A Weekend Around ATX

We had friends in town this past weekend and we had a blast showing them all of our favorite spots in Austin, and even exploring a few new ones! 

We literally had the best time. They flew down from Conneticut and literally just put their entire trip in to our hands (which gave me the worst anxiety) but it all worked out perfectly, despite the cold weather, and our hearts were all so full from the weekend. 

Friday night, I took zero pictures. I met them at their hotel around 5, we headed to University Co-Op. We had BBQ for dinner, and we toured around the football offices. It rained most of the day Friday, but by the time we headed out the rain had stopped. Praise Jesus. 

Saturday morning we headed to the 360 overlook bridge, and climbed up to the top. I was so afraid that it would be super muddy from the rain but it wasn't bad at all. The views were gorgeous as always. You can see the Colorado River, downtown Austin, and the Austin Country Club. 

See downtown way back there?

The hike to the top takes like 5 minutes, and then there's a trail that takes you along the ridge, so we walked it for a while, happened upon some scaffolding, climbed to the top of it and took in the scenes some more before heading back. 

We enjoyed lunch at Jack Allen's, and headed to the game for the rest of Saturday. 

Sunday morning we met up around 11, and headed to the Butter Half mural. I feel like Austin murals are a fun way to see town, take some cute pictures, and take in some of Austin's culture. 

Then we headed to the state capital. It's been a few years since the girls and I had been, but we talked about what happens in each room, learned some Texas history, and raced down the stairs. 

The girls had to climb around on the cannon. 

And take a picture of Adalyn shooting the cannon at Megan's head. 

We did handstands. 

Silly poses. 

Tossed around a football and then headed to S. Congress. 

Food was the first thing on our agenda as soon as we got to Congress. Typically there are food trucks, but those have been moved, so we grabbed a slice of pizza from Home Slice. 

We walked down to Jo's and grabbed a picture with another Austin mural. 

The girls and I grabbed hot chocolates, we listened to music, and then we headed to Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds- a classic Austin costume shop that is sadly going out of business at the end of the year, so I'm thankful we were able to go in and explore. 

We stopped at Allen's boots, tried on some hats and browsed the boots available.

Then we headed toward Zilker Park. 

The kids played, we saw Barton Springs and the pool, walked down by the river, played more, tossed the football and then headed to dinner at Matt's El Rancho. 

Our weekend was so fun. Austin has so much to do and explore and every time we get out we love it more and more. 

 

Some Texas Pre-Game Fun

I had promised the girls that we would take one game day toward the end of the season to take in all that UT has to offer on game day; it's a lot, it's so fun; it's crowded, and it's hot at the beginning of the season, so we tend to avoid it. But, we had friends in town last weekend for the game, and we were prepared to take it all in! 

Friday night we met up with my friends and headed to the University Co-Op so they could grab shirts. Adalyn kept pointing out all of the things she wanted for Christmas, and I couldn't help but fall in love with the McConaugh-Tree. 

After dinner, we took our friends to see the offices, and Adalyn had a blast in the players lounge. We also shot some basketball. 

Earlier in the day, DJ headed to the set of college game day. They've been on our campus 3 times in the past 2 years, and while it's so exciting, we've lost every game they've been at, so they can stay away and it will be fine with me. 

Saturday morning, these two were watching game day on TV before DJ had to leave for meetings. 

I got dressed in what I thought was warm clothes and we were ready to head out. 

We dropped bags, coats, and a kid off in DJ's office, walked through the office, and made it outside in time to see Bevo's parade on Bevo blvd. 

We were standing on the steps, and the band comes down and performs, so we had to move, but we had a front row seat to the band. 

Then we were off to explore and play games. First up, a football toss. 

Then it was photo booth time! The girls put on jersey's, chose their background and we were texted the coolest picture. 

Megan had to have a turn too, and chose the same background. 

And then we all had to take a big group picture! 

We pushed our way through the crowd and up to Smokey's Midway. First up was the Fun Slide, which wasn't much fun becuase you had to push yourself down. 

The guy working also separated Megan and Adalyn so we had to wait a bit longer for them to each have their turn. 

