Visitors from the West...

I about peed my pants when I found out that some of my favorite people in the whole world were coming to Texas to visit us! Stacie and Stratton came for 5 days of some of our southern hospitality...well at least I hope it was, we're still new to that whole thing :p haha. Stacie is Craig's younger sister and Stratton is her husband. To say that my kids were excited was an understatement! They love playing and hanging out with them because Stac and Stratt know how to have fun and be silly. I wish I had taken more pictures of our adventures, but I was so busy just having fun that I forgot :( I don't have much to show, but I still want to remember this trip and how fun and great it was. Thanks Stacie and Stratton for such a great time!!!

Here are few things we did:

Riverwalk. (I didn't take any pictures here this time, but if you want to see more what it looks like HERE are some photos I have taken before. It is BEAUTIFUL. We did the Riverboat tour, which takes you on a boat through the entire course of the Riverwalk and you learn SO much about it's history and there are so many pretty things to look at along the way.  We ate at Rita's Cafe on the Water, which was super tasty, but almost got a boot on my van because time went so much faster than we thought. The 5-hours flew by, and that is all the parking I had paid for. We came out just as they were ready to put a boot on my van. Thankfully I was able to sweet talk my way out of it :) Parking in San Antonio is something you don't mess around with apparently! It is serious business.

The Alamo. I didn't take any pictures here either, but I stole this one from Stac. It is the side of Alamo in the courtyard. Beautiful.

 I am becoming a proud Texan the longer I live here. :) I can't believe it has already been a year! After we visited The Alamo, we got the BEST Gilato I've ever had!

 Real Texas BBQ! I love me some Texas BBQ, and this place called "Texas Pride BBQ" was even featured on the Food Network show, "Diners, Drive-in's, and Dive's".  Which, is funny to me because it is kinda in the middle of no where! It is real, eat with your hands, juicy, messy YUMMY food! And I think Stacie and Stratton came away from their trip here with the knowledge that Texans like to eat!

 You sit outside in an open barn like building, at long picnic tables, and they have a live band with country music and line dancing. I am not much of a dancer, if you saw me dance you would know why! But, I did "try" and dance a few songs. The kids loved dancing all around and aren't shy one bit ans Stacie is a dang good dancer and picks stuff up quick! I think she even convinced Craig to try one song. Which, is a MIRACLE! Here is a little video I took with my iphone of them dancing. I realize the quality of it is amazing, but it's all I got :) I know I took it the wrong way with my phone...How do I rotate it???


We also did a dance called the "Wobble" but, I deleted that video from Craig's phone because I looked pretty ridiculous. haha.

Natural Bridge Caverns.  Just Stacie and Stratton went and did this because I had kids in school, but they said it was really cool and I didn't realize I had huge caves and caverns 10 minutes from my house. There is even a zip-line and rope course outside there that would be really fun.

Wildlife Safari. Only Stacie & Stratt went on this one too because I had preschool to teach :( They borrowed our Jeep and said it was way AWESOME! The animals come right to your car and you get to feed them. There are antelope, buffalo, zebras, ostriches, longhorns, and TONS more.  HERE are some great pictures Stac took of it! This one cracks me up!

The Zebra's beg for you to throw food in their mouths because you can't hand feed them :)
I'm excited to go sometime, since it is only 10 minutes from my house! It looks soooo fun!

Buckee's.  It's a  gas station in Texas. Sounds fun right? haha. Well, everything is bigger in Texas, including their gas stations...Buckee's has 80 pumps and the inside is huge too! They have every kind of food, candy, and drink you can imagine...and more! I'm a fan :)

Poteet Strawberry Festival. This was something we had never done before and it was fun! It was kinda like the County Fairs we used to go to in Utah.  Every year in May, there is a huge festival here to celebrate the Strawberry's in Poteet Texas. There were lots of rides, a Rodeo and every kind of strawberry food and concoction you could think of! I wish I had taken more pictures, but my camera died right as the rodeo was starting. I'm lame, I know. What photographer forgets to charge her battery and doesn't have a spare. This one I guess.

 Of course we had to ride the strawberry cow! Piper was asleep, so she missed out.

Kylin went on this roller coaster ride with Stac and she was pretty scared. But, look at how happy she is afterwards that she had the courage to go...she is beaming! I love this picture of the 2 of them.

Mckay and I went on this ride together, which as you can see by his face, he didn't like too much. haha.

Then Stacie and Stratt went on this ride...The Fireball. It looked so fun and pretty intense! But, were out of tickets and frankly money by that point!

It was fun watching them ride it. I laughed the whole time.

yep. That's upside down :)

Then the we headed the Rodeo. I realized I really love rodeos! Too bad my camera died right after I took this shot.

 It was a fun day and I think we might have to make it a tradition every year! You are planning on coming back every year right Stacie and Stratton??? ;)

Played at the ocean in Port Aransas. I didn't take pictures really here either...surprise, surprise.  Just one.  HERE are some pictures I have taken before if you want to see what the beautiful beach looks like. We are about a 3 hour drive to Corpus Christi and the Ocean. So, we headed down for a day of sunshine, surf and sand.

It was a fun relaxing day....except for the car ride...Poor Stac & Stratt :) Stuck in the back of a minivan with 3 kids for 3 hours = CRAZY!

Once you get to Corpus that you take a short ferry ride over to Port Aransas. We got to see a couple wild dolphins following our barge.

Their trip also included lots of trampoline jumping, cooking and eating yummy dinners together, movie watching, jogging with Stacie (although, that girl has some long legs which = long stride and little stubby over here had a hard time keeping up. haha. Loved it though.) And lots of hanging out and talking. I really love you guys and I am so happy we are family. Miss you so much!!! Thanks for the amazing time :)