Daniel and Alessandra's Wedding

The wedding of my brother, Daniel . . . to the love of his life, Alessandra, my new sister.

More Graduation Fun!

We went to the graduation of one of our church youth group students on Sunday. About 800 students were graduating, so the ceremony was long! The music was awesome! The students' speeches were very good! The reading of the names, however, was not the part that really stunk!

I was impressed to learn that the school he attended is one of the top 100 high schools in the nation! Most of the students seemed to be graduating with a variety of honors, scholarship, and academic recognition. They also have an outstanding music program for the students to learn a variety of instraments (including bag pipes).

After the ceremony we met up with his family and family-friends to go eat at Olive Garden! Yum! -Except for the long dark hair that I found in my food right before taking a oh-so delicious looking bite of Capellini Pomodoro (they comped my meal, though, so that was a happy ending) ... I was just thankful when I finally got some hair-free food. :-) The graduate's mother had a piece of broken plate mixed in her Alfredo Linguini...(She also got her meal comped.) To say the least, that particular Olive Garden is not on "my list" of top places to eat in Houston! (pretty bad when there's two "food contamination issues" at one table)

We had a GREAT time, overall, and really enjoyed spending time with the C. family! Congratulations E.C!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great time with Jason's Mom and Dad, and his brother's family-Justin, Heather and Brady! :-) We especially enjoyed chasing our nephew, Brady, around the house and yard! (and I think he enjoyed chasing our cats around the house a little...although I'm not sure the feeling was mutal) Brady's got LOTS of energy, and loves to explore everything and play! He also really enjoyed feeding the ducks, geese, and sea gulls at one of our favorite parks! We went their twice while they were here.

The second time there was a little group of gooselings that came to be fed. They were fairly big, but still had curly, fuzzy feathers. They let us pet them! They felt so soft, and were absolutely adorable. They did not seem afraid of us at all--instead they came right up to us and tugged on our shorts with their little beaks, and honked and quacked for more bread. I wanted to take one home--they were so cute! (I'll try to add a video clip of them soon)

Brady also enjoyed seeing the seals, penguins, and fishies at the Aquarium at Moody Gardens on Galveston Island! We went their on Memorial day (see photo with flag)! It was a great visit, and we look forward to seeing all of them and our grandparents on Fourth of July weekend!

Thailand and Greece Reps at International Festival

Our church had an international festival a couple of weeks ago, and Jason and I represented Greece and Thailand. Most of our members represented the countries where they are from, but Jason and I decided to just choose to countries. We choose Thailand, because I have been especially interested in mission work that is being done in Thailand lately. There is a group from the church were I work who goes there 1-2 times a year for mission work, and the stories they tell of their experiences are AMAZING! My roommate, Margie, from college was a missionary in Thailand also, so I always enjoyed hearing about her experiences there. We also enjoy eating at Thai restaurants, and in the past I have experiemented with cooking one of their specialties - Coconut Green Curry. Greece was an easy choice for both of us, because we LOVE Greek food! We eat out at Greek restaurants in the area, and I cook Greek cuisine at home sometimes, too. The Greek foods we like the most are hummus, falafel, olives (any and every different variety), feta cheese (Jason yes, me not so much), pita bread, giros (pronounced gyeer ohs), Tzatzik sauce, Tabouli salad, and all the fresh veggies served with it all. We're vegetarian, so the Greek have many fresh and delicious options for us! Plus, we've been to the Greek festival here in Houston, and we'd like to visit Greece for a vacation someday!

With our countries in mind, we started to plan how we would decorate our table and what foods we would serve. When I told the I-Fest coordinator that I wanted to represent Thailand, I was surprised to find out that he had been to Thailand and had artifacts and artwork that we could use to decorated our table --that was a plus, since we had "0"...

We found some blue, red, and white fabric in the "$1" section at Walmart to create a table cloth in the pattern and colors of the Thailand flag. We also researched for information about Thailand and Greece and printed out some "fact sheets" with graphics to lay on the corner of our two tables (side by side). We also printed out some beautiful photos of scenery from the countries and put them in frames on the tables.

The Greek decorations were almost non-existent, because there was so much food on the table (conveniently making little-to-no room for decorations), and we didn't have anything to put on there. We found some bright blue fabric also on the "$1" table at Walmart, and draped that over the table. The Greek flag is bright blue and white, so we wanted to emphasize the blue. We also borrowed Thailand and Greece flags and a stand from the church were I work.

Overall, I think the main attraction at our tables was the food. . . I'll be happy to share with you the recipes that I used for the food, and then you can have your own international festival! Just ask for it by commenting below, and I'll send them to you.