It's all good . . .

Adventures with Holly

On Wednesday, Lily's birthday, we had a special visitor arrive - my sister, Holly. She flew in to play for a few days and then to help take my mom home to Idaho, and we loved every minute of her visit.  And of course, we had to start things off in the hot tub floating and enjoying the beautiful weather.

On Thursday, her first full day in Texas, we took a trip to Seaworld, which was so much fun.  (We didn't get there as early as I had hoped, because the day before as I was registering to take one of my big certification tests, I accidentally put in the wrong day, so I actually had to spend the morning taking this massive Science of Teaching Reading test.  Good times.) In spite of the late start, all was well, and I even grabbed Arthur out of school for part of the day so he could join in on the fun.

He got to show Holly and grandma all his favorite things, including the rollercoasters, which Holly and I went on with him. He even chose her to be his riding buddy on pretty much every one of them - ha ha! And when we weren't on the rides, we were visiting the animals and seeing the shows.

Holly and I took turns pushing my mom around in a wheelchair, and every once in a while, as long as it was very flat and he promised not to let go, she let Arthur push her.  She was very nervous that one of us would spill her out on the ground - which we did not ;).

I think our favorite show was the Orca show - it really does blow you away every time.  And it is pretty funny when people seem really surprised when they get soaked in the splash zones - good times!
Since we didn't have time to get to the sea lion show in time, instead, we decided to pay to feed the sea lions, which was actually super cool.  Those sea lions really like their fish, and they aren't afraid to jump on top of another of them to get it.

On Friday, Holly and I left San Antonio on an adventure to Waco to go to the Magnolia Silos.  We headed out early so that we could beat the traffic, which we were luckily able to do, especially since it is about 3 1/2 hours away from us.  We got to the Magnolia Table restaurant just in time for brunch, and we started things off with biscuits and a "butter flight" which were amazing!!  We had strawberry butter, mixed berry butter, lemon butter, and our surprising favorite, herb butter.  After that, we shared a delicious chicken salad sandwich, and instead of after dinner mints with our check, they gave us caramels!  Yum!!

After eating, we headed over to the Silos.  It has changed a ton since the first time I was there, with so many new buildings, shops, etc.  We had a great time browsing, and even bought a couple small things, and of course, we had to get a cupcake - so good!  We also shared a Big Red Cream Soda float, which was very tasty.

When we finished there, we headed to Baylor University to check it out, since three of our nieces went there, and Holly found a cool hat and a t-shirt.  Then we were off to Buc-ee's so we could find some fun stuff for Holly there, because what is a trip to Texas without a stop at Buc-ee's? We found some cute stuff, and then we were on the road again, but this time we hit traffic heading into Austin.  Oh well.

Because we were so much later getting to our sister, Wendy's house, she had to leave for an appointment right after we arrived, so we hung out and waited for her to come back.  While we were waiting, our brother-in-law, Tod, got home and so he showed Holly his cars.  I had seen them, but this time we got to get inside.  Tod even started up his Lamborghini for us, which was super cool - especially when Holly totally squealed when she heard it start up.  She is hugely into cars.

They are all so pretty, but I am partial to the blue of the Lamborghini.

Tod's favorite is his 1959 Corvette, which is also gorgeous. He is going to get the inside redone so that he can actually safely drive it around, updating the engine, etc, but leaving the beautiful classic body and look.

When Wendy got home, we went out and talked on her dock and enjoyed the beautiful view and the lovely weather.  While we were out there talking, Tod came out and asked if we wanted to go out on the boat, which of course, we said yes to.

We had the most amazing time out on Lake Austin! It was so beautiful and Tod gave us the most fabulous tour of the houses along the lake, including Michael Dell's home.  One of them had the coolest tree house in the yard that was made of glass walls and even the floor.

We stayed out on the lake until the sun set, and even though it meant driving home in the dark, it was completely worth it. 

On Saturday, we took it easy at home, went out to lunch with my mom and Kevin, and both Holly and my mom got packed for their trip the next day.  We did take one last adventure though, and took Holly to get ice cream at Handel's  - so yummy!  It was the perfect way to finish a wonderful visit with my sister.

A Vegas Getaway

Last year, when Kevin and I were at our race in Corpus Christi, we spun a wheel at a booth the night before the race, and we won a trip to Vegas. And so, on my birthday, we hopped on a flight to Vegas for a fun little getaway. They only paid for us to fly Spirit airlines, but it was just fine, because it was such a short trip, we only packed a backpack each and it was just fine.  We went straight from lunch after playing golf in the morning, to the airport to catch our flight.

The flight was only about three hours, and when we arrived, my dear friend, Brandi, picked us up from the airport.  It was so fantastic to see her!!


The three of us went to dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Burger restaurant, and that was one amazing melt in your mouth burger, but the conversation was even better.

The best part of the meal, however, was the sticky toffee pudding that we got as my birthday dessert to share.  It was to die for good!  I mean, Brandi, who really doesn't like dessert, ate her whole portion, savoring every bite.  Seriously, it was AMAZING!!

After dinner, Brandi dropped us off at our hotel, The Luxor. After getting checked in, we may have had a bit of an adventure trying to find the elevator to take to get to our room. We were supposed to take the red elevator, but tried the burgundy elevator, not realizing it was wrong, and our key card would not make it go, and when we accidentally made it to the right floor, there wasn't a room number to match - ha ha!!  Turned out we were in a tower on the complete opposite side of the property.  Good times!

