spring break - texas!

Spencer's boss was going to Mexico with his family for spring break, which made it pretty easy for Spencer to take the time off as well. So we decided to take advantage and go the best place within reasonable driving distance to see family - Austin! It is great knowing some cousins are close now, cousins we really don't know because we have always lived so far from them.

The drive to Austin was horrible. We drove all day on a Friday and construction and traffic (and a screaming Sadie) set us back enough to hit rush hour traffic in Dallas (3 pm). Then we had a ton of rain and slow drivers and more grumpiness and then way more traffic into Austin...

We finally arrived after almost 10 1/2 hours in the car. Seeing the Smith's was such a welcome sight! Kristina made pizza and we ate late then the kids crashed.

Saturday was rainy again but we braved the rodeo anyway. The petting zoo was so cool! We stayed in there for a long time. We also saw a baby kangaroo. Then we went to the pig races and that was really cute and fun. We had to get some "carnival food" before heading back for nap time for the little kids.

That night was so fun - date night! Kristina got a babysitter and we went to Pappasito's for their fajitas. Oh my goodness - YUM. We stopped at SteinMart (kinda old-person-ish) and HEB on the way home. We stayed up late talking and watching Jimmy Fallon clips. Kristina and Tyson are some of my very favorite people to hang out with. They are just cool.

Sunday was a regular Sunday. I loved visiting their ward; a friend from high school is now in Kristina's ward and is the Laurel advisor so I went to her class to see her teach and it was one of the most incredible lessons I have ever heard. It is so satisfying to see friends doing great things after many years. That night we had pulled pork for dinner and then went to Lake Austin (?) to watch the boats and enjoy the beautiful Sunday evening. Spencer was totally drooling for a boat. I was falling in love with Austin.

Monday was our crazy busy day but was just so much fun. We hiked ("hiked") Mt. Bonnell and had great views of the city and mansions and the lake below. Then Kristina went to Chuy's for chips and dip and my family went to Sprouts (LOVE AND MISS THAT PLACE SO MUCH!) for lots and lots of fruit. We ate fruit and chips and dip for lunch and it was just so yummy.

That afternoon Tyson met us downtown to canoe on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin. Keeping the kids in the canoes and keeping us upright was a little bit of a challenge but the views were amazing and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was so gorgeous.

After that was food truck time! We went to Torchy's Tacos for some of the best tacos ever, then to Gordough's for donuts. These "donuts" were insane - we got Blackout and I can't remember the name of the banana cream cheese one but both were so good.

After that we went to the bridge that the bats fly out of at sunset and watched that. We took some exhausted kids home and got them to bed.

Tuesday we drove out to Brenham (toward Houston) for two reasons: Blue Bell ice cream factory tour AND to see the bluebonnets. We were about 10 days early for the bluebonnets and out picture attempts were just plain not good, BUT the factory tour was fun and ice cream at the end...what could be better? The drive was long and Sadie wasn't sleeping but it was ok. Early bedtime again.

We enjoyed our last night hanging out with our closest (geographical) family. On Wednesday we drove home, rushing pretty big time because of tornadoes and hailstorms in NW Arkansas (they were crazy, especially when we got stuck in the first part of it).

It was such a fun trip, and a great reminder that having kids and having stuff be "hard" is not an excuse not to do things. Because what we will remember in a year is just the fun stuff and not the hard stuff (maybe?). And it is always worth it when you go see family - those connections are just far too important.

And Sadie keeps asking for "Baby Paka" (Parker).