The girls tried their hand at the rock wall. Megan is on the far right. 

They through axes; Adalyn almost hit the bullseye on the first try! 

And they played a horse racing game, where you roll a ball up, and the hole corresponds with how fast your horse moves. Megan won a game and was thrilled. Adalyn lost and cried. 

We stopped and listened to about 5 seconds of the Third Eye Blind concert going on because the kids were cold. 

We made it in to the game to watch the pregame festivities, and parachuters flying down. It was dark, but each parachuter had a light on them so we could see them in the sky. Some landed right on the 50 yard line and others landed down the field. One guy we thought was going to end up in the crowd. 

This is literally the only other picture I have from the game. It wasn't a great game, but having friends in town made it so much fun!

 

Life Lately

We've packed in a lot of fun over the past week! Life lately has been full of making memories, slowing down just a little bit, and just enjoying each other's company. 

Adalyn was in a silly mood Wednesday after school. She knew we had a surprise for her but she didn't know what it was. 

But when it was time to get dressed, and head to our "football event" she was really mad that she was missing soccer practice. I kept telling her it would be worth it, but she was pouting big time. 

I mean, really big time. It was at this point that I really wanted to tell her what her surprise was, but I knew that I couldn't and just kept telling her to trust me. 

Much better. Smiling girls. 

We picked up Gretchen from her play practice and headed down to campus. DJ met us outside, and let Adalyn know that we did not have a football event, but that we were actually going to see Carrie Underwood in concert! 

We thought she'd be thrilled. When we took her to see Garth Brooks this summer, she told us afterwards that her next concert should be Gabby Barrett or Carrie Underwood- because they would be "quiet" When we told her the first thing she said was, "It's going to be so loud!" 

Whomp Whomp. 

Why is it that surprises never go as planned?

We got inside, found our seats, and even had headphones for the girls. We learned a big lesson by not having them at the Garth Brooks concert. 

These two knew about the concert for months and did a great job keeping it a secret! We had intended to surprise all of them, but Megan overheard us talking about it in May, and Gretchen eventually found out too. 

Our biggest country music fans. 

The concert was great. I've seen Carrie Underwood 3 times, and this was probably my favorite concert from her and definitely one of my top 3 concerts that I've been to. Gretchen had so much fun singing along. I was shocked, because crowds and loud music aren't typically her thing. Adalyn ended up having a blast too! 

I let the girls sleep late on Thursday and then got them all dropped off at school later that morning. I took the day off and it was fabulous! I voted, grabbed myself lunch, and just enjoyed having a few hours to myself. 

Thursday night, Gretchen performed in her school's play. She has been working so hard and has had a lot of late nights! She had two parts: a hobo and a dying 4 year old child. 

Her biggest goal was to make the audience cry when she died, and I definitely did! 

She even had some sweet friends come and watch her!

And had friends in the play. Since moving here she has found the sweetest group of girl friends and I couldn't be more excited for her. 

We were so proud of our performer! 

Friday I was busy cleaning the house, running errands, baking brownies, and hosting a girls night for some of our support staff wives. And this brownie tray was the only thing I took a picture of the entire night! 

I made homemade waffles Saturday night, and realized that it's been a long time since we've had a slow Saturday morning for me to cook breakfast. 

We watched my friend's kids Friday night and all day Saturday. The girls had a blast! 

I ended Saturday night with a glass of wine and a football game. 

Thankfully I remembered to paint my toenails which helped us bring home the win and become bowl eligible. 

After church on Sunday, I dropped Megan and Adalyn off with DJ and took Gretchen to the Texas Book Festival. At first she wasn't sure of the speakers/authors, and then on our way down she recognized the name of Ayana Gray. 

My uncle was Ayana's teacher in high school and had gotten Gretchen a signed book from Ayana's first published book. Her series is a trilogy, so of course we had to buy book 2 and have it autographed as well. 

It was fun meeting her and telling her who my uncle was! She said he was one of her favorite teachers and it just reminded me of how small the world can be sometimes. 

We've squeezed in a lot of fun in the past week. This weekend we have friend's coming in for the game, and we are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with friends.