Welcome to Texas!

Billy came for a great, long, well, longER but not long enough trip to my hometown . Right off the bat we threw him into the Tharpe way of living…moving into our new house, having him hang pictures, and move furniture, yes, even clean some, and cook for an open house! We made chicken spaghetti for 50…and we had a crazy time getting the huge-ola pans to fit in the fridge. I thought I had it covered, but realized very quickly after knocking several things over, if we wanted to save the food, I would need some assistance from the man (lol-they were HEAVY pans). Okay, so maybe it was really just a good excuse. :)

The open house was a time for friends and fam to come see the new place, and as my mom says, it was sort of a “blessing party”. We asked our Pastor to pray, and I was truly blessed as he was setting up the prayer and he said “We’re here to bless the Tharpe home…but we’re also here ‘cause we want to welcome Billy to Texas!”. There were sighs and smiles across the room, and I just beamed as I realized how many people are in my life that I love and treasure. Here they were, meeting the man I have fallen in love with, and they want to show him love too?? How cool is that?!

As you have already read in a past blog, Billy was able to meet the Florida fam that came through…all of ‘em! There were so many cousins running around like crazy people, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all! If anything, he joined their wild fun. He also joined me for one night of my Rainbows class…he was one of the big kids in the room, playing with all the little ones. He had them climbing on him like monkeys too.

I love to watch him with the kids. So cool to think of our future family and the awesome dad I know he will be.

I was thrilled that during his time here, Billy and I went on 3 official dates! Woohoo! We've had so many "unofficial" dates and all, but it was a blast to go out and have some fun times on the town! I got to take him to Minute Made Park, and we had club seats to the Milwaukee game, but I’m sad to say we lost…oh well, go ‘Stros Anyway! He was very talented with the nachos and salsa and tacos, all straddled across his lap. We also found a very interesting photographer who tried to give Billy some pointers to keep his eyes open when the camera flashes….hehe, lets just say, after we saw the pic’s he took online, they weren’t really pointers Billy will be applying anytime soon.

We had a great steak dinner at Saltgrass (his first visit there too), and enjoyed some delectable artichoke dip and salsa before our lovely prime rib and rib eye appeared.

Maggiano’s (thanks Lin), was DELICIOUS and we will DEFINITELY be returning in the future. We were served some amazing bruschetta, gnocchi, chicken saltimbocca, and tiramisu…yum! The live pianist that night sang all sorts of cover songs from the Sinatra and Nina Simone eras…good times.

We joined different friends for movies and food and stuff…Alexis, Sean, Lauren, Kenneth, Billy and I went to see Bourne Ultimatum, but we got there later than everyone else, and had to sit on the floor, 2nd row! You’re fired Sean for not saving our seat! Just kidding…we actually had a great time anyway, and ended up eating with Lauren and Kenneth after (good times for sure).

Heather, Celina and Caren met up with us at Los Cucos…and took pictures with no flash so Billy would keep his eyes open, hehe… and had a most excellent double date with BJ and Lin at Pei Wei (you guys rock!).

During his stay, Billy didn’t take even one day off work, he just brought his phone and laptop and he was good to go…

to our Dining room table some…

and to my office some….

I tried to drag him out with me one day after my break was over, but his chair wouldn’t fit through the doorway! Dang oversized office chair!

We went for a nice picnic close to my office... he pointed out that we should purchase one of the tiny, run-down houses across the street! They would certainly be in our price range! (there's a reason it's that cheap, and there are bars on the windows in this crazy dangerous part of town). It was a day with what he described as "Cali weather"...low humidity (shocker) and sunny. What's up with him coming right after the blazing 40 day rainstorm and then it suddenly dries up and a perfect day appears?? Isn't that just the way he rolls? :)

We didn't get much rest...as most of you know..we ALWAYS tend to stay up really late most, if not every night..but no worries, Billy found a way to multi-task on our long drives home from work....poor guy. And now, ever since he left, I haven't been able to stay up past 11pm! What's the deal? Maybe I'm trying to pretend it's a road trip, and sleep so the time will go faster!

Although it’s only been 4 days, I still can’t wait for our next visit! We may not know exactly what the future holds, but all I know is I love the idea of welcoming Billy to Texas!