonight my baylor bears vie for the NIT championship in the final game of the tournament...


sic 'em!

_

i love this picture.

i came across it the other day and it's been on my desktop since.
my sis in the front and me in the back. so cute.

: )

for some reason i've had a terribly hard time getting the post about my anniversary surprise up. i have no idea why. it just doesn't work.


i can't skip over it, though, so i'll just give an extremely abbreviated version: i have the best, most thoughtful husband in the world.

:)

4 years!

back in the game

baylor's lady bears are back in the Big Dance as big 12 conference champs! they've taken the national title before... let's hope they can do it again!

on another note, the men's team lost in the last round and so didn't go on to the ncaa tournament (aka big dance). they are no.3 seed now, though, and have earned the hosting of the first round in the national invitational tournament. we'll take what we can get. it was a great run!

sic 'em!

go bears

my baylor bears basketball team have just beaten no. 1 seed kansas and are headed to the big 12 championships... sic 'em!

steak

one evening last weekend hugh and i were talking about getting dinner together and faith piped up and said that she wanted steak. we already had dinner planned, and steak was not involved ...but she really really wanted steak. she even offered to buy it herself. what!? hugh and i thought this was so random (and funny) that we said, sure. hugh even offered to grill it for her.


so off we go to the meat market, her allowance in tow, fully aware of how much a steak might cost. we get there and she informs me that she has determined her 'budget' as $15 (and you've wondered whether she's like hugh at all). she inspects every kind of steak they have and settles on one, very very pleased with herself (especially since it happened to be less than a pound and so well within her budget). she couldn't stop smiling. even told the lady at the cash register that she was buying her own dinner. (i had to then explain to the funny look that it was her own choice)


she was so happy with herself and her precious steak... that she even proposed buying her own meat from now on! haha!

we love these

so if you ever come across them... buy them. for us. :)

i know this is a random thing to post, but we've been eating these like crazy lately.
and hoping that the boxes magically keep appearing in our cupboard

mahi = chicken = mahi

on the way home we stopped by disney to hang with some dear friends who have been in japan for the last few years. it was great to be able to catch up and just hang out!

we even came away with free dessert and sombrero after a hilarious dinner mix-up. can't beat that!

hang time in GA

conference in georgia (hugh) = vacation (lauren)

but before you go feeling sorry for hugh, the week wasn't all work. it was kind of a nice break for us from the hectics of our normal week. the conference also happened to be in the city he used to live in, so we both got to catch up with great friends...

and do a little working out on the wii...


and take a little tour of WWII europe...


hugh also helped out with a little problem they were having with a pesky leftover bomb

just kidding :)

'beard month' is over

but so you guys can be in on the experience,
here are some photos ...

come on baby bosch

a few pics from the baby shower we hosted this past weekend...