The next morning, because our bodies were on Texas time, we were up and wide awake at 4:30 am.  Since we were up, we researched good donut shops in Vegas, but since we were carless, we decided on Pinkbox Donuts, which was just a short 3ish miles from our hotel, instead of 15+ miles across town. We got ready for the day, and by 6 am, we were walking down the cold, but very empty strip.  

It was pretty cool to have it mostly to ourselves, except for a few runners and some random homeless people.  To make our way along the street, there were a lot of streets where we had to walk to pedestrian bridges.  One of the times, we could not find the stairway for the life of us, and so we tried the elevator, only to have it open with a homeless person asleep inside.  Needless to say, we searched again until we found the stairs - ha ha!

After an hour of walking, we did eventually make it to the donuts!! It was a popup inside what looked to be a really great deli, and I wanted all the bagels too, but we stuck to the donuts.  They all looked all so amazing, it was hard to pick, but Kevin's favorite was their maple bar.  He didn't let me taste it, and so I can't chime in.  My favorite was the strawberry shortcake one with fresh strawberries.

To get back to our hotel, we thought we would take the tram, which was supposed to be a short walk from the donuts.  It was the station by the Convention Center, but because of construction and very large fences everywhere, we could not get in!!  We had to walk an entire mile out of our way just to get to the station.  However, because of it, we were the most popular people ever as we walked around with our donut box, and got to tell people as we went where to get them.  Good times! The tram was pretty cool, and reminded me of the monorail at Disney. And as we went past the golf course at the Wynn, it was cool to be able to see down into it.  Also, there was a random coyote in the space where they keep all their equipment.  Crazy!

Once we got off at the station, we still had to make our way through the entire MGM Grand Resort, and so I took a picture with the golden lion so I could show Arthur. 

We then crossed the street and had to walk by/through a few more resorts to get back to our hotel. The Luxor really is pretty cool looking, and even though it is old and needs some maintenance, I love all the Egyptian architecture.

We went back to our room and took the first of many naps throughout the day, and I also got to read a lot of my book while we chilled in our room. At 11 am we had an appointment at the Flyover Vegas, where we got to ride on a cool thing - very much like Soarin' at Epcot Center.  They had a few different ones to choose from, and decided on the American West.  It was very fun, and lasted about 20 minutes, which was awesome.  Such a fun activity, and I am so glad Kevin found it.

Across the street from the Flyover Vegas, was the amazing Eataly.  I had always wanted to go to one of them in New York City, and so when I saw one in Vegas, we had to go there for lunch.  It was very pricey, and we weren't super hungry because of all the donuts, and so we shared some pasta - Cacio E Pepe, to be exact.  It was delicious!  And after the pasta, we shared a gelato.  There were so many other amazing looking things to eat there, I would have been happy eating there for multiple meals.  Yum!

We spent the afternoon napping and reading off and on.  We actually never turned on the TV, which was pretty funny. We had contemplated going to the hot tub, but the one at our hotel was still closed for the season, and we would have had to go to the resort next door.  No thanks.  Especially because it was still pretty darn cold outside. I did take a bath in the deep tub in our room, which was nice, since the big tub in our master bath has no hot water running to it - ha ha!

Eventually, it was time for us to finally go down to the casino to use the leftover change that Kevin saved from our garage sale back in Pennsylvania.  He decided that we would play a game - see who won the most money, but play until it was gone.  Years and years ago, I had played the nickel slots just because I was old enough to do so (back when you could still put coins in a slot machine), but had never actually gambled.  Well, Kevin and I discovered that I am a VERY grumpy gambler.  I was angry at the stupid nonsensical machines that made no sense at all about what won and what didn't.  I may have told the machines that they sucked, as I tried a few different ones, hoping to find one that actually made sense to me. (It's a good thing I wasn't playing at a table, or I may have yelled at the dealer and gotten thrown out. Seriously.)  And I was angry when Kevin played too. I was especially angry that I was playing by the penny, and even if I still had money in there, if it wasn't enough for the minimum bet, I couldn't use it, which caused me to cash out a quarter, as I was not just giving that money to the evil machine.  Kevin was giddily happy as he made fun of my surliness.  I am pretty sure I even made a Miss Piggy growl. I mean, I had never planned on gambling, but this just showed me, it is definitely NOT my thing.  I hated it.  

After the horrible experience with the video game things that they say are slot machines, we went back to our room for a bit before Kevin's brother, Scott, and his wife, Shannon, picked us up for dinner.  We went to the yummiest pizzeria near where they live, and the food was great, but the company was even better.  We had such a great time catching up, especially because we don't get to see them very often.  After dinner, we went to their house to hang out and talk some more before they took us back to the hotel.  Their dogs, Cooper and Finn, were very, very friendly. Finn kept trying to lick my face, which I managed to dodge, and Cooper kept wanting to smell the back of my neck.  Pretty funny, but my favorite part was when both dogs had made themselves at home on Kevin's lap.  I think the beard drew them to him - ha ha!

