August 2013 Archives

Pizza and Bowling

August 23, 2013

Took me a couple days to get this post up because we’ve been pretty busy this week but here’s what we were up to for Teixeira Date night this week:

We attended a Chipotle Cultivate the previous Saturday afternoon. While we were watching a cooking class, free pizza cards were passed out to all those in attendance for a new pizza joint in Denver. So with free dinner sitting in our hand, the first logical stop for Date Night was to Pizzeria Locale. It was delicious. They totally won over customers because we already want to try most pizzas on the menu. Check out what we had:

Jonathan’s pizza – red sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, capers, pepperoni, sausage, basil leaves, and proscuitto.

Amanda’s pizza – mozzarella, broccollini, sausage, garlic, and olive oil.

So after carbing up with free and yummy pizza, we headed over to Crown Lanes Bowling Alley. This is more of a side comment but have bowling alleys changed at all in the past 30 years? I swear they all have the same smell, sounds, look, and feel as they did when I was a kid.

Jonathan getting ready to bowl.

Amanda getting ready to bowl.

We played a few games and shockingly, Amanda turns out to be a better bowler. In the best scoring game Amanda bowled 132 and Jonathan bowled 100. So actually neither are very good, since the highest score is 300. We also had fun trying to take photos of the pins getting knocked down.

Too early of a shot…

Perfect shot!

I think another fun component to this blog series would be for any readers to share what dates they went on this week in the comment’s section! So, who else went on a date this week and what did you do? I look forward to the replies!!

Date Night, Marriage

Red Wine and Our Book

August 15, 2013

Last night was date night in the Teixeira home and what were we up to?

The night began with a run around the neighborhood, since we were lazy and didn’t work out early in the morning. Not the best way to start of date but it was actually quite beautiful watching the sunset over the mountains as we ran.

Upon arriving home, we sat on the back porch under the globe lights with some red wine and our book of memories. It’s the book that we record all our best stories and memories so we don’t forget them and can pass them onto the next generation. We think it will be a hoot to read later in life with family and friends, especially those who are part of the stories! Jonathan also enjoys drawing animated photos next to the text of each memory, so it’s a quite fun book to read through. We originally started it while dating. Once we got engaged and married we were really busy so we let it slide to the back burner. On our 500 Days of Marriage adventures day this past Spring (that’s deserves a blog post of it’s own) part of the afternoon was spent at Ozo Coffee in Boulder, CO catching the book up to that point. From then on we decided we shouldn’t let 500 days pass again before writing, so now we try to schedule time for it every few months.

For all you couples out there, I highly recommend this activity, as it’s just too much fun to go back and laugh about old stories that otherwise may get forgotten with time.

Marriage, Mission, Uncategorized

Summer 2013 in Review

August 10, 2013

In our first blog back in months I alluded to doing some traveling this summer. We truly went on an adventure and there are too many stories to tell, so you can get the photo recap of all the places we went and people we were blessed to see.

1. May 1rst – Flew from Denver to Las Vegas, NV and back.

I surprised Jonathan with a 3 day trip to Las Vegas for his 27th birthday. He thought we were dropping a friend off at the airport. Upon arriving, our friend handed Jonathan some tickets…that had OUR names on them! He opened the trunk and OUR bags were in it! Jonathan ran around laughing for a few minutes because he was so surprised.

Our favorite thing we did in Vegas was hiking Gold Strike Canyon. It was an all day trip just outside the city and it had some of the most gorgeous scenery. Of course, we ate at the Vegas buffets and played some slots/roulette. We won free tickets to see KA, a Cirque du Soleil event. We saw an Illusions show that was pretty suspenseful. We visited the Catholic Churches on the strip. It was a tiring but packed few days.

Last but not least… Jonathan and I left Vegas with more $$$ than when we went with. How did this happen? Dumb luck. It usually went something like this: Amanda puts $1 in slot machine and pulls lever….$45 comes back. OR Jonathan put $1 on a number in roulette…that number gets picked and dealer hands Jonathan $35. It just kept happening! What?!?! Good thing we really aren’t into gambling or we’d be into trouble with that type of a win streak.

2. May 11th – No traveling but participated in Rugged Maniac.

Mud. Fire. Water. Climbing Walls. Cold. Barbed Wire. Let’s just say I am not doing this again (despite what my smile above implies) and Jonathan can’t wait to sign up next year. 🙂

3. May 17th – Flew from Denver, CO to Cranston, RI.

We went to our beloved Christopher (Jonathan’s brother) and Cynthia’s baby shower for their MIRACLE BABY! The shower was Dr. Seuss themed and it was at a State Park in RI, which looked out onto the ocean. Beautiful! We got to spend some time with them over the weekend too, which was awesome since we live so far a part. Above is an adorable pic of Cynthia a few weeks before her due date.

3. May 19th – Rented a vehicle and drove to York, PA.

Got caught in 3+ hours of stop and go on the interstate turning a 6-ish hour trip into a 10-ish. No pics because why would I document that? LOL!

