Texas Trip

We had an epic trip to Texas. I saw three of my brothers and their families, the kids were angels in the car, and my Mom and Dad are still the greatest.

We left early in the morning on a Thursday. We took a beautiful route through Vail, Colorado to get to my brother Joe's house. The leaves were picturesque. We stopped at a town called Fresco to take Scotty to on a false alarm party trip. (This was the only element of his behavior that was not angelic.) It was a quaint little town, and we ended up parked next to a historic area. There were old houses and a store, a jail, and a schoolhouse that you could just wander into and learn about. Very cool and family friendly. This was the only picture I took of all the fun we had.

We made it to Joe's house around dinner time. His wife Anya is a fabulous cook. We had a chicken cordon bleu casserole with scalloped potatoes. And chocolate chip pumpkin bars for dessert. So yummy! We had a perfectly lovely evening chatting and playing. The younger kids went to bed, and the older kids drew and made puzzles at the table while the parents talked. It was so nice to reconnect with them. Unfortunately we chose the worst possible, weird-shade place to take pictures of the cute kids altogether.

We continued our drive to Texas the next day. It was fun to start seeing oil rigs and white cotton in the fields. That day of driving went well and was mostly uneventful. The most exciting thing was that Scotty had pooed his pants right before we arrived at my brother Spencer's house. We let ourselves learn the hard way that diapers on car trips are the way to go.

But Spencer and Amanda and family were very welcoming. We had more amazing food, saw their beautiful home, and put the kids to bed. Then Aaron and I had a lovely chat with Spencer and Amanda. We're related to such great people! 

The next day we went to their kids' soccer games. They were organized by a local Baptist church. At half-time they had a spiritual lesson for the kids where they learned the ABCs of salvation. The doctrine got a bit weird, but it was so refreshing to hear any religion talked about openly. 

We went to a kid museum after the soccer games. And then Philip and Kelsey's family arrived. It was a joyous reunion.

We just got to say a quick hello because we were scheduled to get to my parents' house. They didn't know Phil and Kelsey were coming. We showed up first, then Phil and Kelsey knocked on the door fifteen minutes later. Quite the surprise! 

That night we were going to go to a marching band competition, but we must have gotten the dates mixed up because the stadium was completely dark. So we went to the church and had the kids run around in the gym while the adults chatted. Grandpa, even with a back injury, did races with the kids. 

The next day we went to the famous candy factory where there were tons of free samples. The kids (and, let's face it, the adults) really got into that.

Our favorite treat was the Texas Trash--like puppy chow minus the peanut butter and with white chocolate instead of dark chocolate. Yummy! And we told our kids we'd buy them each a candy. There were shelves upon shelves of delectable items. Annie brought us a pink candy cane, and Scotty requested a single dum-dum type of sucker. That was it. They didn't beg for anything else. We were impressed and a bit bewildered. I had to question the meaning of "like a kid in a candy store."

After this, Phil and Kelsey treated everyone to Texas barbecue. We went to a place called Sam's and had the nicest waitress on the planet. The food was delish, and we all smelled like mesquite when we left. The barbecue sauce and peach cobbler were particularly noteworthy.

On Sunday, Spencer and Amanda's family also came over, so we got to see them again. We had dinner then went to see some peacocks, ducks, geese, and llamas that were the backyard pets of a Jewish man. The animals were noisy and crazy, and not very well contained. Thee a peacocks kept jumping the fence to go to the neighbor's yard. I didn't get any great pictures of that because I was trying to live my life.

Here's one of the fam:

We did even more! We went swimming in Mom and Dad's frigid pool, got bottled water at the H.E.B. (apparently people are worried about tap water with all the fracking happening nearby), and went to church and institute with Mom and Dad and the YSAs. 

My siblings are amazing! My parents are amazing! I hope I can grow up to be as cool as all of them. My parents are doing a great job on their mission. They've developed good relationships with the YSAs. We could tell that my parents loved the YSAs and vice versa. And the grandkids love my parents. And it's because my parents pay the price--they chat and snuggle and play games and run around and write letters and really invest in their grandkids. We're so grateful for them!