Wednesday morning, we were up bright and early, yet again, but this time we actually had a purpose in getting up, as we needed to pack up and head to the airport. Luckily, our plane was time (after my last trip, I may have been a little paranoid until I saw the plane) and we had a great flight back to San Antonio, especially because for $11 each, we were able to get seats in the exit row, and we were the only two people in our row.  So much legroom, even though the seats still felt made of wood.  Good times!  And so, it was back to reality.  We had such a fun time, and are so grateful to Lily for holding down the fort while we were gone.

A Girl's Trip in Vegas

Months ago, when my friend, Brandi, moved from San Antonio to Las Vegas, a few of us started talking about having a girl's trip to visit her.  Well, we started planning, and although a few of the ladies ended up having to pull out, my friend Erica and I both left on Friday (on separate flights) to head to Las Vegas.  I flew on Horizon, which is definitely a lesser airline as to comfort and other things, and so I was so amazingly blessed to have my entire row to myself, especially because the flight was very, very full.  I was so tired, and even if I had to maneuver around the armrests, I managed to lie across the seats and take a nice long nap :).

And I am glad I got the rest, because not only is Nevada two hours behind my time zone, but from the time I landed, we hit the ground running.  Brandi picked up the two of us, and after a quick stop at a Walgreens for some snacks, we headed straight for the Las Vegas Temple.  I have wanted to go there since I was a young girl growing up in Spark, Nevada, and the Vegas Temple was built. Even though it was very far away and not our temple (which was the Oakland Temple), it was the first temple built in Nevada, and so it always had a special place in my heart.  Visiting the temple is always wonderful, and it was even more special with friends.  We even did some of my family names - three sisters born in the 1800's in England, which was so awesome.

As we were leaving the temple, I couldn't get over how barren the mountains were.  They reminded me so much of the area around Mount Sinai.

After the temple, we went in search of something yummy for dinner, and settled on fajitas at Juan's Flaming Fajitas.  It was so good, and pretty funny, because they really did light them on fire at our table.  I wish I had snapped a picture of it. 

After dinner, we drove to our hotel, the Eliante resort, and got settled. It was a beautiful resort, and the only bummer was that the hot tub was closed for the season. Pretty lame, but oh well.

On Saturday morning, my internal clock wok me up at 5am Nevada time - good times.  Luckily, I had a really fabulous ebook I was reading, and so I had something to entertain myself with while I waited for Brandi and Erica to wake up.  Ha ha!  After they were up and ready, we had a late breakfast at Chick-fil-A, mostly so that we could visit Brandi's son Jeff, who was a good friend of Derek's. 

After breakfast, we picked up some bagels for later, and then headed out to the Valley of Fire State Park.  There were two things that I really wanted to do on this trip, one was go to the temple, and the other was to go on a cool hike in the desert, and I definitely got my wish.

The Valley of Fire was spectacular, and the weather was just perfect.  We were comfortable in our sweatshirts, and even had to take them off at one point, because it had warmed up.

We did two of the hikes, one of which started by this really cool place where you could see the road winding through the canyon, but to get the good view, you had to climb up this rock with a very steep cliff/drop off on the sides.  We braved it through, which was totally worth it, but to take the picture, we had to sit down so that we didn't knock each other off the edge. Ha ha!

The rock formations were fantastic and beautiful.
 We hiked and climbed around on the rocks, giving us more spectacular views.
What was amazing to me was all the color variation in the rocks and the sand, part of which lent itself to making the rocks look like they had been painted.
My favorite hike was a loop that took us through a canyon that reminded me a bit of the one in Petra.  On the ground, not just in this canyon, but in other places around the trail, were the prettiest blue rocks.  I mean, they were so vibrantly blue, that I had to take a small one home for Arthur for his rock collection. (Strangely, however, when we left the park at the end of the day and I took it out of my pocket, it was a dull, dark gray.  We were baffled by this, and thought that perhaps it had to be near the red rocks to bring out the vibrant blue color, or that it was a magic rock that was only blue inside the Valley of Fire - ha ha! I still gave Arthur the rock though, and then told him of the magical properties.)
After our final hike, we stopped to have a snack at the picnic grounds and finally saw some wildlife.  There were the most adorable chipmunks, and in our attempt to get a picture of them, Brandi may have been throwing her cheep Walgreens popcorn to them.  Good times!
It was funny, because I had been thinking that there had been a sever lack of wildlife in the park, and then we saw this big horned sheep on the side of the road.  Just standing there!!  I mean, it was so close and looked so cool with the background of the rocks that it almost seemed staged, even though it wasn't.

Our last stop on our way out of the park, was to see the Petroglyphs, which were seriously the coolest.  We may have inadvertently entertained some other tourists as we were trying to come up with the meaning of them, including a story about a dragon chasing the people, and possibly Bigfoot.  Ha ha!  It was pretty funny.

After a stop to shower and change at our hotel, we went to dinner at the yummiest place to get soup dumplings at Xiao Long Dumplings in China Town. Oh my goodness, the food was good!  The green beans were spectacular, soup dumplings were divine, but the winner was the pork buns - so tasty!

After dinner, we went to see the movie "80 for Brady" at the theater in our hotel.  It was super fun and cute, and then we came back to the room and talked and laughed until we crashed.

