Re-posted from June 1, 2010
here are a few things we did our first month back:
our welcome back party! it was may 1st (one week after arriving in texas) and we really had to scramble to get things ready for it. waiting one more week would have been helpful but we got it done and the party went off without a hitch! :o) the main thing we had to focus on before the party was getting stuff OUT of our little house that we did not want and putting things IN (from storage) that we did want. that was quite a task let me tell you! the pack-rat gene runs in my family and even though my mother had already gone through my grammie's old house and taken out boxes and boxes of stuff jens and i still filled about 10 more boxes with things that either weren't our style or we just couldn't use. don't get me wrong, i've kept several things of my grammie's and i like them and i enjoy using them...but there's only so much you can keep!
the party was on a sat. and people started arriving around 1pm i believe. we didn't put the food out right at first because we wanted more people to arrive before we did so. i think we got the food out around 2pm and we had lots of it! smoked ham and turkey for sandwiches, bratwurst and hamburgers plus sides that our guests brought: cole slow, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit, chips, etc. i also put out some homemade salsa that my mom's friend adelita showed me how to make :o) and jens's mom made an awesome chocolate cake!!! the food was wonderful and the company was great!
it was awesome to see everyone again. i didn't get to talk to any one person for very long but it was a good way to at least SEE everyone at once lol now that we live here for good we can go and visit longer with individuals over time which we've already started doing.
it's such a different feeling this time around- since we're not just visiting. i think all our family and friends feel the same way. they keep saying- "i can't believe you're actually here for good! i keep expecting you to have to leave but you're still here!" or "i get excited everytime you come over cuz...YOU'RE HERE! lol" it's funny...we feel the same way. we have to keep reminding ourselves- we live here for good now so we don't have to rush and do everything all at once or see people every single day - we can take our time!
everyone liked our little house. we got it cleaned up pretty well for the party. we've done so much to it since then too. gotten more boxes from korea, emptied more boxes in storage, put things away, put up decorative stuff- plus we got a full-size couch with a pull-out queen size bed!
our friend joel also took some family pictures at the party. some of my family members had already left unfortunately but we got a few which was nice :o) the weather was absolutely beautiful that day which we were so happy about because the forecast had said rain. some of my family stayed til late in the evening and a few of our friends stayed til late into the night. we partied aaalll day and aaall night lol it was really fun though! we had some games for people to play like frisbee, horseshoes, bubble wands and badminton. jens, joel and ben played drunken 3-person badminton at one point which was pretty hilarious! it was a great time overall!
another thing we did in may was go to central market. i told my kroger's grocery store story but central market was even crazier! we spent 4 hours there cuz the place is so humongous! I LOVE IT! there are new wonders around every corner! fruit and vegetables i've never seen before (or at least haven't seen in over a year! lol), lots of fresh herbs, artisan bread galore!, what feels like miles and miles of cheeses, hundreds of wines and beers, an all natural/organic/eco-friendly cosmetic/bath section to die for!, locally made bbq sauces and honeys, handmade sausages, huge filets of salmon, samples of food throughout the store, a cafe with food that made me drool, a gelato station that made my eyes bug out and gorgeous flowers of all kinds! amazing! love, love, love that place! i would have spent even longer if jens had let me lol we got tons of yummy stuff and just went home and had a foodfest lol
we got a few things for mother's day which was the next day. it was the first mother's day we were home for in at least 3 years! jens's mom and dad were out of town so we just celebrated with my family that day. i had my grandaddy, dad and mom over for brunch and we ate awesome cheeses and crackers, homemade guacamole, a pasta salad from central market with tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and edamame, hummus, olives, homemade caprese salad, and lots of fruit! it was really nice :o) i got my mom and my grammie flowers and after we ate we went up to the home where my gram lives and gave her her flowers and cards. she really liked them! :o)
mother's day with jens's family was the next wed. night. jens's dad cooked a bunch of delicious food and we gave jens's nana and mother cards and flowers and had a lovely evening of talking and looking at pictures. it was fun!
alright that's all for now. i've got to run!
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