October continued

November 14, 2006 - 1:55am

Fourth Weekend in October - Visit to Dallas to see the boyfriend and attend Kristen's baby shower
View the set of pictures.

After two weeks of traveling, it was really good to see Chris.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at my parents' house along with the Grants (visiting from Houston), Ky, Autumn, and Deuce. We hung around until almost noon. Lots of playing with Deuce and catching up. Ky showed us a ton of photos of him bouldering. The adults were amazed that people do that. Deuce fell and hurt himself. He bled for the first time. Autumn was amazingly calm. I don't think I would have been so calm. Luckily, it wasn't anything serious and all was OK.

Saturday afternoon Nicki and Shelby hosted a baby shower for Kristen. It was a lovely little party. Kristen got a ton of wonderful gifts. I really enjoyed seeing friends of Kristen's that I haven't seen in at least a year.

After the shower, I was pretty wiped out so I took a little nap. Before I knew it, Chris and I were on our way to dinner with both sets of parents. Yep, big news, our parents met for the very first time. Everyone got along extremely well and we all had an incredible 3 1/2 course dinner at Lonesome Dove in Fort Worth. (3 1/2 because Chris and I shared a salad.)

Boursin Stuffed Kangaroo Carpaccio Nachos with Avocado Relish and Spicy, Sweet Habanero Sauce
Organic Butter Lettuce with Chile Buttermilk, Texas Goat Cheese, Spiced Pepitas and Candied Jalapenos
Roasted Garlic Stuffed Beef Tenderloin (9 oz.) with Red Chile Marinated Jumbo Gulf Shrimp, Chipotle Mashed Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus and Syrah Demi-Glace
Habanero infused Chocolate Cake

On Sunday, Chris and I met David and Arianne at the track. This is a picture of Arianne racing in her Mini (passing a Porsche). It was a gorgeous day and very, very fun to hang out. David just got a garage at the track so we even had a lovely, out of the way place to sit and talk. We stopped for dinner on the way back to Arlington and very shortly afterwards crashed in bed.

Monday morning I was surprised by a phone call from my mother. She and my father spent most of the night in the hospital because Dad's nose wouldn't stop bleeding. About two weeks prior, Dad had surgery on his septum to correct some damage and hopefully alleviate his headaches. He seemed to be healing fine until he woke up Sunday night and realized his nose was bleeding. Because it was bleeding "like a running faucet" and he couldn't get it to stop, they went to the emergency room. The staff there spent hours trying to make it stop. Dad just bled and bled. The hospital staff tried everything. Finally they called in the specialist. Even he failed at his first attempt to stop the bleeding. He said he's never had a patient who wouldn't stop bleeding. Hearing them describe it was surreal. Luckily, the second attempt by the specialist did stop the bleeding. My poor father must have gone through some serious pain. They did what would normally be done after surgery when you're asleep without putting him out. He was bleeding so much they were worried he would drown in the blood if they put him out. They did give him some serious pain meds but it wasn't enough soon enough. Luckily, he made it through and around 10am Monday they sent him home. He's been doing fine ever since and we just hope his nose continues to heal properly.

Monday evening just before I left to head back to Phoenix, Chris and I met David at UTA so we could see the work he had done in The University Club. It was absolutely gorgeous.