The next morning, my body would not let me sleep on Nevada time, and so I was wide awake at 4:45am - lame.  I took advantage of the opportunity to study my scriptures, shower and get ready, and find the nearest church to our hotel that met at 9am, since Brandi's ward met right when Erica had to be at the airport. Church was nice, but sadly, that was when my exhaustion hit me, and I kept falling asleep.  After church, we got crepes for late breakfast/early lunch, and then dropped Erica off at the airport.

I still had a few hours to kill, and so Brandi and I went and explored the Bellagio gardens, which were decorated for the Chinese New Year.  They were super cool, although very crowded.  It was cool to see though.
We also stopped at this beautiful restaurant, Sadelle's, and I bought a slice of chocolate babka from their bakery cart for me to eat on the plane.

We still had so much time, that we walked around and explored the different casinos, and rode around on the train that went between them.  While we were at it, we searched and found a hidden pizzeria that Brandi had read about.  It was down an unmarked hallway, and boom, there you were.  They didn't even have a menu.  So fun!

All too soon, it was time for me to go to the airport, but sadly, this was where the story took a turn.  And not for the better.  My flight got delayed an hour, then another hour, and eventually another forty-five minutes. So lame!  I was so tired.
I was also very grateful for my chocolate babka.  And that I snagged a spot next to a charging station, so that I could do my Come Follow Me study, including watching "Don't Miss This" while I waited.  

After that, I read my book, went for a long walk back and forth in the terminal, and when I thought I was about to go insane from exhaustion and boredom, our plane finally arrived!! I almost couldn't believe I was finally on my way home and leaving the lights of Vegas behind.  I didn't land until after midnight, which meant I didn't get to bed until after 1 am, which meant my 5 am alarm felt extra early.  It was a fabulous trip though, and I am so glad I went.

New Orleans Adventure: Day Two

We started off day two in New Orleans with a walk down to Jackson's Square, so that I could get some pictures in the morning light. It was a gorgeous setting, between the St. Louis Cathedral, to the flag blowing, and the horses and carriages.  So pretty!

And on the other side, was the wide Mississippi River and the riverfront.  It was freezing cold, but so pretty.

We warmed up afterward by getting some beignets for breakfast at Cafe Beignet, and they were amazing!  Even better than Cafe Du Monde.  So yummy!! Puffy, warm pillows of goodness covered in powdered sugar - which totally got all over us both, especially Kevin's beard - ha ha!

After breakfast, we headed down to the first stop for the "Hop On, Hop Off Bus."  The night before, the hotel porter gave us passes that were good for the morning to ride the bus, and so we thought it would be a great way to see the rest of the city.  (It may have been a bit sketchy for us to use them, but they let us, so we took advantage - especially since it was super windy and cold.  We rode all over, and then got off the bus at the National World War II Museum to spend the day, and it was such an amazing museum.

One of my favorite parts was the room where they had some planes hanging (like at the Air and Space Museum), but all planes used during the war.  You could climb up to the top and look down on them - it was very high, but so cool!

Out front, there were the coolest statues, on of which was of Anne Frank, holding her diary.

We walked back from the museum along the riverfront.  It had said on the map that it was a place to go, with shops and things, but we were sadly disappointed.  There was a really beautiful Holocaust memorial along the river though, other than that, there wasn't much else.  I am sure there is more out and set up when it is not the off season, but it's all good.  We still liked walking along the river. Then we headed to find a place to get some food, and we happened upon a set where they were filming a commercial on Bourbon Street, which was pretty cool.

Later on, we went back to the hotel for a nap, and then we started our hunt for a good praline to bring back to Lily (as part of our thanks for her taking care of the boys). However, as we started our hunt, we kept finding stores that didn't actually make fresh pralines.  We searched, and when we would find a store that made them, they had just closed - and early. I guess there was a huge storm coming in with a warning from the National Weather Service, and so people were closing up all over.  At the end, we finally found a really good candy shop, where they were even in the process of making the candy.  And it was literally only a few buildings away from our hotel.  Pretty ironic - ha ha!  But wow, it was a good praline!

After finding the candy, it was time to find a late dinner, and so we got some fried chicken from Willie's Chicken Shack, a bar/restaurant that was all over town.  It was yummy, but I found myself really crazing something healthy afterwards - ha ha!  We had another picnic in our courtyard, which was the perfect way to finish off a wonderful few days in New Orleans.

Wednesday morning, we woke up, packed up, picked up our car, and then headed out of town.  We did stop at a Smoothie King on our way out for breakfast, because I felt like I had to get some fruit and veggies in my body after a few days of eating bad for you, all be it delicious, food.  And with smoothies for the road, we headed home to Texas. 

 

New Orleans Adventure: Golfing and Alligators

On Sunday evening, Kevin and I headed off for a quick getaway to New Orleans.  We drove most of the way on Sunday and stayed in a little town in Louisiana, so that we could get up early and get to the golf course in time for our tee time at 10am. Kevin has a goal of playing golf in all fifty states, and so not only was he going to get to cross Louisiana off the list, but he was also going to get to play TPC Louisiana, a beautiful course where they play the Zurich Classic on the PGA tour.

We were lucky enough to not hit bad traffic going through Baton Rouge, and so got there early enough to eat breakfast in the clubhouse.  Kevin went out to warm up before we played, but I stayed inside to stay warm before we played.  Ha ha!  It was really cold outside!!

