March Madness

No, not the basketball March Madness. I'm talking the Meier March Madness. We have been super busy (in a totally fun way) and we haven't even made it through the last weekend of March yet. So let me get you up to date.

Two weekends ago we went to the Houston Livestock show to see my cousins and their heifers. I know, I know... not our usual style, but we always like to step out of comfort zone every once in a while. Plus, always good to see family. We had a great time catching up with them. This will be the last time my cousins Ann and Julia will be showing since they are graduating high school this May. Can't believe it. Only one young cousin left. Boy how time flies.

I can remember always looking forward to visit the Atzenhoffer's when we would visit Nana & Pop. Lots of swimming dates and playing around in the yard. Nana & Pop used to have this zip line that went from tree to tree and we would spend forever playing outside zipping from tree to tree and swinging on the wooden swings Pop hung on the trees. Lots of Easters together for sure. Anyways, I'm just reminiscing here on old times. We've almost all grown up and are finding our ways in our lives. Amazing how life has a way of doing that.

The next weekend, we actually went to the Houston rodeo! It was Rob and I's first big rodeo. Rob claims he's been to one in Springdale, but thats just not the same thing! I know I went to a rather big one as a kid in Texas but it would have been Abilene or somewhere thereabouts. So anyways, kind of a big deal for us as its one of the largest events in Houston. This event lasts a solid three weeks and there are about 5 concerts a week. And big names come to town. Rob and I bought the tix's to see Brad Paisley. But, before I share about Brad Paisley... lets talk about the rodeo.

The rodeo was great fun! Sorry Rob... but ladies, there's nothing much better than watching a man in a cowboy hat ride a bull. It'll just keep you up on your seat. It was all extremely entertaining.. I didn't feel bored whatsoever watching all the bull riding, horse riding, rope 'em contests and calf wrestling. I certainly couldn't do those events. You couldn't pay me to wrestle a calf, don't care how small. And these men take out of the gate on their horse, lasso 'em (is that the right word??), get off of their horse and then wrestle the calf to the ground and tie three of its legs together. I feel a tad bit bad for the calf, really. It looks so poor and hopeless with its feet tied up on the ground. But, it sure was entertaining. Makes me wonder what PETA thinks of a rodeo??

We then got to watch Brad Paisley. Slightly disappointing that he only played for an hour... but then again, our tickets were only $20 bucks a pop. So probably really can't complain. He put on a good stage and was all over the arena. Check out the pics below.

Really cool stage that spins around too so that everyone can see him. I think I'll definitely be going again to the rodeo. We had a really good time.

So, now for THIS weekend. We have been super busy. On Friday night we went to Winter Jam which was a concert made up of 10 Christian bands. The big artists were NewSong, Building 429 and Skillet. There were loads of other bands clearly (7 to be exact, haha) but we went mainly for those three. Okay well, Rob went mainly for Skillet. It was first come, first serve and the tickets were $10 dollars. We left work at about 4:30 to meet up at the apartment and then head downtown to get some dinner and then go to the concert which started at 7 at the Toyota Center (where the Houston Rockets play).

You know, I just really love Christian concerts. It never ceases to amaze me to watch everyone worship the same God. It's different than going to church. Generally, people who pay to go to a Christian concert genuinely want to be there (not always, of course... but generally). I love to watch the crowd and see how God speaks to everyone through a band's music. Really takes my breath way. Here's a great video of Building 429 for ya. Scratch that... can't figure out how to upload it on my ipad to Blogsy. So.. maybe I'll figure it out on Facebook or something. Instead, here are some pictures!

This one above and below is of Skillet. They like to "scream" just a little too much for me, but they definitely are quite the entertainers.

So, that's what we did Friday night until midnight. Then we got up on Saturday morning at 7 to compete in the Houston Amazing Home Race. I'm going to write a whole separate blog about this later, so I won't go into detail here. Because, it was quite the day. In short, we got 2nd place!!! We were two points behind the first place winner who won $10,000. But, we did win a free washer and dryer... retail of over $1,000. So, we are pretty stoked. It was a great Saturday. We had TONS of fun. Like I said, more details here in a bit.

We went to a celebratory dinner because well.. we just beat about 300 people in a competition!! And then we went to see the Hunger Games. I wasn't too impressed with the Hunger Games as a movie. The book is SO MUCH better. The movie really misses the whole point of the book which is what happens when you left the government or someone have too much power. People are supposed to be starving and barely making it, but you wouldn't really guess that by the movie. I think it probably needed to be R rated to really get the point across... or well, that might not needed to happen. It was just such a detailed book without the movie being very detailed.

Today we have been lounging out by the pool. High of 93 today, but it felt good to just sit outside and relax. We haven't been house hunting this entire weekend! (okay, minus the Home Race... but that doesn't really count).

Speaking of houses, here is where we are on that process, too. We had selected three real estate agents based on recommendations from Dave Ramsey's ELP program and have interviewed all three. We have finally made our decision, we just need to let that person know. We have also begun the process of applying for our pre approval of our home loan. Hopefully all of that will be ironed out this week and then we can begin the true, bona fide process finding our first home! I'm so excited. We even have a new washer and dryer to go in our new home. ;-)

Okay.. more coming in the Amazing Home Race blog, next! First... I must fold some laundry.