Iron Chef, water, and other exciting events...

Well, yes, we're still around. We took a big break from blogging, again. Sorry.

Anyway, here's a quick update (if anyone even still reads this blog) of what we've been up to in the past month or so...

My sister came and stayed with us for most of January. It felt right to have all three of us in Austin! A.J. is loving his job, and doing well at it...and looking quite happy as you can see. We had a great time with Leah. She learned how to speak "Jude" and was awesome to have around.

Jude turned 2!!! His birthday was January 21st, but his party was the 24th. Here they are eating pizza (at Jude's request)... His cousins and his two best friends in Austin were at the party!

This is a picture of him getting ready for bed on his actual birthday.

Troy grew, and shaved some facial hair. He shaved the beard before the...ick...mustache. Can you say creepy? I think I only let him keep it for two days or so....


Last weekend we had an iron chef party with our best Austin friends, the Franklins. This was the winning dish...made by three teenage boys. Chicken and chorizo paella. WOW! It was awesome. I recommend playing iron chef with your friends anytime you want to have a good dinner!



Friday night, Troy went to a ping pong club (don't ask) in Austin, so Jude and I had a picnic and watched part of Cars. We had a good time. Later, Jude mentioned that our friend's motorcycle (parked at our house) wasn't talking....maybe too much Cars?

Last night, we went hiking in the greenbelt (every certain percentage of land in Austin must remain undeveloped..this one happens to have Barton Creek running through it). We had a great time, and were amazed at the amount of water there. Last summer, there was absolutely NO water in the same spot! Can you believe it? It seems that our drought is over. Praise God.

Also in the Greenbelt.

Oh yeah! And for all you pinnochle players out there...here's the highlight of my (Stevi's) Christmas break (aside from celebrating our Savior coming to the world):
Yes...it's true 1000 ACES!!!! I don't think it gets better than that. I've never seen or heard of it done. I've had 1500 pinnochle twice, but I never thought this would ever happen...ever.