One good thing about playing in January, is that the course was relatively empty - and that might have had to do with how cold it was ;).  Regardless of the reason, it was so nice to play just the two of us, and nobody that we could see in front of or behind us.  It was like the birds were the only things out there on the course with us.

There were so many sand traps on the course - Kevin said that it was because it was a Pete Dye designed course.  Well, let's just say that I spent a lot of time in all those sand traps - ha ha!! And yes, I was all bundled up with my coat, a beanie on my head and my warm golf gloves on.

Luckily it warmed up a bit, and so I was able to shed some of my layers as we played.  And wow, it was such a pretty course, even if it was crazy hard.  I kept having to remind myself that they play a PGA tournament on this course, and so it was okay that I was not doing an amazing job - good times.

There was a lot of water on the course, and I kept thinking about all the alligators that must be hibernating down in the mud. Well, on the 18th hole, it had finally warmed up enough that a couple gators decided to come out and sun themselves.  The first one, a pretty big guy, was super close to my tee box, and so I was hoping he was content to bask in the sunshine, and not come after me. It may have freaked me out a bit.  Or more than a bit - I really thought I was smiling in the picture Kevin took, but obviously I was grimacing. Ha ha!

And then, ironically, my first shot landed about three feet from another alligator!!! What?! I was not going to stand next to a gator to hit my ball - no way. So Kevin went over, grabbed my ball, waved to the alligator, and threw my ball into the fairway. (Don't worry, I counted it as a shot.) Oh, and I was supposed to be making a video as he did it, and when I realized I had forgotten to hit record, he promptly went and said hi to the alligator again so I could get the pictures and video - ha ha! Seriously, so funny.

It was such a fun golfing adventure, and as our kids get older, I look forward to many more fun adventures like this together.  Oh, and on our way to the city from the golf course, we noticed that on the GPS, it showed that we were -9 feet below sea level - crazy!

New Orleans Adventure: Day One

After our golfing adventure, we drove the thirty minutes to the French Quarter, got checked in, and took our car to its own hotel for the next few days. The parking fee was quite high, but it was also in a very secure lot, where they took our car up in an elevator, which meant it would be safe.  Plus, we were planning on walking everywhere, so it's all good.  I instantly fell in love with our historic hotel, The French Market Inn, with its beautiful fountains and courtyard.  And I wish I had gotten a picture of our room before we put all out stuff inside, as it was so pretty.

After getting checked in, we headed out into the city to explore.  It was then that we found the real Bourbon Street, and so I got a picture.  There was also quite the street musician adventure going on.  There were so many of them with their random instruments that I couldn't even fit them all in the picture.  

There was beautiful architecture around every corner, as well as bars, but I was there for the rod iron and gorgeous details in the buildings. I was especially taken with the fabulous gas lights and lanterns everywhere.  They were so pretty and made you feel as if you had walked back in time.
One of the things we were searching for was a place to get a late lunch and early dinner, and since we had heard good things about the muffuletta at The Napoleon House, we went there to eat.  It was so yummy - gigantic, even sharing we couldn't finish it - but so yummy!

After eating, we wandered some more, and found the beautiful Jackson's Square.  I had to wait for a few tour groups to clear out before I could get a picture, but luckily I beat the sun going down.

We never got to go inside, but I loved getting to see and take pictures of the Saint Louis Cathedral.  And it was only a block or two from our hotel.

Soon, it was time to head toward our entertainment for the night, and as the night fell, the city looked even more magical.

As we wandered toward our destination, we found a fabulous bakery called Sucre' and bought a giant cookie and a red velvet cupcake to share - so yummy!!

Our fun for the night was going to see a performance at Preservation Hall.  My sister, Wendy told me that it was her favorite, and wow, she was right.  It was the most spectacular and intimate performance of live Jazz.  We laughed, we sang along, and we clapped so much (both for the performance and clapping along to songs), my hands hurt afterward. So very awesome, and it felt like the quintessential New Orleans experience.
After the concert, we headed to the famous Cafe Du Monde to get some beignets - and hot cocoa, because I was freezing.  We ate them in the courtyard of our hotel, and it was the perfect end to a wonderful day. And yes, we did get powdered sugar all over the table - ha ha! It is impossible to eat a beignet without making a mess ;).

Western Adventure Part Three: The Rest of the Fun

One of my all time favorite things to do when we are in Twin Falls, is to walk on the canyon rim trail.  And from Kevin's parent's house, it is a three minute walk, and so my workouts on Thursday and Friday were watching the sun rise over the Snake River Canyon - so beautiful, and it makes four miles just fly by to be in all that beauty.

On Friday morning, Grandpa Dennis took us out to ride the horses. He and two of his friends have three horses, and they are such good horses, that it has become a tradition the past few years to ride them whenever we visit. We always start by feeding them apples, as we need to butter them up.
Then it is time to ride. Arthur started on Doc, Lily on Honcho, and Derek on Ringo. 
The older kids are getting really good at riding the horses. Arthur is still a little small and a bit nervous, and so he asked if I would ride with him to start, but then he decided it made the saddle too crowded, and so he rode by himself.
Kevin also got a chance to ride, which he really enjoyed.
The kids really loved being on those horses, and I am grateful for cool experiences like this, that expand their skills and knowledge of the world.  What a special thing it is to ride a horse.  I even got to hop up and ride again, this time on my own, but I ended up with the horse Derek was riding, who does whatever he wants, no matter what you do, and he was done with walking around, and just wanted to eat the fresh cut grass - ha ha!

