Howdy Ya'll

To be honest, I was really disappointed I never heard a Texan say that while we were there! I didn't even hear anyone with a accent now that I think about it! But Karl and I did have a BLAST visiting Austin for his college buddy's wedding! It was our first trip without the girls since last July and it was the longest we have ever left them. Honestly, it was VERY hard for me... Once I was there I was fine but I was pretty emotional when dropping them off at Grandma and Grandpa's (even though I knew they were in excellent hands and would have a blast over the weekend!).

I made a care package for each of the girls with a gift to open for each day we were gone and a calender with the dates we were leaving and returning and what we were scheduled to do each day. My mom used to do this for me when my parents ever went away I loved looking forward to opening it and anticipating the next days gift ;)

I used to be able to fly without a second thought, now that I have two babies depending on me, I couldn't help but have all kinds of thoughts go through my head... At first I thought I was crazy but a few friends confirmed that my feeling were normal and valid ;) We had a great time celebrating Ashley and Chris' wedding and getting to spend the weekend with all of Karl's college friends and their wives, what a great group of people!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon in time to get to the hotel, unpack and head over to the rehearsal dinner. This was held at Chris and Ashley's beautiful Club House in their complex, I loved the Texas decor! And the Texas BBQ they had for dinner yum!

Friday we pretty much RELAXED all day until it was time to get ready for the wedding! It was so nice to get ready without someone pulling at my leg or being interrupted by a "situation". I had time for makeup and hair (fully dried and curled!) and all while watching what I wanted to watch on TV!! It was raining all day and I felt so bad for the Bride but I swear a hour before the ceremony there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was warm and the sun was shining!!

The ceremony was at a beautiful Golf Course in Round Rock. About half way thru the ceremony you could see the clouds and lightning getting closer and closer but luckily the sky did not let loose until after the ceremony. As we were walking to the reception there was the most beautiful break in the clouds with the sun peeking thru, gave me chills!

Open Bar + Good Music = a great time had by all!

Saturday we slept in and then had breakfast with our friends Gabe and Gia at the Cracker Barrel. The "porch" was lined with these beautiful Rockers which, if I had a porch to put one on, I would have bought one, they were so charming!

That afternoon Karl and I headed to Austin before the others to check out the city. We stumbled upon a Art festival, which was "interesting" to put it nicely. Had a AMAZING dinner at a Gourmet Mexican Restaurant, walked to the Capital which was beautiful, then met up with the rest of the gang. A friend from work had told me about "the bats" so after a few drinks we walked down tot he bridge to see about a million bats fly out for the night.

It was amazing! Then it was off to 6th street, all I can say is CRAZY! It felt like Mardi Gras!

There are so many people they just block off the whole street which consists of bars, bars, pizza places, bars, bars and more bars! We hit a few bars but called it a early night since we were going home early the next morning. I was soooo ready to go home and see my girls!!!

There were no direct flights for us so both ways we had to fly thru Houston.

Houston we have a problem!

On our way home, we had a plane ready and waiting for us but no flight attendants so we had to wait.... until they arrived. I was beyond anxious to just get home already! We finally made it home to our Happy girls who I could tell missed us (made me feel loved and appreciated ;). They had a great time with the Grandparents and my brother Uncle Andy, who I appreciate more than they know for being so amazing with our girls! Although we had a great time and enjoyed the break and it made me realize how much I love my girls and love being their Mommy, I don't want to leave them for a good while!
My mom was so cute and took a bunch of pics of the girls over the weekend so we could see what they did, I will add those to their own post.

When Life Throws You Lemons...

Make Lemonade, Literally! On Friday I took the girls over to their Great Grandma Pacheco's for a visit. She has a HUGE Lemon tree out back so her and Payton went and cut a bunch of lemons for us to enjoy ( it was so cute watching Payton carefully choose each lemon, some were HUGE)! At first I just washed them and put them in one of my jars because they are so pretty and colorful on the table, but today was so nice out I got in the mood for some fresh Lemonade. Come to find out, out of all the gadgets and gismos in the kitchen we do not have a juice squeezer or a net like strainer for the seeds. Guess I will be suggesting those as stocking stuffers next year!

