Home... Sweet Home!!!

So, we got back from our trip on Tuesday night... Being away for a while makes you miss and appreciate your home even more! I mean, don't get me wrong... we had a "FUNtabulous" time in Canada, but there are little nit-picky things that both Rob and I noticed, which made us realize how much luckier we are STILL... Well, first of... gas prices are--no matter how high they are currently--MUCH cheaper here in the US... Our fast foods are definitely called "FAST" for a reason... LOL!!! Oh and can we just say, we missed our Chick-fil-A???!!! Ok, well... those are the "shallow" things, but on the deeper end... those of you who think we have a huge illegal substance use/abuse problem... well, you ain't been to Canada YET!!! It was such an eye-opener for us to see such things going on in major intersections--in BROAD DAY LIGHT--WHILE A COP SITS in his patrol car around the corner!!! No wonder critics say Canada has a much lower crime rate than the USA, the cops there are TOO LENIENT!!! I wonder how parents there could even sleep at night... knowing their children are OPENLY exposed to these kinds of activities EVERY SINGLE DAY? Must be tough...

Anyways, I haven't been able to blog until now... We had stacks of mail to sort through, balance check book, pay bills, do 3 suitcases-full of laundry, etc... you know the deal! It's been crazy last week trying to get things organized at home and trying to pick up where we left off at work!!! We had our anniversary dinner with Rob's side of the family on Wednesday night... It was good to catch up with mom and dad again. Thursday night, Rob had a tough game, which they lost because they didn't have enough players to begin with :-( !!! Friday night was spent at the gym--getting back into our workout routine! I was quite surprised I wasn't out of shape on the cardio part... well, until I tried doing strength training, but it's going back to "normal" again!

Saturday morning, I took my mom to the salon (for her early mother's day present)! While she was getting a make-over, I went around the mall and shopped for a couple of hours! Saturday afternoon, Rob and I had to do some major grocery shopping since our pantry is bare... We then headed to Kevin's "Green and Gold" game afterwards, which got rained-out so they only played for 10 minutes, but they have their much-awaited Spring Jamboree this coming Saturday (playing Chiles and Rickards)! We went to Crispers for dinner and headed for the beach house right after... We got to the beach around 7:30 PM, so mom and I watched "Dream Girls"--which we both turned out liking!!! Rob, mom, dad, and I spent the rest of the night flipping through pictures of our recent trip and other old ones, since Rob took his laptop with us. Before going to bed, mom opened her Mother's Day presents. Rob and I got her a locket necklace--with her initials engraved on it (but no pictures, since we couldn't find any that were small enough). We also got her a multi-colored jade bracelet from Vancouver and some Rocky Mountain Chocolates...

Sunday, we got up @ 7 am to go fishing... Our good friend Jimmy (Sauls) joined us this time! So, we packed up the boat and left after having breakfast. We met David (One of dad's best buds and the owner of Rob's company) at his beach house in St. Teresa (which took us about 40 mins. by boat) from Alligator Point. We followed his boat out towards the gulf, where he showed us the "hot spots"... and sure enough, the first few casts, the fish were biting like crazy and we each caught one after another. We ended up catching 50-60 fish, but we had to let the majority of them go, because they were too little, but we kept 6 big Trouts (which Rob, Spencer and Jimmy caught and had to be over 15 inches long to be considered a "keeper"), 1 Lady fish (which I caught) and 1 Red fish (which mom caught). David caught a shark, which was about 3 feet--yeah, it was a baby one, but still... that totally freaked me out!!! Good thing, he was in his own boat and I didn't have to see it up close!!! Again, we saw a bunch of Dolphins swimming around and Rob even saw "Nessie" slithering across the Gulf... haha!!! It was probably her twin or something! Nobody else saw her, but Rob!!! LOL... Too bad, we didn't have any pictures, but I will take some next time!

We, then hurried back to Tally to have dinner with my family for Mother's day and to hang out with the sibs! So, I guess you can say... we had a great weekend!!!

And most importantly, today, is my mom's birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ma!!!!

Rob and I already gave her her birthday present--a pair of Emerald earrings from Seattle (from Mount St. Helens)--that's her birthstone. Since she's working today, we're having dinner sometime this weekend instead...

Also, sharing my mom's birthday today... at 4:40 AM this morning, Jenna Cross was born to Cindy and Justin (Remember the baby showers we had???)... She weighs in at 6.4 lbs and measures 18 3/4 inches! I might go see them tomorrow after work at the TMH Women's Pavilion! How weird is that??? Their oldest son, Ian's birthday is on our Anniversary date (May 6th)!!! Anyways... Congratulations to the Crosses!!!