One of the other favorite traditions the kids have when they come to Grandma and Grandpa's house, is to play with the pipeworks. Arthur even knew exactly which thing he wanted to build - the slide.  He poured over the plans and carefully laid out all of the pieces, and then he got his older brother to join him on the building.  They did a great job of working together, which is not always the case, and the slide turned out perfectly.  Good times!

To finish off our last day in Idaho, Arthur had to read a book with Grandma Valerie, which is another wonderful tradition. I am so grateful that my kids have such wonderful and loving grandparents.

Saturday morning came all too early, and before we knew it, we were back on the road and heading home to Texas. For our way home, we decided to go by way of Colorado.  It only added about 40 minutes to our total drive, and it meant that we got to stop in Pueblo for the night to see our dear friends, the Gowens. Natalie was my best friend when we lived in Colorado, and although we have kept in touch, it had been six years since we had seen each other last.  We had the most wonderful time talking, catching up, going on a fun walk through their neighborhood, and staying up late to play games. (We played a cool new game called Splendor, and I won!  Wahoo!)

And while the adults played, our kids had a fabulous time together. Arthur, Max, and James were a bit too small when we moved to really remember each other at all, but Derek and Sam and Lily and Ian were such good friends as kids, that they picked up where they left off. It is crazy to see Ian and Lily all grown up. Time flies too fast!

We left early the next morning and made it to our home in San Antonio right around bedtime.  It was a wonderful, albeit quick trip, but it was packed full of amazing experiences and moments and memories we will not soon forget.

 

Western Adventure Part One: To Idaho, By Way of Utah

Our yearly trek out to Idaho was different this year, because instead of coming from Pennsylvania, we were coming from Texas, which shaved ten hours off the drive - ten hours is lot of hours in the car. We also decided to take our old, but reliable van, which led to us stopping overnight so that she could have a rest. She is 15 years old with 230,000 miles on her, so driving her non-stop doesn't seem wise anymore.  

We also took advantage of the drive to get Derek some experience driving and knock off some driving hours. You can see how serious he takes his driving, but what you don't see is me gripping my arm rest and doing everything I can to remain completely calm while my son is driving 70mph on the New Mexico highways. He did great, but teaching a kid to drive is not for the faint of heart. My goodness. (Kevin moved to the back seat and "took a nap" during this time, as he can't handle it.)  I just wish we had had him drive on the straighter stretch of road, instead of in the mountains. At least the scenery was beautiful.

That night, we stayed at a small motel in Farmington, New Mexico. I was reminded, yet again, why I cannot sleep in the same room as Derek.  He is a very noisy sleeper, and at one point he yelled out in his sleep, "Korean! I speak Korean!"  What a dream he must have been having, and he does not, for the record, speak Korean. Ha ha ha!  The next morning, the boys were beyond excited to get to eat the continental breakfast - mini waffles and orange juice for the win! And I loved that I could fill up all the water bottles with cold water for the next stretch of our drive.

If you have never driven through or been to northern New Mexico and southern Utah, you really need to go there, if only to experience the indescribable beauty and uniqueness of the landscape. And my cell phone pictures going 80mph through bug and rain splattered windows do not at all do it justice - you will just have to take my word for it. Come and see the mountains and the desert - it is spectacular.
Friday was actually a pretty short day in the car, only about six hours, and then we were in Orem at the Draper's home! I was just there last month, which was awesome, but there is nothing quite like a Kevin and Rob reunion. We had less than 24 hours with them, but we made the most of it, with a dinner date, late night pinochle, and a lunch date on Saturday.  We always have the best time with Rob and Angela! And our boys had a blast getting to swim in their pool, but their favorite part was talking about and playing games with Elijah. Good times!

Before we knew it, we were crossing the Idaho border on our way to Twin Falls.  We had meant to have Derek drive again, but by then, we were just anxious to be home, so Kevin drove . . . and fast. Ha ha!

We got to my mom's house and immediately made ourselves at home.  Arthur even found a book for her to read to him, which is one of their favorite things to do together.

On Sunday, we went to church with my mom, and I witnessed the cutest experience of Kevin teaching Arthur to tie his tie. I have a very similar picture of Kevin with Derek doing the very same thing.

After church, my sister, Holly, came over to visit. It was so wonderful to get to see her and catch up, especially because she will be out of town half of our time here.  After her visit, I made dinner and we had Dennis and Valerie over to eat.  It was so much fun.

Monday morning I started the day in one of my very favorite ways - I walked down my mom's road to the wheat field just in time for sunrise.  When I am her house, I often get my workout in with a few miles along her road, and it never disappoints.

After my walk, it was time to get to work on projects at my mom's house, and that meant enlisting my boys in the "fun" of weeding and clearing some things out of her front yard. And we may have had to be strategic about fitting everything in the trash can. Ha ha!

Arthur even got to say hi to the goats my sister, Heather, is keeping in my mom's back pasture. They seemed like they were ready to do anything to get over the fence to that bucket of food, but luckily Heather fed them right after I got the picture.

All of the chores and work of the morning, were followed up by movies and games with Grandma Lynn in the afternoon.  Something that was repeated on Tuesday, except without the work ;).

