Texas Trip

A few weeks ago, Aaron and I went to Texas for the weekend. A friend asked me if we just needed our Texas "fix" and if we had the shakes from withdrawals. That was only part of it.

The real reason was to attend the wedding of Sandra. Long time readers of my blog will know that Sandra is one of our "adopted" daughters. She joined us for our Family Home Evening each week and right before we moved to Utah we went to the San Antonio Temple with Sandra so she could be sealed to her parents who have both passed away. In my heart, she really is my daughter.
The wedding was beautiful! We hadn't met her husband previously. Aaron welcomed him to our family. He seems like a really nice guy and he makes her happy.She asked Aaron to be one of the witnesses and it was moving to be back in that temple with her on such a special occasion. It has been a cold, wet, spring in Utah so we really enjoyed the heat and humidity of south Texas. We went to dinner with some friends and enjoyed San Antonio especially Sea World.
Yep, we went to Sea World without the kids. It felt a little strange not constantly counting heads and worrying about one of the girls wandering off by themselves. It was actually quite nice. Having said that, I realize Aaron didn't have the same reaction to the penguins Vanessa would have. He should have squealed and jumped up and down in my opinion. The Shamu show was the hit of the day and always worth every penny spent to get into the park. I took tons of photos but will only share some of my favorites.It was there that I decided when I grow up I want to be a killer whale trainer.We had the opportunity to feed dolphins. Since, we didn't have the kids, I had the food to feed them all to myself. Several came over and started fighting over the food. It kind of made me feel at home, especially since my kids weren't with me.I did save one little bug for Aaron to feed with. The dolphins didn't want to eat the bug after all the little fishies I had just fed them. (I admit that was a bit selfish on my part.)
Have I ever mentioned I'm kind of afraid of animals? I found the dolphin's teeth a bit scary. (There goes my dream of whale training. I'll just stick to nursing.) Dolphins are probably my favorite animal (except for the teeth). Seriously, who could be afraid of this?One of the trainers noticed my apprehension and came over to help out. Just to clarify, that is me petting a dolphin. It was one of the highlights of my day.Aaron and I have been married for almost 15 years, we have lived in 3 states, we have 5 kids, and we did something on this trip we have never done before......we rode a roller coaster together.
Previous trips to amusements parks, had one of us staying with the girls while the other rode with the boys. This time rode it together. We rode in the front seats and then the back seats and analyzed which was better. The answer depends on the ride. (On a side note, I love wearing dangly earrings on roller coasters. It is so fun to feel them beat against your neck and face.)

We went to shows with flying dolphins,
big fat walruses,

and we also...
That's not really us. Just Kidding.

After the wedding and two days at Sea World, we headed south to our old stomping grounds. I don't have as many pictures from this part of the trip. That is when I stopped being a tourist and was just a friend. The next few days were a whirlwind. We stayed with our friend, at what I refer to as Hotel Rosie. We attended Sandra's wedding reception. As is custom for south Texas, it was a full on dinner and dance. We went to Mexico (remember this was right in the middle of the swine flu hype). Aaron was disappointed we didn't get the flu but he did buy a little wooden pig. We visited several friends and their families. We had dinner with Ernest and Elena in their new home (their previous home was destroyed in the hurricane last year). She is an incredible cook! The missionaries joined us for dinner and they agree with me about her cooking abilities. They asked me if we have any family in south Texas. I replied, "Yes. Elena is my sister and Ernest is my brother." I don't see how they couldn't see the resemblance.We attended church on Sunday. Our old ward has split since we moved to Utah. We weren't able to attend the new spanish ward. It was wonderful to see some of the people we worked with and served while we lived down there.

The whirlwind didn't end there. After church, we headed up to Austin to visit my sister. It was Mother's Day and it was very nice to spend the evening with her. I refer to her new house as Hotel Monica. We joined them for their Family Home Evening. After which, Aaron enjoyed bowling with Milo on the Wii.After the kids went to bed, we stayed up really late talking with Monica and Scott. It was so great just to hang out with them. The next morning we headed out to do some shopping at the outlets and the Texas Store. We had lunch at a local restaurant and, of course, Holly refused to eat in the restaurant and promptly dumped all her food in her lap once we were in the car (another act that made me feel right at home without my kids).

Before we caught the plane home, we went to Amy's Ice Cream, a local favorite in the Austin area. Aaron had pinenut-mango-rosehip-I-can't-remember-what-else flavored ice cream. I had Mexican vanilla with Reese's peanut butter cups (I know I'm boring but, vanilla really is my favorite ice cream flavor).


There was a whirlwind of activity back here as well. My poor mom agreed to stay with the kids while we were gone. This included 6 soccer games, church, and all the homework. I didn't realize how complicated my life is until I wrote it down on paper for my mom. They all seemed to have a great time without us. The house is still standing and my mom is still talking to me. I'd say the trip as a whole was a success!