Opening this weekend: Don Giovanni

Gabe is playing the title role in this classic piece by Mozart. The show opens tonight at the University of Houston.

Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 7:30pm

Hope to see some of you there!

More info on tickets, directions, etc...

http://www.music.uh.edu/events/index.html#info

The Puzzle

It all started Christmas morning. A wonderful Christmas morning. Lots of presents and love. One of the presents I opened was a New Moon puzzle, a picture of the movie poster. Oh, how I loved it. After the presents were opened but before all the cooking started it seemed like the perfect quiet, relaxing activity. Some of us huddled around and started. Very quickly I thought to myself, "This is one hard puzzle." Two faces surrounded by shades of black and brown. 1000 pieces. The very relaxing activity we thought we started turned into a frustrating, obsessive compulsion. After several hours it truly seemed like we might never finish. We also realized that several pieces were exact duplicates of other pieces. Realizing it only after the parts of the "New Moon" logo that were already finished were reappearing. How maddening. What kind of puzzle has duplicate pieces? We thought about writing the company, I thought about giving up, but everyone wanted to press forward. The general consensus was that we would burn it once we finished...

if that would ever happen.

Days passed. We ran a rate of about 1 piece every 5-10 minutes for a while. Then, it was time for us to make the long 14 hour drive home, puzzle still incomplete. We drove home knowing that Mom, Linda, Sarah and Kris would continue to work on it. It was coming together after all. Several hours into the drive I received the following message on my phone from Sarah...

"Peace on Earth"

It looks perfect in the picture, but if you look really, really close you'll notice pieces missing. It was finished, but imagine the frustration. Duplicate peices, and them some missing. Stupid puzzle.

Then, imagine my surprise when I received this package a few days ago. What could it be?

What?????????????????

The Completed Puzzle

Apparently the missing pieces really bothered Linda. She went and bought another New Moon puzzle. Mom and Linda sifted through all the puzzle pieces to find the pattern on Edward's shirt. After trying only 5 pieces, it was over. DONE.

The best part- Linda took the second one back to the store (with duplicates from the first) and got her money back. HAHA!!!!!!!!!!

The puzzle is now sealed with mod podge. A card came with the package from Linda and it read  "To the victor goes the spoils! You both worked so hard on this- Gabe almost obsessively! You deserve the trophy!"

What Opera Singers do on their Birthday

Gabe celebrated his 26th birthday on January 6th. We had a date night just the two of us. Then came home and ate cake, a cake I made for him. I know-shocking. I usually always fail when baking anything other than break and bake cookies. Needless to say he was thrilled. (Notice the Wii remote not far from reach)

Then Saturday night we went out with friends to Maggianos. It was amazing. Good friends, good food!

And then Gabe sang. Our friend Scott told the hired singer in the bar that a professional opera singer was there celebrating his birthday. They offered the mic and how could he resist? He sang our song, Unchained Melody to us, and the entire restaurant. Priceless.

He is so wonderul and I am so lucky to be married to him!

Wedded Bliss

If I had known 4 years ago how happy I would be today, I don't think I would have believed I could love him more. I've loved him for ten years. It just keeps getting better. Here's to a new decade. Makes me smile to think of all the things we've yet to experience. Happy Anniversary to my one and only!

So this is Christmas

Our journey began last Tuesday. What lie ahead? A total of over 28 hours of driving in 6 days, 4 sets of parents, three sets of siblings, one niece and nephew, lots of presents, lots of food, and lots and lots of love. It can be overwhelming to plan for such a trip. There were moments of panic, but then I would try and remind myself of the true source of such a season. How grateful we both are for His birth.

McKinley sure likes his nose

...and Coleman thinks he's pretty funny

Dad and Michele

Alex and Garrett

Dad and Beth's tree

Greg, Mason sitting like a person, and Kris

All kinds of gardening goodies! We are sure to have an amazing garden in a few months!

Sarah, Kris and Chloe Christmas morning

Mom and Linda with a pillow I made them

This is the face you make when you get a Wii from your wife who successfully surprised you :)

Gabe with his mom, making breakfast Sunday morning

Disney on Sunday night

Smooshed on the teacups, before we tossed our cookies, j/k

Pretty castle

Back at home, enjoying the Wii, guitar hero style

These are just a few of the pics I took. After we got home I realized that I missed a few important moments and people. Shucks. I guess I was too busy having fun. We love all of you and thanks for a great Christmas!