On Tuesday morning, I had the rare privilege of getting to play golf with Kevin and his dad. We played at Highway 93, a course I had heard about a lot, but had never actually played, and we had the best time! And I actually played really well and got my personal best of a 113 for 18 holes (I think the lack of water on the course helped me out) and even getting two pars (and on holes Kevin bogeyed - what!?!). Such a great time!
We filled the rest of Tuesday with hanging out with my mom, watching movies, talking, and doing things around the house (like installing her new camera doorbell). It was a great few days before we were off on our next adventure - getting our Lily.

Working and Playing in Twin Falls

I am truly grateful for any opportunity I have to visit my mama, and when I knew there was going to be a party for her, and I wouldn't be able to be there, I was so sad.  But then we found out that there is a cheap direct flight on Allegiant from Austin to Provo, and since I could swing the $100 ticket to do that, maybe I could rent a car and figure out the rest. Well, renting a car wasn't going to be as easy as I had thought, until I looked into Turo - think Airbnb for cars - and soon, I had a reasonably priced rental for the week and a way to get to Twin Falls.

And so on Thursday morning, Kevin drove me to the airport in Austin and I was on my way. I always love coming in over the mountains - I am a western girl, raised alongside the Sierra Nevada's.  I had never flown into Provo before, and it was cool to land there, especially because I got a great view of the almost complete Orem Temple.  So Cool! My friend, Angela, picked me up, we grabbed lunch and dessert for the road from Fillings and Emulsions - so good - and then she dropped me off at my rental car, and I was on my way to Idaho.

When I arrived, my mom and I got the afternoon and evening with just the two of us before everyone started arriving for the party, and then my Monday afternoon, it was back to the two of us.  We had such a wonderful week!  I started almost every day (when it wasn't FREEZING, which it was, a lot) with a two mile walk along my mom's road, which ends at a wheat field.  It is my favorite, and I love seeing it in the early morning light. Or late morning light, on the mornings it was too cold to start out super early ;).

Being at my mom's always brings the adventures of drop-ins from grandkids and my sisters that live in Twin. I love it.  One day, when Savannah was over, she had to show me how she could fit her entire body in a cupboard - talk about talent!  Ha ha! I guess she used to be able to have the door close, but has grown a bit the past month.

Speaking of Savannah, she had a clogging recital one of the nights I was there, and afterward, she gave me a little performance.  It was super cute.One of the especially awesome things about my visit, was getting to spend quality time with most of my siblings.  We had a dinner at Peking with Heather and Tom, Matthew and Susan, and my mom and Holly. I got to spend time with Preston and his wife, Heather, and more fun things. Like when my sister, Heather and I took my mom to go and see the new Top Gun: Maverick movie - which was fantastic, by the way. 


I also went out to lunch with my mom and sister Holly, and then was also able to go to dinner with my mom and my sister Cheryl. I wish I had gotten a picture of us together, but I did get a picture of my mom with her birthday desserts at both Sizzler and the Olive Garden :).

One morning, I carved out time in between all of my work and projects for my mom, to go out on a hike along the canyon with my friend, Marci. She is really good friends with my mom, and had mentioned wanting to go, and you don't have to do much convincing to get me to go walk the canyon rim. It is so beautiful! We walked down toward the falls, and even though there wasn't much water going over them right now (it is irrigation season), it was still gorgeous.

One of the big work projects I had during my visit, was to go around and take pictures of various cabinetry projects for Premier Woodworking. There were so many gorgeous homes with spectacular cabinets, and this is just a sampling. It was especially fun to take the pictures this time, as I have spent the last six month designing cabinets for Premier, and so now I have a completely different outlook.
And since I was driving all over creation - all the way to Heyburn and Rupert, I got to see a lot of beautiful Idaho scenery along the way. Some of the homes had the most fabulous views of either the mountains, the canyon, and/or the river. So pretty!!
One of the best parts of my week was getting to attend the temple with my mom. It is harder for her to get there alone, and so she doesn't get to attend as often as she would like. And I am always happy to go to the temple, even more so after how long they were closed because of Covid restrictions. We had a lovely time there.

And later that day, we took care of business and got my mom a new phone. We had to wait quite a while for her new phone to get the info from her old phone, and so we wandered around the Magic Valley Mall for a while. I hadn't been there in ages, and it was crazy to see the businesses that were no longer there - I think the Covid shutdown hit them hard. While I was there, I stopped by the jewelry store where Kevin had my diamond put in my wedding ring, and discovered that the prongs were wearing out and that I needed to get it repaired asap. How fortuitous!

On Saturday, I made my way back to Utah to drop off my rental car and get ready for my flight on Sunday morning. I had to take the opportunity to meet up with my good friend, Annalie and her daughter (one of my old YW), Natalie. We had brunch at a cute little place by where she lives in Syracuse, and had the best time talking and catching up. And my giant scone was so yummy - even though it was way more of a dessert than a meal - ha ha!

On my drive from there to Orem, I stopped in Salt Lake at a kitchen store I have been following on Instagram for ages, and have always wanted to go to - Orson Gygi. I had the best time wandering around and finding the random things on my list - although I had to stop myself from buying ALL the stuff.  It was like kitchen supply heaven. (I did have to leave most of my stuff behind for when we come back next month, since it wouldn't fit in my carry-on. Oh well.)