We got to spend time with Jonathan’s parents, which was great! We also caught up with some of our FOCUS support partners in town, which is always a blessing to us! We have some friends who had just bought a home so we lived vicariously through them at Home Depot one Saturday morning picking out paint and odds and ends.

4. May 28th – Flew from Baltimore, MD to Fort, Lauderdale Florida.

FOCUS New Staff Training!!! It was 6 weeks long and hosted at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, FL. I served as the dean for the college of St. Anne (as in Jesus’ grandmother!) I really loved being around so many joyful and faithful people for 6 whole weeks. I was able to host a few FOCUS Greek events – both formative and fun. Jonathan planned and hosted FOCUS Equip Student Training (FEST) in which both of us got to teach at. Our lives were very full and busy! It was my first FOCUS New Staff Training as a married woman and I have to say it was definitely harder than I expected. Taking 6 weeks to uproot our lives and put them “on hold” isn’t as easy at it was when it was just me. God provided the grace though for us to thrive in the midst of it all.

5. June 28th – Drove to St. Augustine, FL and then down to Orlando, FL.

Jonathan and I drove up to St. Augustine to visit with some very good friends of ours. The visit was short but it was awesome to find a sliver of time that worked to see them since they live in FL and we happened to be in the state. We also visited the Our Lady of La Leche Shrine in town, asking the Blessed Mother to interceded for the blessing of children to our marriage. We continue to pray for children and the healing of infertility but ultimately that God’s will would be done in our marriage.

After our visit we drove down to Orlando that evening. By God’s Providence we met a wonderful young man a few weeks prior, who works as a contractor for Disney. I don’t know how it all came together but we got to spend the next 3 days visiting Epcott, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We had a GREAT time! Top 3 memories? Meeting Belle, riding Space Mountain, and riding Soarin!

This trip literally rejuvinated by spirits X1000. We’ve been on the road for a while now…starting to mentally crack under the lack of routine.

6. July 6th – Flew from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Omaha, NE.

After New Staff Training, we flew into Omaha to spend some time with my family and also meet up with our amazing network of mission partners who prayerfully and financially support our work in FOCUS.

We started the trip off by going camping with my parents, which was awesome! Upon getting back, we had a very tight schedule, since we were trying to meet up in person with our supporters. It was completely worth it and I can’t be more grateful for the people God has allowed us to meet through the opportunity we have to fundraise in FOCUS. Who knows how long God will call us to this work but I am certain we have found life-long connections with many of our mission partners.

7. July 24th – Rented a vehicle and drove to Denver, CO.

I am just on the brink of a mental and emotional breakdown. Our lives that past 2+ months have been FULL, BLESSED, and ADVENTUROUS! But too much of a good thing is a bad thing! LOL! I love love love spending time with my parents but man…the car rental place couldn’t open early enough for me to get outta town that day! 8 hours later….we were finally HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8. August 2 – No traveling but our first nephew is born!

We’re home and settled JUST IN TIME for the good news! Joaquin Christopher Teixeira came into the world! We have been asked to be his godparent’s and we couldn’t be more excited and in love with this little man.

That’s a wrap!

Date Night, Marriage

Date Night – Dinner and a Trilogy

August 8, 2013

Where the heck have we been since late Spring when we last posted? The better question would be where haven’t we been. We have been national travelers and have quite a few stories to tell from the past couple months but we’ll save those for another blog post someday!

I can tell you that we are promising to ourselves and to our friends and family who read this blog that we will be better this year about posting. I can’t say we have an in stone routine yet but we are getting there!

A new blog series I wish to post on weekly is the “Teixeira Date Night Series.” Jonathan and I have set aside one night a week to have a date night. It’s usually Wednesday evenings but we will see if the schedule will change that this year. We alternate planning who is in charge of making the plans, so we don’t end up staring at each other for an hour saying, “I don’t care, what do you wanna do tonight?” It’s sort of become a game to get out of the box and keep date night creative. Last year, Jonathan even bought a bow and arrow set so we could do archery before watching “Brave” on dvd. It was from the Dollar Store so it actually didn’t work that well. It was the thought that counted!

We had our first date night back in Denver just last evening, post travel season all summer. Check out what we did:

Toy Story Triathalon…..and a Hot N Ready Pizza with CrazyBread!

I am really proud of our movie triathalon since the Toy Story movies are AWESOME and HILARIOUS. I am not so proud of the obscene amounts of simple carbs and sodium that we ate, even if they tasted good. Don’t judge us! I guess you all know how our sugar free diet has been going. When we are in routine = 95% of time staying true to our health goals. When we get knocked from our routine = -10% on time staying true to our health goals. If anyone has tips for healthier travel, we would appreciate them. LOL!

Back to Toy Story…something we hadn’t realized as kids when we watched them was just how witty the movies’ humor is for adults. There are puns and references we never picked up watching them back in the day. Most hilarious character? It’ toss up between Rex and Mr. Potato Head.

To infinity and beyond!