I went online and found a recipe (not like there is much to it, but believe me if anyone can screw up something this simple it is me) and Karl started squeezing! Payton supervised of course! It turned out so delicious we all had some with dinner!

While Karl and Payton were making Lemonade, Paige was playing with her favorite thing.... Dirt!

Bagels and Baseball

Payton's Grandma Pacheco is out of town this weekend, this usually means a date with Grandpa... so Grandpa told Payton he would take her out to breakfast. Time: was to be determined in the morning. Well morning came around, EARLY morning and Payton was ready to go! I made her wait until 8am before she called Grandpa haha! He took Payton to get a Bagel (her choice) and then said he had "some running around to do". Needless to say 2 1/2 hours later Payton returned... but not empty handed! Grandpa got her a new bat and ball set a BIG coloring book and they even thought of Paige and brought her a talking Elmo doll. They had to stop at the store because Grandpa "needed batteries". Payton sure has her Grandpa wrapped around her little finger!

Waiting for Grandpa...(I finally got my pots planted on Wednesday)

This afternoon we joined our friends for a A's game in celebration of our good friend Jake's Birthday! It was a PERFECT day for it! We tailgated before hand, compliments of Jake's girlfriend and mom (great setup ladies) and then enjoyed a great game that the A's won in the 9th inning! The girls did great and enjoyed lots of treats!! Instead of Paying an arm and a leg for treats inside the park, Nicole brought this adorable basket of goodies for everyone to bring in with them!Payton and the Potato chips, she was stationed there for a good portion of our tailgating ;)The girls had so much fun playing catch with our friend Neil, he was so good with them and was cracking them up!The Coliseum was looking good with the beautiful blooming ice plant, Way to go Pacheco Brothers! (as Karl says it just takes a little fertilizer and a lot of weeding!)This is what happens when she sits with Daddy, what I like to call a ragamuffinJackie (The Birthday Boy's Niece) waited so patiently for her Rainbow snow cone!! They finally came around!

The Birthday Boy and Nicole

Happy Hollow, Mud Pies & A Treat for Me

Last Thursday we went down to San Jose to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo! My Aunt lives in SJ and was on spring break (she is also a teacher) so she invited us to meet her there! My Aunt Sue used to take my cousins and I there when we were young so it was neat to now be taking my girls too. The park had been closed for a few years while the re-did the whole place. We enjoyed it all!

The puppet castle theatre

Peek a Boo!

Payton saw this mini-roller coaster and had to go on it! Despite my efforts to talk her out of it (not b/c I didn't want to go, b/c the line was over a hour long wait!) we waited over an hour for a 60 second ride! She loved the first time around and then the second time around I looked over at her and you would have thought she had seen a ghost! But she loved it!

When we got closer in line we were next to the coaster cars and I noticed this...

So cool! The ride was supposed to be like a old fruit train, I told Payton the roller coaster was made just for us! ;)

On the other side of the park was a little zoo, the girls both loved the noisy Lemurs

The crooked house! I remember it so clearly from when I was a kid! You climb up to the second floor and there is a big spiral slide down the middle. Sad thing it was closed for repair...

Hello!!

Petting Zoo

oops, where is Paige?

I was so proud of Payton, this was not a easy rope/net to cross. She tried SEVERAL times but never gave up and finally made it all the across!

The girls love playing in the dirt, Payton has loved since she was Paige's age, and Paige is taking playing in the dirt to the next level. The girls have buckets and shovels that they use and just leave them up in the planter, this means when the sprinklers come on the buckets fill with some water. As we all know Dirt + Water = MUD! Only Paige would find the bucket WAY at the other end of the planter with the MUD in it! She was having so much fun I didn't want to stop her... which was VERY hard for me!

She just kept picking it up and watching it splat on the wall! And of course she went right in the bath afterwards...

Oh! And I almost forgot! This Sunday I attended a Beautiful Bridal Shower (without the girls which was a nice break ;) for my long time friend and childhood next door neighbor Michele. She now lives in Missouri so I don't get to see her much so this was a treat! The best part was I won!! If you had a flower sticker on the bottom of your favor, you got to take home one of the amazing centerpieces made by the bride to be's cousin. This is now what I am enjoying on the entry table!