I got to Angela's house by dinner time, and not only did she make us a fabulous dinner of curry chicken Hawaiian Haystacks, but we stopped off at Crumble to get some cookies for dessert. We created a sampling platter for each of us, and they were so good!  Rob was out of town, but since Kevin wasn't with me, it was actually better, because it meant that Angela and I could just talk and talk. She got to show me the amazing renovations they did on their back yard, and we really had the most wonderful time catching up. So grateful that my husband's best friend married someone all those years ago that feels like a sister to me!!

Sunday morning came much too early, and soon I was at the tiny Provo airport, ready to fly out.  I am so grateful that I got there really early, because by the time we were ready to board the plane, there were so many people in the tiny waiting  area, that most of the people had to stand, and there wasn't room to move. Craziness!


Before I knew it, I had landed in Austin, and although they were a bit delayed because of traffic, soon my boys were there to get me. It was such a wonderful trip, but there really is no place like home ;).

Derek's Choir Adventure

Man, what is this? The third time I've posted about a time that something crazy happened in the life of me (Derek Brown)? I don't understand how my mom does this. But anyway, this time I get to talk about my choir trip to Houston and Galveston for my choir competition Celebration of Excellence. I guess you can say it all started like most of my choir trips, with my choir competing in a competition. This one wasn't as eventful as the last one that happened (which was back in 2019). We didn't win, but we performed really well. In between though, I got to watch my sister open her mission call via FaceTime. Fun! However, what happened after the competition, is what I'm really here to talk about.

After our competition, which was on Thursday, we went to a huge mall to hang out and buy stuff. I was in group with a few of my friends and we had fun wandering around the mall. One of the first places we went to was the Lego store and I decided that I wanted to get a Lego set for my brother Arthur just because I wanted too. I also bought some candy for this awesome candy store there, as well as some roleplaying dice from Gamestop.

After lunch was when the fun really got going. Me and my group had seen this escape room as we were exploring, so we decided to try it out. And it was pretty fun. The escape room we went to had us playing scientists who were attempting to find and escape an underwater lab. I actually helped significantly in figuring out one of the clues. We did cut it close on time and barely managed to escape a GIANT KRAKEN with only 2 minutes left on the clock. It was a blast. Afterwards, we headed off to our hotel and settled in for the night.

Friday morning, me and my roommates woke up early so we could explore before it was breakfast time. It was so amazing to feel the fresh sea air in the early morning. After breakfast, the day kicked off with us going on a small tour of Galveston via cars that could also go in water. Then afterwards we spent a lot of the day on the Pleasure Pier, which was a sort of Amusement Park.

There were lots of fun rides. However, I would recommend you not wear clothes that you want to stay dry for the water ride that they have. At the end of it, me and my friends were completely soaked. But we all had a blast. 

We also spent some time on the beach, which was also fun. As we arrived on the beach however, we actually saw a jellyfish. Crazy! I love being able to play around in the water, so this was awesome. And after a few hours, we headed to the Strand (a street with lots of shops) to do some more shopping and I got to hang out and talk with a senior by the name of Westlund.

 

Then, it was time to go get dinner. We ate at a place called the Fisherman's Wharf, which was known for its great views of the waterfront. It was amazing. The food was great and filling. It was also fun to hear from others about how they spent their day on the pier and where they went on the Strand.

In the late evening it was time for our ghost tour of town. Now I don't believe in ghosts, so I had a hard time paying attention to everything that was said. All I know is that what was said all sounded like it could have a logical explanation, but a few stories I actually enjoyed. Like one about what happened to a family when a hurricane hit Galveston. Or the chance of there being a buried sarcophagus under an old house. It was fun.

On Saturday morning, We went to an aquarium and  a rainforest exhibit that was located by the hotel we were staying at. Lets just say that I was very surprised to see Penguins.
Because there were a lot of them. I loved seeing all the fun little sea creatures that came from all around the world.  I always feel like I'm in a different world when I go to places like this.
Just look at these cool exhibits!
The rainforest was also very fun. I got to see birds, frogs, monkeys, and snakes. Lots of snakes. I made sure that I took pictures for Lily, because she loves snakes. There was one snake though, that blew my mind. It was so big that it could have been mistaken for a crocodile or an alligator. It was amazing.

Afterwards, we headed off to the NASA Space center in Houston. I had so much fun going around and seeing all the awesome technology. They had a DeLorean, like the car in "Back to the Future", that I got to pose by.  I even got to go inside a replica of a space shuttle. It was here that a pretty crazy moment happened. I was going to the cafeteria so I could get some lunch, and the place I wanted to get food from, a place that sold pizza, had just closed. But the thing is, the guy who was behind the counter had a few pizzas that he had to throw out, so he told me to just take them and not tell anyone. Its a secret to everyone I guess. 

After NASA, we got all dressed up for dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant and then headed off to see an opera. It was the first time anyone in our family has been to an opera, and it was amazing. I loved it.

The last part of our adventure was on the bus ride back to San Antonio.  About two hours away from the school, our bus started smoking and they had to pull over.  We ended up stranded on the side of the road for hours while we waited for a new bus to arrive. We sill had fun together, but we sure were grateful when we finally made it home.

This trip was so much fun, and while it may have not been as fun as going to Hawaii like we were supposed to do, it was great.